Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: Symphony of Tempering
Chapter Twenty Four: Xmas Troubles
Beta:
It was a mid-December evening and Rhode had just walked into her rooms in the Atlantean Palace after a long shift healing wounded soldiers in her family's war with Oceanus. From what she'd heard and judging by the number of wounded that were coming in, things were not going well. The Titan of the Sea was making full use of the element of surprise he'd enjoyed and the rallying of many ancient monsters- some not seen since the Silver Age- to his advantage and was making significant gains and at a frightening speed.
But let's not worry about that. Rhode thought fiercely as she hung up her coat and undid her boots in the entrance hall. And let's look on the bright side.
Like how her skill at healing had led her to be classed as one of the decent healers. That was even though she was outstripped by far by the nereids and others with millennia of experience. They could heal dozens in a matter of minutes where she at best could work on two patients at a time. It was a humbling and exciting experience all at once. She was learning so much from just occasionally getting a chance to ask for a tip or trick from these millennia old healers. Even if she felt sheepish at how indulgent they were for her occasional questions.
If only Chiron was as patient with me. Rhode thought before remembering how she'd taken to the lessons on her Vitakinesis that her mentor back at Camp Half-Blood had offered. She'd been dismissive and disinterested a lot of the time. She'd liked it well enough but she'd always been more keen on just getting it done so he could teach her something she found more interesting.
Okay, so maybe he was more patient with me than I thought. Rhode amended as she winced at her relative indifference to her training in what she had come to realise was a very important skill in her arsenal.
Having put her boots away and slipped into a set of comfortable indoor slippers, she walked into the sitting room portion of the rooms her family had in the palace's private wing and was pleasantly surprised to find her Mum playing with Theo as Su, Thekla and Estella watched on indulgently, sipping on some tea and snacking on some muffins.
"Mum? Su?" Rhode greeted in surprise at seeing her mother and wife playing with Theo as he floated around exercising his little muscles.
Ah, her baby boy was just too cute!
Su floated over and kissed Rhode on the cheek, making the daughter of Poseidon smile warmly at her love. Thekla and Estella curtised in their own welcome, ready for any instructions she might have for them.
"Hello, sweetling." Mum greeted distractedly as she tickled Theo's toes as he swam by. "I'm just taking a break between meetings and decided to come play with Theo for some stress relief. Children truly are miracles."
Rhode guessed working so hard handling all the kingdom's non-military duties whilst Dad and Triton were busy leading their war effort, even those the latter two usually handled, was draining, even for a goddess.
Smiling at the goddess, she gave her a warm hug and said. "I thought as much. Take all the time you need, Mum."
As she greeted her mother, Su turned to Rhode's handmaidens and began issuing orders. "Thekla, Estella, now that Rhode's home could you please arrange for dinner to be served? I have a few hours before my shift at the apothecary starts and I was holding off so we could have a family dinner."
"At once, Lady Su." The two Nereids said with a simultaneous curtsy and departed to get the meal prepared.
The sudden lack of attention on him had Theo fussing and he started whimpering and flailing around a little.
"Oh, little one what's wrong?" Mum cooed as she stroked her grandson's belly. Theo though, ignored her. His bright sea green eyes had landed on his mother and he stretched his hands towards her, wailing loudly.
"Aw, my little guy's such a fussy wussy." Rhode cooed as she floated over and scooped Theo up, her heart melting at the smile he gave her. "You really know how to get what you want, don't you? I've got a feeling you're going to be such a heartbreaker, Theo."
Theo gurgled some baby sounds at her in that adorable way of his. Clearly he agreed with her assessment. Chuckling at her son's antics, she picked him up to cuddle into her chest to give him the attention he so clearly wanted. As she did though, Theo almost immediately leaned into her breast and tried suckling through her shirt.
"Looks like he's a little hungry too." Su observed with a chuckle.
"Yeah," Rhode agreed with an indulgent smile for her fussing son and took a seat. "When was his last feeding?"
"I woke up and breastfed him in the afternoon. So it's pretty normal for him to be hungry. He's a growing boy after all." Su told her and eased Rhode's worries.
"The appetite of this boy, I swear." Rhode smiled teasingly as she shifted Theo in her arms to rub his nose with her own, causing him to fuss unhappily. Someone was too hungry to want to play it seemed.
