Chapter 23:
The next few days at camp were hell for some, while others made due with what they had. And by others, that the Stoll brothers and Markus. They made a bet as to who could prank Tantalus the most and the hardest. The Stolls' reason was because they enjoyed pranking, and while Markus enjoyed it also, he agreed because he was feeling slightly vindictive towards the new activities director.
Markus' prank came first. It was immediately the morning after he arrived at camp. It was early in the morning, and everyone was shuffling to their tables to eat. He got a burger from one of the nymphs serving food. Usually, they didn't normally serve fast food, but Markus convinced them to do it. In return, Markus agreed to help them cook some of the foods for the campers for one day. That seemed a little demanding, but Markus went through with it.
Memorising a charm that he had picked up from his time at Spellhaven, Markus cast an animation charm upon the burger, along with having a time limit on when the charm would go off. It seemed a little complicated, but it was actually easy. The charm was more of a gag gift, and not meant for actually spell-casting. Most of them were a bit childish. Markus didn't mind, though. The few that he had picked were perfect for his plans. And he was going to execute them perfectly. Mwahahaha... er, anyways...
Markus placed the charmed burger on the pile where the nymphs were piling the food for the campers. Zipping away to join Percy and Tyson (who he was feeling confused about) at the Poseidon table, he eagerly waited for his plan to commence.
Seeing his brother's smirk, Percy asked suspiciously, "What did you do?"
Turning to face him, Markus put on his best innocent expression. "Who, me?" he asked, falsely innocent. Percy's eyes narrowed as he glared at his brother, not buying it for one second. Tyson looked at the two of them, his big blue eye blinking confusedly.
Following his brother's line of sight, Percy looked to see Tantalus sitting at his table with a burger on his plate, licking his lips. Percy blinked. He'd never seen burgers being served at camp. Barbecue, sure. But not burgers. Huh, he'd have to ask the nymphs to see if he could ge-
And immediately he knew what his brother was planning. Maybe not exactly, but he knew something was up. He turned to Markus, about to question him, but Markus' grin grew wider as he saw Tantalus pick up his burger to eat it. And Percy's response came too late.
As the burger got close to Tantalus' mouth, Markus activated the trace charm on his palm. The burger was inches from his mouth when the buns suddenly opened up - like it had a mouth - and reached forward, biting Tantalus' nose.
He froze, shocked. Hell, everyone watching was shocked at the display. Mr. D, seeing this happen, laughed silently to himself. An ass he may be, at least he could appreciate a good joke when he saw it.
The shock registered to Tantalus before the pain, surprisingly. He yelped in pain, letting go of the burger to get it off his nose. The magic food was surprisingly strong. Its grip didn't lessen, and instead kept gnawing on his nose. He stood, slapping his face to get the food off his face. He run around, shrieking like Hades himself was pursuing him. Eventually, he was so distracted from the food on his face, he didn't see the railing ahead of him. He hit it, his body tilting and falling to meet the lake that the naiads were currently occupying.
Once he hit the lake, they screamed, surprised at the splash and the person who fell into it. Once Tantalus reemerged, wet and with a soggy burger on his face, he was promptly attacked by the naiads, who were apparently pissed at him ruining their relaxation. His cries of mercy rang out to the campers, causing Markus to laugh as loud as he could, satisfied at his successful prank. And he even got his ass kicked by the naiads, which was just a bonus.
It became too much to bare for everyone else, as they fell out of their seats laughing. Mr. D actually chuckled at the successful prank. Some of them even had tears coming out of their eyes from laughing too much. From the midst of their amusement, a few people turned their gaze knowingly to Markus, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
Vengeance was sweet.
XXX
The day after, Markus and a few others were waiting for the Stoll brothers to perform their prank. Tantalus was furious after he recovered from his ordeal but he never caught Markus, as he had no one to pin the blame on. Though he did give the boy a nasty glare at times, and Markus replied back with an innocent smile.
Him, Percy and Michael Yew, who was a son of Apollo, were sitting near the lake, waiting for the prank to commence.
And not a moment too soon.
Tantalus ran out of his room, screeching in terror as satyrs, nymphs and demigods witnessed the scene. Out of his room, the Barney theme song playing loud and clear. "~ 'I love you, You love me, We're a happy fam-ily... ~"
Immediately those in the area, including the three boys watching, broke down in laughter. Hell, Markus was almost tempted to give up the bet after that amazing display. Bur his pride wouldn't allow him. He just had to learn to top that.
