Percy walked into the gas station, having been walking around in the chilly air for hours and not finding anything helpful, like maybe a 'Straight to Camp Half-Blood transport system' but there was no such place. A bell rang as he opened the door and the guy at the counter looked up at him. The counter guy gave him a friendly smile and waved, then got back to whatever it was he had been doing behind the counter. Percy suspected he was playing a game on his phone but he didn't say anything.
The gas station was empty except from counter guy and Percy, which made since, they were in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Percy had found this place after heading in a south-east-dish direction for a few miles and having several cars stop to ask if he needed help, which was pretty surprising to Percy because he was used to new yorkers, who had a tendency to mind their own business. Not that there was any problem with that. Heck, Percy could be like that.
He wandered the isles for a while, trying to find something he could buy, but he figured he'd need his money later. So he resisted the urge to spend every last penny on sweets and paroched counter guy, the nametag on his uniform read 'Dave'.
"Hey," Percy greeted.
"Hey," The guy said, putting down his phone, which Percy glimpsed under the counter, "What can I do for you?"
Percy rubbed his neck, suddenly embarrassed, "Umm, er, I need to get to Manhattan, I sort of ended up here by mistake and I need to get back before my girlfriend skins me alive,"
Dave chuckled, "How do you end up hundreds of miles away from home on accident?"
Percy turned a little pink, "Um I…"
Dave put his hands up, "Hey, if you don't want to explain you don't have to, it's your business. I figure you could catch a plane in the cities a little way north of here, or you could hitchhike, other than that I can't help you, sorry,"
Percy shook his head, "No, thanks, I guess I should get going now," He waved goodbye awkwardly and left the store. He walked along the road, trying to wave down a car until one finally stopped and offered to give him a ride in the direction of new york. Percy gratefully accepted, a little wary of the stranger, a tidy looking man in a black business suit.
After a few minutes of awkward silence the man tried to strike up a conversation.
"Um, so, why are you headed to Manhattan?" He asked to break the silence.
"Um...Well, I live there, I'm only here by mistake," Percy was wary of giving to much away, he wasn't worried about the man believing him, but rather, him thinking that he was crazy and making him get out of the car or taking him to the police or something.
"How do you end up this far away from you home by accident?" The man asked, amused.
"It's a long story…" Percy was desperately searching his mind for a change of subject, but none occurred to him.
"Well, we'll be in this car for a few hours, we got time," Percy watched the landscape breeze by outside and was reminded of his days on the Argo 2, he only wished he could talk to this man about that instead of this.
"Well, it started with this party," He improvised, "some of my friends got drunk, all of them of age," he added, seeing the look on the man's face, "and I, and all the other underage kids were the designated drivers," He took a deep breath and pretended to clear his throat as he grappled for a way to continue.
Out of time, he improvised, just like old times, "Well, the drunk friends decided to plan a roadtrip, they called parents and hotels and everything," He glanced at the man, trying to gauge if he bought it. The man's face was unreadable so Percy continued, "The next day we ended up going through with it since all the preparations were made," Percy readied himself to delivered his B.S. conclusion, "we got all the way here and stayed in a hotel for the night, then everyone left and I got left behind,"
Percy decided to add in a bit of truth, "We were all at this winter camp thing, sorta like a boot camp where you learn combat and stuff, but way more fun," The man nodded, but his eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion, as if he had found something that didn't make sense.
"Wait, so they just...left without you? And they didn't come back to get you?"
Percy silently cursed himself but smiled, "Oh, yeah, they did. You see, at this camp we all go to sometimes capers go on little 'quests', usually things like go on errands for the people who run the camp, or for your friends at the camp, so everyone would just think another one of them gave me a quest and that they arranged for me to get home. It happens all the time,"
"Are you sure this camp is legal?" The man sounded genuinely concerned.
"Sure it is, it's not like anyone's ever in danger, and the kids giving other kids quests thing is technically not allowed, and we usually have to do quests in groups of three or more, I recently did one in a group of seven. And we never do anything dangerous, this last one was pretty much a camp funded vacation, and they always ask for parents permission," Percy was laughing his head off in his head, just the idea of describing Camp Half-Blood as 'safe' was hysterical, just the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.
The man nodded, "I'm Pete by the way," He said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Percy," Percy said and stared out the window. They didn't talk for the next five hours.
Eventually the man started up small talk, him doing most of the talking about his wife and kids and job as a lawyer, and how a particularly nasty case had him driving up to Washington D.C., basically the life of a mortal.
