POTTER FILES : THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Chapter 9 : A God buys us dinner
X-X-X-X-X
Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.
Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.
This chapter will be in Percy's Pov unless stated otherwise.
X-X-X-X-X
I did not know how we could have escaped the place undetected without Iris' Cloak and her stealth instincts. Every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch.
Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve.
A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."
"... an adolescent boy," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities-"
We stayed near the river just in case any stray monsters were nearby and Iris put back her Cloak in her handbag.
"Percy, Iris"
Annabeth stood behind us, trying to look angry, but she seemed relieved to see us.
"I can't leave you two alone for five minutes! What happened?"
"Annie, you make it sound like we were snogging and feeling up each other."
Her cheeks initially turned red but she then glared at us and said, "Don't joke about it. Tell me what happened."
Just then we were splashed with river water. Iris turned her head to tell off that person in colourful words but she paused. I turned my head and saw a woman who had only her head above the water beckoning me to come to her. She looked almost completely transparent as if she was made of water.
"Percy, it hasn't been long since you entered the world of gods and you already have sea nymphs vying for your affections.", Iris spoke.
"What?", I asked eloquently.
She smirked at me her green eyes gleaming mischievously.
"I will give you a survival tip that every boy should know. Never keep a beautiful lady waiting, doubly so if she is a nymph.", she said.
Before I could process it, she pushed me into the river. I flayed about for a moment before I realised that I could in fact breathe underwater. As far as I could feel, I was completely dry.
I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A catfish the size of my stepfather lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags swirled up all around me.
Fump-fump-fump. A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around.
"Who are you?", I asked.
I am a messenger. Go to the beach in Santa Monica.
Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar.
"What?"
It is your father's will. I thought I would have to come here without my Queen's knowledge but it seems she has a message for you herself.
I will give you the benefit of doubt this time. I will be following your journey. Do not disappoint me.
Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence.
"But ..."
I cannot stay, brave one,the woman said. She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress.
You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts...
Her voice faded.
"Gifts?", I asked, "What gifts? Wait!"
She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone.
Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface. I came ashore and saw Annabeth and Iris waiting for me.
A little girl said, "Mama! That boy walked out of the river."
"That's nice, dear", her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.
"But he's dry!"
"That's nice, dear."
Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck.
She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"
"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."
"I'm not crazy! This boy was with the monster when the door opened and we escaped."
Then she saw me.
"There he is! That's the boy!"
Iris then did some weird motion with her hand much faster than I could follow. The woman blinked twice.
"There he is! That's the boy!", she said pointing at the little girl who had noticed me earlier.
I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Iris after me not wanting to risk some one else noticing me. We disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going on?", Annabeth demanded, "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"
I told her the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, our fight, and the underwater lady's message with Iris adding things in once in a while.
"So, we will have to stop by this Santa Monica place. No problem. It is on our way, right?", Iris spoke.
"Not really. We might have to take a slightly longer route but it is not far enough to be a
serious concern.", Annabeth replied.
Before I could ask Iris about her little trick, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracks when he said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus explosion three days ago and the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."
"I am sorry, Percy. That is beyond my level.", Iris spoke.
We ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.
"First things first", I told them, "We've got to get out of town!"
Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station with out getting spotted. We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.
X-X-X-X-X
The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill. Thankfully, Iris' magic spell ensured that it was not obvious to anyone else. But, as she said, it was a quick fix and not as good as a proper shower.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."
"Nereid, Annie. Daughters of Nereus and Doris. They directly serve in Poseidon's court. Calling them river spirit is like saying Kronos is the king of Gods. Remember, Percy told us that she had trouble keeping a corporeal form in the river.", Iris corrected.
I winced. She just had to mention that.
"We can't use phones, right?", I asked.
"I'm not talking about phones."
We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Annabeth took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents.", she grumbled, "I've only got two quarters left. Iris?"
"Don't look at me.", she said, "The dining car wiped me out."