Hearing chuckling beside them, the three boys turned their heads to look at the two grinning sons of Hermes, who watched the whole thing with a proud look. "So," Travis - they boys guessed that it was Travis - said, "do you concede to the Dark Side, young fool?"
"Nay, young Padawan," responded Markus in a bad imitation of Darth Vader. "For I have yet to show you the true power of the Force."
"... That was a bad imitation," Michael commented, making the other boys laugh as Markus pouted.
"Everyone's a critic," he muttered angrily.
XXX
After the Stoll's prank, Markus decided to step it up. His prank was simple and efficient. He got help from the children of Hecate, who shared in the mutual dislike for Tantalus. He put up a picture of a dementor from Harry Potter (which he watched, so he knew how freaky that thing was) on a fake wall. The Hecate children charmed the picture so it would create an illusion of the dementor. When Tantalus came into the mess hall (after recovering from his episode with Barney), he saw the wall and shrieked like a little girl.
The demigods there already knew that it was a prank, and so were expecting this kind of reaction. At that moment, the dementor came to life, the illusion making it look like it was peeling itself from the wall, and chased the activities director. Tantalus immediately turned to run, but he tripped over his feet, falling down. He still kept shrieking loudly as the dementor came upon him. He got so scared that he fainted on the spot.
Immediately all those eating broke down in laughter as they witnessed a grown man faint like that. Sure, the illusion was scary, but still. They laughed even more when they saw the wet stain on Tantalus' trousers, indicating that he had pissed himself.
Markus turned to smirk at the Stoll brothers as they witnessed his prank. He doubted they could beat that.
XXX
Turns out that they could beat that.
At dinner, everyone, including Mr. D, were looking expectantly towards the entrance of the mess hall, waiting to see the latest prank that the Stolls could whip up.
And they weren't disappointed.
Tantalus came into the hall, wearing a pink prom dress. But that wasn't all. He was also wearing pink glitter and had a lipstick stick glued onto his cheek.
He even had the words 'I'm a pretty little princess!' on the front of his dress on a laurel strap that he was wearing. Lastly, he was wearing what looked to be black girls shoes that somehow had speakers attached on them. The speakers suddenly decided to work now, singing the 'Lelli Kelly School Shoes' song from the ad (A.N. - If you've seen the ad, then you know how annoying that song is).
Finally, the campers couldn't take it anymore. They laughed so hard that some fell out of their tables and laid on the floor, rolling in laughter. Markus could even hear one Hermes camper say, "I knew going to the Aphrodite cabin was a good idea."
Markus cursed. Why hadn't he thought of that?! He could've asked Silena for help in his prank war! Well played, boys. Well played.
XXX
Markus sighed as he sat in the sword arena, contemplating something. He'd given up the bet with the Stolls, as he wanted to focus on his training rather than pranking Tantalus, no matter how much he enjoyed it. And he was on a roll, too!
Now he was in the sword arena, doing push-ups and sit-ups. He'd already practiced his sword-play earlier on, and now he was focusing on his physical training.
When he reached his 40th sit-up, he rolled over, panting in exhaustion. He reached forward to his water bottle and splashed water on himself, rejuvenating him. He learned something with his water healing as he trained. If he got injured while he was training, he could just heal the part that was injured, and it became stronger. Not by much, but still. He felt that part become a little stronger as he trained. He was just like a Saiyan! By the way, he really had to stop it with the anime references.
He was just finished with his workout when he heard a feminine voice call out, "Hey, Markus!"
Markus turned to see Silena running up to him. Smiling, he greeted his friend. "Hey. What's up?"
Do you want to be partners in the chariot race in a few days?" she asked, suddenly nervous.
Markus shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Though I don't see your siblings helping us with making the chariot."
"They're not," Silena said angrily. "I know it might be too much of a hassle..."
"Naw, it's okay. I can just ask Tyson for help. I know that cyclopes are good at crafting stuff. Maybe he can help," Markus said, making Silena nod happily. Then he asked a question that had been bugging him. "Uh, you're not going to act different just because Tyson's my brother, right?" he asked nervously. He knew that Silena wasn't like that, but still...
She blinked. "What? No! I'm not going to treat you differently just because your dad had a cyclopes for a kid. If you saw how many people my mother slept with, as well as who she slept with..." she shuddered, as if the idea disgusted her. "Yeah, let's not get into that."
