Check me out on Wattpad and RoyalRoad for Original Stories.
Some things are Fated to happen, so I cannot change everything.
A single, simple ritual by Aaron ensured that Minos did not return to the Ranch. He taught it to Nico, who as he sensed had potent necromantic powers far exceeding Aaron's practiced skill. It was kind of annoying, however, Aaron had a variety of tricks that Nico just didn't have thanks to training and studying under Hades in his library as well as having a broad understanding of magic.
After casting the ritual, he set his friends to bed on the Eurytion's leather couches. He brought Nico with him and, after demanding the boy take a shower and eat to restore the energy he had clearly been expelling, they curled up on a couch and chatted.
"I'm sorry, I should have never left... but Minos was just so convincing. He appeared when I was practicing the meditation tricks you taught me. He whispered things of power and getting Bianca back. It was impossible not to listen, even when I knew he was lying to me at times." Nico curled into his chest, sighing.
"I am not happy but I cannot blame you, your sister abandoned you in the worst way. You wanted her back, but you cannot do what you wanted to try without it costing her life."
"I know that now... um... why do you have a false hand and smell like a dog?"
Laughing, Aaron shifted into his dog form and licked Nico's face a few times, getting a spluttery bout of laughter from his kiddo before turning back. "I was turned into a werewolf, managed to tame the magic then someone cut my hand off but he's dead now."
"Oh..."
"Sleep, kiddo, sleep and restore your energy." Aaron put a finger on Nico's forehead and pushed with a singular flare of magic that lulled the boy into a deep, restful sleep.
Aaron was about to fall asleep when he heard Percy and Annabeth chithchatting. He listened in to their whispering, kind of curious.
"When did Aaron get so powerful? Strong enough to be considered god tier?" Percy asked, confused and a little afraid.
Annabeth sighed. "Metis told us is was sort of recently, he discovered something major that elevated him. He is not fully god tier though, not in combat or other things, just in enchantment and in overall power. He is still so new, you don't get god tier in skills in just a few years you know? Power sure, power just accumulates, but skill, not even the most blessed of demigods. Magic is something you earn and learn, not just get. As a new witch, that is something I know all too well."
Percy nodded, looking confused. "I can feel his power, it's so vast, like stronger than us."
"I can feel it even better, Metis said he was low god tier by himself. Technically you are stronger, you are a son of the Big Three and a powerful one at that, a favored one. However he has spent so much time developing his power and control there is an intimacy that you lack with your powers. You're all instinct and passion, he is knowledge and skill and that makes a difference."
"I guess so. It's scary, I never thought of Aaron as powerful but now... now he feels like he can do anything."
"He kind of can. If he wasn't going to be given Godhood, he would have become godlike, a demgod in all but blood. Not a demigod, but a demgod. A mortal god. Yous should be scared, that hasn't happened since Orpheus."
Percy nodded again, but the fear in his eyes didn't fade... Aaron rather enjoyed that. He understood the fear, Demigods were so accustomed to being born with power that people earning it was unknown to them. It shook the foundations of what they knew. That was always scary, but for Aaron it sort of made him happy. He liked proving his worth and boy was this fun.
"""
The next morning They walked down to the cattle guard and said our goodbyes. "Nico, you could come with us," Percy blurted out.
He shook his head. "I need time to think. I messed up, big time... I will stay here, I talked to Aaron about it this morning. I will gather my strength and then shadow travel back to Camp. Meggy will take care of me for a bit, but I just... I need alone time, no ghosts, no demigods, no nothing. Just me and my thoughts."
Aaron nodded. "Rest up and make sure you eat plenty, okay?" He turned to Eurytion. "Make sure he is well cared for."
"I will, sir, food and rest and some hard work if he wants to lend a hand."
"I'm worried about him," Annabeth told me. "If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again—"
"He'll be alright," Eurytion promised. The cowherd had cleaned up nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt and he'd even trimmed his beard. He'd put on Geryon's boots. "The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise."
"What about you?" Percy asked.
Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. "Things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat. I'm thinking about soybean patties. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."
The idea made Percy shudder. "Well, good luck."
"Yep." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus's workshop now?"
Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"
Eurytion studied the cattle guard. "Don't know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would."
"That's what sounds likely. " Annabeth agreed. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"
Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace—a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression on the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to Annabeth. "Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I— uh—did him a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."
"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked.
Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way." Annabeth pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eight metallic legs. Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion's confusion.
"Spider!" she screamed, Aaron tried not to laugh.
"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."
"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."
The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.
"Hurry," Percy said. "That thing's not going to wait for us."
Annabeth wasn't anxious to follow, but they didn't have much choice. They said our goodbyes to Eurytion, Tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and we dropped back into the maze.
