Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: Wanted to be more productive than I was this week, but health issues like to kick me when I'm down. But hey, at least I got this chapter finished! Bright sides, right?
As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
Ὂφις – Snake
Βοῦς – Cow
~The Finding Home Saga~
~Finding Home~
~Chapter 67: I Wrestle Santa's Evil Twin~
The angels flew for a good few hours, taking us over the Sierra Mountains and to San Francisco, which was where we wanted to go. I wound up falling asleep somewhere along the way after telling Katie, Zoë, and Iphigenia about how I'd seen the Koskinen twins before they'd disappeared again. None of them knew exactly what to make of that, and I of course didn't either. It didn't seem like a coincidence that I'd seen them again, but since they'd disappeared and there was some weird magic at work with them, there was nothing we could do about them until they showed up for the third time...if they showed up for the third time.
Because for some reason, I didn't think that they would. Not anytime soon, at any rate.
I was woken up from my nap by the angel that was holding Katie and me – Hank, as we'd learned his name was, which was kind of weird considering it was a completely ordinary name and he was a statue, saying, "So, where you guys want to land?"
Blearily, I blinked the sleep from my eyes and looked down. "Whoa," I breathed.
I'd seen pictures of San Francisco before, but never in real life. Despite the fact that it was next to the new location for Mount Othrys, it was probably the most beautiful city I'd ever seen: kind of like a smaller, cleaner Manhattan, if Manhattan had been surrounded by green hills and fog. There was a huge bay and ships, islands and sailboats, and the Golden Gate Bridge was sticking up out of the fog. I felt like I should take a picture or something. Greetings from Frisco. Haven't Died Yet. Wish You Were Here.
"There," Zoë suggested. "By the Embarcadero Building."
"Good thinking," the other angel, Chuck, said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."
We all looked at him. The angels had turned out to be far weirder than even I had been expecting from how they'd initially acted.
"Kidding," Chuck said. "Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humor?"
I mean, that basically said it all, didn't it?
As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. We freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock where we landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars.
We said goodbye to the angels, who flew off to party with their statue friends that they told us were in the city. That's when I realized I had no idea what we were going to do next.
We'd made it to the West Coast. Artemis was here somewhere. Silena, too, I hoped. But I had no idea how to find them, and tomorrow was the winter solstice. Nor did I have any clue what monster Artemis had been hunting. It was supposed to find us on this quest. It was supposed to "show the trail," but it never had. Now we were stuck to the ferry dock with not much money, no friends, and no luck.
After a brief discussion, we agreed that we needed to figure out just what this mystery monster was.
"But how?" I asked.
"Nereus," Katie said.
I looked at her. "What?"
"Isn't that what Apollo told you?" she asked in return. "To find Nereus?"
...Right. I'd completely forgotten all about that. I nodded, remembering out loud, "The Old Man of the Sea. I'm supposed to find him and force him to tell us what he knows. But how do I find him?"
Zoë made a face. "Old Nereus, eh?"
"You know him?" I asked.
"My mother was a sea goddess. Yes, I know him," she explained. "Unfortunately, he is never very hard to find. Just follow the smell."
"What do you mean?"
"Come," she said without enthusiasm. Iphigenia looked similarly displeased. "I will show thee."
I knew I was in trouble when we stopped at the Goodwill drop box. Five minutes later, Zoë and Iphigenia had me outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat.
"Oh, yeah," Katie said, trying not to bust out laughing as she held Bob in her arms. I'd given the miniature saber-toothed tiger to her for safekeeping while I went through this whole mess, "you look completely inconspicuous now."
Zoë and Iphigenia nodded with satisfaction. "A typical male vagrant," the former said.
"Thanks a lot," I grumbled. "Why am I doing this again?"
"I told thee. To blend in."
She led the way back to the waterfront. After a long time spent searching the docks, Zoë finally stopped in her tracks. She pointed down a pier where a bunch of homeless guys were huddled together in blankets, waiting for the soup kitchen to open for lunch.
"He will be down there somewhere," Zoë said. "He never travels very far from the water. He likes to sun himself during the day."
"How do I know which one is him?"
"Sneak up," she responded. "Act homeless. You will know him. He will smell...different."
"Great." I didn't want to ask for particulars. "And once I find him?"
"Grab him," she said. "And hold on. He will try anything to get rid of thee. Whatever he does, do not let go. Force him to tell thee about the monster."
"We will have your back," Iphigenia said, which surprised me. But the moment was pretty much ruined when she picked something off of the back of my shirt – a big clump of fuzz that came from who knows where. "At least, we will be rooting for thee."