"His appetite is perfectly healthy for a growing baby." Mum said with a teasing grin of her own as with the ease of long practice, Rhode unbuttoned her shirt, pushed aside the left cup of her bra and guided her son's head towards her nipple.
Guided by the instinct all babies had, Theo promptly stopped fussing and instead moved to suckle happily from his mother's breast.
Mum let out a happy smile at the sight and looked content. "You've taken to motherhood so well, dear. Ah, the sight makes me want another child again just to experience it again."
Rhode's face flushed at the compliment and said. "Thanks, Mum. I'm just doing what I can."
They settled into a happy quiet for a while as they all watched Theo enjoy his meal for about ten minutes, one that Rhode broke as she shifted him to her other breast.
"Mum, I like working in the hospital and all but-"
"No, Rhode, you can't join the war councils." Mum said, her face firm and radiating her queenly authority. "Not even as an observer."
"But-"
"Rhode," Mum said, shooting her a slightly chiding look that made her feel like a small child, even with a babe suckling at her breast. "You might be a good leader by mortal standards, your leadership of Camp Half-Blood speaks for itself. However, this is war on a scale you have never seen before. You know nothing about commanding armies of thousands."
"But how can I learn if I don't-"
"Now is not the time for you to learn, Rhode." Mum insisted. "Not with the lives of our men at stake. If we were at peace and you had expressed an interest, you would be most welcome to sit in at the council planning a drill or exercise. But not now. Your presence now would be a distraction our commanders can ill afford."
Rhode bowed her head at that. She understood what her mum was saying. She didn't like it, but she acknowledged it.
"Rhode, it's not like we aren't helping as best we can already." Su reminded her softly. "It's just that we can do more good where we are, with you helping the healers and me making potions."
"Yeah…"
"Speaking of helping out," Mum said leadingly, lips pulled into a small smile. "Rhode, Su, there is something that I think you two could do that you are uniquely suited for."
The task the Mum had said Rhode and Su were "uniquely suited for" turned out to be them going up to Camp Half-Blood during the Christmas season to hurry Cabin Nine on a delayed delivery of Greek Fire torpedoes. If Mum was to be believed, the Cyclopes were too busy keeping up with the production and maintenance of their existing designs to even think of working on new ones and thus had chosen instead to subcontract the production of such to Charlie and his siblings instead.
Rhode had initially been of the opinion that it was all hogwash. That the whole thing was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by Mum and Dad, mainly Mum, to get Rhode and her family out of Atlantis and to the relatively safer Camp Half-Blood. At least that's what she'd thought until she'd seen the chaos that was Cabin Nine as they struggled to keep up with the order.
With it being Winter, most of the Campers had headed home and that left Charlie with only a handful of year rounders and the odd sibling who'd stayed behind in response to the war to help him. The guy was seriously shorthanded and that was even with the dozens of automatons the Hephaestus kids had built to help.
"Charlie, be straight with me. Can you meet the deadline?" Rhode asked the Cabin Nine counselor seriously. "Today's already Wednesday and it's this Sunday. You're what? Three hundred torpedoes short?"
"About there," Charlie admitted with a wince as they stood surveying the largely automaton manned production line that Cabin Nine had set up in one of the bunkers underneath their cabin from a floating pod that served as an office. "But with the production line now all set up, we'll be able to ramp up production quickly. We'll make it. It'll be tight, but we'll make it."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Rhode asked him with a frown as they watched Silena carry a newly finished torpedo off the end of the assembly line to stack it atop a neatly arranged pile at the side of the bunker that had been set up as a storage area. "You're sure you don't need another extension?"
"I'm sure," Charlie insisted with a serious look and Rhode sighed.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it. But if you can't meet it-"
"Then we'll make up for it by giving a discount on the next order." Charlie said without hesitation.
"I'll hold you that." Rhode said, nodding in agreement.
With Cabin Nine still rushing to meet their order and with Rhode and Su unable to do anything to speed it up, they had decided to just spend the time they had in Camp with their family. Which was how Rhode, Su and Theo found themselves heading out from Camp in Argus' delivery van to New York City to do some Christmas shopping with Thalia and Annabeth.
