AN: Hey, guys, I'm not dead (obviously). In fact I have wonderful news to share with all of you! I'm accepted in Medical school and I'm starting studying Medicine this fall! Yay! Anyway I was without a laptop for two months and I lost everything I had written so far, but I'm back on my brand new laptop and I'm very inspirited. It'll take me a while to get back on track with my writing and remember where I was getting with my stories but I have hope.
Anyway I won't be able to answer your reviews because my dog ate my router last night (Yeah, I'm not kidding) and I have to use my phone to post this, but I thank you all for the support! I'll stop rambling and leave you in peace to read the new chapter. And don't forget to review please!
Iris
Chapter 2
The Begging of Friendship
Hermes did visit her after the quest, just as he said he would. She had already forgotten his promise, in the flurry of activities that had happened, so his appearance while she was brushing the Camp's horses for the race had been a shocking experience, to put it mildly.
He looked different this time, dressed in a postman's uniform, completed with the typical bag swung against his shoulder.
"Hermes?" She stammered, almost not recognizing the god who had helped her so much for the quest. Immediately, she felt guilty for forgetting all about him, but he just gave her a smile that lifted her heart slightly.
"Hello, Percy. Did you forget my promise or you just didn't recognize me without my jogging clothes?" There was amusement in his eyes and the girl relaxed slightly, suspecting that at least she wasn't about to get pulverized.
"Both actually." She admitted. "To be honest, so much has happened since our last meeting, that I completely forgot."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Hermes waved it off, dropping to sit a hay bale. "I heard about your quest. You were certainly busy."
Percy stiffened at the mention of the quest, memory of the promise she had made to Hermes, flowing into her mind. She sighed, wondering how exactly to break the news to him that his son, his favorite one, if her intuition wasn't leading her on, wanted nothing more than take down Olympus, stone by stone.
Hermes obviously read her expression, because his face darkened and turned grim. "You saw Luke, I take it."
"We did." Percy admitted, swallowing nervously. "I tried to talk to him, I swear I did, but…" She wondered how to phrase her next sentence. "He's angry and bitter. He feels like you have abandoned him and it fuels his hatred for the gods and Olympus." She paused. "I'm so sorry Hermes."
The god was silent for a long moment, watching the hale-covered wooden floor as if it was the most interesting thing in existence. By the slump of his shoulders, Percy could see his sadness and unconsciously moved closer, sitting next to him, offering whatever comfort she could. For some reason, she didn't like seeing him sad. If the stories were correct, which she knew they were, Hermes was usually a mischievous, funny guy, which was entirely different from the crestfallen, entirely too serious person in front of her.
"Do you ever feel like your father has abandoned you, Percy?" His unexpected question brought her out of her musings and she froze at once. Had she felt abandoned by Poseidon? Hell yes, only a few hundred times a day. She had met her father only once in her seventeen years of life, last summer. She had never been to his underwater palace. He had never called, or written or at least shown his face, even while she had been so lost and confused after Tyson's claiming. He hadn't even shown any interest in her quest or her achievements. Nothing.
Hermes next to her sighed, looking at her through sympathetic eyes. "Percy, the hardest part about being a god is that you must often act indirectly, especially when it comes to your own children. If we were to intervene every time our children had a problem … well, that would only create more problems and more resentment. But I believe if you give it some thought, you will see that Poseidon has been paying attention to you. He has answered your prayers. I can only hope that someday, Luke may realize the same about me. Whether you feel like you succeeded or not, you reminded Luke who he was. You spoke to him."
"I tried to kill him in a duel to death." Percy reminded miserably, her good mood vanishing completely.
"Families are messy." Hermes shrugged. "Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse … and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."
It was far from Percy's idea of the perfect family, but well, it was the one she got. And when she thought back on it, Poseidon had helped her, in his strange, mystical way that were pretty hard to understand unless she actually thought about it.
In the distance, the call of a conch shell was heard.