Percy nodded along, finding himself wishing for that kind of life. He wished for a simple life, maybe not perfect, but simple. He wanted to go to work and help people, the go home and find a loving household waiting for him. He wanted to have kids jump up and hug him and for his wife to come home an hour later to the dinner he cooked for her. He wanted the life of a mortal, a life where he got a chance to live past thirty and grow old with the love of his life. But he was born to son of a god, and as such he had to kill the monsters, or they would kill him.
The man had stopped talking and seemed to be waiting for Percy to say something, "Im, sorry, what did you say?" He asked, embarrassed.
"I asked if you had a girlfriend, back home," He said, taking a left turn at a stoplight.
"Oh, yeah, her name's Annabeth, she the smartest person I know," He sighed, "She's got this blond hair that curls around her face and is so cute when it's messy, and these gray eyes that seem to know everything. I swear that girl can talk her way out of any situation," He glanced at the man who had a humored smile on his face, "I sound like some kind of cheesy romantic don't I," He said.
The man laughed, "Yeah, you kinda do kid. But you're young, who knows, maybe she's 'the one'," Percy could tell he meant it as a joke, but Percy knew she was. There was no one else he would ever want to spend his life with. Whoa, where'd that thought come from, he chastised himself, this was no time to go swooning over his girlfriend. He had a mission, he had to follow it. Too much time with the Romans Percy, he chuckled to himself, then remembered the man and said, "Yeah, I think she is,"
"Wait and see kid, most guys think that about their girlfriends around your age, those things never last," Percy could tell he was trying to give him advice, but Pete just didn't know what it was like to go through as much as he did with someone he loved. Pete didn't understand how strong a relationship grew when they saw you at your strongest, at your weakest, and at your most terrifying. Annabeth had seen him when he had choked the goddess of misery in her own poison, she had seen him when he dropped his sword in the face of the pit, she had seen him in the battle of Manhattan when he had the curse of Achilles and could cut down hundreds of monsters without breaking a sweat. Theirs wasn't just a regular teenage romance. They were meant to last.
"Not me, not Annabeth," Percy said, staring out the window, imagining her face.
Pete just said, "Whatever you say kid, you'll see," they were silent for a few more hours, Pete occasionally making a comment on something that came on the radio or the town they drove into, but other than that Percy said nothing.
It was a few hours later when Pete pulled over next to a hotel in a small town in some state between Minnesota and New york, Percy had stopped paying attention a while ago.
Pete handed him a wad of cash, just some tens and twenties, and told him to rent a room for the night and phone someone to pick him up, then he was gone, leaving Percy at the motel. Percy walked inside, trying to limit his breathing at the smell of cigarette smoke and mold. He made his way to the front desk were a woman with tattoos covering her exposed arms and neck and wearing a tight black T-shirt and a black leather vest was playing games on her phone.
Percy smiled as he walked up, trying not to wrinkle his nose at the smell, "Hey," he said, "Um, could I rent a room?" The woman looked up at him like he was an annoying child she wanted to get rid of and typed something into her computer.
"Just one night?" She asked, glancing at him. He nodded and she gave him a plastic card, his room key, in exchange for some of the cash, "Number six, on your right," She said and went back to her game. Percy nodded again and made his way to his room.
He had to try the card a few times before the door opened to reveal a drab room with peeling wallpaper, yellowing carpet, and a tiny attached bathroom, in which everything seemed to be yellow. Percy hoped that the yellowish tint to everything was a trick of the light and went to work, using the shower and a desk lamp to make a rainbow.
He muttered a prayer to Iris and asked for his mom first, then flipped his coin into the mist. It rainbow shimmered and his moms face appeared. She was at home with Paul, both of them eating dinner.
"Um, hi mom," Percy said.
Sally jumped and her head snapped to him, "PERCY!" She exclaimed, turning in her seat to face him, "Annabeth said you and Reyna disappeared, where are you? Is Reyna there? Are you okay?"
Percy put up his hands in surrender, "Whoa whoa, mom, slow down. I'm in some motel somewhere, no Reyna is not with me, apparently she's somewhere near Camp Jupiter, so someone should hear from her soon, and I'm fine, just a few scratches,"
Sally looked puzzled, "But how…"
Percy shrugged, "A time traveling daughter of Kronos apparently, she intentionally dropped us in the correct time period, but she's under the control of...the pit...she has no choice but to comply, which made her extremely suicidal, like, she begged us to kill her,"
Sally wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "Where is she now, what's her name?"