Katie gave me a thumbs-up with her free hand.
I grumbled about how nice it was to have super-powerful friends. Then I headed towards the dock.
I pulled my hat down and stumbled like I was about to pass out, which wasn't hard considering how tired I was. I passed our homeless friend from the Embarcadero, who was still trying to warn the other guys about the metal angels from Mars. I kind of felt bad for him; I didn't want us to be the ones responsible for a psychotic break, if he was in the process of having one.
He didn't smell good, but he didn't smell...different. I kept on walking.
A couple of grimy dudes with plastic grocery bags for hats checked me out as I came close.
"Beat it, kid!" one of them muttered.
I moved away. They smelled pretty bad, but just regular old bad. Nothing unusual.
There was a lady with a bunch of plastic flamingos sticking out of a shopping cart. She glared at me like I was going to steal her birds.
At the end of the pier, there was a guy who looked about a million years old passed out in a patch of sunlight. He wore pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe that had probably once been white. He was fat, with a long grey beard that was vaguely reminiscent of Santa Claus', if Santa Claus had had a dye job done and then been rolled out of bed and dragged through a landfill.
And his smell?
As I got closer, I froze. He smelled bad, alright – but ocean bad. Like hot seaweed and dead fish and brine. If the ocean had an ugly side...this guy was it.
I tried not to gag as I sat down near him like I was tired. Santa opened one eye suspiciously. I could feel him staring at me, but I didn't look. I muttered something about stupid school and stupid parents but still what a stupid choice I had made in running away, figuring that might sound reasonable.
Santa Claus went back to sleep.
I tensed. I knew this was going to look strange. I didn't know how the other homeless people would react. But I jumped Santa Claus.
"Ahhhhh!" he screamed. I meant to grab him, but he seemed to grab me instead. It was as if he'd never been asleep at all. He certainly didn't act like a weak old man. He had a grip like steel. "Help me!" he yelled as he squeezed me to death.
"That's a crime!" one of the other homeless guys shouted. "Kid rolling an old man like that!"
I rolled, alright – straight down the pier until my head slammed against a post. I was dazed for a second, and Nereus' grip slackened. He was making a break for it. Before he could, I regained my senses and tackled him from behind.
"I don't have any money!" he exclaimed. He tried to get up and run, but I locked my arms around his chest. His rotten fish smell was awful, but I held on.
"I don't want money!" I told him as I held on. "I'm a half-blood! A demigod! I want information!"
That just made him struggle harder. "Heroes! Why do you always pick on me?"
"Because you know everything!"
He growled and tried to shake me off his back. It was like holding on to a rollercoaster. He thrashed around, making it impossible for me to keep on my feet, but I gritted my teeth and squeezed tighter. We staggered towards the edge of the pier and I got an idea.
"Oh, no!" I said. "Not the water!"
The plan worked. Immediately, Nereus yelled in triumph and jumped off the edge. Together, we plunged into San Francisco Bay.
He must've been surprised when I tightened my grip, the ocean filling me with extra strength. But Nereus had a few tricks left, too. He changed shape until I was holding a sleek black seal.
I've heard people make jokes before about trying to hold a greased pig, but I'm telling you, holding on to a seal in the water is way harder. Nereus plunged straight down, wriggling and thrashing and spiraling through the dark water. If I hadn't been Poseidon's son, there's no way I could've stayed with him.
Nereus spun and expanded, turning into a killer whale, but I grabbed his dorsal fin as he burst out of the water.
A whole bunch of tourists went, "Whoa!"
I managed to wave at the crowd. Yeah, we do this every day here in San Francisco.
Nereus plunged into the water and turned into a slimy eel. I started to tie him into a knot until he realized what was going on and changed back into human form. "Why won't you drown?" he wailed, pummeling me with his fists.
"Because I'm Poseidon's son!" I exclaimed.
"Curse that upstart! I was here first!"
Finally he collapsed on the edge of the boat dock. Above us was one of those tourist piers lined with shops, like a mall on the water. Nereus was heaving and gasping. I was feeling great. I could've gone on all day, but I didn't tell him that. I wanted him to feel like he'd put up a good fight.
My friends ran down the steps from the pier.
"You got him!" Zoë said.
"You don't have to sound so amazed," I shot back.
Nereus moaned. "Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"
"I've got more than one question," I said.
"Only one question per capture! That's the rule!"
I looked at my friends.
This wasn't good. We needed to find Artemis, and we needed to figure out what the doomsday creature was. I also needed to know if Silena was alive, and how to rescue her. How could I ask all of that in one question?
A voice inside me was screaming, Ask about Silena! She was who/what I cared about the most, even more than my godly half-sister. She was my other best friend besides Katie.
