Chapter 26
I Help Arm a Young Girl
On the way to meet Luke I cooked up a whole speech on why to let Bianca into the Bronze Regiment, with counterpoints and everything. I was feeling pretty accomplished, too, until he agreed before three words had left my mouth.
"If you can get her to agree, consider it done," he said, barely looking up from a map of America coated in little three-dimensional action figures. Some I recognized, like a minotaur and a couple of Harpies near Wisconsin. Others were more bizarre. A one-legged man with a foot as large as his body was blotting out Dallas. Luke kept picking up different figures and moving them toward the Pacific Northwest, before shaking his head and moving them back. After the third time I decided I was excused, and scrammed before he could change his mind.
And just like that, Bianca joined the Bronze Regiment… is what I would love to say, but there were still procedures to see to. Namely, getting the girl herself to agree
The next morning I found Bianca wearing a windbreaker and hiking boots. Like the rest of the clothes she'd been given they didn't quite fit right, about a size or two too large, but the fact she was wearing them at all was a good sign. You don't put on a jacket to sit around inside.
"Luke's okay with it. All that's left, is whether you're on board."
She stood, hands shoved in her pockets. "So you still want me to join your club."
"It's called a regiment, and it's… Actually, club is pretty accurate. But yeah, that's the gist of it."
"And joining will get me out of this room?"
"Any time you want."
"And if I change my mind, I can come back here?"
"I won't be stopping you," I said. "You could leave as soon as the Competition is done, or even before if you want."
"Then why not." She pushed past me through the door, glancing over her shoulder as if challenging me to stop her. "Hurry up- you have no idea how ready I am to be out of here."
Once in the hallway she turned into a human top, spinning to look in every direction.
"What's with the kitten paintings?" she asked, eyeing the wall décor as she spun.
"They're 'just in case'."
"In case of what?"
"You escaping?" I shrugged, thinking back to Luke's evasiveness. "They wouldn't tell me when I asked. Above my pay grade, I guess."
"And what's this way?"
Bianca started deeper down the hall, away from the exit, and I was reminded for the first time that the hallway didn't end at her cell. It was something I'd noticed, but never really considered until now. It angled downhill, and the further I looked the steeper it got. For some reason I couldn't pin down it felt like standing near the edge of a chasm.
I grabbed Bianca's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.
"Wrong way. The exit's the other direction." She looked like she might argue, and I shook my head. "Didn't you want to see the sun?"
She shrugged my hand off, but listened all the same. "Wow, some tour guide you are."
As Bianca strode past me – the right direction this time – I felt a sudden sense of empathy for Victoria.
"The two of us are way too similar," I muttered.
O-O-O-O-O
"Percy!" Victoria was waiting for us by the stairs to the Bronze Regiment's base. I had filled her in the day before, right after I got the green light from Luke. The possibility of another new recruit only added to the good mood she'd sported the last few days.
She had a duffle bag over her shoulder. I didn't know what was in it, but if she started pulling out bowling balls in a second then I was leaving… Unless they were aimed at Bianca, in which case I'd be more than happy to watch. It would be cathartic to see someone else go through my pain.
"Victoria," I said, "meet Bianca. Bianca, this is Victoria, the leader of the Bronze Regiment. Say hi."
Bianca did not say hi. Instead she glared at the sky, like she had been since the moment we stepped outside.
"Is she… okay?" Victoria asked.
"Oh don't mind her. She's just a bit disappointed."
"Overcast," Bianca grumbled. "It's freaking cloudy. You've got to be kidding me."
Like many Bay Area afternoons, the mist had rolled in and stayed. Looking up only gave a view of the grey sheet, not allowing an ounce of blue to peek through.
"C'mon," I said, "cheer up. It'll clear up sometime."
Bianca's glare dropped from the sky to me. "Do you have any idea how long it's been since I saw the sun?"
"A couple months, right? What's a day or two after that?"
"Don't say that like it's nothing," she snapped.
"Well," Victoria said, "Hopefully this will take your mind off things."
