"I'm retiring my sword," she had said.
"I'm tired of fighting," she had said.
"I just want to rest," she had said.
Yet now she and Percy were tracking down Luey (Luke) and Grace (Thalia) after they ran away with the goat. Luke had taken one look at the goat a few days after her crowning and lost his mind. He was convinced that the goat would lead the children to their deaths and something about a demon house.
Which made it an interesting story when they checked in with Thalia. She explained that the goat led her to Luke and that it led her to her shield and that in a way it led them to Annabeth. The daughter of Athena confirmed that her younger self should have ran away around this time.
Percy watched as his sister grumbled playfully. She had grown in her five years of reigning. She was happier than he could ever remember. It may have had something to do with Apollon officially courting her.
[He still wondered about the love triangle that was going on between her, Apollon, and Hermes.]
Annabeth had come with them, but she had broken off to try to find her younger self.
The twins eventually chased the two little runaways down to some run down house. The door was painted charcoal black.
"Do your thing," the girl told him. Luke looked smitten as always.
Percy snickered as Ariadne leaned on the bannister behind them, "Breaking and entering is a crime. I know we've taught you better than that."
"Aria," the kids yelped. They stumbled back when they caught sight of Percy also. "Brats," his sister mocked.
Percy smiled slightly at them, "What are you kids doing? Why did you run away?"
Grace ran her hand through her hair. The girl had cut it into a pixie cut. Aphrodite had fallen over herself when she had seen the uneven strands at first. The goddess then went on to even out the strands and style it for her.
"Amaltheia said that Father had something for me. Luke decided to tag along," Grace shrugged while Luey glared at her. "No, the goat was being all weird. So, I said we should ask Grandfather if what it said was true. It left before we could ask, you followed, and I followed to watch your back. It led us to a dragon's cave!"
"A what," the twins yelped. They dropped down, turning the kids face left to right to check for injuries. They had long realized that arguing got them nowhere and just let them do what they wanted. The two teens eventually shook them off when they couldn't find anything.
"I found this in the dragon cave though," Grace stated before they could scold them for following the obviously homicidal goat into a dragon's cave. A gift from Uncle or not, Ariadne was going to skin the damn thing for all that it was worth the next time that she saw it.
The girl held up a familiar mace canister. When she clicked it, it elongated into a familiar looking spear. The twins shared a look.
[ "So the weapons are going back to the original owners," she questioned.
"It makes sense. You still have your weapons and well--," Percy cut himself off.
She gave him a small amused smile, "And I'm not born in this timeline."]
"And you think there is something else here," Percy asked incredulously. The house looked like something straight out of a horror movie. Grace nodded her head seriously though. Sharing a dubious look, they gestured for them to continue. "Fine, but at the first sign of trouble… we're leaving and I'm getting a goat skin rug," Ariadne grumbled.
The kids shared another look before Luke stepped forward. Being close friends with Hermes and his children, she could sense the lock mechanism being deactivated.
Percy and Ariadne staggered back from the strong sense of death that radiated throughout the room. They didn't know how Grace was still standing. Bracing themselves against the walls, they flinched as echoes of pain reverberated in their mind.
Flashes of ocean blue and sea green eyes fading with life flashed before them.
They were going to be sick.
By the time they came to, Luke and Thalia…no, Luey and Grace were in the other room. Nibbling on a few ambro-pops, they followed after the kids.
"We should leave," Percy told them as the curtains dropped Grace. Luke had picked up a broken table leg to hit at them. "Whatever is here can wait. We can leave, double back with Nico, talk to Uncle, and come back for it later."
"But--" Thalia protested. "We didn't even check everywhere."
"Thalia, the curtains just tried to eat you," Ariadne stressed. No way were they going to stay any longer. Ariadne turned towards her brother trying to get him to convince them. He was the one better with words.
The kids made strangled noises, "Um, you guys…"
The twins turned to them, noting the way they stared at the red lights glowing near the floor. Bending down closer, Percy was wary when the lights moved. A growl made their hair stand on end.
"We're leaving," he declared. He reached for Grace with one hand while his other brought up Stormsurge. Ariadne grabbed hold of Luey, flipped her wrist and Tidalwave appeared in her hands.
Pulling them back towards the door, they realized quickly that the door was locked. No matter how hard the twins tried to attack it, the door wouldn't bulge. Even Luey's power wouldn't force it to unlock.
"We're having goat stew for dinner," Ariadne grumbled as they turned back towards the interior.
"The stairs are looking pretty good," Luey stated. They all stiffened when a disembodied voice echoed back: "Yes, this way." The voice was heavy with sadness, as if it were giving directions to a funeral.
"You two are grounded until the day you die and then we'll bring you back for the Underworld to ground you again," Ariadne exclaimed. Percy grimaced, but nodded his head in agreement, "Stay behind us."
They rushed up the stairs slashing away at the stupid drapes that followed them. Ariadne's water whips held some back as Percy's ice bullets pushed the others away.
Stumbling into another room [and would you look at that. That door locked also, they came face to face with a hideous old man. There was something about him that caught Ariadne's attention and it wasn't from how pitiful he looked.
He was tall and gaunt, with spiky gray hair. He wore a suit that looked to be made from the same material as the drapes. If Apollon or Aphrodite had seen him, they would have thrown a fit. He looked like a very old, sickly, fashionably dressed Einstein. HIs shoulders slumped. His sad green eyes pulled at the kids' heartstrings.
