After the adrenaline wore off, dread filled Alexa to her core. She was so stupid! What the heck was she supposed to do now?
"Jazz is going to kill me." She found herself muttering. Her distress was, mostly from the decision to come to Olympus, but no small part of her worry was reserved for the contents of a small envelope currently on top of a pile of similar envelopes in a mailbox just outside the Empire State Building. There was nothing for her to do, not unless she wanted to commit mail fraud. That'd be one way to kick off a quest, now that she thought of it...but no. No, she'd stand by her decision, stupid as it was.
She didn't really pay much attention to where she was going, no more than anyone else walking the streets of Manhattan at nine in the morning. So it was a surprise and yet not surprising at all when she found herself in Grand Central Station. She supposed her feet wanted her to prepare for heading back, and the subway was probably the fastest way back to the cemetery.
She still had hours before she had to meet Argus, and she still needed that licorice, so she opted to kill two birds with one stone by heading into a candy shop she spotted just off the main lobby.
The moment she stepped in her first thought was of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The place looked markedly similar to the candy shop scene from the film, with a bar where a woman quietly scrubbed away at the counter shop, a shake machine and one of those old fashioned soda fountains set up behind her, a tip jar lifted up from the surface so she could clean under it. Jars and displays of candy covered every wall along with scoops and clear plastic bags for selecting a purchase, and in the back she could hear a grunt and muffled conversation of two men making taffy.
The woman at the counter looked up and smiled at Alexa as she came in. The woman was stunning, with thick chocolate brown hair, dazzling blue eyes and an infectious smile. Despite her current situation, Alexa found herself smiling too, which only got the woman smiling more. She couldn't help but like this woman, she gave off intense mom vibes, the same as Melody.
The smile on Alexa's face lasted all the way up until she turned away. Worry once again crowded in on her like an overly enthusiastic visitor. She was here to get supplies, nothing more. Alexa moved across the room, grabbed one of the plastic bags, and filled it with licorice.
As she approached the counter the woman behind it turned around and placed a truly massive glass down in front of her, filled to the brim with a thick, dark blue milkshake.
"Umm…" Alexa began. "I didn't…"
"I know." The woman said simply "It's on the house, you're my taste tester today. Besides, it looks like you could use it." Her smile turned a little sadder and a little more understanding. Alexa winced on reflex. Was it that obvious? She sighed and climbed up onto one of the barstools. She took a cautious sip of the navy colored concoction and blinked in surprise. She had been expecting blueberries, but what she got was unmistakably s'mores. She could actually taste the marshmallow, chocolate and little graham cracker bits.
"Is it good? My son seems to think so but I wanted a second opinion." The lady asked.
"It's unexpected but really good!" Alexa responded without a single trace of insincerity. The woman beamed.
"Good to hear!" She paused, ringing out the little towel in a sink behind the counter before putting it away.
"So," she asks, lowering her tone "Do you want to talk about it?"
"The ice cream?" Alexa asked hopefully. The woman raised her eyebrow slightly and Alexa sighed. "Not really...but my best friend said if you bottle something up it could really mess you up."
"You should listen to that friend of yours. They're right, you know." The candy shop lady said gently.
"She almost always is." Alexa chuckled. The woman smiled back at her. Alexa didn't know why, but she found herself trusting this stranger, this woman at the candy store, more and more as the seconds passed. Part of her wondered if it was magic, but Alexa dismissed that. It was simpler than that. This lady was just nice. She gave off pure goodness vibes, and there was something in her bright blue eyes that just made Alexa want to open up to her. Still, the woman was mortal, Alexa was certain of that, so she had to put her problems through a few filters before sharing.
"I kinda...did something dumb." Alexa explained, pausing only long enough to take another sip of milkshake. "See I kinda...sorta messed up. I messed up really bad, so I felt like I needed to do something to make up for it."
Alexa couldn't help but wince. Calling Thalia's death a mess up felt really disrespectful.
"Well, while I think you probably don't need to do something to make up for a mistake, it sounds like that part isn't the problem." Her pseudo-therapist prompted gently.
"Well it is...and it isn't." Alexa shifted uncertainly on her stool. "See the thing I'm doing to make up for it is really dumb and really dangerous, and I didn't tell my best friend that I was going to do it."
"Ahh, so you got yourself into this situation that you know is risky, just trying to do the right thing, and you're worried about how this friend of yours is going to react?" Asked the woman, leaning against her side of the counter slightly.
"She does have a bit of a temper." Alexa mumbled "And she's really protective."
"Well I think there's going to be a blow up, there's probably no avoiding that." Said the older woman with a sigh and a shake of her head. "But once she calms down a bit, you just have to be honest, sincere, and gentle. Tell her that you'll be as safe as possible, and that you'll make all the right choices. Then, here's the important thing, actually follow through on it."
