Chapter Fourteen

Divine Consultation

Now the main question at hand is the workings of their genetics. Normal gods have their own set of genetic programming, which allows them to receive power from Uranus. But when a mortal becomes a god, I believe that the components of the godly genetics that allow them to access Uranus's energy is grafted onto their mortal genes. Thus if any of them were to have a sexual relationship with a mortal, their genetics would pass on, (carried within mortal genes) to their child, thus leaving with their offspring not just a shadow of their power as most gods, but all of it.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Anton Ravenson, Codex Deorum Essay Four⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The scent of incense drifted through the temple.

Its odor shifted through the air like a thousand grains of sand in the desert, sifting from one dune to the next, wherever the wind decided.

The temple of Phoebus Apollo was, for a sun god's temple, rather cold. Cold marble floor bit Ethan and I icily as we sat cross legged upon it, eyes closed. Everything about the inner room of the temple was cold, as if abandoned⎯⎯ which I suppose was the case, the augur having been killed. Cold marble pillars, cold marble sconces, cold marble statues, and cold marble ceilings surrounded us. From floor to vaulted roof, all was cold, unwelcoming stone.

Before our reverent forms lay a brutal altar. Not brutal in any sense of it being used for slaughter⎯⎯ although I surmised that it was⎯⎯ but rather because of its broad, flat, stone surface; it seemed remorseless, constant, like a monolith, stark against a barren landscape: it drew the eye, and bent bodies, craning necks in order to see over something shorter than they were themselves. I imagined it had been beautiful once, when the temple was not vacant and empty.

The room was silent, save for Ethan and I's breathing. Slowly, and rhythmically, inhaling and exhaling, we sat for what seemed like hours. Saying nothing, we simply breathed, and listened. Listened for what, I couldn't tell, except that it would tell me who my godly parent was.

After a minute, I cracked my eyes open, stealing a glance over at Ethan, who I saw was diligently praying. We were sitting close together, knees nearly touching, and from where I sat, I could see his lips move soundlessly, forming syllables, words, and phrases I impossible to make out. I thought I should at least try praying, but I had absolutely no idea of how I was to go about doing that. What it was supposed to feel like, I knew not, but it was worth an attempt.

Lowering my head, I tried to form some semblance of an understandable sentence, but I couldn't think straight. The silence was oppressive, stopping up my ears, like they were filled with cotton. Gritting my teeth, I tried harder, if such a thing were possible in prayer. Still nothing.

Giving up again for a moment, I looked over at Ethan once more, studying his face. His eyelids were closed softly, not tightly scrunched together as mine had been when I had "Tried harder." He seemed contemplative, and strangely peaceful. His expression seemed familiar in a way that I couldn't make out. Almost as if he was in a trance.

Closing my eyes once again, I attempted to find that same peacefulness, casting my mind into the depths of my consciousness. This time, instead of trying to force myself to focus, I let my mind wander. It trailed about in the darkness of my head, searching for nothing in particular as it traveled. Leaving a wake of luminescence as it went, it danced in strange paths, weaving this way and that until at last, I truly began to conceive what it was that it was doing. It was creating something.

A pattern.

A great pattern, made of thousands of others, interlocking webs of light tracing their way around my mind. And it was only the beginning of an idea. An idea of time. An event that had already taken place, an event that was happening at this very moment, and an event that had yet to transpire. It was mystical, beautiful, and so intensely intricate that one could get lost trying to follow even the smallest section of it. Ideas were a strange thing. Connections, small links were what made them up, gave them life, inspiration. A truly original idea was impossible, for even then, it was an amalgamation of thousands of others gathered over lifetimes. The only way to come close was to combine ideas in a way that has never been done before. One would think that someday, humanity would have conceived of every idea possible.

