Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: The Lightning Thief
Chapter Six: My Pops Says Hello!
"Alright, I'll read, Leo." Annabeth smirked at the grateful teen as the book was handed to her. She read the title and Percy snorted.
"Yes, all very welcoming with a lightning bolt aimed right at a bus full of innocent bystanders."
"Really, Zeus?" Rhea frowned at her son.
"He made that up!" Zeus protested.
"Percy can't lie, Zeus." Poseidon smirked. "He's like me."
"So bad it's just not worth it?" Hades asked dryly.
"...I was going to say above that."
"Ha! My right cheek you're above lying..."
"Boys, really, let the girl read!" Hestia huffed.
As Andi left Cabin Ten, she felt, refreshed? No, more like...less restricted, she finally felt like herself again.
At the moment she was wearing a black tanktop with a great big #1 on the front in bold blue over a pair of dark denim shorts that cut off just shy of her knees, along with white socks scrunched up around the top of her blue hi-stops. A white short-sleeved hoodie with a blue band trimming a second, black band of meander, or Greek key, patterns was slung casually over one shoulder.
Now these clothes, they felt more her speed; the camp t-shirts were nice and all, but getting stuck with them as the only thing she could wear was not something she was ever going to let happen; besides, it felt nice that she could finally express herself, albeit just through clothing, but to Andi, that was enough.
"Ugh, why do all of your girls like to dress so horridly? Athena has her business pants, and Artemis has her gaudy silver!" Aphrodite complained, ignoring the glares the other two goddesses sent her way.
"They're expressing themselves, Mom."
"Yes, but they could look so well if they dressed more, well, how I would dress them."
"I'm no one's Barbie doll." Thalia scoffed.
In order to get them though she had had to argue a lot with Cabin Ten, and she meant a lot: for a good twenty minutes, pointing out that she needed some proper traveling clothes. They found her tastes 'too tomboyish' or 'not cute at all for her', but this style was what she had always liked. Besides, she wanted to feel badass. Not cute, blech!
More importantly though, they were practical for an assuredly dangerous quest where there was certain to be plenty of fighting involved. If she'd gone with those cute outfits the Aphrodite kids were pushing on her, she wouldn't have been able to fight her way out of a wet paper bag. Frilly dresses were not fighting clothes!
"Thank you!" Piper threw her arms in the air.
"But they look amazing!" Aphrodite pressed.
"They're useless, Mom. Utterly, utterly useless."
"Piper McLean, you watch your mouth!" Aphrodite glared at her daughter.
Artemis smirked. "Shame she already broke the rule of not falling in love, I'd offer her a place among my Hunters."
"Eh, I have yet to be impressed," Thalia said with a shrug.
Next, it was time to pack, not that it took her that long. She had her magical messenger bag; some supplies she got from the camp store along with a few pairs of spare clothes, also from Cabin Ten and in the same tomboyish style; and a first aid kit from Will, that according to him, were compliments of Cabin Seven. Her wand, knife, and cloak were next. Now, she just had to say goodbye to her sister and promise her that she was going to come back, alive.
The camp store loaned the questers a hundred U.S. dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. Now, these drachmas were coins as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told them, but the Olympians never used anything less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions - whatever that meant. He gave the trio of demigods each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded them. It would cure them of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn them up, literally, and turning into ashes was not on her to-do list.
"Meh, it wouldn't hurt much." Hephaestus shrugged. "You'd be dead before you'd got that far."
"That's...dark, Dad." Leo mumbled.
Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told them had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. Percy was sure the knife would get them busted the first time they went through a metal detector.
Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded like dying cats on reed pipes.
"In all honesty, they sound like dying cats on pretty much any instrument." Hermes smirked.
"That's not true and you know it." Apollo scowled at him.
Percy, Annabeth and Grover waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Andi was already up there, leaning against its trunk while talking to it.
Andi sighed as she brushed her hand against the tree one more time, "So, yeah, got to save the world and what not. I know it's going to be dangerous, but someone has to do it." The blue eyed girl chuckled weakly, "Promise I'll be back…don't, don't worry." She said to her sister and walked up to the group, her hand drifting along the bark as long as she could, "Sorry 'bout that." She muttered, but Chiron just nodded in understanding.