"You should go. I've gotten you into enough trouble already." Hermes said, frowning slightly and Percy was surprised to find herself disappointed that they wouldn't be able to talk more. But she knew he was right. The last thing she needed at the moment was having to run away from the vicious cleaning harpies. "Just one more thing." Hermes held up a finger, while rummaging through his messenger bag with the other. He took out a blue envelope and placed it in Percy's unexpecting hands and she almost dropped it as she recognized the neat handwriting she had seen only once before.
"Just sign here." With slightly trembling fingers she signed the form he gave her and Hermes send her a sympathetic look, before glancing down to his wristwatch with regret. "I really must go." Percy nodded somewhat sadly and he offered a grin. "I'll see you soon." And with a wink, he was gone in a flash of golden light, unknowingly leaving Percy to read the most disappointing letter in her life.
Percy glared at the boy in front of her, wishing for nothing more than to run him through with Riptide. But he was a mortal. Unfortunately. Drawing her sword would do nothing but expose her and make them think she was mad.
"What happened Jackson? Lost for words? Why don't you run to daddy," The boy sneered. "Oh, wait, you don't have one." Percy growled, her hands clinching into fists against her tights. Her blood boiled. She tried counting to ten in her head, just like the school adviser had told her to do so many times, but it wasn't long after she reached two when her fist was already flying forward, connecting with the guy's nose with a loud crack . Blood flowed and he gasped, one hand clutching his face. His friends gathered quickly around him, but he pushed them away in a sign of bravery Percy was surprised to see.
"You bitch!" The boy, whose name was actually Eric or something like that (Percy didn't care enough to remember) growled, though it was slightly muffled because of his nose. His hand rose as if to strike her and the girl readied herself, using her inborn battle instincts to calculate how to evade his strike.
But there was no need of it, because before Eric could do anything, another voice stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I was you." Percy twirled around when she recognized the voice and the bullies followed her gaze to the man leaning against the alley wall.
He was tall and lean, with sharp, elfish features, though instead of the usual mischievous smile, they were now twisted in a cold grimace that was surprisingly dangerous looking. His eyes burned through the boys and Percy was pleased to see the frightened faces of her tormentors for just a moment before they broke into a run and disappeared.
Cowards. As soon as the odds evened they were gone before she could blink.
With a sigh, Percy tore her eyes away from the place Eric and his gang had disappeared. She turned to look at the visitor who had probably saved her from having her life beaten out of her.
"Thanks Hermes." She murmured, bending to pick up her disregarded backpack from the ground. For her surprise, his hand was there first and he effortlessly swung her backpack over his own shoulder, flashing her mischievous smile.
"You are walking home, aren't you?" He asked and Percy nodded in confusion. "I'll escort you."
She suppressed a snort. "Escort me? Are you or something?"
"Well, I like to think I'm much more laid back and funny but whatever works for you, I guess." He grinned at her and the girl couldn't help but smile back.
It felt kind of weird walking side by side with one of the Olympian gods, have him carry her bag, as if they were just a pair of normal people, taking a relaxing stroll. She felt the eyes of her classmates on her as they walked past her school and realized what it might look like to them – a boy walking her home, carrying her things, so close that their shoulders were brushing together. She blushed when she thought about how her classmates will tease her tomorrow. Hermes obviously noticed her flustered state, because he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
"What is it?" He asked causing her to redden even more and bow her head in embarrassment.
"I was just thinking about the conclusions they would make." She nodded her head towards the kids gaping at her. They had never seen her with a boy. There were even rumors around school that she was interested in females because no one ever had seen her date.
They weren't true, of course. Percy was very much interested in the opposite sex, but she tried to stay away from affairs with the mortal boys. She didn't look forward to having to explain the monsters that haunted her all the time to some poor mortal guy. That, of course, left the possibility of dating a demigod, but she was not it the mood for love right now.
"Let them speculate." Hermes told her with a grin, wrapping a hand around her shoulders, before smirking at the crowd of students. "This is kind of funny."