She tossed the duffel bag onto the ground, where it landed with a hefty clang.
"I'm assuming you haven't handled a weapon before?" Victoria asked.
"I have," Bianca said defensively. "Once. My boarding school let us shoot a pistol with supervision. They said I was a good shot."
"A pistol? That's no good." Victoria unzipped the bag and an array of spears, swords, and stranger weapons spilled out. "We'll need to get you up to speed with one of these."
Bianca eyed the miniature arsenal at her feet. "No offense, but I think I'd prefer to have a pistol if a lion man ever decides to fly off with me again."
"No," I said, "you really wouldn't. If you shot a monster like that with mortal bullets, you'd be lucky to get a sneeze out of him."
Bianca looked pale, and it had nothing to do with her extended stay out of the sun. "And one of these knives is supposed to help me against something like that?"
"It's about the material," Victoria explained patiently. "These weapons are Celestial Bronze, a special metal. You could swing one of these at a regular person and it would pass right through them, but it's like kryptonite to monsters- one solid hit, and they're off to Tartarus to reform."
"Even with this little thing?" Bianca picked a knife out of the pile, not much bigger than what a chef would use to chop meat.
"If you can land a hit," Victoria said, "then sure."
"But good luck getting close enough without getting sliced to ribbons," I added. "Claws hurt, and I've seen plenty of monsters with bigger ones than that knife."
Bianca grimaced and dropped the weapon back into the pile. "Point taken."
"Pick up a few and try them out," Victoria urged. "Some demigods are naturally better with certain weapons. Try a spear? Children of Ares love that one. There's always plenty of those running around."
For the next ten minutes Bianca tried out weapon after weapon, but none stuck. Every time after a few swings she would drop whatever spear or sword or knife she'd been using, complaining about it feeling too heavy, light, or just plain awkward. Her swings slowly got faster as her frustration built, and I took a few steps away for safety.
"Didn't you say one of these would feel natural?" she whined after yet another failure.
"I said they might," Victoria clarified. "Not every demigod is good with weapons at all. Children of Demeter are most dangerous with a spade, and the closest thing to a weapon Aphrodite's kids will go near is a bottle of perfume. Don't take it to heart though! Everyone's got their specialties, even the ones that can't fight."
"Great," Bianca said. "I'm feeling better already."
While they talked I'd started sifting through the weapons, seeing what all was there. The answer was a lot. Even weapons I'd never seen in person, like a polearm and a gladiatorial net, were mixed in among the usual stock.
"Where'd you get all this?" I asked.
Victoria shrugged. "Some of it came from the training room. The rest I got special order from Chief."
"From that grumpy mutt? How'd you swing that?"
"Hey," Victoria said, "he's not that bad. He's nice enough to me."
"So he's not a grumpy mutt. My bad. He's a lecherous grumpy mutt."
She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, if you didn't pick a fight with him you might've gotten along a little better! He really considered making the Bronze Regiment special order weapons a while back. One of my less successful attempts to break our losing streak."
When we visited the forge Chief had started apologizing for something, right until Victoria cut him off. So that's what that was about. Spoiler: I wasn't about to march down to the basement and give him a heartfelt apology. He was the one that had picked a fight with me, not the other way around.
"Screw it!"
A thump followed the shout as Bianca hurled a sword longer than her torso back to the ground. She was chewing her lip as she stomped to the other side of the pile and scooped up a weapon that had fallen to the edges.
"I'll take this." She shoved the weapon toward us– a bow, one shaped like an M, carved out of stained wood. It didn't look all that fancy, although it wasn't like I could tell you what separated a top-grade bow from all the rest of them. The string was taut, and the thing looked like it could fire arrows, so I figured it was pretty alright.
"Are you sure?" Victoria asked. "Don't you want to try taking some practice shots first, before you decide?"
Bianca fiddled with the bowstring, pulling it back and releasing it a couple of times. "Doesn't matter," she decided. "With this I won't need to get close to anything. That makes it way better than those clunky swords."
