"Are we in a better mood today, Perseus?"
"Let me sleep, Witch," sleeping beauty groaned. He pulled the sheets over his head to shield himself from the witch's words. He had been dreaming of the blonde woman again without the screaming she had done the previous time.
"We have a big day ahead of us." Hekate tugged at the sheets with no success. "The final match starts tonight, and we need to get there early." She tugged harder. "Come on. You'll love the atmosphere."
Annoyed, he threw the sheet from his head. His iris glowed as he hissed at her, "I will rain it out if you don't let me sleep."
Hekate huffed, her hands falling to her hips with a jingle from her bracelets, "They play through the weather and have wards to shield the rain from the camping grounds. Your storm is ineffectual."
Percy shrugged as he let his head fall back onto the pillow, muttering as he did so, "Camping grounds? I'm not camping. I am sleeping on an actual bed. I'm not questing and hitching rides in train carts anymore."
The goddess rolled her eyes as she grabbed at his sheets again with a touch of divine strength, "You act like I cannot just summon a water bed for you to sleep on at any moment."
The sheets gave way, revealing the teen.
"A water bed?" he snarked. "Profiling much?"
She tilted her head to the side and gave him a deadpan stare, "Don't give me that, Perseus. I am trying to make this pleasant for you. You are a son of the sea. A water bed makes sense."
He turned his nose up at her with a hand over his heart, "That's called profiling, and I don't stand for it."
"Well, good thing you are still lying in bed. A water bed, I might add."
"Can you leave already?" he flopped back. "You didn't even knock."
"Knock?" she frowned, puzzled over what apparently she did wrong. "Fine." She turned away. "When you decide to be mature, breakfast will be ready in less than ten minutes."
Eyes open, he perked up, "Breakfast?"
"Yes, child." She rolled her eyes. "Chop, chop."
Percy watched her leave. The wood door creaked as it swung shut behind her. The door was aggressively annoying with the way it screamed close, like listening to a frog croak outside your window when all you wanted to do was sleep while battling a migraine.
Hekate had brought him to what she called her "fifth home." It was a moderate-sized house if you compare it to the White House back in the States.
The mansion, as that was what it really was, had been a tad run down. Dust and cobwebs had covered everything in the absence of life within the halls, but with a clap of Hekate's hands, a visible ripple of power transformed the house. Not even the smallest of grime was left behind as the cracked wallpaper was restored to brand new. The metal in the chandelier over the central atrium shined almost as bright as the candles it held. The marble floors reflected the very ceiling like a mirror.
It was opulent and overboard in Percy's eyes. A show of pride and extravagance he expected from a god.
The only thing that made it feel somewhat not extravagant was the fact the room he had chosen for himself had the creakiest door ever known to man. Hekate had tried to voodoo it away, but Percy had stopped her before she could.
She had asked why he wanted it to creak, and he shrugged it off. He liked the imperfection, and she rolled her eyes, mumbled something about mortals, and walked away.
He didn't feel like mentioning that it reminded him of his farmhouse or that it was a good way to tell if someone was trying to sneak into his room. She probably would have called him paranoid or crazy, and she would be right.
However, he didn't even hear her enter the room through the door… Did she teleport in? Did he not hear it? Was he getting rusty?
He didn't have Olive here to watch his back and the grounds while he slept, and he didn't trust Hekate to have his interests in mind either. She was a god, after all. He would have to be more vigilant himself.
"Come on, fish!" Hekate shouted throughout the halls. "We have a great day ahead of us."
Percy threw his feet off the side of his bed and stood. Arms reached for the sky as he groaned and stretched before finding suitable clothes in his trunk.
His trunk… That was a new purchase by Hekate. It was not a suitcase or a backpack but an actual trunk designed to hold all of his wizarding school supplies. He wasn't too sure about lugging that thing around. It looked like something he would find in someone's grandparents' attic from when they traveled the Oregon Trail.
Hekate did say she expanded upon the base magics on the trunk, however. All the packing he did for the year-long trip was nestled away in a compartment no bigger than a lunchbox. Then, all the school supplies and books she dumped in there fit into an even smaller portion of the compartment. Dimensional expansion magic was nifty like that. Not that he would praise Hekate aloud, though. Gods do not need more of an ego.
