YEAR THREE
Six Month Marker
PERCY
"Alright I did it! I injured the demigod, and took the items for myself!" the dracaena admitted. I smiled and signaled for the guards to get her. I had just finished learning the jobs. There were of course the basics, but then there was also interrogation, torture, recruition, tracking, item collecting, and quests. The boss came and had me demonstration the jobs. I'm glad it's over. I really don't like some of these jobs, especially torture.
Al Capone came out to talk to me.
"Congratulations Percy, you passed. Now all you have to do is finish your quests, and pass strategies. Then you take your final exam," he congratulated. I nodded, then Thalia came over, and I used her as an excuse to leave.
"Good job, before you know it you'll be becoming a full member." I grinned, and grabbed her hand.
"Yep, so want to get breakfast with me?" Thalia nodded. "Hey when are you taking your job exam anyway?" I asked a few minutes later.
"After lunch, I have a quest to complete after breakfast. Nico's doing it after dinner."
"What do you think the odds are of us all becoming members at the same time?" Thalia shrugged.
"It could happen, but I doubt it will."
"It'd be cool if it did."
"Yeah, it would be," Thalia agreed.
We grabbed our trays and sat down at the table in the farthest corner. This was kind of our group's table. I slung my arm around Thalia, and ate with one hand.
"Percy it's easier to eat with two hands," Thalia commented.
"So?" Thalia rolled her eyes. Yeah I'm going out with Thalia. It started six months ago. I'd been having feelings for her for a while before that. You know tingles when we touched, feeling jealous of silly things like her hugging Nico or any other boy. Finally I just blurted out to her how I felt.
Six Months Before
It was now or never.
"Thalia I really like you, like a lot. And I know you probably don't like me since you were a hunter and all, but I had to tell you," I confessed. Thalia stared at me for a minute, and I swear my heart dropped to my stomach,.
"Well I'll just be leaving then," I said and turned around.
"Percy wait." I turned back around to see Thalia grinning. "As it just so happens I like you too." I grinned back, suddenly my heart was like a bird.
"So do we kiss now?" I asked leaning closer.
"Do you really need to ask?" Thalia said as she closed the distance.
It was the best kiss ever. It was better than kissing Annabeth, Thalia's lips were soft and warm, and for some reason they tasted like slightly like pine needles (not that I know what those taste like). The kiss was gentle and slow, but it spoke in so many ways. Then of course it was ruined, by Nico and Raven. They dropped a pile of books on the floor, which made a very loud crashing sound.
Nico and Raven just stared at us for a few minutes, shocked. Then they gathered their books and left. Before they were gone though I heard Raven mutter, "It's about time."
Personally I think we might have scarred Nico just a little.
After breakfast I headed to the training room to meet up with Thunder.
"It's weird I always thought that Tartarus was such a despicable place. We're doing pretty good," I commented to Thunder.
"Percy you got lucky."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought this was explained to you, but usually you have to pass a test to be accepted. You, Thalia, and Nico didn't because you were the Big Three and we didn't want to lose you," Thunder explained.
"But you said there were less than a hundred demigods in Tartarus, and they were in factories," I argued.
"They are, those are the ones who were picked. The rest are crazy, or were sent to the Fields of Punishment. Sometimes Hades sends demigods down to be tortured or interrogated." "So do monsters have a hard time getting chosen too?" I asked. Thunder shrugged. "Pretty much." "Well what's this test you have to pass?" "Come on, I'll show you."
Thunder walked over to the big red door I had asked Raven about two and a half years ago. She said it was a sparing ring, and that they did something else there too.
Thunder pushed open the door, I'd been in here before, but now it seemed like I was seeing it in a new light.
"The test is a fight, you fight a titan. You don't have to kill the titan you just have to stay conscious for twenty minutes. Then some hell hounds are released, if you still want to join after that you're welcome to."
"We could have done it."
"You could have, but we didn't want to take any chances."
"Raven didn't mention any sort of fighting when she found us." Thunder grinned sheepishly.
"We'd gotten a message from the big guy not to have the next recruits we got do the fight."
"Who is the big guy?"
"I don't know, Al does, but he's probably the only one." I nodded.
"Well then what are we doing now?"
"We are working on your strategies for your next quest. You know the strategies part of your training and your quests are combined?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, it saves time."
"So what's my quest?"
"You need the blood of a Wendigo." I frowned.
"I heard Nico mention something about those."
"You should go ask him about it. You might be able to join up with him for the quest."
"You mean like Nico, Thalia, and I did to get the diamonds?"
"Yeah, just like that." I nodded and took off to find Nico. It was times like this when I wished that I had Nico's shadow traveling ability, it's so easy for him to find people.
I his room, then the training arena, then Raff's room, and then I checked the cafeteria and there he was, sitting glumly at the table with Raven.
