Chapter Twenty Five - "Oh, gods, it talks!?"
"Dude, where's your pants?" One of the kids in orange t-shirts asked, gesturing at my saffron chiton.
I grumbled, fighting to remind myself that I didn't need to adjust the garment. Nothing would show, and my modesty was well preserved. It was harder to do when everyone else in the elevator was wearing normal clothes.
"That doesn't even look like a camp shirt," another kid said. "It's the wrong shade of orange, and there's no logo on it."
"I've never seen him before," a third helpfully chimed in.
"Pretty sure that's a girl, dude," the first kid said.
"I am a girl," I said, gritting my teeth. "And, I don't go to your camp. This isn't a shirt, it's a chiton. And it's not orange, it's saffron."
"It looks orange," the second kid said.
Why didn't I get changed after the competition? Oh, right... I wanted to make it to the meeting in time to maybe be claimed. On the one hand, nobody else was claimed before the meeting was cut short, so I didn't miss out. On the other hand, that really sucked for everyone involved. Now I was stuck in a cramped elevator with a group of kids from the camp while Mariah Carey belted out her number one holiday hit. She'd been singing it at least as long as I'd been alive and, if that's what she really wanted, she could have me.
Finally, the doors opened and we got out. The lobby carried a chill that hadn't been present on the mountain, and I felt a shiver at the thought of what it must be like outside in the land of no central heat. Instead of following the campers to the rest of their group, I made my way to the restroom nearby. Like hell I was going to run back home without jeans covering my legs. They wouldn't be much protection from the biting cold, but some protection was always better than none at all.
Once I had finished dressing, and had changed my chiton back into a winter parka, I headed back out to the lobby. By this point, it seemed that everyone that had been up on Olympus had made it back down the elevator. The kids in orange shirts were silently being divided up into three groups by a man with really bad skin wearing a thick leather jacket and wrap around sunglasses despite it being long passed nightfall. Passing by, I stopped in my tracks as I realized that what I had initially mistaken for a bad case of acne scars were actually eyeballs. Dozens of eyeballs covering every bit of exposed skin - including his fingers and nose. I blinked. He blinked back. I was going to be sick!
"You know you don't have to help me up, right?" Andromeda's voice cut through the din and I turned to see her standing beside the open door of a white van with the words Delphi Strawberry Services on the side, hands on her hips as if trying to scold someone.
"Are you telling me I can't be nice to my sister?" the dark-haired boy from the park said softly, with a smirk. So he was her brother.
Andromeda scoffed before finally accepting his offered hand, climbing into the van. "Budge over, Annabeth!" she shouted, and the van rocked slightly as the passengers got settled. I blinked, confused. Didn't she call him Andros before? Maybe I'd misheard.
"Hey, Skipper!" I jumped as Hunter's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "You okay, there?"
"I'm fine," I lied, trying to calm my racing pulse. "Where did you come from just now?"
"We've been trying to get your attention for a couple minutes," Hunter said, raising an eyebrow.
"We?" I asked, then noticed Phoebe standing to the side. "Ah, hey."
"We'll need to work on your situational awareness, Skipper," Phoebe said, shaking her head with a mirthless chuckle.
"I thought you would be off with the rest of the group heading to the camp by now?" I said, though it came out more like a question.
"Zoë agreed that I could stick around with you," Hunter said. "At least until we get new marching orders."
"And, if it's alright with Giuseppe," Phoebe added.
"Right, that too," Hunter said.
"What if he's not okay with it?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"In that case, we were told we have to make our own way to the camp," Hunter said. "And we'll have to sit out the victory party when we win the capture the flag game tomorrow."
"Don't you mean 'if' you win?" I asked.
"Nope," Phoebe grinned. "When we win. We never lose."
Our run back to the apartment would have left me frozen to the bones if not for my pyrokinetic powers. The snow had begun to fall as we were leaving, and I eventually decided to superheat myself to maintain warmth. Of course, this had the side effect of my melting the snow that had already fallen - leaving a trail of rapidly freezing puddles in my wake. I briefly wondered what the mortals would make of the sudden black ice along fifth avenue, but found I really didn't care either.
Another side effect of using my powers in this manner was that instead of bursting into flames, I actually glowed. All of my exposed skin - including my face according to Hunter and Phoebe - looked like I had turned a lantern on inside my body. In a manner of speaking, I suppose I had. I found I didn't care about that much either. I was warm, and my enchanted parka kept me (mostly) dry.
"Uncle Joe, I'm back!" I called out walking inside the apartment. "And I brought company."
"Is it tha' Andromeda girl?" Ari's voice asked as a warm breeze that had nothing to do with the central heating wrapped around the room. A moment later, the wind nymph appeared standing in the doorway to the hall.
"Afraid not," Hunter said, coming inside followed immediately by Phoebe who closed the door.
"Who's this Andromeda?" Phoebe asked. "She a prospective hunt candidate?"
"Nah nothin' like tha'," Ari chirped. "She's a girl tha' Penny here's been makin' moon eyes at."
"Ari..." I glared.
