OMAKE I: The Lost Rhinoceros!
AN: Hey, everyone. Sorry in advance to drop a filler chapter.
I've had this one saved in case, and I've been horribly sick for the past week and haven't been able to work on the actual chapter (it's about 40%) done. I feel like shit, though. My brain is barely working in general, let alone to the point where I want to keep writing. Even writing this Author's note is pushing it.
But, I still didn't want to leave you guys without any new content for too long though, so I decided I'd upload this one. It's the first omake I've written, but that being said, it's still canon so I would make sure to pay attention. Lots of cool setup in this one. It also takes place before Atlantis, so keep that in mind while reading.
Anyway, see you guys hopefully sometime next week or the week after with the next chapter!
"Hello, hello, hello! My name is Darko Montgomery, and you're listening to Channel Five with Darko! First off, I think I've got some fan mail which I'll get to later, but I just had to mention- Amanda from Brooklyn, your brownies are looking downright scrumptious! You got magic hands, girl! Hit me up on the line some time, and we can…oh, right, um, in other news, our Long Island residents can expect a beautiful June 24th morning, with a low of 84 degrees near the cooler parts of the county and a high of…"
Click!
I pushed the button to stop my stopwatch- 15:00:34.
I grabbed my pen and scribbled a few words down on my notepad as the Darko Montgomery Show continued playing on the rather old radio I'd smuggled in. The random sounds of static could be annoying sometimes, but when you're trying to smuggle electronics into a magic camp, you sort of have to take what you can get. Plus, it made for decent enough background noise, so you'd never hear me complain too much.
I took a deep breath, enjoying the ambient smell of warm apple pie tickling my nose. A satisfied sigh worked its way out of my mouth.
Today's camp cooking day, I think, and the Aphrodite cabin's giving away some pies for free- I'll definitely be trying my hand (and tastebuds) on at least a few of those. Especially after the long morning I've had.
You see- I've been training. Hard.
I kicked my feet out from under the dock, letting my body fall into the freshwater underneath.
Fwoom!
Bubbles raced past my face as I went shooting through the water, enjoying the feeling of tearing through the camp waters with my newfound speed. I felt like a speedboat cutting through the waters frighteningly fast, churning the water behind me like a blender.
I saw some catfish staring at me warily from a few feet underneath me. I waved, and they dispersed for some reason as I shot by them. Wow- usually, fish are happy to see me.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I've been training a bit more with some of my powers from Poseidon. Specifically underwater traversal and other general underwater skills, for a couple of reasons.
First off, these are some of the few powers that I'm at liberty to try, and second, being able to move at fast speeds underwater and do other general things seamlessly will definitely aid me at Atlantis. It's the more logical choice.
Don't get me wrong- I definitely want to try some of my other, more destructive powers. I feel like that's pretty natural. You would too.
It's just a matter of if I can, and how I should budget the limited time I have above the ground.
There's also the whole, you know, 'safety of myself and others' element I have to consider.
As luck would have it, all my more fun powers are the potentially dangerous ones, so I can't exactly just whip them out in a camp full of children.
Probably the most dangerous one that I've been itching to try, by far, has been earth-shaking. They call my old man the earthshaker, so it's pretty logical to assume that I'd have gotten a few of those powers, too, but, like I said, it's pretty inadvisable for me to try that sort of thing out right here, right now.
Safety aside, Hestia also made sure to mention that any sort of big, potentially environmentally-altering things like earthquakes could get the attention of the council again, and not in a good way.
And, as she loves to point out, I'm still supposedly a threat to some of them.
I asked her to explain what she meant, and she explained it like this:
First of all, there's no way I'd cause an earthquake in camp. Not only did she personally threaten me with the safety of the campers, but she also pointed out that I'd cause a lot of damage that I'd be forced to pay off, one way or another.
We switched over to my second course of action- trying it out in some water. There is a rather large source of it right outside of my cabin...so...
Let's say I paddle myself out into the middle of the Long Island water and use my powers to cause a minor earthquake. Not even a big, fault-rupturing, earth-splitting sort of thing, but just a little rumble here and there. Well, you see, in causing that minor earthquake, I've already disrupted the domains of a few minor gods. Technically, anyway, and Hestia made sure to tell me that most minor gods don't really have much to do, so they'd take this sort of stuff rather seriously if they were given the opportunity.