I tried at first to follow the pattern as it formed, but as I did so, I came to realize that the only way to understand was to view it from far away. I drew back, gathering the infinite pattern into the distance. It was only then that I perceived that already an ocean was prepared for me. Without thinking, I dove in. I guided my mind through my consciousness, and for a moment, I was struck by a strange duality. I was exploring inside myself, and thus was separated from myself. Were there two of me? But no, the creature I was exploring was as much me as I was myself; I could still feel could ground beneath me, and yet I could feel this vast ocean just as clearly. Just like…

Just like the streams of light. They had been something that I saw inside my mind, projected out onto the world, like I was looking into some in-between place.

All at once, I became aware of a thrumming sensation. It seemed to pulsate, rise and fall, like breathing. Without exiting my mind, I listened for Ethan's breath. His inhale and exhale matched exactly the rise and fall of the thrumming in my head.

There was a reason his expression had looked familiar. It was the same peace I had felt when I had seen the two sources. Terra and Uranus as Reyna had called them. The blue energy had touched every demigod and spiraled upward into the sky. All of them were connected by it. Bound to one another.

My eyes snapped open. The streams of light were once again visible. Before me, again, were the green and blue tendrils of Terra and Uranus. As my eyes adjusted to the newfound sight, something black suddenly flashed into view. Just as suddenly, it vanished. It was similar to the experience of looking at a bright light, and then closing your eyes. With them closed, you could see vivid splotches in the shape of the lights you had seen. The only difference in this case was how fast it came and went.

Looking over, I saw that Ethan's line of blue energy was open, glowing brightly, and streaming with white smoke. I could feel his presence by the thrumming, almost like a connected wire being plucked. The thrumming was almost musical, a deep vibration like that of a cello.

Maybe if I could feel Ethan, I could feel others. Anyone who was touching the energy at least, and maybe if my godly parent were touching it, then I could somehow communicate. Reaching out, I laid my hand on the blue energy. The powerful wave of strength poured into me. The stream brightened and the strange alabaster smoke seeped out of the edges.

The light pulsed, like it was a vein originating from a massive heart. Each time it pulsed, I heard the same rising and falling thrum that I had heard from Ethan.

I focused the energy within myself, and closing my eyes, I began to speak under my breath. After a few minutes, it still felt like nothing was happening. Sighing, I impatiently opened my eyes again and glared around me at the streams of light.

Suddenly it dawned on me.

Until now, all I had been doing was receiving energy from the source, I had never consciously manipulated what I had been given. Except in a few cases: First with Reyna and Frank, when I had pierced their minds, and second, when I had paralyzed Garret's hand. Both times, I had formed my mind, or at least what I had felt was my mind into a spear, and penetrated their minds. Praying could be similar, although maybe it was less violent of an act. It was worth a shot.

Pulling more energy from the blue stream, I gathered it in my mind, and then I rerouted it back into the stream and up, up into the sky where the blue lines conglomerated into a massive spiral. As I pushed it upwards, I spoke in my mind this time, using the energy to form the words.

"Gods of Olympus, and all those who may hear, I seek my godly parent, and humbly ask for an answer."

I withdrew my rerouted energy from the flow, and released my grip on the beam.

All was quiet for a moment, and again my ears picked up Ethan's breathing next to me, still as rhythmic as ever. I wondered if his breath controlled the rise and fall of the thrum, or if the thrum controlled his breathing. Either way—

Something yanked on my mind. It was so quick, so hard, and so sharp that I yelped. Ethan jumped, startled by my cry, and in doing so, his motion brought him closer to me than he already was. Our knees were now pressed hard against each other, but neither of us pulled away.

The thing pulling on my mind was relentless. It dove right into my mind, pillaging and searching through everything. Before it vanished, I was left with one final, vivid image. It was of a set of scales, one-half golden, one-half black. On one tray was an eye, and on the other, a fist.

In a flash, the force released my mind, and I was left to ponder what I had seen.

I let out a long sigh of relief.

"Ethan," I whispered, leaning over.

"What?"

"I think I got something."

His eyes widened. "A response?" he asked.

"Of a sort." I laughed strenuously. I was still reeling from the brute force of the being that had gripped my mind.