Markus smiled normally. He knew he could count on her. "Thanks. Though I can't say the same for your siblings..." he said this with a frown. While his display from a few days ago had scared the others away from him and Percy, there were a few campers who looked at both of them disgustedly, as they allowed Tyson to stay here. Markus didn't care, though. While knowing Tyson was his brother was... shocking, he saw that the baby cyclops wasn't bad. In fact, he acted like a baby most of the time, making Markus unable to be mad at him. Plus, he was feeling a little overprotective of the guy. Anyone who was talking bad about him, Markus just doused them with water from the lake. It seemed like the safer method instead of beating the shit out of them. Since then, no one really talked about him behind his back.
He couldn't say the same for Percy, though. He could see that the insults and the jeers, as small as they were, were getting to him. Plus, he did feel a little resentment over Tyson. Not like the others, but it was more about the fact that he had a 'freak' for a brother. While Markus didn't blame him, that didn't mean he was okay with Percy's attitude with Tyson.
Speaking of which, Markus turned to see Annabeth, Tyson and Percy near the lake, with some Aphrodite boys approaching them. Markus knew that things weren't going to be pretty.
He turned to Silena, who saw what was happening. "Excuse me. I have brotherly issues to take care of."
"Please don't rough them up too badly," Silena said worriedly. Markus shrugged. "I make no promises."
And with that, Markus jogged towards the group, just in time to hear one of the Aphrodite boys say something to Percy. "Hey, Percy. Do you need eyeliner for your eye... sorry, eyes?" he asked cruelly, the other boys snickering beside him.
Markus' eyes narrowed. Well, looks like he wasn't going to be pulling his punches.
He crept up behind the boy who had spoken. Tapping the boy on the shoulder, he got him to turn to face him, before Markus punched him in his right eye.
The boy screamed, dropping onto the ground pathetically, holding his eye in his hands as the other boys, as well as Percy and Annabeth, were shocked at what happened. Markus ignored them as he glared down at the boy on the ground. The Aphrodite boy looked up, angry. Suddenly, his anger wilted upon seeing who it was that punched him.
"Guess what? Now you're the one who needs eyeliner for your eye," Markus said sweetly, making reference to the boy's now closed black eye.
"What the hell did you do that for?!" the boy screamed in pain and anger. He flinched when glowing emerald eyes bore into his skull.
"Next time," Markus said, sneering, "don't talk about things you have no idea about. You might end up having to break a nail. Or worse." He said the last part mockingly, knowing that sons of Aphrodite were just as girly as the girls were.
The other boys beside him prepared to fight, only to freeze when Markus turned his glare to them. He made a shooing motion with his hand, as if they were dogs. "Now, go on. Shoo. And next time, be careful of what you say around people."
The other boys quickly picked up their brother, who looked like he was going to attack Markus, and went away. Markus scoffed when they went away. "Pussies."
"Markus, what the hell was that about?!" Annabeth screamed in his face. "You don't just go around punching people! That doesn't work out! And for what?! Just because you're defending a mon-"
"Finish that sentence, Annabeth," Markus said calmy, his eyes glowing emerald again, "and you'll join the Aphrodite kid from before."
Annabeth's mouth clamped shut, not wanting to get punched like the kid from before. She was slightly fearful of him right now, and wasn't stupid enough to anger him even more.
"I get that you have some problems with Tyson," Markus said, his anger receding slightly. "Problems that go deeper than the typical hate around here. But if you have nothing nice to say to Tyson, then don't say anything at all. Simple."
Annabeth glared at him, but it didn't even make him flinch. She huffed, and walked away, stomping her feet while doing so.
Markus rolled his eyes. "She's so confusing at times," he muttered, making Percy nod in agreement, smiling. Markus then turned to his brother. "So, what's eating at you?" he asked.
At this, Percy's smile faded and he just grunted, gaining a broody look of his on his face.
Markus raised his eyebrow. "That bad, huh?" he asked, quirking his lips. Though Percy didn't smile back.
Markus had his suspicions, they were why he'd come to talk to him, but he wasn't going to assume anything.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Percy replied stonily.
Markus rolled his eyebrows. "Yeah, sure. And you don't like the colour blue, Blue Boy. Now what's really going on?"
When Percy didn't reply, Markus pointed to the cyclops behind him. "It's about Tyson, isn't it?"
