Chapter Twenty Five - When Am I Going To Get My Break?
I was dreaming again. "How do you know that?" I hear you ask. The answer was simple. There was a teenage girl glaring angrily at me while fruitlessly trying to cover the fact that she was only wearing her underwear.
"Huh," I blinked. "You know, I think that's a..."
"A 'good look' on me," the other girl snapped. "Yeah, you already said so. Fix it, now!"
I opened my mouth to ask how I was supposed to fix her wardrobe when I felt the floor beneath my feet vanish, and I found myself falling into pitch darkness. The last thing I heard before the hole closed up above me, was the girl screaming wordlessly - in frustration or concern, I wasn't sure. Sorry, dream girl.
The darkness was absolute and I had no idea how long I was falling. Finally, I sensed rather than felt myself come to a stop. The darkness was still absolute, but there was a newfound pressure from all sides rooting me firmly in place.
You have held on too long, already. Any longer and you will be unable to avoid suspicion.
The voice in the dark sounded unspeakably old and powerful. It passed through me and would have frozen me in place if I could move.
"What will you have me do?" A second voice asked. It was masculine, with the barest hint of arrogance and false bravado masking a tremor of fear. I was glad to know I wasn't the only one affected.
Make the drop today. Ensure the package arrives in one piece. I trust even you can handle such a simple task.
"I understand," the other voice said.
Do not disappoint me. The threat was clear.
Suddenly, I felt the pressure release and found myself waking up
I woke up to the sound of the alarm clock blaring some Kelly Clarkson song. Thankfully, Annabeth managed to kill the offending track before too much damage could be done to our fragile pre-teen minds.
"What time is it?" I asked, sitting up and blinking away the sleep from my eyes.
I had not slept all that well, surprisingly. For some reason, despite being used to being used as a personal space heater by Hunter whenever she'd sleep over, it was a completely different experience when it came to Andromeda and Annabeth sandwiching me between them. I had initially been worried about overheating them, but they both seemed to be completely fine and had both fallen asleep pretty quickly. Unfortunately a combination of nerves and a sudden thunderstorm rolling in just passed midnight kept me up later than I would have liked.
"Early," Annabeth replied, shaking Andromeda slightly. "Come on, wake up."
"Don' wanna," Andromeda mumbled. "'m warm."
"Don't care," Annabeth said, as she mercilessly rolled the blanket-wrapped Andromeda off the bed with a heavy thump.
"Ann-a-beth!" Andromeda whined, pronouncing each syllable with exaggerated emphasis as she sat up. I blinked. Her hair seemed to have grabbed onto the pillow and was seemingly refusing to let go.
"Um..." I pointed, unable to fully process.
"Huh? Oh! Dang it," Andromeda grunted with some effort as she pulled the pillow free from the tangled grasp of her hair. Annabeth's laughter was quickly cut off by said pillow being hurled into her face.
"Is everything alright in there?" Grover asked through the door. I was grateful that he didn't try opening it. Andromeda had been over prepared with bringing spare sets of clothing for us in her bag, but she didn't exactly have extra pajamas. Andromeda was wearing a button-down pajama top that extended to just below her hips, while Annabeth wore the matching shorts and a spare tank top. I was making due with a spare shirt that was oversized for my petite frame.
"We're fine," Annabeth said. "Give us a few minutes to get dressed and we'll be right out.
"Sounds good," he called back. "Then we can get breakfast. I'm starved."
At the mention of breakfast, my own stomach growled. Andromeda had been adamant that we not dial room service. She seemed to believe that if we called any sort of attention to ourselves, that we'd be thrown out immediately. Unfortunately, I couldn't set her mind at ease by telling her about the system that was in place for children of Aphrodite - Silena had been clear that it was a secret, after all.
"Ugh, it's tangled even worse than usual..." Andromeda said, running her fingers through the curly mess that was her hair in an effort to tame it.
"Um, if you like, I could help out," I said.
"Nobody touches my hair," Andromeda said.
"Yeah," Annabeth nodded. "Anyone that tries risks losing a finger. Legend says there's still a bird in there somewhere."
