Chapter 04
The mansion looked just as modern inside as it did from the outside, but with a few personal touches. The floor, rather than being hard wood or marble, was a marbled copper that matched the doors. The various fixtures looked to be professionally hand crafted - which made sense, given whose mansion this was. The furniture looked both stylish and comfortable - likely influenced by the lady of the house - and a soft glow of light seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.
The front doors opened to a wide entryway with twin staircases winding up toward the second floor. I could see an empty sitting room to the right, but heard voices and laughter coming from the doorway to the left - which was the direction Lonnie led us toward revealing a large, open dining area. A massive table dominated the center of the room, with enough seating for twenty people.
The room was filled with an assortment of some of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life. Seriously, what was it with goddesses being hot enough to put even super models to shame? It was enough to give a girl a complex.
The cover girl for 'Housewife-Next-Door' was busy at work setting the massive table by herself while 'Sports Illustrated' arm wrestled with 'Party-Girl-Monthly'. The Party Girl's eyes widened as she took notice of us, and quickly threw the match, to great protest from her partner.
"You're here!" A goddess with curves to rival the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway came running up to greet us with a radiant smile. "I noticed Kate come running through the office alone and was worried something had gone wrong."
"Hey, Euthenia," Lonnie greeted. "It's fine. Kate's just getting dressed so she can head over to the station and visit Cubby, but as you can see, the guest of honor's arrived in one piece. Along with a handful of plus-ones."
"Well, normally it would be Philophrosyne making the introductions, but as she was too busy..."
"Hey, no taking my job, sis," the Party Girl said, approaching us with an easy grin. "Besides, don't you have a cake to pull out of the oven or something?"
"Anne's got it," Euthenia replied. "I actually volunteered to come out and see if the table was ready or not."
"Just finished," 'Housewife-Quarterly' spoke up.
"Nice," Philophrosyne grinned wider, then turned back to us. "Well, as you already know, this is our sister Euthenia. Over there at the table are our other sisters Eucleia and Eupheme. And my name's Philophrosyne, but you can just call me Phil."
"Our sisters?" I blinked.
"Well, yeah," Phil grinned. "We have the same dad, after all. That makes you our little sister."
"Oh," I said, a little dumbfounded. "It's nice to meet you. Um... I guess as long as we're doing introductions, this is my brother, Percy, my friends Annabeth and Andromeda, and Andromeda's brother Andros."
"Hi," they each said in turn.
"It's good to meet you all," Phil said.
"Make way for the cake!"
We all turned to see a young, Asian girl with short black hair pushing a rolling cart loaded with a birthday cake of godly proportions out of the kitchen. It looked to be at least six layers thick, with gold leaf design around the edges framing an image transfer of me being presented with laurels after coming back to camp from my quest, and was decorated with thirteen lit candles.
"Whoa," Percy said.
"You really out did yourself with this one, Anne," Phil remarked.
"Thanks," the Asian girl grinned.
"I don't remember anyone taking pictures that day," Andromeda said, examining the image.
"We picked it off one of the old high-def cameras that still work," Anne said.
"What cameras?" Annabeth asked.
"Around a decade back, someone had had the idea to make a hidden camera reality show based around the camp," Phil explained. "Sort of a way for the gods to unofficially check in on their kids without breaking any non-interference rules. Unfortunately, the initial test footage proved to be unusable for the Station."
"It's hard to sell a show when the subject matter is heavily criticizing your target demographic," Anne said with a nod. "It was deemed 'too political' and the project was ultimately scrapped. Since then, the cameras have pretty much either been discovered and scrapped, or left to the mercy of the elements. We still occasionally get live feed from the ones aimed at the dining pavilion and at the central hearth."
"Not to mention how much of a terrible intrusion of privacy it would have been," chimed in a new voice. I looked up to see one of the most gorgeous goddesses I'd ever laid eyes on. If I was forced to be honest, I'd place her up there with Aphrodite (though, no way I'd claim she looked better. I'm not that dumb).
"The cameras would have only been put up in public and communal spaces," Anne said, perhaps a touch defensively.
"Of course, dear," the gorgeous goddess said with a smile, before turning to regard me. "You must be Penelope?" I nodded. "It's good to meet you, Penelope. I am Aglaea. Your father's wife."
"So, you're my... stepmom?" I asked. Beside me, I felt my friends go rigid at my declaration. "Or is that too forward?"
"I don't mind it," the goddess smiled.
"And... You don't want me dead?"
"Oh, sweetheart," Aglaea frowned. "No, of course not. My husband - your father - and I have an... agreement. He's free to pursue other... interests... as long as it gets him out of the forge from time to time."
"You're really okay with him...?"
"I know he'll always come back to me," Aglaea smiled. "Besides, he needs to get out more often, and it's really helped his self esteem issues. Speak of the devil..."