Percy stiffened slightly.
"Percy, it is, isn't it?" Markus asked encouragingly.
Percy just looked away and grunted sullenly in agreement.
Aren't you happy to have a new bunkmate. Hell, I am," Markus freely confessed. "We have a new brother... granted, he isn't human. But neither are we, well not fully, so..."
Percy's hand tightened into a fist, the son of Poseidon's entire posture growing less friendly as he hissed in reply. "I'm not you, okay!"
Markus frowned. "I know that! But really? You're upset at having a new brother? Seriously?"
Percy shot him a furious look, and for a moment Markus honestly thought he was about to attack him. Fortunately, he seemed to calm himself down with a breath.
"Just leave me alone, Markus," he said gruffly, turning to leave. Markus wasn't going to have that, however. He grabbed his brother's arm, stopping him from leaving. "Uh uh. No way. We're not finished yet."
This was the last straw for Percy it seemed. Spinning around, he glared at his brother. "You really don't get it, do you?"
Markus blinked in confusion. "I guess not. So, what am I not getting?"
Percy released his arm and got right into Markus' personal space, glaring down at his brother with anger. Markus couldn't help but think that maybe this was affecting Percy more than he thought.
"Do you not get what it means to have a monster for a sibling, Markus? Do you even fathom how embarrassing it is to be told by dad, via claiming, that we have as much standing as a monster?"
"That's not what dad meant and you know it!" Markus retorted, tired of Percy being broody. Could he not see it from Tyson's point of view? Could he not worry about his what other people thought?!
"Oh, and since when did you ever agree to anything dad did? Because last time we met each other, you punched him in the face, and now you're agreeing with what he's done?" Percy asked harshly.
Markus couldn't believe him. Was he seriously asking him about that? "This isn't about Poseidon!" Markus roared, furious now. "This is about you being too much of a coward to admit the fact that you have a cyclops for a brother! In case you're too embarrassed about it, his name is Tyson and he's just as much a son of Poseidon as we are!"
"I'm not embarrassed!" Percy yelled back. "I'm just disgusted about the fact that we're related to him!" At that, he froze, seemingly shocked at what he said. Markus did too, stunned. Tyson, hearing this, whimpered, like he was about to cry.
Markus glared at him even harsher now. "Let me ask you something, Percy," he said, not calling him by any nickname. "Do you realise that Poseidon has basically had dozens of children? From the sheep who's skin is the Golden Fleece, to disgusting pieces of shit like Orion in the myths. He's basically had thousands of kids, from creatures to rapists to complete filth across the Greek pantheon. And yet Tyson, an innocent cyclops who saved your ungraceful ass, has done nothing wrong and is one of the best sons of Poseidon, simply by being who he is. Maybe you should actually take a step back and look at him as a person, and not judge him on his species. After all, when we were revealed as sons of Poseidon, we weren't exactly welcomed with opened arms. We were treated like the plague. Now you're doing the exact same thing." Markus walked pass Percy, who was stunned at his outburst. He had one final thing to say to him, though.
Turning to his brother, he said, "Well, be happy that you can't feel embarrassed by other people. Because now you have no one around you to feel embarrassed by." Walking away, he grabbed Tyson by his hand and dragged him off, struggling slightly to do so.
As he walked with the Tyson, the cyclops was openly crying. "B-brother P-Percy hates me?" he blubbered like a baby, making Markus' heart ache for him. If it weren't for the fact that he was a big cyclops, Markus would've given him a hug. He couldn't do that, however, because he couldn't hold him fully. Still, he reached up and patted him on his shoulder. "Don't worry, bro. Percy doesn't hate you. He's just angry." He said this half-heartedly, not really meaning it. He smiled at Tyson to lift his spirits. "Come on. Let's go to the forges. You'll love it there."
XXX
After dealing with Percy, Markus wanted to do something creative. So, he went to the Hephaestus cabin to talk to Beckendorf about something. He was currently watching Beckendorf help make him a new weapon.
It was the Devil Arm Beowulf from the Devil May Cry games.
Markus was a huge fan of the game series. And when he realised that he could basically craft the weapons from the games, hell, weapons from games that he knew, it would totally help him in battles against monsters. Plus, he could make other weapons for his friends.
When he told Beckendorf this, there was a gleam in his eyes. Guess he was excited about the idea as much as he was, though he didn't know most of the games. He made the weapons while Markus gave him the designs.
