The Abduction of the Poppy

Percy Jackson and the Olympians fanfiction by Tohkalia and Miss-Li-ding

DISCLAIMER: We live on Earth. We can write in English. We own PJO. Guess which one's a lie.

Chapter Four - Giving a Goddess Tiny Teddies and Wandering Around

Viv rubbed her hands together in an attempt to keep them warm in the crisp night air. Central Park seemed to have a different mood at night time.

"So Angeline, just tell me again, why do we need to move into the dodgiest part of Central park at night time, may I add?" asked Viv.

Angeline rolled her eyes. "One, it's not the dodgiest, just the least well lit."

"Same diff. Why?"

"Because artificial lights at nighttime give me worse headaches then at any other time. I mean," she raised her hands and looked towards the sky. "It's night time for Nyx's sake! It's not supposed to be bright!"
Viv held back the urge to mention to Angeline that not everyone had perfect night vision like Nyx-children.

"And two?" mumbled Nathan who was quite overcome by the task of carrying all of the supplies. Viv felt sorry for him for a moment before realising that she didn't like him, at all. Then she was quite pleased that he was suffering.

"Two? Oh right, two. Um, you're with a daughter of Nyx;" she pointed to herself for effect. "as long as my mum is in a good mood no harm can come over us. Unless it's of our own doing."

"What happens if your mom is in a bad mood?" Asked Viv. Angeline stopped the group, apparently this was a good place.

"Well, you know, meteor showers, comets, shooting stars, exploding stars, that stuff happens." Angeline shrugged and tutted as Nathan started arranging their gifts.
"You can't put the food items next to the non-food items! She might accidentally eat some of the stuff!" She watched Nathan some more before pushing him out of the way and rearranging them herself. Not wanting to be caught up in her organising fury, Viv allowed her mind to wander.

They weren't too far from the area the Clazomenian boar had taken off in. Earlier they had searched the entire area for about an hour to figure out if the boar was still around, waiting to kill some mortals. They had found no sign of him, but some half-eaten apples led them to believe that Auxo had taken him with her.

"Viv, wake up, it's done." Angeline waved her hand in front of Viv's face. Viv nodded and observed the gifts.

They didn't seem very important to her, a couple of stones, around five copies of an Astronomy magazine, some chocolate chip tiny teddies (1), a packet of gummi bears and two bottles of orange juice. Yep, typical things to give a goddess.

Nathan seemed to think on similar lines of Viv, for once. "Hey Gel, why are we giving your mum rocks, some magazines, bear-food and OJ?" Wait... since when was Angeline called Gel?

"One, those 'rocks' are meteorites."

Oh boy. Angeline and her rocks. This was going to take a while.

"This one," she pointed to one which was speckled, "is a H Ch-Chondrite. It's pretty common. How-however thi-this one," she pointed to the other rock which looked scratchy, like a mob of angry cats had attacked it. "Th-this one is a kam-kamacite!"

She looked at them like she expected them to be amazed. Indeed by her stuttering Viv could tell that she was very excited.

"D-Do you know how f-freaking long it t-took me to g-get those fr-freaking meteorites? I b-bought 17 different eBay stones until I-I found a l-legit H Chondrite and it t-took me a whole lot m-many m-more buys for me to getthekamacitean-andthenmyd-dadsolditandth-thenitt-tookmetwoyearst-totrackitd-downagainandyoudonot-"

"Angeline. Chill. You're talking so fast and stuttering so much that it's pretty hard for us to follow you." blurted Viv, unable to take it anymore. She instantly regretted her word choice though. Angeline looked down and stared at her shoes. Oh crap. That was her reclusive pose. Viv looked at Nathan to see if he was going to do anything. Viv was amused and annoyed with his indecisive look. So it was up to her to apologise. "I didn't mean for it-"

"I-I know." Angeline replied, wincing as she stuttered. "I'll stop going on about meteors then. Um..." Angeline rubbed her arms. "She likes seeing what mortals 'discover' about space, that's why the magazines are there. And she likes bears. I don't know why, maybe something to do with Ursa Minor having the Polaris. Jaz says that orange juice is her favourite."

Viv felt incredibly uncomfortable. It was obvious that Angeline was over-enunciating her words.