"And if you miss?" I asked.
Bianca gave a bright smile. "Then I've got a head start for when I run away."
Victoria frowned. "I'm not sure that-"
"Whoa, look at the time!" Bianca stepped over the pile of weapons, making for the stairs behind us. "You guys wanted kick the can coaching, didn't you? Let's get to it."
Victoria and I shared a look.
"Is she always this difficult?" Victoria asked.
"I think she's trying to be. Payback for being kidnapped, or something like that."
We stared at each other a moment longer. Then Victoria sighed.
"I'll put the rest of these away. You go and catch up to her- I get the feeling leaving her alone with the others is a bad idea."
I nodded and hurried off as she stooped to shovel weapons back into the duffel bag. If it helped us win The Competition, all the headaches would be so worth it. I reminded myself that over and over as I scaled the stairs.
It was crazy how much the Bronze Regiment's training room had changed in the short time since I first saw it. The makeup station, bookshelves, and extra furniture were all still there, but now it was them pushed to the edges of the room. The training mats that had been pried up were back in position. The roof had been patched up, meaning no more leak. When I popped through the trap door Emmitt, Lucas, and Po were sparring while Vera and the others studied what looked like sword fighting manuals. The only part of the room that hadn't changed was Aurora nestled in her sleeping bag.
Bianca was standing just in front of me, glancing around the room as if double-checking she was seeing everything right. "Is someone sleeping over there?"
I pulled myself up and stood beside her. "Yep."
"And does that guy have a sack on his head?"
I watched Po dart around, dodging Emmitt's sword and swinging back with his little knives. "Pretty sure it's a cowl. Don't ask me what it's for, though."
"Is there a single normal person here?"
I thought about it.
"Victoria wasn't bad, was she?"
"She showed up to meet me with about a hundred weapons slung over her shoulder. In what world is that anything but crazy?"
"Yeah, well, the first time she met me she tried to blackmail me, so that doesn't seem so bad."
Bianca stared at me, trying to decide if I were joking. "And this is who you said was normal?"
"Relatively anyway." I shrugged. "She's pretty cool once you get used to her. All of them are."
The spar ended, Po finally managing to send Emmitt to the floor. That didn't seem to douse the smaller boy's energy one bit. A moment after admitting defeat he'd spotted me, and bounced over like a ricocheting Ping-Pong ball.
"Percy!" he chirped. "I lasted thirty seconds this time. That's halfway to a minute, which is a fifth of the way to five minutes, which would actually be pretty good. I'm ten percent of the way to not-terrible!" Still beaming, he noticed Bianca next to me. "Oh, hey. Who're you?"
I stepped forward and did introductions, pointing out members one by one. Once I was done Emmitt shoved out his hand, still grinning.
"Hi! I'm Emmitt. I guess Percy just said that, but it's still true!"
Bianca took the hand warily, like she was trying to pinpoint exactly what was broken between Emmitt's ears. "Yeah. You too."
"Are you joining the Bronze Regiment?" Emmitt asked.
Bianca raised her eyebrow. "I wasn't aware I had a choice."
"Of course you do," I said. "There's two other regiments that might take you. Although only one of them is playing kick-the-can. And you could always head back to your room."
"Look at you, trying to get rid of me. You'll have to try a little harder, though." Bianca stepped into the middle of the room, and I expected her to shout to get everyone's attention. Instead, her voice came out quieter than usual. "Alright. I've got something to say."
Emmitt was watching attentively, but the others didn't even notice, wrapped up in what they were doing.
"Alright everyone!" I clapped and watched everyone jump. "Attention over here! We've brought in some extra help for The Competition. Everyone be good and listen to Bianca here."
Everybody gathered around, looking expectantly. It almost brought a tear to my eye seeing how obedien- I mean, attentive they'd gotten. If I'd had a camera on me, I would've snapped a photo to show Victoria what she missed.
