Percy
I heard movement coming from the kitchen, my mother came through the entryway to the living room. Her eyes rested on Hestia for a moment, "What the…"
Then she saw me.
"Percy!" she ran and smothered me in a hug, tears running down her face. "Hey mom" I replied, smiling and rubbing her back to reassure her I was really here.
"How are you, honey?" she asked, trying to contain her tears. I hugged her tighter, "I could be better, but no real complaints" I said, it was pretty important to be honest with her, and not just because Hestia was watching.
My mom pulled away, taking the time to crush Nico in a hug as well and ask how he was.
"I'm alright, Sally." He said, holding back a smile while he awkwardly hugged her back.
"So what's going on? You said that you could be better?" she asked me, as we moved to the kitchen table. Paul was at work, so it was just us four. Which was probably for the best, we hadn't introduced Hestia yet, but I was pretty sure my mom would take it better than Paul, with her being an immortal lady and all.
"Uhh, the King of the Gods may have ordered for my destruction when we got back to Olympus." I said, shrugging.
My mom's eyes widened, "Why? Poseidon wouldn't let that happen!" she exclaimed. Nico took some time out of staring out the windows to reply, "He decided Percy was too powerful, and was a potential threat to Olympus, and went for preventive measures, but I wasn't about to let him kill my uh… cousin" he hesitated with the word cousin, but I smiled at him. The guy seemed to have a lot going on in his head, but I was glad he was finally seeing me as family.
"Most of the Gods are against it, but they have to follow Zeus's orders. Dad can't do anything without starting a war of the gods, neither can Hades, and they're the only two with the power to challenge Zeus, who would do so, anyways" I explained, glancing at Hestia. I figured that if she wasn't such a pacifist, she'd be able to put on quite a show. Hestia nodded, "The only others with the power to stand against Zeus are Hera and myself. The others are almost all his children, and well, the Goddess of Love is not exactly one for fighting" she noted wryly. I took a moment to think about how I hadn't thought of Hestia as one for humor, but here she was.
My mom interjected, "If they're searching for you, why are you here? They'd obviously be expecting you to try and visit me Percy. Besides, Olympus is close by"
She began to glance around the apartment worriedly, but I shrugged it off, "We're safe for this visit, but I have to go soon, I'm not sure how long the protection will last"
She nodded, relaxing, "Who is protecting you?" I almost looked at my mom like she was crazy. I mean, there was a lady in the room who she didn't know and who had not long ago mentioned she had the power to take on Zeus, the Lord of the Skies.
Hestia however, saw no issue with it, kindly introducing herself. "That would be me, Mrs. Blofis. I am Hestia. You've raised quite the fine young man here." She said, nodding to me respectfully.
My mother's cheeks flushed, "Thank you Lady Hestia."
I noticed for the first time that Hestia had taken the form of a young woman, maybe in her thirties, at most. It was probably for the best, my mother would have been a lot more confused if an eight year old girl introduced herself as a goddess. She'd probably have offered the Goddess of the Hearth cookies and called her adorable…
"I'm afraid Percy and Nico have to be off, their friends have arrived at camp, and the Gods will be checking this place soon." Hestia remarked, smiling sadly at us.
I gave my mom another hug, telling her I'd be safe, and then Hestia flashed away, sending us back to the Café we'd been in before. I looked around and saw that no one had noticed us, and motioned my head towards the door, looking at Nico. He nodded and we quickly left the booth and headed into the streets.
"We need somewhere to sleep" I said, looking around for places that we could rest. Nico grinned, "Yea well, we just need to find a nice quiet space, my dad left one extra thing in the bag for us"
"What was it?" I asked in confusion, Nico had emptied the bag, and I hadn't seen anything that would help us here.
"Magic tent, like the ones the Hunters have, except, more geared towards us." I smiled a little bit at our luck. Definitely outdid the idea of sleeping in a tree or something.
"Are there any forests around this town?" I asked, Nico had obviously been here before, so I had to follow his lead. "Yea, we can go there, it isn't too far. Set up camp by the river."
-Linebreak-
The tent, without a doubt, was awesome. It was small on the outside, but had a main area and two small bedrooms on the inside, like a small apartment. If I had to guess, it was enchanted to add beds and rooms if more people joined us, which was useful.
I was sitting outside of it right now, watching the forest while poking the fire we'd started, Nico was in the tent right now, doing who knows what. He was a creepy cousin, I just prayed he wasn't summoning the dead in our new living space or something. It was called a living space for a reason.