Percy and Ariadne tightened their grip on their weapons especially when they noticed the caged monster. It had pointed ears, an elongated snout, and black lips that looked horrifyingly human.
"Who are you," Ariadne demanded, eyes flickering between the monster and the man.
"I am Halcyon Green. I'm sorry, but you've been lured here to die."
Percy's eyes darkened, "Add goat milk to that recipe, Ari."
Luke brandished his [ stolen ] caduceus. Ariadne mentally noted the openings in his stance. "Y-you'd better explain," he stammered. Percy shifted to cover the boy just a bit better.
"My name is Halcyon Green, son of Apollo. The creature you see here is leucrota and it speaks for me."
Ariadne spat out a bunch of curses. She kind of knew what this was about.
"How long have you been here," Thalia questioned.
"Many decades," he intoned. "I was born with his gift of foresight, but my father said that I should never share what I saw because it would anger the gods."
Pieces of a puzzle were beginning to make sense in the twins' mind. And the puzzle they were seeing was not a picture that they were liking.
"But many years ago, I met a young girl that was destined to die in an accident. I saved her life by telling her the future. She granted me a dagger as thanks, while my father granted me a curse."
Ariadne scoffed, scathingly replying, "Apollo warned you to never talk about your predictions. He told you that it would anger the gods. You had no right to mess with fate! You were not Fated!"
"I saved someone's life. Why give me such a gift if I were not to use them? Instead, my father forced me to wear the skin of Python. The one who guarded Pythia as a reminder that I was not an oracle. He stole away my voice, locked me inside of my home, tormented by the leucrotae who were linked to my thoughts and could speak for me," Hal argued. The monster managed to capture the bitter anger in his voice perfectly. "The gods kept me alive as bait for future demigods, who would look for a treasure, as a way for my father to remind me that my voice will lead others to their doom. And after the demigods were eaten, I would keep their food and other supplies they had traveled with."
Ariadne was turning red in anger, "I don't want to hear your pitiful talk. That was not the reason why and you know it. Apollo loves you. He has visited you every five years in hopes of you learning your lesson."
"What lesson would it be," Hal mocked. "What is the one life that I saved in comparison to the future that you have changed? I know who you are, Ariadne and Perseus Jackson. I know all about the future that you have changed to your liking. Do the kids know? Did you tell Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan of how you changed their fate? You've ruined their lives."
It was Percy's hands on her arm that kept her from ripping his head off, "No. It was your words and misinterpretations that led to their fates. That led to Luke's death!"
"I'm sure that I warned the boy to learn from my mistakes," Hal soothed.
"From your mistakes? You basically set him up! You defied the gods' words and painted this sob story that made you the victim. You made Luke question the gods' authority that would eventually lead to his death. You asshole! It was because of you that Grandfather had the perfect scapegoat."
"You cannot outrun fate," Hal mocked. "His destiny was terrible."
"Not anymore it isn't," Percy declared, eyes burning with hatred. He understood now. How Luke, who already held such bitterness against his father and the gods, could be misled by this monster. Convinced that he had done the right thing despite all evidence that proved him otherwise… it was no wonder that Kronos had been able to sink his claws into Luke.
He gave the titan the hooks to do so.
Ariadne breathed deeply, "The gods are otherworldly beings that do not operate on the same scale as mere mortals. They wouldn't win any parent of the year awards, but if they tell you not to speak of fate, then you should listen. You say you know what we changed… then you should know that if you never avoided that girl's death, then there were high chances that the original future would have never come to pass."
Percy shook his head, "For so long I tried to understand. And you were the missing piece the entire time. Sweet seas, we had to change the future to fix the mess that you helped create. And now look, Luke can live a long life with a loving and doting mother. The only blood on his hands is for monsters. You should learn from your mistakes."
"I've tried to help them. It never works. Even now, I've only temporarily saved you as the bars would rise at sundown, and the leucrotae would eat you. The windows are guarded by deadly drapes--"
"I noticed," Thalia muttered.
"--And the door is heavily enchanted. And the leucrotae cannot be hurt by any metal known to man or god."
Hal shrugged almost uncaringly, "I learned to take my losses. If I don't cooperate, the monsters let me starve."
"Good riddance," the twins snarled. Luke and Thalia shared looks behind their backs. There were so many questions that they wanted to ask, but despite how much they had ignored their training during this trip, they had the sense to know that now was not a good time to ask.
"The monsters could have killed you the moment you crossed the doors."
"They could have tried," Percy mocked. "We weren't going down without a fight, and I'd be damned before I let them hurt the kids."
Ariadne sneered, "You think you're cursed? Nothing would save you from our family if anything had happened. This would have looked like a playground."
Hal smirked bitterly, "You two are as bad as the monsters."
"Pot meet kettle," she snapped.
The man turned towards the two mortal children. He took note of the disgust that lingered in their eyes, "You are right to hate me. But this is my curse and there is no escape. Any strategy you can think of, someone else has already tried."
The twins shared a look.
["Maybe we can cause a quake," Ariadne questioned.
Percy tilted his head, "It'd have to be stronger than usual. Bigger than the one that we used to take down the trojan wall."
His sister scowled, "That had been an accident and we had Nico for that."
Shrugging, he looked around them before turning back to her, "We power through it and have Thalia bring down a lightning bolt at the right time. I wonder if Luke's caduceus has laser mode?"]
"We need to come up with a plan," Luke insisted, bringing the twins' attention back to them. The two kids were pacing restlessly right beside them.
Hal nodded almost sagely. "You could try. But you'd better come up with one by sunset."