The trainer was waiting for them in his customary wheelchair; next to him stood the surfer dude both black haired children had seen while they were recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so they could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
"He looks pretty good dressed up like that," Hera said with a small smile at her loyal creation.
Aphrodite gave her a look. "He has eyes all over his body."
"Really? You checked everywhere?" Artemis asked with a smirk.
"Yes and-Oh, you're disgusting."
"Says the harlot."
"This is Argus," Chiron told the two children of the Big Three. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."
The group was about to leave when they heard footsteps behind them.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.
"Hey!" He panted. "Glad I caught you."
Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around. Andi snickered, getting an embarrassed glare from the child of wisdom, but the short girl just smiled back with mirth dancing in those blue eyes of hers.
"Shame about his whole wanting to doom us all plan," Leo said nonchalantly.
Thalia glowered at him. "We've been making these jokes for a while now, can we stop?"
"They'll never really get old," Percy said. "Besides, he redeemed himself."
"Ehh..." Some of the younger Olympians gave iffy hand gestures in disagreement.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told them. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."
He handed Percy the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal to the boy, if him sniffing them and not reacting was any indication. What made him do that though was something Andi didn't want to know.
Noticing the skeptical the shoes were getting, Luke just smirked.
"Maia!"
"That reminds me, I need to get back to her on our tea time," Rhea said thoughtfully.
"...Y-You have tea with her?" Hera asked, greatly annoyed by this.
"Oh, yes. She's a lovely woman, Hera."
"Yeah, Ma's cool like that." Hermes nodded.
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling Percy so much, he dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Awesome!" Grover exclaimed.
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. A gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.
Percy looked shocked at the gift and seemed a tad embarrassed at getting it. "Hey, man, thanks." He meant it, Luke's expression told of how much he valued those shoes.
"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked distinctly uncomfortable with this, shuffling his foot nervously. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just...kill some monsters for me, okay?"
They shook hands.
"And the pact of doom was made." Ares chuckled darkly.
"Which of us was mind controlled, again?"
"Screw you, Owl Head!"
As he turned to Andi, he had this pained look in his eyes, the one he always seemed to have when he looked at her Percy noted. It was like he was seeing someone else. "Good luck out there, Tha- squirt" He said, trying to smile at her to cover his mistake.
This wasn't the first time Luke had mistaken her for her sister. Since she had come to camp he'd done it quite often, he'd got better with it over time but when he was emotional, he often slipped up. Andi would have gotten mad at him about it because she hated being seen as someone other than herself, and she normally did when he slipped up, shouting at him about it. Today, however, she was going to give him a break, he was worried about her after all.
"Mentally scarred, I'm sure," Athena said.
"Thanks, that makes it all so much better." Hermes mumbled.
"Thanks Luke." Andi just beamed a smile at the older teen. The smile didn't seem to do much for Luke as he seemed to just ignore it and move on to pat Grover's head between his horns, and then give a goodbye hug to Annabeth. The last of which left the blonde looking like she might pass out.
After Luke was gone, Percy told her, "You're hyperventilating."
"Am not." Annabeth argued weakly.
"You planned for him to capture the flag instead of you, didn't you? But Andi just got it first."
"Oh ... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?" Annabeth huffed with anger as she stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.
"No chance, no way, she won't say it no-no." Leo, Frank and Piper sang together.
"The three of you can go to Tartarus for all I care!" Annabeth hissed with pink cheeks.
Percy picked up the flying shoes and suddenly had a bad feeling. He looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"
He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."
Percy nodded, disappointed. Andi could use them, but she didn't need to, she could just fly with her wind powers. Then he got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"
The satyr's eyes lit up. "Me?"
Pretty soon they'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.
"Maia!"
He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny bulls at a rodeo; unfortunately, since Grover was still attached, it meant that he got bonked on the head a few times as he tried, in vain, to control them.
"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"
"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a goat possessed, heading toward the van.
"And I found my new screen saver." Apollo smiled and lowered his phone. "Not bad for my first gif."
Before the two could follow, Chiron halted them. "I should have trained you both better," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason
"I never met him before." Jason mused.