"There is NOT!" Andromeda glowered.
"No, I mean I can use magic to get it untangled. It's a thing I can do, see?" I decided a demonstration would be in order, so I concentrated and grew out my hair into a mane of dark curls similar to Andromeda's, but less wild. "And it's not just length and style, I can also do colors too."
I shook my head, the wild hair receding back into its customary pixie bob before cycling to a deep cerulean blue. Andromeda glowered for a moment, then asked; "You promise not to do anything weird?"
"I'll just make it lay right," I said. "No cutting or coloring unless you ask. Unless you'd like a styling?"
"No! Just... Just make it like yours was a minute ago," She said.
"You got it," I grinned, walking over to run my fingers through her hair. Annabeth wasn't kidding about it being able to trap small animals! Eventually, I managed to work my fingers to the top of her scalp. "Alright, this will feel a little weird, but it won't hurt."
I closed my eyes and focused my magic through my fingers, directing her hair to sort itself. Within seconds her curls, no longer tangled, framed her face like a lion's mane.
"That was..." Andromeda trailed off, reaching up hesitantly to touch her hair.
"Weird?" I grinned. "Yeah, I told you. What do you think?"
"How's it look?" She asked, turning to Annabeth.
"Like your mom spent three hours and several bottles of product," Annabeth said. "That's seriously impressive."
"I can do you too, if you like," I said, wriggling my fingers toward the blonde.
"I... I think I'm good," She said. "We still need to get dressed or Grover might try eating the couch."
"Will not!" Grover said defensively, though it sounded a little muffled.
"Man, it's really coming down isn't it?" Grover said, remarking on the sheet of rain buffeting the lobby windows as we stepped out of the elevator. "You don't think He's upset that we flew yesterday, do you?"
"Probably," Andromeda grumbled. "I told you it was a bad idea to fly."
"It was the fastest method of travel," I argued. "Besides, we were safe with those two. Brit wouldn't let anything happen to them."
"It wasn't them I was worried about!"
"Guys!" Annabeth snapped. "Cool it. Both of you. We're tired and hungry, I get it, but we need to put our heads together and not be at each others' throats, okay?"
For a moment neither of us spoke, and the silence seemed to stretch until it was finally broken by Grover's stomach growling. That was enough to break the tension and we shared a laugh.
"Sorry," I said. "We really should get something to eat. I don't really like my chances of going outside in all that." I gestured at the rain-soaked windows. "So why don't we take advantage of our stay and at least try out the restaurant?"
"Sounds good," Grover said.
"They probably at least have a News station going," Annabeth said. "We might be able to get an idea of how the weather will affect our travel from here."
"Fine..." Andromeda said, clearly not wanting to, but seeing that she was out voted. Seriously, what was her problem? Couldn't she see that I was trying to do something nice for her with all this?
As we neared the entrance to the restaurant, we could hear raised voices. With a shared glance, we quickly moved to see what the commotion was. Had some monster tracked our scent here? As it turned out, no. Instead of a monster, we were greeted by the sight of what looked like the restaurant manager reducing one of his waitstaff to the point of tears.
"You're an incredible pain in the ass, and every time I see that perpetually blank look on your goddamn face that tells me you wouldn't know your ass from a hole in the ground if you didn't have written directions, it makes me want to pick you up and shake you until all the hours of my life that you've wasted fall out. Now get back to work!"
"No, fuck you and fuck this job!" The waiter shouted, whipping off his vest and throwing it in the screaming manager's face. "I'm out."
"You walk out those doors, you're fired!"
"Tell it to the unemployment office, asshole!"
My blood boiled, and I could feel the fire within me wanting to rise. This was NOT how a manager should treat his employee - in public or anywhere! Next to me, Andromeda seemed to be squaring up to give that man a piece of her own mind as well.
"Guys..." Grover said, nervously. "We're trying not to stick out, remember? Don't fight the mortals."
"That guy deserves it," Andromeda hissed. "And if my mom was here..."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Where does he get off acting like that? This place is supposed to be higher class than that."
"Well, I tend to have that effect on people," said a male voice just behind us. His tone was light, but carried a subtle threat.