It's sort of like a horrible domino effect. Again, we're working under the assumption that I let off just a little rumble.
Kymopoleia, the goddess of violent seas and storms would probably feel something go off in her sphere of influence, as my earthquake in the middle of the water would most definitely cause the sea in my surrounding area to get choppy, at the least, even with some of the weakest earthquakes.
Glaucus, the god of sailors and fishermen might have a bone to pick with me if those choppy waters affect the people out on the water for fun or recreation. Especially on those Long Island waters- commercial fishing rigs use the channel to get back from long, deep-sea fishing trips. My impromptu earthquake and subsequent tremors could really fuck up their day.
But wait! It just gets worse: Britomartis, the goddess of hunting and fishing nets, is kind of pissed off now because the deep-sea currents from the ships are no longer brushing through the water and shifting the fishing nets that they're supposed to be shifting. Those fish are no longer being hunted, those fishing nets no longer being used.
Zeus forbid, my earthquake causes any sort of destruction or terror, too- if any of Ares' little prick kids got involved, I'd have a whole shitshow on my hands.
All it takes is one of these minor deities to IM a council member, and bam, I'm back in front of twelve giant beings again. It's one thing if I'm pushed to my limits by an external threat and I have no choice but to use one of these powers, but it's a whole other situation if the only thing I have to defend myself with is saying that I did it for fun. Or science.
Not to mention, godly intervention aside, I don't exactly know the specifics of how my powers really work, which is especially dangerous because of the real-world connection between hurricanes and earthquakes, which are basically the only two powers I haven't tested out in some odd capacity.
As for the connection between the two, well, based on what I've read and been told by some of the meteorology maniacs in the Athena cabin, so far, there isn't really a reason to believe that an earthquake can cause a hurricane.
That's a good start, and kind of a weight off of my mind, but at the same time, not really.
While earthquakes may not cause hurricanes, they can still set off several other natural disasters.
Earthquakes cause tsunamis, they can trigger mudslides and landslides, and if my day is really going poorly, I could accidentally cause a rumble in a fault that connects to or lies directly beneath a volcano. Which, as you guessed, can cause an eruption. Not good.
I could be swimming back to shore, completely oblivious, as a volcano is set off somewhere in Malaysia, or something. Do they even have volcanoes there? Forget it- you get the point.
Not to mention, although the inverse doesn't hold up, there are some clues suggesting that hurricanes might contribute to earthquakes. Massive changes in atmospheric pressure, for example, are widely thought to cause slow earthquakes—weak tremors that last for hours or days rather than unleashing their full power over a few moments. Still annoying, and still dangerous.
Again, I'm not particularly experienced in either of these powers. It's sort of like jumping really high to touch the rim in basketball, or running faster than you've ever gone before to win a race- I feel, somewhere deep in the back of my mind that I'm capable of these things, I just don't quite know exactly how to use them. Even with my video game powers, I'd still need to learn those mechanics before being able to use them at will.
The worst part is, they feel similar too. Powers are weird to describe, but like I tried to allude to before, they're like physical limitations that you know you can break if you try hard enough.
Hurricanes and earthquakes feel similar in a sense, but not different enough for me to be able to guarantee that one won't bleed into the other if it's my first time trying them out.
I vaguely feel like I'd be able to summon a hurricane if I manipulated the moisture in the air around me in a circular motion while drawing water from the bay, but if I lost track of the water in the air and too much or too little spilled over, I'd have tremors on my hands.
Do you see my predicament?
It's just too dangerous, I reminded myself as I touched the sand at the bottom of the Long Island shoals, shooting back up to the surface in a churning vortex that dropped me off in the same spot I'd jumped down from.
You've gained +5% EXP towards:
[PHYSICAL][ACTIVE] Underwater Traversal, LV- 32 (45%)
Underwater Traversal is an active skill that can be used to boost your swimming speed and power while completely submerged below the surface!
