Percy woke up with a hand clamped against his mouth.
Needless to say, he tried to stab the person with Riptide.
"Whoa!" Hermes stared back at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. His head was tilted to the side, having dodged the bronze blade. "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!"
The messenger god was dressed in all black and was using a balaclava was a beanie. Night-vision goggles hung from his belt and streaks of black paint under his eyes. He looked very much like a stereotypical robber who decided to wage guerrilla warfare for fun.
Percy took a quick glance around, he was still on the aircraft carrier, just at the very front of the ship, far enough away that a conversation wouldn't wake his friends up.
He turned back to Hermes and frowned. "What's with the outfit?"
"Gotta stay out of sight, can't be caught 'influencing' questers," The messenger made air quotes with his hands. "It was better in the old days when I could help demigods in broad daylight without getting blasted by lightning."
"Uh-huh, where are George and Martha?" Percy didn't see the Caduceus, and the snakes didn't say hello, it was kinda strange seeing the god without his assistants.
"Drone form, they're keeping an eye out on Thalia and the Hunters." Hermes pulled out a tablet with buttons and joysticks. It displayed an overhead view of a group of five people resting by a campfire. "They're making pretty slow progress, which is why Athena's having me help them out."
"I didn't realize she liked the hunters so much, or Thalia."
"Oh, she doesn't," The god said. "She's worried about her daughter, uh, Antoinette?"
"Annabeth," Percy corrected. He tried to not let it bother him, gods tended to not pay attention to demigods other than their own. At least Athena seemed to be taking some action.
"Isn't that what I said? Anyways, Athena's got skin in the game but doesn't want to get in trouble for helping out. She prefers the subtle approach. So do I, usually. Unfortunately, she's blackmailing me into doing most of the dirty work for her." Hermes shrugged as if to say 'what can you do?' "So while she's chilling on Olympus, I'm trying not to get spotted while giving them a few helpful nudges here and there. The stealth uniform actually came in handy five minutes ago, see, not sure if you know this, but there's a goddess on this ship. Tall, terrifying, has a few thousand drops of hydra venom and a harpoon gun."
"That would be my sister."
"Oh, congratulations, or would I'm sorry work better? I don't mean to assume your relationship, but she was aiming the harpoon at you all night."
"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," Percy sighed. At least she didn't shoot him. "While you're here, we also kinda promised her a permanent discount on your delivery service and something about Eris."
Hermes frowned. "Usually I'm the one making deals, but I hope you got something good out of it. I'll need to have her whitelisted so that Eris doesn't handle any of her orders. What's her name?"
"Kymopoleia."
"Kim Possible," Hermes said slowly.
"No, Kymopoleia."
"Hmm, that sounds… familiar. Where have I heard that name before?" He tapped a button on his tablet and began scrolling. "Oh, that's right! There was some strange activity a couple of hours ago from a user. She was just browsing for books like Demigods as Pets: A Fury's Guide to Being a Good Owner and Breaking Point: Body Parts Humans Can Live Without. Bit weird, but who am I to judge? Yeah, I'll upgrade her account to premium while I'm here."
"Please, stop selling those," Percy begged. Neither of those titles sounded legal or good for his health.
"Anyways, it took me a while to track you guys down. I didn't think you would ditch the RV so quickly." Hermes squinted his eyebrows as he worked out the details. "I followed it for half a mile, then I realized only Argus was there when he topped it off at a gas station. Then I found out you guys were at the Amazon building in Boston, nice job, by the way, I'll have to give Travis and Connor something real special. It took some guesswork to track down your boat, but I managed, then I had to wait for your sister to leave—"
"Why'd you have to do that?" She didn't scare the Olympian that much, did she? But then again, Percy was scared of her, so he didn't exactly blame the god.
"This is her territory," Hermes explained. He gestured around them. Percy assumed he meant the ship and not the ocean. "Gods can't invade the territory of other gods. It's against the rules. I'm an exception, being the god of travelers and all that, but I'd like to not get impaled with a harpoon for trespassing. So, I waited for her to stop watching you, it took five hours, and then Apollo's boy woke up, and I had to wait for him to leave. And that's how we ended up in this situation."
"And you did that because?" Percy hoped there was a reason Hermes was here, other than to wake him up at an ungodly time. He was still half-asleep and exhausted.
"Two reasons: I've got a package for you and I also wanted to check on my kids."
"You know, they wouldn't mind if you talked with them," Percy mumbled. He knew Hermes cared. He wouldn't have gone to all this trouble if he didn't.
"If only I could," Hermes sighed.
"But you can," Percy insisted. "I know about the rules, but gods break them all the time! You aren't supposed to mess around with quests but you did! It's not that I'm not grateful but—"
"But it isn't fair, is it?" Hermes finished the sentence for Percy. "Not for me, and certainly not for my children. Not for your father, and not for you. Or the mortals dragged into our world. I do what I can but it will never be enough. I want to do more but even gods have their limits. Some prices even I can't pay, no matter how much I want to. Maybe one day you'll understand."
"Probably not," Percy muttered. It sounded like an excuse. Oh, I'm busy and I just don't have time to visit or pay attention. Oops! Maybe Poseidon would give him the same excuse if Percy asked. Sometimes, protection seemed synonymous with neglect when the gods were involved. Better to stay away than to actually show that you care.
