Chapter 74
Percy
We made our way down the brick pavement towards our home, now with Nico and Will with us in addition to Hazel and Frank. Just before we arrived Ron and Hermione returned and met us with the kids. Caly and Tee rushed down the remaining yards between us to hug me, then Annabeth, then Nico, then me and Annabeth one more time for good measure.
The OJ and chocolate helped a lot and I for once planned to follow Will's advice to the letter. I was going to eat until I was near puking every chance I got. And swim a lot of course. But mainly eating.
Fortunately there was no lack of food and drink at the party. There were tables and tables of it set up under and around the oak we used to meet under. Some of it was prepared by Leo who was manning the grill. I wolved down everything I could as everyone, and I mean everyone, came to talk and welcome me back. Well everyone I knew that was a magician or half blood. There were some there that I didn't even know, or didn't remember. I vaguely remembered the couple we met at Disney World, Stephen and Michelle, and of course Tim the waiter, but there were a lot more that were guests of guests and plus one's I surmised. The unfortunate thing was that they all wanted to meet me, thank me, welcome me back while I wanted to hang with Annabeth, Caly and Tee and commit acts of unjustifiable gluttony. It was nice and I felt the warmth. Chiron led the latest group of Camp Half Blood kids and I only knew a few of those, but he had brought Mrs O'Leary and Blackjack so I was able to introduce the kids to my two old friends. Mrs O'Leary scared them to death when she jumped on my and started licking my face, but Annabeth calmed them down while Mrs O'Leary finally let me up. Tyson and Grover were there, but as it turned out Tee had already met his namesakes.
All the members of the Order, plus DA1 through 4 were there. Even Draco Malfoy showed up and he seemed to be doing well. He was now training instructor, although he was leaving to get married and enter the world of magical business.
The practice area had changed. With no wars to fight and few quests, Leo had constructed indoor and outdoor training areas that were better than any where. Several hundred acres were dedicated just to airmobile and air assault training, plus there were practice ranges and training areas for all manner of weapons. About the only thing that was still recognizable were the quidditch arena, Sirius and Lupin's homes, the pond and Annabeth's spatha stuck in the oak. Under it was a brass plaque, and when curiosity got the best of me I went over to read it.
It almost irked me for a second as the large letters across the top read "Jackson Training Grounds," but then I read the smaller letters where it stated that it was dedicated two years ago to honor Annabeth Jackson for "her service and dedication to the magical and demigod youth of the world." That I liked and approved of.
"Its nice isn't it?" A familiar voice said. I turned to look.
"Neville! Chiron!" I nearly yelled as I grasped both in turn.
"Welcome back Percy. Yeah, Leo put that up a couple years ago." Neville continued.
"When I saw the name I was worried that.. but Annabeth, yeah, she deserves it. If they did anything like that for me I would..."
"He doesn't know?" Neville asked Chiron.
"Know what?"
"Well my boy, you didn't get a plaque." Chiron said.
"Good."
"You got statues." He finished.
"What? Where? Take them down!"
"No, Leo insists that yours be forever beside his on Half Blood Hill, and the Romans are quite possessive of the one at the Senate. You might be able to get Dumbledore to remove the one from the Trophy Room at Hogwarts, but I doubt it. Oh, but they were crafted by the Romans, so they are much more accurate and visually pleasing than Leo's." He smiled.
"Percy, may I have a word?" Chiron asked.
"Sure, but you've probably heard by now that I'm not telling how I got out so"
"No. I appreciate and respect your decision. I know though that both the Giants and Titans had been revived, I was wondering about my father."
"Oh. No, I didn't see him. Not once. I don't think the Giants or Titans are organized in any real way. They didn't ever attack as a unit, just as a mob, so my guess is Kronos is still, well, unformed."
"Thank you. May I pass that on to those interested?"
"Sure, but can you wait until tomorrow? I'm meeting a few of the twelve tonight and after than it will all be someone else's problem."
"Certainly. I hope we can avoid this war."
"About that Chiron, can I bounce an idea off of you?"
We talked as privately as we could and he agreed that my suspicions were certainly possible. That helped me to decide to pass them on too.
Leo wanted to tour me around the new training grounds but Annabeth and Will nixed that owing to my weakened state. Instead he just pointed to stuff and announced that we had an outstanding bass population in the lake now.
I was enjoying catching up with folks but I tired easily and had a hard time focusing on conversations as a result. Annabeth sensed my weariness and suggested we wrap it up, but even then it took a while as I had to hug everyone goodbye.
Finally Chiron, Dumbledore or Merlin as we now knew him to be, and Hazel as Praetor, offered a toast in my honor and made some brief remarks about what I had done before I left and how glad they all were I was back. Great. Now I was tired and emo.
I thanked everyone again, told them how good it was to be back, but that on doctor's orders I needed to rest, and we left. Annabeth thought the kids might want to stay as they were having a great time whacking everything with foam rubber practice swords Leo had made just for them, but they wanted to hang with "Daaaahhhhdeeeee."