"Hey Nico did you say something about killing a Wendigo?" He looked at me.
"Yeah," he said gloomily.
"What's his problem?" I asked looking to Raven.
"I'm not going on his quest, which is probably the hardest one yet."
"Why?"
"Because she had a bad experience, so she doesn't want to run into this monster ever again."
"Shut it Di Angelo," Raven hissed. "You don't even know what happened."
I was a little taken aback this was the first time I've ever seen the two fight, that probably has more to do with the fact that they don't socialize with people, well Nico doesn't at least.
"Right so about the quest….," I trailed off. Nico sighed.
"I have to absorb the essence a bunch of monsters into this jar."
"Oh, I have to fill this jar with the blood of a Wendigo."
"So we help each other kill the Wendigo, then go our own merry ways."
"No, let me help you kill something else, what else do you have to kill?" Raven answered for him.
"He has to kill a Basilisk, Black Eyed Being, Cockatrice, Demon, Gorgon, Ogre, and Wendigo."
"You can help me kill the Black Eyed Being I guess," Nico said.
"I wouldn't suggest that," Raven interfered.
"Why?"
"Because the BEBs install fear within you, when you see one you are filled with dread and fear, all you want to do is run away. Nico, you can have the same effect on people that's why I think you'll be fine. I don't know about Percy."
"So what should I help him with?" Raven looked thoughtful.
"I think you should go with the Basilisk." I nodded.
"That's probably smart." I started thinking about the Wendigo, I can't remember reading about it.
"I can't seem to remember anything about Wendigos," I admitted.
"That's because they aren't greek," Raven replied.
"Well what are they?" Raven gestured for me to sit down.
"They are these spirits that posses people turning them cannibalistic, it most commonly happens after a human consumes another human. The spirit takes over you and you become a cannibal, tall and gaunt, yellowish skin. Forever hungering human flesh. They're not greek, so it wasn't included in the monster logy which is so stupid."
"So if it isn't greek why do you know about it?"
"I learned about it while growing up."
"Oh." It always gets awkward when someone mentions their passed life.
"So where can we find them?"
"The woods I guess. I know they're most commonly found in northern America and Canada, it started out as a Yukon myth and ya know there were an awful lot of trees there.
These things are serious though, back when people commonly believed in them they would rather kill themselves than resort to eating another human to survive. You guys be careful." Raven looked deadly serious, I felt a little afraid. I wonder if the Wendigo was the monster she encountered.
"I'll meet you here in a few minutes. I need to grab some things." I ran back up to my room. When I opened the door Thunder was laying on the bed.
"Your back." I nodded
"Nico and I are doing a combination, then I'm helping him kill a basilisk."
"You be careful Percy, I didn't want to admit it but I don't know what these Wendigo things are."
"That's okay, because Raven did."
"She did?"
"Yeah."
"Huh, I didn't know that. Anyways at least two miles from the factory, south, is a salt water pond, you need to gather the sea weed there, you should do that while you're out with Nico."
"Aye, aye." I grabbed a small bag with some nectar and ambrosia.
I almost wish I was the son of Hades, since I'm stuck down here and all. No, seriously Nico has like a map of Tartarus in his head or something. I guess the same thing could be said for me when I'm at sea though.
"I think there are some east of us, in a cave," Nico said before turning and walking in that direction. Nico's been oddly quiet this entire walk, maybe he doesn't fight with Raven as often as I thought.
"NICO DUCK!" I yelled, as a Wendigo tried to chop off his head. He did a somersault, and then turned and sunk his sword into the monsters stomach. As the monster dissolved he grabbed his jar and suck it's essence into it.
I turned my attention back to the other Wendigo which was currently trying to stand up. I ran back at it, just as it managed to get up. It pushed me back, but it was weak from the previous fighting. I finished it off quickly and then my jar magically stole it's blood(which was kind of weird to watch).
Nico and I tracked down a basilisk, and killed it with minor troubles. We split up after that, Nico to kill his other monsters, and me to find some seaweed.
I just don't understand some of my quests.
YEAR THREE
Six Month Marker
NICO
Today's an average day. I have quests to do, five quests are required to finish your training. After dinner I've got my job examination.. Then again today isn't a normal day, after all this morning I had an argument with Raven.
Raven and I were discussing what I needed to do to become a full member.
"Okay you need to pass your jobs exam which is later today, finish you quests, pass strategies, and then take the final exam. Luckily for you strategies are included in quests." I nodded.
"Have you been told what my other quests were?" Raven nodded.
"You need to take the scythe of a wraith, and absorb the essence of a Basilisk, Black Eyed Being, Cockatrice, Wendigo, Demon, Gorgon, and Ogre." I whistled.
"That's a lot of things to kill."
"Yeah, so what do you want to do?"
