Olympus, due to the many years which it has existed, contained many secrets. All the gods had hidden rivalries, occurrences and sometimes even hidden romance. But still, there was one secret that was greater than all others, the secret that Aphrodite had just discovered.
This secret was so great because it contained two main and very important issues. First of all, the maiden goddess Artemis had turned out to not be so much a maiden. She had sired a child, a male, and with a god nonetheless, which brought up the second issue.
Perseus, son of Poseidon and Hera, was the first god to be born out of two gods and also the first god to be exiled from Olympus. Even though this was done due to Zeus paranoia, it did not change at all the fact that the god was still living illegally in America. He was supposed to be imprisoned in his island for all eternity, yet thanks to the fates, the god of time had managed to escape his imprisonment.
These two issues combined made for a very dangerous situation. The offspring of both gods would be undoubtedly powerful, but the symbolism of his existence posed much more of a threat than the actual teen.
When Aphrodite figured out the secret, Perseus could only stare at the goddess of love. His mind was unable to form coherent sentences, drifting from ways to escape the situation to the possible effects the discovery may have on the life of his family.
"You weren't going to tell me ever, were you?" Aphrodite said angrily.
Perseus, not trusting his mouth, simply nodded and bowed his head down in shame.
"Dammit Percy! This is the biggest event since we changed to Roman aspects, and you didn't tell me about it!" Aphrodite yelled
"I'm sorry, but I had promised that I wouldn't tell anybody. If somebody found out, Carib, Artemis and I would be in danger. So I plead before you, please Aphrodite, don't tell this to anybody. I'm asking you as a friend, un amigo, un ami, un amico, enas filos, a chingu..." Perseus pleaded, rubbing his hands together as if he were in a prayer
"Stop saying friends in different languages! I get your point, and I love the way you want to protect your family. But you must also understand Perseus, being an Olympian gives me the responsibility and duty report any abnormality I find, especially in times of war such as this" Aphrodite said seriously, but her eyes projecting great sorrow. Deep down, the goddess of love truly loved the god of tides, she loved him as one would a brother. He was the male friend she wished she had since ancient times.
Perseus fell to his knees, obtaining the wide eyes of the love goddess. "Please Aphrodite, I'll do anything, just please don't tell anybody of Carib. You can tell of my existence, the king of Olympus can kill me, but please, I beg you, don't hurt my son" tears fell from his eyes.
Aphrodite looked at the shaking figure in front of her, and pushing her lips together, touched Perseus' shoulder.
"Fine, I won't tell anybody. Instead, I need you to answer me two things" Aphrodite said
Perseus stood up and hugged the love goddess, muttering tons of 'thank you's' in the ear of Aphrodite
"Sit down Percy. I know you're childish, but I need you to be serious for a moment" Aphrodite said glaring at the god
"I'm sorry, what were you going to ask me?"
"How did you get Artemis to sleep with you?" Aphrodite asked excitedly
Perseus grinned, "I guess I'm just too sexy for even a maiden goddess to resist"
"I told you to start being serious. Answer me or I'll tell the council everything" Aphrodite threatened
Perseus sighed, "Okay, the truth is that...Artemis is my wife. That's how I managed to escape the island where I was at and live here in America"
"You're married?! Who else knows?" Aphrodite asked quickly, seeming very interested in the subject
"Only Apollo knows, and that's because he's Artemis brother. You can't tell anybody alright?"
Aphrodite rose her arms, "alright, I won't tell anybody"
"Thanks. Now, your second question is..."
"How doesn't Hector know that he's a god? I mean, he's a son of both you and Artemis, so he should be a god." Aphrodite conjured a glass of wine, which she began to stir
"You're right, he is a god, but because of our fear that someone might look for a new god, and also because of a prophecy, we decided that it was better if we sent him to live in Camp Half-Blood, so he could learn how to fight and handle himself"
Aphrodite sipped her wine, "I get what you were trying to fix, but doesn't that seem like the most effective way to make your child resent you?"