+ (50 + LEVEL OF THE SKILL)% speed!
+ (50 + LEVEL OF THE SKILL)% power!
Click!
14:53:21!
Meh. I'm getting faster. This skill is a bit annoying to grind, but mornings like these, where I'm not doing too much, are the best times to grind annoying skills.
I yawned for a moment, my eyes catching a seagull and crab start to fight, somewhere off in the distance. Training mornings could be boring sometimes, but they're still very necessary. I'll stand by that.
It's like building a house. If your foundation isn't strong, no matter how good the rest of the house is, it'll eventually crumble and fall and ruin your life. Something like that.
Before I could slip back into the water and touch the bottom of the lake again, a voice stopped me: "Percy! Percy!"
I turned my neck and saw Malcolm running toward me, his tiny sneakers squeaking against the damp wood of the dock.
Ah! Malcolm.
Well, you see, Annabeth's actually gone for the day with Chiron- they're taking a quick trip to the Bronx. I think they were talking about an ancient scroll popping up in a museum exhibit, or something.
Full disclosure, it sounded pretty boring when they started talking about it, so I completely let myself zone out.
Of course, seeing as she's gone, I made sure to let Malcolm know he's welcome at my cabin whenever he needs it. He's got other siblings, yeah, but his other siblings can be a little focused on their own stuff. Annabeth is one of the few that isn't, and she basically acts like Malcolm's mother. They're together all day, every day, and I didn't want him to feel lonely without her.
She warned me about training, stating that Malcolm would be too shy to ask me to spend time with him since he knew I was training for Atlantis, but I assured her it would be fine- and I was right since lo and behold, he was seeking me out of his own volition!
"My…Gerald…." Malcolm was huffing, his little hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Gerald's missing!"
"Gerald?" I repeated, confused. I lifted myself up to my feet so I could walk over to him. "Who's Gerald?"
"Gerald is my stuffed rhinoceros!" Malcolm exclaimed loudly, seemingly offended that I didn't know that. "And he's missing!"
"Okay, okay," I placated, placing my hand on his shoulder. I glanced down at my notepad- training could wait for a few minutes. I highly doubt that Gerald's going to be tough to find. "When I was little and lost things, my mom used to always tell me to retrace my steps. Let's retrace your steps. Where did you go today?"
"Uh…I woke up, and ate, and went to finger paint, and the volleyball pit, and the Ares cabin, and the…" Malcolm launched into the busiest damn day I've ever heard. My eye was twitching by the time he was done- not that he noticed. "And then I came here! To get your help! Anna says you're a good detective."
"Kid, even if I wasn't, I'd be here to help," I sighed, picking him up. I deposited him on my head, and he grabbed my hair, which was all messy from the constant training. "Okay. Dining pavilion first?"
"Yeah! Can we go fast?" He asked excitedly, tugging my locks. "Onward!"
A small smile formed on my face as I activated my speed. I repeated, "Onward."
The dining pavilion was mostly empty when we got there.
I'm still a bit unsure on how the stuff around here is powered (I've been told it's just magic but I don't know how the logistics of that works) but clearly, that source is very large, as everything was still firing despite the emptiness.
Honestly, I kind of like the place.
The pavilion's framed in Greek columns on one of the steeper parts of camp- a hill, specifically, that overlooks the sea. Obviously, with my connection to the sea, I've always felt at peace around here. That, and being able to eat and drink the blue version of any food has always made me feel right at home.
Our first stop felt like it should be an open and shut case. You see, there aren't any walls or pillars, or even a roof that covers the dining pavilion. If Gerald the Rhinoceros was hiding anywhere in here, we'd be able to see him from our spot on the hill.
And so far…nothing. I squinted my eyes.
Torches blazed from the outer columns and a central fire burned brightly inside a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. The white-trimmed tables were all empty except for one.
I frowned, trying to place the girl at the table. Gerald aside, there really shouldn't be anyone hanging around here right now- most of the campers have organized activities, and even if they don't, no one really sits here unless it's for food.
I got her basic details- Silena Beauregard, level eighteen, mostly CHA and INT based, with a bland backstory and an allegiance to no one in particular. Interesting. "Silena? What are you doing over here?"