"Um… we could get the scythe first, then track down a demon, ogre, and maybe one of those cockatrice things. Then we should head back here for breakfast." Raven grinned.
"It sounds like a plan to me." A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
"Hey Raven how do they know that I'm the one making up strategies?" Raven held up a some device.
"Magic tape recorder, it records everything and it can't be deceived. I have to carry it around everywhere."
"Oh that sucks." Raven shrugged.
"You get used to it, now how should we get that scythe?" I gave Raven a big grin.
"Well you are the daughter of Hermes, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I don't think he would have claimed me if I wasn't."
"Well, I can hide us in the shadows, and you can grab the scythe." Raven raised her eyebrow.
"They're not that dumb." I rolled my eyes.
"I know, but I've spent my fair share of time with children of Hermes before meeting you. You grabbed the scythe and send it to the nearest safe house, I'll do the distracting."
"You want me to teleport the weapon?"
"I know you can do it. I've seen Travis do it, so don't pretend you can't."
"I want to met this Travis guy, so I can slap him. Nobody is suppose to know about that power, it makes us less trustworthy."
"Really? I think just being a child of the GOD OF THEVIES makes you untrustworthy."
"Hey! Have I ever lied to you, or stolen from you?"
"Yes."
"Was it about anything important?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I take that back then, you really can't trust me. I'm a lying two faced snake."
"That's comforting, I'm glad I got the least trustworthy person on the planet as my mentor."
"Aren't you though?"
"Come on.."
Getting the scythe was easier than I thought. Raven snuck through the wraiths and grabbed the scythe, just as she was ready to pull it out I umpped out of the shadows to distract the wraiths. I even killed a few. The getting it part was easy, it was just the find Raven part after that.
I'm not sure how her moving thing works, but it must be different than mine. We finally found each other in a safe house that Raven had showed me not too long ago.
"Hey did you get it?" Raven nodded and pulled it out. "So just curious, but how is your traveling different from mine?"
"I don't quite know how to explain it. It's harder to do than yours since you use shadows which are your element. With mine you think about it, and then your not where you where your in this sort of in between place. It's a large room of doors, it's hard for me because the doors are labeled in coordinates, which is fine on land, but down here not so much. So I had to take random guesses. Your shadow traveling is a lot more reliable once you get a hang of it. That's why Hermes children don't use ours so much.
I have literally ended up in the President's bathroom, luckily he wasn't there."
"So you won't be using that power?"
"That's right, well unless it's necessary. Now let's kill some monsters."
I grinned and took the lead. I liked that she would travel on her own, it meant I got to hold her hand still, uh I didn't just think that.
Raven and I found and killed a cockatrice, ogre, and a gorgon, before we decided to go get breakfast.
"How far are we from the factory?' Raven asked. I mentally found it in my head.
"We are twelve miles away."
"Great."
"Shall I shadow travel us?"
"Sure." I took her hand and pulled us into a tree.
We stumbled into the lunch room obviously behind everyone else. There was one person at our table however, can you guess who it is? Say it with me now, R-a-f-f. He left after he said a few things to Raven, which I could not hear, so it wasn't bad or anything.
"Okay Nico I can't go on the rest of your quest with you." I stared at her.
"Why?" It must have something to do with Raff.
"Because of your monsters."
"Since when are you afraid of a monster?"
"It's complicated."
"Oh, what are you going to do?"
"Raff and I have something important." I frowned, it is about Raff.
"Right so what you really mean is that you want to spend time with Raff." Raven's stare hardened.
'Why am I being a jerk?' I wondered. I just couldn't help. Then Percy came in, and you know what happens.
Once Percy leaves I feel stupid for being mean. She didn't even tell me her story.
"Raven what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"The monster, what happened with it?"
"Oh it was the B.E.B, I was in my first years here and I was on a quest with another member, when it knocked on the safe house door. I was asleep, and my partner was stupid. He let it in and I woke up in time to hear him scream. I don't want to go into details but let's just say he's crazy now."
Now I felt really bad. Of course she had a bad experience with it. I'm such an idiot.
"Sorry for snapping at you."
"It's okay. Just be careful, I don't want you going crazy too." Raven leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.
"I'll see you later," she called over her shoulder. I sat there watching her leave. Raven had kissed me.
After Percy left to get his seaweed I tracked down my monsters. Why does Percy get all the easy quests?
The regular monsters were easy enough, they put up a fight but I took them down. As for the B.E.B, well I don't even want to talk about that. Raven was right they are down right creepy. I can see why she didn't want to face them. I'm not sure if they're actually evil or not though.
It was time for my job exam. I've preformed most of my tasks fine, but it's this last one I'm dreading. Torture. I don't like it, hopefully I'll never have to do it again.
They want me to cause pain, slowly and carefully. When teaching me Raven showed me how to disconnect from yourself. It was easier than I thought to do that, which isn't a pleasant thought.