Perseus sighed, "That's what has happened. Trust me, we tried to figure out ways to stay with him, but Artemis being with her hunters and me being, well me, it was impossible to raise him without gaining attention. Hell, you found me and that wasn't because of the huge power. Imagine if a huge amount of power suddenly appeared in Orlando"
"Oh, I get what you mean. And so disguising him as a demigod also helped to hide him from the other gods right? Because nobody would look at Camp Half-Blood for any unclaimed and powerful demigod"
Perseus narrowed his eyes, "I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or not, but that's practically why we did it"
"And just like any demigod, he was abandoned by his parents," Aphrodite said bluntly
"Artemis had talked to him once and always looked after him. So he wasn't completely abandoned" Perseus replied
"But you didn't do anything to watch over him, did you?" Aphrodite didn't wait from a reply of the god, "you forgot about him at one point"
"Can you blame me? I hadn't seen him in so long"
Aphrodite hit Perseus on the head due to the anger she felt from his reply.
"That is no excuse. I for one can tell you that I remember each and every one of my children... and you know how promiscuous I am. You only have one child, you have no excuse to be negligent"
Perseus rubbed his hand on his head, where the love goddess had just hit him.
"That's different, you actually gave birth to your children" Perseus tried to defend himself
"Gods, I'm so disappointed in you Percy. Don't be surprised if Hector ends up with the Oedipus complex." Aphrodite said before she flashed out, leaving the time god alone inside the restaurant.
The god finished his chocolate milk in silence, his mind replaying the scene over and over again. Had he really been so negligent? Had he been like every other god who just slept around with mortals and forgot about their kids? Had he fallen so low as to turn into one of the men Artemis hated?
As he walked to his room, the god began to plan a way to tell his son the truth. It was going to come out one day, and his anger was inevitable, but the least he could do was tell his son the truth.
After much debate, he decided to tell his son soon after they had rescued Artemis. Once she was safe, it would be much better to announce the news to Carib. His fragile teenage mind would need a mother figure in this situation, and with his only mother captured under the sky, it would not be a good idea to drop such a bomb of information.
When the god of tides opened the door, he was met with a sleeping mountain lion sleeping on the floor, keeping guard of his new owner. Hector Carib slept soundly, lightly snoring and twitching every so often.
"Why does he snore? Neither Artemis or me does that" Perseus muttered
After brushing his teeth and shaving his slight beer, the god went and laid down on the bed. As he closed his eyes, Perseus could feel the tide much too calm due to the moon not being present on the sky. He could feel every second of time, counting one by one as the minutes went by. Soon enough, the god of time grew tired of counting the seconds that passed, and fell asleep next to the already sleeping teen.
Falling into a sleep slumber, the god left all his worries to flow away from his body. All the negative energy he had been carrying, most of his stress, it all came off his shoulder and into the bed.
Feeling well-rested, the god of tides slowly woke up, stretching, cracking his back, and rubbing his eyes in an effort to wake up and become alert. After going to the bathroom and brushing his teeth, a weird feeling began to settle inside the gods being. A sense of distress, as if they had missed something great.
And that's when it clicked. Perseus ran towards where Hector laid sleeping.
"Hector Carib Troy, wake the Hades up this instant!" Perseus yelled, earning nothing but a snore from the teen
"Carib wake-up!" Nothing happened
The god took water from the bathroom and threw it on top of the boy, but the boy simply did not seem affected by anything.
"Carib, Artemis will perish if you don't wake up this instant" suddenly, the teen began to groan and slowly wake up.
"Don't call me Carib" he groaned, yawning
"Shut up and get ready to leave. We overslept" Perseus pushed Hector towards the bathroom
"Why what time is it?"
"It's 8am"
"Only? It's not that late" Hector rubbed his eyes and yawned as he walked towards the bathroom.