We turned to see a hulking mass of muscles squeezed into motorcycle leathers. He looked like the Hollywood idea of a biker gang leader. Too clean cut and conventionally attractive by far. His hair was styled in a military high and tight, and despite the storm outside, he wore a pair of blood red wraparound sunglasses that completely obscured his eyes.
"Who...?" I started to ask, but was interrupted.
"L-L-Lord Ares," Grover gulped. Ah, so this was Clarisse's dad. Looking closer, I could see they had the same sneer.
"What are you doing here?" Andromeda asked, frowning.
"Andromeda!" Annabeth gasped, turning to the god; "I am so sorry. What she meant was how can we help you?"
"That's not what I m-mmph!" Andromeda was quickly cut off by Annabeth clapping a hand over her mouth.
"I think it's a valid question," I said. "Pretty sure this isn't your usual beat. You pissed because your kid got her ass kick...mmmph!?"
It was now my turn for Annabeth to clap her other hand over my mouth. Then the god of war did something that shocked us all. He started laughing!
"It's cool," the god said, once he'd regained his composure. "You got attitude, that's good. I like it. Don't worry, I don't fight my kids' battles. She picked a fight and she lost, that's on her. Now, why don't we all have a seat and talk over breakfast. Hey, you!" He called out to the formerly screaming manager. "Come seat us and grab a menu."
The manager looked like he was about to argue, then realized how hopelessly outclassed he was and gulped, nodding his head and doing as he was told.
"Go on and pick whatever you want," Ares said. "It's on me today."
"That's... Strangely generous," I said, biting back my initial response with a side-long look at Annabeth.
"Generous? Nah, I just heard you were in town and figured I'd feed you up before I sent you off on a little job," Ares said. "An army marches on its stomach, after all."
"Why would we do a job for you?" Andromeda asked, after we'd placed our order - we'd all quickly decided on the big breakfast meal. "We're kind of busy, if you hadn't noticed. Trying to find a weapon that even you couldn't track down."
I could see light flickering behind those sunglasses as the god clenched his jaw. Then the tension left his shoulders and he grinned again. "Yeah, 'cept there's just one small problem. Namely, the weather. It's knocked out all major public transportation in the area. You want to keep going, you'll have to swim." I shuddered. "Now, I'm feeling nice. Doesn't happen often, so you should take advantage when the mood strikes me. You're picking up after my own mess with this little quest, so I figure the least I could do is get you closer to where you're headed."
"Cut to the chase," I glared. "What do you want?"
"I was hangin' out with my girlfriend, you know... On a date night. Paid an after hours visit to a local water park near here."
"Couldn't get her wet enough on your own?" I asked, and the table went silent. Annabeth and Andromeda were blushing, Grover looked horrified and even Ares seemed to be in shock.
"Penelope!" Andromeda and Annabeth both hissed. Annabeth clamped a hand over my mouth before turning to Ares and said; "She won't interrupt you again, sir. Please, continue?"
"Well," Ares cleared his throat, sending me an impressive glare through his sunglasses. "As I was saying, one thing lead to another and I ended up leaving my shield behind when we bounced. I could go back and get it myself, but I figure it'd be more fun to make you four do it instead. This way you do something for me and I can do something nice for you."
The manager must have lit a fire under the cooks in the kitchen, because the food was brought out faster than I would have thought. Ares handed the hapless manager a stack of gold drachmas. Thankfully, Annabeth let go of my mouth so I could eat.
"Ah, sir...?" The manager started to say something, probably to question the obviously foreign currency.
"There a problem?" Ares snarled.
"Ah, no sir. Sorry sir," the manager-turned-waiter said hurriedly. "Enjoy your meal, sir."
"Get lost."
"And how am I supposed to get anything in this weather?" I asked as the poor mortal ran away as if his very life were in danger - which, I guess it might have been. If this was how Ares behaved normally, I could see Clarisse came by it honest.
"That's your job to figure out," Ares sneered. "Get my shield, and I'll get you on your way. But don't take too long or you'll miss your ride."
And just like that, the god was gone.