The sound of uneven heavy footsteps coming from the entry hall caught my attention, and we all turned to see Hephaestus, crippled god of blacksmiths, stomping toward us with a pronounced half limp. Andromeda, Annabeth and Andros quickly bowed their heads (with Andros reaching over to nudge Percy into doing the same). I almost joined, but remembered what he'd said before.
"Hey, dad," I said, instead, offering a slight wave.
"Oh good, you made it," Hephaestus said, pausing halfway into the room to regard the strange group of half bloods in his home. "Who are all these other people?"
"Penelope brought some friends along," Lonnie said.
"Kate said it would be okay," I offered as way of explanation.
"Hm," dad grunted. "Well, what's everyone doing still standin' around for? Looks like the table's set and my leg's killin' me. Tuck in."
Everybody took a seat at the table while Percy and I were pulled to the front and handed a knife to cut the first slice. Despite the many layers, it was like cutting into a cloud.
"This is delicious!" Percy exclaimed after taking the first bite.
"Thank you," Anne said. "That would probably be the ambrosia that was added in."
"W-what?" Andros stammered, eyes wide. Even Annabeth and Andromeda looked shocked. It took me a moment to remember that large doses of the godly food could be deadly to demigods like us.
"Don't worry," Anne said, trying to reassure us. "I only used enough to act as a flavor enhancer. You could probably eat the whole cake and it wouldn't even be the equivalent to half a dose of medicine for one of you."
"Is there any way I can get the recipe?" I asked.
"Not this time, kiddo," Aglaea said, shaking her head.
"And don't even think about trying to sneak a peek," Eucleia warned. "The last guy who tried that is still paying for it."
"Got it," I said.
"Hey, don't sweat it," Eupheme said. "Besides, the present you are getting today will more than make up for it."
I blinked, "I thought coming up here, meeting you all and having cake was my present?"
"Awww," Euthenia and Aglaea cooed in unison causing my face to grow warmer.
"Nah, the cake and gathering is just observation of tradition," dad said, then turned to regard Percy. "To be honest, I wasn't really expecting you here so I don't have anything prepared for you."
"Th-that's alright?" Percy said, sounding unsure about being addressed by a god. "Really."
"Still, I'll have a talk with your old man," dad continued. "See if he hasn't done anything about it already. As for you," he turned to me. "Your actual present's outside."
After the cake, my friends and I followed my dad outside to see my present. I had offered to help clean up first, but Aglaea had been adamantly against the idea. Once outside, I felt my jaw slacken as I stopped dead in my tracks.
The chariot of the god of war was parked in my dad's yard next to the barbecue pit. It was just as I remembered it - painted blood red with detailed flames on the sides and Caucasian leather seats. I'd taken it for a joyride across the United States on the day of the Summer Solstice after fighting Ares into a retreat, but had been made to give it back afterward. There was no way this was what my dad had in mind for my birthday present... Right?
"That's..." I started to say, still staring at the motorcycle in disbelief.
"Just a replica," dad said, shaking his head slightly. "Can't go giving you all the god's things, can I? Still, I modeled it as close to the real deal as I could, though. Figured it'd piss him off a little."
"How fast does it go?" I asked.
"Well," he frowned, thinking for a moment. "The top speed is only around nine hundred kilometers per hour. Not nearly as fast as his chariot, but still better than anything the mortals got on the ground. I did add a few safety features to it, though. Don't want you winding up a mile long streak of blood down the street.
"For instance, I put some auto-stabilizers so you wont fall off," he continued. "Also helps to ensure a smoother ride, so you wont be getting jostled around too badly - The mortals road building skills really did peak in Rome and have been declining ever since."
I didn't have very much of a frame of reference for how my dad usually presented himself, but from what I did have, it felt odd to see the gruff, if a bit quiet, giant of a blacksmith practically gushing as he went over the features of my new bike with me.
"Don't worry," he finished, handing me a heavy, hand bound book. "Everything's all here in the manual."
"G-great," I stammered, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
"Hello?" a woman's voice called out from the mansion, grabbing all of our attention. I turned to see a familiar goddess with short-cropped dark hair and sparkling eyes stepping out the back door.
"Thalia?" I asked, and almost got knocked to the ground by Andromeda's hair as she quickly whipped her head around to look.
"AH, Penelope," she grinned. "I was hoping to run into you. Thankfully I was at the station when I heard you were in the area."
"Who's this?" Percy asked, sounding a little confused.
"This is Thalia," I introduced. "Goddess of feasts and banquets, eldest of the muses."
"And your step-aunt, it seems," Thalia grinned. "Aglaea's my baby sister. Oh, hello Hephaestus."
"Hm," dad grunted in what might have passed as a greeting.
"I heard you've been looking for me?" I asked, getting the goddess' attention. Maybe I was imagining things, but for a moment it seemed like dad was grateful.
"Yes!" Thalia exclaimed. "And you brought the whole group with you, too!"
"You were looking for all of us...?" Annabeth said.
"Well, you three girls in particular," the goddess said. "I wanted to talk to you about potential sponsorships."
