Fortunate Son of the Sea God
Chapter 3: These Boots are Made for Walkin'
Piper POV
"Order up!" exclaimed the cook from the kitchen.
Piper shook herself back into reality and quickly made her way over to the window to the kitchen. It was lunchtime at the Quick n' Eat diner she worked at and the place was busy.
It was the only job she could find after she finished high school and decided to live on her own.
This surprised a lot of her friends because her dad, Tristan McLean, could've easily paid for her to go to college. He was a big time Hollywood actor who had always been able to give Piper anything she wanted.
However, as she grew older, Piper grew tired of the lifestyle.
She didn't have to work for anything and at school the only friends she could make weren't real friends, they only cared about Piper because of how filthy rich she was.
Piper waited until she finished up high school and insisted that she wanted to be independent from her father and live on her own so she turned down college to get a cheap, one-bedroom in downtown Los Angeles.
Her dad agreed to the idea but he had to give Piper some money so she could afford a place to live.
The waitress job at the diner wasn't pleasant, but it was enough to pay her bills.
Piper let out a sigh as she scooped up the plate from the window and made her way into the main dining room.
The diner was quite the opposite of all the five star restaurants Piper's dad had taken her to all her life.
The place smelled of grease and cigarettes constantly and while Piper's nose had gotten adjusted, it still sickened her a little bit.
A bar sat against one wall and it was lined with customers, mostly men.
Tables filled the middle of the room and all of them were occupied with customers.
On the opposite wall were some booths and most of them were taken.
Piper strutted over to the table that the food was ordered from.
Four young men sat at the table and they looked as if they just came from working on a highway or something. They were covered in dust, grime, and sweat and judging by the anxious looks in their eyes, Piper didn't want to keep them waiting any longer.
"Four orders of burgers and fries?" she asked with a smile.
The four workers just stared at Piper like she was a giant hamburger or something. Piper was used to this kind of attention, the customers always complimented her on how gorgeous she looked. Piper's dad always told her that she got that from her mom and Piper would always ask if she would ever meet her.
"Maybe if you behave yourself, Piper," is what her dad would always respond with before rubbing her on the head with a smile.
Piper came back to reality and remembered that the four dusty workers were still gaping at her, Piper let out a small cough to try and snap them out of it.
"Uh….yes, yes that is ours thank you," one of the workers said.
Piper smiled and sat the food on the table and the immediately dug in.
"Boys," Piper thought to herself as she made her way back behind the counter and resumed helping her co-workers.
One of her co-workers, Angela, walked up to speak to her.
She was older than Piper and had her dirty blonde hair tied back in a bandana, she looked like she was ready to go to war with anybody who dared ask for extra napkins.
"Can you go over to the table number 4 and give them their check?" Angela asked.
Piper nodded and made her way over to the corresponding table.
It's occupants, a middle-aged couple, sat waiting patiently with their empty plates of food.
"Did you guys enjoy everything?" Piper asked with a friendly smile.
The man looked up from his newspaper, "Um, yeah sure it was can we have our check please?" he asked.
"You sure can sir," Piper replied with the same smile.
Piper then paused for a moment, she needed as much money as she could get.
"If you wouldn't mind, I just found out the other day that I'm pregnant so if you could pitch in some extra money I would greatly appreciate it," Piper lied.
"Of course we can!" the woman spoke up before she glanced at her date.
The man's expression looked confused at first then changed to a smile as he agreed. "That's no problem sweetie," he said as he reached into his wallet and pulled out some cash and handed the wad of bills to Piper. She counted the money and she had to hid her excitement when she counted it to be over $100.
"Thank you so much mister my baby will greatly appreciate it!" she said with an innocent look as she made her way back over to the kitchen.
Piper had a secret power that only she knew, it wasn't like those you see in comic books where she could fly or see through walls, even though that would be super cool.
No, Piper's power was in her voice. She can use her voice to bend other's wills to her own.
She never used it for anything too bad, just to make her life easier from time to time.
Recently, she had been experimenting with it on the customers at the diner, asking for extra tips or just asking for money. She never took too much from one person either.
Piper continued making her way to the kitchen before she heard a new voice come from one of the booths that was empty earlier.
"Excuse me miss?" the voice asked.
She turned around to see an older looking man sitting there in a military uniform with a wheelchair parked next to the booth.
Piper stared at him briefly, she didn't see anyone come in the door in a wheelchair or did she? Piper dismissed the thought.
"Someone will be with you shortly sir" Piper replied with her usual smile.
The man wore a tired expression, as if he had traveled all across the country and fought in the war over in Vietnam.
"Oh, that wont be necessary, Piper, I came here to speak with you," he spoke with a seemingly friendly grin.
How did he know her name? Piper didn't have her nametag on and now the mystery man freaked her out. She kept a cool head and decided to try using her power to make him go away.
"I'm sorry sir, but my name isn't Piper, I can help you looker up in the phone book if you really need to find her," Piper lied.