Tyson was at the back, happily crafting with other Hephaestus campers. They didn't have any problem with the cyclops, as he helped them a lot in the forges. So, they had some extra help in forging, while Tyson found a place with people who treated him normally. Win-win.
Right now, he was working on the conjoined Poseidon/Aphrodite chariot for the games. Technically, him and Percy were supposed to be working together, but since their spat, they kind of drifted to different campers for help. Markus already had Silena, while Percy went to Annabeth for help. While he admitted that the two worked well together, they also were famous for arguing a lot. Tantalus didn't have much a problem with the two brothers splitting. Probably because he was still recovering from the prank attacks.
Silena wanted to help build it herself, but Markus just said that Tyson would handle it. She was upset, but soon got over it. Actually, Tyson insisted on making the chariot for Markus, claiming it was thanks for sticking up for him. Markus kept saying that he didn't need any gift, but Tyson insisted, and so Markus relented.
"So make sure that you get the wolf emblem on the hands and feet," Markus instructed. Damn, forging looked so cool. And damn useful. Maybe he should give it a try. That reminded him: didn't cyclops work for his dad, and some of them had Poseidon's blood in them. So, by that theory, wouldn't forging be one of his and Percy's demigod powers? Meh, food for thought later.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Beckendorf grumbled. "You said the same thing like a hundred times. By the way, if it's based off a video game, how are you going to get the powers from it?"
"Magic, duh," Markus said, rolling his eyes. "Probably a light spell to give it its abilities. And other enhancements to augment its stats. Oh, and by the way, you still willing to forge those other weapons?"
"Oh, yeah," he said, pointing to drawings of weapons on a table next to him. They were drawings of weapons ripped straight from different games, from Devil May Cry (Yamato, Gilgamesh, Pandora, Cerberus) to God of War (Blades of Athena and the Blades of Chaos) and other drawings. Markus intended to have these weapons created for him and his friends. They would take time to build, but Markus intended to have them created.
"I still don't know why you want to help me create them," Beckendorf commented.
Markus shrugged. "I just want to learn forging. It seems cool. I'll never be at your level, no way. But it wouldn't hurt to at least learn it."
Beckendorf nodded, and was about to say something when Alabaster came to the door of the Hephaestus cabin. "Markus, we need you to keep up the barrier," he said, making Markus frown.
Ever since Markus came to camp, Tantalus hadn't done anything about the lack of magical barriers. There had been no patrols going on, as he had banned them. So the Hecate children, as well as some other campers, had decided to take priority into their hands. The Hecate children had tried to supply a strong magical barrier, while some of them tried healing Thalia's tree, but with no success. The poison was too strong for any healing rune or healing ability from the Apollo kids.
So they decided to create several magic barriers surrounding camp. They weren't as strong as the previous barriers, but they at least kept some of the attacking monsters out. Markus joined in also, as he wanted to help out. Plus, his defensive magic went up as well, so there was that.
Markus nodded to Alabaster. "I'll join you." He turned to Beckendorf, who also looked serious as well. Markus waved at the son of the forge god. "Thanks, Beck. I'll pay you for the weapons later."
As he jogged along with Alabaster to Half-Blood Hill, he saw several Hecate and Apollo children working on healing the tree while maintaining the magic barriers they had active.
Markus walked up to Lou Ellen, who had her own magic barrier set up, and starting chanting his own defensive magic spell. "Speculum Alice," he chanted, which was Latin for 'Mirror Alice'. A large, octagonal mirror came into life in his hands. It was a shielding spell that was used for reflecting attacks back at the user. It was very useful as a quick diversion against opponents, but it was kind of a bit weak. Sure, it was a defensive spell, but its main use was directing elemental or magical attacks. Kinetic attacks, like punches or cannon balls, were able to get through it with ease. Although the physical attack had to be considerably strong.
It was really the only defensive spell that he knew, apart from the basic ones, which weren't very durable. This was shown when several hell hounds leapt up, striking the magical barriers. One lucky one struck against Markus' Speculum Alice. It held for the first few times but cracked and crumbled on the next one.
Markus swore. He just wanted to kill the damned thing and be done with it. "Hold the line!" Alabaster yelled. Markus followed through with that by bringing out Wavebreaker and slicing through the monster with one swing. It faded into golden dust. Several other Hecate children returned fire with their own attack spells, getting rid of the other hell hounds.