With all the attention on her Bianca looked like she was having second thoughts about existing. Her foot was tapping the floor, and her fingers were clenched. I realized this was the most people she'd been around since learning that gods were more than a bedtime story. Months of isolation couldn't have done her public speaking skills any good. Stepping up beside her, I mussed the top of her head until dark hairs were sticking every direction.
If she'd had eye lasers my torso would've combusted on the spot. I mouthed, "Tell them already." and she jolted, as if finally remembering what she was there for.
"Uh, hi, people." She cleared her throat. "My name's Bianca, and a little birdie tole me you needed some kick-the-can tips."
O-O-O-O-O
Either Bianca was such a well-kept secret even the other Regiments didn't know about her, or she was too much of a wildcard for them to bring into the fold. Justin never stood to invite her, and Kurt's speech was noticeably less energetic than the one he'd given for me. Victoria was unable to resist finishing her speech on a line about our victory over the Iron Regiment, and a few minutes later the brazier flames glowed Bronze.
When Bianca took a seat near the middle of the table she found herself swarmed by welcomes and congratulations. She was trying not to smile, but the corners of her mouth weren't quite under control.
As for me, I'd taken a seat all the way at the end of the bench. A serving spirit whizzed by, sliding pizza onto my plate and filling my glass with Coke after a wave of its translucent hand. I took a sip sighed, and relished the carbonated fizz.
"Again?" On my right, Vera stared at my plate with visible distrust. "That's not real Pizza."
I lifted a slice, searching defects. "Looks like Pizza to me."
"With a crust that thin? No chance. It's missing about five layers of cheese and half the crust."
"You're crazy. New York style's where it's at."
"Not to a Chicagoan." She turned to her right, slowly feeding strips of bacon to Aurora, who was napping with her head on Vera's shoulder. Somehow, without waking up, Aurora chewed every bite. "There used to be a killer place on my block growing up. Now they knew how to make real Pizza."
"What happened to it?"
"Nothing, probably. It might still be there. I'm the one who left."
"Sucks, doesn't it?" I thought about my old neighborhood. Life hadn't been great there, but looking back had a way of making you miss every basketball court and dingy corner shop you used to walk past. "I can't remember the last time I ate at a restaurant. The monsters just don't leave you alone."
Vera smiled slightly. I thought it was the first time I'd seen the expression, but I might've just missed it before. Her lips were small for the size of her head, and didn't stand out much against her dark skin.
"Monsters after me? Nah. They wouldn't be able to smell me if we collided in the street. You heard of Eurus?"
I knew quite a few gods, but I shook my head.
"Not surprised. Most haven't. The East Wind he calls himself. Hah! Even out of the four wind gods he's the least powerful. Some don't even think he exists, that's the kind of 'powerhouse' my dad is."
"But if monsters didn't come after you, how'd you find out you were a demigod? I thought that was how it always started."
Vera shifted, feeding Aurora a biscuit piece by piece. "I've always known. Mom might've been a depressed addict, but she was always honest with me. She told me everything, back when I was too young know it should sound crazy. Dad was around every fall for a while, too. He liked seeing the corn bloom, something about sponsoring the harvest wind or whatever. After a while he quit showing up even for that, and life went on."
I'd heard of demigods that didn't attract monsters. Dedalus said there were quite a few of them, kids with scents so weak they could choose to live normal lives. It was my first time meeting one, though, and I couldn't help wondering how she ended up here.
"If it wasn't monsters, why leave home?"
Vera was quiet for a minute. She tossed a carrot in her mouth and chewed it slowly, only answering when she was done. "Good luck, and bad luck. A demigod moved in down the street, this child of Morpheus. Weird girl, always napping, and boy did the monsters come for her."
"You looked out for her," I said. It wasn't a question.
"Someone had to. Morpheus's kids are different from the rest of us. There are more of them, for one thing.
"Really?"
"Of course. Why'd you think they call it sleeping with someone?"
"Probably because of the bed, and the- well, never mind." I thought it over a second. "But if there's so many of them, why are there so few around here? You'd think they'd be all over."