"The first Jason," Hera said.
"Ohh, right." Jason nodded. "That makes sense."
-they all got more training."
"That's okay. I just wish-"
Percy stopped himself because he was about to sound like a brat. He just wished his dad had given him a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap, or that knife and cloak that Andi had.
"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried before bending over to the side of the wheelchair to rummage through the sling bag that hung from one of the handles. "I can't let you leave without this."
He pulled pen out from...whatever was in that bag, and handed it to the boy. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.
"Gee," Percy said dryly. "Thanks."
"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."
The boy remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when he'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown him a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?
Andi looked surprised as he took off the cap and half a second later, he held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.
"Best. Sword. Ever." Percy smirked victoriously.
"Eh, I beg to differ." Hermes, Ares, Piper and Nico shrugged in disagreement.
"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told him. "Its name is Anaklusmos."
"'Riptide,'" Percy translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.
"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals, unless absolutely necessary of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."
Both children looked at the sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?" The boy asked in disbelief, Andi looking somewhat skeptical.
"It's magic. Duh." Leo drawled.
"I was still wrapping my mind around it. Sue me!" Percy grumbled.
"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."
"Good to know."
"Now recap the pen."
The green eyed boy touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. He tucked it in his pocket, looking a tad nervous, What if I lose it?
"You can't," Chiron said knowingly if that smile was anything to go by.
"Can't what?"
"Lose the pen," The trainer said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."
Percy looked wary, but threw the pen as far as he could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.
"It may take a few moments," Chiron told him. "Now check your pocket."
Sure enough, the pen was there.
"Best. Sword. Ever." Percy reiterated with a smug smirk.
"And a decent pen." Annabeth mused.
"Wait, it works as a pen?" Leo asked.
"It is a pen. But it's a sword first."
"...I'm starting to believe him when he says best sword ever." Leo muttered.
"Okay, that's extremely cool," Percy admitted with a smile. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"
Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."
"Mist?"
"It's the veil that Hecate controls Percy," Andi spoke suddenly, breaking her uncharacteristically long silence; looking somewhat upset at his weapon. Probably wishing she got one from her dad too, "It keeps mortals from seeing gods and monsters. Since we're half-bloods, we see just fine after a few blinks, and I'd wager since the blade has 'celestial' in its name, mortals can't see it either?" she asked Chiron, who nodded with a pleased look in his eye.
"It's very stingy on who can and can't see it." Poseidon smirked.
Percy nodded in understanding too while putting Riptide back in his pocket.
Chiron seemed to have noticed Andi's sullen look and smirked at her, "Now now Andi, don't think I have forgotten you." He said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a keychain with a belt clip on it.
The keychain itself was silver and seemed to look like a nocked bow, but instead of an arrow, there was a sword drawn in it.
"This is Orízonta." He said.
"Skyline." Andi said, her turn to translate her hopefully cool weapon's name.
He handed it to Andi and as soon as she clasped it in her left hand, it turned into a bow.
It was truly a work of art: at about three feet tall, it was made of white oak, and its leather grip fit perfectly into Andi's palm. Several leafy vines swirled around the wood, glowing a faint blue, though, it didn't seem to have a bowstring. Noticing it, Andi voiced her question to Chiron.
"Really?" the trainer asked, feigning ignorance, "Well, have you tried pulling it back?"
Andi frowned at him and did so and then gasped. She narrowed her eyes while seeing something thin, very thin, "Is that…" she trailed off, unsure what to say.
"Wind rope? Yes." Chiron nodded, "Razor thin I might add." He said while showing his index and middle finger that had two papercut lines running across them, "After our talk about the quest, this little trinket was on my desk. Compliments of your father it seems." He said with a twinkle in his eye.
"You just can't be upstaged, can you?" Poseidon asked dryly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Zeus huffed.
A tiny smile came upon her face as she looked over the bow, but blinked, wondering why it had a sword also on the keychain. In response to that thought, the bow collapsed forward, folding as it melded together while it grew a handle and flat hilt. The bow changed into a two foot dual sided leaf blade of celestial bronze, a Xiphos, if Andi remembered her weapons training correctly. The blade made up about a foot and a half of the two feet weapon, the handle making up the rest.