"So then." said Nathan, clapping his hands together and rubbing them somewhat maliciously. "Let's give Nyx our gifts." Angeline nodded, turning to the items in front of her and shaking like a leaf.

"My lady, powerful goddess of the night, please listen to this plea. She who rides her chariot to make the darkened sky, she who opens the gates of the Oneiroi and who guides sailors with her reign, take heed. You who the gates of Tartarus do not hold, you who oversees all at night, listen now to what I, your daughter has to say. Please accept these gifts that we give to you. In return I ask only one thing; please give me the strength to take my friends with me when I travel this night."

The trio waited a moment and nothing happened. Viv was about to go comfort Angeline when a sudden breeze whisked through the area. Angeline straightened up and bowed deeply.

"Close your eyes." She hissed at the other two. They obeyed. Just after Viv closed her eyes a presence fill the area, it felt dark and gloomy but at the same time peaceful. She detected the scent of jasmine flowers. Then the presence left as quickly as it came. Viv waited a few more seconds, until Angeline gave the all clear. The gifts had indeed vanished and in their place jasmine flowers had bloomed. Angeline seemed to be in a trance. "She also likes jasmine flowers. They are so backwards, opening only to Nyx. Hemera hates them for that." Viv walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder. Angeline had a dazed look to her, like she had just seen a movie star and gotten them to give her an autograph.

"Angeline, snap out of it." Angeline looked as if she was coming out of a trance.

"So, what did your mom say to you?" asked Nathan. Viv was secretly glad. She was curious. but asking Gel what her mother had said after telling her to snap out of her daze would have been very hypocritical indeed.

"She told me that I'll be able to shadow-travel with all of you tonight and that..." The dazed look reappeared in Angeline's eyes. "That I was doing a good job and that she was proud of me..."

Viv felt a bit jealous but then banished the feeling. Her mother hadn't talked to her, except when she had first been claimed and that had been super awkward. Stupidly Viv had been disappointed that her mother was a goddess of revenge, she had secretly hoped that her mother had control of something 'awesome', like exploding volcanoes or giant sharks which could also roam on land. But over time Viv had realised that being a Nemesis kid was awesome. Her greatest wish was to meet her mom again and to explain how stupid she had been, that she was glad that she was her daughter, that she-

"Viv, don't you space out on me too. How are we going to go to Nebraska if both of you are unresponsive?" Viv turned her blank stare into a glare as she realised that Nathan had a point. "Ah, you're back."

"Yes, Nathan's right." Angeline cracked her knuckles and looked to the shadows, hands shaking nervously. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply clenched her hands into fists. "Put your bags on and lock arms with me." Viv did as she said, pulling her bag's strap over her head so it was slung diagonally over her and tightening the strap. Then Viv locked her left arm into Angeline's right, holding her wrist with her hand to make sure that she didn't let go. After Nathan had done the same, Angeline looked at both of them, then ran into the shadows.

When Nathan had heard of Angeline's power of shadow-travelling, he hadn't been too sure about it. It was hard enough for Hades' children to shadow-travel by themselves and Gel would be taking three passengers. He had convinced himself that he would help her as much as he could, but all he could remember of the trip was running into the shadows of Central Park, then walking out of a tree's shadow in an empty dirt path. It had happened so fast that there had been no chance for him to luck her along. They all stood standing in the middle of nowhere for a moment before Viv shouted "Corn!" and Angeline fainted.

"Ugh I wish that shadow-travelling didn't take so much out of her." groaned Nathan, who was left holding most of Angeline's weight.

"Ah, but then you wouldn't have a chance to be so close to her wouldn't you?" asked Viv, who, at that moment decided to let go of Angeline. Nathan was at once happy for the lack of light on this road, it would have given Viv much more satisfaction to catch him blushing at her remark. Viv reached into her back pocket and pulled out her notebook. She flicked through some pages, clicked a pen and made a tick. "One awkward position with an unconscious person repaid."

"Hey, I didn't realise that dad had passed out on the couch when I went to bed."

"Well I was the one left carrying him up the stairs." Nathan rolled his eyes and hefted Angeline onto his shoulder in the fireman carry position.

"So where are we going?" he asked Viv, who shrugged. "Let's find some place to rest for a while, hopefully Angeline will wake then, and not while I'm carrying her. I do prefer life you know."

