Chapter 6
We meet a Weird Goddess
Hazel's P.O.V.
At least we made it in time to get Percy to the restroom. Let me explain. So we kind of knocked at the door, and a young lady greeted us. She was apparently a nebulae, a cloud nymph. But she invited us inside, and, seeing Percy's condition, led him to the restroom. Natalie followed her, and Frank and I were left in the store to gawk at the items.
The shop's interior was like a fortune teller's, but there were items like china cups, organic tea and some others I didn't want to describe, and was sure that they would do no good. We didn't see any goddess, but the shop had a marble bust of Neptune, small pendants with J&J written in heart(I couldn't help but think that the J's meant Jupiter and Juno), rainbow patterned tie dyed shirts and a small tv broadcasting the repeat telecast of yesterday's episode of Concert with Calliope.
The nebulae came back, with an awkward look on her face. Perhaps she wasn't used to people knocking on the door and bawling.
"Is Percy okay?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, he's alright. He just probably had some quick disturbance in their force of his body," she said gracefully. I didn't quite understand, but nodded.
"Umm, thank you for your help, ma'am–,"
"Oh you can call me Fleecy. I don't think formalities are quite important, you know," she said and smiled. She would've made a perfect sales girl for any store.
"Yeah right, um, Fleecy, we thought that there was a goddess here, like, with all the ding dong throwing things," Frank said hesitantly, as though he expected Fleecy to burst into a goddess and say "Ha! I'm the goddess!" and blast him to smithereens.
Just then Percy and Natalie entered the room we were in. Percy looked a lot better, though he still looked a bit uneasy.
"Now come in, boss would like to meet you all," she said and led us toward a door on the right side.
The room was dingy, and low lit, and it looked like a tarot card reader's dream room. So, obviously, we didn't at all feel good. Sitting on a raised podium, with cushions all around her, was the strangest lady I'd ever seen. She wore a purple tunic and a shawl was draped over her shoulder. Her neck was covered with multiple bead necklaces, ranging from thick to thin. Her hair was open and stringy, and she smiled when she saw us.
"Ah, hello. Welcome to my store. You all are demigods, I assume," she said.
"Yes ma'am, uh, we were hoping to meet a goddess here," Natalie said.
"And so have you met, my dear," she said in her dreamy voice. "I'm Iris, goddess of rainbows. And you are, oh I see, Natalie Carter, Neptune's girl, yes, who fought Atlas and brought back Vulcan's favourite crafting table back from the Aethiopian drakon's den single handedly? Quite a good feat."
"Oh, um, thank you ma'am, uh, I mean Lady Iris," she said, bowing. I could have sworn she was blushing.
"You should take some organic protein powder for weight gain, dear. You are quite thin for your age and height," she said, sizing her up. "Oh, and Hazel Levesque, Pluto's daughter."
My stomach did a backflip. If she knew about me, then she would also know that I came back from the underworld.
"Good, and Percy Jackson," she mused. "Juno is playing her tricks, I see, and Frank Zhang."
"Wait, Juno? What kind of tricks?" Percy asked, perplexed.
"Ah, dear boy, even I do not understand the queen of Olympus' motives, then how will you?"
"It's a pleasure for us to meet you, Lady Iris, but we were thinking that maybe you could probably provide us with some guidance on our quest?" Percy asked, questioningly.
"Oh well, I'm sure I can, along with some help too," Iris said.
"Can we send an Iris message?" he asked.
"A what?" Natalie asked.
"Iris message, dear. A form of communication used by the Greeks. Fleecy here will help you. And Frank, I wish to speak with you, alone, if you don't mind."
With that, we left Frank behind with Iris, ignoring his puppy eyed look that he was giving us to take him away from the room. Fleecy led us through the back door into a small backyard, where a spring flowed in the corner. It was beautiful, with a lot of flowers of different colours, and a part above the spring sent a beam of light against the spray of water in the spring, forming a rainbow.
"How exactly do we do this messaging thing?" Natalie asked.
