Hehehehe. So uh, I'm not even there yet but I have the whole Tartarus plotline all planned out basically- not the fine details but the major points and holy fuck but you guys are going to kill me. Also- we get to see a certain characters ruthless side. But I have a question- which characters do you think would go darkest in Tartarus. I'm curious. Also- what do people think of what Aeolus is saying? Like, I wanna see if people figure it out- they could do.
Replies:
Undeath9087: As I said, I will neither confirm or deny gut it is interesting to see your theories- don't worry about giving me ideas, believe me I have enough of those. I did consider some of your suggestions actually- I did briefly consider having Gaea have Percy kidnapped from Elysium and taken to Tartarus as vengeance for Kronos only to be rescued by Annabeth but I shelved that idea a while back. And I hadn't considered the Theseus Alabaster comparison- it does sound like something he'd do I'll admit, but no, no he won't be trying to Theseus and Helen Estelle. If only because he wouldn't accept anything other than the genuine article.
The Official Clarisse: Why do you think I told you guys? I enjoy watching you squirm. And don't worry- as I said just now, Alabaster will not be doing that.
PJ Fan 285: I will neither confirm or deny who will be broken up- but it will be painful, and the thing is- they will still be very much in love which will just lead to even more pain. Trauma's a bitch huh?

The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing them at various screens, seemingly at random.

He wore a business suit that looked like the sky—blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that changed and darkened and moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, not really old, just wrong—like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching. He was either amused, or crazy, or both.

Mellie floated toward him. "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, these demigods—"

"Hold it!" He held up a hand to silence her, then pointed at one of the screens. "Watch!"

It was one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill-seekers drive after tornados. As Leo watched, a Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed into the sky.

Aeolus shrieked with delight. "The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose!" He turned toward Jason with a mad grin. "Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again. "

"Um, sir," Mellie said, "this is Jason, son of—"

"Yes, yes, I remember," Aeolus said. "You're back. How did it go?"

Jason hesitated. "Sorry? I think you've mistaken me—"

"No, no, Jason Grace, aren't you? It was—what—last year? You were on your way to fight a sea monster, I believe. "

"I—I don't remember. "

Aelous laughed. "Must not have been a very good sea monster! No, I remember every hero who's ever come to me for aid. Odysseus—gods, he docked at my island for a month! At least you only stayed a few days. Now, watch this video. These ducks get sucked straight into—"

"Sir," Mellie interrupted. "Two minutes to air. "

"Air!" Aeolus exclaimed. "I love air. How do I look? Makeup!"

Immediately a small tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a cloud of flesh-tone smoke until his coloration was even more gruesome than before. Wind swirled through his hair and left it sticking up like a frosted Christmas tree.

"Mr. Aeolus. " Jason slipped off the golden backpack. "We brought you these rogue storm spirits. "

"Did you!" Aeolus looked at the bag like it was a gift from a fan—something he really didn't want. "Well, how nice. "

Leo nudged him, and Jason offered the bag. "Boreas sent us to capture them for you. We hope you'll accept them and stop—you know—ordering demigods to be killed. "

Aeolus laughed, and looked incredulously at Mellie. "Demigods be killed—did I order that?"

Mellie checked her computer tablet. "Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. 'Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible,' etc… yes, a general order for them all to be killed."

And Leo shifted nervously, trying to avoid drawing Aeolus' attention to him too much.

"Oh, pish," Aeolus said. "I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and um, who's on guard duty—Teriyaki?—Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?"

A harpy swooped out of nowhere, snatched the golden bag, and spiraled into the abyss.

Aeolus grinned at Jason. "Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business. But gods, I really was mad, wasn't I?" His face suddenly darkened, and his suit did the same, the lapels flashing with lightning. "You know … I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice was telling me to give that order. A little cold tingle on the back of my neck."

Leo's eyes narrowed at that. The voice wasn't familiar but- he remembered how he'd felt with Festus- when his control disk had gotten frozen... but surely she wasn't that powerful.

And Leo turned his head to look at Jason when he spoke. "A… um, voice in your head, sir?"

"Yes. How odd. Mellie, should we kill them?"

"No, sir," she said patiently. "They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right. "

"Of course. " Aeolus laughed. "Sorry. Mellie, let's send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolates, perhaps. "

"A box of chocolates to every demigod in the world, sir?"

"No, too expensive. Never mind. Wait, it's time! I'm on!"

Aeolus flew off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play.

Leo looked at Piper, Jason and Calypso, who seemed just as confused as he was.

"Mellie-" Leo's voice is hesitant, "is he … always like that?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Well, you know what they say. If you don't like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression 'whichever way the wind blows'—that
was based on him."

"And that thing about the sea monster," Jason said. "Was I here before?"

Mellie blushed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember. I'm Mr. Aeolus's new assistant. I've been with him longer than most, but still—not that long. "

"How long do his assistants usually last?" Piper asked. "

Oh …" Mellie thought for a moment. "I've been doing this for … twelve hours?" A voice blared from floating speakers: "And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather—the OW! channel—Aeolus!"

Lights blazed on Aeolus, who was now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile was unnaturally white, and he looked like he'd had so much caffeine his
face was about to explode.

