Chapter 6, A False Truth Revealed

Tom couldn't help but feel elated to be out of camp. As much as he loved it, there was always a feeling of not belonging he couldn't shake off. It was always at the back of his mind, a feeling of unease that kept him from being perfectly calm in the camp grounds. At least he wasn't being ostracized by the other campers like Percy has been since his claiming.

Tom couldn't understand why people distrusted Percy over his father, in fact he thought that they should treat him better lest they inflict the Sea Gods' rage upon themselves. But he digressed.

Anyways, as they followed behind Argus Percy had filled them in on the prophecy. There was one line that didn't sit right with Tom, a feeling that was shared by his 3 quest mates. They were all worried by the line: The betrayal of a friend is not as it seems, none of them wanted to go through any kind of betrayal.

'Too much to think about now' Tom thought to himself with a small sigh as the group of four clambered into the back of the camp van. The group of four asked Argus to wake them when they got to the bus station as they decided to get some extra sleep.

As soon as Tom fell asleep he was pulled into a Demigod dream.

Tom appeared as a donkey-like spirit facing a large temple, made out of the same alloy his spear is made out of, in the middle of a desert. The wind was howling and stirring up a large sandstorm surrounding the temple as dark and angry clouds formed overhead. However it was the bright flash of light from behind him that truly caught his attention.

Turning around, Tom saw and heard two men speaking with each other. Both men were wearing what looked like Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh robes yet their heads were not human. One had the head of a hawk while the other had the head of a falcon. Tom was just close enough to hear what they were saying to each other.

"You know the boy deserves to know who his father really is, Great Grandfather." The falcon headed man said in an almost pleading tone. At least what Tom thought was a pleading tone, it was hard to fully understand through the howling wind and the older version of Arabic he spoke in.

"It is not up to us to decide when my son will reveal himself to the boy, Horus. You know this just as I do, however I believe my son is doing more than we know to help his son." The older man replied as the hawk head looked at Tom. Tom froze in place, hoping the hawk man would just assume he was some donkey that wandered out of the temple. It seemed to work as the hawk man looked back to the falcon man named Horus as the winds howled louder and red lightning started crashing down onto the desert, turning the rough reddish sand into liquid glass.

Tom could feel the lightning coalescing above them and he could feel the wind gathering to further the sandstorm as if he could control it all. As the storm thundered overhead it felt like a pressure was building in his skull, a pressure that was released with each strike of red lightning that scorched the ever shifting sands. And as the wind howled around him it felt like a soft tug in his gut growing ever stronger the faster the winds blew. Yet none of these feelings were painful, in fact they felt as if massive amounts of stress was being blown out of his body.

All of the grief and anger he felt since the death of his grandfather was being pushed out of him and into the forms of red lightning and howling sandstorms.

Tom has never felt more at ease than at this moment.

His thoughts were interrupted as Horus spoke once more.

"He knows we speak of the boy, his rage grows ever more grandfather. I do not think the third line of the prophecy frightens him, it only makes him angry." The falcon said in a worried tone.

"For good reason he is angry, my grandson, he worries for the fate of his one true son." The hawk stated serenely, "And the child entombed by Fate, fails to rage against the Dying Light." Tom assumed this was the third line of the prophecy they were speaking of.

There was a loud howl of pure rage before the sand beneath his ghost hooves rose and wrapped around Tom.

Tom awoke with a start. He had the feeling that those two men, who he could only assume were Gods, were talking about him. If that was the case then the temple had to belong to his father, the feeling he had with the storm only further this idea. Tom didn't know what to feel about what he had learned though so he pushed down his feelings and thought about the facts.

These Gods in his dream were frightened of a prophecy that somehow had to do with him. The line rang out in his head.

And the child entombed by Fate, fails to rage against the Dying Light

What did this mean? Tom was pulled out of his thoughts by Luke nudging him with his elbow.

"Doing okay Tom? You look a little out of it." The son of Hermes asked with a raised eyebrow and a concerned expression. "Bad dreams?" He continued.

"Yeah, just dreaming of my grandpa." Tom lied as he fiddled with the charms on his bracelet. Luke let out a sigh.

