Up With the Birds
An: sorry for the long wait but after I was in a small car wreck I figured I would get on track.
I don't own PJO or HoO that belongs to Rick Riordian
'Thoughts'
Previously on We Banished Princes zoo days
Other demigods came through to and every time we pointed them in either the direction of Camp Half-blood or Camp Jupiter if they were Roman. We became known as the wild road to safety to demigods who had yet to make it within the Camp's borders.
Jason POV
Sky. The air we breathe and the beautiful thing we see every day.
Birds. The avian beings that roam the sky freely without barriers. Free to go where they please.
Zoo. A place in which both the sky and the freedom of it can be easily taken away and monitored.
Bird keeper. Those who do the monitoring and care for the birds in it.
I'm a bird keeper and right now I'm trying to make sure the Tocan brothers leave Mike the cockatoo alone for once.
Seriously it's becoming a problem I've only been here three months compared to the others and it seems like every other bird keeper is content on leaving me to my doom. By birds. Noisy birds. Damn Percy really lucked out when he got horses. At least with them and their relatives they are pretty chill and know when they are being a nuisance.
"Jason-boy get these brats before I hang them by their beaks!" Mike kaa´d loudly. I winced at the volume. One of the keepers saw me and said, "You're que again I guess?"
I gave him a weak smile. "You bet". Another squawk and a couple of chirps. "Better hurry to looks like Mike's getting impatient... again".
I entered the exhibit with a bowl of the good bird feed and made my way over to Mike. Along the way I greeted some of the other birds that flew by. The blue jays a nice couple once you get to know them. The peacock constantly trying to get me and the other birds' attention with its feathers. At some point the Tocan brothers parents landed on my shoulders looking for them. I didn't mind it since I got used to it after five days on the job.
"Hello Jason sorry to bother you but have seen -" Dan the father started.
"Till, Dull and Zach? Yep that's why I'm here to get them before Mike tries something". I interrupted.
"Oh dear they are at it again are they. I'm sorry Jason dear we owe you yet again for keeping them out of trouble better than us". May the mother chirped politely.
Out of all the birds here she was definitely the easiest one to talk to. Never loud unless she was ending a fight and ,though she may not fully understand was a good listener. You can never get mad at her and if you did you immediately regretted it. If she so much as shed a tear you were either shunned for weeks or beaten by the other birds until she convinces everyone else to stop. Which is a lot of power but she doesn't use it. At first it confused me she changed my mind quickly.
FLASHBACK ONE WEEK
It was my second time handling Zach,Till, and Dull and their antics. It was kind of hard considering the fact that I didn't want to use my abilities to catch them and get caught myself by the other bird keepers.
"Miss May I can't understand something". I told her as I gave her the children back for misbehavior.
"Oh what is it Dear?" She asked settling on branch in front of me.
"why don't you use the power you have over the exhibit to your advantage, I mean no one seems to mind so -"
"Jason you should stop there in this exhibit there is no such thing as kings and queens nor is there a need for one".
"But-"
"Tell me Jason do you like being completely controlled by one being's belief and set of rules?" I shook my head with a frown.
"Look around us," she gestured around with her wings over the cage. "We are already bound by so much, how far and how high we can fly and when we can eat and how much". She looked back at me, into my eyes. " So tell me Jason what is power and control if you are just as bound as the ones who serve you?"
I said nothing there was nothing to say to the wisest bird I ever met.
They say the owl is smarter because it is Minerva's sacred animal but I no longer think that's true.
FLASHBACK END
By the time the memory ended I was at tree which Mike relaxed. The brothers were flying around madly trying to confuse Mike and get him off their tail feathers. It back fired however when they ran- excuse me- flew into each other free falling. I used a bit of my powers over wind so their parents could catch them and set them down. Mike scoffed and settled down on a near by branch.
"About time Jason and I see you brought the troublemakers parents". He said.
Dan spoke up," I apologize immediately for this when I woke up they were gone, me and my wife were looking for them when Jason walked by and we came with him".
"Well I guess I could over look this for a price, I assume that is why you brought the food Jason-boy?" The cockatoo asked.