Silena's one of the Aphrodite kids. Pretty obvious, even without the gaming powers, if you ask me. She has dark hair and eyes, and a fair complexion. Her figure's slim, and I've heard a few of the other guys comment on how it's 'impossible not to stare' at her when she walks by.
"Oh, hey, Percy," Silena said lamely, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked like someone kicked her puppy. Scratch that- it looked like someone took her puppy, drop-kicked it, and then tossed it into a meat grinder. "I didn't know anyone else was going to be here."
"We're looking for my rhinoceros," Malcolm supplied, picking up on Silena's mood. Holding his arms out to indicate the size of the animal, he continued, "His name is Gerald. He's really soft."
"I bet he is, cutie," Silena said, a small smile forming on her face. I ruffled Malcolm's hair- his emotional intelligence is farther along than I'd expect from a little kid. "Where'd you last see him?"
Malcolm launched into his day again, and even Silena looked impressed. She smiled at him again, "Wow! You're a capable little man! You even managed to get the Percy Jackson to help!"
Silena stood up, a smile forming on her rather pretty face. I grimaced, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, relax, wonder boy," Silena replied smoothly, the sadness still visible in her eyes. "You don't do much except for train and eat around here. Half of us don't even know what you look like. We just know you're a powerful demigod, you fought and defeated Ares, you have a soft spot for Athena's kids- Annabeth and Malcolm, specifically, oh, and that you're a tank. Not much to go off. It's pretty cool to see what you actually look and act like."
"You fought Ares!" Malcolm said, his tone shifting to disbelief. His body shook nervously. "B-but…he's a god! Anna said that's really dangerous!"
I resisted the urge to smack my forehead. This is why I don't go out! I reached up and patted Malcolm's head. "Easy, kiddo. I'm fine."
Silena watched the interaction with great interest. "Anyway, sorry about your rhino. Hope you find it."
"You should come with us!" Malcolm invited her with a bright smile- is this kid trying to kill me today? He covered my eyes. "See! Percy can't even see! We need help!"
"I mean…" Silena clearly sounded conflicted. As Malcolm's hands moved, I saw her shift awkwardly. She looked at my face for approval. "I don't know."
Internally, I grimaced. I wanted this to be an open and shut case, a ten-minute quest!
However…there's something that's undeniably off about Silena. Maybe, if I allow her to come with us, I'll be able to work out what exactly that something is.
Looking at the expression on Silena's face, I understood a bit of what the guys were talking about now. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Her face was tough to look away from. It felt weird. My eyes were drawn to every little curve of her face. The gentle dip of her lips, the glinting colors of her eyes. The high cheekbones that stood proudly on the upper half of her face seemed even more prominent.
I blinked.
Yeah, nice try. I've been hit with the love ray by Aphrodite herself. This is more of a love zap- it's like getting shocked by a small wire after getting hit by a bolt of lightning from my uncle's master bolt. It was a commendable effort, but it ultimately failed.
I smirked. "Nice try, Silena."
"You're an odd case," Silena said good-naturedly, rolling her eyes. "What kind of guy can resist that?"
"I'm special," I said, ignoring Malcolm's impatient pokes. Sharing a look of understanding with Silena, I nodded toward the camp. "Let's go. We're burning daylight, Silena."
"Yay!" Malcolm was beside himself as Silena walked alongside us. "Gerald Rescue Force- move out!"
"Does he always do that?" Silena wondered aloud, and I just laughed.
She had no idea.
We walked down from the pavilion, Malcolm guiding us over to the porch of the Big House, where there was thankfully no one sitting around.
"So, tell me about yourself, wonder boy," Silena said as the rickety stairs of the Big House creaked under our feet. "Likes, dislikes. Favorite movie?"
"Uh, well, I'm from Brooklyn, kind of, and I used to go to Yancy Academy," I said, a bit miffed at the nickname that she just didn't want to drop. "I like blue food, blue drinks, blue candy- blue anything, really. I guess I dislike bullies and snobs, and my favorite movie would probably have to be Shutter Island."