"You are testing my patience, Perseus!"
Percy yanked open the door and stepped out of his room.
"I'm literally walking to you now," he growled back, his voice bouncing around the bend of the hallway to where Hekate was. "And, I will have you know, it has not even been close to ten minutes. It has been like three at most."
Percy turned the corner.
Food… food was everywhere.
He could see why she was so impatient to start eating. There was quite literally everything on the table. From Demeter-approved wheat cereal to steak and eggs, the white tablecloth was barely visible beneath plates and plates of food.
"I didn't know what you liked, so I did some of everything." Hekate smiled at him. "I want today to be a good day for us. What better way to start than your favorite breakfast?"
"Blue foods are my go-to," he spoke, his eyes still lingering on the food. He slowly pulled out a chair and took his seat.
"Blue? Like blueberries?"
A plate of blueberries rose from the table's far side and floated towards him.
"Sure." he grabbed the floating plate. "I like them. But, I was more getting at the idea of food being dyed blue. I don't do it often anymore, but my mother, when she was mixing up a batter or anything, would add food coloring to it. It is our thing. She's done it for as long as I can remember."
Hekate smiled even wider, "Your mother is a lovely woman. I see why your father strayed from his vows."
Her hand swiped over the table spread, and the batter-based foods turned blue.
Magic was nifty.
He speared a stack of blue pancakes and grabbed some sausage patties. He grabbed another plate to load up with steak and eggs.
Food coma, here I come.
"Did you cook all this?" he asked, his fork finding purchase in a sausage pattie. "Like, this is a lot of food to make, and I usually wake up when bacon starts to sizzle."
She rolled her eyes, "Of course not. I don't know my way around mortal cookware anymore." She nodded her head to where he could see the stove. It was an electric one. "That thing doesn't even have a flame to cook on. Do mortals cook on wireless heat or something now? I recall the Forge God saying something about using waves to cook, but nobody ever cared to listen to him. I mean, using water and the tide to cook food seems impractical."
Percy paused before taking a bite as he slowly turned to Hekate, "I'm astounded at what I just heard."
"Don't give me that." She flicked her black hair to the side without a care. "I'm a goddess. I need not consumption to sustain myself as your body does. Food is not a need as it is for you."
"And the table spread?" Percy gestured to the expansive breakfast banquet.
"For you. We have a long day, and your body must sustain itself as long as needed. A quidditch match could take all night to finish."
"Right..." Percy nodded. He totally understood quidditch and how it worked, not. "Well, this conversation has been enlightening." Percy took a bite of the sausage. It tasted great, truly a divine meal and not a microwaved one. "So, I'll start by saying the waves and cooking bit isn't actually about using water. It is more about using micro-waves. Don't ask me how it works. I never cared to find out. It can heat up my food in thirty seconds, and that's enough for me." He shrugged and reached for another bite. "Many people still use gas stoves, the ones with the flames, but this place seems to have relatively new features, hence the electric stove. That is odd, considering it still uses candles in the chandeliers.
"Next, if gods do not need food, then why did we sacrifice part of our food to you if you didn't like, eat it? Third, I assumed you made this food with magic, so does that mean this food is actually safe to eat?"
Hekate nodded, "The food was made with the divine magik. It is edible and good for you. However, mortal magic can not naturally create food with a wave of their wand, so it is best not to eat any apples offered to you."
Percy shrugged, "Didn't plan on it."
"Now, the food you sacrifice to us, or the food that you once offered to likely your father, is more of a show of faith and an offering. Did you think we gathered the smoke and ash from the burnt food to digest?"
Percy hesitated. Had he ever thought about how the sacrificing to the gods worked back at camp? He hadn't scraped his plate into a fire for some time now, not since leaving New Rome on the Argo II.
"I mean, I never really thought about it." Percy frowned as he turned to his companion. "I just assumed if I threw in a glob of mashed potatoes, a glob of mashed potatoes would appear for my father to eat or like it absorbed into his being or some weird thing. Food burns, and then, he receives food."