"You need to do better than that, Henderson," Lou said with a smirk on her face, her magical defence still holding. Markus scowled. Despite having come far in the arcane arts, the children of Hecate were still better than him at it. He wasn't jealous, since he knew that they had more experience wielding magic than he did, but it still sucked to be shown up by them.
"Shut it, Ellen. Can you still do large-scale offensive magic?" he countered, knowing the daughter of Hecate still didn't know much offensive magic. He forgot to mention that most of the Hecate kids, as well as other campers, were jealous of the spell he pulled against the Colchis bull a couple of days ago.
Lou scowled. "You don't have to rub it in. Ass," she grumbled to herself, making Markus chuckle. His mood turned sombre, however, when he spotted out of the corner of his eye Will Solace and a few Apollo kids struggling with healing the tree. They'd tried prayers, rituals, medicine, even poison to counteract the one in the tree. Nothing worked.
Markus walked up to Will. "Any luck?" he asked the son of Apollo.
Will shook his head. "Nothing. I've tried everything, every antidote and healing incantation I know. Nothing. I tried praying to dad but..." here, he scowled, and Markus didn't need to know that from him that Apollo didn't answer his prayers.
He sighed. At this rate, unless they could heal Thalia's tree and fix the magical barriers, camp would soon be overrun. Maybe they could find the object that could help them... and suddenly, Markus' eyes lit up. His mind went back to the argument that he had with Percy. Something about the Golden Fleece... it just might work.
XXX
Later that night, Markus had a strange dream. It was like the other dreams Percy had described with Grover.
The satyr was wearing a wedding dress. ...Wow. Markus would've laughed if he didn't know that the situation was serious. It didn't seem to fit him very well. The gown was too long and the hem was caked with dried mud. The neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face.
He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches. There was a cot in one corner and an old fashioned loom in the other, a length of white cloth half woven on the frame. And he was staring right at Markus, and what seemed to be another person, like it was a TV program he'd been waiting for. "Markus! Percy! Thank the gods!" he yelped. "Can you two hear me?"
Markus turned to look at the other person and saw it was in fact Percy. After having their argument, Markus wasn't exactly happy to see him, but he put it at the back of his mind for the moment.
Percy was slow to respond, still not believing what he was seeing…even in his dream. However, Markus was able to answer, "Wow, Grover. I haven't seen you for all this time, and you get married? And you didn't even tell us! Which one of us did you choose as your best man?"
"You're a riot," Grover deadpanned. "Percy! Please respond. Can you hear me as well?"
"I hear you," Percy said. "Grover, what's going on?"
From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, "Honeypie! Are you done yet?"
Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto, "Not quite, dearest! A few more days!"
"Bah! Hasn't it been two weeks yet?"
"N-no, dearest. Just five days. That leaves twelve more to go."
The monster was silent, maybe trying to do the math. He must've been worse at arithmetic than Percy was, because he said, "All right, but hurry! I want to SEEEEE under that veil, heheheheheh."
"Well at least you wear the pants of the relationship," Markus laughed.
"This isn't funny!" Grover roared, a bit freaked out as he turned back to the two boys. "You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea."
"Grover," Markus said with a deadpan, finished with his laughing, "there are a lot of islands in the sea."
"Where?" asked Percy.
"I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left."
"Wait what?" Both boys asked, not getting it.
"It's a trap!" Grover said. "It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd! And he has it. Its nature magic is so powerful it smells just like the great god Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!"
"Poly-who?" asked Percy.
"Wait, the cyclopes?" Markus asked, knowing the name.
"Right!" Grover said hurriedly. "I almost got away. I made it all the way to St. Augustine."
"But he followed you," Percy said, remembering his first dream. "And trapped you in a bridal boutique."
"... I still can't believe you did that," Markus said after thinking about it. He chuckled. "You got to admit that it's kind of funny."
"Don't remind me." Grover cried. "My first empathy link with the two of you must've worked then. Look, this bridal dress is the only thing keeping me alive. He thinks I smell good, but I told him it was just goat-scented perfume. Thank goodness he can't see very well. His eye is still half blind from the last time somebody poked it out. But soon he'll realize what I am. He's only giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, and he's getting impatient!"
"Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're-"
"Yes!" Grover wailed. "He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!"