"I couldn't tell." snickered Viv. They walked in silence for a moment, Nathan kicking some stones along the path half-heartedly. Carrying Gel and her pack along with his bag was quite hard. Walking with this extra weight while trying not to fall flat on his face in darkness was also hard. "That looks like a good place." muttered Viv.

Nathan looked at where she was pointing. The moon was nearly full and his eyes had had time to adjust to the dim lighting. He could just make out some soft looking grass.

"It sure does." Nathan quickly walked over to the grass and gently laid Angeline down, taking care to not bump her head on the ground. Once she was off his back he swung his bag around and dug out his micro-fibre blanket. He unzipped the bag and took out the blanket, unfolding it from a post-it size cube to a decent sized blanket. Nathan laid it down onto the grass before picking Angeline up and moving her onto it.

All the while he did this, he could feel Viv's eyes bore into him, trying to find some ulterior motive behind his actions. Ugh, he didn't have time for this. In a spark of what he thought to be genius he sat down on the grass, leaving the remaining spot of blanket free to Viv.

Even though he could just barely make out her features Nathan somehow sensed the calculating look in her eyes. She eventually turned and sat down with a thump onto the blanket, all the while looking at Nathan. Then there was silence. Nathan didn't want to start a conversation with her but didn't want to remain seated in awkwardness. He reached into his bag and pulled out the bag of popcorn.

"Popcorn? I know we're in the middle of Nebraska but I figure that it'll fill our stomachs-"

"You're trying to put me off." she muttered under her breath, continuing to examine him. Before he could interrupt Viv started again. "You gently, gingerly lower Angeline onto the ground, then lay out a blanket for her to rest on. Then, to throw me off you don't sit next to her, which is obviously what you want to do. Then, realising that I know you try and offer me popcorn to sway my concentration. It isn't going to work." She crossed her arms over her chest, Nathan could almost see the smirk plastered onto her face.

"Has anyone ever described you as paranoid? Because you seem to be paranoid. Very paranoid. I mean, why do you always assume that I have some ulterior motive?" Nathan sighed and laid back in the grass, using his bag for a pillow. He opened up the bag of popcorn and tossed one into his mouth.

"Most people always have some ulterior motive." Viv concluded, settling down next to Nathan. Nathan ate another piece of popcorn before Viv reached over, snatched the bag from his hands and grabbed a handful of popcorn for herself. "This sure is some crazy mission." she mumbled, mostly to herself.

"You don't have any more points do you-"

"Shut up." she put a piece of popcorn in her mouth and chewed it. "I just don't like talking about Angeline when she's literally right next to me. Plus, ADHD; I can't keep on going on about your love life forever."

Nathan rolled his eyes and didn't pursue the subject any longer. Although Viv claimed it was her ADHD that made her change the subject, Nathan knew that she could easily keep on rambling about a subject, long after it had ceased to interest him. Hubris and how it was annoying was one of her favourite subjects.

"Yeah, I guess so." They faded into an uncomfortable silence. Viv yawned suddenly and turned her back to Nathan.

"I'm going to try and sleep. You can either stand watch or sleep, I don't care but if another freaking flying pig attacks us its all your fault." Nathan nodded. Eventually Viv's breath evened watching the stars for a while before slowly falling asleep.

As soon as the proverbial sand-man visited Nathan he was transported away from from the cornfields to a casino. He was seated at a table across from a man wearing a business suit, albeit with a loosened tie and undone top button. The man seemed to be winning the game, craps. At least, that was what Nathan could tell by looking at the amount and colour of his chips. His eyes and hair reminded Nathan of chocolate, and indeed his hungry smile was magnetic, bringing by-standers around to watch him, amusement lighting up their eyes. Two women, nearly identical, sat on either side of him. Both had similar features, black hair, olive skin, except for their eye colour. The one who sat on his left had green eyes whilst the one on his right had light hazel, nearly amber eyes.

Nathan saw them for a moment as they truly were through the Mist; the one on his left held a ball on her outstretched palm whilst the other held scales. Tyche and Nemesis.

"How are you so good at this game, Thomas?" asked Nemesis, smile turning into the same smirk Nathan had seen Viv make a hundred times. So it was hereditary.