"It would be impractical if food appeared every time it was sacrificed. Messy as well. And the wine?" She feigned a hand over her heart. "The stains would be unbearable."
"Yeah, I guess it would be…" he trailed off as he turned to his food.
The two trailed off into silence as Percy picked at the food. Hekate occasionally stole a fruit to plop in her mouth, but silence reigned.
Percy tried to savor every bite that crossed his lips while he still could. This food, this mortal food, would be pointless to him one day as he changed. Would it lose its flavor and luster? Would blue cookies be no different than just a cookie as his blood turned gold?
He didn't like such a notion.
He hated it, as a matter of fact.
Resented it.
A consequence of being the hero…. Such a small detail in the scheme of life and immortality, but it hurt on a level Percy could not put into words.
"Whenever you finish up eating, go get ready for the day. We will take a portkey to the edge of the ward line for the grounds. From there, we will go with the flow of things till the stadium opens for us to take our seats."
"Right." Percy nodded as he pulled himself from the darkening thoughts of his mind. "I'll just follow your lead then. Do we have good seats?"
Hekates scoffed, "Good? I got us in the world leader's box. They will have one of the best views."
You really don't understand what just being any other person is? You just have to stand out.
"Oh, I'm sure we will blend right in next to the president of Britain." He rolled his eyes until they fell onto Hekate.
"Minister, actually."
"Yeah, because that's what's important. Was there no other prime seating? Maybe front-row seats? How are we going to blend in with world leaders? I'm not exactly the leader type."
"Front-row seats are overrated." She waved the notion away. "But, you are right. We won't look like world leaders. They are old men with grey hair, wrinkles, and ill-kept mustaches. No, we will blend in with the beautiful guests they bring. The eye candy that they will flaunt as a show of position to the other leaders. Nobody will look twice at us. We can say we are from the Greek delegation. I'm sure the Greeks still respect the old ways, or at least will accept us for our looks alone." She shrugged. "You look a lot like your father, and well, I am me."
"If the Greeks still respect the old ways? It worries me that you no longer know what your people think of the world. What if they are like extreme racists and want to purge society or something, and that we join them and are labeled as one of them extremists for the rest of the year?"
"Worry less, Persues. I will have things managed and running smoothly for us. We will not have to deal with any radicals. The Wizarding World knows peace. This I promise you with all the power I hold."
"Right." He stabbed his fork into his steak, ignoring Hekate's pleading look. "Power does not fix everything, you know?"
"Only when the power does not quell the minds to follow and listen."
"And every wizard is going to follow and listen to you?" He cut into his steak. The knife screeched as it dragged across the plate. "After all, we are here not as who we are in America but as who we wish to be here."
"You twist my words against me. Some gods would kill you for less."
He snorted, a soft laugh leaving his lips in a crooked smile, "I sent Medusa's head to the council, and I'm still alive. I don't know what is less after that."
"Yes, I think I recall something like that." Hekate turned to the table, hands ghosted over the table spread of food. "Perhaps you should have been punished then, and you would be less confrontational now."
He shrugged as he brought the cut of meat to his lips, "Probably not. I have a knack for pissing people off."
"I've noticed." She plucked an apple from the table and turned to the side. Percy chewed on his food and watched as the blood-red fruit met glossy black lipstick as she bit into it. Percy adverted his gaze back to his food as Hekate resumed speaking. "However, getting back to your earlier point, people will listen to me. Regardless of subduing my aura, divinity is still observed by even the blandest of mortals. They will see I am above them and will seek to appease me. If I say we are from the Greek delegation, they will nod their heads and allow it. They will do the same for you as well. That is if you care to try and influence them."
"I think you underestimate how wrong things can go when I get involved. Even the simplest affairs can go to Hades quickly when I start intervening. Strife follows me."
"Well, you can always nag some more. I am sure it will benefit us both," she bit back.
Percy sighed, "Look, Hekate, what I'm trying to say is, I don't think your plan to just slip in with some foreign party is a good plan or even one I want to do. Why can't we pretend to be normal?"
She turned on him with an arm crossed to support her other arm. She pointed at him with the shiny red apple still in her hand, "Is that what this is about?"
