Whoop, another little twist before our big three trio meet Hades.
Replies:
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: Oh you'll get to see it soon enough. :D
Undeath9087: Percy just giving Hades the disapproving look until he gives in and apologises. And yeah, Thalia's incredibly relieved that the prophecy's probably not about her and because of the situation she doesn't feel much of a rivalry with her.
Guest: Oh yeah. Percy looks after her family, especially the ones who are a little bit lost and hurting. And younger than her.
The three cousins were gathering up their supplies, stuffing them into Thalia's backpack as best as they could, until it was bulging at the seams.
The only thing that they left outside of it was the camping lamp. And Percy was moving to pick it up when she heard a noise in the distance. A familiar cawing screech. She stiffened, eyes going wide, hand slipping into her pocket and pulling out and uncapping Riptide in a fluid motion- and it really was strange, how right it felt. As if the sword was always meant to be hers.
But she couldn't dwell on that. Not when the Stymphalian birds were still nearby. And she couldn't risk magic again. Not yet at least. She'd felt that heat when she'd used even the simple spell to amplify her screaming. She had to be able to use magic when they reached Mount Tam, or they were all doomed. She needed to be able to reach into the Duat to get the Scythe.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
She nodded slightly at Bianca and Thalia, who had both drawn their own weapons, Thalia wielding a spear that crackled with electricity and Bianca gripping two knives with a practiced ease that showed her training was paying off. Percy allowed herself just a brief moment to feel proud before her eyes scanned for the birds, holding the lamp up high to give them more light.
"I think the noise is coming from the trees." Percy said the words slowly, pointing towards the wooded area of the park with the tip of her sword.
"They- it's not getting louder." Bianca said the words slowly, "They're not heading towards us."
"No way they can't smell us." Thalia's voice was grim, "There's only one reason they wouldn't be coming for us."
"They're attacking someone else." Percy was moving an instant before Thalia and Bianca, though she could hear the two girls mere steps behind her as she sprinted into the woods, heart pounding in her chest- and then she could hear it, yells, fighting- and a familiar voice.
"There's too many of them Zoe! We have to run!"
Grover. That was Grover's voice.
Percy sped up. Grover. And he'd said the name Zoe. Gods damn it all why were they in Chicago. But no. No she'd deal with that once they chased off the birds, "GROVER!" She screamed the name, "Grover, dude your pipes! They hate loud noises!"
A moment later Percy could hear Grover's pipes- the tune was terrible and grating but that was perfect- Percy could see dozens of Stymphalian birds taking off, a few of them swooping at the three cousins to try and get some final bloodshed- one of them annoyingly catching it's razor sharp claws in the scarf on Percy's head and taking off with it, fleeing from the noise- and then she spotted them, Grover and Zoe, back to back, both bloodied and bleeding but still standing.
"Percy!" Grover's voice was bleating, "What are you- I thought you guys were flying all the way-"
"Long story-"
"We fell." Bianca called as she and Thalia caught up.
"Apparently not that long." Percy's lips twitched. "Are you guys okay? And I feel like I should be asking you two what you're doing here. Why aren't you back at camp?"
"That is not your concern- thou should-"
"Not our concern?" Thalia glared at Zoe, "We just saved your asses, I think that makes it our concern."
"Woah- woah the last thing we need is to fight-" Grover tried to intervene, which honestly with the expression on Thalia and Zoe's faces was pretty brave.
"We are not fighting-" Zoe huffed the words, "Thy should mind your words, I did not ask you to come-"
"Hey don't be mean to Grover." Bianca gave Zoe a frown, "He helped me out. He's a good guy-"
"It is no ones concern as to what-"
"It is our concern." Percy cut Zoe off, "Thalia is right about that. What in the name of Horus' stinky gym shorts are you doing here?" she resisted the urge to snicker at the looks Thalia, Bianca and Grover shot her at that- it had done what she wanted it to do. Broken the heavy tension building in the air between the two groups.
"Horus' stinky gym shorts?" Thalia raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
"Well I mean, my brother was Horus' eye for a while and his gym shorts stink- or I assume they do I've never actually smelled them. Now that would be weird."
"You are weird." Bianca snickered.
"Now, since we're no longer about to start fighting-" Percy focused her gaze on Zoe, "What are you doing out here? I'm not trying to tell you what you should or shouldn't do or anything but I'm confused. Artemis-"
"If I cannot travel with my lady I will at least try to seek out the monster she was hunting for when things went so wrong."
"Do you even know what that monster is?" Percy raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot- a stance that, though she didn't realise it was very reminiscent of her mother when she was telling one of her children they were being ridiculous.
"I will find whatever it is. I am a hunter-"
"And that's a no." Percy rolled her eyes, shaking her head, "Okay. Right well we do know the monster she was looking for. Not sure where it is and you probably won't be able to track it easily."
"Oh, and what monster would it be then?" Zoe looked like she didn't believe Percy, like she thought the other girl was trying to lie to her to try and trick her into going home.