If it wasn't for Tyson and Grover's hearing, they would have never found the damn spider, it moved to fast for even Aaron to spell it for tracking. They ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson grabbed percy and hauled me back before he could fall. The tunnel continued in front of them, but there was no floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling. Then the mechanical spider was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.
"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these." She leaped onto the first rung and started swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.
Annabeth got to the opposite side and ran after the spider. Percy and then Aaron followed.
When Aaron got across, he looked back and saw Tyson giving Grover a piggyback ride. The big guy made it across in three swings, which was a good thing since, just as he landed, the last iron bar ripped free under his weight. They kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It was the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. The spider didn't slow down. Percy slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when he shined a light on them Aaron realized they were pencils—hundreds of them, all broken in half.
The tunnel opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit them. Once Aaron could see, he noticed several corpses in states of decay and rage filled him as he realized they were the bodies of kids, he hated such pointless violence. Some radiated faint magic, demigods or legacies, others were entirely mortal, Mist gathered around him, white magical Mist, as his anger made magic palpable.
Then He saw the monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest.: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!
Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx."
Aaron knew exactly why he was scared. When he was small, Tyson had been attacked by a Sphinx's paws.
Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front. Immediately the monster's snarl turned into a brilliant smile. "Welcome, lucky contestants!" she announced. "Get ready to play…ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!" Canned applause blasted from the ceiling as if there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor. "Fabulous prizes!" the Sphinx said. "Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"
Annabeth grabbed Percy's arm. "I've got this," she whispered. "I know what she's going to ask." She stepped forward to the contestant's podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. She pushed the skeleton out of the way, and it clattered to the floor. "Sorry," Annabeth told it.
"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!" the monster cried, though Annabeth hadn't said her name. "Are you ready for your test?"
"Yes," she said. "Ask your riddle."
"Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.
"What? But back in the old days—"
"Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"
Applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet. Annabeth glanced at them nervously. "Okay," she told the Sphinx. "I'm ready."
A drumroll sounded from above. The Sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement. "What…is the capital of Bulgaria?" And Aaron felt his rage only increase, he hated that everything seemed to make a game out of killing kids.
Annabeth frowned. "Sofia," she said, "but—"
"Correct!" More canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so widely that her fangs showed. "Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."
"What?" Annabeth looked mystified. Then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.
"Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the Sphinx said. "If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."
"What machine?" Annabeth asked.
The Sphinx pointed with her paw. Over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big Greek letter Ȇta on the side, the mark of Hephaestus.
"Now," said the Sphinx, "next question—"
"Wait a second," Annabeth protested. "What about 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"
"I beg your pardon?" the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.
"The riddle about the man. He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you used to ask."
"Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer. Now the second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"
"Four," Annabeth said, "but—"
"Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"
"Abraham Lincoln, but—"
"Correct! Riddle number four. How much—"
"Hold up!" Annabeth shouted, her arrogance only adding to his rage. How no one noticed the thick coating of Mist radiating off of him, sinking into the floor, making miniature mirages and so on was beyond him. They must have been so focused on Annabeth they did not notice him.
"These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.
"What do you mean?" the sphinx snapped. "Of course they are. This test material is specially designed—"
"It's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," Annabeth insisted. "Riddles are supposed to make you think."
"Think?" The Sphinx frowned. "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required—"
"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test."
"Um, Annabeth," Grover cut in nervously. "Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?"
"I'm a child of Athena," she insisted. "And this is an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these questions." And Aaron swore to punish Annabeth. His hands moved to his bow and he aimed it well, charged with potent magic.
The spotlights glared. The Sphinx's eyes glittered pure black.
"Why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be eaten!" The Sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel. She pounced at the podium, only to freeze when Aaron's arrow smacked into her creating a block of ice.
He walked over, and smacked Annabeth so hard she spun around. "You arrogant girl, you could have gotten us all killed!" She whimpered, but he was not done. "Do you see these corpses, she slaughtered dozens! When we return to camp. I am so talking to Metis about beating out your arrogance. You are wiser than this, Annabeth. Far wiser. "
The girl nodded, turning her head down ashamed, only to freeze after she saw the mist. "How are you generating Mist?"
"I am not, I am condensing it, you can't make magic but focus it. That is a lesson free of charge... now we are going to honor these corpses, and then we are going to go."He focused his magic and his sword shimmered as he summoned it. " In the name of Hades and Persephone, I slay this monster and use it's essence to bless the poor victims, helping them pass on. I also happily pay their fee so they can move into the afterlife." And with that he sliced off the Sphinx's head, her body exploded not into dust but a wave of mystical energy that rippled out and sank into the corpses which evaporated into shadows and a sense of peace. "Now. Let's go after that spider."
And so they left, stoic and quiet but ready and on a mission to save the world... again.
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was fun. I hate how Annabeth's arrogance is never punished. It hurts so many people but never is even called out!
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.