"Who knows? But I think it's time you got your mail," Hermes winked at him and held up a brown paper bag. "Go on, enjoy yourself!"
Inside was a singular blue chocolate chip cookie and a lot of crumbs. Percy would recognize his mother's baking anywhere but he also knew she made a dozen with each batch. "Did you eat some of them?"
"If I said I didn't, would you believe me?" Much like his sons and their pranks, Hermes had no shame when caught in the act.
"No, I don't think I would."
"You'll have to forgive me just this once," The god chuckled. "I got a bit peckish waiting, and they were good. I'll have to call Sally later and get the recipe."
Percy didn't know how to feel about that tidbit of information but he was leaning towards suspicion. Hermes treated him kindly enough, but gods usually brought trouble, his mom didn't need any more of that. "Why do you have her number?"
"Well I did say I would give your letter to her," Hermes said. "And I did, in person. She took it remarkably well, considering that I accidentally interrupted her date. Then I ended up telling Paul I was your cousin, which is technically correct, and invited myself to dinner. It was spaghetti, in case you were wondering. One thing led to another, and now I'm going bowling with them next weekend. Assuming you guys don't die and fail miserably, that is."
"Um, that's… what?" His mom was dating someone? They were going bowling? With Hermes? And Percy wasn't included?
"You're very lucky, Percy. It's rare for demigods to have such an understanding parent." Hermes gave him a kind smile. "She asked me to stay a bit longer while she baked you something to eat. She reminds me a lot of another woman who could see through the mist." The god's voice trembled slightly. "I hope her ending is a happier one."
Percy watched as a familiar sadness came over Hermes' face. As youthful as the god was, in this one moment, he looked his age. Millennia of tears, pain, and misery all boiled down in bright blue eyes. Gods always radiated power, sometimes it was overwhelming, and other times it simmered like a dormant volcano. But Hermes felt mortal, almost human in this instance.
"Treasure your time with her," Hermes whispered to him. "Few people have what you do and even fewer realize how fortunate they are because of it. Don't forget who's waiting for you at home. Not like… never mind, you're not him."
"I-I—are you going to be okay?" Whoever Hermes was talking about, he must've loved her a lot. If she was anything like Percy's mom, then she would've had a bright smile that warmed you to your soul. Whatever happened to her, it weighed heavily on Hermes' mind.
"Sorry, memories have a way of sneaking up on you," The messenger smiled sadly. "Too many regrets and what ifs for an eternal life. I'm glad my sons are still in one piece and try not to die either. I don't want to be the one to give Sally bad news. Make her proud, yeah?"
Percy nodded. "I won't let her down, I'd never."
"It's been a nice chat but your friends across the country need some directions," Hermes stood up and dusted off his pants. "I hope you find my brother soon. I could use a hand out west and—"
A celestial bronze harpoon lanced through the god's chest. Golden ichor splattered across Percy's face as he stared at the meter-long rod that jutted out where Hermes' heart would be. He heard his sister's unique melodic laughter a little ways behind him.
"I thought I smelled a rat," Kym said. "Stowaways are not welcome on my ship. What exactly do you want with my brother?" She held firmly to a chain that attached to the end of the harpoon, holding the god in place.
"You know, this is exactly the type of misunderstanding that I wanted to avoid," Hermes coughed up a bit of divine blood into his hand. "See ya later, cousin. Well, I guess it's cousins now, isn't it?" He gave a cheerful wave at Kym. "Sorry for the intrusion, I'll introduce myself another time, kay?"
With that the god slashed the chain with a dagger and sped away, becoming a dark blur that darted overboard. The only trace of his presence was the glowing ichor on the deck and a loud splash in the water.
"Morning, Kym," Percy said as he took a bite out of his blue cookie.
"He ran off with my harpoon," She muttered.
"Yeah, that sucks… for him." It didn't surprise Percy, that even being wounded, Hermes took the opportunity to steal something.
"I will need to procure another for you."
"Please don't."
He finished his cookie and went to wake the others up, which reminded Percy of something: where had Lee gone?
Lee didn't plan on being kidnapped, it just sorta happened.
He woke up before the others did, something he was used to. The children of Apollo were usually early risers, it was genetic. Lee didn't mind, it meant he was up and ready to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful, the type of beauty that only nature could create. Golden rays peeking over the horizon and fleeting red skies, it was captivating.
But this morning wasn't.
It was cold and desolate, just like the day before.
Lee never really thought about how much impact his father really had on the world. How much influence his dad had on his own health. Apollo was the god of light, poetry, good health, and a dozen other things. Just by being captured, Lee felt deprived of all his strength. It was bewildering how much a drop of sunlight could do for him, for the world.
They couldn't afford to fail.
He looked over at the other five demigods. It was strange how they slept through the night. The entire thing was incredibly stupid, they forgot about blankets and should've been cold at the very least. But it was warm, the little area of the runway where they slept was a comfortable temperature. Lee was blasted with frigid winds the moment he stepped a few feet away from his friends.
It was somewhere around six in the morning according to Lee's internal clock. That was usually the time he woke up. They must've fallen asleep around midnight or so, too busy stargazing. The others could use a little bit more sleep while they could get it safely, it was better than being tired in the middle of a monster attack.