"It's skill baby, pure skill. The skill of being extremely lucky." he slurred his way through talking, then picked up a cocktail glass next to her. He drank it in one gulp and turned his attentions to Tyche. He burped in her face, which made Nathan want to pommel him. Lazily the man reached out a hand towards Tyche's hair and twisted a lock around his finger. "What number should I pick next, baby?" Tyche's eyes seemed to grow cold. Then a similar smirk to that of Nemesis' passed over her face.
"Four, I have a feeling that it'll be a big win." The man nodded and turned to the barman.

"You heard the lady, put everything on four!" He quickly agreed. Tyche and Nemesis stole a glance at each other, one Nathan could almost call sadistic.

Thomas rolled the dice onto the table. A four and a six. The whole table heaved a sigh, sympathetically patted the man on the back then drifted over to other tables to watch others bet their fortunes away. Thomas sat there with a shocked face as he watched his 'hard earned' cash swept away.

"Oh my dear, I am so sorry that you lost." exclaimed Tyche, rising a hand to her face. Nathan could detect a hidden joy radiating from her though, he guessed that her hand was to hide a grin. Even though in Nathan did feel sorry for the man, he too felt thrilled. It was funny, the way he thought that he was going to win. Nemesis openly smirked.

"I suppose, dear sister that it is time for us to go." Nemesis got to her feet. Thomas grabbed her wrist and turned to her with pleading eyes.

"No, you can't leave me! I can still win money! I'm lucky!" Nemesis ripped her wrist out of his grasp and looked at him, an all too familiar look of indignation on her face.

Tyche got to her feet and stood next to Nemesis, eyes murderous. "If you were lucky, I think your luck just ran out." Simultaneously the goddess' linked arms and walked away from the man. Nathan rose out of his chair and followed them. Once out of ear shot they started giggling to each other like two school girls.

Tyche managed to gain control of her laughter some amount to talk. "Mortals are morons. They do not realise how easy it is for them to fall." Then something very strange happened. Still talking to her sister, she somehow looked in Nathan's direction, and though it was obvious that she was saying something completely different to Nemesis, Nathan clearly heard Tyche's voice. "Even you can fall, my son."

Viv was abruptly awakened by a kick to her backside. She immediately tensed and inched her hand to her sword, in case it was an attacker. Feeling the ruler morph into a sword, she suddenly leaped up and brandished her rapier.

There was no-one around. Realising that it wasn't even dawn yet, Viv groaned and searched for the one who woke her up. Angeline was still out cold on the blanket Nathan had put her on, and Nathan...Ah ha. Idiot boy was kicking his legs around. Hmph. Viv was about to kick him awake, when he rolled over onto his front.

"Donwannagotoschool..." he mumbled into the ground. "Ack!" Nathan sat up, spat out a small mouthful of dirt and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Yuck." Only then did he notice Viv glaring at him. "What did I do now?" he sighed.

Viv held up two fingers like a finger gun. "You kicked me awake." she stated coldly.

"So you're going to shoot me with a finger gun. Good ide- SHIT!"

Viv had leaned over and slapped him - with two fingers. "Debt repaid. And I didn't even have to write it in my Notebook of Debts." she smiled, suddenly a lot more content.

Nathan was still rubbing his cheek. "You know, that hurts. A lot. How did you..."

"Simple elementary science. Less surface area, more ouchies."

"I still hate you. And I suck at science. Trust you to have turned science into a torture technique..." he grumbled.

Viv smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment." She started clearing their campsite. Maybe if she packed it all up before Nathan realised...

"Hey, why are you- Oh." Nathan hastily folded a few blankets and shoved them in his pack. "See, look, I helped."

Damn. Oh well. Maybe next time. "What are we going to do with Angeline?" Viv said, looking at Nathan closely.

Nathan glanced at Angeline with a look that made Viv want to throw up. Concern. "I guess I'll have to carry her."

"Aw, poor you." Viv said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up, she'll put my back out."

"Oh you poor, poor thing."