"Mm," Silena replied, her fingers running over some of the old wood. "Interesting. So, Malcolm, where did you finger paint?"
"Around here somewhere," Malcolm said with a frown, craning his neck. "I don't see my painting anywhere, either!"
"Is that it?" I said, my enhanced reflexes easily making out a paper stuck to the doorway, pinned there by the summer breeze. Malcolm nodded, and we all walked up to it.
I took the paper in my hands.
It looked…like something. Real, descriptive, I know, but I seriously was having a hard time discerning what the picture was. I could see two vaguely humanoid shapes, a taller one and a smaller one. They were both pointing at a big apple, or something, and the smaller one had a long, curved stick. It kind of looked like a boomerang, honestly.
That wasn't the weird part. The weird part was how in-depth everything was.
Full disclosure, I was completely startled by the level of detail. The figures were hard to make out, but the rest of the drawing looked like it was taken straight out of a storybook. The leaves, the grass- everything was drawn to the smallest detail. Even the big, golden apple looked like Malcolm had just taken an apple and somehow transported it onto his paper. I've never been particularly gifted in the arts, but it was still insane that anyone could do this by just finger painting.
"Aw," Silena cooed from over my shoulder. Evidently, she wasn't sharing my feelings of bewilderment. She pointed at the smaller figure. "Is that you, Malcolm?"
"Yeah!" Malcolm said happily, proudly pointing at the bigger figure. "And that's Percy!"
"What, uh…what are we doing?" I found the words, still looking at the picture with great interest. It looked so lifelike.
"I dunno," Malcolm said truthfully, biting his lower lip in thought. "I think we're going on a trip! I have my wand! See!"
I laughed, "A trip?"
"To San Francisco!" Malcolm continued, pointing at the picture. "And we stopped in a garden to eat because we were hungry."
Silena clearly knew something I didn't. She picked up Malcolm off of my head and placed him down on the porch. "Hey, buddy, go check inside for Gerald! Percy and I will look out here!"
Malcolm nodded, a determined look falling over his face as he ran through the door to the big house.
I turned to Silena expectantly.
"All children of Athena are gifted in the arts," Silena explained, still looking at the drawing. Her eyes flicked up to meet mine. "I'm guessing you don't understand the picture."
"Not…really," I admitted, sighing. "I thought it was just a fun drawing that a little kid made?"
"Maybe," Silena agreed. A moment later, she rested her finger on the golden apple. "Maybe not. That apple, well, I'll just come out and say it. I think it's an apple of immortality."
I stared at her blankly. "I've, uh, mainly studied myths about monsters and warriors…"
"Typical," Silena huffed. "The Apples of Immortality are golden apples that grow in the Garden of the Hesperides. They are guarded by the dragon Ladon and were a wedding gift to Hera from Gaea, not Zeus, like most people think. Like the drawing, all of that is in San Francisco. You probably don't know this, but before you got here, the last quest had been to that specific garden."
"Luke," I remembered, a sudden chill settling in my bones. "Luke was sent there- I remember now. That's how he got his scar."
"Yep. Price for serving the gods," Silena said lightly, but I could see her eyes darken. Ah, so that's what she's trying to hide. "Again, like you said, this could just be the drawing of a little kid with an overactive imagination, surrounded by the myths of old, but I don't know. I can't even tell what the thing in his hands is."
"Me neither," I admitted, my brain still working in overdrive. I don't think this picture is any sort of glimpse into the future, but even if 1% of it is true…I can't think about that right now. I already have a lot on my plate, and preemptively planning a trip into the garden of immortality or whatever just isn't going to help me in any way. "We should drop it for now."
"Your call," Silena said carefully. We fell into a companionable silence as she hummed, staring out into the strawberry fields. "So, Atlantis?"
"Word travels fast," I remarked, but ultimately nodded. "Yeah. My dad wants to train me personally."
"You're quite lucky," Silena reminded me, glancing down at her nails. "Lots of kids around here go their whole lives without even knowing their godly parent, let alone training with them."
"Yeah, I know," I said, leaning against the railing. Some of the Demeter kids waved at us as they walked out of the fields. My theory was starting to seem all the more plausible now. I baited her, "The gods need to shape up with that."