Nico stepped out of the tent and sat down beside me, sighing.
"I sort of wish we could just be at camp." He said quietly. I nodded, turning to him. "The place grows on ya, huh?" he shoved me, "Shut up Percy, I finally got to a point where I could see Camp as a home, and now I'm banished from it." I couldn't help but feel pity for him, the kid had never really been accepted anywhere in his mind, and he finally saw somewhere as home, and it wasn't an option for him.
"I get the feeling though, Camp has been my home since I was twelve. Now I'm wanted dead by multiple Gods, and not just in the I-don't-like-you-kid kind of way."
Our conversation was interrupted as someone shouted from the direction that the town we'd been in was. Their voice was full of fear. We turned and saw a young boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen, sprinting through the forest, being chased by a hellhound.
"Oh boy" Nico muttered, standing up.
"I didn't think we'd find a Demigod just by sitting in a forest" I said, surprised.
We rushed forwards, Nico headed off the Hellhound and stopped it from chasing the boy, while I caught the kid and gripped his shoulders, "Don't worry kid, you're safe" I said, holding him in place. He stopped resisting and looked at me, "Safe?" he asked uncertainly, glancing behind me to see Nico jump away from the hellhound and then slice it's head off with his sword, disintegrating the monster.
"I don't suppose you know anything about the Greek gods?"
He nodded slowly, "I read a book about Greek mythology once. Then tonight, that thing attacked me while I was walking along the street."
Nico came over, "What made you decide to run into the empty forest?"
The boy shrugged, "I heard a voice in my head telling me I'd find help here." Nico and I exchanged glances, "I guess his parent likes us" I grumbled, wondering which God it would be.
Nico patted his back, "Come with us kid, we've got a lot to talk about."
We brought the boy to our fire by the tent, and he introduced himself as Marc Andros. He was thirteen and his mom had died when he was young, but his dad had left before he was born, plus the voice in his head had apparently been male, so that narrowed down his parentage to the male Gods.
He seemed to take in the news about being half god pretty easily, which was a benefit for Nico and I. Of course, it's hard to try and tell the guys with swords who saved you from a demon puppy that they're wrong about this stuff.
"So, do all half-bloods live like this?" Marc gestured to the forest and our tent. Nico snorted before covering his face with his hand. I just smiled at Marc. "Nah, there's two Camps in America for Demigods to live at. One for Greeks and one for Romans"
"Ah… so why are you guys," he gestured to the forest again.
Nico had calmed himself down by now and cut in, "We're sort of, in exile."
I frowned, "You make us sound like delinquents or something, Nico"
"You're the one with a Death Sentence." I shoved him over, "Not funny!"
Marc stared at me incredulously, "You have a Death Sentence?"
I nodded, "We just got back from fighting a war and saving the Gods and the world… again. But when we got to Olympus, Zeus decided I was too powerful and sentenced me to be executed as a potential threat to the Gods, but Nico saved me."
He seemed to calm down a little bit, moments ago he'd been looking at me like I was going to gut him.
"I think Uncle just had too much thunder up his ass because of how useless he was in the wars. Most of the gods are against killing you anyways, along with every demigod from both camps." Nico muttered.
I chuckled lightly at how he'd said Uncle like it was a horrible curse word.
"Uncle?" Marc asked, looking between us.
"Yea, Zeus is our Uncle" I clarified.
"Are you two brothers then?"
Nico shook his head, "Cousins, though gods don't really have DNA, genetically we're stangers. Otherwise it'd be creepy, since a lot of demigods date and stuff. Only real rule with it all, is that anyone with the same Godly parent is your sibling, everyone else is whatever you decide they are to you"
"I guess we should point out," I added, "His dad is Hades, mine is Poseidon."
"So, if all the demigods like you, why can't you go to the camps?" he asked. Nico took this one, "The Gods who want to catch him will be watching for him at the camps."
He stared down Marc for a moment before speaking up again, "Look kid, you seem to be having doubts, but you can trust us, Percy would never turn on the Gods, or any Demigods, that includes you. It's his fatal flaw."
The kid seemed to make a decision in his head, "Alright, I believe you" he said. As he said it, a symbol appeared above his head. I grinned, "Good to have you aboard, and it looks like we'll have to check our pockets when we're around you" Nico snickered as we looked at the symbol.