"Thalia, Bethy, why did the two of you leave your Christmas shopping till so late? Su and I were busy helping out in the war effort down in Atlantis, what's your excuse?"
"I've actually got mine done already." Annabeth said with a shrug before teasingly looking over at their sister. "It's only Thalia here that's not finished hers."
"Which isn't my fault. I tried doing it last week but me, Percy and Nico di Angelo got kidnapped by Persephone and sent to retrieve the super powerful Sword of Hades that she'd secretly forged for her husband so he'd become the most powerful of the Big Three after she let her daughter Melinoe steal it."
"Demigod luck," Su said with a chuckle as she nursed Theo. The glutton having decided that the car ride to town was the perfect time to get hungry even though he'd just been fed a couple hours ago. Then again he was a growing boy so Rhode could forgive him.
"Su, I pray to the gods that you haven't jinxed us." Annabeth said with a wince.
"Don't worry so much, Bethy. It'll be fine." Rhode reassured her.
"Yes, Annabeth, don't worry. Even if we do run into trouble, we can handle it." Su added as she handed a finished Theo over to Rhode.
Thalia looked at Theo and was about to say something but Rhode, even as she burped her son, cut her off. "We can protect Theo just fine. We can't live in perpetual fear even though we're at war. We'll burn out if we do."
Thalia blinked at Rhode in slight disbelief at that.
"When did you get so wise, Rhode?" The daughter of Zeus asked teasingly.
"I learnt the phrasing from Mum. But I've always known that." Rhode replied with a roll of her eyes as she rocked her now sleepy son.
"Speaking of mothers," Annabeth cut in with a grin as she leaned in to watch Theo doze off. "You and Su are great mothers, Rhode."
"Thanks Bethy. It was a learning experience, that's for sure."
"And we had plenty of help along the way." Su said as she finished rebuttoning and adjusting her top. The two of them had come to favour buttoned tops or dresses with buttoned bodices now that they had to breastfeed Theo. For them at least, it was a lot more comfortable than tee shirts that they had to roll up to get out of the way when the need arose.
"Yeah, I guess the nereids and goddesses below would know a thing or two." Annabeth commented as she sipped on some hot cocoa.
"With the amount of kids some of them have it would be a surprise if they didn't." Thalia observed with a chuckle.
The van suddenly began slowing down to a stop and the four demigoddesses turned to Argus, who just nodded out the windscreen at Percy who was waving at them from a street corner just ahead.
"Looks like we're here." Rhode declared as she deftly unbuckled her seatbelt, careful not to jar her sleeping son. "Thanks for the lift, Argus."
The hundred-eyed giant just nodded even as he gestured at the others who were already filing out of the van then at his watch and the boxes of strawberries he was in the city to deliver.
"Right, you're in a rush." Rhode said with a nod in understanding as she hopped out of the van herself. "Pickup here at six?"
Argus nodded and offered her a smile, wordlessly telling her to have a fun time. At least that's what Rhode thought he was trying to say.
Smiling back at the giant, Rhode closed the van door and offered him a wave as he drove off before turning to greet her brother. Only to find him and Annabeth too busy kissing to give her the time of day.
Rhode sighed and turned to her wife.
"Were we that bad?" She asked jokingly.
"No, you were worse I think." Su teased with a loving hip bump.
"Yo couples!" Thalia said with a groan. "Can we just get going already? Some of us have Christmas shopping to do. You lot can go be all coupley after that."
The married couple shared a bemused look and nodded. "Sure thing, Thalia. Where do you want to go first?"
The first stop of Rhode's part of the trip saw her accompanying Annabeth as she got her hair done at a hair salon. Theo would've been with them since unlike Su, Rhode was basically just sitting around but the little tyke had woken up on the way to the salon and got all excited by the new sights and sounds on offer around him. So to satisfy him, and avoid a tantrum, Rhode had handed him off to Su so she could let him enjoy the sights whilst she did their Christmas shopping alongside Percy and Thalia. The latter two having failed to finish their shopping thanks to the whole Sword of Hades incident.
"Rhode, are you sure you don't want to dye that white streak? We are at a hair salon." Annabeth asked as she was having her hair snipped by a stylist.
"It's fine." Rhode said with a reassuring smile. "I think the streak looks cool. Besides, it's a good reminder of how I got it."