Lee headed below deck to try and find the kitchen. He thought the others would enjoy a warm breakfast. He wasn't the best chef but he could make decent bacon and omelets. It would have to do, there weren't any enchanted dining tables to serve them like there were back at Camp.
It took him roughly ten minutes of getting lost in steel corridors to find the kitchen. The entire time it felt like he was on a ghost ship. The aircraft carrier was sparse and rusty and the hallways creaked with each step he took down them. It didn't ease his nervousness with how there was no personnel aboard. The ship was just a corpse kept alive by the power of a goddess.
He tried to clear his thoughts and get to work on the breakfasts.
Lee didn't even make it past the doorway when he got ambushed. A pale icy cold hand darted from behind the door frame and slammed his head into the wall. His arm was bent painfully behind his back, almost to the point of snapping. The assailant's grip was an iron vice.
"You aren't Perseus," Kymopoleia said, confusion lacing her words.
"No, It appears I'm not," Lee groaned. His head hurt and he was pretty sure she just dented the wall with his skull. "Were you going to do this to him?"
"Of course!" She sounded shocked that he would think otherwise.
"Why?"
"To establish my dominance."
Lee was so thankful that his siblings were normal and not maniacs.
"Could you please let me go?"
"No, while you were not my initial target, this has provided me with an opportunity."
His head spun, both from the earlier impact and the sensation of being pulled through a funnel of water. He came back to his senses tied to a chair and in a dimly lit supply closet. The only light source was a dangling light bulb directly above him.
Lee saw enough movies to know that this scenario did not end well for the person in the chair.
"You will answer my questions, boy," Kymopoleia held a harpoon gun in her hands.
"Lee, my name is—"
"Inconsequential and irrelevant." Her platinum eyes boiled with contempt. "Whatever you are called, it does not matter, because all you will be is a corpse if you don't comply." She jabbed him in the stomach with the tip of the harpoon, not hard enough to break the skin, but it did cement in his mind the danger he was in.
Percy had mentioned that his sister was a bit of a bully. From what Lee had gathered at the current moment, that statement was completely underselling it. This was a very credible threat against his life. So he played along. "What do you want to know?"
"What is the maximum force that your bodies can withstand?"
Lee blinked a few times. "Pardon?"
"I see you are not only weak but simple-minded as well," Kymopoleia said. "Very well, I will elaborate. I have recently come to acquire a new brother, can you comprehend this, boy?" She spoke slowly as if he was a child.
He understood perfectly well what she was saying, it just didn't add up. Unless she planned on maiming Percy. Which actually made a lot of sense now that he thought about it. "Y-yes."
"Unfortunately he is a demigod. And your bodies are frail and pathetic, you understand this, correct?"
"Comparatively speaking, that statement is true." Lee agreed. He was mildly offended by the demigod comment.
"Therefore, I must restrict my strength so as to not ruin my new toy. I ask again, how much force can your bodies withstand before breaking?"
Lee knit his eyebrows. "Are you talking about Percy? You know he isn't an object, right? He's a person. And siblings don't try and hurt each other for fun."
The goddess blinked at him. "Why are you lying to me?" She aimed the harpoon at his face. "I despise liars."
"I'm not!" Lee took a moment to compose himself. Gods were frustrating to explain certain concepts to. They had a fundamentally different outlook than humans. Dionysus was a prime example, despite being a demigod in the past, he couldn't care less about them after ascending to godhood. "We try and get along… mostly."
"I have spent centuries breaking Triton's spine every time our paths converge," The goddess crossed her arms. "He never sees it coming." She had a smug grin on her face. "And in turn, he sends squadrons of mermaids to annoy me. I send them back in caskets."
"That sounds like you provoked him."
"I fail to see how this not appropriate behavior regarding Perseus."
Lee sighed. "He isn't a god. Percy's a demigod, yes, but he's still mortal."
"And this matters why?"
"We have our own ways of spending time with each other, that don't involve murder."
"And you have knowledge regarding these practices?" Kymopoleia asked. She started circling him like a shark. Each step she took was quick and efficient. The goddess held a wicked sharp fingernail against his throat as she continued her orbit. It felt like a noose was placed around his neck. He imagined it would take very little effort on her end to take his head clean off. "Divulge them to me, reveal your secrets!"
"H-have you tried doing things that he likes? I'm sure it'd make him happy." Lee was also sure it would keep the son of Poseidon alive. And hopefully with all his limbs attached.
"Why would I do that when we could participate in activities that I enjoy?" She dug her nails deeper into his throat, drawing blood.
"Maybe you have something in common! Something you both enjoy?"
"Hmm, commonality?" The goddess eased up on the pressure. "Ah! I see! Very well, I will take him ship sinking one of these days."
Lee took a deep breath as her fingers left his throat. He made a promise to find another form of transportation and soon once they were on land. The Stolls could steal whatever ride they wanted, so long as they didn't need to deal with Percy's sister.
A scowl ran across the goddess' face and Lee thought his free trial of life had just expired. Kymopoleia adjusted her grip on the harpoon gun and turned to the doorway. She muttered, "A pest has found its way onto my ship."