Walking around on the abandoned country corn fields with no idea where one was going was not Viv's idea of a good time. Or of an exciting, dangerous mission. Carrying three bags was also not her idea of fun. In fact it was quite taxing. She had her bag over one shoulder and Angeline's over the other. Nathan's was strapped to her back. All in all, it made her feel very heavy. Stupid Nathan and his stupid plans. He had made a deal with her; if she carried the bags this time he would be her servant for a day at school. It had sounded good. She had accepted and now had to carry all three of the demigods' bags whilst Nathan was left carrying Angeline across his shoulders in the fireman's carry position. But now she wasn't really liking the whole carrying bags thing. When he was her slave, she would just put everything in her locker into her bag. That would make him suffer.

There was corn all around them at about thigh height. Although it appeared slightly yellow-tinged, it was obvious that the corn, until recently, used to be green and healthy.

The sun rising slowly over the horizon didn't do much to lighten Viv's mood, though it did help her see better. The view wasn't that great though. After marvelling at the multitude of corn that surrounded her for the first few minutes she quickly became used to the sight and resolutely marched along. As the sun rose higher, Viv started to sweat. Damn the freaking north-eastern states and their freaking boiling days.

"Hey Viv, it's summer time right?" said Captain Obvious. Why did everything need to be confirmed with him?

"No, really? I couldn't tell." she drawled, turning back to look at Nathan. He seemed to be dreading the onset of a nice, clear day.

"Yeah, yeah I know, I'm an idiot for asking. But, just for confirmation, it's not harvest time right?"

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!"

"Shut up. So then smart ass, why does that field over their look like it's living in Thanksgiving time?" Oh crap. His pestering did have some reason. Viv reached into her back pocket, clicked a pen and quickly scribbled down; 'Nathan; due annoying questions meant to make one look like an ass.'.

"I can't believe that you actually made a note about-"

"Shut up, Nathaniel." Viv grumbled before shoving her notebook back into its pocket. Angrily, she looked at the offending field.

Indeed it did look like it was during the aptly named 'Thanksgiving time'. It was over shoulder height, dried out and full of ears or corn just waiting to be picked. There seemed to be a sign hanging above a driveway and a road-side stand.

"Why don't we check it out?" shrugged Viv. Nathan gave her a doubtful look. "Come on, Demeter was a harvest goddess, perhaps she liked continually harvesting. I don't know. But its worth a shot. Auxo told us she was last seen in Nebraska."

"Dude, Nebraska is huge." Viv glared at Nathan.

"No harm in looking around at the weird places then, huh?" Viv made for the strange field, leaving Nathan to race after her.

It was a weirdly set up corn field. In the booth sat a young boy, around six or seven years old, absent-mindedly playing a game of cards. A wide-brimmed hat covered his face from the sun. He wore a rather fancy shirt and formal looking trousers. His feet, kicked up on another chair, were wearing converse sneakers. The boy paid her no attention, Viv looked up at the sign that hung above his head. Ugh, someone had horrible handwriting. All she could tell that it was probably a pun, the letters looked very similar-

"It says 'Maize Maze'. Pretty catchy if I say so myself." said the boy, not looking up from under his hat. He had a quite posh accent for a little boy in Nebraska.

"Yeah, catchy... sure." mumbled Viv. "Hey can I put these bags here? They're a bit heavy." The boy shrugged.

"Go ahead, I'll try and keep an eye on them." As Nathan came up huffing the boy shrugged again. "Just put her with the bags, I'll make sure she's safe." Viv raised an eyebrow as the boy spoke. He sounded almost older there... He promptly ruined the moment by taking out a stick of gum and popping it into his mouth, blowing a bubble which snapped and plastered icky stuff all over the lower half of his face. Nathan gently put Angeline onto the ground, giving her his bag for a pillow. Viv and Nathan stood in an awkward silence as the boy shuffled the deck of cards some more and blew more bubbles which exploded onto his face. "You know what, I think that while you wait for your friend to wake up, there would be no better thing to do than to go into the Maize Maze." The two adopted siblings shared a look.

"Auxo did tell us that there was a fun maze..." shrugged Nathan. Viv glared at him.

"Auxo also told me to sunbathe and that I would be better locked up in a house. Not a word, Nathan." Before Nathan could make an annoying remark the boy stood up from his chair.

"Friends of Auxo? Then it's settled!" boomed the boy. "It's free for friends of Auxo." With a wave of his hand the corn suddenly parted to reveal a path. "Go on, have some fun."

(1) Tiny Teddies are similar to Teddy Grahams. They are small, bear-shaped biscuits.