But then I thought about what Silena might say. While I knew she'd appreciate me rescuing her no matter what, I knew that she would never forgive me if I saved her and didn't save Olympus. I also knew that Zoë would want me to ask about Artemis, but Chiron had told us that the monster was even more important.
So, I sighed. "Alright, Nereus. Tell me where to find this terrible monster that could bring an end to the gods. The one Artemis was hunting."
The Old Man of the Sea smiled, showing off his mossy green teeth.
"Oh, that's too easy," he said evilly. "He's right there."
Nereus pointed to the water at my feet.
"Where?" I said.
"The deal is complete!" Nereus gloated. With a pop!, he turned into a goldfish and did a backflip into the sea.
"You tricked me!" I yelled.
"Wait." Katie's eyes widened. "What is that?"
"MOOOOOOOO!"
I looked down, and there was my friend the cow serpent, swimming next to the dock. She nudged my shoe and gave me the sad brown eyes.
"Ah, Bessie," I said. "Not now."
I was abruptly aware of the fact that Zoë and Iphigenia were staring at me. "Percy," Zoë spoke slowly. "Are you aware of what this creature is?"
"Umm...she's a cow serpent?" I blinked, before the seriousness of their expressions registered with me. "Why? Do you have a better idea of what she is?"
"Yes," Iphigenia said. "How it did not occur to us that this was the creature sooner..." She shook her head. "Ovid called her the Ophiotaurus, but she is a she, so truly, she should be called the Ὀφίσβους."
"That's basically what I have been calling her," I said, since ὂφις meant "serpent," and βοῦς meant "cow." "But I don't understand? How can she be the bane of Olympus? She's not even threatening!"
"It's not about what she can do her, it is about what others can do with her," Zoë explained. "My...my father told me this tale, thousands of years ago. It is from the War of the Titans. She must be sacrificed."
"MMMM!" Bessie lowed. I don't care what her proper name was, I was still calling her that.
Katie winced, handing me back Bob so that she could reach down and pet Bessie's head. Bessie seemed to like that. "I don't think she likes that word, Zoë."
"Indeed not," Zoë agreed. "But there is power in killing an innocent. Terrible power. The Fates ordained a prophecy eons ago, when this creature was born. They said that whoever killed the Ophisbous and sacrificed its entrails to fire would have the power to destroy the gods."
"MMMMM!"
"Let's try to avoid talking about entrails, too," Katie suggested with a faux-light tone, because her voice was tight.
"But...how?" I asked. "How would that happen?"
"No one knows," Zoë said. "The first time, during the Titan war, the Ophisbous was in fact slain by a giant ally of the Titans, but Zeus sent an eagle to snatch the entrails away before they could be tossed into the fire. It was a close call. Now, after many millennia, the Ophisbous has been reborn."
I sat down on the dock, holding Bob in one hand as I reached out to Bessie with my other. My hand rested on top of her head along with Katie's, and she seemed to appreciate this. I scratched behind one of her ears.
"We have to protect her," I said. "If Luke gets hold of her – "
I loved my boyfriend, but I couldn't help from shuddering because of thinking what would happen if he did.
"Luke wouldn't hesitate," Katie agreed. "The power to overthrow Olympus. That's...that's huge."
"Yes, it is, my dear," said a man's voice in a heavy French accent. "And it is a power your friend here shall unleash."
Bessie made a whimpering sound and submerged. I couldn't blame her.
We all looked up. We'd been so busy talking, we'd allowed ourselves to be ambushed.
Standing behind us, his two-color eyes gleaming wickedly, was Dr. Thorn himself.
"This is just pairrr-fect," the manticore gloated.
He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered in silver stubble. Basically he didn't look much better than the guys down at the soup kitchen.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," he said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But that will now change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys, some of the mortal mercenaries I'd seen. Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case we tried to escape that way. There were tourists all around – walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above us – but I knew that wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.
"Where...where are the skeletons?" I asked the manticore.
He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his mind when I defeat you myself!"
I needed time to think. I had to save Bessie. I was – she had to think that I was her protector or something like that, considering she'd followed me all this way, and I wasn't about to disappoint her now. But how could I make a quick getaway with a five-hundred-pound cow serpent? And what about my friends?
"We beat you once before," I said.
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess at your side! And, alas...that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
Zoë notched an arrow and aimed it straight at the manticore's head. The guards on either side of us raised their guns.
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "Zoë, don't!"
The manticore smiled. "The boy is right, Zoë Nightshade. It would be a shame to kill you before you witnessed his great victory."