She left the room before he could say anything, leaving him alone with the cleaning supplies.
He really should've just eaten an emergency ration instead of walking into the kitchen.
"Why do you have ichor on your face?" Connor asked the son of Poseidon.
"My sister," Percy said.
"Oh, did you get into a fight? It happens with siblings."
"It isn't hers."
That only left Connor with more questions. Like whose blood was it? Why were they here and nobody woke them up? Also, how much did a bottle sell for? That last one was very important.
"Where's Lee?" Travis asked.
"Kym? Have you seen him?" Percy looked over to his sister.
"Who is this Lee?" The goddess blinked as if she didn't just meet him yesterday.
"Tall, blond, prone to getting sick ironically enough," Lou Ellen said.
"You must be more specific, acolyte. Demigods are hardly memorable, you are fortunate that you worship me."
Connor wondered if he could charge Lou Ellen for a gifted Mythomagic statue? It really seemed like she was getting the maximum value out of it. Like membership in the cult of Kymopoleia,
"Son of Apollo. He gave you the hydra venom." Travis added.
"Was that not one of you?" She stared at Travis and then turned towards Connor. "Perseus, why are there two of them?"
"They're brothers."
"Ah, so one of them is the spare, is it the short one?"
Connor wanted to protest because that implied he was replaceable. He wasn't. There was only one of him. Honestly, how did people even mix him up with Travis? They looked nothing alike.
"I think we're forgetting the fact that we're missing someone," Bianca spoke up.
Percy pinched the bridge of his nose and tried again. "Did you happen to run into someone before you shot Hermes?"
"She shot who?" Both Connor and Travis asked at the same time. That was his dad's blood? Man, they really should start getting up earlier!
"Hmm, I did have a nice conversation with one of your friends." She looked over at their group. "Was it not you, little one?" Kymopoleia poked Bianca in the ribs.
"Lee is a guy," Bianca said flatly.
"Really? If it's not you, and not these two, and not my acolyte…" The goddess tapped a finger against her cheek. "Wait here a moment."
She vanished into saltwater mist, leaving the five of them standing on the deck.
"Is it just me or did she forget about most of us?" Bianca muttered.
"She remembered me," Lou Ellen said.
"Kym also thinks you're a religious fanatic because you had a statue of her," Percy added.
"To be fair, if someone had a statue of me I'd also think they were a nutjob," Connor said. "But then again, it would be flattering."
"Mr. D also forgets our names," Travis stated. "I'm Trevor."
"Conrad," Connor said. "Which is close enough."
"Yeah but he does it on purpose," Percy sighed. "He's been calling me Peter Johnson for years now."
"I think Bubbles suits you better," Lou Ellen said cheerfully. "And you're definitely a Chatterbox." She pointed at Bianca.
Percy and Bianca both opened their mouth to say something but that was the moment Kymopoleia returned and with Lee, who looked like he was just being tortured.
"I believe this is the one," She said, tossing the son of Apollo to the ground. He was tied to a chair and bleeding a bit from his neck. "It is a good thing you reminded me or else it would have slipped my mind."
"Dude, are you alright?" Travis knelt down to cut the bindings.
"Percy, I tried man. I really did." Lee said ominously. "I'm sorry."
"What?"
"At least your bones will remain intact."
"I, um, what did you do to him?" Percy asked his sister.
"We had a chat. It was quite enlightening. That being said, I will retrieve you once your task is complete." She handed Percy the rolled-up petition. "There is a cruise ship that I've been eying for some time now."
"Um, that's great but—"
"Do not resist, you do not have a choice," The goddess gave that iconic eerily sharp smile. "Now get off my ship!"
The aircraft carrier lurched sideways, tilting at such a steep angle that it was almost perpendicular to the water. The six of them tumbled and slipped off the runway and onto the hard cold wood of the docks below. When Connor looked up, the ship was already gone.
"I think your sister is a psychopath," Lee said.
"Yeah, I think so too."
"I know this town," Bianca said. She pointed towards a bus stop. "We were allowed to come here on the weekends with a chaperone. It's a thirty-minute drive to Westover."
"Travis, Connor. You guys know how to break into a car?" Lee asked.
"Do we?" Connor shared a grin with his brother. "Did you forget who we are?"
"Can any of you actually drive?" Bianca asked.
He could! In Mario Kart. "Well, theoretically—"
"I can," Lee said.
"Well, it's not like other people are using the road currently," Percy scratched the back of his neck. "It can't be any worse than Thalia's driving."
"You want to bet on that?" Connor asked. He could always use some more money.
"If you sabotage the car for a bet, I will make you pull it the entire way." Lee's tone did not match the smile on his face.
Connor found his smile oddly terrifying. "Noted."
Lee's driving didn't make Bianca throw up, so that was a good sign.
She didn't know if it was because he was driving a normal car and not the sun chariot that made a difference. But Lee didn't make any sudden turns or jerked the wheel around like the daughter of Zeus.
The car was meant for a large family, with two seats in the front, two in the center, and a large combined seat in the back. Travis called shotgun and was trying to convince the son of Apollo to do a drift. Lee told him to shut up. Connor spun the chamber of his revolver and emptied and reloaded the thing, for the thousandth time. Bianca was starting to think he had a nervous tic. Lou Ellen doodled stick figures on test tubes, it didn't exactly seem practical to her, but Bianca wasn't the one who knew magic… yet. She might ask, it was kinda cool.