"Percy Jackson," Silena gasped, dramatically holding her hand to her chest. "Libel against the gods? What would little Malcolm say?"
"Ha, ha," I replied, a smile forming on Silena's face. I frowned to myself. "Just because we're demigods doesn't mean we should sit around and let the gods do what they want. They don't really deserve special adoration just because they're powerful, or nice, or whatever. They judge us based on our actions- we should treat them according to their own."
Silena listened to my little rant with unwavering attention. "So, you don't believe in them, then?"
"Nah, I do, as much as I believe in Clarisse to wear a sparkly red dress," We both chuckled a bit. "Realistically, though, they aren't, I don't know, bad people. Just a bit weird. Some are complacent because of the peace, others are prideful, some are a mix. They aren't the worst; they just need a little kick."
"And you'll deliver it?" Silena asked skeptically.
I saw Malcolm's shadow run across the window. "Who knows? I'm just a guy with an opinion. All I know is that the gods are key for our survival, just like we're key for theirs. We need to work together and hold each other accountable. They're also way better than the other rulers this planet has had. They're dicks, but the Titans, for example, were way worse. To them, mortals were just playthings. Flesh bags. I'll do whatever it takes to stop them from taking over again."
Silena was quiet. "I see."
"Yeah," I replied, just as quiet. I nudged her. "So, was I what you expected to be?"
"Meh. I think I like the wonder boy Jackson better than the real one," Silena replied as Malcolm came out of the door. "Although, who knows? Play your cards right, and I could end up liking this one, too."
"Here's to hoping," I laughed, picking up Malcolm, who was wailing. "Don't worry buddy, we'll find him!"
Listen...I've done a lot of hard things in my life. Obviously, my childhood was super rough, growing up with Smelly Gabe and switching schools every year. My first few weeks as a demigod were tough. The training was hard. Fighting gods was hard.
Finding Gerald, though, wasn't just hard- it was nearly impossible. I swear to Zeus, it felt like we'd turn the whole camp upside down looking for the stuffed rhinoceros.
We'd left the Big House, spirits high, swinging by volleyball pit, where Malcolm had claimed to see Gerald playing volleyball with a harpy.
Silena and I had shared a weird look, but we decided to swing by the pit anyway. To my immense disappointment, Gerald was in fact not there, and neither was his supposed harpy opponent.
Malcolm was even more disappointed than I was, kicking the sand in the pit and saying that 'Gerald wouldn't leave the pit unless he'd lost!'
By this point, I'd already wanted to get back to training, but I stopped myself from leaving in the middle of the search. Malcolm was getting decidedly more determined, and Silena's mood was starting to get a bit better, so whatever- I told myself I'd stick around for an hour more, tops.
That was four hours ago.
After the volleyball pit, we walked over to the Apollo cabin, where Malcolm had gone to say hi to his friend Ned. Ned was ecstatic to see us, if not a little scared of my presence, but even he said that Gerald was nowhere to be found- he also mentioned that he could've sworn that Malcolm had left with Gerald, earlier in the day. It was right between their rounds of chess!
After that, we went to the Ares cabin, where Malcolm said he'd taken Gerald to have his ear pierced.
Clarisse and a few of her siblings were home, and they'd greeted Silena and Malcolm pleasantly enough, shooting me the evil eye at the same time.
An uncomfortable amount of standing later, Clarisse eventually recalled piercing the stuffed animal's ear, but ultimately admitted that even she didn't remember where she'd put him after- but he was definitely not in the cabin, she assured us.
"Didn't you walk out with him, little owl?" Clarisse had asked with a surprising amount of softness in her tone. It hardened as she regarded me, "You better find this rhino, Prissy. If you don't, I'm wiping you out during training."
"Yes, dear," I replied tiredly, much to the amusement of Silena and Malcolm.
By this point, I'm sure you guys are starting to suspect some of the same stuff I am. It's sort of ironic, and convenient, that every single time we go to one of these places or spots, not only is Gerald missing but everyone claims to have seen Malcolm walk out with him.
