One More Day.
Chapter 5: Claim Your Luggage...I Mean Children.
Luke showed the new demigods to the Big House first.
"We usually have counselor meetings here, and you can usually find Chiron, or myself here. Along with Mr. D, usually."
"Chiron? Mr. D?" Jason inquired and Luke was about to answer when the Big House doors opened.
Chiron was standing there, out of his wheelchair, and seemed shocked to see Luke, much less the three newbies.
"Luke...what are you doing here? I just heard from Olympus about Zeus'..."
Luke waved him off, interrupting.
"Annabeth needed some help, and you know I'm not much for rules," he said, smirking. "Besides. I have to find Percy."
"Percy? Who is he?" Leo asked. "I thought Butch said something when we were coming here about Annabeth searching for a missing boy named Percy. Is he her boyfriend?"
Chiron blinked and Luke stared at the boy in a mix of emotions.
"She is the savior of Olympus," Luke said, emphasizing the she part.
Three sets of eyes widened.
"A girl named Percy?" Jason asked.
"It's short for Persephone," Luke said, and then pulled out a black leather wallet and a photo which was nearly the same size. "Maybe you've seen her. She's been missing since October."
Jason was the first to take the offered picture and he scrutinized it, and shook his head, passing it on to Piper.
Piper looked at the photo for a few minutes and shook her head. Then passed it on to Leo.
"Wow, she's hot," Leo said, seconds after taking the first look at the photo.
Luke's eye twitched and Chiron had to hold back a chuckle.
"She's my wife," Luke said in a low dry tone.
Leo's eyes widened and he hastily handed the photo back.
"Uh, right. Um, I meant that literally. She looked like she was hot in the picture..."
Luke's eye twitched again and Jason and Piper sighed.
"Too much Leo, too much," Jason said, placing a hand on his shoulder momentarily and shaking his head.
"I assume these are new campers," Chiron said, stepping out onto the porch fully.
Once again eyes widened as they realized he had the bottom half of a horse.
"You're half horse!" Leo exclaimed.
Luke had to admit he worried a bit for the new kid, but the more he saw of him the more he was at a loss as to who's son he was.
"Centaur, the correct term, young man, is Centaur," Chiron corrected, and Luke snorted.
He knew Chiron didn't like being called a horse. He'd called his old trainer horseman a few times in the war, and that hadn't amused him either.
"This is all crazy," Piper said. "This is some elaborate prank. Gods don't exist, neither do Centaurs, unicorns, or fairies. Coach Hedge is probably at home now having a good laugh at our expense."
"And the Chariot?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, special effects, or this is nightmare. It's dream, I fell asleep on the way to the canyon and my messed up mind came up with this," Piper said.
"Piper, this is real," Jason said softly. "I don't know how I know, but I can just feel that this is real. It all seems so familiar to me."
Luke frowned slightly, not sure how he felt about a Roman in his camp. Roman's and Greeks were kept separate for a reason after all.
"He's right. Gods do exist, at least the Greek variety. This is Camp Half-Blood, for demigods like yourself. If I had to guess I'd say you were a daughter of Athena or Aphrodite," Luke began.
"You have ADHD, dyslexia, and strange things have always happened around you. You've probably been to more schools then you'd like to count."
"How did you..." Piper began, but was cut off by Luke.
"Know?" he finished for her. "I'm the god of demigods, but more then that, I've been through it myself."
"Gods go to school and have dyslexia?" Jason asked.
Luke shook his head.
"No, but I was a demigod myself before I was granted godhood," he said.
"You were...a demigod?" Leo asked. "But how are you a god now?"
"That is a story for later," Luke said, and he looked at Piper who had calmed down some.
"You okay now?" he asked.
"I just can't believe this," she said. "demigods, monsters, gods?"
"If it makes you feel any better, Bigfoot is a myth."
Piper looked at him almost grimly.
"Surprisingly, it doesn't," she muttered.
Chiron looked between them all and moved further down to the steps of the porch.
"I will leave you three in Luke's capable hands, I have an archery lesson to get to," Chiron said, and left the four on the Big House porch.
