Author's Note: This story takes place in between The Blood of Olympus and The Trails of Apollo. Although this is about the quest, it is also about Annabeth and Percy healing after Tartarus, which was not at all covered in the books. I am open to suggestions and constructive criticism. I greatly enjoy the Percy Jackson series and the Magnus Chase series. I will try to update every other week on the weekends. I do have the entire story planned out and outlined already. So I promise I will NOT abandon this. In between those times, feel free to check out the stories written by o Mischief Managed, who is a brilliant writer or any other of the authors that I've 'favorited''. Without further ado, here is The Hatchlings of Hera.
Disclaimer: I own only my own characters, but I wish I were clever enough to own the Percy Jackson Universe.
Chapter 1 POV Percy:
A Green Baby Wants the Sun as Its Pacifier
It was sunny one moment and pouring rain the next. The black clouds appearing without warning. Percy looked around Central Park at the shrieking couples trying to pack up their picnics and stay dry at the same time. He looked down sadly at his now soggy olive pizza and began to help Annabeth pack up their own picnic.
"This rain is freezing," Annabeth shivered as she stuffed the blanket into a bag. She was right. The rain was colder than the Alaskan air on top of a glacier, and unfortunately that knowledge came from experience.
Last year had been the most difficult year of Percy's demigod experience, and that's saying something. To start, he had been kidnapped by the queen of the gods, then his memory had been erased. He, along with a few Romans, had traveled to Alaska where they had killed a jewel encrusted giant on Hubbard Glacier. He had gained his memories back, reunited with Annabeth, then had fallen into Tartarus located in Italy where the locals didn't eat pizza. Percy was still scandalized by this fact. Romans and Greeks tried to kill each other than Reyna, the Praetor of Rome, lugged a big statue of Annabeth's mom, Athena, to Camp Half Blood, uniting the Greeks and Romans who came together to kill the Earth Mother Gaia. Yes, his life was more twisted and dangerous than the labyrinth. All Percy wanted was a short break from the mythological crazy world he lived in. Was a short date with Annabeth in Central Park for the afternoon too much to ask. Apparently.
Percy hoisted up the picnic basket and together they ran for the CVS which had an overhang. They huddled together with a few other couples in their late teens and watched as Zeus's domain give Gaia's a thorough wash-down.
As suddenly as it had come, the rain stopped and the clouds disappeared. Percy looked up in surprise. He briefly wondered if Zeus was watching a soap opera or his favorite character in Game of Thrones had died, and that had been the cause of the lightning fast shower. The couples cheered, Percy and Annabeth gasped in horror. Percy looked at his girlfriend and could tell she had also seen the brief glimpse of an enormous, green baby hand grasping at the sun. "Okay," Percy thought. "Unless Zeus has drastically changed his look, we have a very big problem."
"What was that?" Percy asked brushing his wet hair out of his eyes. His water powers unfortunately did not extend to rain.
Annabeth squeezed bottom of her shirt and a miniature waterfall fell. "I have no idea. But whatever it is, it's not good. We'd better get to camp."
"Another date, ruined by Greek Mythology," Percy sighed as he crammed the soaked pizza box into the CVS trash can. He could honestly count the number of times he and Annabeth had had an uninterrupted date on one hand. They speed walked down the street. The streets were crowded with soaking people. There were thin sheets of ice covering the sidewalks, buildings, and streets. Percy tried to not to slip as he walked. The rain should not have been so cold, and definitely should not have left ice behind on a summer day.
He began to look for a place with a good echo. If they needed to get to Camp Half Blood, he knew just the pegasus to call. He was about to whistle for Blackjack when Annabeth, put her hand on his arm. "No, don't call him."
Percy frowned and stopped. A man in a suit behind Percy bumped into him, sending him skidding forward a few inches on the ice. "Get to the side kid. You're blocking the way." Percy ignored him and the man went around him muttering.
"Why not?" Percy asked.