"Yes, will it suffice?"I asked. He seemed to think it over but I knew his answer. He was a greedy bird not an overbearing one but still greedy. He loved it when he got the best to offer I.e the feed.
"I suppose, alright leave it here and you are forgiven". Mike said. We turned to leave when he called to us. "And do try harder to keep those children in line!"
"Will do!" May replied.
When I got to the Tocan families home they hopped off my shoulders and to the trees. Before the brothers could scatter May called to them. "Boys are you forgetting something?" She said in a sweet voice. They froze and slowly turned to her smiling well sort of they are birds so...
" What ever do you mean by that sweet sweet mother?" Till said.
"Don't, you're playing a dangerous game boys. A Dangerous game especially after today's event". She said narrowing her eyes. They gulped simultaneously before lowering their heads.
" Thanks Jason". They chorused. I smirked. "See that wasn't so hard". I teased. They glared but laughed afterwards and flew into the trees. May shook her head.
"Really though thank you for looking out for the kids again you're a real help. Sorry for the trouble". May sighed.
I smiled gently at her. "It's not a problem this is why I work here for after all". Well part of the reason.
She laughed as she flew up into the trees. I turn and made my way back through the exhibit. Once I was out I noticed a figure crouching in the corner. Curious as to who or what it was I walked over my hand griping the coin in my pocket just in case. When I got it I let out a sigh of relief. The figure jerked and spun around to face me revealing a small girl. She had short blond hair and big blue eyes. I immediately pegged her as an Apollo kid. Shrank when I held my hand out to her.
"Hey there what are you doing here all alone, isn't that kind of scary?" I asked. She seemed to loosen up a bit and opened her mouth. " I-im s-s-sorry i-i can-can't he-hear y-you I-I used to be able to but then ;-)mom."
"Okay that's a problem, wait here I'll be right back". I rushed to a table outside and grabbed a paper and a pencil. When I looked back however I saw a hell hound sniffing around the area. I took my coin and flipped it taking notice that it was in spear form. This was not missed by the hell hound as it turned to look at me. It growled lowly before lunging at me. I just glared before side stepping it's attack and plunging my spear into its ribs. It howled in pain once before bursting into dust. ' Too easy. 'I thought as I let my weapon collapse back into its coin form and dusted myself off. I heard a small gasp and turned to see the small girl stare at me in a state of shock. She then ran up to me and surprisingly hugged me.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" She cried tightening her grip around my waist. I gave a questioning look before jotting something down. I handed it to her and she took it and read it.
"Oh um well I was going to the zoo w-with m-my m-mom and and th- then th-that thing *sob* she told me to run so I just". She cried in my shirt while I tightened my hold on her shaking with rage. She wasn't the first one to come in with a story like this but it angered me all the same.
I grabbed her hand and ushered for her to come with me. I needed to see Percy right away. When I walked into the African safari exhibit I was thrown a couple of confused glances but when they saw the girl they assumed that I was guiding her to her parents. I then stopped as I realized that I didn't know her name. One note later and she told me her name was Maggie. We came across Percy talking to Darius again and I called out to him. When he came over he noticed Maggie and his face gained a serious expression.
"Hey Jason who is this?" he asked smiling down at her. She hid behind my leg peering up at Percy.
"This," I said gently patting Maggie's head." Is Maggie and unfortunately she is a recently orphaned daughter of Apollo. She is also deaf ". Percy's jaw clenched at the mention of the word orphan.
"How did it happen?" He asked tensely.
"Hell hound attack on the way here she was with her mom and...".
"Shit. Alright I'll get the test". A few minutes later and he was back with two pieces of paper. One had ancient Greek the other Latin. He handed the paper to Maggie so she could look at them. She looked at the Greek paper confused then read the next.
"What's Camp Jupiter?" She asked. I smiled, so she was Roman after all usually a Roman demigod and a Greek demigod are not born near the opposite camp but there were some cases. But now came the hard part, just how were we going to get her there safe and unnoticed. She was way too young to go by herself like the others and Lupa's wolves could take days. I sighed. "This is getting way out of hand".
AN: Annnnd scene! Oh my gods that took forever but I came through. Please review more than favourite though I do appreciate it I could post faster with feed back and support. Also I have a poll up for ships with Jason so check it out. This is KN signing out.