Chapter 22: The House of Mimes

Zeus had felt an intruding presence in the sky, stronger than he thought it was, and he knew immediately that it wasn't one of his brothers' new spawns. They didn't even have any.

"So Dad..," his son started, annoyingly for the hundredth time. "You're sure it isn't just... you know, hallucinations of old age or something?"

He scowled at him. "I don't get old."

Hermes laughed. "If you don't call a hundred millennia or something, old, then I don't know what is."

The king of the gods sighed and ran a hand on his face tiredly. "Whatever." He used his free hand to take hold of his weapon, and slammed its end to the ground. "Council meeting."

He sat back and watched as the empty throne room filled up. The gods were flashing in, a few arriving on foot, most of the time alone, sometimes with a fellow god. It wasn't long before every throne in the room was occupied; well, except for his daughter's.

He knew that she was going with a quest. A mortal affair. It was supposedly against the Ancient Laws, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything about it while she was away. She was just as stubborn as he was, if not more.

She'd been breaking a lot of Laws lately, come to think of it. He wasn't sure if she does it for her own gain, but he knew his daughter would never be too selfish. Unless it's about a man, then... well, that part would be a different story.

He wondered if he would have the strength to punish her for all the Laws she'd broken. They all were assistance for the war, anyway. Besides, he knew it was to be expected of her to break them. She wasn't a sucker for strict rules, although she was careful of abiding by them, just for the sake of not receiving punishment. Given that fact, this had to be a major cause for her.

Perhaps just to find that sea spawn..

After the last decade, Zeus still had no idea whom his daughter had kissed in her dreams for her to wake up. The time she started having her dreams of the boy suggested that maybe it was the hero of Olympus. Her hesitation to hunt him also suggested that the one in her dreams was he. Zeus wasn't the brightest star in the sky (though he would never admit it to his brothers), but he knew that he didn't know the whole picture yet. There was something else his daughter was hiding other than a boy's name, and she wasn't keen on sharing it.

But maybe she was also doing this for the sake of the gods winning the war, because for example, the enemy blackmailed her, or something..

The king of the gods shook his head to clear the thoughts. "Would anyone please show me the condition of Artemis' quest, right away, please."

Before anyone could snap up an IM, Hestia breathed out from her nose, her warm breath mingling with the hearth. The flames rose, the tips at the top slowly coloring into various shades. Before long, the smoke it produced started shifting, until it projected an image akin to an IM.

Hermes whistled in appreciation. Aphrodite shushed him, her excited eyes on the projection.

The goddess and the demigods were walking inside a crowded place: a mall. They all seemed to be following their own nature, but it was obvious that they were wary of everyone around them. Their conversation was minimal.

They watched for a moment as they went around the mall, looking for whatever they were looking for, until Zeus had enough as the Angel girl stopped the quest at a clothing store.

The goddess of the hearth extinguished the projection at his word.

"They seem to be wherever they should be," Zeus announced, not really caring. "On another note, I hope you have heard the news."

"Ah, about that alien doohickey that the mortal was talking about," Demeter quipped, her hand raised as if in a class.

Apollo and Hermes burst out laughing, making the goddess glare at them. "Doohickey."

"Yes." The king of the gods sighed loudly, exaggerating. "I think it is Perseus."

The assumption, along with the blunt way that the god had put it sent a hush over the throne room. Zeus stared everyone down, daring them to object.

It was a good five minutes, until Poseidon raised a tentative hand. "That's insane."

It flipped a switch. All the gods started talking at once, whether they agree with him or his brother, he wasn't sure. The voices just blended in together that it became impossible to understand even as he focused.

Zeus let them, waiting. He hadn't actually thought about what to do about it yet... and his loving relatives were nicely providing him time. He just had to accept the rare gift.

This had to be the first true sign after they started looking for him. When they had heard of the news, they had watched out full time, almost unminding their duties. But not mere months had passed and it already seemed hopeless—in fact, he'd almost thought that Aphrodite was lying. And then a decade after, the raw evidence had showed itself, as though saying, "It's time for you to start making progress."