The seating situation left her in the backseat with Percy, who definitely was running on nerves and adrenaline. His leg bounced and he kept fidgeting with his pen.
"You okay?" She asked.
"I can't shake this feeling," Percy said. "Something's watching us." He peaked out the car window for any signs of movement.
Bianca felt it too, but it started all the way back in the RV. Where she saw that awful moth. The taste of rancid meat and honey still lingered in her mouth. No amount of ration bars could wash it out.
"Hey, is Westover a castle? Lee called back to them.
"Yeah," Bianca replied.
"What's it made out of?"
She frowned at the question. "Stone… like most castles."
"Then what am I looking at?"
She unbuckled her seat belt and carefully navigated to the front of the car.
Westover had been completely encased in ice. Instead of dark black stone, it had a sheet of pure white frost covering every single brick of the building. But that wasn't the strangest thing. No, craters were popping up the closer they got to the castle. Dozens of circular indents that were a hundred feet in radius that still gave off steam, hot enough that snow couldn't accumulate.
"Is it me, or did a meteor hit this place," Travis asked.
"More like a meteor shower," Percy muttered. "I think we found our lead."
"I think it's more than a lead," Lou Ellen reached over and pointed at a glowing chariot in the middle of the woods. Several large trees had fallen over as if something had collided there. Judging from the scorch marks and flames which still raged, Apollo had parked it there haphazardly.
Lee put the car in to break as they got their weapons ready.
The craters got more focused the closer they got to the chariot as if they were focused on one target.
"Should we be stepping through this?" Bianca asked the group. The craters gave off heat that rivaled a sauna.
"The chariot's in the middle of one," Percy said. "Either we find out now or later." He stepped into the wide ring and Bianca realized how reckless the son of Poseidon could be. "Well, my skin hasn't melted off so… seems fine."
Travis was the next to go and it seemed he spotted something interesting because he ran ahead thirty or so feet into the pit.
"Hey, don't just run off!" Lee chased after him.
The son of Hermes was kneeling down over something in the center. His hand dug around the dirt as he picked at the fragments of something. "I think I know who caused this." Travis held the pieces of a broken arrow. The shaft was solid gold which had been broken into three jagged shards. The fletching was completely burnt off. Only the silver arrowhead remained in one piece. "You're dad's got some serious firepower—"
Lee slapped the pieces out of Travis' hand.
"Dude!" The son of Hermes protested as Lee grabbed his wrist firmly.
"Shut up and let me focus," Lee grumbled.
A dark green liquid oozed out of Travis' hand as Lee began wobbling from exertion. The liquid sizzled and bubbled as it touched the dirt. Bianca had a feeling that Travis came very close to having a bad day.
"Nobody touch anything!"
"Um, what exactly did you do?" Percy asked.
"Bubonic plague, influenza, the Plague of Athens, and so much more." Lee gasped. "Apollo's arrows are the source of every major epidemic in history!"
Lou Ellen's eyes widened. "But there's at least thirty of these craters. He would need to shoot an entire quiver."
"That sounds… bad" Travis swallowed. "Should I be thanking you right now?"
"You would've had an agonizing death," Lee muttered
"I'll take that as a yes. Thanks."
"You know, I thought preventing disease was his thing?" Percy said. "Like isn't he the god of doctors or something?"
"Healing," Lee clarified. "But the best way to cure something is to understand exactly what it does and how to use it. My dad knows poison and disease intimately."
"That sounds kinda bad when you put it that way."
"Well, gods aren't always nice" Lee sighed. "Apollo used to be feared as a bringer of plagues and death. I'm sure Poseidon has had his fair share of bad moods."
"There was that whole shipwrecking Odysseus thing," Percy said.
"And the Trojan War," Connor added.
"I'm pretty sure most of the gods were responsible for that," Lou Ellen said.
"Yeah, but Poseidon really hated Troy," Travis pointed out. "It was one of the few times he allied with Athena."
"He's also partially responsible for Charybdis," Connor said.
"Yeah and—wait, what?" Percy blinked.
"Well, Zeus was the one to curse her. But Charybdis was Poseidon's daughter… which makes her your sister. Sorry dude, but your family keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"Oh gods," Percy muttered. "Both of my sisters tried to kill me. One of them tried to eat me!" He started pacing back and forth in the crater. "How many other sisters do I have? How many brothers? Are they all insane? Or am I the weird one? Not trying to kill people is normal, right? Please tell me that I'm the normal one!"
"Yeah you're alright, Bubbles," Lou Ellen pat him on the back.
"Percy, I need you to focus," Lee said.
"I-I, what were we doing?"
"Sun chariot. Apollo missing. Shot a lot of arrows." Travis intoned.
"Right, so he fought here," Percy said. "I'm gonna be honest, I don't see the big deal. What am I missing?"
"What exactly needs an entire quiver of arrows?" Lee muttered. "One is enough to wipe out an army. The initial impact would turn them to ash. Anybody that survived would become a vector for disease. There would've been a cloud of plagues and every deadly poison known to man. We're lucky that they've had a day to disperse or else we wouldn't be able to get close."
