Lea sat on the deck of Skidbladnir eating kelp jerky as they sailed to the coordinates that would take them to safety. She had been given back her clothes that she landed in except they were mended from the burned marks that the lava had managed to reach. A bag of supplies was sitting next to her, but much like Medea, she was too engrossed with the various spell books and grimoires that Lady Eurybiê had gifted them even Magnus had a few that he was looking over.
To hold mastery of the sea is a bold thing to wish for even if were cradled in the waves of Pontos, even if you were nursed by Thalassa's salt breast, even if Ôkeanos fed you his lifeblood, even if Tēthýs nurtured, to claim mastery is now a gift that Poseidón nor Amphitrítē grant easily.
One cannot hold mastery of the ever-laughing waves without becoming it in itself. You must let the memory of Hêlios' aureole pass thee by, let Ouranos fade from the mind. There is no broad bosomed earth nor murky hell. Only the waves that rise up and up and soar to the heavens and swallows the sun. The sea consumes all. Hope, envy, love, and Desire.
Nothing is left but the sea itself. No Olympians on the snowy peaks of Olympos. No gods that oversee the fertile earth. No maidens that hunt within the wild. No gods that linger in domoi Aïdao.
Become the sea.
Only the sea, and let it consume and master thee.
It was a quiet ride though admittedly, Lea wished that Salome was there with her. She would have said Percy and Drew also, but both of them only pretended to be interested when she went on tangents about mageia theory. Though, she did hear Percy mention to their Mother that he liked watching her talk about it because he had never seen her livelier.
At some point in the ride, Hermes had appeared to sit beside her and when she had deigned to lay down to rest, he took her on a trip within the lands of dreams to worlds of color and happiness. It made her think of Lady Eurybiê's words of her being some kind of world walker before she threw the thought out of her head. All of that was of course after he had bundled her up in his arms and squeezed her so tightly, so she felt like one of those old cartoons where the characters' eyes popped out.
They were sailing under the starlight and the books made way for her to "reach towards the stars" in a more abstract sense that she was pulling from the starlight and morphing it into a shape of her heart's desire. The notes in the margins stated that for those more inclined to hydrospells should try to change the light into something closer to a morning dewdrop before shifting it into a large drop of water or even further like a wave. There was even a spell so similar to what Kirkê had shown her so long ago that kept her eyes from glowing; admittedly, Lea didn't utilize it after she heard Hermes gushing about her eyes with Drew. This spell though changed the indicator from her eyes to her nails so it would be like glowing polish.
She should also be investigating Lævateinn, but Lea made the decision to deal with that after Tyson looked over it. She paused, looking out towards the sea aimlessly. She wondered if she could convince Hermes to sponsor Tyson into building his own weapon shop. Lea would always have some of the best weapons and with his talent, she could get some properly mage tools like a few of Lady Eurybiê's spell needed.
Ahead of them, a looming cave appeared before them, casting long shadows over the water. Lea grabbed her things and backed away closer to where the other two were standing.
She was a bit jealous to realize that Medea had managed to pull on the starlight, but she was also doing her best to ignore the other girl because she had questions about her being a child of Poseidon. Apparently, she was under the impression that Lea was a child of Neptune and Lea had no idea what the eighth planet had to do with anything, but clearly, it just supported her theory that the gods were aliens!
They sailed into some kind of lake cavern thing that was actually very beautiful if she was being honest.
And there were a plethora of crystals emblemed into the walls and her hands twitched with the need to grab ahold of some. Crystals directly from the source were better repertoires for holding mageia and similar to her enchanted knives, she could cast certain spells within. That'd be like bath bombs except with explosions or smoke or even food. She probably even trapped a snowstorm in there and go globetrotting in Norway and have them believe Ragnarǫk was on its way.
The boat came to a stop and the three of them shared looks before climbing down. They waited for Magnus to do his boat-whispering thing and watched as the ship folded into itself. She immediately drifted over to the crystals, digging into the earth with her hands and a few spells to remove them. She had a thought that she could make her Mother a pretty necklace and ring with the help of Tyson of course.
"Look," Medea said. Lea turned to see a tunnel. "Does this not give off the same vibe as the labyrinth?"
It did, but Lea really didn't want to go back in that maze.
Lea shared a look with Magnus who shrugged. Of course, he didn't care much. He just wanted to return to his family. Clapping her hands to clear off the dust, she raised one of her new crystals in her hand. She charged it, focusing on Percy's energy and the tracking spell that was finally working again.
(She hoped she could find a better one in Lady Eurybiê's books because she was literally getting static at one point.)
Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. To the left, the tunnel was dirt and tree roots. But smack dab in the middle, Lea could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd.
The three of them shared looks before they walked out into the floor of an arena. Lea blinked at the light, eyes moving around it in one quick swoop. It was just about as large as the underground fighting ring that she liked to watch before Hermes started paying her to not go. It was actually a bit too familiar for her comfort if you replaced all the ugly monsters and skulls and a bunch of other disgusting things with actual mortals and honestly, probably a lot of illegal things that no pre-teen had any business being around.