It wasn't really from the start that he reckoned the boy would show himself if he wanted to. At the time, he was just desperate for something good, after losing a heroine of Olympus to the enemy. At the time, he'd been relieved that they hadn't lost both heroes after all, and maybe a little frantic too, because it hadn't grazed his mind that maybe both the boy and the enemy would wait for another decade.

But hey, at least that decade had passed now. He was sure that the boy had had enough of watching them and had come down to help. Whether coming from a weird jet or not, at his domain or not, it was good news. But wait..

He remembered suddenly that they had allies. From Chaos. Who was it, again? She said she would send her son and heir.

A thought struck him. He knew that, however much dull Poseidon's son was, he wouldn't be stupid enough to try to fly in his domain, even if he happened to know that he wasn't going to get blasted this time. He could be a risk-taker, yes, but still not stupid enough to take that risk. And since it came with an aircraft, and an unfamiliar model at that, could it be that this 'alien' was actually Chaos' son and heir?

It made sense. Perseus won't let himself be known and broadcasted throughout the continent, because last time he checked, the boy didn't like to get chased by the media (even though he always managed to, for some unknown reason). This one, however... he might as well have sent Order a personal message.

Breathing in through his nose, Zeus slammed his bolt on the floor again, calling for order—yes, the abstract noun. It took a while for the gods to settle down, but eventually the noises receded. "I have decided... well, for starters, we must look for this boy," he announced. "Not just watch out, but look for him."

Ares raised his hand. "I look forward to be the first one to pummel him."

"None of that nonsense." He sniffed. "We will tell the camps, so they could help. Ares, you're telling the Romans. Along with Hermes."

The messenger god bristled, his form flickering, before nodding with Ares.

"Athena, Apollo, you tell the Greeks. I will be the one to tell the main." He watched them nod. "Those four that I mentioned, you're specifically tasked to turn every stone in the US. The others, well... you have my permission to do so as well. Just make sure someone's attending to your duties, or the said duties could be left alone without any supervision. But seriously, I don't want any chaos amongst the mortals."

"What's the rush all of a sudden?" Hermes inquired.

Zeus clicked his fingers on his armrest rhythmically. "A theory," he replied after a pause. "The boy from the jet could also be Chaos' response for help."

Athena blinked and straightened her back. She looked at him with a strange expression as if she hadn't thought of it before, which she probably hadn't. He felt secretly smug, though it didn't last as long as it would before. "Of course."

"At least things are finally playing out for us." Hera sighed, leaning back into her seat. "What with having all these Ordian whatchamacallit."

Dionysus took a sip of his Diet coke, that being the only thing that was heard inside the room. For once, the Olympians were silent, just sitting on their thrones watching each other. It was a great change, and Zeus was looking forward to more.

The mall still wasn't densely populated for the first half hour it was open, although Artemis knew that that would change soon.

It was a weekday, so it was expected that the mall wouldn't be too crowded. As lunch time approached, the traffic inside was still light, and the only people she could identify were some small groups of friends, truant students, people who were either too old or too young to do anything, their caretakers, and themselves, and some families who didn't have anything to do other than frolic somewhere. She did hope more than once that they were just nice, innocent mortals. Without any intent to kill someone.

They were wandering around, looking for the particular place that was mentioned in the prophecy. Clearly, they didn't scour the area too thoroughly a while ago, and that didn't exactly reassure her that it was safe.

Perfectly safe.

That left her especially resentful of herself, not to mention the males around, without knowing the reason why. It was like she saw these walls—these harmless, innocuous walls—were going to open up and swallow them whole, and it would all be on her blame if they did just that.

They spent the hour walking around warily, murmuring amongst themselves. She couldn't remember what about, for some reason, but she knew that they were. They'd taken breakfast a little too early in the morning, Artemis realized, and perhaps they'd have to be forced to rest for a minute and inhale something. That was until one of her companions stopped at a clothing store front.

"Would you just look at the style," Angel said to no one in particular, plucking off a top from the line. "I bet I could pull off a punk look with this."