Annabeth glanced at the sky nervously. "With that giant hand in the sky, I don't think flying is a good idea. We don't want to endanger Blackjack or ourselves."
As though to prove her point the sky blackened and rain began to pour down again. This time Percy turned more of his focus on the sky. A big, green, baby pinky toe descended from the clouds. More New Yorkers pushed around Percy and Annabeth, muttering angrily. They didn't seem to notice anything unusual.
"How do we get to camp then?" Percy had to speak a little louder to be heard over the rain.
Annabeth's grey eyes got a wicked gleam in them. As a flash of lightning lit up the sky, she pulled out a drachma.
A horrible flashback of three old ladies fighting with an eyeball came to him. Percy's eyes widened. "Oh no. Absolutely not. I would rather not re-see my lunch. Also, won't they remember what we did to them?" The rain hammered down harder as though hating Annabeth's plan as well.
"It's cheap and quick," Annabeth said. "There is a strange baby in the sky creating strange weather patterns. We need to get to camp before something really bad happens."
The wind was starting to pick up. Hail began to fall, bouncing on the slick sidewalk. Percy spotted a Ray's Pizza. His ADHD brain, or was it just his teenage brain, began to think about how good having a pizza would be right now. They would be out of the hail, in warmth, and most importantly without mythological monsters trying to kill them. Although with their luck, the cashier would be a dracaena. That had actually happened once during a date three weeks ago.
"Percy!" Annabeth snapped.
"Alright let's get this over with." Percy watched as Annabeth threw the drachma out onto the street and shouted, "Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês".
The coin clattered to the ground and sank into the asphalt. He crossed his fingers. "Please, please, let them be too busy."
There was a horrible screech of tires. A familiar grey, junk heap of a taxi stopped in front of them, heaving noxious smoke. Percy and Annabeth coughed as the smoke swirled around them. The doors swung open with an ominous creak.
The interior of the car was just as Percy remembered, cracked and dusty with stains all over the seats. The Grey Sisters were as mangy looking as the last time he had seen them back in 7th grade when he, Annabeth, and Tyson had ridden with them. Percy had been running from authorities because he, well it was really laestrygonian giants, had destroyed yet another school. The three Grey Sisters had mop of straw-like hair with rags for clothes. Under their rags were knives and an iPhone 6? One of the sisters was gnawing on their drachma with her one mossy tooth.
Annabeth and Percy slid into the car. "Camp Half Blood please."
"Bah! More demigods? Fine! But no taking our eye! And leave that picnic stuff." The Grey Sister at the wheel said. She turned her empty eye sockets on us accusingly.
Percy wondered if they recognized them. Apparently not, since the one with the eye was staring out the window, then at her iPhone, then back at the window. The Grey Sisters all shared one eyeball and one tooth between them. This made them really terrible drivers. Percy saw the sky clearing again before he shut the taxi door. The sister in the middle banged on the dashboard with a wrinkled hand. "Get going Wasp!"
Wasp floored the gas pedal and the taxi shot forward. Percy grabbed the headrest to keep from slamming into it. Annabeth grabbed at the ceiling, making wet hand prints on it. The ice on the street made the taxi ride seem even more dangerous than the last time. They had more room in the back since there were only two of them. However, they were thrown around a lot more. Percy's knee somehow nearly got jammed in his armpit. Annabeth's hair occasionally whipping him across the face. He was suddenly very glad that he had not gotten to eat very much of his olive pizza. The car skidded sideways over the curb nearly hitting a Starbucks Coffee table. Luckily the weather had caused most of the pedestrians to seek shelter. If it had been the usual crowded road, Percy was sure at least fifty people would have been run over.
He looked at the Grey Sisters in the front. As usual, the driver didn't have the eye. The sister in the middle was still chewing on their drachma happily. The sister with the eye wasn't even looking at the road. She was looking at her iPhone. She made the swipe upward motion although Percy couldn't see what she was looking at.
"Yes I got it!" The sister shrieked.
"Which one?" Asked the middle sister.
"Watch the road, Anger!" Screamed Wasp.