"What?"
"Pretending to be normal? Is that what you have decided to fashion yourself as in this world? Normal?" she hissed, offended that someone would settle for so little in her creation.
"Is that wrong of me? To want to be normal for once?" His grip tightened on his fork. The metal bent under his strength as his eyes locked onto what was left of his steak and eggs. "I've never been normal in my whole life. I cannot read with my dyslexia like normal kids could. I couldn't sit still and listen to the teachers. I couldn't have a normal field trip." He turned to face the goddess. "I couldn't even be a normal demigod who floated aimlessly about camp. I had to be the one to stand above the rest. So, yeah, if I can be anyone, I want to be someone who is normal."
Hekate's black lips fell into a disappointed frown. She was silent as she stared at Percy. He could tell that he wounded her ego or the sorts. That his wish to be normal was the greatest insult he could have spoken. He should have led with it.
Finally, she crossed her arms and spoke, "You will never be normal, Perseus Jackson. Take that not as an insult or compliment. It is only the truth. Even as a no-one, you will be above your peers. Your actions, your will, and your fate have ensured that truth. When I spoke to you in the Alley saying you could be anyone, I meant it. You can be whoever you want to be, but normal does not exist in the world. Take that from a deity who has lived longer than you can fathom. The only thing normal is the cycles of nature that the primordials enforce."
"Well, that's just lovely, isn't it? Maybe I will find a way to swish my wand around and turn myself into a puddle of water. Maybe I will even let the primordial of the water cycle carry me off into the sky to rain down on your parade later." Percy stabbed his fork into the last bit of his steak. The plate cracked beneath as the yolk of an egg broke and leaked onto the placemat.
"As if you could figure out how to even use your wand," she mockingly laughed. "I saw you last night. Deny it all you want, but you are interested in my magic. You stayed up tapping your wand to random furniture, hoping for a transfiguration, I assume?"
Yes.
Percy pushed his chair away from the table as he stood, "To set it ablaze, actually, so I could watch this temple you call a home burn down."
"I'm starting to think I should have left you to sit on your farm."
He threw his arms to the side, "You should've."
"I could have watched as your will to live withered away. Would have been far more entertaining than dealing with you now. Here lies the Tale of Perseus: The hero who let himself die."
"By all means, send me back. I will not stop you. I'll even go grab my trunk."
"Never." She leaned forward into his face. "You are never going back."
He could feel her breath on his skin. He could see the emotion in her eyes as the edges of her iris pulsed with restrained power.
"Never?" he stared down at her. "Then why lord it over me? Why keep me here if I am no longer an entertainment to you, huh?"
She pulled away, her back to him as she took a deep breath, "Because I promised your mother to keep you safe. This opportunity to explore and meet fresh faces will give you just that."
"What kind of answer is that?"
She spun around, a frown upon her lips, "It is that of someone who cares too much to watch someone die."
"You keep thinking I am going to die. What makes you think that, huh?"
Hekate's eyes fell as she took a seat at the table.
"Death is more than a physical thing. The mind and soul are just as alive as the body, and you need every part of you to be alive."
"Where did you learn that? Spying on Athena or something like you did to me last night?"
"A poor attempt to redirect your anger," she softly spoke at the table before turning to look up at him. "And I learned much from the Egyptians. A very practiced nation that has done well to change with the times. If you are curious, I am sure we can find a magician to explain more to you about your soul in particular. They can tell us exactly where we need to heal you."
"I don't need healing. I'm fine as I am."
Hekate gave him a sad smile, "Of course. I apologize." She stood and turned her back to him and faced the window to the gardens. Fountains with statues of herself rocketed water into the sky before it collected into a pool below. Petals floated in the water from where they fell from nearby blossoms. "We seem only ever to argue. I would like to change that, Perseus. I really do. How about we step back from where we are now? We can reconvene in a few hours in better spirits and head to the game then?"
He frowned, "Thought you wanted to be there early?"
"No. I want to enjoy my time more than anything else, and the game won't start till sundown. We have time to let cooler heads prevail."