"Are you sure you can't create a rainbow, Iris? Because it would be very useful now.", Annabeth said hopefully.
"If my great grand mother had given me that ability, I don't know it. I don't know any magic spells for that either.", Iris replied.
I fished out my last bit of change and passed Annabeth a quarter, which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place.
"Excellent.", Annabeth said, "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."
"What are you talking about?"
She fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST.
"I-M'ing."
"Instant messaging?"
"Iris-messaging", Annabeth corrected, "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."
"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"
Annabeth pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.
Iris held her palm out to me.
"Drachma, please."
I handed it over.
She raised the coin over her head.
"O Iris, Goddess of Rainbow, please accept our offering."
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.
"Half-Blood Hill", Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.
"Luke!", I called.
He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.
"Percy!"
His scarred face broke into a grin.
"Is there Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"
"Yes, Luke. I am a complete stranger. No need to ask about me.", Iris said.
"Iris, you were actually there. You are so small that I didn't notice you at first.", Luke said grinning.
" . . .Height.", Iris said waving her dagger, "If I hear you do it again, when I return to the camp, I will cut off your manhood into something so small that even you won't notice that it exists."
I cringed and instinctively covered that part. It was times like these that I was painfully reminded of her ancestry. Luke, for his part, did not seem too worried. He must have been quite used to threats like that.
He simply turned to me and winked.
"Feisty that one"
Any colourful reply Iris was about to give was interrupted by Annabeth who forcefully pushed the spray gun onto her hands and came into Luke's line of vision.
"Hi ... Luke. We're ... uh ... fine", Annabeth stammered.
She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. Iris and I looked at each other for a moment sharing the same smirk.
"We thought Chiron I mean-"
"He's down at the cabins.", Luke's smile faded, "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you?"
"What kind of issues?"
Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop.
As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.
"Chiron had to ... what's that noise?", Luke yelled.
"I'll take care of it." Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight.
"Come on, rainbow."
Iris rolled her eyes and followed her after giving me the nozzle muttering something about school girl crushes.
I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.
"Chiron had to break up a fight.", Luke shouted to me over the music, "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how, probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite,
Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."
I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything.
In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.
"So what's your status?", Luke asked me, "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."
I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams.
It felt so good to see him, to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes, that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off.
"I wish I could be there", Luke told me, "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."
"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."
"That's true", Luke said, looking troubled.
"Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."
We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said.
"Oh, hey", he protested, "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."
I wondered if Annabeth would like that description. I noticed he did not mention Iris. Did he believe that her being in UK put her beyond suspicion? Or did he actually suspect her? Or Iris, for all the brother-sister banter, did not trust him enough to reveal the existence of the Cloak? I shook off those thoughts. I was getting paranoid. After all, the Cloak was not something that would come up in a casual conversation. I doubted I would have known of it if she had not needed to use it in the quest.
In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.
"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."
"Oh ... uh, yeah!", I tried not to sound like a guilty liar, "Yeah, they've come in handy."
Luke started to say something else but his image soon faded leaving an ordinary rainbow behind. A drachma was ejected from it right into my hand.
I will not charge you for this call, Percy Jackson. Take good care of my great granddaughter.
The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.
Soon, I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall.
Annabeth and Iris came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile faded.
"What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"
"Not much", I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin.
"Come on, let's find some dinner."
X-X-X-X-X
A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner.
All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.
Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically.
"Well?"
I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger.
Iris had opened her mouth to say something when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.
All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin.
The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama.
He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen handsome, I guess, but wicked with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.
The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before.
As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place.
All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The biker said, "It's on me."
He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.
He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"
He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.
The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?
He gave me a wicked grin.
"So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad, Gabe.
I wanted to rip this guy's head off.
"What's it to you?"
Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is-"
The biker raised his hand.
"S'okay", he said, "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
"Yes Annie, if Percy didn't remain angry, he would not have any power over him.", Iris interjected.
The biker stared at her licking his lips hungrily.