"Now, let's not tease her too badly, Ari," uncle Joe said, coming to my rescue. "She only just got back. Ah, hello ladies. To what do we owe the pleasure of this unannounced visit?"
If either of the hunters felt guilty, neither showed it. Instead, Phoebe spoke up; "There was an incident during the meeting. Nobody really knows the details yet, but everyone but the gods were kicked out."
"We'd normally be at the camp right now," Hunter said. "But, since Skipper here isn't, we thought we'd stick close and keep an eye on her in case something happens."
"An incident, huh?" uncle Joe rubbed his chin before looking at the two girls shrewdly. "Do you expect something to happen, or are you just trying to avoid the camp a little longer?"
"Mostly the latter," Hunter admitted, receiving an elbow to the side from the larger girl.
"I figured," uncle Joe chuckled. "Well, since you were honest, allow me to welcome you into my home once again. And that welcome extends to your companion as well. If nothing else, maybe being down two bodies might help even things out for my old camp."
"I wouldn't count on it," Phoebe grinned.
"No," uncle Joe said with a wry smile. "Neither would I. Hunter, you know where the spare cot is. I'd worry about not having two, but if my memory serves, you didn't really seem to need one the last time you stayed." Hunter blushed with embarrassment. Point to uncle Joe. "Nipote, help them by getting blankets and pillows, please. I'm turning in early tonight."
It only took ten minutes to pull out the extra bedding and set up the cot in my room, and we soon found ourselves talking about our time on Olympus. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to say that I was being pressed for details on what I had gotten up to on the mountain by myself.
"Come on, Skipper," Hunter goaded. "We only ever go up there with Lady Artemis and even then it's always as a group. The only place we've been aside from the meeting hall is her palace."
"She has a palace up there?" I asked.
"All the gods do," Phoebe said. "Well, except for one..."
I wanted to ask who she meant, but Hunter pressed on; "You got to wander around without supervision. Do you know how lucky you are? Tell us everything!"
"Alright," I finally conceded. "But it's not really all that interesting."
I proceeded to tell them all about my experiences, starting with my running late, browsing the marketplace and eventually being recruited into the eating competition by the goddess of feasts herself.
"Yeah, I dunno," I said. "That one god, Theo-something? He seemed to make a big deal out of my even competing, and Thalia seemed surprised when I pointed it out afterward."
"The normal dose of ambrosia for a demigod is only a few bites!" Hunter exclaimed. "And that's only the heavily diluted stuff they pass down to us near mortals."
"I wonder how diluted it must have been up there, then?" I mused. "I know I ate around eighty of the cookies, give or take, and I feel totally fine. Actually, now that I think about it, I feel better than I have in a while."
"Seriously, Skipper, how are you not dead?!" Phoebe asked, incredulously. "The gods don't dilute their food. It's not deadly for them, so why would they?"
"This is really a big deal, huh?" I asked.
"Yes!" both hunters shouted.
"I see. I think I'll ask uncle Joe to call up Doctor Phoebe in the morning, then," I said.
"Doctor who?" Hunter asked, trying not to snicker as she glanced from me to the other hunter.
"Doctor Phoebe," I repeated. "She's ...er... probably the closest thing to a general practitioner that I have access to. Uncle Joe took me to see her when I'd had my ribs kicked in by a street gang a while back."
Hunter shook her head, opening her mouth to say something when we heard a crash from the restaurant downstairs.
"Maybe it was a rat?" Hunter said, though it came out more like a question.
There was another crash followed by a muffled curse. We stared at each other for a moment, then sprung quickly to our feet as one. Was it a bad idea for three young girls to be investigating a strange sound in the middle of the night in Manhattan's Lower East Side on their own? Probably.
Still, something had happened on Olympus that had the gods scrambling, so maybe this was related somehow. I was suddenly very glad I had the two hunters with me tonight. Being careful not to make too much noise walking across the apartment, I braced myself against the blast of icy air as I opened the door. The snow was coming down more heavily now, obscuring the steps under a thickening white blanket.
Slowly, carefully, we made our way to the front of the building. The lights were on and I could count at least two shadows moving around. Whoever had broken in seemed to be lurking in the kitchen. For a brief moment, I considered turning back and just calling the cops. But, the neighborhood we were in coupled with the snow on the ground would likely mean the cops wouldn't make it until long after everything was over. I used my key to unlock the door, and we silently eased our way inside making sure not to ring the bell and alert the intruders, shutting the door behind us.
Once inside, we all nearly choked on our gag reflexes. I had thought the Stench of Gabe had long since dissipated, but now it seemed to have returned with a vengeance! Drawing our knives, we crept to the kitchen and peeked around the corner. I couldn't help the gasp that escaped as I laid eyes on the intruders.
They were short, which meant something coming from me! Three feet tall at the most, with coal black skin and long, forked tails. One of the creatures, the source of the odor, had the storage door wide open and was rooting around in the tubs of ingredients with his crusty fingers while another stood relieving himself into the pot of sauce uncle Joe had left simmering for the next day.
"That is not a rat," Phoebe said.
The creature on the stove turned to us, his face twisting into an amused grin; "Thish ish exactly whut it looksh like."