"You're sure?" Annabeth asked with a disbelieving frown.
"Totally." Rhode insisted before turning the tables on her sister. "By the way, Bethy, why are you, of all people, getting your hair styled? Aren't you more of a barber shop kinda gal?"
"It's Christmas," Annabeth said with a roll of her eyes. "Even I'd want to look nice for Christmas dinner."
"Ah! So you're doing it to impress your boyfriend's mother." Rhode said with a knowing, teasing grin.
Annabeth's tanned cheeks turned red as she blushed, but didn't deny it.
"Oh, you don't need to worry your head off, Bethy. Sally's very nice. She won't mind you showing up with a rat's nest for hair."
Her sassy little sister rolled her grey eyes and replied. "I want to make a good first impression, Rhode! Besides, it's not just going to be Sally this year. Percy's new step-dad, Paul Blofis, is going to be there too."
"Then why worry? Anyone Sally would choose to marry must be a good person."
"Gabe Ugliano?" Annabeth said pointedly.
"That was an exception."
Rhode was about to retort when suddenly the ground trembled. It wasn't from an earthquake though. Not only were they rare in New York, but as the daughter of the Earthshaker, Rhode, even with her almost non-existent geokinesis, would've sensed if it was.
Everyone in the salon tensed though but soon relaxed when there wasn't any further trembling, with quite a few dismissing it as a minor tremor. Annabeth however was not one of them and she shot Rhode a look.
"Stay here and finish getting your hair done, you worrywart." Rhode told her sternly and teasing all at once. "I'll go see what it is."
"Rhode-"
"Stay." Rhode ordered as she stood and walked towards the salon exit. "I'll handle it."
Heading outside, Rhode could see cars overturned down the road from the salon. It was quite a distance but at the very edge of her vision she could see a monster was attacking mortals. Some of whom had already met a grisly fate if the beast's already bloodied maw was any indication. It was also rearing up on its hindlegs to do some kind of stomp which the daughter of Poseidon just knew had been what caused the trembling earth just now.
And Rhode recognised who it was immediately. As big as a woolly mammoth, with the front, head and forepaws of a lion, the back and hind legs of a dragon legs, a snaky tail that had a rattlesnake's head at the tip and a goat head poking straight up from its back like a periscope… This was unmistakably Chimera.
And considering how different he looked from how Percy described him from the time he fought him a few years back in St. Louis, it seemed that Chimera had decided to go back to his classic look
Pulling Spellbound out from her skirt pocket and quickly transforming it into its true form, she apparated a little over a hundred feet from the monster, just outside Camp's estimates of its infamous fire breath, and immediately used her hydrokinesis to tear up the street as she pulled their contents out of water lines and popped the nearby fire hydrants, sending water pouring into the street. Water that she sent lashing out at Chimera as long whips from all directions.
The monster didn't take this lying down and unleashed torrents of red hot flames from all three of its mouths that it used to transform all the water that got within a hundred feet of it into steam. Though it had three mouths and the flames of two of them proved more than enough for that, leaving its leonine head free to direct the column of fire it breathed out right at Rhode.
The daughter of Poseidon had expected something like this might happen, Camp's data on Chimera's range were estimates for a reason, so she'd kept some of the water in reserve, using it only now to create a barrier to shield her from Chimera's fire breath for the precious seconds she needed to apparate to safety.
He's just gonna counter any water and ice I throw at him with his flames, I've gotta change tactics. Rhode reasoned as she rematerialised and with a swing of Spellbound sent a volley of Sagitta Infernum (Arrow Hell) at the monster. Her spell sent dozens of arcane arrows leaping from the tines of her trident that flew through the air in erratic patterns as they zeroed in on Chimera's eyes.
The son of Echidna wasn't about to just sit around and be a target though, so in a display of amazing agility for something its size, the monster leapt on top of a building and evaded Rhode's spell. But it didn't just dodge, as even as its main body leapt to safety, its snake head lashed forward and spat a glob of venom at her.
"Nice new trick but you'll have to try harder, Chimera." Rhode taunted as she reached out with her toxikinesis and grabbed the venom whilst it was in midair and had it twist back around towards the mouth that spat it.
Sadly, the snake reacted quickly and fired a gout of flames to evaporate the venom.