"Alright," Percy whispered, finding his feet interesting. "I'll be in my room. If you need me, that is."
Hekate just nodded, her gaze on the horizon.
Percy backed away. A weight on his stomach and not from the food he had consumed. He turned slowly, sparing the goddess one last glance as he went around the bend in the hallway and to his own door.
It creaked close with a soft click, and he was alone.
His hand fell into his left pocket as his hands closed around the spare drachmae he kept on him.
He ignored the slight tremble in his bloodied fingers as he summoned a small spray of mist into the sunlight that streamed in through a window. A small rainbow formed, and he stared at the ancient coin in his hand.
He could call either of them. They would tell him what to do.
His mother would admonish him for starting a fight with a woman, a goddess even. She'd tell him to apologize and do what was right. Be a good kid.
Olive would tell him that he should apologize to the goddess. Just because he did not know what the day would bring, it did not give him the right to hide from it. That he should be water and go with the flow.
He pocketed the coin and sighed.
His gaze met his own reflection in the highly polished floors. It was too perfect and too clean to be normal. Yet, what was normal if Hekate claimed nothing was but the cycles of nature?
He broke his staring contest and fell into his bed.
The day had only just started, and he was already tired. He would have to apologize to Hekate. She only wanted to make him breakfast. Yet, he only pushed back at her…
I'm such a fuck up.
Feathers rained down around him. The wounded pillow could only bleed out as his fist rested on its corpse.
:P LINEBREAK d:
Percy's feet landed on solid ground as the golden amulet he had just let go of clattered to the ground.
The amulet, or the portkey as it was, had been imbued with magic to transverse great distances in mere moments. It also was the most sickening carousel Percy had ever touched. He could still feel his breakfast rotating like a washing machine in his body.
"First time, lad?" a distinctly British man spoke. Percy could sense the man's hand approaching his back before it hit. Three relatively soft pats as if the man was burping a baby. "You'll get used to the feeling."
"I fear the day," Percy coughed out before standing tall.
"Ah, Americans!" the man smiled from beneath a greying mustache that matched the hair beneath his cap. "New York, I assume?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Percy offered his hand.
The man shook Percy's hand, "The accent, lad. Very different from the Irish and the French. Now, what is the name you have booked space and tickets under?"
Hekate stepped forward, "The Jacksons. Should be in the minister's box as well."
The man, however, was frozen. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung low as he looked into Hekate's eyes. Of course, they were softly glowing with power.
Percy took pity on the man and patted him on the back to snap him out of his trance.
"My apologies. I've embarrassed myself. I-I…" the man stuttered. His cheeks were all but bursting with blood under his blush. His gaze still only locked on Hekate. "You are as beautiful as a goddess."
"Thank you." She tossed Percy a smirk. "I wish my boyfriend were as sweet as you are, but he seems to be in a grumpy mood today."
Percy shot her a glare in return.
Don't start this here.
The man's eye went wide as he snapped to Percy, "Young man! You best shape up now. A woman like her is a once-in-a-lifetime catch. I will not hand over your tickets till you compliment her."
Percy raised a brow to the man and then to the goddess, who sat there with an evil smirk upon her black lips.
"Yes, Perseus. Do give me one?" Hekate purred. "It would make my day."
Percy sighed and paid the witch attention for once since breakfast.
She wore all black with a few silver accents across her dress. Was that a dress? Or did the corset hide the separation of a skirt from the top half? The witch's hat was neat with its floral pattern that hung down over the edges of the brim like a thin curtain.
"Your corset looks extra full today." Percy rolled his eyes and turned from her and back to the man. "Tickets, please?"
The blushing man handed them over silently, and Percy was quick to blindly walk away. He wasn't too sure where he was going beyond the vast sea of tents. The constructs of canvas, while some were exotic and towering over the rest, reminded him a great deal of the camping situation warriors did as they marched to war like when they had set up around Manhattan for the Titan War and even at times for the Giant one.
He felt Hekate stand next to him. Her aura naturally turned a few heads, men and women. Yet, he kept his blank face and looked forward at the horizon where he could see a stadium that made the ones back in New York look small.