"A god," Bianca said. It was the only thing that made sense to her.
"No," Percy argued. "A Titan. Apollo's one of the Olympians. Minor gods don't stand a chance."
"But Titans are older," Lou Ellen said. "More dangerous."
"But which one?" Lee questioned. "It can't be… him." He didn't need to say the name for them to know who he was talking about.
Kronos. King of the Titans. The mastermind behind everything.
"No, he's still a thousand pieces somewhere in Tartarus," Percy said.
Bianca glanced at the bright golden chariot glimmering in the woods. She assumed it was in its original form, either that or the ancient Greeks had access to sports cars and school buses. "Why didn't they take that too?"
"Not anyone can drive the sun, believe it or not," Lee said as their group got closer to the chariot. "Even my dad had to get used to it."
"Because it wasn't his," Percy said. "It was Helios' symbol."
"Yeah," Lee looked impressed that Percy knew that. "Either Helios' descendants or his successor can ride it. The only Titan that could even attempt to use it would be Hyperion, Helios' father, but he would need to somehow become the sun god. Which I can only imagine requires killing the previous one. And since it's still here…"
"Apollo's still the sun god," Connor concluded.
"Which means we're not too late," Travis said.
"Hey, not that your conversation isn't important or anything," Lou Ellen's voice was alarmed. "But there's a lot of moths all of a sudden."
'A lot of moths' wasn't even close to the amount. It was an innumerably large swarm. The buzzing of an untold number of moths made it feel like Bianca's bones were vibrating from the sound. The insects were so densely packed that they formed a wall of fluttering wings that encircled their group.
They were trapped in a dome of living creatures.
"Shit!" Percy shouted. His voice was barely able to be heard above the buzzing of the moths. "What do we do?"
"You should listen." The voice was clear, as the chittering of the insects became background noise.
It came from the sun chariot.
Three old ladies were sitting and knitting a tapestry in it.
Three old ladies whose presence seemed to multiply the effect of gravity by tenfold.
Three old ladies that seemed even more ancient than their thin frames and loose skin suggested.
Bianca never wanted to run away more than now.
"Annoying, aren't they?" The granny with the scissors said. Percy knew it was Atropos, the Fate who severed the threads of life. No one else could make something so mundane appear threatening.
"Yes, but that is part of their charm." The crone in the center cooed at them. She stretched a thread straight using her hands and moved them up and down the length of it as if measuring. Lachesis, the Fate who determined the length of a life. "I think this one should be short and sweet."
The Fate pinched the pale blue thread so that it was only a couple of inches long. Atropos' shears had the impact of a guillotine as they passed cleanly through the string.
"We knew they would cause trouble, after all, we're the ones who let it happen," The Fate with the spool muttered. Clotho, the Fate who spun the threads of life. "But heroes have always been troublesome."
Percy's voice had abandoned him. He saw the Fates before, during his first quest. But they never spoke to him.
This was something else. Being in their presence, with their full attention, was suffocating. As if all the air was forced out of his lungs.
He felt like he would turn to dust at any moment.
The others must have felt the same way because they just stared wide-eyed at the Moirai.
"I don't know why you're so interested, Lachesis," Atropos sneered. "They're worms, all of them, just meaningless little bugs. We have one day off in a thousand years and you waste it on this? We missed bingo night because of you!"
"You're so bland!" Lachesis sighed. "They make things interesting."
"Truly?" Clotho mumbled. "I think they ruin our weave."
She spread out the tapestry that was bundled on her lap. It glimmered like liquid gold and had so many intricate details. Endless scenes that Percy could barely make out. Kronos eating his children. The gods battling Typhon. And… the Empire State building crumbling and falling. Or at least, that's what it looked like because six caterpillars were munching on the building.
"See!" Atropos jabbed her scissors through one of the holes. "So much work, gone! Now we need to redo the ending."
"Larvae," Lachesis said. She plucked the caterpillars from the weave and placed them on her arm. "So young and naive. What will you do? What will you die for? What will you become?"
"Bombyx mori," Clotho spat. "The only good one."
A white moth appeared in her hands. Small, fluffy, and with big black eyes. The same moth that landed on Lee yesterday. The son of Apollo shuddered at the sight.
"From who all stories begin," Clotho smiled, almost sweetly at the insect in her hands. "A humble beginning, where all are equal. Not like the ones you create!"
"Bah! Jealous as always Clotho!" Atropos sneered at her sister. "Poor forgotten Clotho! Mother always liked you the least!"
"You take that back you old hag!"
"You're just envious that it wasn't named after you," Atropos smirked. "Not like this beauty!"
Darkness coiled around her fingertips and revealed the black and yellow moth that Percy saw at Westover. Where everything went wrong. Its white skull still bore into Percy's soul.
"Acherontia atropos," The Fate cackled. "An omen. The beginning of the end. My harbinger for the grand finale!"
It flew from her fingers and circled Percy like how the moon orbits the earth.
"What do you think, Perseus Jackson?" Atropos jeered at him. "What will end? Who will end? When will it end? You should've stuck to your lines! But noooo! Fine then!" She grabbed a handful of thread from Lachesis' basket and started snipping away. The sound caused Percy's head to ache. Did she have speakers hooked up to those things? "You've changed the script once, so I expect you to be a good little boy and play your role!"