"Well on a different topic, there's something I want to talk to you about." Luke thankfully changed to subject, "I see how you and my sister, Jenny, look at each other. It's clear you two like each other." Luke started to say as a light blush took over Tom's cheeks. He did not expect to hear Luke speak on this at all.

"If you two decide to date I won't stop you, but if you break her heart I will kill you" Luke said with a heartwarming smile that definitely didn't fit what he just said or the tone he used. Tom paled at the look Luke had sent him before nodding quickly to show he understood. At this point the other woke up and they all realized they finally reached the bus station where Argus handed them tickets and winked at them before leaving.

"Alright guys, we can ride this bus line west for a bit but then we will have to change lines." Grover said as we boarded the bus that got there right after Argus left. The boys decided to sit in the rear of the bus.

As the bus rumbled onward Tom couldn't help but let his thoughts spin back onto what Luke had said about Jen. Maybe he would give it a shot when they got back to camp after this quest. His thoughts then spiraled back to his grandfather as they always do. He remembered everything about the crash outside Camp Half-Blood's borderline. Frame by frame he replayed through it in his mind, wishing he did more in that moment, wishing he did anything that would have allowed his grandfather to live.

As the grief and self-loathing seeped back into his mind Grover's head shot up and stared at the front of the bus as it stopped and let three angry looking grandmas on.

Luke was cackling internally at the look on Tom's face as he threatened him. As the bus rolled to a stop to pick up more passengers Luke noticed Grover start paying a lot of attention to the three angry looking grandmas that just climbed onto the bus.

"What is Grover?" Percy asked the goat, seemingly having noticed his friend's sudden snap to attention.

"Monsters, those three are monsters. The one in the middle smells exactly like Mrs. Dodds." Grover responded, Luke didn't know who this Mrs. Dodds was but based off the look Percy and Tom shared it was someone bad.

"It's the Furies." Tom said simply as he stood up and made his way towards the front of the bus.

"What the hell is he doing?" Luke hissed to Percy and Grover as Tom reached the The Kindly Ones and said something to them. In sync the three angry grandmas nodded and sat down at the front of the bus as Tom walked back with a smirk on his face.

"What was that Tom?" Percy whispered as his friend sat down and fiddled with his bracelet.

"I simply said that if they want to kill us they should at least give us the honor of dying on our feet and the next bus stop we all get off to fight. I figured it would give us a better fighting chance." Tom snickered out as he watched the gobsmacked faces appear on their faces.

Luke shook himself out of his stupor and grinned at Tom as he threw his arm around him.

"Good job Tom! Smart thinking man. Although I am surprised they took you up on that deal." Luke spoke with Grover and Percy still stuck in a stupor.

"Well they work for The Rich One, it only makes sense they find honor in death." Tom replied like it wasn't a big other two broke out of their stupor as the bus rolled to a stop and they all got off.

Luke led them towards the nearby forest and found clearing where he pushed Grover behind a tree, simply stating that he should try to stay hidden and provide support. As the three demigods spun around to face their respective opponent they drew their weapons. Luke unsheathed the half-blessed gold and half-Celestial Bronze longsword strapped to his backpack and threw the backpack to the ground to free up some movement.

Luke settled into his combat stance as he readied the sword given to him by his father. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Percy uncap a pen that elongated into his sword, Riptide, and Tom yanked on his bracelet to form the curved blade, Inflexible, before they too dropped into their respective combat stances.

In a span of a second the Furies all dropped their illusions to reveal their true hideous selves.

Large demonic bats.

The one in the middle that Luke assumed was Alecto lunged for Tom as Percy rushed down the one Luke assumed was Tisiphone. That left Luke with Megaera.

As the sounds of blades clashing against claws filled the clearing Luke focused purely on Megaera's movements. The Fury lunged at him with her claws out only to be parried away by Luke's enchanted longsword as he then slammed the pommel of his sword into her back sending her to her knees.