"So, you are the dirty little secret my uppity sister had been hiding all this time, huh? It was clever of her to hide in another country within a society we had all sworn to abandon. I would love to see how you look when you grow up."
The comment had made her so angry that her eyes looked to me more like reptilian slits of her snake form. She gave him a look of cold loathing with the promise of retribution.
Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five.
"You're Clarisse's dad", I said, "Ares, god of War."
Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions.
"That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."
"She was asking for it."
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."
The waitress came back with heaping trays of food cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.
Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.
She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."
Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"
The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
"You can't do that", I told Ares, "You can't just threaten people with a knife."
Ares laughed.
"Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor could I do for a god?"
"The one that a demigod is supposed to do."
"We're not interested.", I said, "We've already got a quest."
The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.
"A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?"
He leaned forward.
"Or maybe you only fight when your girlfriend is nearby to hold your hand, so she can protect you. After all, you might have been the one with the quest but she has been the leader till now and you were just following her around like a lovesick puppy."
I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that. Ares' power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield.
"I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ...", He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry.
"Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."
"Thanks.", I grumbled.
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."
"We're doing fine on our own."
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."
"My mom?"
He grinned.
"That got your attention."
He then placed what looked like a knucklebuster onto the middle of the table.
"When you have finished your dinner, place your hand on it and say 'Ares Fight Club'-"
"Fight club?"
He smirked derisively at me.
"Did you really think I was going to send you to some water park to fetch my shield which I happened to have forgotten while on a date? You are talking to the wrong God then. Hermes is the errand boy. I am the War God. You want my help. You prove your worth to me as warriors. As I was saying, I will explain the details of the test once the Portkey, as your girlfriend calls it, gets you there. If you have any doubts, you can ask her. Enjoy your dinner, demigods. You will need every bit of the energy to pass my test."
After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone. I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Iris' expressions told me otherwise.
Annabeth said, "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me?
Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized that Iris was right. Ares loved to mess with people's emotions. That was his power cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think.
"It's probably some kind of trick.", I said, "Forget Ares. Let's just go."
Iris spoke, " Percy, remember the prophecy. You shall go west and face the god who has turned. I believe we just met him. Doing his test must be what Oracle alluded to by facing him."
"But what about Hades?", Annabeth asked.
"There is nothing in the prophecy that states that the god has to live in the west.", Iris corrected.
"What about the Portkey thing he has given us?", I asked.
"Do you want a short mention of its purpose or a more detailed explanation?"
"Short.", I said while Annabeth said, "Detailed."
She rolled her eyes and started explaining, "Don't interrupt me. Ask questions only after I am finished. In the olden days, when magicals were not capable of teleportation, they used portals, or wormholes, for distance travel. The portals took a lot of power to create and was quite unstable. If you don't reach the destination quickly enough, the portal will collapse with you in it. It was later found that the moment the person stepped into the portal he was not there at the starting point to power it which was the reason they collapse. The trials were done with someone else creating and maintaining the portal but not many could take the strain of maintaining the portal when someone is in it. It lead the way to permanent stable and safe portals that are grounded to the Earth and used its magic through runes. As it was expensive to create, use and maintain, the governments started charging for its use and it was limited to international travel. Like tickets in cinemas, they give out objects enchanted to facilitate the travel. They were called portkeys, the keys to using the portal. It was later discovered that with a few tweaks to the enchantment, the object could take us on its own but it became more dangerous and unpredictable as the distances increased. It is still called a portkey for convenience sake even when no portal is involved."
"It feels like a fisherman pulling his fishing rod when we are holding on to the hook. I have not used it before but I have heard it's very uncomfortable. All first timers puke on arrival."
"Wonderful."
"Can you really teleport anywhere or are there any restrictions?", Annabeth asked.
"Oh! No! I can't do it. I am just a beginner. Almost all adult magicals can do it though.", Iris replied.