"Well," Chiron blinked, "I wondered why it had a sword on it, but that seems to explain it." His voice held mild surprise and intrigue at the hybrid weapon.
Andi swung it a bit, liking the length and grip, "Fits like a glove," she marveled, silently thanking her father. She gained a twinkle in her eye and gave Percy this smug look, wordlessly telling him that she got the cooler one.
"Ehh, kinda girly," Ares said with a shrug. "Much as I hate to do it. I agree with Prissy, his sword's cooler."
"Kicked your butt."
"Screw you, Brat!"
Percy rolled his eyes, she could keep the bow. He was a terrible shot and she made fun of him for it anyway. So let her have her little bow/sword combo.
"Though, if you lose it, you lose it. It's not enchanted to return to you like Riptide." Chiron noted mirthfully.
It was Percy's turn to look smug as Andi pouted while her weapon shrank back into its keychain form and she clipped it to her belt loop on the left side of her denim shorts.
"What about arrows?" Percy asked, he highly doubted Andi could just walk around with a quiver of arrows on her back through a metal detector, Mist or not.
"Wind arrows." Chiron answered Percy's skepticism as Andi's face lit up with excitement.
"The weapon shapes wind into arrows that I can fire, right Chiron?" Andi eagerly guessed.
Chiron just nodded, pleased that his student had so easily guessed how her weapon worked.
"I wonder if I can play around with how the arrows work. Chiron, what do ya think?" The ecstatic daughter of the skies mused.
"Perhaps, though you would need practice before you tried anything like that." Chiron replied thoughtfully.
Oh, so she could make infinite arrows and maybe have them do special stuff, that was cool. Percy felt his sword loss some shine to that tidbit.
"It's a pen and a sword..." Percy mused. "Oh, yeah, and it goes back to my pocket."
"Infinite arrows." Thalia repeated.
"So? Infinite ammo in Call of Duty doesn't always guarantee victory, it just means you can afford to miss more," Leo said with a shrug. "Not to mention those 'cheats' are for players who have difficulty at some parts..."
Leo glanced at Jason, who pouted.
"Shut up, Leo."
"You suck at CoD dude, just accept it."
With that all said and done, it was time to go. The chilling feeling of, yes, this was really happening, had settled in. They were heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) And all they had were their weapons that could fight off those from the land of the dead.
"Hey, um, Chiron, what about my magic?" Andi asked with a shuffle of her feet, "I mean, I can get why I can use it here, but I know I can't use it with mortals around, right? I'd get the Trace thing going gaga over me." She stated.
Chiron chuckled, "Oh, yes, that silly little mortal spell. Well, I'll have you know that the Trace does not work on half-bloods by Lady Hecate's decree; the mortals just think it does though. Thus you can use magic far more freely. Honestly, trying to Trace demigods, what will mortals try next." He muttered to himself, shaking his head in humor.
"Quite a lot of things, to be honest." Apollo chuckled.
Andi blinked owlishly at the news, she could use flipping magic the whole damn time?! Well, there was only one thing she could do now that she knew this: abuse the ever loving crap out of it.
It just seemed like the right thing to do.
"It is the right thing to do." Hermes nodded.
"Hardly," Athena said with a scoff.
"Bah, you're a stuck up."
"Chiron ..." Percy turned to face the immortal trainer, his turn to ask a question it seemed. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"
"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."
"So what was it like...before the gods?"
Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals.
"Basically, caveman years," Ares said with a grin.
"Something you brought back in your finite wisdom." Athena drawled.
Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan
"Debatable." Percy grumbled.
"He was just scared, Percy, do try to forgive him." Hestia chided her nephew.
"I'm with Poseidon's son on this, sister." Zeus rumbled. "Prometheus acted foolishly."
brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."
"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So...even if we failed…" Percy trailed off pointedly, looking for a way to reassure himself.
"Which we won't." Andi added pointedly, frowning at the negative assumption.
"Nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?" Percy continued after his interruption.
"...Wow, way to completely show faith in your abilities, Percy," Hazel said.
"I. Was. Twelve!" Percy groaned.
Chiron gave him a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."
