It was stupid. Percy knew it was stupid. But it had become a habit over the years. Something missing that you knew had been in your pocket a moment before? Check the Nest. Misplace something, (a common occurrence in a camp full of kids with ADHD)? Check the Nest. Lose anything at all? First step…Check. The. Nest.
Lose your best friend?
Percy knew it was stupid; Annabeth wasn't hiding in a chest on the porch of the Big House. She had fallen. And Lord Hermes might be a god of a lot of things, but last Percy checked, he didn't have the power to rescue half-bloods from death or abduction. If he did, surely he wouldn't have reached out to Percy last summer to try and help Luke. He'd just swoop in and help his son himself. Percy didn't fully understand the 'gods can't help their kids' thing going on, but he'd seen the longing in Lord Hermes' eyes. It had been such a human expression that it had confused him at the time. Percy was just some kid, albeit a kid with some cool abilities, and Hermes was a god. Gods shouldn't need kids like Percy to do things for them. It was one of the things Luke had always complained about.
Lord Hermes hadn't actually demanded anything of Percy, though. The god offered help and then he'd just…asked. Not even that Percy save Luke but that he'd try. In all honesty, Percy had been a bit overawed talking to the god. Percy was used to the gods interacting with him by that point, but in subtle and unseen ways. Except for Mr. D, Percy's experience with the gods was usually in the random appearance of gifts or just a feeling. To Percy, Lord Hermes was the faint sound of pipes when he sacrificed some food to him, the leaver of gifts, the invisible thief, the absentee father Luke had raged against. And suddenly he was a man as well, all too visible and real. And before Percy could really get used to the idea, he was gone.
Annabeth was gone.
And Percy knew it was stupid, but he still stood on the porch and unlatched the lid to the large wooden chest and opened it.
Inside were the usual assortment of lost items. Baseball cards, camp necklaces, sunglasses, thimbles, batteries, hats, bits of armor, socks, jackets, pencils, pens, a lighter, a harmonica. All the little odds and ends that easily go missing. There was a conch shell, too, and Percy reached in and picked it up. It probably came from his own cabin. Lord Hermes never took anything from inside the cabin; Percy had checked half a dozen times the first few times he'd found his own mail outside his door instead of in the mailbox on the porch of the Big House. But sometimes he'd take things left outside, and there were a lot of shells. Percy just looked at the conch shell, sighed, and put it back in the chest. Instead, he grabbed a baseball cap.
It wasn't Annabeth's cap. Of course it wasn't. Just another lost hat from the camp of ADHD kids. This cap wouldn't turn him invisible. It wouldn't somehow, magically, save Annabeth. It wasn't Percy's cap, either. He should put it back. He turned it around and around in his hands, wondering how long it had been in the chest and if its owner even knew to come looking for it here. Mr. D wasn't good about giving new campers important information like that and it never seemed to occur to Chiron, either. Percy remembered how surprised Annabeth had been, the first time he'd taken her to the Nest.
"Oh, shoot," she'd said one afternoon. "I think I left my book by the lake." Percy had agreeably gone to look for it with her, but it wasn't anywhere they looked. Nor was it left by the archery range, which was where Annabeth had been before the lake. The camp was a big place to lose something in, and eventually Annabeth had been forced to admit she couldn't fully remember where she'd laid it down. By this point, she was actually close to tears over the whole thing. "It had all my notes in it!"
"Well, let's go check the Nest, then," said Percy, slightly puzzled why the usually sensible Annabeth hadn't already gone there on her own. Annabeth just stared at him with large, wet eyes. The eyes soon narrowed.
"What nest?" she asked.
"You know…the Magpie's Nest. The chest of lost items?"
Her eyes narrowed further, but all she said was, "Show me."
He showed her.
"You really don't know about the Nest?" Percy asked as he opened it to reveal the usual assortment. "I thought everyone learned about it from living in…oh…but I suppose Lady Athena claims her kids from the start so you wouldn't have…"
"There's a Lost and Found chest that everyone knows about except my cabin?!" Annabeth had shrieked. "Why didn't…" and then she clamped her mouth shut, eyes still narrowed. She crowded around Percy and started rummaging. Her book was only the first thing she found.
"That's Malcom's comb…" she murmured as she rummaged, grabbing up random items, "Florence's bookmark…Thomas's earring…my pen! I've been looking for that!"
"Oh, hey," said Percy, reaching in himself to grab a wooden nickel featuring the Statue of Liberty before it could fall further down and be lost again. "I forgot about that. Thanks, Lord Hermes!"
Annabeth stared at him, her hands full of lost items. Percy stuffed the nickel in his pocket, suddenly feeling kind of dorky, his face going a bit hot.
"I mean…it's a lucky nickel," Percy mumbled, "I got lost from my mom when I was, like, six and then I found the nickel and then I found my mom and I've kept it ever since and…stupid, I know, but…"
"Luck is luck," Annabeth said, waving her hand impatiently, then, "Why were you thanking Lord Hermes, though? He's the god of thieves, not the finder of lost items."