Alexa mulled that over for a bit. "But… what if I can't?"
"Well then you better be a good escape artist. If this friend of yours cares about you and can tell you're lying about being safe I doubt she'd let you out of her sight." The woman correctly predicted. "Try to be as honest as you possibly can. Be firm about doing this, but be safe about it. That's the only way you'll convince her it's the right thing to do."
The two fell into silence after that. Alexa paid for her licorice and continued to sip at her blue s'mores shake. After about an hour she slid off the stool.
"Thanks for the ice cream, and the advice." She said,
"Anytime! I hope everything goes well!" The woman chirped back. Alexa turned, she was just about to leave, when the door to the shop popped open.
"Mom!" A little boy, maybe six years old, rushed past Alexa, lightly bumping into her as he did. He ran behind the counter and promptly leaped into the arms of the woman behind the counter. She laughed and held him tight while Alexa just stared. Another woman scooted past her and the two began talking, but Alexa's eyes were locked on the kid.
Slowly she reached out and touched the arm he had accidentally knocked into. It was still numb, still, heavy, and unmoving. A cold dread seemed to fill her, coming to her brain directly from the same deadened limb. Only one thing had ever made her feel like that, not nearly as much in recent years since she had opted to avoid swim lessons, but the feeling was still unmistakable.
Her mind made quick leaps from one logical point to another, the few interactions with the naiads that had never produced a feeling like this, the almost super natural way the woman acted when it came to diagnosing and understanding one of Alexa's problems, even the determined look in her eyes and the protective way she squeezed her little boy. This woman was mortal, no doubt, but her son wasn't. Maybe it was her run in with Thalia, but in Alexa's mind there was only one god who could be that boy's father.
She had just started reaching into her pocket, whether she was grabbing a coin for the payphone or a drachma for an Iris message would remain a mystery however. Alexa couldn't help but notice the big smiles on both mother and son's faces as the woman squeezed the boy. Alexa thought about how their faces would look if she called Chiron right then, and the boy were taken to camp for training. It might keep him alive but she couldn't do that to either of them. Someone like her, who'd help a stranger with her kind of problems, deserved to live with her boy, and the kid...well...she loved Camp, and everything it brought into her life, but he deserved the chance she never had. He deserved to be a normal kid for a little bit, especially if her suspicions about his dad were correct.
"Thanks again for picking him up, Claire! You're a lifesaver!" Sally said with a smile.
"Oh stop it, you've thanked me enough!" Laughed Claire as the shop's bell jingled, their only customer leaving with a bit of quickness in her step.
"Besides, it's not like Gabe was going to do it!" She added with a roll of her eyes "I honestly don't know what you see in that man!"
Sally let out a soft noise, but otherwise didn't respond. The summer always had its ups and downs, scheduling mostly, keeping Percy looked after at all times while still sparing enough time to work was never easy. Gabe was always such a difficulty on any day of the week that she barely even considered him worth mentioning anymore.
"Are you still planning that trip to Montauk?" Claire asked suddenly, looking away from Sally.
"If we can get the money together." Sally answered. Claire didn't respond, instead she simply pointed down at the tip jar. Inside, on top of a pair of quarters and three dimes, rested a small wad of bills. Just from here Sally could see at least two twenties sticking out of the mass. Her eyes went wide and flicked to the door where their only customer in hours must've gone.
Already on her train Alexa sighed to herself. "I give it four years, five max."
She didn't regret what she had just done, although she hoped Chiron would allow her to take some sort of emergency fund with her on her trip.
Hours later, Alexa exited the van and made a beeline for the archery range where Chiron was teaching a class. She didn't even have time to speak. He just turned and his jaw set.
"You asked for the Trials of Purification." He said with a sigh. It wasn't a question.
"How did you know?" She asked, momentarily distracted from her task.
"My dear, I trained Heracles, and almost every young hero who dedicated themselves to that path. I know the look." He shook his head sadly and lightly pawed the ground with his hoof. It only occurred to Alexa in that moment just how old Chiron looked. The centaur was older than the country she stood in, by leaps and bounds, but she had never thought of him as particularly old. Looking at him now...she saw all the weight the years and losses had put on him.
He gently reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Come." He said as he led her back to the Big House. "The Oracle awaits."
He led her up to the porch as if he were leading her to the gallows...in a way, she supposed he was. Or he thought he was at the very least. Over seven thousand...a shiver ran down Alexa's spine. She couldn't focus on them, she had to focus on her own tasks or she'd psych herself out before it even began!
Chiron led her to the bottom of the stairs and motioned towards the upper floors. "I'll be here...Whatever happens next."
Alexa smiled back at him, nodded her head and proceeded up the stairs.
She had only been in the attic a few times before, never lingering longer than it took to grab what she needed from the storage room. The place always gave Alexa the creeps, and the main reason was also the reason why she was up there.