I'm no detective (despite what Annabeth apparently told Malcolm), but it's starting to become clear to me that Malcolm knows a lot more than he's letting on. If I was a betting man, I'd feel pretty comfortable putting a couple hundred down on the possibility of Malcolm knowing exactly where the stuffed animal was.
Maybe Annabeth was right. Malcolm probably created this whole elaborate ruse so I'd spend the day with him without him having to ask and feel bad about interrupting my training! Yikes…that didn't make me feel great. It's one thing having Annabeth win an argument or be right about something- it's a whole other animal if it's a situation where I feel bad at the end of it.
"You zone out a lot," Silena pointed out, her upper lip covered in chocolate sauce. She turned back to her pie. "My father used to tell me that people who zone out either have nothing on their minds or way too much, and you don't seem like the kind of guy to be thinking about nothing."
We were parked outside of the Aphrodite cabin for the moment, and the three of us were eating some of the pie I was talking about earlier today. Hunting a stuffed animal was tough work.
Silena and I were both a bit cranky. Walking around in the blistering June heat wasn't too fun, and it was even less fun having to go across camp over and over again to look for a stuffed animal that wasn't even there. I think most of the other campers were avoiding us- we were giving off pretty annoyed vibes.
Malcolm was beside himself, though. Gerald, he claimed, was going to be found soon, and all of his friends in the camp were super happy to see him. Plus, he'd gotten to spend the whole day 'going fast' on my head! The happiness was visible on the kid- he was bouncing up and down in his seat as he ate some pie.
"Eh. You'd be surprised," I replied evasively, scraping my fork against the tin-foil wrap to get the rest of my pie. She looked at me, confused. "I'll tell if you do."
"I doubt you'd be interested in my problems," Silena said, but her poker face wasn't as good as mine was. I could see the nervousness forming on her face- the tightness of her jaw, the slight furrow of her brow. "Just some girl stuff."
"I doubt that somehow," I said, resigning myself to fate- I was going to be forced into working this out, huh? I've had my suspicions all day- the few sentences out of place, the vague questions.
Plus, it's only logical. I doubt Luke's the only Kronos supporter in this camp. The good thing is, though, I can tell Silena is on the fence. Maybe I can pull her back.
Malcolm watched the whole exchange intently, eating some rhubarb pie. I nudged him a bit. "Hey, buddy, why don't you go inside the Aphrodite cabin and look for Gerald? Maybe he wandered on in there!"
Malcolm nodded, knowing better than to argue with me when I got serious. He went running off into the cabin, and I turned to Silena, the rest of my casual demeanor dropping.
"I want you to think about what you're doing," I said as vaguely as possible, intensely staring into her eyes.
My vision lit up with words:
[MENTAL] Killing Intent, LV-5 (20%)
Killing Intent is the rate at which the user can exude pure killing intention, and have it affect their opponent, themselves, and others around them, up to the point of paralyzing them with fear or making them submit.
The effect was immediate. Silena's face paled considerably and sweat beaded on her forehead. "I…I…"
"I'm not making any assumptions, and I'm not going to act on a hunch just yet," I continued on, watching some birds fly overhead. "But I think we both know what I'm getting at, here. We've spent the whole day together. I'm not going to act like I'm this big legend you think I am, but I am capable of putting two and two together. I'm not going to bother asking about your reasons, and whatever, because I know you're torn at the moment, but I'm going to be as clear as possible. If you do this, and if you or your actions truly bring harm to anyone here, I'll be the one coming after you."
I took the last bit of my pie. "And, friendly or not, I'll cut you down. That's a promise."
"It's just…I…" Silena's voice broke.
"The gods need to shape up, I'm with you on that, but if you think the titans would be better in any capacity, you're wrong," I said, calmly placing the empty tin foil down on the table. "Again, think it over. I'll give you the summer, just because I don't think you're a bad person. When I come back, we can talk again."
Silena nodded to herself, mostly, her hands shaking a little bit. "I don't…know what to do."
"I understand. It can seem like a tough choice," I said gently, switching gears. Activating some of my powers from Hestia to calm Silena, I said, "But the titans care little for anything else except power. I know that. The gods aren't the best, either, but they're a much better alternative. Plus, even if you don't believe in them- believe in me! Once the titans are taken care of, I'll make sure everything is better."