(Alright, so maybe Usnavi and Benny and Hermes and Vanessa had a point that the rings were not somewhere she should be at.)
The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that you could drive a car around the rim if you pulled it really tight. The first tier of seats was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigods, telekhines, and stranger things: bat-winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you name it—bird, reptile, insect, mammal. But the creepiest things were the skulls. The arena was full of them. They ringed the edge of the railing. Three-foot-high piles of them decorated the steps between the benches. They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher.
She wondered if she should take some. Alabaster liked using bones in his spells and potions, but Lea had never been fond of it. There was no way in hell was she about to be digging around corpses.
But what really got to her though after just leaving a place that felt like home; in the sense that it gave her the same comforting feeling of their apartment, the cabin at camp, and even the dorm she shared with Drew... it was the green banner with trident of Poseidon in the center.
Confusion flooded through her and her gaze was about to move away when she caught sight of the person sitting above the banner in a seat of honor.
He caught sight of her, too.
"Well, if isn't my stepmother," Smiling coldly, wearing camouflage pants, a white t-shirt, and bronze armor was the other asshole that kidnapped her. Lea felt her mageia churning within her. "I see you chose to walk here instead of flying in on your broom, Leaneira."
She could feel Magnus and Medea turning to look at her, but she only scowled at Luke. Damn him. That was a good line.
"You're grounded," she replied dryly. "And fuck you! You real life Housewife of Connecticut with etch-a-sketch abs!" Looking away from him as in the center of the arena, a fight was going on between some giant in a diaper and some stringy mortal. The giant's skin was dark red and tattooed with blue wave designs.
The stringy mortal was thrown across the arena, landing at Lea's feet and she was horrified to realize that the stringy mortal was her very own twin brother.
"Percy," she murmured, the giant was bellowing in pain, and she was a bit disturbed to see that he was not disintegrating. No monster had ever withstood a direct from Percy's sword like that. She turned her glare up towards Luke. "I'm going to stick my foot so far up your ass that you'll be shitting shoe polish for the rest of your life!"
"Whoa, calm down, Neira," Medea muttered from behind her.
"Lea?" Percy said before their attention was grabbed by the giant groped for the hilt of Riptide, pull the sword out, and tossed it behind him. More sand poured from the wound, but again the earth rose up to cover him. Dirt coated his body all the way to his shoulders. As soon as the dirt spilled away, the giant was fine.
"Who the hell is this guy?"
"Antaeus," Percy said, standing to his feet. "Our brother."
"Lie again," she snapped.
"Annabeth said he's the son of him and Gaea."
"Annabeth," Magnus repeated, looking for his cousin while Lea grimaced, "He got it on with his grandma?"
"Your soulmate is literally your cousin."
"Don't remind me of that!"
"Now you see why I never lose, demigod!" Antaeus gloated. "Come here and let me crush you. I'll make it quick!"
He peered down at the twins as she subtly pushed Medea and Magnus back further into the tunnel. "Oh, you have a twin. Two children of the Sea God." He laughed brightly. "Maybe now I will have a challenge."
The twins scowled.
"I'd do what he says," Luke called and she switched her glare to him. "You should shut up! You're pushing thirty. You're not some edgy angsty teen anymore, you old hag!"
"I'm twenty-one," Luke scowled as Percy started trying to skirt around the child, but Antaeus anticipated his move. He blocked Percy's path, chuckling but the smile was wipe off his face when Lea waved her hand and a bunch of his skulls hit him in the face like water balloons.
"Magic is not allowed," the giant roared.
"Neither are diapers, shitty booty." Lea sniffed, throwing an explosion spell at his legs.
"Puny girl," he said. "Not a worthy child of the sea god!"
Lea took his legs out for that as the crowd jeered and screamed at Antaeus to finish the twins off.
Idiot.
The fact that he was the one that started all of this, well at least to her knowledge, and got all staticky was very irritating.
Her fists clenched and she thought of a spell she had been meaning to try out, but before she could summon the mageia needed, Percy took the chance to charge straight ahead, crouching low.
Who the fuck ran towards danger?
She was going to kill him.
Antaeus swooped about to catch, but then Percy jumped higher than what should be possible, kicking off his forearm, scrambling up his shoulder like a ladder, placing his shoes on his head.
And people thought that she was the bad influence?
Percy pushed off, using his force to catapult him toward the ceiling and catching the top of a chain. The skulls and hooks jangled beneath him as he wrapped his legs around the chain.
"Come down here, coward!" Antaeus bellowed. He tried to grab Percy, but he was just out of reach. Lea threw a bit of mageia at him to knock him off balance as she saw him jump up to grab Percy.
"Come up and get me! Or are you too slow and fat?"
She and Percy were going to have a long talk about pissing off giant size cannibalistic siblings.
Antaeus howled and made another grab for Percy. He caught a chain and tried to pull himself up. Lea's heart beat thunderously in her chest as she watched them both.
"WAAA!" Antaeus yelled. That's when Lea noticed that Percy had given him a wedgie. She scrunched her nose and averted her eyes. That was way too much asscheeks for her to be looking at.