Even as the snake head was taking its turn attacking, the main body wasn't idle and slammed its forelimbs into the roof of the building it was standing on and sent a surge of energy through it that caused the whole thing to collapse.
Rhode could only look on aghast. There had been people in there. A fact that caused her anger to spike.
He doesn't care about collateral damage. She concluded, her temper threatening to overwhelm her and held back only by a thin leash of her resolve. I need to end this as quickly as possible before he kills more innocents.
Chimera wasn't done though and suddenly large flaming chunks of the building he'd just leveled were sent flying out of the cloud of dust that its collapse had caused straight at Rhode.
Cursing at how damned smart Chimera was for a supposedly bestial monster, Rhode had the water that was still flooding the street from the water pipes she'd broken surge upwards and around the flying chunks of ruined burning masonry before freezing them solid. Of course, it was when she was busy focusing on doing that, when Chimera decided to shoot a massive fireball out of the still dissipating dust cloud that obscured his position. The thing was big enough and hot enough that it sublimated Rhode's ice instantly and literally vaporised the chunks of building they'd trapped.
Thankfully, the ice had slowed the fireball down enough that Rhode could apparate to safety on the opposite side of where Chimera was even as the fireball hit the ground, melting a large hole into the street and setting a number of the buildings along it alight.
I have to end this now! With how completely indiscriminate he is being with his attacks, if I let this drag on, there's no telling who might be caught up in one.
With Theo in town today, one of those could be her son. And that was something she would allow to happen over her dead body.
"Επικαλούνται: Δύναμη του Δούρειου ίππου (Epikaloúmai: Dýnami tou Doúreiou íppou/ Invoke: Power of the Trojan Horse)!" Rhode cast, causing the ground to shake and Chimera to topple over, hitting the ground hard enough to create an aftershock all its own and writhe in pain. At the height of a one storey building, it was on the lower end of what would be hit by the full effects of Rhode's spell but that was good enough for her.
"We're done here, monster." She stated firmly. "Επικαλούνται: άβυσσα φυλακή (Epikaloúmai: ávyssa fylakí / Invoke: Abyssal Prison)."
The black waters of the abyssal deep appeared around the disorientated Chimera and proceeded to engulf the monster, trapping it in a tight ball. A sphere of inky blackness that Rhode willed to compress. Chimera roared defiantly at this, struggling with all its monstrous might and breathing its flames but it was too little too late. It was already caught in Rhode's grasp and she was not in a forgiving mood. Thus despite its efforts, the mighty child of Echidna was crushed under the intense pressure of the depths created by Rhode's spell.
Rhode was thorough though and even long after Chimera's struggles stopped, she kept pouring on the pressure. Only when she had compressed the sphere of abyssal water until it was the size of a basketball did she relent and dismiss her spell.
As the pitch black waters faded, gold dust poured out from the sphere they'd created and along with it was a transparent thermos containing a green black liquid that Rhode recognised as the venom that Chimera had tried to spit at her earlier. Letting out a whistle, Rhode walked over and picked up the container. "Thank you Lady Nike for this convenient spoil."
Whilst she pocketed the vial, she didn't forget to call on the water still flowing from the broken pipes and open fire hydrants to put out the fires started by Chimera's breath. At the same time, she used her limited talent with controlling the Mist to conjure a thick bank of it over the area.
She didn't have enough skill to do more. It would be up to Hecate to come up with a cover story, probably some kind of terrorist attack or burst gas main. Either way, she could only imagine what the news would say about such a tragedy so close to the holidays. She was about to do more, maybe go help pull some survivors out of the collapsed or scorched buildings, when her phone rang.
Frowning, she pulled it out and was surprised to see it was a call from Hecate.
Hitting the answer button, she pondered why the goddess would even be calling her about after siding with the Titans. "Hello?"
"Poseidon's girl, get lost. Right now."
Rhode felt her teeth grit and was about to retort, but the goddess cut her off.
"If you stick around, you'll ruin the cover story I'm trying to spin here. So shoo and go back to your lagoon."
Before she could even reply to that, the goddess hung up with a decisive click and she was forcibly teleported back to the front of the hair salon.
"Guess she wasn't gonna take no for an answer." Rhode said with a roll of her eyes before shrugging.