Before he could execute her she burst into frenzied black flames and spun around to slash at him once more. The heat of the flames washed over Luke making him sweat harder, feeling the heat gave Luke an idea however. He switched his primary grip of his sword's handle to his left hand as he crouched into a different stance.

Knees bent at a 45 degree angle with his left hand holding the blade up and his right hand simply supporting the weight. Megaera flew up into the air and dived towards him to rake her talons across his face. Only to be stopped by getting hit in the face by the flat of Luke's enchanted longsword. Hard. Her nose broke and she fell to the ground, the force of the smack was enough to break her concentration on the unholy black flames surrounding her form.

Luke flipped the handle of his sword so he was holding the blade upside down and drove the tip of the blade into the Fury's spine then twisted the blade till she started dissolving.

Luke looked around only to see Alecto getting punched in the face then getting cut in half as vines wrapped around Tisiphone when the music of reed pipes rang through the air. Percy ended his fight by decapitating the trapped Fury.

The three Demigods let out collective sighs of relief as they sheathed their weapons.

"Man, I wish my sword could turn into something easier to hide from Mortals." Luke whined as he watched Percy and Tom shrink their weapons down into their respective hidden forms.

"But your dad gave you a badass Enchanted European Longsword dude." Percy exclaimed, "That's awesome as hell."

"Yeah yeah." Luke grumbled as he pulled the sheathe off his backpack and sheathed his longsword before thinking about the gift from his father. He didn't think Hermes cared about him or his mother, but after Luke came back from his quest freshly scarred and May Castellan passed away, this sword appeared in his hands with a hand written note that simply read:

I'm sorry about your mother, in her last moments she asked I give this to you. This is the sword I used in the Titanomachy War. Use it well, my son.

Hermes

At the time it had shocked Luke, having thought that Hermes, and by proxy the rest of the Gods, hated their children due to the lack of interest they appeared to have in Demigods. This note, however, changed this opinion on the matter entirely.

Luke snapped back to attention as Grover trotted over and rejoined the group as thunder rumbled overhead and a light rain started to come down.

"Can you do anything about this rain?" Grover asked Percy after realizing he didn't seem to be affected by the cold brought on by the rain.

"One second, I'll give it a shot." Percy replied as a focused look appeared on his face. The three others watched as the droplets of rain froze midair for a brief moment before coming together to form a bubble of rain water around the group, effectively preventing rain from following on them.

As Luke turned around to praise Percy he noticed that the young son of Poseidon had dropped to a knee and was panting slightly. Luke shared a look with Tom who had noticed the same thing.

The favored son of Hermes and the unclaimed Demigod helped Percy to his feet then supported them as Percy spoke.

"I don't know how long I can hold this guys, let's head towards the street lights in that direction." Percy panted out as he pointed towards some pretty obvious street lamps whose light was cutting through the darkness and trees. And so the group headed towards the streets and found a small building with a bright neon sign.

To Luke, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM

"The hell does that say?" Tom asked and Luke and PErcy nodded along with him in silent agreement of not being able to read properly due to their dyslexia.

Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

"Something doesn't feel right." Tom muttered to himself, Luke barely heard him as he was too distracted by the smell of greasy food wafting out from the building.

Luke helped Percy across the street, both of them following the smell of hamburgers.

"Hey…" Grover warned before crumbling and following them. Tom followed hesitantly. The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement childre, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which obviously creeped out Grover.

"I smell monsters." Grover bleated as the group reached the door. Having heard Grover say this, Luke adjusted the sheath of his sword to rest at his hip for a quicker draw. But then the smell of greasy food filled the air once more and he forgot all about what his goat friend had mentioned.

Tom watched with bated breath as the door creaked open, and there stood a tall Middle Eastern woman, at least Tom assumed she was MIddle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all I could make out. Her coffee colored hands looked old, but well manicured and elegant, so Tom imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.

Tom's suspicions only grew as the smell of greasy food increased, his anger and grief overpowering the enchantment attempting to be placed upon him, not that he knew this.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

"We're orphans." Percy said. The rest of the group had to hide their laughter at Percy's quick thinking.

"Orphans?" The woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy continued. "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

"Oh, my dears," The woman said. "You must come in poor children. I am Aunty Em. GO straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

They thanked her and went inside.