"Go left, Wheezy-No! The next left! Then right!" Anger said swiping up again on her iPhone. Wasp yanked the wheel left then immediately right. They ran up the side of a curb and bounced off a stop sign. The stop sign now looked like an S. Percy's knuckles were white on the headrest making deep dents in the cushioning.
"Can you see what she's doing?" Percy yelled at Annabeth. He looked over at her. She looked crazy. Her blond hair had come out of its usual ponytail and now was all over her face. The wild look in her eyes told him that maybe she was regretting calling on Grey Sisters' taxi.
"I'm not sure. But this isn't the usual road they take to camp."
Percy looked out the window. He couldn't tell what streets signs were whipping past. He hoped they weren't lost, because at this speed, they could end up in Florida without realizing it,
"I need a Gastly," Anger growled. "Go left! Watch the truck on the other side of the lane!"
The car swerved again, narrowly missed the food truck selling tacos and clipping the side of a tree. Percy felt his body slam into Annabeth's as he lost his grip on the headrest. He lunged for it again after muttering an apology. Gassy? Percy hoped Anger wasn't about to rip one. This car was already horribly uncomfortable.
"Pay attention," muttered Tempest half-heartedly nibbling on her coin.
"Your one to talk. You have sixty-three different Pokémon," There was a hint of jealously in Anger's voice. "I only have forty."
Percy took a risk by leaning forward to see if the old hags were really doing what he thought they were doing. He caught a sight of the animated character with a poke ball on Anger's iPhone screen. The Grey Sisters from Greek Mythology were playing the famous Japanese game app Pokémon GO!
"You've got to be kidding me." Percy groaned.
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "I think that's the biggest hail I've ever seen. I also just saw the green baby's belly button. It has fungus in it. That is so gross."
"No, I mean yes, fungus in a belly button is gross. But I was talking about the fact that Anger is playing Pokémon GO!!" Percy said. The storm was back and hail pounded the taxi as it screamed though Hicksville. Anger cackled with glee in between instructions. Swiping up again and again. She caught a Seaking and Zubat. Percy was grudgingly impressed with Anger's swiping abilities. He was less impressed with how she gave instructions. The taxi kept crashing into things and drove more on the sides of curbs than on the street. Percy was sure that if this wasn't a magical vehicle, this taxi would be nothing but a scrap of dented metal. Wasp turned on the defroster as the windshield became covered in sheets of ice from the hail. They were even worse at driving than the last time he was in the car when the sisters had been fighting each other over their one shared eyeball.
"Don't worry. The Grey Sisters have yet to kill anyone by accident...I think." Annabeth said still staring out the passenger window which was painted in frost. The car hit an icy patch causing Anger to miss a Pokémon.
She cursed in ancient Greek. "I missed a Raichu." Then she gasped.
"What?" Her sisters shrieked looking at her. The gesture seemed pointless to Percy as all Wasp and Tempest had were empty eye sockets.
"The egg is hatching," Anger began to cheer, which sounded like strangled hiccups to Percy.
The other sisters screamed in terror. The taxi crashed into the sides of two trees, then barreled toward a gas station. "Noooooo!" screamed Wasp. "It can't hatch now. It is too soon!"
Anger screamed too. A stream of curse words flying from her mouth as she reached across her two sisters to the steering wheel. Wasp tried to yank the wheel away from Anger but instead sent the taxi in a sharp right turn narrowly missing the station. Tempest made a grab for the iPhone before it flew into the windshield. She caught it and her expression turned hungry. "Eggs are so tasty," she said. But her expression turned sour. "But not the Hatchlings of Hera. They are-" Anger's fist came out of nowhere and punched her sister in the face.
"Be quiet or the demigods will hear. We can't give away any more information," Anger hissed to her sister.
Annabeth's head whipped toward the sister in the middle. "Hatchlings of Hera?" It was clear that she had never heard of the Hatchlings of Hera, which was rare of Annabeth. She usually knew about every single myth ever told.