"Hello, Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve! We'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!" He gestured at the blue screen, but when Jason checked the monitors, he saw that a digital image was being projected behind Aeolus, so it looked like he was standing in front of a U. S. map with animated smiley suns and frowny storm clouds. "Along the eastern seaboard—oh, hold on. " He tapped his earpiece. "Sorry, folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today- but hey he's always angry these days so what's new, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter. Over in the Midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms! Boreas himself is being called down to punish the area with ice. Bad news, Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for central Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies."

Aeolus kept going like that—forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he got messages over his earpiece—the gods apparently putting in orders for various winds and weather.

"This can't be right," Jason whispered. "Weather isn't this random."

"You would be surprised." Calypso shook her head, "The gods are fickle at the best of times."

Mellie smirked. "And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talk about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but the weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us why it's so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all the gods at once. It's enough to drive anyone…"

"Crazy?" Leo raised an eyebrow, "I actually totally understand him better now."

"And that's the weather," Aeolus concluded. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"

The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus's face sagged with weariness. Then he seemed to remember he had guests, and he put a smile back on.

"So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits," Aeolus said. "I suppose … thanks! And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do. "

Mellie said, "Um, sir, this is Zeus's son. "

"Yes, yes. I know that. I said I remembered him from before. "

"But, sir, they're here from Olympus. "

Aeolus looked stunned. Then he laughed so abruptly, Jason almost jumped into the chasm. "You mean you're here on behalf of your father this time? Finally! I knew they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!"

"Um, what?" Jason asked.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Aeolus sighed with relief. "It's been what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds. Not that I'm ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously I'm immortal, but 'master of the winds. ' What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I want to be god of the winds, because the benefits are so much better. Can we start with that?"

Jason looked the others, a clearly mystified look on his face and Leo couldn't help but speak at that.

"Dude, you think we're here to promote you?"

"You are, then?" Aeolus grinned. His business suit turned completely blue—not a cloud in the fabric. "Marvelous! I mean, I think I've shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course I'm in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me: Into Thin Air, Up in the Air, Gone with the Wind—"

"Er, I don't think those are about you," Jason said, before he noticed Mellie shaking her head.

"Nonsense," Aeolus said. "Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?"

"Absolutely, sir," she squeaked.

"There, you see? I don't read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. So, we'll change my official title to god of the winds. Then, about salary and staff—"

"Sir," Jason said, "we're not from Olympus. "

Aeolus blinked. "But—"

"I'm the son of Zeus, yes," Jason said, "but we're not here to negotiate your contract. We're on a quest and we need your help. "

Aeolus's expression hardened. "Like last time? Like every hero who comes here? Demigods! It's always about you, isn't it?"

"Sir, please, I don't remember last time, but if you helped me once before—"

"I'm always helping! Well, sometimes I'm destroying, but mostly I'm helping, and sometimes I'm asked to do both at the same time! Why, Aeneas, the first of your kind—"

"My kind?" Jason asked. "You mean, demigods?"

"Oh, please!" Aeolus said. "I mean your line of demigods. You know, Aeneas, son of Venus—the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah. That's what I meant. "

"I don't get it," Jason admitted.

Aeolus rolled his eyes. "The point being, I was thrown in the middle of that conflict, too! Juno calls up: 'Oh, Aeolus, destroy Aeneas's ships for me. I don't like him. ' Then Neptune says, 'No, you don't! That's my territory. Calm the winds. ' Then Juno is like, 'No, wreck his ships, or I'll tell Jupiter you're uncooperative!'
Do you think it's easy juggling requests like that?"

"No," Jason said. "I guess not. "

"And don't get me started on Amelia Earhart! I'm still getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking her out of the sky!"

"We just want information," Piper said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything. "

Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. "Well … that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here"—he waggled his fingers at the three of them—"this harebrained scheme of Juno's to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble. " He held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of Piper with her dad.

Piper took the photo. Her hands were shaking. "This—this is from his wallet. "

"Yes," Aeolus said. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him. "

"The what?" Piper asked.

Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo and Calypso, "And then there's you, daughter of Atlas, rendered powerless by leaving your island. Trying to find a place in a world that has moved on without you. In love with a boy who's not the boy you remember, not the boy you fell for. Afraid that he'll never truly be yours again, and yet still in love." his eyes focused on Leo "With you you. Son of Hepheastus- you're the boy who caused me all that trouble with the wind spirits in the first place. Oh I see your future." another paper fell into the wind god's hands—an old tattered drawing done in crayons.
Leo felt shock rip through him as he took it, his eyes wide.

"Leo?" Jason said. "What is it?"

"Something I drew when I was a kid." he felt a tingling sensation in his fingers, and he could almost feel it in his bones. The time was coming, he could feel it in his bones as he lifted his head to look at Aeolus who met his gaze and added,

"I know that is the key to your success- And I know something else. You will find that sometimes a grandmothers love for their family can change everything." he let out a laugh, "If the daughter doesn't interfere it will be sooner rather than later- it will be interesting to see what happens, very entertaining. As long as the gods don't realise her plan before she's ready- but I see all and know all. After all, there needs to be seven."