"Our destiny...assuming we know what that is." Percy said quietly. Andi was sharing the same thought, but still didn't like the fact that her life was being dictated by an outside force.
"Yeah, not going to lie, I'm no fan of that either...which is why I cheated death." Leo smirked.
"Best to not brag about it, Leo Valdez. I have Thanatos on speed dial." Hades drawled.
"...Er, yeah, right. Heh..."
"Relax," Chiron told him. "Keep a clear head you two. And remember, you may be the ones about to prevent the biggest war in human history."
"Relax," Percy exhaled breathily. "I'm very relaxed."
"You're stiffer than a two by four, mate."
"Must be wearing some tight pants if she can see something that small."
"Oh, Ares, silly goose, it's not that small. It's above average."
"MOM!" Piper shrieked while the demigods turned bright red, or in Leo's case, laughed hysterically.
"What? Annabeth should be aware by now-"
"Aphrodite, they're children!" Rhea chided.
"They're teenagers!"
"They're children to us!"
"Oh, Rhea, stop being so stuffy and let loose a little bit."
"If anything, you should tighten up," Artemis said with a sneer. "You're the only loose one here."
"I'll have you know that I'm comfortable in every form! A perfect match for whomever I lay with!" Aphrodite huffed.
"Mom, seriously!" Piper groaned, her face growing greener with each passing second while the rest of the demigods became redder.
Leo wrapped his arms around his sides and fell out of the couch, still laughing.
"It's not funny, Leo!"
"I-I-It is!"
"Annabeth, read. Just read! Read now." Percy groaned.
Andi snarked, getting a mild glare from her sea-spawn cousin. But with a punch to his shoulder, she set off down the hill after the rest of their group.
When Percy got to the bottom of the hill, he looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, Andi's older sister, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.
"Meh, seen better," Apollo criticized. He, Hermes, Ares, Dionysus, Athena, Hephaestus and the original six children of Rhea were among the few Olympians that were still listening to the story with the demigods, while the arguing Goddesses were muted by Hades' manipulation of shadows.
Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to him as if they were a normal carpool, while Andi was riding shotgun after winning a two out of three match of rock-paper-scissors. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy.
Percy was staring out the window while Andi was reading some magazine that had apparently been left in the van, and quiet seemed to set in.
"So far so good," Percy told Annabeth, breaking the silence. "Ten miles and not a single monster."
She gave him an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."
"Tyche hates me." Percy groaned.
"More like she's not your number one fan," Hermes hedged.
"Here, here, you would not believe the ways I've jinxed myself with that kind of thinking." Andi chirped from the front.
"Remind me again, why do you hate me so much?" Percy asked Annabeth with a small sigh.
"I don't hate you."
"Could've fooled me."
She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."
"Funny how that stayed the same."
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain, before I judo flip you again."
"You know my price for that, Wise Girl."
"And that should be the same with me and Andi, yet, we seem to get along okay. But why us?" He asked with a quirked brow.
She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."
"They must really like olives." He concluded
"Especially on their pizza." Percy nodded.
Poseidon glowered at his son and then glared at his smirking rival.
That meant nothing!
"Oh, forget it."
"Now, if she'd invented pizza, that I could understand." He grinned at the blonde.
"I said, forget it!"
"Hey! Stop griping at one another, we don't need the tension." Andi scowled at them as she turned from her seat to face them. Seeing that the two of them had descended into something of a cold war, she just sighed and faced forward and returned to her magazine.
"Ah, the Cold War...now that was a tease..." Ares grumbled sourly.
"We got the Red Scare, though. That was pretty funny," Hermes said with a smirk.
"Your worst prank yet," Zeus said sourly. "I still have half a mind to punish you for it."
"Apollo didn't stop Octavian!"
"Dude, why you gotta break balls!?"
In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at the boy.
Traffic slowed them down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.
Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from Percy's mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with his picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?
Percy ripped it down before the others could notice and read it as fast as he could before he threw it away with an angry look on his face.
Argus unloaded their bags, and made sure they got their bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Percy had this look of longing on his face as Grover chatted with him about something. Andi wasn't really listening as she was talking to Annabeth.