Antaeus tried to slip back to the ground, but his but stayed suspended by his loincloth. He had to hold on to the other chains with both hands to avoid getting flipped upside down. Lea prayed that the loincloth, and the chain would hold up for a few more seconds. While Antaeus cursed and flailed, Percy scrambled around the chains, swinging and cutting like he was some sort of crazed monkey.
Within a couple of minutes, the giant was suspended above the ground, hopelessly snarled in chains and hooks. Percy dropped to the floor, panting and sweaty. Lea crouched beside him, a soft glow moving over him as she healed his raw hands.
"Get me down!" Antaeus demanded.
"Free him!" Luke ordered. "He is our host!"
She helped him back to his feet as he uncapped Riptide. "I'll free him."
And Percy stabbed the giant in the stomach. He bellowed, and sand poured out, but he was too far up to touch the earth, and the dirt did not rise to help him. Antaeus just dissolved, pouring out bit by bit, until there was nothing left but empty swinging chains, a really big loincloth on a hook, and a bunch of grinning skulls dancing above me like they had finally had something to smile about.
"Ew," she grimaced. That was a horrible spoil of war.
"Jackson!" Luke yelled. "I should have killed you long ago!"
"You tried," Percy reminded him.
"And failed each time," Lea added in.
"Let us go, Luke," Percy demanded. "We had a sworn agreement with Antaeus. I'm the winner."
Luke said, "Antaeus is dead. His oath dies with him. But since I'm feeling merciful today, I'll have you killed quickly." He pointed at Annabeth. "Spare the girl." His voice quavered just a little. "I would speak to her before—before our great triumph."
Every monster in the audience drew a weapon or extended its claws. They were trapped. Hopelessly outnumbered. She could feel the maze brewing with excitement and anticipation. It wanted them dead.
Mageia sparked around her hands. She wasn't going down without a fight. Medea and Magnus flanked her; the former with her own powers and Magnus' sword that was literally swinging around on its own.
(A part of Lea wondered if she wasn't still at camp and just ate some bad mushrooms or something. Cabins 4,7,11, and 12 had been doing some experiments.)
Beside her, Percy took a dog whistle out of his pocket and blew. Lea furrowed her brow.
Luke laughed. "What was that supposed to do?"
From behind them came a surprised yelp. The Laistrygonian giant who'd been guarding Annabeth flew past them and smashed into the wall.
"AROOOOF"
Kelli the empousa screamed as a five-hundred-pound black mastiff picked her up like a chew toy and tossed her through the air, straight into Luke's lap.
Mrs. O'Leary snarled, and the two dracaenae guards backed away. For a moment the monsters in the audience were caught completely by surprise.
"Let's go!" Percy yelled. "Heel, Mrs. O'Leary!"
"The far exit!" Rachel cried. "That's the right way!"
They raced across the arena. There was an army trying to jump out of the stands and follow. Lea turned on her feet, throwing her mageia out at the monsters behind them. "We call upon Medusa's bones, turn their flesh into stone."
She didn't stop to look as the gravel and stone traveled up their bodies. Instead, she turned back towards the others, reaching out for Medea's hand as the girl pulled her along.
"This way!" Rachel yelled. Absently, Lea wondered what the mortal was doing there. She hadn't seen the girl since their escape from B.A.G. where Hermes had knocked her out with the other mortals and placed her under their care to sell the whole trafficking story. Lea didn't really know. She hadn't been paying attention.
"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led us straight into that death trap!"
"You did what," Lea screeched.
"It was the way you needed to go," Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"
Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of them. Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once she said, "Duck!" and they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. Then they kept going as if nothing had happened.
Lea lost track of how many turns they made though she didn't really understand why they were following a mortal. They didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. She leaned against her legs, breathing in deeply. Oh gods, she needed to work on her cardio.
Some dude collapsed on the floor. "You're all crazy." He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.
"Ethan," Lea said with a note of hesitation. Why was he in the maze? She stared at him, stared at the way that the eyepatch which frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it a long, long time, which didn't make sense. He didn't have an eye patch when she last saw him. And yet... she stood there confused as it morphed back into flesh and she could sense mageia, deep and somewhat familiar mageia, pour over it. "Ethan... what—" She licked her lips anxiously. "E, what happened to your eye?"
"Lea," Percy said sorrowfully, suddenly at her side and no longer by the door watching out for enemies.
Ethan looked away from her.
"Ethan," she demanded. "What the hell happened to your eye?"
"Lea..." Percy said, placing a hand on her arm. She shook him off.
"It's always been like this..."
"Bull shit," she said immediately. "I would've... I would've known... I would've saw it..." They went swimming together for fuck's sake.
Ethan shook his head. "You didn't see it because its not something that you wanted to see. You believed that I have two eyes, so it showed you two eyes. You're too trusting."
Hilarious. No one had ever accused Lea of that before.
"You must be the half-blood from my dream," Percy said. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."
"Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?" Annabeth said.
Lea's head snapped to her. "What are you talking about, Annabeth? Ethan isn't a traitor."