"How can you honestly say that?" Silena found her voice. "You're just one guy! Do you really expect"-
"Think it over," I interjected as Malcolm walked back out of the cabin, no rhino in sight. "Again, I'll be back later in the summer. We'll talk then."
I hefted Malcolm on my shoulder and left without a word.
"Bye!" Malcolm said, waving at Silena. She waved back hesitantly. "Where are we going now, Percy?"
"My cabin," I said confidently. I was tired of walking around aimlessly, and the whole exchange with Silena had gutted my mood.
Malcolm's eyes widened. "A-are you sure you don't want to check somewhere else first? I think Ned said he went to the Demeter cabin!"
"Nah, kiddo," I patted Malcolm's back. "I have it on pretty good authority that Gerald's waiting for us inside."
Malcolm tried, in vain of course, to stop me from walking into my cabin. Sure enough, Gerald the Rhinoceros was there, nestled in my bunk with a storybook.
I had to hand it to Malcolm. The plan was pretty ingenious- even as I walked over to the rhino, I found myself smiling at the lengths he'd gone to have us spend the day together. I felt a little bad that he'd really thought he'd have to do all of this just to get me to spend the day with him, but it was kind of fun, honestly.
I picked up Gerald, turning him over in my hand, feeling the soft fur. I'd skipped a whole day of training just looking for this little guy. If there's some god of hippos, or stuffed animals or something out there- thanks a lot. No, really. Thanks. I guess I didn't truly realize how much of a break I needed until I'd actually been forced to take one.
My fingers burned for a moment. I looked, curiously, at where my hand had just brushed.
There was some weird symbol underneath his left ear- it kind of looked like a humanoid greyish-purplish hippo with the build of a nine-month pregnant woman. She was wearing a nurse coat and hat, it looked like. Every time I moved my finger over it, it blazed golden.
I kept running my finger over the symbol, gazing at it oddly. I could vaguely make out some letters forming as I continued.
They looked like TWRT or something.
I frowned, "What's this, Malcolm?"
Malcolm sat down on the bed next to me. He peered at Gerald's ear and his face broke out in a big smile. "That's his mommy!"
"His mommy?" I repeated.
"Yeah! Gerald's mommy is a nice woman. When I lived in the orphanage, she came to say hi and gave me Gerald as a present," Malcolm told me. "And then Anna found me!"
"Huh," I said, still trying to make heads and tails of the symbol. "Did the woman mention her name?"
"No, all she said was that she was Gerald's mommy," Malcolm frowned. He yawned a few moments later.
"That's okay, kiddo," Right, he hadn't taken his nap. I gave Malcolm the stuffed animal, and he started nuzzling Gerald. "Come on. I'll read you a story."
I pulled the blankets up and let Malcolm snuggle inside. I grabbed the storybook off of the pillow- just some book of Greek myths for children- and began reading.
Honestly, though, my mind was reeling.
Silena was something, and I still don't know if I played that situation the way I should've. Leaving a potential danger in camp is not good, but I also know that deep down, she's conflicted and doesn't know which way to go with it.
Plus, Hestia's around, so there's no way anyone in camp would actually get hurt if Silena tried anything. The only risk would be if she was a spy or something, but even that won't make too much difference in the short time I'll be gone. I think it's a risk worth taking if it means I can steer her away from that path.
No, see, the real thing that's sending my mind into overdrive is this other mystery that seems to have come out of nowhere.
The picture of the garden, the weird boomerang in Malcolm's hand- Gerald the rhino and his weird symbol. This woman that was helping Malcolm…
I felt like I was back on the arch- it felt like the river was opening underneath me, threatening to pull me into the depths.
There was so much I felt like I was missing. The wand...the drawing...everything felt so deliberate. Not by Malcolm, of course, he's just a little kid- but someone, somewhere's trying to tell me something. I just don't have the full story yet.
I glanced back at the stuffed animal as Malcolm finally fell asleep, reminding me of the most burning question on my mind- who the Hades is TWRT and why was she interacting with Malcolm?