"I saw a symbol. It was a set of scales, half black, half gold, with an eye and a fist."

"Interesting." He scratched his forehead. "Reyna talked a little bit about how Greek gods claim their demigod children, I wonder if this has anything to do with it. She did say they used symbols."

"Should we talk to her about it?"

"Maybe, although if Nico is in at some point, he has a bigger knowledge on the Greeks than we do."

"Who's Nico?" I asked.

"He's sort of an envoy between camps, but he really just goes where he likes."

"Where is the other camp?"

"Uh... I think somewhere in New York."

"That's on the opposite side of the country! How does he travel between them?"

"He has very efficient means of transport, called Shadow Traveling."

"That's amazing."

"It is. He's one of the coolest demigods I've had the honor of meeting. He's an idol of mine— although I look up to him for other reasons than Shadow Traveling."

He flushed, giving a sheepish grin.

After a moment, Ethan started to his feet.

"We probably should get moving."

"Yeah." I said, moving to get up.

As soon as I was halfway up, I slipped on the smooth marble floor.

I yelped, and Ethan grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. He had pulled me up so fast that we stood millimeters away from each other, my hand tightly clenching his own. We stood like that for a moment, staring.

After a time, Ethan loosened his grip on my hand, and slowly, we pulled away.

I grinned, and Ethan laughed.

"We— umm… Should probably get to Reyna, and the others." He said, swallowing hard. I nodded, the blood rushing to my face. We turned towards the doors and walked out of the temple, each of us smiling to ourselves, neither of us knowing why.

"It's definitely Greek."

"Why do the Greeks use symbols rather than just appearing?"

"I have no idea."

Ethan and Reyna had been going round about in this sort of conversation for a couple minutes. Neither of them hade actually made any progress in figuring out why the Greeks would use symbols rather than appearances, but they went back and forth repetitively, never growing bored.

What they should have been asking was whose symbol had appeared.

They didn't want to discuss that apparently.

Finally, growing tired of their talking, I cut in.

"Whose symbol was it, do you think?"

Reyna looked over at me. "We don't know yet, but I have my suspicions. The scales could represent any number of things, but the eye and the fist could both represent multitudes of others. For instance, the scale could represent wisdom, thus referring to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and the—"

"I don't know about that—" Ethan interrupted, ears red,

"Ethan? You have an idea of whose symbol it is?" Reyna inquired, raising an eyebrow. "If you do, we'd all very much appreciate it if you just spit it out."

"No— I, no I don't have— I just don't think that its Miner— Athena."

"You have personal reasons Ethan? You'll be glad I think, then, to hear that I do not believe he is the son of Athena?"

Ethan relaxed slightly, I wondered what had gotten him on edge. Reyna continued.

"As I was saying, the scales could represent wisdom, as well as many other things, including justice, truth, or credibility. And by the way, Athena's symbol would have been an owl. But the eye and the fist are where the meaning of the symbol either gets more specific, or vaguer. The eye in conjunction with the scales could definitely mean wisdom, and yet the fist would lean the meaning more towards justice, which is not always the wisest. And you said the scales were perfectly balanced?"

"Yeah." I responded quickly.

"Then it weighs wisdom and justice in a balance, as equals. This is strange. Very strange."

"What does it mean?" I asked, growing impatient.

Reyna looked thoughtful, her eyes staring off into the distance.

"Could it be?" She muttered. "Is that even possible? For the underworld judges to have demigod children?"

"Underworld judges?" I said, "You think I'm the son of an underworld judge?"

"It's possible, I think."

"Aren't the judges the same for both Greeks and Romans?" Ethan asked, his eyes wide.

"The judges are ancient Greek kings. The first of the three is Minos, the second, Aeacus, and the third, Rhadamanthus. That's most likely why he was claimed by a symbol, rather than a visitation." Reyna paused, again with that far off look in her eyes. After a moment, she continued.

"Now the real question is: If you truly are the child of one of the judges, how is it that they were able to leave their seats in the underworld?"

All three of us were silent.