"Circus caravan?" Luke laughed. Percy gave an exhausted smile, clearly still tired from using his newly discovered powers in such a way.

"It worked, didn't it?" Percy snarked as the questers laughed together as they sat down, Tom decided to look around from his seat at the picnic table. The warehouse was filled with more statues, people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces.

Aunty Em entered the room with a large platter of greasy food, burgers, hot dogs, fries, and even some enchiladas.

"Thank you ma'am, but we don't have any money to pay for this." Tom thanked the mysterious woman that he was starting to suspect might be a monster of some sort. There was something about her name that stood out to him.

"That is no problem, my dears. Instead of paying, all I ask is for a single picture?" Aunty Em replied as Tom started to hear a very slight hissing noise. Tom shared a look with Grover, the only other one at the table not trusting the situation.

"Of course Aunty Em, we would be happy to take a picture for you." Grover responded in an overly happy tone. Tom shot him a look before sending a fake smile towards their old hostess. As soon as she was out of the room Tom slapped Luke upside the back of his head.

"Ow, What the hell?' Luke started only to be interrupted by Tom as Grover shook Percy out of the food trance.

"She's a monster doofus, I think she might be Medusa." Tom replied as he stood up and reached his hand over to his bracelet only to be knocked over as Aunty Em rushed back into the room and knocked him down.

"Did you really think I didn't know my magic hadn't affected you, little Demigod?" Aunty Em hissed out as the veil hiding her face started to fall off.

"Don't look at her!" Tom yelled out and closed his eyes as he felt a bunch of small snakes nip at his exposed skin. He tried to yank the charm off his bracelet but Medusa's talons were starting to constrict and cut into his arms. Tom let out a short yell of pain as thunder rumbled overhead and he felt a small pressure build up in his skull. A voice that wasn't his spoke in his head.

"NO, Not yet!" A powerful femanine voice yelled in his skull. He felt the pressure in his head slowly fizzle out. Before he could do anything else, he heard a loud bonk from above him and Medusa was thrown off of him. Tom was yanked to his feet and pulled far away from where he was. Once he got his bearings, Tom dropped into a crouch and opened his eyes to see Grover and Luke in front of him.

Grover held a large branch in his hands while Luke had drawn his enchanted longsword.

"Where's Percy?" Tom breathed out as he tried to summon that feeling back into his skull with no luck.

"He's leading Medusa away, he said he can use the rain pouring in as a sort of vision and won't have to use his eyes to navigate." Luke hissed out in an effort to stay quiet. Tom nodded before summoning his shamshir into being.

"Split up and try to hunt her down, we need to take her out quickly!" Tom ordered as he stood up and ran, following the sounds of a giant angry snake lady smashing cement statues. Eventually, he found Medusa who had corned Percy against a wall. Luckily, Percy had his eyes closed but he was totally trapped.

"Open your eyes, young son of Poseidon. Let me see the eyes held by my old love" Medusa hissed out as she tried to talk Percy into opening his eyes. It looked like it was working. Outside of his own volition, Tom felt himself raise his hand and he saw what looked like a scaly green string appear in his mind's eye. A loud sound rang out in the warehouse, it sounded like a large pair of shears snapping shut and Tom saw the string in his mind get cut in half by an invisible source as a large pain shot through his body, starting in his gut and traveling up his spine into his skull.

Tom watched as Medusa froze and her head slowly rolled off her own neck as her body dissolved into dust. Then he fell over into a kneeling position with a major headache and passed out. Luke and Grover ran over to him as Percy threw his hoodie over Medusa's head. A dull silver light shown in the warehouse as a symbol appeared over Tom's collapsed body.

A symbol of shears cutting through yarn. Tom was just claimed. By Atropos, Fate of Death and The Inflexible One.

Sorry about the wait and the shorter chapter last time I updated. The next chapter WILL explain how Tom cut Medusa's life string and the parameters needed for him to do it again. Don't worry I won't be letting him do this that often, if at all again.

Ye-Olde-Erebus, signing off ~