I just wanted to hang with my family.
So we did. I laid on the couch in the family room, Annabeth in the easy chair beside me and the kids crawled all over both of us as she read a children's story popular at the time about some orphaned wizard and the adventures he shared with his best friends. It was a good story but I confess Annabeth's soft voice lulled me in and out of sleep. Finally I must have completely nodded off as sometime later I woke with two kids asleep on top of me and Annabeth smiling at me.
"Hey" I whispered, not wanting to wake Caly and Tee.
"Hey yourself" she smiled.
"What ya thinking?"
"Oh, just how nice it is to have you back, to have my family together like we're supposed to be. You know, the usual."
"So weird. I was just thinking the same thing." I replied.
"Wuv dahdee" Tee added, then rubbed his nose against my shirt and went back to sleep.
"Wuv my babies too." I whispered back. Perhaps I was happier the day we wed, but that would have been the only time in my life that was true.
"How does the story end?" I asked.
"I don't know, I've started reading it to the kids a few dozen times and we never made it past the chapter with the snake." She smiled. Gods she was beautiful.
We talked a bit, but it was almost time for our guests so I reluctantly woke the kids and mommy took them to the play room. By the time she had returned, Nico arrived and minutes later a knock came at the door with our other guests. I was't sure whether to offer refreshments or what the protocol was, I had never hosted three of the big twelve and the goddess of magic before. Annabeth served tea, but no one touched it.
"First, let me say thanks for coming. I've asked Nico to be here to represent his father and his father's interest since Hades will not appear until the solstice. Athena, father, I thank you for watching over my children and Annabeth the last few years. Hecate, I.. well I would not have made it back without you, although I'm pretty sure you didn't know you were helping. And Lady Hestia, thank you for blessing my home with such joy and happiness."
"I've not asked you here to negotiate a peace, but to avoid a war. It may be necessary to have one, but not between those ready to fight now. All of you are interested in how I escaped and whether or not I some how broke the seal Hades placed on Tartarus, and whether or not the Giants and Titans can now free themselves. The short answer is no. Have there been any reports of them on the mortal plain?"
"We have heard none" Athena replied for the group.
"And you won't. Or you shouldn't. Not from anything I did."
"What exactly did you do Percy? We must know if we are to convince my brothers of your innocence" My father asked. It was good that he was setting aside vengeance for my incarceration for the time being.
"I will tell you everything I know, and a suspicion that I have. First, and Nico can confirm this, our mission was a trap. They were waiting for us and on us as soon as we arrived."
"I suspected such treachery from"
"Not from Hades, I'm sorry, I shouldn't interrupt you Lady Athena, you've... you've always been very good to me, even when you doubted my worthiness for Annabeth, you gave me a fair chance. I apologize, but no. It wasn't Hades. He has nothing to gain from it. Anyway, Nico got out, Tartarus was sealed, and I was still there. I fought them with sword for.. I don't know how long, it seemed like hours, but was probably weeks. Time is weird there. The Giants were about as strong there as they were here, but Titans, well, I don't think they had fully formed back. They are slower to regrow. I couldn't kill them, but I could wound them enough that they would stop for a bit. In those times I was able to use your magic Hecate, thank you for that, to set up my tent, cast an invisibility and protecto totalium, eat and rest briefly, then they would attack again. I've told Chiron this already, their attacks were unorganized and I never saw or heard Kronos, so it is my belief that he is still unformed."
"It was during one of these all too brief rests that I noticed that the protection spell was completely effective against the Giants. One of them tried to force their way through and was killed. Of course he reformed within days. They attacked in mass and I was exhausted. I got desperate and began casting the killing curse as well as using my blade. It worked."
"You can't kill one by yourself, you must have a god and hero working together." Nico said.
"Right, and I think I did. Well, maybe. That goes back to what I was telling Lady Hecate. I don't know for certain, but with a sword I could not. With my wand, I could. I think it is because my wand has a core that is a lock of your hair Hecate, so the rule was satisfied. In any event, killing something there is of little relief. They reform. Quickly. Once I knew magic was effective though I went on offense. I began killing them as quickly as I found them, then hunting them down for sheer bloody mindlessness I began using the cruciatus curse to torture them, and the imperious to set them to killing each other. I started looking for a way out, to get back to Annabeth and the kids.
At one point I was fighting one, the guy with the snake feet, beside the river Acheron and I threw half his remains into the river and blew the rest up with a reducto. It took a lot longer for him to turn up again. Anyway, it occurred to me that the Archeron is formed by the five rivers of the underworld coming together, and they all flowed in from the upper, unsealed region. So I followed them and where I found them flowing down the walls I had the water raise me up until I was at the roof."
"And that is how you escaped?" Athena asked.