Percy couldn't help but laugh with him, despite knowing what hellish day she would face tomorrow.
Like a true gentleman would, Hermes did walk her to the front door, chatting lightly on the way there, making her laugh more than Percy remembered laughing in a long time. For her surprise, regret was her first thing she felt at the sight of her home. She didn't want to go home yet, but she knew her time with Hermes was over. He was a busy god and the girl was surprised he even had the time to walk her home.
"Hermes, thank you" She said sincerely, turning to him with a smile. She had needed this, a friend who would make her forget all about her troubles, make her forget about being a demigod even if he himself was a part of the Greek world that had obsessed her life.
"My pleasure" He grinned cheekily back at her. "I'll see you soon, Persephone Jackson." Percy closed her eyes when erupted in golden light, before entering her home, the lighthearted smile lingering on her lips for a long time afterwards.
"Who was he?"
"Are you dating him?"
"Is he your secret boyfriend?"
Percy suppressed a growl of irritation, pushing past the crowd of girls, heading for the front door of the school building. Honestly, they were like a flock of annoying, vicious, gossiping harpies. She couldn't wait to get to the peace and quiet her home offered and just relax in front of the TV for a few hours while her mom was still at work.
She pushed the glass door opened and sighed slightly when the cool wind stung her face. She hated the autumn. The weather was way too changeable for her taste and if it rained she always had to be careful to actually let the water soak her so nobody would get suspicious. It was annoying really.
"Oh my God!" She heard one of her classmates gasp, Clarisse, if Percy remembered right (No connection to the daughter of Ares, though in that moment Percy would have preferred the demigod's company.) and her eyes immediately streaked across the courtyard in search for danger. What she saw made her freeze in surprise and shock.
Percy Jackson had seen a lot of unexpected things in her life and most people would have thought she would have gotten used to it by now but nothing had surprised her more than seeing Hermes leaning casually against a tree just outside the school gates, obviously waiting for her.
His eyes sparked mischievously when he looked at her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth at the sight of her classmates' shocked faces.
"He's hot!" Percy heard someone exclaim but didn't even turn around too acknowledge the girl, jogging down the stairs to join the Olympian god who, for some reason, had decided to pay her a second visit in the matter of two days.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed under her breath when she was finally in hearing distance, scowling at the mischievous god, despite the warm feeling blooming in her chest at the sight of him. "Do you have any idea what they-" She nodded towards the crowd gathered at the school entrance. "-Will think? I can already hear the theories swirling in their heads!"
Hermes said nothing, but his smile widened into a full-blown grin that was enough answer for the demigod, whose eyes turned to slits. "That's why you did it, didn't you? You are having fun with all this."
"Guilty." He said, chuckling. "But don't look at me so accusingly. You have to admit that your classmates' shock is extremely amusing."
Percy just rolled her eyes and walked past him so fast that he had to jog to walk at her side. "Oh come on!" He exclaimed when she refused to look at him. "You can't be angry at me!" No answer. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry." He sighed. "I promise I'll make it up to you." Silence. "Please."
Percy glanced at him with the corner of her eye, taking in his perfect puppy-dog eyes expression and the pout that was way too good to be real. She felt a smile tug at her lips at the sight of the all-powerful Olympian practically begging for her forgiveness. "You have a lot of sucking up to do." She told him, finally unable to hold back her grin.
He shot her a relieved smile and a mock salute. "As you wish, ma'am"
Percy couldn't help but laugh at the absurdness of the situation and he soon joined in until they were stumbling along the street laughing their hearts out. The demigod smiled when they finally reached her front door, her breathing still ragged from laughing.
"I had fun, Hermes." She told him genuinely, feeling happier than she could remember being recently. "Thank you." His answering smile was blinding.
It became their ritual after that, whenever Hermes had free time (which, unfortunately was not as often as Percy wished) he would pick her up from school and walk her home, telling her jokes on the way until they were laughing their heads off, all the drama of the Greek world forgotten at the moment.
Don't forget to read and review!