"Not now," Arc whispered, pulling at her arm and glancing around nervously. He reminded her of the satyr from the younger days. Percy's best friend.

But looking around, she knew what he was talking about. The place smelled suspicious, and not on literal terms. Speaking of a satyr, it didn't take one to know that there were monsters lurking around in here.

Quite right. Not damn, just quite.

A young saleslady approached them. She had narrow, slanted red eyes, pointy nose, and elfish ears. Her face was impossibly pink. When she opened her mouth to say something, her teeth produced fangs. The moon goddess then started looking around for a quick, safe escape that didn't involve plowing through herds of monsters, but her companions beat her to it.

Many things happened at once. Thalia and Nico started outside, while Arc brained the saleslady with a wrench that came out of nowhere, just as more came out from the back and outside the store. Angel gave her an explosive roundhouse kick, sending her toppling into two of her fellas. The A-duo began to follow the Big Three cousins.

Meanwhile, Artemis held, shooting Ordians off from inside the store while her companions dealt with the ones outside. Once deemed appropriate time, she raced outside.

Her companions were being chased by a few monsters, and she picked them off while running, knowing that much more was behind her. She caught up to the rest of the questers.

"Now we really have to find that house."

The son of Hades grunted, closing his eyes briefly, before setting off at a direction. "This way."

Nico held up a hand, and skeletons started climbing out of the ground, holes and all. He pointed to the Ordians behind them. "Hold them off."

The bones crackled, and then they were gone.

The run was peaceful for a while, only evading the few mortals left in the scene. Finally they made it to a gated courtyard, where there were attractions that were visible from the outside. The house was in plain sight.

"There!" Thalia urged. There was a guy at the closed entrance.

"Yo and welcome. This is the Amazing M—"

"We don't need your introductions," Artemis interrupted harshly, causing the poor bloke to blink in surprise. "Let us in."

"Uh, I'm sorry ma'am, but you would need—"

"I would need your head if you don't open the entrance," the goddess snapped. "Open it, before I lose my patience and you lose something anatomically important."

"Artemis!" She turned. Angel was glaring at the gates surrounding the outside attractions. "I think we should bolt them. It won't be for long, but at least it'd buy us time."

Before she could respond, the girl sprinted back to the electric gates, her best friend behind her. The monsters were in view now, and it looked like they were going to make it before the gates were closed. But the two won't make it happen.

The goddess turned back to the guy at the entrance who was still refusing to budge under the son of Hades' threats. "Sir, you really need to pay. I'm trying to make a living—"

"Which you won't have anymore if you don't let us in," Nico spat, glaring at him like he was a gum under his shoe. "Between us or them, you'll die either way." He was pointing at the Ordians.

The guy squinted towards them. "Why the hell is there a zoo?"

Artemis had had enough. She pulled out her hunting knife and knocked him unconscious with the hilt, fuming. She took the keys from his belt loops and marched towards the house. "Boy, dump him somewhere safe. Thalia, come with me."

As she furiously kicked the rotating bar thingy, which made it lock and buckle until it broke off, Arc was shooting the Ordians with a bow (which, again, came out of nowhere), while Angel worked on closing the high voltage gates without getting nicked by anything sharp. They managed to do it nicely, but the voltage still wasn't turned on, and the monsters were already starting to climb. She looked away from them and concentrated on pushing the right key into the padlock.

Shortly after doing so, she irritably wondered why it was still locked if the guy was accepting customers already.

The lock clicked and she slid it off, and then threw it away. She pocketed the keys, deciding that they might be useful for any doors inside. She turned back to the others, who have made it just in time.

The gates—all three gates to the attractions—were now bolted and electrified. Artemis nodded with approval before throwing the door to the house open, letting out a blast of cool, air-conditioned... air. She figured it was why the door was closed.

They entered in a line. The inside was dark enough for children of the Underworld to be comfortable, though not all, perhaps.

He could see his usual haggard self. It was flashy. It was slippery. It was colorful.