"We slept for two days straight. Tomorrow is the solstice meeting"
"We WHAT?!" Hector asked, running to the bathroom to do all his necessities
"Yeah, so hurry up," Perseus said loudly, not daring to go in front of the see-through bathroom door.
As quick as two minutes later, hector stood fully dressed and ready to go. Simba, the mountain lion, stood right beside the teen, ready to continue the expedition.
Perseus looked at his son, impressed by the similarities between him and his mother. As with the hunters, Hector was quick to pack everything and be ready to go in such a few minutes. Granted, there wasn't much to pack, yet the room stood as if nobody had even slept on it.
"Are you ready to rock and roll?" Perseus asked as he opened the door
Hector groaned, "your dad jokes are the worst. Save them for your children"
Perseus nodded sadly, conscious that it was not the time to tell his son about him or his mother.
"Wait for me outside while I check us out of the room," Perseus told the teenager, who followed his instructions not looking back at the god. The god went to the front desk, where the same receptionist was sitting. "Hey, I'm here for the check out"
"Alright sir, how did you enjoy your stay?" The male receptionist asked cordially
"It was pretty good" Perseus handed the room keys to the receptionist, who took them with both hands as a sign of great respect. "Do you know a place where we can rent a car?" Perseus asked
"Oh, of course. There's a car rental just in town. It's about a ten-minute walk down-the-road. I could give you a lift if you'd like sir, this temperature is no good for you nor your companion" The receptionist offered. The sincerity in his voice made him sound so...genuine. It was a rare occurrence that a mortal was so genuinely good, especially a male. he hated to agree with his wife, but after living years in the mortal world as a businessman, Perseus could confidently say that men were most commonly the evilest of the two genders.
Once the god of tides checked out of the room, he joined Hector, who was sitting on the bench just outside the motel.
"Where are we going now?" Hector asked as he stood up, backpack on his shoulders.
Perseus walked past him, muttering some incomprehensible words.
"What did you say?" Hector asked
"To rent a car. It should take us around 24 hours by car from here to California, so around 27 to exactly where we want to be. Add to that the rest stops, it should be at least 30 hours" Perseus said as he walked
Hector ran up to the god, Simba the mountain trailing behind. "We don't have that much time"
"I know, that's why I'm thinking of some modifications we can do to the car to make it faster" Perseus answered
"We is a lot of people"
Perseus ignored the whining teen and continued his way into town. Hector, noticing that the god was not paying attention to him, reluctantly shut up and followed right behind. It seemed impossible that he had slept for two days straight. Never in his life had he slept so much. He was always one of the people who rarely slept at all. For some reason, he felt super energized during the night, and with only around two or three hours of sleep, Hector could function as normal. Adding that he was a very light sleeper, the teen was very surprised that he had slept so soundly for such a long amount of time.
It bothered him. He had lost two valuable days of his life. At that time, Artemis had suffered much more than necessary, all because he decided to sleep. At this rate, Hector did not doubt that the questers whereas close or even more close to Artemis than he was...and that bothered him to no end. He was supposed to rescue Artemis, he was supposed to avenge her, not some stupid camper Son of Poseidon, who most likely got to go to the quest just because.
"Carib, go and buy some food for the road. Don't be afraid to spend as much as you want, but make sure to buy a looot of food. And toilet paper and water also." Perseus interrupted Hector's train of thought, handing the teen a black credit card. "I'll be renting the car and making some modifications. Let's meet right here"
"Don't call me Carib" Hector said angrily, taking the credit card and walking to the nearest store.
Once in the store, Hector looked around for stuff to buy. Immediately locating the candy section, the teen went in a sugar overdrive, taking every candy available. Then, just because he knew that Perseus would disapprove of such an unhealthy variation of food, the teen went and got some apples, cereal, water, Gatorade, meat, Paracetamol, matches, cookies, and chips.