She paused as she waited for the man to hopefully apologize and ask for the phone book.
The man's expression remained unchanged before he let out a brief sigh.
"Your charmspeak could use some work Piper," he said.
Piper's smile faded away to a look of pure terror, she wanted to run away and hide from the man. No one had ever been able to resist her lies or charmspeak, as the man said.
The man must've detected Piper's fear and he tried to assure her.
"Don't worry, I'm just a friend here to offer you a proposal," he spoke calmly.
Piper remained frozen in fear, every muscle in her body told her to take off running the other way but something else told her that she should listen to the mystery man.
"My name is Lieutenant Chiron," he said with that same smile.
He held out his hand from the table for Piper to shake it.
After a brief pause, she hesitantly obliged and shook the man's hand.
"Please, have a seat," he said as he motioned for Piper to sit down across from him at the booth.
Piper slowly slid into the booth's seat and glared at the Lieutenant waiting to hear what he had to say.
He glanced around the diner as if he was making sure they weren't being spied on or something then directed his attention to Piper.
'My apologies for the sudden introduction but if you had been traveling all around the country recruiting demigods for the army, you would be exhausted too," he said.
"Wha.." was all Piper could manage.
Chiron raised his hand for Piper to be quiet.
"Don't worry…I'll explain everything," he assured her.
Chiron then went on to explain to Piper that the Greek and Roman gods from her mythology lessons in high school are actually real. He added that Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite and that's where she developed that power she has. Chiron said it's called charmspeak and can be very powerful, especially on mortals. After some added explanations, Chiron made it to that proposal he mentioned earlier.
"I'm sure you're aware of the war going on right now?" he asked before pointing at a T.V in the corner.
The T.V was showing clips of the war that included soldiers shooting machine guns, jet planes dropping napalm bombs on the jungle, and villages being burned by American troopers.
Piper was well kept up with the war from that T.V; everyone in the diner would often quiet down whenever Walter Cronkite spoke during the news.
It also was very common for off-duty soldiers, sailors, or even pilots to stop by the diner.
Piper remembered when one poor soldier, who told them he had just gotten home from his tour, started panicking whenever another waitress accidentally dropped a glass.
The loud noise startled everyone but especially the soldier.
Piper remembered hearing about soldier's coming home from battle and having a very tough time getting readjusted to normal life. Any loud noise can remind them of a bomb or a grenade going off and it can really mess with their brains.
Piper could vividly remember reassuring the guy that everything was going to be alright and trying to use her charmspeak to sooth his nerves.
She remembered that distressed look he got in his eyes that showed how painful war can be, Piper shuddered at the memory.
"Yes, I'm aware of it," she replied to Chiron.
Chiron let out another sigh, whatever proposal he had, he must've not been very proud about it.
"The government is looking for anyone that they can send over to help fight and that includes demigods, so I'm traveling around the country looking to recruit men and women like you to form a special division," he spoke the words with deep sorrow, as if he would much rather be warning Piper to steer clear of the war rather than fight in it.
"If you don't want to join I understand but your country could use someone like you Piper," Chiron spoke.
"I thought only men were allowed to serve?" she asked.
"The president has gone out of his way to make sure that any Greek or Roman demigod can serve regardless of gender or race," Chiron answered.
Piper gave the proposal some thought, this would be a great chance to really get out from under her dad's shadow. It would be especially tough, but this was a once in a lifetime chance. She also really hadn't made a plan for what she would do once she had gotten enough money from her job at the diner. This would give her the true purpose in her life that she had been looking for and even if it wasn't the most glamorous, it was her best option.
"I'm in," Piper spoke up.
Chiron's expression shifted into a smile,
"Glad to hear it, now I would recommend saying goodbye to any family before we depart," Chiron said.
Piper nodded in agreement before a question popped into her head and she blurted it out.
"What about the others?" she asked suddenly.
Chiron shuffled uncomfortably in his seat,
"Well, I've already convinced a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, to join," he answered.
"Her name is Annabeth and she is waiting at her home in New York for the call to report to Camp Half-Blood," he added.
"Camp Half-Blood?" Piper asked.
"It's our base of operations for demigod soldiers, its located on Long Island just outside of New York City," he continued.
Piper was still trying to process all the information Chiron was feeding her, she had agreed to join his army but now Piper was starting to feel a tad bit overwhelmed.
Chiron continued talking while Piper thought about everything,
"I've also heard about some son of Poseidon who nearly drowned his drill instructor at Parris island, I'm afraid I'm going to have to convince the military authorities to hand him over to me,' he said with a sigh.
Piper merely stared blankly at the Lieutenant,
"It's alright Piper, everything will all make sense once you've been settled in at the base and properly trained as well," he assured her.
Chiron then scooted over to his wheelchair and sat down,
"That's all this country needs, a lean, mean, Communist killing machine with a bunch of demigods manning the controls," he sighed motioning for Piper to follow him.
Piper got up and quickly told her boss she's quitting before following Chiron to the door outside.