Nico hated it.

The lights, though dim, were many, and they turned from bright pink, to mild purple, then a cool blue, then a dark purple, then a brighter pink. Then the lights would turn to the darkest color, as if there was such a thing as a black light. He wanted nothing more than to shut them off, or maybe make them stay in that black light somehow, because he just wanted to and he would still be able to see decently anyway, but his companions can't.

(He didn't know until later that actually only one of them couldn't.)

He stopped beside his cousin, Thalia, looking around. There wasn't really much to see, except for mirrors, mirrors, and more mirrors. He had to squint to see the way in.

The house of mimes.

At least they've finished two lines of the prophecy. The only actual lines that say instruction. After that, all bad things come over.

That leads the fated boy to his last.

That was Arc, maybe. He wondered what the poor kid was thinking about right now. He had been only a day in Camp and the next thing that meets him was a prophecy predicting his last... unspecified thing, thankfully. Well, at least he thought that Arc was the fated boy. It couldn't just be a coincidence that he asked if he was sent by the Fates just before the prophecy was issued.

Or maybe it was himself.

Nico had been the one to see them first, lead them inside Camp, and he, a male, was chosen as one of Artemis' quartet. He could be the fated boy.

No, but seriously; everyone has their fate. The Oracle was just doing its fine job of messing with them.

Before he could think about the next lines, Thalia grabbed his arm. "It's swarming with monsters."

He wasn't sure how she could tell. The lights were turning into the dark purple, and shadows settled over them. There wasn't any in sight. Or maybe there was, along the correct path of the maze, but he hadn't seen that yet. Anyhow, it was still a bit dim.

They stood alert, waiting for the lights to turn pink again. "We can't always stop to wait for the lights," Angel said. "We can't do that in the middle of this maze, especially since there are monsters around."

"Very well," Artemis agreed, looking skyward, like she was praying to someone higher than her. A goddess praying. "We're wasting time. Let's go."

The goddess led the way, walking slowly to feel every possible opening. But Nico thought of something. He looked around, and manipulated his shadow to clock around him. Only two spaces didn't show the shadow back.

"Hey, great idea, emo boy." Angel grinned at him, and picked one of the two paths.

"Wait!" Arc shouted after her, quickly following. The son of Hades frowned. They weren't even sure if that was the right path. He and the two girls ran after them.

The last he saw was that the boy was slipping past another pair of mirrors. The lights turned black. He barely had any time to survey the room he just got into, before running after the two sixteen-year olds, determined not to lose them.

They were probably the most careless, reckless demigods he's ever been with. If ever they were demigods.

Thankfully, they didn't move through this new room, and were standing in the middle, looking around warily. He was so upset that he didn't notice the lights going off completely. There weren't any windows, making it almost impossible to see without his Underworld-trained eyes.

"What were you thinking?!" Nico demanded, forgetting the unmentioned rule to keep quiet. "We could have lost you!"

"Yeah, sorry," the girl apologized, not looking like it at all. "But there's something funny about this place.."

"Where's Lady Artemis?" the other asked him, confused. "And Thalia?"

Hearing both of their names extinguished him. He blinked and did a three-sixty. All he could see was himself with the two teens. Crap, he thought.

There was a shadow at the corner of his right eye. He turned, and found another by the other side. It was all so fast that he was convinced that they were teleporting.

"Duck!"

He did, a lethal object swishing past above just a hair on his head. He was certain that it would've splattered his brains all over the floor if he weren't so quick. Or, more appropriately, if his quest friends weren't so quick at warning him.

Something happened, and suddenly his two companions were on their feet, fighting things he couldn't see. Dropped sharp weapons rained on him, and only his reflexes were keeping him alive. He crawled to a mirror and got to his feet.

Now that he was standing up, he could see that the two were fighting Ordians. It looked so hopeless that they were coming from everywhere, he thought as he joined his companions with his Stygian iron sword. But then again, they were in the house of mimes. It would be extra difficult fighting inside since you won't know whether you're facing with a reflection or not.