"The Ophiotaurus." Bianca spoke up, "She was looking for the Ophiotaurus."
"Oh fuck." Grover breathed the words, and Zoe looked stunned too, her eyes going wide.
"But if the enemies- by all the gods that would be a disaster." She shook her head, "And- the beast would most likely be in the sea… to track it- even I would not know where to start-"
"See." Percy shook her head, "Listen I know you want to help your mistress, but you disobeyed her orders- which I mean, okay I'd have done the same thing-" which made Bianca and Grover laugh, "But she clearly had a reason to be worried about you on this quest. It would distract her- your father-"
"Atlas." There was shame in Zoe's face as she said that and Percy moved forward quickly, clamping a hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Your father is dangerous. And I'm sure you're perfectly strong and capable but I get why she ordered you to stay behind. And I get the impression that you're not used to disobeying her- yeah, yeah see there's that look on your face. You Zoe, are not used to disobeying your mistress. You don't do well with disobeying orders."
"I-" Zoe's expression twisted before, "That changes nothing. Thy could not understand, I have to help my mistress in any way I can."
"Did you actually plan on searching for the monster or did you plan on using that as an excuse before following us towards Mount Tam? And how did you plan on getting there on time?"
"I would have found a way."
"I guess little miss perfect's not so perfect." Thalia snorted, and Percy shot her a look.
"Dude, that's not cool."
"What it's not my fault she always acts holier than thou-"
"Do not speak of me in such a way daughter of Zeus, thy can hardly-"
"Oi!" Percy groaned, "I swear to all the gods Egyptian and Greeks that if you two are as bad as Artemis and Luke were I will put you in time outs."
"Oh come on-" Thalia scoffed but Bianca snickered.
"No, no she will. I've seen Percy dealing with the twin terrors."
"Estelle and Alex are definitely handfuls. But they respect their big sister as they of course should." Percy was well aware that she was probably the twins favorite person in the whole world. Oh they adored Carter and Sadie too, but Percy was the cool sister- even more than Sadie. She was the one who played with them most often, who came up with wild bedtime stories. Who helped them with their silly stunts. And when they took it too far Percy was often the one to step in, before even Sally could.
Generally when they started arguing. Which was rare but explosive when it happened. The last time the twins had a fight over a plate of cookies the statue of Thoth had temporarily lost his head and the couch had burst into flames, luckily Percy had been in the room at the time and had put it out quickly but still. Explosive. And the twins had been so startled when she'd swept them both up, depositing them on either side of the couch that they hadn't said a word while she'd lectured them on how they should work together rather than fighting and the danger they'd put themselves in when they did fight. Percy hadn't realised that she was being watched until Sadie had decided to start clapping, half teasingly half genuinely impressed that the twins actually sheepishly apologised and hugged.
Carter had jokingly told her that she was becoming responsible- to which she'd responded by going wide eyed, shrieking and running up the stairs, dragging her mattress out of her room, getting the twins to clamber on and using it to surf down the stairs, Annabeth rolling her eyes while Piper cheered- which had led to half of the kids in the house taking it in turns to do the same- Carter eventually caving and dragging Zia into it too.
The real highlight had been when Sally had given in and gathered up all of her kids and they'd done it together. She still treasured the photo that Piper had snapped of that moment. She'd considered getting it printed properly- onto a canvas or something but sadly it was impossible to take it to a shop to get it developed onto a canvas when she was so famous- it would end up leaked to the press and Percy didn't want her every private moment splattered all over the internet. Not moments like that anyways.
"Your family does sound fun." Grover looked kind of… sad for a second, a longing look in his face before he shook it away. But Percy made a note to invite him over. He seemed like he could do with a bit of Kane family madness. There was nothing like it to help a person get confident, which Grover seemed like he could use.
"Oh they are." Percy ran her fingers through her hair, "But now we should focus on our situation." She eyed Zoe carefully for a long moment before, "You're lucky." She decided, "We got separated from the others. And I'm the sort of person who likes encouraging a little… chaotic disobedience." She winked, "As long as it's for the right reasons of course. And I think yours is for the right reason. So, if you want to make it to Mount Tam in time to do some good, well you can come with us, right?" she turned her head to look at Thalia and Bianca, who both nodded, Thalia far more reluctantly than Bianca.
"Of course." Bianca offered Zoe a small smile, "I don't see any reason why not."
"I guess." Thalia pulled a face, "But I swear if you annoy me I will shock you."
"You-" Zoe's eyes narrowed, "You have a plan? How dost though plan to get to San Francisco within the time limit when you can no longer fly in your sky boat?"
Percy gave a slow grin, holding up her wrist to show off her Stygian Iron Bracelet. "We're going to take a trip and visit Bianca's father. To start with."
"Bianca's father-" Grover looked a little pale, "Is that Stygian Iron?"
"You wish to go to the Underworld?" Zoe looked shocked, "But- Lord Hades will not-"
"Oh he'll help us. I guarantee it."