Chapter Seven - Oh God pt.2
"What are you doing in here?" A man's voice boomed from behind me.
I turned around, only to recoil away from a very pissed off looking god. His expression combined with the sun bleached hair and Miami Beach tan made him look like a surfer whose board had sand kicked on it by some townie.
"Ah... Ah..." I opened and closed my mouth, unable to form even a coherent syllable.
"What's all the commotion?" Lydia called from downstairs. I could hear her footsteps on the stairs even as I felt myself shrinking away from the powerful godly aura being directed at me. "Apollo?"
"Lydia," Apollo breathed, turning his attention away from me. "I found this demigod sneaking around..."
"I wasn't sneaking!" I said, finding my voice through sheer indignation.
"Penny? What are you doing up here?" Lydia asked.
"I was looking for somewhere to wash up," I said. "The others beat me to the other bathrooms, and I saw the stairs leading up, so I thought there'd be one up here but then it just turned out to be a bedroom and suddenly an angry god appeared out of nowhere looking like he was about to smite me, and..."
"Whoa, whoa," Lydia said, cutting me off as I started to ramble. "It's fine. You're okay. Nobody is going to be smote."
I blinked, then without giving my brain time to properly engage, I said; "I thought the word was 'smitten'?"
"Not quite," Lydia smiled. "But, right now, you should probably head back down. One of the others might have finished washing up by now."
"R-right," I said, sparing a glance at the glowering god. His expression may have softened in the presence of Lydia, but his posture still resembled a coiled spring. "If you'll excuse me."
I quickly ducked away and all but ran for the stairs leading back down while whispering a prayer of gratitude to Aphrodite, thanking her for the blessing that kept me clean at all times. After that brief encounter, I no longer had to use the bathroom anymore. Reaching the landing, I noticed the bathroom door ajar, signifying that whoever was in there had in fact finished, but my first stop would be my room for a fresh change of clothes. Even if nobody else would ever know - I would.
By the time I got downstairs after getting cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes, Apollo had seemingly made himself right at home at the kitchen table and was being fussed over by Andromeda's grandmother.
"Hey, Penny," Andromeda said, pulling me aside. She opened her mouth to say something, then paused and arched her right eyebrow in confusion. "Did you change your clothes?"
"Your mom said to get cleaned up," I said. "My clothes were dirty."
"You're self cleaning," Andromeda pointed out.
"That's completely beside the point," I shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. Judging by her look of incredulity, I think I managed.
"Whatever," she shook her head. "I was going to say try to be on your best behavior. Apollo's here."
"Yeah," I said. "I know. Blonde guy at the table, right? We met. You're not even a little bit curious about why he's here?"
"Not really," Andromeda shrugged. "I mean, it's a bit earlier than usual, sure. But, we knew he'd be by for dinner."
"I guess. Still, isn't that a little... Weird?" I asked.
"It's just Apollo," Andromeda said.
"Yeah," I agreed, rolling my eyes. "It's just an Olympian god showing up for weekend dinner at your grandparents'."
"I mentioned my mom had a demigod sister," Andromeda said.
"Yeah?" I blinked, then suddenly felt really dumb. "Oh."
"Yeah," Andromeda smirked. "Oh. Unlike a lot of the other Olympians, Apollo really does care - and not just about his kids, but about the mortal parents too. He and gran have sort of kept up their relationship over the years."
"What about Jerry?"
"He's okay with it," Andromeda said.
"Oh," I said, following her into the dining room. I did not want to follow that particular line of thought any further.
"Hey, kids," Jerry said as we joined the crowded gathering.
"Did you change your clothes?" Percy asked, looking at me with a look of confusion creasing his brow.
"They were dirty," I said, a little shortly.
"I bet," Apollo said, smirking.
"Apollo, be polite," Lydia chided, and - to my surprise - the god actually ducked his head in embarrassment.
"So, um... Mr... Lord...? Apollo," I said, trying to ignore the sound of Andromeda and her brother snickering.
"Just Apollo is fine for this setting, I think," the god said.
"Right," I nodded. "I had something I wanted to ask you. About one of your kids..."
I heard Andromeda mutter something that sounded like 'oh boy' but my attention was more focused on the Olympian god in front of me. Apollo shifted in his chair, turning to make it clear I had his full attention.
"One of my kids?" He asked, and I nodded again. "Which one?"
"Well, I'm not really sure if she's one of yours, to be honest," I admitted. "At least, if she is, she hasn't been claimed and she's mostly unaware. Her name is Cleo, and she goes to our school. As you know, I can see auras. Well, I was looking around at the students and I noticed a glowing gold aura that reminded me of the kids in Cabin Seven back at camp, only... Different?"
"I don't currently have any daughters named Cleo," Apollo said. "Certainly none around your age."
"Cleo's just a nickname," I said. "Her name's actually... Um..."
"Clementine," Percy spoke up. "Clementine Mossinger."
"Right, that's the name," I said.
"Definitely not one of mine," Apollo repeated.
"Forgive me for being blunt," I said, "but how can you be so sure? Next to Hermes' cabin, yours is the most populated. Is there any way you might have lost track of one?"
There was a sharp intake of breath as someone gasped, but my attention was fixed on Apollo's face. He suddenly looked as if he was carved from marble - cold and impassive.
"The reason my cabin is so populated," he said slowly, "is specifically because I do not lose track of my children."
"But..."