That didn't help when you could see monsters everywhere. They had to keep moving. Somewhere, there was a path that wasn't filled with Ordians, hidden by its mirror-like look.

He had to remind himself that these Ordians weren't too smarter than the normal monsters, remembering the time when they chased the goddess of the hunt and her lieutenant out of the woods, or when they were acting too out of character to be restaurant staff. They were just the same, taking-orders monsters.

So maybe they also didn't know the difference between a mirror and a real thing.

He was abruptly grabbed by the shoulder and dragged into another path, one that he hadn't noticed before, leaving the monsters out there, still fighting. He glanced over his shoulder. It was Arc. The boy put a finger up his lips. Nico nodded, shaking off the hand.

He glanced at the monsters again, looking to see if any one of them had noticed that he was gone. Then he turned to the boy. Surprisingly, both his cousins were there already with them. Only Angel was... somewhere else.

Arc beckoned them over to another path, walking silently. On the other room, there was their missing companion, eyeballing the mirrors.

Angel turned to them. "I've studied the direction of the mirrors. They might just help us kill those monsters from here."

Nico, through the darkness, saw the moon goddess frown and waited for her to speak up, but she didn't. So he did. "They don't give any trouble anymore. Let's just keep moving."

"No." She shook her head. "They'll follow us here, I'm positive. Besides, one try won't hurt."

It'll reveal our position, he wanted to say, but he kept quiet.

The girl looked at the lieutenant of the Hunters. "Go on. Do your daughter of Zeus thingy. Right there," she told her, pointing to one of the many mirrors around them. He didn't have time to wonder how she could identify it out of the rest.

Thalia hesitated, glancing around nervously. "Maybe Nico's right."

Angel looked like she wanted to say something witty. "Look. If this works out, then your lightning would bounce around and go back to the room those monsters were at, and it'll bounce around there, hitting monsters until they're all ka-whoosh." She did a boom gesture. "If it doesn't, then I'll make sure it doesn't hit us." She raised her hand, as if to promise.

"I-I.."

Nico locked eyes with another onyx that were much similar to his own, and then with pained silver ones. And then he knew what to do.

He stepped forward, squinting at the floor. Yes, he was standing in the right spot. He tapped in his power to control the shadows and made this one still with his feet. He just hoped that their suspicions were correct.

Then Arc stepped forward as well, with... chains. Celestial bronze chains. Where did those come from?

The boy used those to shackle the daughter-of-Zeus play-actor, who was frozen with shock that it was easy restraining her. "W-what are you—?"

Angel gave her a maniacal grin. "Guess what, honey. You didn't win the best actress award."

"I don't—"

"Thalia," Artemis said, her expression pained. "I know you're not her. Tell us who you are, where she is, and how to get to her, and we'll be more lenient with you."

She shook her head. Nico locked eyes with the others again and nodded. He clenched his fists, and the girl's breath caught, as if her chains suddenly wound tighter around her.

"You heard her," Angel warned. Alarmingly, the monsters had stopped their noises of struggle. There was a lot of shuffling and they might be heading their way. "Tell us now, so I wouldn't have to run you through."

"You won't," the daughter of Zeus managed. "You'll need me for the information, so you won't."

"There are worse things than death, honey."

To prove her point, Nico clenched his fists tighter, eliciting a gasp from their hostage. ...Gee, that sounded weird.

"Well?" Finally, the girl nodded vigorously. He loosened up at Artemis' command. Thalia was breathing heavily. "Tell us."

"The palace is underground this," she said, gasping. "The dungeon's under that.. But it's inverted—"

There was an explosion from the way they came from. Shards of mirrors flew everywhere, threatening to impale them. Angel cursed and said the obvious. "We need to run."

Nico released hold of Thalia as Arc made to pick her up. Artemis apparently decided to follow the monsters' tactic and blasted the nearest mirror with godly energy. It made a clean hole through to what he assumed was the exit door.

The goddess led the way as he and Angel brought up the rear. Their job was to protect Arc and Thalia, the building, and their own butts from the monsters which, not just seemed, but did come from everywhere right now.