The two stared at their goat like friend in seriousness. Well, Markus bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing, but Grover sounded scared.
"What can we do to help?" Markus asked, finally getting rid of his laugh.
"I am in the Sea of Monster! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" Grover cried, making Markus' eye twitch that his friend had gotten stuck there of all places.
"Where is that?" asked Percy, confused as hell.
"Your best bet would be the Bermuda Triangle," Grover said before he looked at them nervously. "And, I am sorry about this you guys, but this empathy link ... well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die...,"
"Don't tell me, we'll die too." Percy deadpanned.
Markus' eye twitched. Well, that was just fan-fucking-tastic! Absolutely spectacular!
"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here," Grover said, making Markus' twitch grow stronger.
"Honeypie!" the monster bellowed. "Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!"
Grover whimpered. "I have to go. Hurry!"
"Wait! You said 'it' was here. What?"
But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. "Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!"
With that, Grover disappeared from the dream, but Percy and Markus were still there. "What did he mean though?" Percy asked.
"It's the Golden Fleece," Markus said, making Percy's eyes widen. "It's the only thing that's... nature-y that could attract Grover." As Percy contemplated this, Markus spoke again. "Percy, let's wait to tell Annabeth and the others about this later. Knowing Tantalus, he won't care. So let's make sure either one of us win that race tomorrow. We could say that we want a quest to save Grover."
"Right. Good Luck." Percy said.
Markus smiled a little, his grudge with his brother all but forgotten. "Yeah, you too."
And with that, the two disappeared from their dream.
XXX
The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees - fat grey-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that reminded the campers of submarine radar.
The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Hephaestus's cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in and their back blown out, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes.
There were rows of stone steps for the spectators - Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr. D didn't show. He never got up before ten o'clock.
"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. His face was still puffy from the beatdown that he had received from the nymphs, well as some scars from injuring himself many times . He still had the bruises as well. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at them like they were all naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"
Markus rolled his eyes. That was so harsh.
Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a sweet ride made of bronze and iron-even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. They had no doubt that their chariot had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than a fully loaded Maserati.
Markus' and Silena chariot was pretty cool, even if it did have pink in it. There were sea shells on the side, with blue and pink swirled together on the front. It had the symbol of a trident and a dove encircled together. The wheels and the hull were painted bronze. It looked pretty magnificent. Tyson did good work.
Ares's chariot looked like someone just painted their fists red and punched the chariot instead of painting it. A blood tipped spear was in the centre of it. Clarisse and another Ares camper got onto their chariot.
Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers.
Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers, and but some campers shuddered to think what dirty tricks they'd schemed up.
That left Annabeth's and Percy's. Markus looked to see them arguing and he saw Annabeth pale a bit at one thing he said. "I told him to tell her later," Markus mumbled out. He sighed. "I am not surprised."
"You're not surprised at what?" Silena asked as she got in the chariot.
"Nothing," he muttered, not wanting to tell Silena about the Golden Fleece or Grover. It's not that he didn't trust her, it's just that he didn't want to give her false hope about the Fleece. It was only an idea, a possibility wasn't a definite solution.
The conch horn sounded.
"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"
Markus and Silena gained a determined look on their face as they got ready to the race to begin. Silena was driving while he was fighting since he was the better fighter, plus he had magic to help take care of any attackers.
Looking around, Markus saw a multitude of odd looking evil pigeons on the edge of the track, surrounding them. He noticed that he himself and Percy were the only ones that noticed them. How the hell was that possible? "Please tell me you see those birds," he said, pointing to the flying birds.
"Yeah, just ignore them " Silena said. "They won't attack unless provoked. They are called Stymphalian birds."
"Wow, deadly chariot races, deadly birds. I'm sensing a pattern here," Markus pondered.
"Oh, shut up. I doubt anything bad is going to happen," Silena said. Markus palmed his face, hard. "What's the matter now?" she asked, hand on her hips.
"You just invoked Murphy's Law. You should never do that," Markus said, removing his face from his palms. "Now you've doomed us all."
"Oh, come on, you're overexaggerating." Seeing his serious expression stay in place, Silena's face fell slightly. "... Oh gods, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Let's win this race, Silena," he said with mock enthusiasm. He turned on his chariot to ready it.
"Wait, hold on!" Silena exclaimed, but the chariot race was starting.
Soon, Tantalus signal for them all to go and go they did. They all shot off, determined to win.