A sinking feeling developed in my stomach. I had a feeling I already knew what he meant by that, but still, I had to ask, "What are you talking about?" I had Riptide at the ready, though once again the way that I was holding the sword was pretty awkward because of Bob.
"Surely it is clear," the manticore said. "Originally, this moment had meant to be the daughter of Zeus', but with her incapacitated...it is now yours. You will sacrifice the Ophisbous. You will bring its entrails to the sacred fire on the mountain. You will gain unlimited power. And you will overthrow Olympus."
My grip tightened on my sword. I could feel how my upper lip had curled, making me snarl. "Why the hell do you think I would do that?" I demanded. "I'm the champion of Demeter! I have sworn my loyalty to the gods!"
It wasn't until after I had finished speaking, too late, that I realized what I had just done.
The manticore had been setting a trap, and now I had just walked straight into it.
He let out a loud, bellowing laugh. "'Loyal to the gods?'" he quoted. "I know of the oaths that you have sworn, but how loyal can you truly be to them when you are in a relationship with Luke Castellan, the traitor of Olympus?"
Silence fell over all of us. Zoë, Iphigenia, and Katie all turned to look at me, their reactions shocked, shocked, and not really all that surprised. "Percy," Zoë said quietly. "This cannot be true?"
She phrased it like a question, but I knew that it really wasn't. Dr. Thorn would have no reason to lie about something that big.
"If you were truly loyal to the gods, you would not be in a relationship with him still. At the very least, you would have told the Hunters that you had been in a relationship with him in the past, admitting to your liability," the manticore said smugly. "But you did not. And you know now that this is the right choice. Luke recognized it. You shall be reunited with him under no pretenses, no secrecy. You shall rule this world together under the auspices of the Titans. Your stepmother might act like she cares for you, but she is only doing so to hide just how much your father abandoned you, Percy. Truly, neither of them care for you. And now you shall gain power over them. Crush the Olympians underfoot, as they deserve. Call the beast! It will come to you. Use your sword."
"My father and my stepmother care about me," I retorted. "I don't need to listen to you. You say nothing but lies about them."
I looked over at Katie. And despite the fact that she'd just heard that I was still with Luke, she trusted me. She gave a short nod as the vines began to grow out of her arms.
The manticore yelled, "Stop her!"
The guards had been targeting Zoë and Iphigenia, since she was right next to the Lieutenant's side, and before they could figure out that the girl with the vines was the bigger problem, the vines were already wrapping around them and preventing them from firing their weapons. Zoë and Iphigenia let loose two quick arrows each that exploded at their feet in clouds of sulfurous yellow smoke. Fart arrows!
The guards started coughing. The manticore shot spines in our direction, but they ricocheted off the lion's coat.
"Bessie!" I called out, even though I didn't know where she was, not to mention that it was highly unlikely she would understand me. "Bessie, dive deep! Stay down!"
The four of us ran up the stairs to the shopping center on the pier. We dashed around the corner of the nearest store. I heard the manticore shouting at his minions, "Get them!" Tourists screamed as the guards shot blindly into the air.
We scrambled to the end of the pier. We hid behind a little kiosk filled with souvenir crystals – wind chimes and dream catchers and stuff like that, glittering in the sunlight. There was a water fountain right next to us. Down below, a bunch of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks. The whole of San Francisco Bay was spread out before us: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the green hills and fog beyond that to the north. A picture-perfect moment, except for the fact that we were about to die and the world was going to end.
Well, and the fact that now my secret was out.
"How long have you been back together with Luke, Percy?" Katie asked me in a hushed but intense tone.
I winced as I stuffed Bob into my hood, which she mewled less in protest at this time than she had the other times before. Either she was getting used to being stuck there, or even she realized the seriousness of the situation we were in. "Now isn't exactly the time to talk about that, Katie!"
"No, I think now is the perfect time to talk about it," she snapped back. "I mean, I'd been suspecting this for a while now, but how long has it been going on? Since the Sea of Monsters? Longer?"
Zoë and Iphigenia were quiet throughout all of this. I didn't exactly take that as a good sign.
"We have to get word to camp," I insisted. "We have to tell them what's going on!"
I wasn't exactly sure of how to do that. I didn't know how I would be able to protect the Ophisbous – Bessie either, if she hadn't understood what I'd been trying to tell her.
But although I didn't have an answer for the latter, I did for the former as I noticed the crystals making rainbows in the sunlight. There was a drinking fountain right next to me...
"I have an idea," I announced out loud, before I stood up and used Riptide to slash off the top of the water fountain.
Word Count: 4,058
Next Chapter Title: We Meet Annabeth's Mortal Family