"Most are barely demigods. Kids that are a little lazy, like sleeping in, and might be slightly dyslexic. They smell even less than I do. Most of the time, they never learn they aren't mortal. But it's worse for the powerful ones. The stronger they are the more they sleep, and they're like beacons for monsters. Not a good combination for living."
I thought back to the wager-spar, the only time I'd seen Aurora awake. If it wasn't for a conveniently placed puddle, she would've sent me for a nap mid-battle. A second later, she'd been back to sleeping like a log.
"And when they use their powers…"
"You guessed it. Straight to sleep, no matter how much caffeine they've had. Believe me, we tested everything Starbucks will sell you and then some while on the run. No effect."
"How'd you survive?" I couldn't help but ask. I'd lived on the run for a month, with two extremely competent demigods practically taking care of me, and it was still no stroll through Central Park.
Vera chuckled. "Teamwork. Aurora would put them to sleep, and when the recoil knocked her out, I'd scoop her up and run. It was enough, I guess. Kept us alive."
I sipped my coke, frowning. The more demigods I talked to, the luckier I realized I was. Even if Okythoe never diced me like a cucumber, seven-year-old me wouldn't have lasted a week alone. Without Dedalus I would've been deader than the spirits at Antietam.
Not that I'd be reminding him of that anytime soon. He was entirely too smug already without giving his ego any extra strokes.
"I'm adding Aurora to The Competition."
I choked on my soda, coughing carbonated bubbles. "Say what?!"
"It's not that crazy," Vera said, picking at her food. "If we can get her awake she could change everything."
"Yeah, If."
"I'll figure it out," Vera insisted. "I don't want to lose to them. Not to Justin, and definitely not to her."
Vera glared across the room so hard I thought her temple might burst. Following her eyes, I found a girl with black hair and porcelain-like skin eating and chatting at the Gold Regiment Table. She had a pointy chin and features like a hawk- sharp nose, big eyes, and a face that seemed to slant forward. Just looking at her was a little unnerving, like a spider was clambering up your leg. Sensing the attention, she glanced over her shoulder. Spotting Vera, she winked.
"I want to kill her," Vera said casually.
I scooted a little further down the bench. "Is she that bad?"
"You can only ask that because you haven't fought her yet." Vera stabbed a hunk of chicken out of her salad, putting a little extra behind her fork. "The trick to beating her is to remind yourself it's all fake. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work."
She didn't look all that scary. I couldn't tell how tall she was, but her build was pretty slight. I figured one good hit would knock her down. "Thanks for the tip," I said.
Vera eyed me. Then she sighed. "You aren't taking it seriously. Just don't get caught off-guard."
The girl had stopped looking at Vera, but she didn't turn away. Her eyes slid down the Bronze Regiment one by one. When they reached Bianca, something changed. She started, eyes going wide before quickly narrowing to glare. She looked ready to murder the next thing put in front of her, be it monster or hamster or demigod. Bianca must've felt something too, because she turned away from a chat with Victoria to glance around. By the time she looked toward the Gold Regiment table the girl had turned away, like she'd never been looking.
But I'd seen it in her eyes. If she'd had a weapon in her hand, she wouldn't have hesitated to run someone through. I rubbed Aelia in my pocket and took a bite of my pizza. It didn't taste nearly as good as it had a minute ago.
"That girl…" I asked. "Who is she?"
"The only daughter of Melinoe in the world," Vera said. "Justin's pride and joy, the only demigod to complete a Feat that isn't leading a Regiment. Nera Ricci, the biggest bitch I ever met."
(-)
I should open this by saying for those of you unaware, FFN have decided to disable email notifications unless you change a setting. It's easy enough to do if you go -Account-Settings and it should be right there, Email Opt-in. It also automatically switches back to No every six months because, y'know, fuck you. Anyway, back to the story.
This chapter is on the calm side, but consider it build-up because next chapter kicks off The Competition. I confess this arc came out longer than I initially planned, but it's drawing close to its end now, only a couple chapters left before the focus shifts.