"This is all just so..." Piper trailed off and Leo grinned.
"Awesome?" he suggested, and laughed shortly.
"So this is where you wondered off to," Annabeth's voice suddenly said.
They all turned at her approach, Will and Butch were behind her.
"Yeah, sorry. I thought I should show them around," Luke said. "We didn't exactly get far."
Annabeth nodded.
"Understandable," she said, and looking at three new campers she looked back to Will.
"Uh, Will, these are the new campers. Leo, Piper and Jason."
Will nodded at them, and the new trio all noticed he was tall, with a surfer like body and athletic build about him. He had tanned skin, like he spent a lot of time in the sun but it wasn't the real dark kind of tan. More like a golden, natural type of tan. His hair was blond, what one might describe as golden or sun-kissed blond and sky blue eyes.
"Hi, I'm Will Solace, son of Apollo."
"The sun guy right?" Leo asked, and Luke coughed.
"Sun god," Will corrected with a slight frown. "Among other things. So, are you three already claimed? You don't exactly look thirteen."
"Claimed?" Piper asked, not exactly liking how that sounded.
"Obviously not then," Butch mumbled. "Strange, they've been pretty on it about claiming before or at thirteen."
"Can someone please tell me what claiming is!" Piper exclaimed and it looked like they were going to answer when their eyes were drawn to Leo's head in surprise.
"That," Luke began, pointing above Leo's head. "Is claiming."
Piper and Jason both turned to find a flaming hammer hologram over their friends head.
"What? Am I on fire or something?" Leo asked and looked up, and began swatting at it but no matter what he did it moved with him.
Soon it began to fade, though they all seemed surprised.
"The curse..." Butch began but Annabeth and Luke both silenced him with a look.
"Curse?" Leo asked, looking up startled. "What curse."
"Nothing," Will said.
"So, what does that mean?" Piper asked.
"It's the sign of the god of blacksmiths and fire..." Annabeth began but Jason ended up finishing for her.
"Vulcan," the son of Jupiter said and Luke's head snapped over to him in an instant.
Luke could feel his roman side coming to surface, and had to remind himself that despite this being a Roman demigod, he was among the Greeks. He didn't know if they'd notice the slightly darker blond hair and darker blue eyes, but he couldn't chance it.
"What?" Leo asked, looking at his friend. "I don't even like Star Trek, man!"
"Hephaestus actually," Will said, slightly confused by the new kids roman use of the gods name. "Vulcan is what the Romans called him."
Annabeth looked at Jason with some annoyance.
"What...how did you know that?" she demanded.
Jason blinked, looking confused and shook his head.
"I..I don't know. I just did," he said, rubbing his arm which had the burned tattoo on it.
Annabeth lashed out then, grabbing his arm.
"Hey!" Piper yelled, her eyes narrowed.
"What are these? Where did you get them?" she asked, her gray eyes intensely bright and demanding.
Jason got the feeling if he didn't answer the blonde girl he'd leave without his arm in one piece.
"Uh...I don't know. I've had them a long time...I think."
"They look as if someone branded you..." Will muttered almost to himself. "Like they were burned into the skin."
"They were..." Jason blurted out and frowned. "I don't know how I...I don't remember anything."
Luke watched this all with concern and worry. If this was Camp Jupiter's missing hero, and Hera had taken him like he would bet she had, then did this mean Percy was at the Roman camp?
He couldn't see how, he'd not seen or heard about her when he was last there. But there was the chance Hera was keeping her somewhere before leading her to Camp Jupiter. But if this was all true, did that mean Percy had lost her memory as well?
"..ke...Luke!"
Luke came out of his surprise at Annabeth's voice and noticed that Leo had been taken off, probably to be shown around by Butch who was now gone.
Jason was also gone, and so was Will so he assumed Will had taken the son of Jupiter off somewhere.
This left only Annabeth, him and Piper.
"Sorry, I was thinking," he said.
"I get it," Annabeth said. "We'll find Sephie, Luke. I promise."
Luke smiled at Annabeth and thunder boomed overhead. He knew what that meant almost as if someone had spoken English.