"Just give it a rest," Andromeda huffed. "We already told you she wasn't a demigod like us, and he just told you she wasn't his kid. Why can't you accept that?"
"She is a demigod," I insisted. "Regular mortals don't have colorful auras. None of them do."
"By yours and her admission, she's not a regular mortal," Andromeda said. "She's clear sighted. You're reading too much into things while forgetting the fact that you're dyslexic."
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Fine. Okay. I still think she needs to know about..."
"No, she doesn't!"
"So, what? She just needs to keep her head down and her eyes closed for the rest of her life? If the monsters don't get her, some yellow cab will!"
A sudden knock at the door interrupted Andromeda before she could retort.
"I'll get it," Jerry said, brightly.
I stared at Andromeda, momentarily mesmerized by the indignant fury glinting in her violet eyes, before looking away with a slight blush.
"I... I'm sorry," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "I know you believe she's not a demigod, and maybe she's not, but she's already seen some of the weird shit that's going on. Hell, we're basically giant magnets for weird shit - and that's not even counting the whole Children of the Big Three thing you guys have going on.
"How many times have you been kicked out of school because of some monster attack or other general weirdness? Sure, the other kids and teachers might never have noticed or gotten involved, but they weren't Clear Sighted. She needs to be read in on things or she's just going to end up in the crossfire eventually."
"Be careful what you tell her," Apollo said, making Andromeda turn her attention to him. "She is not a part of our world, and should not be made aware of it. However, you are correct in that she may be in greater peril than any of your other schoolmates if due to nothing more than proximity."
"What should I tell her then?" I asked.
"I couldn't say," the god answered.
"Lie," Andros said, speaking up. "Make something up."
"I'm not a good liar," I protested.
"Well, you've got the rest of the weekend to figure it out," he said. "Try to come up with a convincing story. For everyone's sakes."
I looked to Percy, who just shrugged, then to Andromeda - who seemed content to ignore me altogether. I sat down with a sigh, feeling a slight headache coming on and it took all I had not to start venting steam to relieve the pressure - a very real possibility considering my powers. It was only barely after noon, and all I wanted to do was to curl up in bed and go to sleep. Before I could come up with a reason to excuse myself, Jerry came back.
"Who was it, dear?" Lydia asked.
"One of the kids' friends from camp," Jerry said. "The blonde one. What was her name, again? Angela? Annabelle?"
"Annabeth?" Andromeda perked up.
"That's right," Jerry said, snapping his fingers and grinning.
"What's Annabeth doing here?" Andromeda asked. "Where is she?"
"Well, right now she's bringing up her things," Jerry said. "On the whole, she's staying for the weekend too."
He hadn't even finished his sentence before Andromeda had vanished from the room - almost as if she could teleport. A few minutes passed, then I heard a sudden scream echoing from up the stairs, followed by the sound of something heavy impacting the wall and shattering. Without a moment of hesitation, I was on my feet and leading the rest of the pack to see what was happening. Andromeda and Annabeth were on the first landing - Annabeth was doubled over and breathing heavily.
"What happened?"
"Sp-sp-sp..." Annabeth stammered, still hyperventilating.
"One of those mechanical spider things your dad left behind as a trap at Waterland," Andromeda said. "It came out of nowhere and attacked Annabeth."
"Wait, what? It... Attacked her?" I blinked, then looked around. "Where is it now?"
"It's broken, now," Andromeda said, gesturing to a mass of bronze gears and bolts scattered on the floor nearby. "Annabeth kicked it as hard as she could into the wall, but there could be more of them."
"No, there isn't," I said, picking at the wreckage.
"You don't know that!"
"Yeah, I do," I sighed, standing up and looking back to her. "There was only the one in my backpack. I told you how it followed me home after the quest and that I was trying to figure out what made it tick, right? Well, I packed it up with the rest of my things to work on during any free time I might have over the weekend."
"Penny..." Percy groaned.
"It was completely unresponsive!" I said, defensively. "It wouldn't even respond to Archie picking at its gears and bolts."
"Archie?" Andros asked, unable to stop himself.
"The replica Stygian Bird I got from Olympus last Winter Solstice," I said. "My point is, the spider shouldn't have been able to do anything."
"It was made as a trap, right?" Percy asked, and I nodded. "Well, spiders don't like children of Athena. Maybe Annabeth being around made it react? Like flipping a switch."
"That doesn't... That's not..." I stopped. I'd been stuck on trying only physical stimuli to get it to respond, completely ignoring the metaphysical. I slapped my palm to my face with a groan. "That might have done it."
"Is it going to happen again?" Andromeda asked, her voice strained.
"No," I shook my head. "Annabeth killed it pretty good. Any enchantments it had are gone now. I'll be lucky enough to find all the parts to even put it back together."
"Good riddance," Annabeth mumbled.
"Come on," Andromeda said, putting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "Let's finish putting your stuff away, then we can watch a movie while we have lunch. Sound good?"
"Y-yeah, sure," Annabeth said, shooting a glare at the inert remnants of the broken auton. "Which movie did you have in mind?"
"The Mummy," Andromeda grinned. "With Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz."
"That movie is so awful!" Annabeth groaned. "How can you even stand it?"
"It's got Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz," Andromeda answered, as if that explained anything.
"Which one of them plays the Mummy?" I asked.
Annabeth groaned as Andromeda's eyes lit up.
"You've never seen it?" I shook my head. "She's never seen it, Annabeth. Now we have to!"