X-X-X-X-X
Iris
We landed in front of a dingy-looking establishment that would have fit in well in Knockturn Ally. It was a small building whose walls had its colours dulled by age, its skin peeled off in many places. There was a board whose writing has worn off and I could barely read it as Ares' fight club. I wondered whether Percy or Annabeth could read it with their dyslexia.
The said people were on their knees puking out on to the floor. I was not as affected as much, being used to the discomfort of the magical travel. I had a feeling that Ares could have made it more comfortable but didn't do it so he could watch us suffer.
The said god was in front of us casually leaning against his bike as if he had all the time in the world.
"If you have finished puking, I can show you around and explain your test. The more time you waste here, the less time you have for your quest."
He took us all inside after Percy and Annabeth got cleaned up. The inside was not any better than the outside. I could see a few kids who couldn't be more than eight, wearing nothing but underwear and bodies soaked with oil, fighting each other. There was another who was doing push ups. When they saw us or more specifically Ares, they started fighting harder. If it was an attempt to gain the god's approval, it certainly didn't work. Ares gave no indication that he noticed them.
"This is the area for newbies. When any of my kids turn 7, they are brought here. They exercise regularly and fight each other. The strongest among them advance to the next level with better facilities and access to weapons while the weak die out. It's sad but that's life. After all, I can't have any of my kids being completely dependant on weapons ... or girlfriends.", Ares said taking a jab at Percy in the end.
I rolled my eyes at that comment. He seemed quite fixated on that point. I wondered what he was compensating for.
"But that's cruel.", Percy said outraged.
"It is the way of Sparta, kid. What do you think they should do then? Go to school? Tell me, Jackson, what are your grades at school?"
Seeing Percy's face turn red in embarrassment, he sneered.
"Nothing good enough to mention, eh? I thought so. My kids are warriors not scholars. They have no use for school work. Tell me, Jackson, who is the cruel one? Me for understanding that fact and training them in what they are good at or the foolish mortals for forcing their children to suffer through something they have no use for and would definitely fail in just so they could pretend to be normal."
I winced. Ares just called Sally a cruel woman. Percy was not going to take it well.
But I had to admit he made sense. I was a special case, true. But from what I have learned in the two weeks I spent at the camp, everyone hated going to school. The only thing it achieved was taking away what was left of their self esteem which was already low due to growing up knowing that they were bastard children. I could understand now why Clarisse and her siblings were so fiercely loyal to their father. Everyone knew the problems demigods had with school but he was the only one who cared to do anything about it. It seems Ares was a jerk who cared about his kids rather than a plain jerk.
It made me wonder why no one bothered to built schools and colleges having their curriculum in Greek for demigods. After all, Athena could have commissioned a city named after her that would have the best educational system in the world. I guess it was possible that she brought it up in a Council meeting and it ended up lost in politics. Athena would never have provided architects if she was not named its patron, Poseidon would have sunk the city if she was, Zeus would want a statue of his with a master bolt in hand tall enough to reach Olympus... The city was adjudged too small to fit their egos and the matter was closed.
I then wondered why the demigods had not built one on their own. After all, if the Romans could built a New Rome, why couldn't we built a New Athens. If the way Annabeth had jumped on to the seemingly suicidal quest was any indication, it was obvious that Athena children were bored out of their minds
"Just so you know, my immortal son, Mipostares is the one running the club and doing all the work including bringing the kids here. There is a self updating list of all my children and their addresses in his office for his reference. I merely visit him from time to time. So, no breaking ancient laws.", Ares said.
"Might of Ares" : I translated.
I wondered how the other gods would feel when they learn that the seemingly muscle brained god had found a way around the so called Ancient Laws while they couldn't or hadn't bothered to.
We moved on to the next section. It was as if we were in an entirely different location. Everything was clean and well maintained. On the right side was a well-equipped gym. While I didn't know much about the exercise equipment, I could tell they were all high quality. I could see many kids lifting weights and running on treadmill.
On the left side was a fully stocked armoury. It had all sorts of weapons ranging from the smallest, most ordinary dagger to swords and spears of different length and shape. There were some unconventional weapons like throwing blades and even the bladed discus-like thing that the god Krishna had in Indian mythology.