That had confused Percy in turn, because, well… no one had actually said Lord Hermes was the one who went around the camp collecting the things campers lost to gather into the Nest but…well, but Percy had gotten used to the idea that the items in the Nest were stolen by Lord Hermes, and he'd just kind of assumed. Anytime he misplaced something and found it in the Nest, he always thanked Lord Hermes. And he'd usually get a response, too: the sound of pipes, a rustle in his hair. Why would Lord Hermes respond to a thanks for something he had nothing to do with?
"Well, who do you think puts the stuff in here?" Percy asked Annabeth, because now that she had asked, he had all at once realized he didn't know. Not really. Even if he still felt he was right.
"I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "Chiron? Other campers? It's a Lost and Found; if all the other campers know about it, I'll bet that the councilors, at the very least, would drop off lost items there. I can't believe no one told my cabin about this…" She was starting to seethe again.
"It can't just be anyone," Percy objected. "I accidentally left one of my race cars on the subway and I found it here when I got to camp. So it had to be someone who can be at camp or in New York, and Lord Hermes is the god of transportation…like subways."
"You left your race car?" Annabeth asked, eyebrow raised. Percy felt his face heating up again.
"I meant my…my car…keychain," Percy quickly tried to correct himself.
"Whatever you say," Annabeth said, clearly laughing at him, but then she frowned again and said, "Lord Hermes is more likely to steal your stuff than return it to you."
"Oh, he does that, too," Percy agreed. "And then leaves it in the Nest."
Annabeth, Percy remembered, as he stared down at a stranger's cap in his hands, had been highly skeptical. Percy himself had forgotten how weird and uncool he himself had thought it the first time he'd learned about Lord Hermes stealing from kids. It almost felt like a game at this point. Or just another mild hazard of the camp, like evading the harpies, or having to replace a shirt that had gotten ruined from lava. Half-bloods just have to put up with occasionally having their stuff disappear and show up in the nest.
Half-bloods have to just put up with occasionally fighting monsters. With dangerous quests. With their friends disappearing.
"That is not yours," a voice said behind Percy and he whirled around, hand going to his pocket, ready to unleash Riptide. Luckily, he didn't actually uncap his sword. Because one of the first lessons to be hammered into his head at camp was that the gods could be smite happy and needed respect. And it would not be respectful at all to pull a sword on a god.
This god looked more amused than likely to smite him down at any moment. He looked different than last time. His hair was a little grayer, eyes, despite his obvious mirth, a little sadder. He was dressed in his delivery uniform, holding a leather satchel like the kind old timey mailmen might have used to hold the mail. Lord Hermes smiled gently at Percy.
"Are you taking up thievery?" he asked. "Because I can give you a few pointers."
"No," Percy said quickly, tossing the hat behind him into the chest. Lord Hermes just shrugged, then opened his satchel and started depositing things into the Nest himself. He was whistling, a tune not unlike the pipes Percy sometimes heard, but Percy still got the odd feeling that he'd offended the god somehow, or maybe hurt his feelings by so quickly dismissing taking up a life of crime. Which might have been part of what prompted Percy to add, "But I'll still take those pointers, as long as you're offering."
He then had the fun of honestly surprising a god. Lord Hermes actually dropped the item he'd been trying to settle gently into the chest. Which was unfortunate, because it was someone's clay project, and Percy winced when he heard the sound of shattering. Lord Hermes just blinked, then snapped his fingers and the clay project was whole again. He settled it more gently the second time.
"Really?" he asked Percy. He moved away from the Nest and started unloading mail into the boxes. "How open-minded of you."
"If I turned down the chance to learn something because it could be used to hurt people, I'd never have taken up sword fighting," Percy pointed out. "Stealing is a useful skill. Why would I turn down the chance to get better at it?"
"Some would call it morally wrong," Lord Hermes pointed out, finally giving Percy his full attention, his bag now closed. Having the full attention of a god was a bit nerve wracking; Percy could literally feel his gaze. But it didn't actually feel malevolent, just heavy, and Percy had faced much worse.
"I didn't think you were those kinds of gods," Percy answered, with a bit of a shrug. Yes, his mom was some kind of human angel and she had taught him it was wrong to steal. But life had taught Percy better. If it came down to him and his friends starving or stealing, he would steal. Percy could not decipher the look Lord Hermes was giving him. It wasn't exactly pleased but it wasn't offended or hurt either. There was something uncomfortably Other about his expression, as if he were staring through Percy, as if he could see his every sin. Or, considering what he was god of, perhaps every moment of adulation.
"Alright, cousin," said Lord Hermes at the end of it, which startled Percy in a different way. Yes, technically they were cousins but…Lord Hermes was a god, and Percy…was not. "I'll give you some pointers."
Then Lord Hermes grinned, the impish grin shared by all his children that just screamed mischief. It should have scared Percy. It usually did, when one of the Stoll brothers adopted that look, because it meant some big prank was in the works, maybe at Percy's expense. Right then, though, he just felt a part of things.