"Really, play nice with water boy, Bethy." She told the blonde.
"Yeah, Annie. Make kissy faces at your boyfriend."
"Thalia, shut up."
Annabeth sighed, "I know, I know, geez." She huffed at the new name that her shorter friend had come up with, "It's just, I don't know, it's this thing in my gut I guess." She admitted to Andi.
"Well, I get that too; even I sometimes feel this gnawing tension with him. Sure he does too with me, but we work around it. We ain't our parents Annabeth; leave their squabbles with them, none of our business I say." the daughter of Zeus said, brushing her bangs with her fingers.
"Nice policy."
"Too bad it doesn't adhere to us," Ares said with a smirk. "You're our toys."
"Ares! That's a terrible thing to say!" Rhea chided the war god.
"True though," Apollo muttered sourly. It was bitter agreement, but one that had to be made.
"I do what I must." Spoke Andi with a dramatic sigh.
The rain kept coming down.
They got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. Percy wasn't too bad himself. Now, Andi, well, she never really played before and was struggling a bit, but the sky child still got a few good shots in.
The game ended when Percy tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one huge bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared into the belly of the furry footed boy.
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but the demigods were too busy cracking up.
"Glutton." Thalia joked with a smile.
"Lord of the Wilds and devourer of hacky sacks." Percy chuckled. Good ol' Grover.
Finally the bus came. As they stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."
"Let's keep our guard up guys." Andi spoke, looking around with narrowed eyes, Annabeth already doing so as Percy started looking over his shoulders every few seconds. All of them tense.
"Loosen up, makes entry a lot easier."
"ARES!"
"What? You don't look as suspicious. Geez."
A sigh of relief was heard when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. Annabeth, Percy and Grover stowed their backpacks while Andi held her bag on her lap. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.
As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto the sea child's knee. "Percy." She said in a tight whisper.
An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, something which Andi noticed caused Percy to flinch and withdraw into his seat.
"Ms. Dodds." Percy smirked. "Nanny extraordinaire."
"...Nico, would you like a Nanny?" Hades asked, amused by the thought.
"Er, no thanks, Dad."
Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. They looked like demonic triplets in Andi's opinion.
They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.
The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through the bustling streets of Manhattan. "Ms. Dodds didn't stay dead long," Percy said in a shaky tone. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime." He looked towards Annabeth with a look.
"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."
"Tyche hates you. Like, hard core despises you!" Leo chuckled.
"I know." Percy sighed, his head hung.
"I never really was." Andi added as she glared at the old ladies, anger rising at just seeing them.
"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"
"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking in overdrive. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."
"Panicking?" Piper asked, surprised.
"Wouldn't you if you were twelve and facing the Furies?" Annabeth shot back.
"...Yeah."
"They don't open," Grover moaned.
"A back exit?"
There wasn't one. And even if they did get out, they'd be trapped in the oncoming tunnel.
"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Percy said. "Will they?"
"There's the Mist Percy, it'll keep the mortals from noticing anything wrong. We sometimes get the shorter end of it at the worst possible time." Andi frowned, her hand rummaging in her bag as she looped it over her shoulder.
"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth added. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist." She turned to Andi, "But you can manipulate it, right?" she asked urgently.
Andi grimaced, her brow knitted, "If it was one or maybe even two people, it would be easy, if a little tricky with two, but all these people? I've got about two weeks of training with it, Bethy. So unless I do it to them in groups, I doubt we could play on that angle." She stated, getting the daughter of wisdom to silently curse.
"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?" Percy suggested
"Tonight! Three homicidal maniacs escaped from elderly care in New York, four teens dead and a bus load of witnesses allowed them to escape. But first, cookies! And how they'll ruin your digestive tract. We go to Hermes for more on the story. Herm?" Apollo, dressed up like a news anchor, looked at the snickering god of travellers.
Annabeth thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof-"
Darkness abruptly blanketed them, cutting off Annabeth's question; they'd hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was dead quiet without the rain.
The Fury with the orange thing Andi figured was a hat got up and declared she needed to use bathroom in such a fake tone that Andi honestly wondered how the mortals failed to notice something was going on.
"Mortals. Are. Dumb." The Olympians repeated slowly and in sync.