"Did Clarisse get her electric spear from here?", I asked.
"Nah. It was a special edition. Here, the kids will be taught to use all the weapons and any errors in techniques will be corrected. After that, they will be given extensive training in the three weapons they are the most compatible with. Then a lot of tests. The strongest among them will 'graduate' while others will keep working hard until they are good enough or die trying. The graduated ones will be 'found' by some satyr in a school and be taken to the camp. Naturally, they will be claimed by me the moment they enter the camp. The outgoing batch can take the weapon they are most compatible with as their own. As Clarisse was the best of her outgoing batch, she got a specially modified weapon handed over personally by me.", the War God replied.
That explained why Clarisse was so angry at her spear being broken. By the way he was shifting uncomfortably, I knew that Percy felt guilty about breaking it.
I was happy to see that atleast someone took pride in their children, even if that god was a perverted creep overall. His casual mention of death might seem harsh until you remember that most of the demigods die out ignorant of their heritage, untrained, weaponless, forgotten not understanding even in their dying breath what the heck was happening. Anyone who cannot survive after being trained here would not have survived in the real world anyway.
"A pity it was broken but it was nothing Heapheastus could not fix. I might mock him all the time and f**k his wife whenever I felt like it but my cripple of a brother has his uses.", he said grinning.
Ares just lost the few good points he had earned. True, from what I had heard, the Love Goddess was basically a public property, free for all. But, he could have shown a little decency by letting the poor guy have some dignity left.
I noticed a door to the right that was locked.
"That's the way to the arena. It's the only part open to the public. So, you should feel privileged that you are with me. The people arrive there at night to watch my children fighting each other or test their strength against one of mine. Some prefer death matches while others want classical gladiator style and I oblige them all. I am a generous guy. It is also used for tournaments.", the War God explained.
Just then a tall well built guy who looked a lot like Ares came towards us.
"The rooms are ready, my lord.", he said.
"Mipostares, lead the way."
They followed the guy who lead them through the hallway which had three doors at the end marked with what I assumed to be the starting letters of our names.
"Your test basically is to fight your opponent(s) in conditions where you are at a distinct disadvantage and win. It is meant to test your courage and determination. So, you will have to be alone to face your fears. You will learn more once you enter. Do you accept the test?"
We looked at each other and realized that all of us had the same thought in our minds.
We needed all the help we could get.
"We agree.", we said simultaneously.
"Good. And Jackson, take this.", Ares tossed a spear to him and bow and a quiver full of arrows to me, "Your sword won't work inside."
"Is there anything else you were going to tell us before we go?", I asked while testing out the bow and arrows.
I was quite eager to start using them against whoever my opponent was.
He made a thinking motion for a moment and then said, "No."
I then moved to the door marked with 'I' and entered it.
X-X-X-X-X
DarkPirateKing69 : Your review was insightful.
Iris is similar to canon Harry but not the same. I had modelled her based on the few glimpses we had of Artemis in PJO, someone who cares about everyone but not really an emotional person. I am not going to have her brand everything from Sun rising in the east to river flowing downstream as her fault. Iris behaved exactly as Artemis did in TTC. She acknowledged his bravery and did what she could to repay him but she was not going to waste her time crying in the middle of a road for a guy she didn't even know the name of when there was a runaway demigod to be found.
The scar itself is not important. That part was merely to show that while skilled she was still inexperienced and could make mistakes. Remember, they had to pass through the woods to get to the Big House. The scar would have already healed by then despite the size.
Actually, it was Engineer4Ever's story that made me feel like writing one. He brought forth many oft-used attributes and mixed them in his own way giving it his unique touch and brought out a wonderful story that is a joy to read.
Despite our same starting time, our stories go in completely different directions
oakphoenix : Why don't you guess?
Everyone else : Thank you for your reviews.
If you could assign actors/actresses to play the characters of my story, who would they be? I would be interested to hear your suggestions.