If the goddess wanted her to stay away from the scene, then she knew better than to say otherwise. With Hecate siding with the Titans, who knows what curse she'd saddle her with if she did otherwise? Rhode had enough of divine curses, thank you very much!
So with one last glance at the site of the battle in the distance and a shake of her head, she headed back inside to inform Annabeth about what happened. It was certainly going to be a story.
That Sunday, on the day of the deadline for Cabin Nine's order, Rhode, Su and Theo were at Camp's beach overseeing a group of cyclopes as they loaded the freshly finished Greek fire torpedoes that Cabin Nine had made. The Hephaestus kids had only just barely managed to complete the order in time but that was neither here nor there. They got the job done and that was honestly all that mattered and by the way the cyclopes inspectors had smiled as they looked over the couple torpedoes they'd randomly selected for quality checks, they'd done a good one. One that might just earn them another one, as such whilst Su entertained Theo who was fascinated as he always was with cyclopes at work, Rhode and Charlie had a bit of a chat to discuss that possibility.
"So, Charlie, can Cabin Nine provide more torpedoes?"
"We certainly can." Charlie said with a confident nod. "With the assembly line up and running, we can provide another three thousand in a month's time."
"That's very good." Rhode said, nodding in satisfaction. That was a very good rate of production. "At the same rate?"
Charlie nodded." Yeah. Camp needs as much Celestial Bronze as Atlantis can spare to stock up its armory."
In the background, a pair of the cyclopes were unloading several crates worth of Celestial Bronze equipment and even raw ingots of the divine metal as payment for the torpedoes out of a shipping container they'd tugged from Atlantis to facilitate the trade.
Rhode nodded in understanding. Atlantis might be under siege but it had the whole ocean's resources to draw upon as it fought Oceanus and his forces, Camp on the other hand was fighting a war with only what resources it could scrounge up from the favour of the gods, what their limited funds could buy and the little they could source on their own.
"Then I think we'll be happy to do business with you." Rhode told him with a grin. "I'll arrange for a proper contract to get written up once I get back to Atlantis, but you should start on the new batch of torpedoes right away."
"I'm already working on it. We never shut down the assembly line." Charlie said with a smirk while crossing his arms.
Rhode nodded in approval. "Alright, I'll send you the contract as soon as possible."
Her friend gave a look of satisfaction to that.
Offering one last smile, she said. "I'll catch up with you later, Charlie. The family and I have to head out."
"Sure thing Rhode, tell the wife and kid I said hi."
Agreeing to that, she turned back to her family and prepared to call out to Su to let her know they were good to go. But before she could open her mouth, her phone rang.
"Oh come on! For real?" Rhode grumbled at how the gods did this on purpose. Though the name on her Caller ID gave her pause. In big, bold letters on her screen were the words: LORD ZEUS.
Subtle.
"Lord Zeus," Rhode said as politely as she could as she answered the call. Whilst most gods wouldn't mind if she was casual. She knew her Uncle would. He disliked her and was a stickler for rules on top of that. So best to be on her best behavior. "To what do I owe the honour of receiving a call from your august personage?"
"Niece," Zeus said curtly, surprising Rhode with his informality. He sounded harried even. "I have a mission for you."
Already a sense of dread was filling her, but Rhode nevertheless replied with all politeness. "What is it, Lord Zeus?"
"Olympus just received a tipoff from a faded goddess that the Devil of the Rhine has just killed my daughter, Enyo."
Oh shit. Enyo was one of the goddesses of war. Her death would definitely have a negative impact on the Olympian war effort. Was the crazy immortal sorceress working for the Titans or something?
"Worse still, she is occupying her palace. Go root her out."
"Of course, Lord Zeus." Rhode said, but since her Uncle seemed somewhat amiable she decided to try her luck with asking a question that she had. "But might you tell me what you meant by receiving a tipoff from a faded goddess?"
Her uncle grunted impatiently but still nevertheless obliged her. "We on Olympus sensed Enyo's death but we did not know how she died and our attempts to scry the truth were blocked. Soteria, I believe you've met her,-"
Rhode vaguely recalled fighting a faded goddess by the name. She was that quirky, overly happy one in overalls that had helped the Devil and Paradigm attack the Lilies that one time, wasn't she?
"- contacted Olympus with the truth. Several truths in fact."
