Chapter 77
Percy
"Are you here to murder me Perseus Jackson?"
"Why would I do that Basil? I'm here because Chiron and Clarisse asked me to talk to you."
"Assassin of the Gods. That is what they are calling you on Olympus now, after Tartarus. You should know this, it was never part of my plan for you to be trapped there, I only wanted to"
"Assist the goddess of strife in her escape. Why?"
"My power comes from war. War comes from strife, but I never thought Hades would send you and his child Nico to check on the Titans and Giants. That was unforeseen."
"I imagine being cast to earth as a fifteen year old loser was unforseen too." Annabeth replied for me, her voice dripping with bitterness and sarcasm.
"I have accepted my punishment. I must live like this until I recapture Eris and return her to Hades. Again, I did not intend for you to be trapped in Tartarus. We have not gotten along, you and I, but that was not part of my plan. You have my respect and my apology."
"No, you just didn't care if Percy or anyone else did. You didn't consider how your scheme would effect the innocents that were caught up in it you" Annabeth preached until interrupted.
"Save me the morality speech. Every god and half blood of any merit has turned a blind eye to the suffering of innocents. Do you know where that phrase comes from? 'A blind eye'?"
"Horatio Nelson, at the Battle of Copenhagen."
"Very good Mrs Jackson. A child of Poseidon, who ignored his commander and sought his own glory. Every action creates misery to those not favored by it. Don't preach to me. Now, here is what I require"
"You require?" I interrupted. "You require? See, that is one of the things Chiron and Clarisse wanted me to point out to you. You are in no position to require anything. You're not in charge. It is your quest, you do the work not those you command, because you don't command anyone. Got it? Geez, even Apollo figured it out faster than you. Our only job is to make sure you don't die doing something stupid. If you die doing something smart, well, that's your problem. Now, first, word is you suck with a sword, spear and every other weapon you've picked up, and have refused basic mortal education and magical instruction. Do those first. Then figure out where you're going and how you're getting there. The answer to that last one will not include ordering someone to take you."
"Apollo was treated this way? As to the weapons, well, this body does not respond as it should."
"No, he had Meg beating the crap out of him. He got with the program pretty fast actually. You want this body to respond, as you say, as it should? Well you're going to have to train it to. You have work to do and sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and trying to boss people around isn't it."
"I see. I will consider your words. Who are you?" Ares asked of Frank.
"I'm the son of your Roman aspect, Percy and Annabeth asked me to come along."
"Ah! So you could help me where they refuse, good, first we must"
"No, I'm here so I could keep Annabeth from killing you if need be. I'm not your son. Mars is different from you. He wasn't around much but he taught me that war is a last resort after all efforts to avoid it have failed and that personal glory must be set aside for the good of the many. You know neither of those things apparently. No, I'm just here to keep you from getting killed. I wouldn't press your luck. Annabeth is better with a blade than me anyway. Now I suggest you get to work on training this body, you're going to need it. I'll be around if you need help with that."
The child of Iris was a different matter. He was a full on jerk and had not even left the infirmary yet. The children of Apollo were able to save his knee with ambrosia, nectar and healing spells, but he still couldn't walk and threatened all who came near. When Chiron asked his name he responded with "Fuck you!" so that is what everyone began calling him. Fuck You wouldn't listen to anyone and it had already gotten so bad that Apollo cabin began delaying his pain relief measures as no one felt it was important whether he hurt or not. Chiron had attempted to explain his parentage was godly but he refused to listen. He claimed his mother was dead and his father a very important person.
While in the area we apperated to see mom and figured on taking the door from her and Paul's home. Since I had gotten back I had been lacking in my performance as a big brother. My life should definitely involve more spoiling of Estelle and I began to make every effort to do so until she was an insufferably rotten brat. That's what grown up big brothers do. She was about the same age as the twins and the three played together at least every other day. Mom greeted us with a newspaper.
It wasn't the main story, that was something about what our idiot President had done, but several pages in began the local section and there was a nice story about a gang fight in an alley near their residence. The police were still attempting to gather evidence but from the survivor's statements the youth were attacked by what was now believed to be an as yet unknown rival gang armed with shotguns and knives. Of great concern was the missing child, Skylar Logan, son of a folk singer of some renown who currently lived in poverty as he played local coffee shops.
This was too important to not pass on, so we went back to New Ionia and asked Hermione to join us, and Hazel came along both to be with Frank and because they had actually met Iris with me when we traveled to Alaska. We then traveled via the doorway back to Half Blood and marched straight to the infirmary where we found Chiron again trying to identify his newest student, and having no success.
"His name is 'Skylar Logan', but we can keep calling him 'Fuck You' if you want Lord Chiron" Hermione said as she tossed the newspaper, which weighed a couple of pounds, right on Skylar's wounded knee. He grimaced and tears rolled from his eyes.
"You bitch!"
"I'm sorry, what did you call me?" Hermione asked sweetly as she drew forth her Bernelli, racked a round into the chamber and pointed it at his other knee.
Skylar got really quiet.
"That's what I thought." She said.