However, they soon found out that this race was more of survival instead of what they first thought because the birds attacked. "I told you so," Markus said, while Silena had a freaked out expression on her face.
"Just shut up and kill those things!" Silena yelled out.
"With pleasure!" he said with delight. Seeing most of the killer birds heading towards them, he activated one of his favourite spells. "Ionioi Hetairoi: Girisha Kaze! (Army of the King: Greek Style!)" Soon, several kopis and xiphos appeared out of the Mist, slicing through the birds with ease and destroying a few who got too close to other campers.
Markus smirked. He changed the name 'Weapons Barrage' to Army of the King: Greek Style. He basically said it just now, just in Japanese. It was probably the only Japanese he knew. He got it from Fate/Stay Night, another one of his favourite animes. It wasn't the same attack, but Markus didn't mind. He could change the attack with magic later. Ahem, moving on...
Out of the corner of his eye, Markus saw Beckendorf get mobbed. His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming. It was basically the same for the other chariots except for Percy's and Annabeth's, who seemed to be planning something to get rid of the annoying birds. He saw them head for the Big House to get something.
Seeing that most of the competitors were gone from this little race and were fighting for their lives, Markus decided to help out a bit. Seeing the ones around them were pretty much gone, Markus cast another spell. "Sagitta Spiram Verberare! (Arrow Spiral Barrage!) This spell was basically his Sagitta Spiralis, only with more magical arrows.
Dozens of magical arrows launched from his palms, destroying pigeon after pigeon, until only five were left. Markus cursed, hoping to take out more of them.
Thankfully, Percy and Annabeth decided to return and put on some music. Markus smirked. Annabeth really knew her stuff. Back in the day, Hercules uses sound to drive them off and it was still working. On a side note, he saw that Tantalus wasn't really do anything but chasing around some food like a mad man.
The two used Chiron's CD, as 'The All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin' began to play. Suddenly the air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.
The demon pigeons went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.
Markus pouted. While he didn't get to destroy the remaining birds, at least everyone else was safe.
"Now!" shouted Annabeth. "Archers!"
With clear targets, Apollo's archers had flawless aim. Most of them nocked one arrows each. Within minutes, the ground was littered with the dead bronze-beaked pigeons.
The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on. Silena sighed as she looked at her siblings, glaring at Markus when he chuckled at their plight.
"Bravo!" Tantalus said, but he wasn't looking at Percy or Annabeth. "We have our first winner!"
He went over the finish line and awarded the golden laurel for the race to a stunned looking Clarisse. However, her, Markus and Silena were the last ones in the races and actually won... but Tantalus awarded Clarisse, seeming to spite Percy, Annabeth and Markus.
Then Tantalus turned and smiled at Percy, which was a bit creepy. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."
"Alright, screw this," Markus growled, jumping off his chariot and walking towards Tantalus. Silena tried to stop him, but it was futile.
Walking up behind the man, Markus tapped him on his shoulder. When Tantalus turned around, he was met with Markus' fist connecting with his nose.
Tantalus howled in pain as there was a loud crack, his nose broken. The force was so strong, or Tantalus was just that weak since Markus didn't even hit him that hard, that he instantly collapsed onto the ground, falling backwards. He seemed to be unconscious.
"Huh," Markus blinked while looking at his fist in wonder. "Damn, he was weak." Looking up to see the shocked faces of everyone around him, he turned to the shocked face of Percy. He gave his brother a thumbs up. "At least you don't get punished! Your welcome!"
Markus ignored the deadpanned looks he received from everyone around him.
Done and dusted. I'm so glad.
Hello to you all. Here with another chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm quite proud at how it came out.
We see Tantalus getting his ass pranked badly, new weapons from different games added into the story (which will be expanded on and shown in later chapters) and a brotherly spat between Percy and Markus. Shocker.
I'm not bashing Percy in that part. I just expanded a little, just a little, on his feelings towards Tyson at the beginning. Like canon, he'll warm up to him later, obviously.
Also, I'll be focusing on updating Arcane Chaos more than Celestial Ascension from now on. I'll still update it regularly, as normal, but there may be more updates of this story in the future than Celestial Ascension.
Also, the changing of 'Weapons Barrage' to 'Ionioi Hetairoi: Girisha Kaze' was an idea given to me by DylanTheDemon. I preferred the name, so I changed it. Props go to him.
Thank you all. Read and Review!