"Lea..." Percy said sorrowfully. She turned to him to see the pity in his eyes, but Lea shook her head. "No. No. He isn't." She turned to Ethan. "E, tell them!"
But he didn't...
Instead, he turned his head away. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I—"
Blood rushed to Lea's ears. No. She shook her head frantically. No. She didn't want to acknowledge the truth right in front of her, but her mind couldn't help but to flash back to that conversation back in the forest. "You're lying," she snapped. "You wouldn't..."
"Elle, I'm..."
"Don't call me that," she snapped, green eyes flashing. "You don't get to call me that until you tell them that you're lying!"
He was her first friend at that blasted camp. He wouldn't... he was Drew's soulmate. He wasn't a traitor. He wasn't.
"I can't do that, Lea."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she roared. Her mageia sparked around her hands. "Only my friends can do that and if you're... What about Drew? What about Drew, you asshole!"
He looked away.
"Oh, you're quiet now," she laughed without humor. "You decided to play with her fucking feelings and now that I'm demanding answers, you have nothing to say for yourself?"
"I love Drew."
"Then fucking act like and TELL THEM THAT YOU'RE LYING!"
"I can't do that, Leaneira."
She growled in disgust, tears brimming in her eyes. Percy wrapped his arms around her. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you doing this?" Medea asked. And Lea was abruptly reminded that she had been friends with the boy too. "You were... you were supposed to be our—her friend!"
Ethan sneered at her as he struggled to his feet. "You shouldn't cast stones. It was your brother that cast this spell for me."
Trent again. Getting around her mental barriers.
It showed you what you wanted to see, inwardly she winced.
Medea lunged towards him, but Magnus and Annabeth managed to hold her back.
"Answer the question," Lea said. "What was the point of all this?"
He sighed and looked away. "My... my mission was to get close to you as an outsider to make up for … for if Luke had managed to get Percy and the master bolt to Tartarus. Someone was going to have to get you out the way so… so I came as someone that you could learn to trust."
Lea almost choked on the taste of the betrayal. A reckless, terrible anger possessed her, but it was seemingly drowned out by the grief that was rocking through her.
"You Bastard!" Percy growled and she knew that if he wasn't holding Lea up, he would've pummeled Ethan into the ground.
"And Drew? What about Drew? We were friends when you got your mark. Why didn't you stop?"
The boy bit his lip, but Lea could barely see that through the blur of her tears. And her Mother had wanted her to make friends. The thing that killed Caesar! Look at these bastards! "I… They want Drew on the other side also. It had been working at first I think but then you two became friends and their usual manipulations stopped and then I found out that she was my soulmate, so I had to try to convince her to join."
"But you failed. You failed that mission." Drew wouldn't join them. She wouldn't.
(But Lea wasn't one hundred percent sure at the same time. Drew loved him so much.)
"Yeah," Ethan sighed, his eyes slipping closed.
"Because you fell in love with her," Lea murmured, stubbornly wiping her eyes. She wouldn't cry for him.
Ethan nodded and Lea pursed her lips. "And I do considered you a friend, Leaneira."
Annabeth looked between them all, but she flanked the twins in solidarity. "We're going after Daedalus," she said. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."
"But don't think you'd ever be welcomed around me," Lea sneered, wanting nothing more than to throw him into the dirt. An icy chill began to spread through her body, coating her veins and hardening her heart.
"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."
"He has to," Annabeth said. "We'll make him listen."
Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."
"You should take their offer," Medea said and Lea could feel her mageia brushing against her in comfort. "I promise it's the last one you'll get."
Ethan flinched away.
"You had the chance to kill me," she said. "During Capture the Flag... you could've blamed it on the scorpions." She shuddered in the face of his betrayal. "Why now? Why leave and fully join now?"
He glanced at Medea before looking away. "A vacancy in the command opened up. I stepped up to take it."
Lea and Medea both gasped, pain rocking through them.
He winced as he looked at her. "Forgive me, Lea."
"She said don't call her that," Percy said, voice as dry as the desert but filled with a hint of danger. Riptide shone ominously in his hand and Lea could almost hear Riptide whispering sweet promises of revenge.
"And I wouldn't forgive you even if you groveled before me."
Ethan turned away, but Magnus grabbed his arm. The youngest of them—well, she didn't know Rachel's age, but Magnus was younger than the rest of them— looked between them all in confusion. "You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."
He had a point considering everything that they had been through. Gigantic cannibalistic rapists, scary sexy ladies in leather with spears and no gogo boots, snake tattooed mercenaries, fish-dogs, and giants in diapers.
"The only thing about you being a traitor is that Drew won't be stuck with you anymore." Medea sneered.
Ethan snarled at her.
"I-I can't speak for Drew..." Lea turned her gaze towards him, irises exploding with excess mageia that danced across her eye lashes. "But what I can say is that you have three seconds to get the hell out of my face or I'll give you an exclusive meeting with my Uncle after I dragged your ass through the earth."
He winced once more, chancing a glance at Percy. "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war." He gave Lea one last glance. "Tell Drew that I love her regardless."