"Now, you need to know some things. First you are a child of Iris, one of the god's messengers. You've always known you are different, and that is why. You have probably been diagnosed as dyslexic or ADHD, and probably both. Your father is mortal. The gods have little interaction with their mortal children, but Frank, Hazel and I talk with your mom all the time. In a few minutes we will be calling her to tell her you are here and safe, or that Hermione has killed you. Half bloods get killed all the time, so that's no big deal. Hermione might have to go on a quest or mop some floors on Olympus, but nothing really bad will happen to her. Knowing your mom she will expect Hermione to hand out organic cookies to homeless vets a couple times a week for a month or so. Frankly from what I understand, most of the Olympic gods that have knowledge of you would find the world to be a better place if you were not in it running around showing your ass. Camp Half Blood is where the children of the Greek gods with mortals, like yourself, myself, and Annabeth, are trained and educated. There are only a couple of other places like it, and you don't qualify to go to them. So, you can cooperate and accept who you are, or we will let Hermione use you for practice. Candidly, she shot a bit low last night. You really need to work on your aim Lady Grainger. " I said.
"Well when I saw the rainbow I didn't want to waste him until I talked to you guys, I know you are all fond of Iris, but if you think its okay..."
"No! No!" Skyler said in panic... "So all that is true? My mother is a goddess?"
"Yeah, but so is most everyone else's here. Unless their father is."
"Who is yours?"
"Poseidon."
"Athena"
"Mars, he's Roman."
"Pluto, he's Roman too."
"The cartoon dog?" He asked incredulous.
"No. He is sometimes inaccurately called 'Death'." Hazel smiled.
"And you?" He said, still staring up the barrel of a twelve gauge.
"Oh, I'm an exception. My father and mother are both dentists. Do you like pain?" Hermione grinned.
According to Chiron, our meeting was productive. Ares, or 'Basil Loser' as I liked to call him, began working hard to relearn his skills in his new body and was soon making great progress. Skyler finally got with the program and became at first an average student. Iris had several other kids there and they took him under wing. His father was ultimately notified, by Iris herself. Iris was notified by us when we returned to New Ionia that day. We just made a mist and called out to her in it and explained the situation and why Hermione had knee capped him in the first place. She was upset that his father had let him roam with that crowd, but totally cool with us taking him to Half Blood and said she would visit him soon. According to Chiron she was there raising hell at him later that day, wearing her tie dyes and love beads and giving out organic snacks to all.
Annabeth and I were making progress in our home life as well, we decided to get away for a second honeymoon, only this times with the kids. They were not really old enough to appreciate Disney so we did Hawaii again by sending the Argo II there and just walking through the door. We had the whole ship to ourselves but soon enough most of the gang stopped by to visit and just stayed.
We used the launch to hit the beaches as the kids didn't enjoy apperation and while I played in the sand and water with the kids, as well as the guys, Annabeth and the girls would shop and find things for all of us to do in the evenings. The girls wearing grass skirts and learning to hula around a roasting pig at a luau was memorable to say the least. We all took turns looking after JJ so Jason and Piper could enjoy some alone time as well. It was a great trip with few monsters to fight. They seemed to give us a wide berth as long as we were in civilized areas of the islands. Even though monsters left us alone, it didn't make things go smooth. Everyone seemed to be edgy for some reason and every couple, not matter how close, seemed to find a reason to have a spat.
Annabeth and I were not excluded, but it seemed like no big deal. She got upset because, according to her, since I got back the kids wanted to do everything with me. I think she was a little used to be the center of their lives, and I tried to express that she still was, only that now our marriage, the two of us, were and that was how it was supposed to be. This was for some reason the wrong thing to say.
"No, I understand that, but, well, its a lot of change. I'm so glad the kids love you so much, but before, if I went shopping they wanted to go with me, now they want to play in the sand with you. I just don't know what... what I am in their lives anym"
"Mooooomeeee! Caly pushed me!" Tee came into the room shouting.
"Did not! Did not!" Caly yelled, right on his heels.
This saved me from the discussion with Annabeth, but soon I found myself being held responsible for the actions of two toddlers who were apparently perfect before my return. It began another conversation from which there was no escape.
The next morning everyone decided to stay on the beach, and I thought this would solve our small issue, and it sort of did. Instead it shifted to everyone else. Piper and Jason got into a dispute as to whether JJ should have that much sun, or even be on a beach where the water could rush up and drown everyone, to which he pointed out that I was there so that wasn't going to happen, which mean that he relied on his friends too much and needed to stand up for himself.
Hazel asked Frank why he was spending so much time with the guys instead of his girlfriend, while Ron was irked that Hermione's swimwear was drawing too much attention. It was that sort of thing between everyone all day long and none of us realized why it was happening until, in the middle of a dispute over whether to dine at a beach front bar or go a block or two to a nicer restaurant that had everyone red faced and irate, Calypso, Leo's Calypso, not Caly, stood up and demanded we all be quiet.
She looked around until she saw a woman, well, a young woman in a black one piece, half a football field away, laughing and looking at us.
"Be gone Eris, you are not welcome here!" She shouted as she pushed three fingers away from her heart and towards the woman, who immediately disappeared.
We all felt instantly better and probably would have been apologizing to each other, except now we were all pissed because our time table on assisting Ares had just gotten pushed forward.