Slowly, Alexa turned on the spot until she saw her, the withered mummy on the three legged stool. Alexa choked on the mothball and reptile scented air. The thing set Alexa's teeth chattering and managed to score an eleven on her creepy meter. It was thin and gaunt, it's tie dye dress draped over it's thin frame like a tent on too few tentpoles. It's glassy eyes were slightly open, revealing the underside of the marbles her eyes had been replaced by. Alexa took a moment to steel her nerves then she stepped forward.
The mummy sat with a start, almost causing Alexa to scream had her jaw not decided to clench of its own accord. She staggered backwards as the mummy's month opened and a green mist spilled out, blanketing the junk in the room in lime green fog. From the fog a voice whispered to her, a voice that hissed into her ear and brushed it's ghostly words against her brain in an almost tender way.
"I am the Spirit of Delphi" It hissed "Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, Slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker and ask!"
More than anything in that moment, Alexa just wanted to leap through the attic's covered window. At least she could somewhat take a fall from this height. Instead, Alexa did something far more stupid. She forced herself to breathe and took a step forward.
"What is my destiny?" She asked in a low voice. The mist in front of her swirled, it changed and reformed into a figure that stood taller than Alexa. She was different than Alexa remembered, her eyes were sharp and focused, her hair black and straight without a single speck of gray, and her body had a slight green sheen around the edges, but she was otherwise unmistakable. It was her mother.
Instinctively Alexa took several steps back, her hand shooting for the charm bracelet on her other wrist. She had just closed her fingers around it when her mother spoke. The voice was the harsh, hissing whisper of the Oracle which helped bring Alexa back to reality.
"You will go, child of pain and tragedy, | into the world to create your legacy." The phantom of her mother began to circle her, forcing Alexa to turn to keep her in sight. The room around them shifted, an illusion of her apartment's living room springing to life. It wasn't hard for the random junk in the room to make the transition.
"Beast, demon, and pain you will find | As well as allies in the ties that bind. |Through desert nights and homes of old |To the dwellings of those that leave the world cold. | Unlikely friends and enemies fierce,| the wall and guard your blade must pierce. |For over the land in one last, mad race | you will meet your end in time's unyielding embrace."
With the last of it's predictions given, and Alexa's fate determined, the green fog wrapped around the form of her mother, quickly absorbing it, the human woman becoming a mound of tight green coils with a triangular head. The gaseous snake flicked it's tongue at her once before slithering back into the mummy's mouth. The mummy sagged against the wall and it's mouth clicked shut. Alexa was alone again, but she couldn't help but dwell on her prophecy.
Deserts and monsters she could handle...but that last line worried her. It shouldn't, it sounded like she'd die only after a long time...but the way it was said felt..off. Far nearer than she would've liked.
She made her way downstairs, back to an anxious looking Chiron.
"What did she say?" He asked gently.
"Friends, enemies, a race against time...a lot to think about." Alexa responded distractedly. Chiron frowned, it was clear he wanted to know more, but he held his tongue. Alexa kept walking, forcing the centaur to trot beside her to continue the conversation.
"Very well...we'll gather up some supplies for you, and get things prepared. Do you have any idea of when you'll be leaving? What are you going to do about transportation?" At his questions, Alexa shook her head. He frowned and sighed. "You didn't think that far ahead, did you?"
"No…" Alexa admitted sheepishly.
"It may be a good thing, in the long run. Now you have time to plan." As he spoke, the cabins came into view and Alexa made a beeline for Cabin Nine. Her siblings were already gathered around, huddled near her work table. One of the youngest, Charles, stepped forward.
"Alexa! We don't know when it got here but…" The sea of campers parted to reveal a toolbox resting on the table, fire engine red, clasped with bronze, with a note and a small key tied to the handle with a red ribbon. Frowning, Alexa took the note and read it aloud.
"I can't help much more than this. Be safe out there. Dad. P.S., Open on the floor." Alexa knew looks of confusion and worry were crossing her cabin-mates' faces, but she forced herself not to look. Instead she picked up the box, placed it on the floor, and slid the key into the lock.
Immediately the box's lid flipped open and the whole thing began to unfold like origami. It rapidly reshaped itself until she and the rest of the cabin were looking at a new work table, anvil, tool rack, mini forge, and small RCA television. The key now dangled from a lock set into the table itself.
The tool rack was empty of tools, but it did have a number of different materials and metals labeled in a messy scrawl. The work table, however, had a mass of wires, computer chips, clockwork pieces, and various components linked together along with some sort of engine with a turbine. Alexa immediately recognized it as the beginnings of a large automaton, the confused mess of electronics were likely it's brain, a brain far more complicated than the peacock she had gifted Hera. Setting her jaw, Alexa nodded to herself.
"Time to get to work."