Lea screamed, hand swiping through the air. "It's hot in here, the sweat's a-pooling so let's get down to some serious cooling!"
The temper dropped dramatically as the chill in her heart burst from within like an avalanche of icy death. An onslaught of white, blinding and freezing tore its way into the room engulfing everything in its path. It moved like a serial killer, silent, stalking, waiting to thrust its cold knife into Ethan's traitorous heart, but the boy was no longer there. He ran off into the darkness, back the way that they had come, and yet the snow, like a single soldier in the army coming from the sky, followed after him. The walls creaked and groaned like an old rocking chair as the chill spread against it, sparkling with ice crystals.
Lea raged and cried and screamed and she wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around Ethan's neck and make him pay for hurting her... hurting Drew. She'd destroy him.
Her Father had already killed for her.
Did he want to know what she would do personally!
And yet, before she could follow after him, before she could chase him down and make him really feel the chill of death, hands were pulling her away from the scene and she snarled angrily, flashes of green dancing alongside the sparkles of ice crystals as her mageia moved out.
How dare he!
How dare he...
The anger left her all at once and she dropped into the hold of the hands on her as she cried.
And her tears formed crystals.
When Lea finally came back to herself, Medea and Magnus were pulling her through a large brick tunnel that led up to some stairs. There was a lowlight glowing in Medea's hand. Magnus gave a small yelp as ahead of them, a huge skeleton was strung up from the ceiling. It was at least ten feet tall. It had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. They ducked around it, but Lea gave a glance back and found a sight that sent shivers down her spine.
A single black eye socket in the center of its skull.
And she couldn't help but to wonder about Tyson because her bubbly brother had not been with Percy.
The three of them shared looks before pushing open a metal door that creaked as it was moved. It was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels and Lea grimaced her nose. The basement was funky as hell. Filthy. It needed a broom, mop, and a little clorox.
"Where are we," Magnus asked.
"I don't know, but let's get out of here," Medea said. Lea nodded, shrugging their hold off as they climbed out of the building. She was a bit surprised when they emerged and she recognized where she was. They were in front of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Medea and Magnus shivered before the former cast a glance at her. "Leaneira, your powers are saturated all throughout the air."
Lea didn't feel anything more than the world's most comfortable blanket so she just shrugged. She eyed the sky and the low clouds before making her way down the streets and casting not an invisibility spell, but strong signals that she and the other two were uninteresting and people should focus their attention elsewhere.
"Where are we going?" Medea asked as she and Magnus flanked her.
"I'm going to Usnavi's store and ordering me a honey ham on a hero with swiss, toasted with lettuce and tomato and green peppers." Her stomach started growling just thinking about it. "Then I'm going home and taking a nap so good that Jesus himself wouldn't have been resurrected. Some time after that, I'll take Magnus back to his family and then I'm going to end my day with ripping Ethan's heart out with my teeth."
Both of them took a step out of her space while she dropped the spell to wave down a taxi before pushing someone out of her way when they tried to steal the one she called down. The other two slid into the vehicle with her and she gave them the address, digging around in her bra for some money before finally sighing and summoning the card that her Mother gave her for emergencies only.
Once they got to the bodega, she pulled the spell tighter around her as she knew that she was still technically missing and she had no desire to be hounded by her loved ones or the police with all their questioning just yet. The other two followed her in, shrugging as they grabbed snacks and ordered their own food. Everything was fixed as quick as usual and Lea was not blind to notice the somber mood over the store as the cousins gazed upon a missing poster with the twins' face on it. There were ones for Annabeth and Drew on the wall also since the girls spent time in the bodega with them.
She felt slightly guilty as they turned to leave.
They arrived at her mom's apartment soon. When she answered the door and she pulled them in away from the cops lingering around, the hug she gave Lea pulled her up off the floor and just about cracked her ribs. She didn't seem to notice the other two people as she cradled Lea tightly to her that the girl had to bat at her arms to breathe.
"I told them you were all right," her mom said, but she sounded like the weight of the sky had just been lifted off her shoulders—and Lea knew firsthand how that felt. "Hermes said that you were safe." She blinked as she came back to herself noticing Medea and Magnus for the first time. She sat them down at the kitchen table and insisted on feeding them her special blue chocolate-chip cookies while Lea scarfed down the sandwich from Usnavi and the finger sandwiches her Mom made—Lea had yet to find something better than her mother's food. Medea was a little hesitant with her, but she got over it pretty quickly when she realized that Sally wasn't angry with her for what Trent did while Lea showed Magnus to the phone in the hall so that he could call his family. In the midst of Medea telling her Mother what they had been doing while laughing as she pretended that she was going to strangle Lea for sneaking out of camp and going on a dangerous quest without so much as by leave—she did leave a note—, the daughter of Poseidon slipped away from the table and into her room once she felt her mark heating up.
"Khaíre, Leaneíras"
A small smile appeared on her face as she caught sight of the person leaning in her desk chair holding the book she had on mantras; sacred chantings containing magical and mystical words.
"Gözümün nuru," he said, standing up as she drew closer. She raised a brow as she drew closer. "What does that one mean?"