It was the one and only thing they all agreed on.
"So do I," said the second sister.
"So do I," said the third sister.
They all started coming down the aisle.
"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat, Andi, get your cloak o-Andi? Andi?" she said looking around, but the short girl was gone.
"She ditched us." Grover said in disbelief.
"Wow, such a loyal Gryffindor, isn't she?"
"Shut up, Hades."
" Of course not," Annabeth replied. "At least…I'm pretty sure she didn't." She weakly admitted. She turned back to Percy, "Come on, take it." She said to him.
"What?"
"You're one of the two they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."
"But you guys-"
"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering. Along with Andi's scent, this could work."
"I can't just leave you." Percy argued sternly, like Andi, he thought bitterly. The ghostly voice of the Oracle rearing its head, but he snuffed it out.
"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"
Percy took the hat shakily and put it on.
He marveled at not being able to see his body for a moment before composing himself and began to creep up the aisle. He got up about ten seats before he had to duck into an empty seat as the Furies passed him.
Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at him. His heart was pounding rapidly. Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.
"To the toilet." Apollo chuckled. "Nanny's gotta go."
"Be afraid." Hades smirked. Even he wasn't so cruel as to make someone suffer through the odor of the Furies' waste.
...Actually, there was that poor sap that tried to do something to one of his daughters back in the seventeenth century...
He was free. The green eyed son of the sea made it to the front of the bus. They were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. He was about to press the emergency stop button when he heard hideous wailing from the back row.
The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same-He guessed that those couldn't get any uglier- but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.
The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"
The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.
"They aren't here!" Annabeth yelled. "They're gone!"
"...That's not what they asked." Percy noted.
Annabeth gaped. "No...Di immortales...I could've figured it out sooner if I noticed that..."
"Don't you mean, 'we'?"
"You're right, Grover would've probably helped."
"...That's mean, Wise Girl. Real mean."
The Furies raised their whips.
Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.
What Percy did next was so impulsive and dangerous he should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.
"Still am. Proud of it too." Percy smirked.
The bus driver was distracted; trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.
Still invisible, the sea child grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and he heard what was hopefully the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.
"Dammit Percy!"Andi's shout rang out through the chaos. He turned briefly to see that she had her knife in hand, her invisibility cloak barely covering her, right behind the Furies and rolling on the ground from his actions. She looked like she had been about to kill them from under the cover of her invisibility cloak while the monsters thought they had the advantage on Annabeth and Grover.
"Nice going, Kelp Head."
"Shut up, Thalia."
One of the Furies was wailing in pain, the purple hatted one, her left leg was limp and oozing green and purple. No doubt the poison of Andi's knife.
Oops.
"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"
They wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them.
They shot out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, all the while people and monsters were tossed around the bus, and outside cars were plowed aside like bowling pins.
Somehow the driver found an exit, shooting off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights. They ended up flying down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to their left, the Hudson River to their right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.
Another great idea: Percy hit the emergency brake.
"The boy's a genius. When can we expect the Nobel?"
"And yours would've done better, Hades?" Poseidon asked.
The Lord of the Underworld pursed his lips, considering the argument.
The bus screeching, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. He stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.
The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans. The wounded one went to strike Andi, who ducked under the swipe and lashed out with her sword, which sprung from her clipped keychain.
Air screeched from the blade and cut the hand her opponent was holding its fiery weapon with clean off. That was not all though, as the wind blade, for that was what it must have been, had also cut into the bus itself leaving a gouge that neatly cut through the upholstery of seats as well as the metal of both seats and even the bus' chassis.
"Eat this you wannabe harpy!" The daughter of Zeus yelled as a warcry as she charged the reeling Fury and rolled under a last minute slash of the claws on its remaining hand, plunging her dagger right into the throat of the beast, reducing it to gold dust.
"Ooh, fatality. Nice." Ares complimented with a grin.
Percy looked at the open doorway. He was free to go, but he couldn't leave his friends. Percy took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"
The two remaining Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at him,
"They should brush more." Apollo noted.
and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Andi grabbed her cloak as she tossed it to Grover, who barely caught it in surprise.