Zeus was close to taking notice, and he figured it was probably because Jason was there. His father was sending a warning that he needed to make haste and return to Olympus.
"I have to go. I'll leave you with Annabeth, Piper. She'll show you around...I hope you and Jason are claimed tonight, good luck."
With that Luke left, leaving both girls blinking at the brightness – though he hadn't used any form of travel that revealed his true form so they were both fine.
"Oh gods, what is that smell?" Piper asked, waving a hand in front of her nose.
Annabeth laughed, though she also seemed a bit repulsed. She looked like she'd smelt it before so she'd become accustomed to it.
"Gods and goddess always have symbols. Like how Hephaestus has the fiery hammer you saw earlier," Annabeth began, motioning for Piper to follow her. "My mother's sacred symbols include the owl, olive tree, aegis, and though not exactly commonly known, snakes."
"Wait...does that mean your mother is...Athena?" Piper asked.
Annabeth smiled.
"Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy, along with a few other things," she answered. "Anyways, Luke's symbols are a celestial bronze – tempered steel sword, infinity symbol, coyote, spider..."
Annabeth shivered slightly at this, and it led Piper to believe the blonde must be afraid of spiders.
"...and the Hawthorn tree."
Piper nodded, understanding now. Her father being who he was she sometimes helped with his rolls. He'd done one movie involving plants – she couldn't recall what movie anymore – and she remembered that the flowers off a Hawthorn attracted insects because of its pungent smell of decaying flesh.
Annabeth looked at her with a small smile of reassurance.
"Come on, I'll explain everything else while I show you around," Annabeth said.
xXx
Luke knew Zeus was suspicious of his whereabouts, but had let it go rather quickly. Like in a way the King of the Gods was expecting others to bend his order to stay on Olympus.
He might have also let it go because he'd helped out Jason by answering Annabeth's prayer.
Luke spent his time tracking down Aphrodite after he'd arrived and seen Zeus for a few moments in passing – he'd reappeared in the throne room and Zeus just happened to be there. His father had said she might know something and he wanted answers.
He didn't find her until that night. She was in her temple, standing in front of a mirror which seemed to depict Camp Half-Blood's campfire.
She was smiling at what appeared to be Piper, and Luke knew in that moment the girl was a daughter of Aphrodite.
It made sense, with the aura she gave off.
"Aphrodite," Luke said, and the love goddess gasped and turned, startled.
Her hand had flown to her chest and he felt his eyes become shadowed as he stared at the goddess. Her abilities made it so she looked quite a bit like his wife, and the way she'd reacted to him...Persephone did that a lot when he snuck up on her.
"Luke," Aphrodite said, smiling. "I'm glad to see you. I guess I should thank you, for answering Annabeth's prayer. You helped. Piper arrived in one piece thanks to that."
Luke nodded.
"I thought she might be one of yours," he muttered and came to get a closer look at the mirror.
"You haven't claimed her yet..." he said.
Aphrodite sighed.
"I was getting to that before you snuck up on me," she said, rolling her eyes slightly and looking back to the scene.
"Handsome and smart..."
"Drew," Luke said, though he'd twitched at the Latin Jason had begun speaking in before.
Aphrodite sighed.
"Sometimes that girl even annoys me," Aphrodite said, shaking her head. "But she's still my daughter."
Luke nodded and the two watched the scene in silence until Rachel asked his last name.
"Shit," Luke breathed.
Aphrodite looked at him startled.
"What?"
"Jason...his last name is Grace," Luke said.
"It's a lovely last name," Aphrodite said. "But what does it matter?"
"Thalia's last name is also Grace. It can't be a coincidence. They both have the same father, even if one is Greek and the other Roman."
The love goddess looked at him in surprise.
"You think they're...siblings?"
"Thalia mentioned having a brother once...but she wouldn't open up about it. Or much about her life with her mother, it was something we both had in common."
Aphrodite nodded.
"Jupiter...er Zeus I mean," they heard Jason say when they returned attention back to the mirror.
Luke rolled his eyes after his display of weapon and power over lightning.