He pressed his finger under her chin to tilt her head up before pressing a kiss to her forehead, "It means the light of my eye."
"My mother will kill you if she knew that you were in here," Lea stated matter-of-factly. He chuckled and gave a small shrug. "Your Mother can see through the mist, but that doesn't mean it doesn't affect her."
"You know, I never got a real definitive definition of the mist," she said, moving around him to sit atop of her desk. "What is it exactly?"
"It's a smaller, thinner form of primordial power. It existed before all things came into being before even Khaos and they were the first." He sat back in the chair, his kērū́keion shrunken to the size of a notebook placed on the desk. "It's like... it's like the haze that comes between fire and ice. Only one being had ever gained mastery of it and that's Akhlys. As the protogenoi continued to spring into being, a fine line had been drawn. Mortals tend to romanticize it as the line between love and hate; the line between life and death. That's what Akhlys is. She came into being on her own and no one knew what to do with her, but Nýx adopted her as her own. You'll see in the texts that she's revered as the death-mist. A mist that is "shed" upon a mortal's eyes, often while dying. Athḗnē used it in the war when she lifted it from Diomēdēs gaze so that he could wound Aphrodítē and Árēs. So it's a primordial power that all deities hold on to, but there are some things that the mortal mind cannot comprehend so when Father realized that Hekátē who was powerful enough with just her mageia alone could manipulate with nearly the same ease as Akhlys who doesn't really leave her home in Tartara... Well, she was placed in charge of it to make sure the mythological events are replaced with visions of normality. Under the influence of Mist, a mortal would see gods or monsters as ordinary humans or animals and supernatural objects become commonplace items. The Mist not only distorts vision, but also creates false memories and suppresses real ones. All demigods and even a few legacies—"
"Legacies?"
"Some demigods have children," he shrugged. "Medea comes from an entire family of them. It's... complicated." There was a story there and she would have pressed if he didn't continue on. "Anyway, all of them can control it to an extent, but Hekátē's children and others like Kírkē, Pasiphaë, and Aeëtes, their demidivine children are to make the mist form into physical objects. It's like an amplifier to their powers. One child of Hekátē named Lamia had used the mist to distorted the vision of humans enough that they don't even realize that hazardous and deadly things are happening to them. But it's not perfect. Some mortals can still see through it like your Mom and the Rachel girl. And a good amount people currently being treated in mental facilities."
Lea snorted. Looks like she and her friends had new plans.
Friends.
She cast her glance away. "Ethan... Ethan's joining the other side."
A slight tension filled the air before arms wrapped around her. "I'm so sorry, Leaneíras."
Her bottom lip quivered as tears pricked at her eyes. "He... I was just a mission to him. He..." He held onto her tightly. "What's wrong with me?" Why was it people that she befriended turning out to be traitors?
"Nothing," he said fiercely. "Nothing. The actions of others do not reflect upon you. They have made their choices and you have made your own." He held her for a little while longer before gesturing to her door.
She furrowed her brow, walking into the living room where he materialized. The news was playing in the background.
On the screen was news footage of Mount St. Helens, a huge plume of fire and ash trailing into the sky. "Still uncertain about further eruptions," the newscaster was saying. "Authorities have ordered the evacuation of over half a million people as a precaution. Meanwhile, ash has fallen as far away as Lake Tahoe and Vancouver, and the entire Mount St. Helens area is closed to traffic within a hundred-mile radius. While no deaths have been reported, minor injuries and illnesses include—"
The others jumped to their feet at his entrance, but she only leaned against the wall and raised a brow at him. Her attention, however, was more so on the television and the slowly growing horror at the reality of her powers; well, her and Percy's.
Hermes looked at them, snapping his fingers to turn off the television. He was dressed in his weird armor again, but he looked almost regretful as he gazed at her. "Your quest is not over yet."
"What," she said dryly. Her mother inhaled sharply.
"You started this quest to find Trent," he said. Lea opened her mouth to say that she had found him before realizing that she didn't tell Medea and this was technically Medea's quest. "And aside from that, you have other responsibilities to attend to."
"What are you talking about," she demanded.
His eyes slipped closed. "Your Brother has just made a difficult decision. One of the most important choices of his life."
"And what is that?"
"He was faced with the choice of immortality. He would neither age nor die. He could leave the fight to others and escape the prophecy." Sally and Lea straightened their spines. There was only one prophecy that concerned her brother and immortality would have been a good way to get out of it.
"Why didn't he take it? Who offered it?"
"Not all things that glitter are gold." Hermes gave a bitter smile. "The goddess, Kalypsô. She had been punished in the first war for her crimes against the Olympians and she would have earned her freedom when Odyseús landed on her isle except..." He sighed. "Except she insulted the gods and tried to keep him from his destiny and so a curse was added to her punishment. Every thousand years or so, every other century, every other decade, a hero will wash up on her shores, someone who may need her help. She tends to them and befriends them and..." He trailed off with a winced that Lea thought she was the only one to have seen. "The Three Fates make sure to send a hero that can never stay. Who can never accept her... companionship. They send her someone that she cannot help but to fall in love with."
