Chapter 11
Gifts of Zeus
Hermes opened his hand and in it he held what seemed to be a small sack, but it looked like it was moving, and a glowing bronze ring with a horse on it. I asked Hermes what it was and he said that the sack was a bag of wind, so that we can travel faster to the moon, and the ring was the ring of Gyges. I remembered that name from somewhere, actually from Greek history class I took in high school. Gyges was in a story that Plato wrote, but was never mentioned in relation to the gods. I asked Hermes how he got the ring, and he said to ask Zeus, who was standing behind him.
I walked over to Zeus and said, "Where did you get the ring of Gyges? I thought that was just a story."
Zeus said, "No, daughter of Artemis, it was not just a story. Plato actually knew the man called Gyges and he actually did find a ring that grants invisibility."
I forgot to tell you guys that in Plato's Republic the ring of Gyges grants the wearer invisibility.
I then asked Zeus why we would need a ring of invisibility. He told me that many dangerous creatures fly through the skies. Apparently sometimes Empusa, which are dangerous beautiful women that can transform into creatures with sharp teeth, flaming hair, and bat wings. Also, there is Aeolus, and he would try to stop us from travelling.
Zeus that told me to follow him, so I did. He brought me through a door on the right left side of the throne room, near Hestia's hearth, and there was a glowing gold chariot with 3 beautiful long-maned white horses standing in front of it.
Zeus turned to me and said, "I will allow you to use this on your journey, as long as nothing happens to it, and you don't let anyone else besides Hermes and his son that came with him in there with you. You will be greatly punished if you let anyone else in this chariot. I looked more closely at the chariot, and it seemed to have almost a crescent moon shape. I asked Zeus why he was giving me this.
He said, "Because I like you, but mostly because Hermes persuaded me. I don't usually like demigods, but you stand out to me for some reason. This chariot belonged to Selene, it was her moon chariot, when she was the main ruler of the moon, before Artemis. That's why it's not being used right now."
"Thank you so much, Zeus! I cannot wait to tell Connor and Hermes about this!"
"Wait, child, make sure that when you get back to that camp, um, what is it? Camp Half-Blood? Yes, when you get back to Camp Half-Blood after your quest make sure to tell your friends of my generosity. Be sure to tell them!" Zeus yelled that last part very loudly, and I was confused why he wanted the people at Camp-Half-Blood to know so much of his generosity.
I said, "Yes, sure I'll be sure to tell them! And thank you so much for all of your help!" And then I went back to Hermes and Connor, who were talking to Hephaestus, who had apparently just shown up.
"Oh, hey Arrow, this is Hephaestus." Said Connor.
"Hello, Hephaestus. It's nice to meet you."
"It is nice to meet you as well, daughter of Artemis, but I think you should be on your way now. You have an important journey to go on, don't you?"
Connor, Hermes, and I walked over to the exit of Mt. Olympus, and I told them about the chariot.
Connor looked excited, but Hermes looked confused. He seemed to be whispering to himself and kept looking back at Zeus in a weird way. We exited Mt. Olympus and right next to the Empire State Building floated Selene's chariot. Connor started to get into it, but Hermes shouted, "No!" He then proceeded to push Connor back and got into the chariot himself first. He seemed to be inspecting the chariot, and it looked like he was looking for something. Connor said, "Hey dad, did ya lose your wallet or something?" I laughed at that, but Hermes didn't seem to notice what Connor said and just kept looking around. Connor then asked, "Dad, what's wrong? What are you looking for?"
Hermes said, "I don't really know. I just don't trust Zeus, he's almost never this nice to demigods, especially ones that weren't really supposed to have been born, no offense, Arrow."
"None taken."
"Now, Arrow, did Zeus tell you any specific rules about the chariot?"
"Well, yes, he told me not to let anything happen to it, and to not let anyone else but you, me, or Connor in it."
"Hmmm, interesting. Well, we'll just have to be careful and not let anyone else in here, won't we?"
Connor and I both shook our heads yes, and got into the chariot, but I couldn't shake the feeling of what Hermes said about Zeus. He did seem awfully nice for having a reputation of being not so helpful to his children or other demigods.