"Don't you want this storm to stop?" Tempest asked sucking on the drachma, rubbing her now sore cheek. "It's so bad for business."
"Be quiet, be quiet! We cannot anger the gods now! We were just about to get a new car. One with a working radio," Wasp said angrily stomping on the gas pedal a few times. Percy felt his stomach jump up to his throat as the car lurched.
"What hatchling?" Annabeth pressed. "Is it causing this storm?"
"Nothing!" Sang Anger grabbing for the iPhone in Tempest's hand. "It's nothing. We were talking about the egg hatching in my Pokémon GO! App."
Percy exchanged looks with Annabeth and they came to an agreement. If the Grey Sisters knew anything about that baby in the sky, then they had to get the information.
"Hey Tempest," Percy said while he steeled himself against the disgusting thing he was about to do. They couldn't take the eye from Anger, but they could take something else that would make the Grey Sisters talk. Tempest turned toward him. He lunged at her face. His hand came in contact with a large slimy tooth. Yanking on the tooth, he pulled it out of her mouth. Tempest screamed, more in indignation than pain. Annabeth pulled her drakon bone sword out and pointed it at Tempest to prevent her from coming in the backseat. "Now, tell me about these Hatchlings of Hera. How do they relate to these weird storms?" Annabeth demanded.
"Give me back my tooth!" Cried Tempest clutching the drachma to her chest, clearly afraid they would take that too.
"I recognize you two," Anger said finally turning her bloodshot eye onto them. "You were the ones who took our eye last time."
"Yep," Annabeth said. "And now we have your tooth. Which I will ask my wonderful boyfriend to smash if you don't start talking."
Percy took out Riptide in pen form. He didn't uncap it, fearing that two swords in a moving taxi with a distracted driver would equal a very messy accident. But he tried to look as threatening as possible.
"We can't tell you. We promised," Anger hissed shaking the iPhone at them. "We are almost at camp anyway."
"We'll give you each a drachma at the end of the car ride if you can tell us something," Annabeth bribed, taking out three more coins. They glinted in the sunlight that popped out of the fading storm.
The sisters got a greedy look on their faces. They muttered to themselves. They glanced at the sky then back at the demigods. "We can only tell you one thing." They all said in creepy unison. Smiles stretched their faces into melting wax masks. Heat started rise from the seats of taxi until the air became blistering hot. Percy held on tightly to the tooth. Sweat began to pop out on his forehead. Annabeth pressed the point of the sword harder against Tempest who ignored her. "The first monster that came out of one of the eggs nearly destroyed the gods, twice. Now his sibling desires to try its luck. Storms shall continue to burst forth as it tries to escape from the shell." The three old ladies laughed madly.
Percy shivered as the heat drained back out of the taxi. A monster that could destroy the gods nearly twice? He could think of a few monsters that could potentially kill the gods. He thought about Bessie the Sea Cow he had rescued on his quest to save Artemis. He hoped Bessie had nothing to do with it.
"We're here!" Anger said, then turned back to her iPhone, Zubat flapping on the screen ready to do a gym battle against Vulpix.
"Give us the drachmas!" Wasp demanded. Annabeth gave her the coins
"Give me my tooth!" Tempest spat. Percy gave her the tooth, which Tempest jammed back into her gums. She tried out a one-toothed smile at Anger who ignored her.
"What does the monster have to do with Hera?" Percy asked as he scooted out of the taxi.
Thunder boomed and Percy had a feeling that it was Hera not the monster in the sky.
"We told you we can only tell you one thing. Plus, we promised Her Majesty not to speak of that particular choice." Wasp caused the taxi doors to slam shut and the taxi sped away.
Rain began to pour down again. Percy looked the sky. The sun was fading behind the clouds but not before he saw blood red lips and a scaly tongue try to suck on the bright disk. A flash of lightning crashed into tongue. Percy was about to comment to Annabeth but she spoke first. The fear in her voice sent more chills up his spine. "Percy, the camp. It's completely flooded."