"Oh it's easy, you just throw a drachma, it's an old greek gold coin like this one here," she said, taking one out from her pocket. "Just throw it in the rainbow here. You are supposed to say - 'O Iris, goddess of rainbows, accept my offering,' then say the name of the place or person you want to talk to. But say you what, you can take my direct number. I manage boss' IMs these days, but you can have it. For more speed, you know."
She called Natalie forward and gave her the drachma.
"Why don't you try it? Just throw in the coin, and say - 'O Fleecy, do me a solid,' and then speak the name of the person you want to talk to. Here are some extra coins if you need. I'll be back in the store," she said, going inside and closing the back door.
"Who should we talk to?" Natalie asked.
"Let's call Reyna. Tell her what we saw. The army's marching straight up to her and the camp. If we should talk to anyone, it's her," I suggested.
"Good idea," Percy nodded.
"Okay, so, um. O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Reyna at Camp Jupiter," Natalie said, throwing the coin in the rainbow. The mist shimmered, and suddenly there was Reyna, with her back to us. She was just dressed in a purple Camp Jupiter t-shirt and jeans. It was the first time I'd seen her without her armour, or her cape and badges. Her hair was wet, as though she had just washed them. Then I realized she was in a familiar place, the baths. Percy immediately averted his eyes and started looking at flowers. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.
"Reyna!" Natalie yelled.
"Aaaarghh," Reyna turned and screamed.
"Hey, it's us. Calm down!" I said.
"What - How - How long have you been watching me?" she shrieked, horrified.
"We just connected now. It's fine, we didn't see anything," Percy said, still studying the branches of the trees above him. Honestly speaking, I'd never seen Reyna so horrified before, but I decided it wasn't a thing to laugh at right now.
"Yeah, Reyna, it's fine. We just wanted to talk to you. It's all good. We didn't see anything," Natalie said. Reyna looked convinced, because immediately the anger and shock faded from her face. She leaned closer to the message, bending a little.
"How's your quest going? And what - what is this thing. And where's Frank?" she asked.
"Okay, wait, wait. Calm down. All of us are fine. And this is an Iris message. We are at her store right now. But we've got some bad news for you. Let me explain," Natalie said.
She told her everything, how we'd got off the boat and I'd gotten kidnapped by plants. She told Reyna about the army and how we'd managed to meet Iris.
"She has agreed to offer us guidance, but she wanted to talk with Frank. He's in there with her."
Reyna twisted her ring, which had the symbol of her mother, the goddess of war, Bellona.
"The way you described the army, it seems pretty bad. I hope Iris turns out helpful. Can you tell anything more about the army?"
"It's like a hopeless battle against them. The legion will be cornered thirty to one. Our resources are too thin against them. Swords, spears, bows…..they won't do much good in the amount we have them. We need more. And then there's Polybotes, too. I don't know how we're going to beat a giant. If there's one thing Octavian was right, it was about proposing not to spread our resources thin. Speaking of whom, how are things at your end?"
"Octavian hasn't said much since you all left. We're preparing our legionnaires the best we can. If it comes to losing, I'd rather die fighting than yielding. We won't bow down to the enemy. Our only hope is the Amazons. You can look," Reyna said, looking at Percy.
"Um, yeah, we'll try to get them to help us."
"Good luck with your quest. I can't talk much now, I've got work to do."
She waved her hand over the mist, and her reflection disappeared.
"Good talking. Let's go see Iris."
"No wait. I need to try something. If it works…," Percy's voice faltered. He took a coin from Natalie's hand and threw it in the mist.
"O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Annabeth."
The mist rippled, but nothing happened.
"Why isn't it working? Hey, Fleecy!" Percy shouted. Fleecy came back into the courtyard.
"I need to send an Iris message, but it isn't working."
They tried to make the IM again, but it didn't work.
"It isn't working...as if someone's.. someone's blocking it," Fleecy murmured.
"But who would do this? And why?" I asked.
"Dunno, but it's not worth wasting time," Fleecy sighed. We all went back to the store, to meet Iris.
"Where's Frank?" I asked Iris, because he was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, I'm afraid he went to deal with the basilisks dear. But he should be coming back, about…..now."
Immediately, the door opened, and Frank stumbled in, breathing hard. I immediately hugged him.
"Gods! What were you thinking? Going off to face the basilisks alone!" I said.