"Are you saying Percy is..." her Mother trailed off. "He didn't..."
The god shrugged. "Her punishment is love. She lays claim to these heroes and declares it love and yet... she always tries to get them to stay."
It was Magnus who put the underlying meaning into words. "Because if she truly loved them like she claimed, she would let them go."
The god inclined his head. "We gods are selfish and jealous beings but even we must bow to the fate of destiny."
"And if she loved them as she claimed, she would never make the offer."
"So for every hero she tries to get to stay; another thousand years is added upon her curse."
"And Percy just added a thousand."
"To accept would mean to leave you all behind. His friends needed him. You needed him."
And the camp needed her too. The world wouldn't stop spinning because she felt sorry for herself.
(But also, if the world was really just the body of Gaea did her "spinning" mean that it was just her rolling around like a ball or something? Aliens above, flat earthers and round earthers make her head hurt.)
Her mother frowned. Understanding the words also. She nodded her head looking at the three teens in her kitchen. "Well, it seems you two have to lea—"
Lea jerked, eyes turning to the coat closet. "No," she said slowly. She looked back at the others but Hermes was gone as if he had never been there. She shook her head, summoning a dagger and slapping her hand alongside the wall so the ingrained spells for shielding would cover her mother. "We won't have to do that."
"Lea, be careful," her Mother called out. "Be safe!"
Lea nodded her head to show that she heard, but she didn't stop moving towards the door.
Except, it opened before she got there.
And the person... being... alien... whatever ...
The being had beautiful, long golden colored hair that so rich, warm, and luxurious and reminded Lea of the wheat fields in the far-off corners of camp. The top of her? head was crown of woven corn leaves and adornments of poppies and had a sweet distinctive scent of a rainstorm over a field of jasmine. She? had fine elfish features similar to the dryads and... similar to Magnus at her side. She? wore a bright green dress with a dark cape, which gave her? the appearance of fresh plant shoots breaking through fertile earth whenever she? moved.
"I believe you have my son," the female? being said, looking around casually before zeroing in with laser focus on Magnus. The being waved their hand towards the door. "You shall find what you seek through there, but for now, I must speak with my child."
They snapped their fingers. The floor startled to move like a conveyor belt set on Barry Allen fast and Medea and Lea were pulled through it.
"And, Twice-Blessed, it would do you well to avoid the company of deities."
The door closed behind them with a resounding click and wouldn't bulge no matter how hard the two of them knocked on it. Lea screamed and kicked at it, and threw her mageia at it, but it wouldn't open. Her Mother could be in danger.
Oh, if she lived passed this, she was showing her where Lea and Percy kept all their weapons around the place.
(Never know if a monster might try to break in and get them.)
A sharp inhale sounded from behind her and her mark flared with heat.
Lea turned, one hand still digging into the do—wall. It was a wall now. Lea kicked it in her fury. She turned, following the pull of the mark until she came across something that was definitely out of a fantasy game and she was starting to really wonder if she had somehow "world walked". Then her senses came back to her as she drew closer to the waterfall and realized that she was still very much in America. Ithaca, New York to be exactly.
The aliens had jokes.
Hermes stood beside a glass coffin.
Medea cried over it.
A very beautiful woman that was so unfairly pretty that if Lea didn't know she was best thing since sliced bread, she may have been jealous watched it calmly.
Lea moved closer.
Trent laid within like a genderbent version of Snow White.
Lea sneered. He looked a lot better than in her Father's realm.
Medea was clutching to it though, demanding explanations, proclaiming her endearment for her brother, and condemning him to hell all in one go.
She turned a bit when she sensed someone behind her, but considering that Hermes didn't react and the pretty lady just stared at Lea unbothered, she could tell it wasn't a threat."
Magnus walked in a bit nervous, eyes darting around everyone. He gave Lea an uneasy smile. "My, um, mom... she's talking to your mom and my uncles since they'll be sharing guardianship for me. They arrived after you left," he murmured as he drew closer, but his eyes landed on Medea who was now furiously banging onto the coffin.
Hermes moved over to the two of them before pulling them to the pretty lady. "Lea, Magnus Chase, this is... well, we call her Déspoina for her name is not to be known by none that are not her worshippers. And Déspoina, this is your brother, Magnus Chase, and my Leaneíras, your sister."
Déspoina looked much like her Mother and nothing like her brother, Arion; the horse, except instead of blonde strands... her hair was an ocean blue that looked almost black. Her eyes were like obsidian, changing color beneath the sunlight. "Do not mind Mother's words, sister," she said to Lea. "She disapproves of matches between the mortals and gods especially those born of her brother's seeds and even more so those that match with a chthonic god. She has been a bit touchy since my sister had been ferried off to the Netherworld."