Comfortable with his food and supply selection, Hector went up to the register to pay for the stuff. As normal, the teen put the stuff on the register for the worker to scan and then put in a bag. After the cashier scanned all the stuff, he told Hector the total. However, the voice of the cashier sounded much too rough and dumb, which gave the ex-camper a very bad feeling.
Looking up to the cashier, Hector noticed that the being only had one eye. But it wasn't as if he had lost one in a war, or as if it was taken during surgery or anything. This thing had only one eye socket, in the middle of the forehead.
'A cyclops' Hector thought to himself, surprised and scared.
"It's 242.0" The monster repeated himself, completely unaware that Hector had just seen through the mist
Shaking his head out of the trance, Hector handed the cyclops/cashier the black credit card. The rough hand waved, the cyclops silently saying that he didn't need the card.
"Insert it when green," The rough voice of the monster said. Hector nodded, scared of the moment the monster may attack him.
Curiously enough, the monster did not attack him ever, nor he made any weird movement of recognizing a god offspring. He seemed to treat Hector just like any mortal, not even a clear-sighted one. This troubled Hector very much, as he always knew that demigods were hunted down and killed by many types of monsters, commonly the cyclops. It was how his adoptive parents, Heather and Scott, had perished after all.
He remembered, in what could only be considered a family outing, Hector and his demigod parents were walking through the woods nearby the camp just in case any attack occured. It was a normal outing, just like any other day. Hector ran through the trees, climbing to some and swinging around as if he were a monkey. Scott and Heather laughed as the little six year old had the time of his life.
All of the sudden, a loud rumbling of branches shook the family from its peaceful moments. Hector remembered being knocked down of one of the branches and then receiving a cut on his leg, just where the main artery is. Quickly he lost conciousness, the faint image of a kind-woman tending to him as his "parents" fought for their lives against the monsters. Hector woke up in the infirmary, with Chiron looking down to him with a crestfallen look.
The then six year old asked his mentor what had happened, at which time he received the news of his "parents" dying. Forgetting his injury, the little boy ran towards the archery range, which became his sanctuary for the years to follow.
Such an event never left Hector's mind, which made the teenager even more curious as to why the cyclops had not attacked him. Was he waiting for the perfect moment, or had the cyclops simply lost his capability of detecting demigods? Whichever the reason, Hector knew not to let it affect him too much. The teen quickly grabbed the bags containing his purchased items and walked away from the store.
"Took you long enough. I was just about to go and get you" Perseus joked, reclining on a caravan.
"There is no way that vehicle can move fast enough for us to save Artemis in time," Hector said, dropping the bags on the floor
"You forget that I'm the god of technology. I did something to the car, and trust me, it's going to be fast" Perseus grinned
"What did you do, oh great god of awesomeness? Did you change the motor of the caravan and put a Ferrari motor?" Hector said sarcastically
Perseus frowned, "First of all, it's a Bugatti motor. Second of all, I did more than that. And I do not need your condescending tone right now. So settle the stuff inside cause we leave in two minutes"
"What about Simba?" Hector asked, pointing at the mountain lion that was licking himself
"We can't take him. He won't survive in California, it's not his habitat. Plus, he probably has a mate around here, and we can't afford to make this already endangered species even more endangered" Perseus said, patting Hector's shoulder
With a crestfallen figure, Hector made his way to the unaware mountain lion. Putting his hand on its head, the teenager began to let his tears fall.
"I'm so sorry Simba, but we can't take you any further. I'll be here for you soon, don't worry. Nebraska will see me again, you will see me again. I love you Simba" Hector sobbed, as the mountain lion purred at the teen's side.
Perseus saw from the rearview mirror the interaction, smiling a sad smile, watching how his son had made such a special connection with a part of Artemis domain. Truly he had more in common with Artemis than with him, which he couldn't blame as he had been completely absent from his life.
"Maybe this is my punishment for being such a bad parent" Percy muttered