"Her name is Ever, and I'm not sure where...when, she is, but she's sure to turn up sometime,"
"Okay, where are you, I'm sure I can get someone to pick you up,"
"I told you, I don't know, I could ask, here, I'll call you on your phone and give you the address, then you contact camp and ask them to send someone, are the Stolls back yet? If they are, send them," He didn't wait for and answer and cut through the mist, then went downstairs and got the address from the woman and was directed to a landline for him to use. He called up his mom and told her where he was.
He was about to go back to his room when he heard a rumbling voice behind him, "PERSEUS JACKSON!" the voice bellowed, "PREPARE TO DIE!" Percy uncapped riptide and whipped around to face the cyclops. He lunged but the cyclops perrie his blow with his club, then gave a strike of his own. Percy ducked and rolled into the narrow hall, the club missing him by a hair's breadth.
The cyclops lumbered after him, bellowing taunts as he swung his club at Percy. The demigod found and opening and took it, plunging his blade into the cyclops' gut and sinking it to the hilt at an upward angle, hoping to hit something vital. The monster crumpled to yellow dust, leaving only his club behind. Percy ignored to twisted stump and capped his sword. He turned to the woman, who was peeking sitting nonchalauntly as ever at her desk. Pery rolled his eyes and went to his room, collapsing onto the bed and slipping into the realm of Morpheus.
Percy was in a room full of monsters, all looking up to a figure standing on a stage at the front cover head to toe in fabric. The monsters shifted restlessly as they waited for their leader to speak, muttering in hushed tones until the figure raised their hands for silence.
"I realize," the silky voice said from beneath the veil, "that you are growing restless," the monsters muttered their agreement, "I realize," The figured put their hands down, "that the loss of our prisoner is something you would call a 'bad omen' or a sign I shouldn't be leading you. You believe that a truly great leader should be able to keep a simple healer prisoner easily," more muttering, "But!" The figure continued, pacing the stage, "If I argue the same for you, an army of monsters would be able to fight off two demigods, winged or not," silence, "I know you want to attack now, but if we do that we will lose. I have seen these demigods in action, even when they are divided they can wipe out entire armies. I will not loose the same way those before me did,"
The figure placed a hand on the blood stained pillar in the center on the stage, "I will not underestimate the demigods. One of them alone could kill me, and I know that, so I will make sure they don't try,"
The dream faded and Percy woke to the familiar hymn of the engines on a flying warship. He looked out his window to see the 'Death of an auger' descending into the empty land next to the motel. Percy rubbed his bleary eyes and noted the time on the clock next to the bed, 6:32. He groaned and left his room, leaving through the empty lobby and bordering the waiting ship.
The Stolls waited for him on deck, along with a bunch of other campers, all of whom looked to be wide awake. Percy waved away their questions and went below deck, where there were rows of physics- defying rooms with two dozen doorways all side by side leading into rooms logically to big for the ship, a feat accomplished by the combined efforts of Leo, Annabeth, and Harley, (Harley wanted to add fire- throwing robots but Annabeth said no).
Percy flopped into the soft bed and went into a doze, not daring to fall back into his dreams.
~oOo~
Ever landed sometime in the mid 1600's. She wrapped her coat around her and tried to wipe away the blood splatter on her face and legs. She glanced out at the street from her place in the alley and rolled her eyes. Women are treated with such disrespect in this time. She kept her head down and joined the crowd, willing the mist to hide her from the notice of the people around her.
She speed-walked to a small stone building and turned inside. A bell rang to announce her entrance, but no one was there to hear it. The air inside was musty and dry, smelling of old things and dust. A thick coating of grey powder covered everything in the shop, which ranged from bookcases to candlesticks, all antique, even then.
Ever wasted no time, rushing to the back room and scouring the shelves until she found what she was looking for. A large, thick book lay behind an expensive looking china set on the back shelf. She carefully moved the china and removed the book, blowing off the layer of dust on the cover.
The title read 'Cures and Curses, by G.G.O.' she gingerly flipped through the delicate pages, skimming the words as she went. She read each heading on the pages, 'Basilisk venom', 'Dragon fire burns', 'liquid luck', 'Killing curse', 'Puppeting potions'- she stopped and read that last one again. Yes, she found it. She heard the bell ring at the front of the shop. She panicked. She marked her page with a ribbon she found tied around the neck of a bottle and tucked the book under her arm.
"Hello!" a male voice called from the from of the shop. She decided to mess with the times and came out with a smile, making sure the title of the book was hidden against her body.
"Why hello there," she greeted with a friendly smile, nothing sarcastic about it for once.