I started on the torture by taking a fire poker, it's tip was red hot, and sticking it in the monsters mouth. I hung him up by his toes and you don't want to know what comes next. I fact I'm not sure I remember anyway, that whole disconnecting yourself really works. I passed though, and that's what's important.
YEAR THREE
Six Month Marker
THALIA
I hopped down from the tree I was in, and landed softly on the ground. The arrow was only a few feet away, I grabbed it and jogged back to the factory. I only have one quest left now, the last being to collect all types of arrows.
Aina told me my next quest was to find a duplicator, magic of course. The only problem was I had no idea where to get one. Luckily Raff did. I bumped into him after my breakfast with Percy. I was going to find Aina and ask for help, but Raff helped instead.
"Okay in the mountains north of the factory is a small troll kingdom. Their king has possession of what you need."
"Great, now I have to infiltrate a troll kingdom, and kill a bunch of trolls to get a magical duplicator. So I'll probably die." Raff rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, besides who said you couldn't steal it?" I looked him straight in the eye.
"You're going to try to steal it?"
"Me? No, that'd be suicide, but I do know a certain daughter of Hermes who rather likes to steal. The three of us will be back before lunch"
"Doesn't Raven have to help Nico?" Raff shrugged.
"I guess we'll see."
Raff went to sit at the table and I stood a little away. Raff whispered some things to her and she nodded. Raff walked over to me after that.
"So she's coming?"
"Yep."
"You knew she would come."
"Yep."
"How?"
"There's a monster she doesn't want to face."
"Oh." We stood in silence as we watched Nico and Raven get in an argument, and then Percy arrived. My heart speed up little faster when he was around, I couldn't help it. I'm glad we finally got together. Then Percy left, Raven and Nico talked some more, and just before she left Raven pecked Nico on the check. I looked at Raff, and was surprised to see his fist clenched and face taunt. I think I understand what Aina was going on about now.
Raven came over, and we exited the cafeteria.
"So you up for some troll stealing?" I asked with a grin.
"I'm always up to steal things, it feels like I've been doing that a lot recently though."
"What about you Raff?"
"Me? I'm more looking forward to killing some trolls."
Getting into the troll palace was easy. We climbed down the chimney. Finding the duplicator was a different problem altogether, many because it turned out to be what looked like a memory card. We went through rooms and rooms of things. We found it in an old laptop. I don't even want to know why Raff thought to look in there.
Getting out proved to be the hardest task. We couldn't climb out the chimney, and there were no secret doors. The only way out was through armed trolls. We ended up fighting our way out. It was fun.
Killing things is a great way to get rid of stress. You just picture what your stressed about as the face of what you're killing, and you feel so much better. I feel better and I wasn't even aware I was stressed.
We did make it back in times for lunch, just like Raff said. I didn't see Nico or Percy so Raven offered to go to my exam with me. Then Aina showed up, and I ended going with her.
"Okay here's the last part of the test. This member is going out into the field, and you have to track him down." I nodded.
The man got a five minute head start. Finding him was easy, if I've learned one thing from Aina it was how to pay attention to detail and put things together. I looked carefully for broken leaves, and unusual marks on the ground. I found the guy in under the hour.
Al Capone congratulated me after I finished. I passed that test. All I should have next is the final exam. I wonder how the other's quests went.
Third Person
"So are they almost ready?" Hermes asked his partner.
"They'll be out in eight months tops. I've had contact with Capone, their training is nearly complete. He's been having various demigods go out on quests to make the portal too."
"Good, that's great. I'll warn the campers." The other man nodded. Hermes out a hand on his shoulder.
"He'll be glad you're on his side." The other man nodded again.
"It's the right thing anyway, and it's about time I started to do the right thing."
AT CAMP
ANGEL
"Angel come to the Hermes cabin after lunch, we got a messages," Nick whispered to me as we walked into the dinning pavilion. Everything's been even more interesting since Hermes appeared telling us that he was with us.
I can't wait to see what the note is. I know it's something important, maybe it's about a revolution. There's been more talk about that among the gods. They keep claiming kids, but Zeus never build more thrones for the minor gods. The demigods are pretty strong with Zeus though, the Hermes cabin tries to get newcomers because we see them first, but the Athena cabin has been doing orientation. I think they suspect Cabin Eleven but have no proof.
I also don't know where Chiron stands. Whenever the subject is brought up he changes it. He's keeping some secret.
The good thing is the Hephaestus cabin is on our side. There still aren't many of them but that's okay, they're good, and they have the tunnels. We have an even safer place to meet, and good escape routes because of them.
After lunch I walk over to the Hermes cabin. Everyone is gathered in a big circle to see what news we got.
It said," Be prepared, they'll be back soon. Your heroes will be back.