The blue eyed girl speedily backpedalled away from the monsters, and stopped right in front of Percy, slightly crouched.
The orange hatted one stalked up the aisle, occasionally she flicked her whip to and fro, melting through rows of seats as red flames danced along the barbed leather.
Her ugly sister hopped on top of the left rows of seats and crawled toward him and Andi like some demented lizard, her arms and legs akimbo at awkward angles.
"Perseus Jackson, Andromeda Potter," Mrs. Dodds said, in a heavy accent. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."
"Honestly, the gas you passed was just that bad!"
"Worthy of death by Fury if they're anything like their fathers." Hades nodded with a chuckle.
"I liked you better as a math teacher," Percy told her.
"Get bent," Andi spat back with venom.
The she-devil growled at them.
Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.
Percy drew his ballpoint pen out of his pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.
The Furies hesitated.
Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.
"Fury repellent. Another reason Riptide is awesome." Percy buffed his nails on his chest.
"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."
"Don't believe it! That's not a trusting face!" Hermes declared.
"Nice try," the sea child told her as the air swirled around Andi's tiny frame.
"Guys, look out!" Annabeth cried, Andi ducked instinctively at that, Percy wasn't that quick.
Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around his sword hand while the other Fury lunged at him.
Percy hissed in pain, his wrist felt on fire but he managed to not drop Riptide. Andi sliced the whip clean through, getting Mrs. Dodds to stumble back. The one coming on the left lunged at him, but he swung his blade. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust.
Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the remains of the whip out of her hands.
"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"
Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds' legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.
"Zeus will destroy you!" She promised him. "Hades will have your souls!" she said to them both.
"Not for a while...and unlikely..." Hades grumbled.
"Braccas meas vescimini!" Percy yelled.
Now, he wasn't sure where the Latin came from. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd said but he thought it was something like: "Eat my pants!"
"Shorts, Percy, it's eat my shorts." Apollo corrected him.
"Honestly, Kelp Head. At least get the quote right." Thalia snorted.
"Sorry for not being ancient." Percy mumbled.
Thalia glared at him while Apollo nodded in understanding. "As you should be."
Andi just gave him this look of disbelief. Seems he did say something stupid.
Andi released a blast of air, knocking back the Fury who had finally clawed her way upright, while changing her dagger back to its ring form.
Thunder shook the bus as the hair rose on the back of the ocean child's neck.
"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at them. "Now!"
They didn't need any encouragement; rushing outside they found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped Percy's photograph before he could recap the sword or Andi could change hers.
"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"
BOOOOOM!
"...Oh, crap." Zeus grimaced as Rhea turned to him, fury blazing in her eyes.
"You tried to blow up your nephew...and your own daughter!?"
"Mother, I didn't-!"
"To your room, and don't come out for three chapters!"
"Mother!"
"Did I stutter!?"
Zeus grimaced and disappeared into a bolt of lightning that zapped over to the door behind the screen.
Rhea crossed her arms and huffed. She glared at her other two sons when they snickered. "Don't think I'll let you two off that easily!"
Hades and Poseidon quickly clammed up, lest they lost their own freedom.
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, and where the Fury last stood there was now nothing but a pile of gold dust.
"Thanks Pops!" Andi cheered enthusiastically, grinning at the raining sky. "Not that I needed it, but thanks anyways."
"...Oh...Well, he still could've done great harm. It isn't like he's the best at aiming." Rhea huffed.
"...I wonder where Zeus got most of his temper from." Jason wondered quietly.
"His father," Hera said quickly, interjecting before her mother registered what her champion had said.
"Run!" Annabeth said. "The cops will be here any minute, we can't let them hold us! We have to get out of here!"
The others took Annabeth's words to heart and immediately ran into the woods. Andi though stayed behind for a moment.
"That was for my sister you bint!" Andi spat, before following after her friends and clipping her bow, now back in its keychain form, to her shorts.
As the rain poured down around them, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead, the questers fled through the Jersey woods.
"Watch out for the Jersey Devil and it's bride, the dreaded Snooki!" Apollo called.
"Here, Thalia, since you seem so eager." Annabeth plopped the book into her friend's lap.
"Oh...Goodie." Thalia drawled.