"Several?" Rhode asked, blinking in surprise.
"Yes," Zeus said with an angry growl that was echoed by the thunder that boomed overhead. "Apparently, Paradigm's business assisting our faded kin return to their former glory was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. He has been making use of the Devil to kill our fellows to make new clients even as he used the essence he obtained from these slayings to satisfy his existing ones."
You mean you didn't know? Rhode thought but knew better than to say. It should've been obvious. It was actually a really simple conclusion to make after thinking about how the demented faded god operated. After all, his fresh sources of divine essence had to come from somewhere and the amount of dead demigods and spirits just didn't provide anywhere near enough even if he somehow managed to collect all their essence.
"We were wilfully ignorant." Zeus said with a self-deprecating sigh. "We turned a blind eye to the evidence in front of us, too enamoured by the hope of seeing our lost kin restored that Paradigm offered us. And those of us who did see, kept it to themselves. But the time for self-deception is over."
Rhode could just nod. Her Uncle could probably see her doing it even if they were on the phone.
"So Niece, go and kill that bitch." Zeus ordered, the sky netted with lightning, followed by ear popping thunder in a reflection of his anger.
"Isn't she immortal?" Rhode asked, pointing out the obvious.
"Soteria says she has a solution to that." Zeus informed her coolly. "Just preoccupy the sorceress until she arrives. Now enough time has been wasted. Go. Now!"
With that her Uncle unceremoniously hung up on her.
Rhode just sighed and turned to Su who had at some point during their conversation walked over with Theo in her arms.
"Lord Zeus gave us a mission?" Her wife asked knowingly.
"Yeah," Rhode said with a nod. "Think we should send Theo home to Atlantis or-"
"Leave the tyke here. I'll take care of him." Dionsysus said as he materialised next to them in a purple, wine smelling mist. "You don't want him travelling through a warzone even with an escort of cyclopes and Father won't like it if you delay. It'll take you long enough to make it to Enyo's palace as is, you'll need to set off from here."
"Thank you, Lord Dyionsus." Rhode said, offering her a patron a grateful smile.
"You should be thanking me," Lady Ariadne said as she teleported in with her arms draped around her husband's shoulders. "Since I'll be the one doing the babysitting. Trust me, you don't want to see my husband try. He is terrible at it."
"Thank you as well, Lady Ariadne."
"Giving me the excuse to have Ariadne here." Mr. D said, smiling with a clean shaven face that he did not have a second ago. "Who knew this patron gig had such good bonuses? And Rhode? Just kill that damnable witch. And if you can, Paradigm too. They both deserve to pay for what they've done."
Rhode nodded firmly as she inhaled the smell of wine that suddenly filled the air around them. It felt empowering and she felt her body, even down to her very bones, be energized by it.
"I will, my lord." Rhode assured the wine god. "I will."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
And thus, the finale is upon us! Prepare for the Second Titan War our dear readers, for we have twists, we have turns and we got the bloodsport on the way! Prepare and watch as we take canon and blow it up. Now onto the chapter itself.
Nameless: Now, now, E4E, don't promise something we might not be able to fully deliver. We'll try of course, but let's not make promises. Besides, if you guys have read our other PJOverse fics you'll know whilst we might change things up, the broad strokes of canon will remain the same. We will however do our utmost to give a new take all our own to it. So keep reading to see what we come up with!
Hope you all enjoyed some ladies time with the girls as Rhode had her holiday slam down in NYC. The Chimera was never really used again after book one and was so… underwhelming save for making Percy run away and was so much scarier back in the old days. So we decided to use its bigger form for the fight this go around.
Nameless: That and show that monsters can change shape as established in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes but never explored in the main series.
Also, Thalia's single status seems to be comic to us. What do you all think?
Nameless: We might just milk it again in the future since we have no intention of ever letting her settle down with someone within the main story. Our headcanon though is that after the events of the story, she'll become like an explorer for Olympus and set out to rediscover/find lost places and their secrets and along the way will meet someone with just as much wanderlust as her. Again, we have no plans to explore this, it's just something we came up with to satisfy our own curiosities and those of whoever might share it.
So… I have a new fic that stars Rhode called Outsider Holy Grail War. If you are interested in it at all, I'd be very happy if you give it a read.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!