"So you like my corset?" She purred in his ear. Her finger ghosted over his arm.
"Where's our tent?" he tried to ignore her.
"Want to have your wicked way with me in my corset, is it?"
"Please. Where is our tent? I want to lie down. My stomach is still spinning from the wash cycle you call a portkey."
Hekate slouched away and sighed, "You are no fun, Perseus. Just when I thought you were showing interest in the flesh, you hide away back to this dull man you insist on being."
"Hekate…"
"Call me Kate while we are here."
"Only if it is with a 'c'."
"A 'c'?"
"Magic and magik." He shrugged. "Leave the divinity at the door. Embrace the 'c'."
She nodded with a small smile, "Of course, the son of Poseidon would tell me to embrace the 'c'."
"So, Cate? Where is our tent?"
"Tickets, please?" she extended her hand out. "It will have our location on there."
Percy handed them over, and he watched as her black-tipped nails snatched the tickets from his grasp.
"Follow me." She stepped forward and led Percy into the mess of tents. "We are close to the stadium. So, we have a small walk ahead of us."
Percy nodded, uncaring if she saw him acknowledge her. Instead, he scanned everyone who stopped to stare at the two of them.
They passed a gaggle of redheads and even some people yelling in German who stuttered as they saw Percy and Hekate pass by. Everyone stared. It was unsettling. It made the hairs on his spine stand at attention.
This many eyes on him… something wasn't right with this place. Or was it the people?
These people, any one of them could be a monster in disguise…
His gut was warning him. He could feel it. Something or someone wasn't human around him. He just didn't know who.
His gut was never wrong.
Together, he and Hekate went deeper into the grounds.
He kept his head on a swivel as he searched each face they passed. They all had two eyes, so there were no cyclopes in the immediate area.
But a monster was in the area, and the deeper he went into this labyrinth of tents, the more his gut twisted. The more he wanted to preemptively sweep away all the tents with a wave of water and be done with whatever creature that was lurking.
He wasn't prey. He wasn't going to let himself die in Britain, of all places, either.
He glanced at Hekate. She was unbothered, whistling as she waved at people too starstruck to wave back. The wizards, as powerful as they could be, were mentally weak, and that scared Percy. The weak were easy to manipulate and cause problems.
They were potential threats along with the monster.
What if the monster was using the mist or was enthralling the wizards? This could be some grand ambush…
His right hand fell into his pocket.
The metal pen was warm, comforting to touch, like a fire in the winter.
Many threats surrounded him. Yet, he knew they were not the ones triggering his fight-or-flight instincts.
Something else was here.
"Bloody hell, you two are hot," a girl spoke.
Percy bumped into Hekate's back. He had been too transfixed on the people to his sides and had forgone watching his guide.
"Tracy, you cannot just say that to people," another girl admonished the first. "I'm sorry for her. Her parents didn't teach her the importance of biting her tongue."
Percy stepped to the side of Hekate and stood with her as they looked down at the two teens who had spoken. The first girl had glossy black hair, and the second was an almost snow-white blonde. They looked to be a few years his junior.
"Worry not, darling. To hear praise is something I will never not allow." Hekate smiled down at them from behind her shawl. "I am Cate, and you two lovely ladies are?"
"I'm Tracy. She's Daphne," the black-haired one blabbed. She turned to Percy, "What's your name, babes?"
Percy gave Hekate an unimpressed look. He didn't want to deal with children right now, not with something in the area. They could be a casualty or worst a pawn.
"He is Perseus," Hekate answered for him.
"Like the myth?" Daphne turned to him.
"Is yours like the myth?" Percy returned, not meeting her eyes as he kept his head on a swivel.
"It is. Mother thought it would mean I would be the most desirable heiress of my year."
"Just cause you have the name doesn't mean you get their happy ending."
Daphne frowned, "Glass half empty, huh?"
Now, Percy frowned at her.
"Ignore him," Hekate cut in as she placed a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Portkey travel doesn't agree with him. We are on our way to settle him in for a little nap."
Percy sighed as Hekate treated him like a baby, but he dared not to rebuke her. He did not want to have another argument, especially if they were being tailed. This was supposed to be a vacation, after all. Arguing in front of some tweens wouldn't make for the best vacation experience.