Atropos started snipping again. Tens. Hundreds. Thousands of threads. He knew each one was a life. How easy was it for her, to so mindlessly end so many of them?
Percy didn't think grandmas were too intimidating. But Atropos wasn't a normal granny. The hatred she had for him was all-encompassing, overwhelming, downright brutal. And he knew, without a doubt, that if she was pushed far enough, Percy wouldn't exist anymore. Whatever he did… it pissed her off.
"Don't mind her, dears." Lachesis gave them a kind smile. "She's obsessed with getting the ending she wants." The caterpillars crawled all over her arms. "But she forgets, there is more to a story than how it ends. Like—"
"Like how it begins!" Clotho screamed. "The beginning matters most!"
"No!" Atropos snarled, sending spittle flying everywhere. "They always start the same way! Always a blank slate. Oooh, I'm a baby, I have no personality! Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH!"
"You never appreciated simplicity! Always with the convoluted tragedies! Can't just have a happy ending, can you? Why can't they just retire and live on a farm?"
"Because that's B-O-R-I-N-G, Boooring! Imagine if Achilles spent his whole life kissing his boyfriend! The Trojan war would have been a snooze fest!"
"They were cute and you ruined it!"
"See what I deal with?" Lachesis groaned. "But never mind them." The arguing of the other two Moirai seemed to be deafened as the allotter began speaking. "It doesn't matter how it begins or ends, only that it happens. The choices you make, the people you meet, the path you walk, that is who you are."
She twirled her hand and another dark moth appeared. Eerily similar to the one Atropos created. Except this one was larger, a much more muddy color, but it still had the same skull pattern on its back. It fluttered towards Bianca, who seemed to shrink in its presence.
"Acherontia lachesis," The allotter said sadly as she looked straight at them. "My eyes." Percy realized at that moment that Lachesis was blind. Her irises were so milky white and dried out that they could've turned to ash at any moment. "We are not kind. It is not in our nature. But I have a job to do. Yet I can't help but watch. Every life is different. Some are quiet and long. Others are short but exciting. And some…" She held up a bundle of threads that had twisted and knotted together. "Some are so closely tied that they might as well be one. Poor demigods. You do not deserve this suffering."
Percy watched as she began to weep from those withered sockets of hers. He didn't know what to do or say. There was no witty comeback or joke he could make. Never before had an immortal, who wasn't Chiron, shed a tear for what demigods went through. He saw plenty of pity, but never empathy, not even from Hermes whose sadness was oh so close. Not even from Poseidon, his own father.
"Connor and Travis Stoll," Lachesis turned and pointed towards the sons of Hermes. "A schemer and a scammer. You two make your father proud. Much to the bitterness of your brethren. They could never understand how you could ignore the hole he left in your lives as he did theirs."
Two of the caterpillars crawled up onto her index finger. Percy watched as they glowed dimly and brown moths took their place. They flapped their wings and flew towards the brothers.
"Agrotis infusa, known for traveling far and wide. It is so easy for them to get lost. You are desperate to bring your family home. But have you ever considered… that they are exactly where they want to be? Maybe your paths are never meant to cross again. They don't need saviors and they don't need you!"
Percy watched as Travis balled his hands into a fist and he was afraid that the son of Hermes was about to commit elder abuse. Connor's hand slipped over his brother's shoulder as they shared a look. The older brother opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
"Lee Fletcher," She turned her attention to the son of Apollo. Another caterpillar had taken residence on her finger. "Synemon plana." A small moth with black and yellow wings grew from the caterpillar. "Oh, how little you care for yourself. A protector like your father, but not capable of healing like your brothers and sisters. No, because poison and disease run through your veins, just like golden Apollo. So you act as a shield. Better you than them! Isn't that right? Your life for theirs. You want to spare them from pain, but have you ever thought about how much your death would hurt them?"
Lee looked down at the floor. His mouth was moving but much like Travis, there was no sound. He just shook his head angrily.
"Lou Ellen Blackstone," Lachesis said, another caterpillar was already perched on her hand. "Child of the crossroads, you doubt your every step. You aren't one of them. You aren't good enough. You're a failure! How could you not be when you are all alone? You chose friends over your own family!" The caterpillar was encased in purple energy and emerged a dark moth covered in eye spots. "Ascalapha odorata, a symbol of death and misfortune. Can you do it? Face the mother and brother that you betrayed? Or are you going to run? To hide? It doesn't matter, you've already made your choice. You're the one who abandoned them!"
Lou Ellen covered her ears and began to sob.
This was going too far. Lachesis was just as messed up as the other Moirai. It didn't matter if she showed empathy or not. She was still picking apart their insecurities and taunting them with it. No, she was just as cruel as her sisters. Maybe even more.
"Bianca di Angelo," The allotter stressed every syllable. "Thysania agrippina." The second to last caterpillar blossomed into a large white moth with pale brown markings. "How little they know about you. How little you know yourself. All alone… that is what you believe yourself to be. Mother or father, it matters not which one, you hate both. One for leaving you and your brother. The other parent, for dying. If only you knew the truth. If only you weren't just a lie. A poor little lie who doesn't realize that Bianca di Angelo is already dead. Dead, gone, and forgotten!"