Marc looked at us in confusion before following our gaze and looking up, he saw the symbol as it faded, but didn't seem to recognize it. "Which?" he asked, looking back at us.
"Hermes, God of Travellers, Thieves, Messenger of the Gods and such" Nico said. "Also one of the gods who doesn't hate me, I should have figured he'd know where I am. God of Travellers and being the hospitable guy he is."
I used some water from the river to put out our campfire. "It's pretty late, let's go and test out the magic of this tent" I said, putting a brotherly arm around Marc and leading him into the tent. He had a goofy smile on his face, like he'd won the lottery. I guess for a guy who grew up in an orphanage, finding out you have a parent who's alive is better than the lottery.
Sure enough, the tent had added a room, but it was full of small bunk beds, instead of one double bed, like Nico's room and mine. I walked Marc to the bunks and told him to choose one, and we sat down on the bunk he chose together.
"So, what happens next, do you guys just go around doing stuff?" he asked.
"Well, we only went into exile today, and we had to decide what to do with our time until we can get Zeus not to kill me. I figured I'd make myself productive and go looking for Demigods to help and train. Nico can't really go anywhere, since he saved me they're after him too, so he decided to help."
He mulled it over with a slight smile, maybe at the idea that someone was taking care of him. "What's my dad like?" he asked, looking over at me hopefully. I grinned, because he reminded me of myself, when I'd ask my mom what my dad was like.
"Hermes, well, he's one of the more easygoing gods. Loves pranks and jokes just like his kids. He really cares about his kids though. I'd place him as one of the most caring Gods towards their children. Along with my dad and Apollo"
He smiled, "Do you think he cares about me?" I chuckled, "Well, he spoke to you in your head, sending you to me, probably knowing what I'd decided to do, and he claimed you the moment you decided to trust us. I'd say he does"
His smile widened and he hugged me. I was surprised at first, but then again, he was just a kid, who'd probably never had anyone truly looking after him. I got past my initial shock and hugged him back.
"Thank you" he whispered, and I grinned. "No problem kiddo. Now we should probably get to sleep, huh?" he nodded, pulling away, and I stood up, heading to the exit. "Night Marc" He grinned at me and pulled himself under the blanket, "Night Percy"
I left the room and saw Nico smirking at me, "What?" I asked.
"Nothing, I just hope I don't have to play big brother to the Demigods we find like that" I shrugged, "I've been playing big brother for you since I met you. It isn't really hard." He shrugged, "I find it annoying that I'm only two years older than that kid." He scoffed, I just waved it off, "You went through a lot of stuff that matured you faster. I'll play big brother, you just try not to scare them, alright?" I prodded, grinning at him.
"I'm going to bed" he said, walking into his room without another word. I grinned and headed to my own room, dropping onto my bed like a rock.
I wondered how the others were, and everyone at camp. Hestia had said that our friends had gotten to camp safely. I hoped that they were safe there, at the least.
Annabeth, without a doubt, would be worried out of her mind and would spend the entire night trying to find a way to get Zeus to lay off. There wasn't really anything I could do to stop her, as much as I wanted her to just take it easy and get some sleep.
I didn't have to worry too much though, she was safe, and that was what mattered.
Annabeth
I stopped trying to figure out a plan after the first few hours. After that I just spent time answering the questions of the campers and reassuring them that Percy and Nico were alive and well. At least just because I wasn't trying to think up a plan didn't mean there was no progress, the entire camp, and all the romans who were here, were trying to make sense of the situation.
I took the chance to head to the beach. If anyone could give some insight as to where Percy might be, it would probably be Poseidon. I pulled off my shoes before stepping into the surf, sighing. Help me find Percy, I thought, sending the silent prayer to Poseidon. I waited, hoping for some sort of reply, but none came.
"Great" I muttered, turning my gaze to my feet. I guess Poseidon was busy… or maybe he didn't know where Percy was.
As I turned to leave, something in the water caught my eye. I turned back to see what it was and gasped.
I scrambled into the surf and grabbed the paper, lifting it out of the water and making my way back to the sand. The paper was completely dry, an obvious hint that it was from Poseidon. I looked at the words on the paper and frowned, before realizing what it meant:
Nico
Eight Days
Creek
My eyes widened and I quickly folded the paper up, shoving it deep into my pocket. I had eight days to figure out what to prepare, what to expect, and decide if I should tell anyone else before I leave. If Nico was going to show up at camp, I was going back to Percy with him.