"No, unfortunately that was sealed too. The waters just flowed through the rock and appeared. I tried, believe me I tried, but no, I couldn't get out that way. On the way back I got a really good idea about grabbing a giant, disapperating so that they were halfway into the rock wall and the other half under the waterfall of the River Lethe so that every time they woke they were both in agony and forgot who they were. That was fun for a while."
"Fun?"
"I use the term relatively I suppose. Anyway I followed the rivers the other way, to see if it went anywhere useful, passing along the way the darkness of Nyx, we'll come back to that, and found the lake it drains into. So that was a dead end too, or so I thought. For lack of anything better to do, and because the Titans and Giants seemed to avoid it, I began exploring under water. I never let any of it touch me of course, but I found a cavern that it seemed to drain into, and from following it, I came to an iron gate, clearly magical and blocking the way."
"So, how did you get out Percy? Your story is interesting but what we need to know is..."
"Apperation. I went around the gate magically, then up through a layer of mud and filth, like the sewer of the underworld, and when I came out of it, burned and blistered by the heat, it was almost magma there, I found myself surfacing in the swamp of the River Styx, just as the base of the cliff upon which rests the House of Hades. I knew Persephone kept some of those pearls she uses to get to and from the underworld, so I cast an accio, and within a few minutes one arrived, I crushed it, pretty much with the last of my strength, and came out at my father's cabin at Camp Half Blood. Went through two doors, fell down on the street, and Annabeth started washing me off. That was three days ago. So, no, the Giants and Titans can't go the way I went, unless they can keep the water of the river of sorrows and memory off of them, and magically transport themselves through rock."
"I will tell my brother" Poseidon said.
"And I my father" Athena added. "There will be peace, but this does not get Hades forgiven for sending you into his trap."
"There is more." I said. "As I said before, I don't think it was his trap. He has nothing to gain from a war with his brothers, but there are those that do. Remember when I said I passed by the mansion of darkness of Nyx? When Annabeth and I were there she lived with her daughters. We didn't really hit it off and it was clear they didn't want to be our friends."
"That's an understatement." Annabeth said.
"Right, well, since there is so much love and admiration between us as I passed through that area I cast a lumos maxima, a bunch of them really, just for spite, and lit the whole place up. It took Nyx a few seconds to recover but in that time I was already past her and her children, and I noticed something. Now, I'm no expert on the children of Nyx, but the one known as Eris? Strife? She wasn't there. So... Nico, I imagine if someone were to ask the fates who delivered Backbiter to them, the answer would be Eris."
"She couldnt' have gotten out of Tartarus without..." Hestia paused.
"Someone outside helping her. Now, who do we know that would benefit from there being more anger and strife in the world? I make no accusation here, just providing food for thought. Finally, well, that's my story. Sort of dull I suppose but I hope it answers all your questions."
"All but one" Hecate said.
"Who is going to round up Eris?" Athena concluded.
"Well you will have to decide that at the Solstice. I think that is above demigod level, rounding up a diety. But anyway, that's what I remember. I confess a lot of it is hazy, but I'm sure what I have told you is accurate."
"You are not a demigod any longer Percy, you are an immortal lord of Olympus."
"Sure, but its still above my pay grade, and, come on, I've done my tour." I smiled.
We talked a bit until Hestia and Hecate, with my profuse thanks again, left. Athena and Poseidon stayed a bit longer and check on Tee and Caly, before leaving.
"Percy, you make me proud. I am glad that your current status allows us to spend time. We should go fishing when you are well enough to." My father said as he departed.
Weird.
It was getting late and the children were tired. So was their father. I did get to help tuck them into bed, even as both argued that they should stay up later to see daaaahhhhdeeeee more. I swore we would spend the whole day tomorrow swimming and playing and they eventually surrendered to sleep. Annabeth mentioned that Leo and Calypso were having a cook out, this one just for the folks that have homes in New Ionia and that we were invited. That sounded nice but I didn't want to commit for sure. The kids might want to lay on the couch while mommy read to us some more.
By the time I showered and put on the basketball shorts and tee that passed for PJ's for me, Annabeth was already in bed.
"Okay if I sleep in here?" I sheepishly asked.
"You better! Of course, we're past that now. I want you beside me, spooning me and with an arm gently draped around me, at least until I fall asleep. Got it?" She smiled.
"I can do that. I just wanted to make sure, I mean, I can sleep on the couch if you're"
"I'm not. Now shut up and get in bed. Geez."
We held each other close and a good night kiss led to another, then another, then many passionate ones after that. We probably would have continued to the logical conclusion as Wise Girl might say, but there was a gentle knock at our door followed by a whispered voice.
"Mahhhmeeee, can I sweep in here I had a dweam."
Another voice soon followed. "Me too, I had a dweam too."
We looked at each other in the dim light, smiled and Annabeth said "Sure, come on! But just tonight, your daddy needs his rest."
They were both upon the bed and under the covers between us in an instant. Soon enough all three were asleep as I could only stare at my family. My life was complete, and I never felt more like a man than I did watching over them that night.