"Hey, it's fine. Long story, tell you later," he said.
Iris looked at him, with a strange glint in her eyes. "Very well, Frank Zhang. You truly are, a son of Mars. Now, for your help. Go seek out Phineas in Portland, he'll guide you."
She looked a bit uneasily at Natalie, who was staring at her as though she had said a bad word very loudly.
"But - Portland? I don't know any Phineas guy living there."
"A lot has changed since you last went there, dear girl. He has important information about your quest. If you wish to succeed, then you will have to go there. Remember, everyone has to go back to their roots."
Natalie still looked uneasy, but she nodded.
"Oh and yes, my dears. Fleecy will provide you with rations and necessary resources. Good luck, you are going to need it."
When you think about rations, you picture packets of chips, soda, water and different things according to your choice. But you never imagine organic, or sugar free, or diet related eatables. So, that's what Fleecy gave us, saying that it was best to have organic food during murderous quests. We grudgingly took then, then went back to our boat. My seasickness was not quite problematic now, and I have to admit, I felt a bit relieved when we got to the boat. We continued our journey towards the north, now that we had a checkpoint. We all were sitting outside our small cabin, discussing Iris and what we'd do when we reach Portland.
I remembered what Iris had said. "Hey Natalie? What did Iris mean when she looked at you and said - 'Everyone has to go back to their roots,' Do you know anything about this?"
"Nothing. It's just - We used to live there with mum. Before you know - we came to camp."
I had never thought about her life before camp. I'd always been amazed by her. She was the best fighter of the camp, powerful, marked down for Praetor, but she still rejected such a big position. I'd always admired her. Especially after I came to know she defeated Atlas. Being good was one thing, fighting against a titan, that was at a completely different level. Now I realised that I barely knew her. She seemed a bit distraught too, because she willed her sword to appear and studied it's blade, not looking at us.
"What about your bracelets?" Percy asked, which was the same question I had in my mind.
"I can will my sword and bow and quiver to be whatever I want, or even nothing. It just appears when I want or need them," she said moving her finger through the sword's blade. Even talking about something else, she seemed distraught.
"Cool," Frank said. "Hey, why don't you two go to sleep now? We'll take this watch. I mean - if Hazel's fine with it."
"Yeah, you two haven't rested since we left camp."
They nodded, and went inside. I felt completely flustered, sitting with Frank alone, and he did the same too.
"You know - you should have told us before you went charging off towards the basilisks. That was a seriously stupid thing. Brave, but stupid."
He blushed. "Um, yeah, but I just felt like it. I mean, not that I wanted to leave you and prove something or anything. But it was an instinct - like I had to do it, alone. So I just - followed my heart. I'm sorry."
"But that was really courageous, Frank. I'm glad to have a friend like you."
"Me too. So what did Reyna say? Did you get in contact with her?"
"Yeah, we did. You have to throw a coin in a rainbow, and say - 'O Iris, goddess of rainbows, accept my offering,' but Fleecy sort of narrowed it down. She gave us her direct number. You have to say - "O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Reyna at Camp Jupiter."
"Cool. What did Reyna say?"
"We surprised her, actually. She was in the baths," I explained.
"Cool - I mean, um, she must have freaked out," he said.
I stared at him. "Anyways, we talked to her about the army. She wasn't very happy, but she did say that they will fight. She said they won't surrender, whatever happens."
"I just hope we free Thanatos and he gets the souls back to the underworld. Or else we stand very little chance."
He waited for a moment and then his expression changed as if he'd realised something. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that he'd probably take-,"
"No, it's fine. I've taken this quest on my risks. I'm doing this for good, whether he takes me or not."
"That's very brave of you. But we won't let him take you. We're friends, after all," he said.
I looked at him gratefully.
"That's very sweet of you, Frank."
Somewhere inside, I knew that I'd have to go. Believing that I'd get away, it was like hoping to steal something in front of a thousand people and managing to escape. But even if I knew it, I was sure that if Thanatos takes my soul back to the underworld, I'll at least go down doing something good. I looked into the water, staring at my own reflection and made a firm decision - If I have to go back, I'll make this second chance worth it.