Bianca trembled like she was about to collapse. She tried to back away from the Fate who pointed at her. She tried to swat at the moth that flying around her head.
"If only you knew that—"
"Shut up!" It was Percy who shouted. He was angry at the cruel old lady. The suffocating aura was still in the air, but he strained and struggle for every word. "What gives you the right to say any of that? You know our lives suck, that's because you're responsible! Every monster that attacks, every stupid rule, every—"
"Everything," Lachesis focused on him, tilting her head slightly. She had that infuriatingly sweet smile on her weathered face. "Yes, everything. It doesn't matter, does it? How it begins or how it ends? Because it's me who lays out the path. The road you walk is littered with thorns and it's all because of me. But which way you go, that is up to you, that is your choice. We are cruel and your life is bitter because of it. But bitterness makes joy taste that much sweeter, Perseus Jackson."
The final caterpillar danced and squirmed in her hands. It glowed white-hot like a star, giving off waves of heat. What crawled out of her grasp was a bright blue moth that looked more like a wasp or bee.
"Heterosphecia tawonoides," Lachesis sighed. "So rare. Thought once to be extinct. Perhaps it would be better if you had never been born." She fixed those dusty white eyes onto him. "Child of the sea, child of the Great Prophecy, but a child all the same. So young and yet your eyes are almost as old as mine."
The blue moth left her hand and fluttered into the dark swarm that surrounded them.
"Fear us, curse us, hate us, none of it matters," Lachesis stood up from the seat in the sun chariot, revealing just how small she really was. Barely four feet tall and yet infinitely imposing. "We do our jobs. Whatever holes you make in the weave of Fate, we fill them back in. You are the storytellers, we just simply put it to paper, as much as Clotho and Atropos argue against it." Her smile changed, becoming almost warm. "We'll never speak again, so know this: Fate is malleable in the hands of mortals. Your choices, your mistakes, the only ones you can blame are yourselves."
Lachesis and her sisters, who were still arguing, turned into gray stone statues. The wind picked up, causing the moth swarm to disperse. The statues of the Moirai began cracking and fragmenting, turning into a stream of fine dust that glimmered in the pale starlight.
"I kinda want to burn down a senior home," Travis muttered.
"Ditto," Connor nodded along.
"I won't stop you," Lee said. His expression was dark and spiteful
"I-I don't understand what they meant," Bianca kept looking at her hands like she was afraid they'd disappear. "My heart beats. I have a pulse. I'm—"
"You're alive, Chatterbox," Lou Ellen said. Her eyes were still puffy and red. "She's just an old lady that's sick in the head." She didn't sound like she believed her own words.
Percy looked at the frozen castle of Westover. "I don't care if they wanted to mess with us or what, but I'm feeling pretty mad and want to smash something. We're in this together, okay? I don't care what plans they have for us, we'll make as many holes in it as we want."
Perhaps more than anything, the six of them gained a mutual hatred towards grandmas, and a strong desire to defy the Fates.
Preview:
It was stupid.
Percy knew he shouldn't get distracted in the middle of a battle. But he couldn't help himself. Couldn't look away from what he did.
His opponent was weak, barely able to hold onto a sword. But he kept getting up and charging at him. He kept fighting. Why didn't he just run? Percy would've let him. But he just kept swinging that sword like a baseball bat.
It was quick, a slash across the throat.
But it was blood that flowed. Warm red blood. Not even the barest hint of golden dust, just red like rubies.
Dripping from Percy's sword and staining his hands.
It would have been so much easier if it was a monster.
Because monsters didn't cry out for 'mama' or whisper 'I'm scared' when they died. They didn't look him in the eyes as they tried desperately to stop the bleeding. They didn't sob uncontrollably as their bodies started going still. They weren't demigods.
Killing monsters didn't make him feel like a murderer.
In the chaos of battle, he heard the cruel laughter of the Moirai echo around him as the threads of life were cut to shreds.
Author's Note:
The Moirai were the reason this chapter took so long. Originally it was going to be Atropos who was supposed to speak the most. I even considered not having them be here at all. But over the many failed drafts, Lachesis took the reins of the conversation, and I'm happy with how it turned out. This will be their one and only appearance.
Some people interpret the Moirai as a driving force, the ultimate power. I think it is more interesting for them to be like a Dungeon Master in DnD. They set the world, they put up hurdles, but they let the characters do what they want. They adjust to those actions instead of forcing something to play out in the same way. If everything is set in stone, then choice does not matter, and life does not matter. Nothing you do can ever change the future. Isn't that depressing?
Fate, in this story, is the culmination of a person's choices, not a predetermined ending.
Bombyx mori: The domesticated silk moth. Completely flightless due to its dependency on people.
Acherontia lachesis: The greater death's head hawkmoth. Also known as the bee robber
Acherontia atropos: The African death's head hawkmoth.
Agrotis infusa: The bogong moth.
Synemon plana: The golden sun moth.
Ascalapha odorata: The black witch moth.
Thysania agrippina: The white witch moth or ghost moth.
Heterosphecia tawonoides: The blue clearwing moth.