"First lesson…" Lord Hermes said, and he reached into his own pocket and pulled out a wooden nickel. Percy's wooden nickel, that had been, a moment before, in Percy's pocket. Percy searched his pocket instinctively, and sure enough, all he found was a few drachmas and Riptide. Lord Hermes grinned and flipped the coin in the air, catching it. It landed with the Statue of Liberty down and the picture of a bison up. Percy reached for it, but Lord Hermes held it up instead, studying it.
"Lucky nickel?" Lord Hermes asked, squinting a bit, then, "Looks like Apollo's work. Protector of children. Prayed for help, did you?" He flipped the coin towards Percy and Percy caught it automatically. Percy opened his mouth to say he hadn't prayed to anyone, let alone Lord Apollo, not when he was six…well, maybe he had sent a basic prayer, but he hadn't meant Lord Apollo…but Hermes kept talking and the moment was lost. "First lesson, mortals generally can't feel more than one thing at a time. You bump into someone and they won't feel your hand in their pocket. Go on…try it."
"Wait…what…steal from you?" Percy demanded, eyes wide. Lord Hermes just held his arms out, grinning. Still looking at the god cautiously, half expecting to be smote for his daring, Percy nonetheless found his grin to be catching. And he did have permission. When else would he ever have the chance to steal from the god of thieves and get away with it?
Remembering his instructions, Percy walked forward and purposefully bumped into Lord Hermes, reaching into his pocket as he went, trying not to be too obvious, like, staring down at his hand. It was trickier than Lord Hermes had made it sound, and there was almost no chance he didn't notice Percy's fumbling, but when Percy stepped on past the god he did have something clutched in his hand. He looked down to see what he'd grabbed.
It was a wooden nickel.
"How?!" Percy demanded, hand going to his own pocket again and yes, he had stolen his own nickel back. Lord Hermes' eyes danced, but he answered seriously enough, like any other teacher might.
"Second lesson, make sure you know who you're stealing from," Lord Hermes said. "Steal from the wrong person and there might be…consequences." Then, "Go on, try again."
This time, Percy kept his nickel clutched tightly in his hand while he made the attempt. There was less fumbling, too. He had a better idea of what it felt like to reach into another's pocket and the whole thing went more smoothly. This time when he opened his hand, he was holding a pen. The pen wriggled in his hand and he almost dropped it.
'Good job!' the pen praised him.
"Yes, very well done," Lord Hermes agreed. "You're a natural, kid. If I were a mortal I wouldn't have noticed a thing!"
Percy felt a warm glow at the praise. Especially when he unclenched his other hand and the nickel was still there.
"Now, see if you can put Martha back," Lord Hermes instructed next. With a shrug, Percy bumped into the god for a third time, this time dropping the pen into his pocket. He was starting to get the hang of things. And he still had his nickel at the end of it, too. He could feel it digging into the palm of his hand.
"Fantastic!" Lord Hermes praised. "Now, for the next lesson, sometimes you can replace…" but then his pocket buzzed and the god sighed, looking for all the world like a regular over-worked mortal as he fished out his phone.
"Work calls," the god said, offering an apologetic smile towards Percy. "We'll pick this up another time. See you around, cousin. Good luck on your next theft." And he strode away.
"Thanks, Lord Hermes!" Percy called belatedly, but he was sure the god heard.
Percy felt slightly disappointed that the god had to leave. The entire interaction couldn't have been longer than ten minutes, but it had been one of his longer encounters with a god, his own father and Mr. D included. It had been nice. He wondered if that was how regular kids felt, hanging out with their older cousins, learning things.
It was only later that it occurred to Percy that Lord Hermes had been right about something else, too. It was hard to feel two things at once. For a while, he'd been something like content. Not worrying or angry or sad. For a moment, he'd not been thinking about Annabeth or the missing Artemis or Luke.
In the moment, all Percy knew was that he felt disappointed that the god had left, and hoped he would visit again, whether to give new pointers or maybe even just to hang out. He also knew the next thing he was going to steal, and he hoped that Lord Hermes' help counted as some kind of blessing in his endeavor. He was going to steal a quest. He was going to get Annabeth back.
He unclenched his hand around his wooden nickel, then flipped it up and caught it. Lucky, Lord Hermes had said. He could use all the luck he could get. He was about to put it back in his pocket, when he noticed there was something different about the nickel. Where it used to show the Statue of Liberty, it now showed a caduceus, though the bison on the other side was the same.
"Hey!" Percy shouted. Then he checked his pockets and, for good measure, the Nest. No sign of his old coin. Lord Hermes had walked off with it. Then Percy laughed. Well, what else could one expect from the god of thieves? And it wasn't like he'd left him with nothing. He wondered what kind of luck the coin might bring, then stuck it carefully into his pocket. This time, he'd be very careful that it didn't fall out.