The house of mimes was an ultimate Ordian base. And they were expected.

At some point in the run, he was told to put a blindfold around Thalia, which was not easy to do while running. But he managed and Arc dumped a blindfolded, trussed, and gagged daughter of Zeus onto the floor of the end of the hallway. The chains were nowhere to be found, as did the newcomer duo's other things, for some reason.

The other boy went up in front of the door and stomped down on the floor with all his might. At first Nico thought he was going crazy until the flooring cracked and broke, falling down a dark manhole thirty feet deep.

The remaining four stared downward. Angel exhaled. "Someone has to watch the traitor and protect the entrance," she said. "I'll stay."

Her tone left no room for argument. Arc hugged her. The son of Hades could've sworn he whispered a name that sounded like Millie. Or maybe it was Nelly?

They let go, and Angel smiled at them, even at him. "Don't get yourselves killed down there," she joked, directing a glance towards the goddess of the hunt. "You know who's waiting for you, lady."

The goddess nodded stiffly, jumping down into the hole. The last thing he saw before darkness was Angel Nightshade pulling out a white blade that looked like clear glass, two feet in length.

The world seemed to tilt upside down, as they landed in a small, dark room. Arc staggered, shaking his head to get rid of the lightheadedness.

"Arc? You okay?" Artemis asked him. He gave her a tiny smile and nodded. He wasn't about to comment that she was acting all weird on him ever since he found out that he had a sort of relation to her. Nope. Too risky. "Yeah. Just got a little dizzy, is all."

The room was the size of an elevator. There wasn't any other exit but a dim, narrow path to somewhere, so they weren't sure where to get out if needed.

The three exchanged glances. Nico stepped forward and extended his hand toward the way. "I'll go first," he offered quietly.

The trail was a bit long. They passed by another elevator-sized room, and it didn't have any exit above. The other two assumed it was just a little breathing room and moved on. Arc, on the other hand, stayed, eyeing the walls carefully.

There was a light indention in the wall to his left, the shape of a rectangle. A door, he thought. But how would it open? He touched the wall, feeling around for something like a switch.

Realizing they left him behind, his companions stopped and turned to him. The goddess walked back to him, leaving the son of Hades with no choice but to follow. "Arc?"

He held his breath when he felt something smooth just to the left of the indention. He dusted it off. From the looks of it, it was a sensor. A small, button-sized light on a device behind the glass pane glowed red. But it didn't seem to be working.

Artemis looked at it warily. "Is that supposed to be a camera?"

Arc stared at the mechanism behind the small glass window. He licked his lips in anticipation. "Eyes."

The son of Hades looked at him, confused.

Arc ignored him, bending his knees to meet the sensor at eye level, but one of them grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Don't. It might send an alarm."

"Maybe we should continue this path?" Nico suggested, raising an eyebrow at their hesitation.

Arc shook his head. He knew it was an eye sensor, a tool of security. He knew that only Order and his minions could get past it, however that will happen. He knew that by scanning the wrong eyes, it would send off an alarm. But he also had the feeling that he could get past it himself. Maybe he was just feeling big because of the fated boy in the prophecy, whom he somehow knew was him, but this was no arrogance. He didn't think he could; he knew he could.

Taking a deep breath, he bent his knees one more time. He closed his eyes briefly, praying to his dad and his grandma and whoever else that he was right. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he knew immediately that it was his dad's girlfriend. He looked up at her. Her eyes were soft.

"Arc, you sure about this?" He nodded silently. "Well, if something goes wrong.." She glared at him, wiping away all traces that she'd been the same lady who had soft, worried eyes. "You don't want to hear the end of it."

He cracked a smile and turned back to the sensor. He didn't have the next second to think oh-my-gods-we're-screwed before he realized that he'd looked into the sensor.

The laser came out and scanned his left eye, like a picture out of a spy movie. At that moment, the certainty he felt a while ago went flush.

AN: Thank you for reading, have a nice day! ~SmartzyFan