She turned her eyes onto Magnus. "Tis rare that Mother has children. Tis even rarer that she falls in love with mortals for just as Aphrodítē, it happens sparsely over the centuries." She gave a small breath of laughter. "I shall warn you now, brother. Her children are never considered powerful forces. They are believed to little more than make crops grow and keep bacterial fungus at bay." She leaned closer. "But it shall do you well to remember that she is the daughter of Krónos and her Lady Rheia. She is the eldest Olympian to have a throne upon the heavenly temple. Takes this advice from me, brother." The seeds of flowers in her hand bloomed without a thought. "Grow at your own pace for Mother would cast the world in ruin before she sees you hurt."
Her gaze moved back to the glass. "The blood of the covenant is thick than water of the womb. Those who stand by you, who shed blood in battle beside you, they are you family. Bonds of loyalty and choice are stronger than mere genetics." She looked at Lea with a small smile. "Do come visit me again. I rarely have the chance to speak with siblings that are not deities."
"Will I get to know your true name?"
The goddess smiled secretively before disappearing in a swirl of darkness.
The door way opened back up and Lea could see her Mother speaking with the Chase Family through it.
Yet before she could make her way over, Hermes came to her side. "You have responsibilities, Lea."
Hermes took Lea's hand in his and she gaze at her Mother... at Medea who still didn't realize anyone else was in the room... at Magnus who nodded and waved her off... at Trent one last time before she allowed him to take her away.
WORD COUNT: 7809
Searching for Location - Location Found:
1) Percy and Annabeth and Rachel are in Antaeus' Arena, Daedulus' workshop, Pan's deathbed
2) Lea, Medea, and Magnus are in Antaeus' Arena, Trent's resting place, Sally Jackson's apt
THINGS TO KNOW:
1) Considering that I only write Greco-Roman gods in my verses, Magnus being the son of Freyr wouldn't work here. So, I tried to find a greco-roman equivalent to Freyr, but I understandably couldn't HOWEVER!
1A) Freyr is the Norse god of peace, he's in charge of Sun, Rain, Harvests, Peace and Prosperity. He is similar to Ζεύς, Hêlios, and Dēmḗtēr because Ζεύς controls rain, Hêlios controls the sun, and Dēmḗtēr controls the harvests and he is the son of the sea god Njǫrðr. Freyr is also known to have been associated with the horse cult and he is associated with kingship and fair weather.
1B) In the myths, Freyr is presented as the son of the god Njǫrðr and his sister-wife, as well as the twin brother of the goddess Freyja.
1C) Now, looking at that, obviously, those would be the first choices to look at for his parentage. BUT! When Annabeth and her dad go looking for him in the Sword of Summer, Magnus immediately senses something is wrong. As a play on that, its going to be somewhat similar to Thalia and Jason. The two of them could not be raised together which the argument that happened with the Chase siblings made more convenient.
2) I debated making him a child of Cerēs because yk Athênê has her brain children so Dēmḗtēr/Cerēs could have grain children whatever.
2A) She has those connections that Freyr has.
2B) A goddess of justice in the same frame that he was a god of peace.
2C) She's quite obviously the goddess of the harvest. Her son is Arion, connecting her worship to include horses.
2D) In Minoan and Mycenean cults, scholars have translated the Linear B inscriptions in reference to her especially the Tablets from Pylos which makes mentions of "the Two Queens and Poseidón" ("to the Two Queens and the King":wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te). The "Two Queens" may be related to Dēmḗtēr and Persephónē or their precursors, goddesses who were no longer associated with Poseidón in later periods. So that's queenship to his kingship.
2E) Dēmḗtēr is the daughter of Krónos and his sister-wife, Rheia.
2F) Dēmḗtēr is not a twin but she is the middle sister just like Poseidón is the middle brother and Njǫrðr is who? The norse god of the sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and crop fertility.
2G) There is also the fact when you look to Freyja, who ruled over Fólkvangr where half of those that die in combat go upon death. Dēmḗtēr is over the Mysteries.
2H) Dēmḗtēr also has the epithet Queen Amongst Goddesses and Freyr, despite being a Vanir God, is titled as "Prince of the Æsir".
2I) So, yeah, I also debated Apollo as in The Hidden Oracle, Apollo mentions having met a smoking hot god in a Stockholm tavern whose sword wouldn't stop talking. The weapon is assumed to be Sumarbrandr and the God is most likely Freyr.
2J) But in the end, I settled on Cerēs, the roman form of Dēmḗtēr because I'm not writing into ToA and well, if you read anything by me, then you know how I feel about the kids of Dēmḗtēr/Cerēs and Aphrodítē/Venus "not being powerful forces". And if I wanted to write a powerful child of Dēmḗtēr, then I used Katie or Miranda. So here he is the son of Cerēs.
2K) This also means that Alf Seiðr that Magnus and Freyr can use will be different than how Rick wrote it (though admittedly, I'm just going by the wikia).
COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR:
1) I just finished drafting a fight scene for TLO arc and I cried.
2) Rick also lied about Ariadnê not having godly blood. Her Mother is Pasiphaë who is a goddess and her Father was a demigod considering he was the son of Ζεύς. But creative liberties and a need to connect Rachel to the story.
3) Ethan's betrayal hits different than the books since they were such good friends and poor Drew. Betrayal of their blessings were saddening. Ask Thalia. Ask Luke.