"Dramatic, must take after his father a lot," Luke muttered, and Aphrodite chuckled.
The two continued to watch, small comments added sparsely.
"Annabeth is really close to Percy isn't she?" Aphrodite said, smiling.
Luke chuckled, grinning.
"They're like sisters, the same with Percy and Thalia. Though, Percy has known Annabeth the longest obviously," he said.
They continued to watch and soon it became apparent that if something wasn't done soon, Piper and Drew were going to start fighting each other to the death.
Seconds later Aphrodite snapped her fingers and just as suddenly Piper's imagine changed, becoming the mirror image of beauty. Though she wasn't as beautiful as his wife, at least not in his eyes.
"So, I don't think you came to just keep me company, Luke," Aphrodite said, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Yet he could tell she was just joking from her tone of voice and eyes.
He tried to hide a flush, though mostly because she looked so similar to Percy in that moment, who was the most beautiful woman in his eyes. So with the goddesses abilities Percy was who she resembled to him.
"I wanted to talk to you about Percy," he said. "Dad said you might know something, seeing as you seemed to know what Hera had done."
Aphrodite sighed, and waved her hand over the mirror which returned to simply a reflective surface.
"More like, Venus," Aphrodite said. "I knew Hera and Juno had something to do with it, but I couldn't remember everything."
Luke nodded, understanding. Sometimes memories between Greek and Roman forms were blurred.
"So, you don't know where she is?" Luke asked.
Aphrodite shook her head.
"Not exactly, I've had time to go over what Venus and Hera talked about."
Aphrodite took a step forward, looking at him with eyes so exact in shade to Percy's it was startling for a moment.
"You should know, Luke, that Percy means a great deal to me," she said. "I will make Hera wish she hadn't messed with her, but right now the important thing is finding her. You should also know that Percy is special."
Luke blinked and nodded.
"I know, I've always known Sephie was special."
Aphrodite smiled.
"That's beautiful, but I mean she's different. Persephone isn't just a daughter of Poseidon, she's a legacy as well," Aphrodite revealed.
Luke's eyes widened.
"A legacy...that would explain why she is so powerful. Exceeding any other hero of our generation," Luke breathed. "Is she a legacy of yours?"
Aphrodite smiled.
"Not quite," she said. "Persephone Jackson and her mother are both Legacies of Venus."
Luke stared at Aphrodite in shock but at the same time it made sense. As long as he'd known Percy he'd never once seen any sort of blemish on her skin. Not even a scar lasted long and seemed nearly invisible unless you looked for it.
Like the one on her side from where he'd stabbed her after her first quest, something he wasn't proud of. He always felt a stab of guilt whenever he saw it.
Her eyes also seemed to change shade with her moods, and at times looked more like a beautiful sea blue then a sea green they really were.
It also explained how she just seemed to draw people to her, it was hard for someone not to like Percy. Maybe a very mellowed down form of Charmspeak he knew Aphrodite children had.
Then there was her powerful abilities over the ocean and water in general. Aphrodite (Venus) wasn't a sea goddess but she'd been born of sea foam, so she was still a being connected to the sea.
"She's Greek and Roman," he realized. "I've never heard of that."
"It doesn't usually happen," Aphrodite admitted. "Mostly because legacies are usually raised in New Rome. Laura, my...Venus' daughter, she wanted as normal of a life as she could get. So she married a mortal and while she told him, she didn't bring him to New Rome. She died in a plane crash when Sally was five and never got to tell Sally."
"And Percy's mom thought she was simply clear sighted, she never knew otherwise, so her scent as a legacy of only one demigod parent never became strong enough to attract many monsters."
Aphrodite nodded.
"Then she met Poseidon, and they had Persephone. It was either fate or coincidence."
"Any idea where she is now? What did Hera do with her?"
"I remember mention of Lupa," she said. "I think the answer lies with her."
Luke sighed, and nodded.
"Thank you, I'll let you know if it goes anywhere," he said and Aphrodite nodded.
Watching the young god leave, Aphrodite prayed he'd be able to find Percy. Maybe then some things would go back to normal.