"Hello," said the man, maybe thirty of forty years old, "is your father here, I'm here for the china set, he said he had it in the back,"
She smiled and leaned her elbows on the counter, "Yes, the china is in the back, but no, my father isn't here," She made herself sound as sweet as possible, just a little girl in her father's shop.
"Actually," She continued as she went to fetch the china set, "I'm the one who handles most of the actual work around here, he does the cooking and cleaning an whatnot," The man looked stunned but she held her smile, trying not to show the triumphant gleam in her eye, "As a matter of fact," she said as she calculated the cost of the china in her head and asked him for the money, "I'm also the one to fight off the gangs that come here to take our money, awful people you know, my father couldn't possibly fight them all off at once, what with him being so delicate and all,"
Her polite smile had become a grin but the man got a severe look on his face, "In my house there are penalties when a woman lies," He said as she wrapped his china in cloth and handed the pieces to him.
"Oh, really now, that's nice, but you really should punish the men too, don't want their fragile egos to be hurt when you tell them that their lies are unimportant," Her grin was wide and triumphant as the man got red in the face.
"You disrespectful little girl!" He said through gritted teeth, he must have been easily agitated, or just particularly sexist, or both. He raised his hand to strike her but she grabbed it and twisted, slamming his body against the counter and shattering his china.
She leaned down and whispered with a smile, "I'm sorry, did you mean to imply that you thought I was lying? Oh you poor, ignorant little thing," she twisted his arm harder, "I could gut you alive and feed you to the birds without breaking a sweat, understand?" Then she let him go and he stumbled out of the shop with a bag full of china shards and sever new bruises, several on his body and a few more on his ego.
Ever found a messenger bag in the shop and put the book inside it, practically skipping around the shop as she found ornate daggers and double swords, which she strapped to her back and belt. Ever loved doing that, damaging the ego's of the self-entitled. In her opinion, if you didn't earn your superiority through a fair competition, or with the odds stacked against you, it wasn't yours.
She found herself a nice hairpin and used it to pin back some of her braids, which were getting in her face. She fingered the engagement ring, a memory trying to surface in her mind but failing. She sighed, she guessed there were some things she would just never know.
She finished 'shopping' and traveled back to where she'd been ordered to go, her chipper mood gone. She looked up into the face of the pit and tried to imagine it was all a dream, a nightmare that would never end. Shackles bound her arms and legs before she could do anything.
"Ah, I see you picked up some light reading!" Tartarus bellowed. She winced under his voice, looking directly into his face as she discreetly pulled out to ribbon and tied it around her wrist with one hand.
"Show me," He demanded and she handed it over, her body acting before her mind could catch up. Tartarus paged through the book, apparently finding nothing dangerous, he handed it back to her, "Brushing up on that weak magic for your next mission, smart," He left without spending another second on her. She pulled the ribbon off her wrist and fiddled with it, making herself into a nothing, no threat to the pit where she sat, on top of a vein, in the heart of the pit, the heart of her master.
She opened the book and read from page one, reading the forgotten cures and vaccines for Basilisk venom and the unique treatments and uses for dragon fire. Soon she knew more than even the most expert of wizards. And she was bored. She would, every once in a while, flip back to the 'Puppeting potions' page and read a few words, but there were too many monster around to truly read it.
She danced her luck and cursed the pit to never be able to manifest in physical form again, then prayed to the fates her'd fight the curses and kill hers. She looked around at the familiar collection of prisoners, some of which hated her more than the pit. There was a group of demigods, whom she had been assigned to either kill their loved one by the pit or make them fall in love by Eros. Or sometimes both, like in one particular girls case.
Her name was Emma, daughter of Hermes, and Ever had been told to make her fall in love with some son of Dionysus. Ever didn't know the full details, but the two of them had a star-crossed romance, both of them already in bad relationships. Then they broke up with their date-mate's and got together and it was all sunsets and daydreams until Ever had been sent to kill the son of Dionysus. So...Ever didn't have her as a friend.
Ever wriggled in her chains, making some noise to alert the prisoners who actually liked her to her presence. She smiled at Bob the titan and Damasen the giant, prisoners of the pit.
Hey y'all! so I added a few clues to the purpose of the braids, just helping y'all out a bit. I've already started the next chapter, in which I'm planning on showing y'all a bit more of Tom/Voldemort/Alex. I've got a question for y'all as well, how many fandoms do you think I'm a part of? Answer in the reviews.
The challenge from the last chapter still stands to tell me your guesses and I'll deliver whichever you tell me you want.
Bye y'all! Hope you have a good rest of the year!