"Don't feel too bad, my Amercian model," Tracy flirted. "Portkeys put me in a right state as well. There was this one time where-"
"Trace," Daphne cut her friend off. "Can you please not hit on the people who are old enough to have graduated from Hogwarts."
"Actually, we are transfer-ins," Hekate assured. "A tad unorthodox, but Perseus here needs to take his NEWTS, I believe they are called. The government here did not approve of his or my degree from the States and wanted us to sit a year to ensure we were up to their academic standards."
Daphne frowned while Tracy grinned.
"I have never heard of such a situation before," the blonde said. "That is most unusual. Could you not just sit a test?"
"We tried, but we found little success in getting permissions," Hekate continued to lie. "It matters not. We are fine with taking a year to settle ourselves in this country before heading out into our career fields."
A shiver ran down Percy's spine.
Even closer.
His fingers loosely touched his pen as he scanned the nearby tents. People were still looking at them, entranced, but no one was blatantly stalking them.
He turned in place and stood on his tippy toes as he tried to peak over the heads and tents in his way.
He couldn't see anyone.
"Perseus?" Hekate touched his arm.
His vision snapped to her, and his hand seized his pen.
"What is it?" she whispered and spared a glance at the two confused girls. "What is wrong?"
"Something isn't human near us." He continued his search. "I think there are a few of them. They are close. Getting closer, too."
"I can think of many answers to what that could be, many harmless." Hekate frowned. "A few less so."
"Our tent, can you shield it?" Percy pushed.
"Of course. Do I need to remind you who I am?"
"Then let's hurry up. I don't want there to be a problem, especially around so many people who will only make it worse."
Hekate glanced around, herself, seeing nothing, "You could just be overreacting. It could be a harmless half-breed."
"Please. I don't want to draw Anaklusmos. Nothing good happens," he spoke, but in Greek, so the two girls could not understand. "The blade will not sheathe again till blood has been spilled."
Hekate nodded and gave the girls a tight grin, "I am sorry, ladies. We must get going. We hope to see you at Hogwarts and that you enjoy the game tonight."
"Yeah. You too," the girls replied as they shared a look with one another.
Hekate bowed her head and stepped away. Percy was hot on her heels as the two paced to their tent. The whole time, Percy clutched the pen in his pocket. His breathing labored as he scanned the blank faces of everyone they passed in their fast-walk.
Eventually, they arrived at a dull, nondescript tent. Hekate began to mumble under her breath as she swung her hands to and fro as if leading an orchestra. Pulses of purple and gold came from the tent as she cast her powers onto it.
Percy turned his back to her.
His vision instead was once again hunting for the hunters.
The two may have moved fast, but they were still being followed.
What monster was after them? What could blend in with a wizarding crowd, move in a pack, and track so well?
Then he saw her.
Not just one, either.
Four, no, seven beautiful women. All were dressed in red tracksuits, proudly declaring Bulgaria across them. He could feel a presence come from them. It tickled at his ears like a calming wave to lax his mind, but he fought it off. Piper and Aphrodite had more potent charms.
These women… were cheerleaders, and the only beautiful cheerleaders who could hypnotize that he had encountered were bad news.
Empousai.
He brought his pen out of his pocket and to his waist. His thumb dug itself under the cap, and in one flip, it would transform.
I can do this.
He took a deep breath as he widened his stance.
I can do this.
He tried to steady his arm as he gripped the pen shaft tighter.
I can do this.
He exhaled.
There were only a few of them. He could take them easily. The onlookers, though... Hekate would have to wipe their minds or something.
I can do this.
The women continued to stare at him and Hekate. They were silent as some even held hands to their lips. Others bore a blush across their cheeks as they stared him down. The blonde-haired one even had hunger in her eyes as he challenged her gaze.
I'm not dying in Britain, of all places.
One stepped forward slowly. The cheerleader's hands came together over her chest as she bowed.
She bowed?
"My lady! My lord!" she praised before falling to a kneel.
AN: To my favorite Ghost.
That's about it.
-Manke