All Rights belong to Rick Riordan
Chapter 14
The Calm before the Storm
(Percy)
I walked down the streets of Olympus with Nemea at my side, getting a significant portion of the residents to give looks of fear and awe at the fearsome golden monster beside me. It was good though because it meant no one wanted to focus on me, for once. However, it had its downsides when I realised a major problem as we finally reached the elevator back to the Empire State Building. How was I to fit a three-ton lioness inside? I was pretty sure she exceeded the weight capacity, let alone the size limitations of the lift. Unfortunately I was sure there was not a cargo elevator, which meant I needed to ask a god or make her smaller.
As much as I wanted to ask Hermes to bring her down for me, I also wanted to get out without drawing the attention of the fact I just beat up his half-brother. No matter how much a large portion of people didn't like him. Instead, I focused my attention on the golden lioness and reached for what I imagined the threads of time were in my head and slowly rolled them backwards. Whereas before I was always accompanied by a flash of light and her new form would be revealed. Now, I could see through the light and watch her form shrink down until she was roughly the size of an actual lioness. Satisfied with the result I stepped into the elevator followed by Nemea and we rode it down on our own to the mortal world below.
Stepping out of the elevator, we crossed the lobby and I saw the security guard pale at the sight. Most mortals must have saw something completely normal like a guide dog or something but he alone obviously could see through the mist as he leapt completely over his chair and hid behind his desk. The book in his hands thrown into the sky where it landed by me, it had a black and grey cover and the title was something like '50 shades of something' I simply smirked and walked out as people began to look at him like a madman, I never liked him anyway.
Now, I could have gone to my mum and Paul's apartment first after all it was only a few blocks away but I was planning on coming back this way, before I would travel west towards San Francisco. Therefore, I had to go to camp first, before coming back to the city. Hopefully with a method of transport to get there on, as much as me and Zeus now supposedly mutually tolerated each other. I still didn't feel like riding an Airplane again anytime soon and I didn't know if I could do that flash-teleport thing as a Titan. Likewise, I had no idea if I could do the sword slash thing that Luke did years ago with Maelstrom.
Instead, as I walked down the sidewalk, I looked for a free bit of Pavement before casting a drachma into the street, the coin disappearing into the asphalt and summoning the Gray Sisters' chariot/taxi. For the next minute I patiently watched as the surrounding tarmac began to melt before the gaseous smoky taxi emerged from the ground itself. Its appearance startling Nemea who hissed at it, I simply rubbed her head reassuringly to calm her.
An old crone poked her head out of the passenger window and looked at the pair of us. I saw that she had the tooth and the eye which must have felt like Christmas to the aged sister.
"Two to Camp Half-Blood and yes, I am aware it is outside the service area before you say it, and if you have problem that this is a monster and you don't let her aboard. I will let her eat the damned taxi." I merely stated remembering my last journey where we struggled to get them to let Tyson on.
The old woman paled even further before simply nodding deciding to keep quiet and the rear door opened Nemea leapt in and instantly laid down on two of the seats, forcing me to be crushed against the passenger side door by her backside. As a result, I briefly began to reconsider shrinking her further but knowing the journey was not long I decided to bear with it and stuck my shield in the footwell on her side.
The old message from Ganymede sounded before the taxi suddenly launched forward throwing me against the chair. Seriously what use is a chain for a seat belt when you break your spine every time you accelerate in the damn thing? I think I just got injured more by the taxi than I did by Gaia, and I had actually paid for this.
"That cat better not leave any fur on the seats; we just had this thing cleaned. Otherwise, you are getting the bill for the valet" All three said at once turning towards me, which of course meant no one was watching the road. This also despite the fact that two of them were lacking an eye making the gesture pointless.
"Ok sure no mess, now can you kindly keep an eye on the road now?" I asked concerned as we accelerated directly towards a Semi trailer. The sisters simply nodded before weaving between the wheels of the rig and the trailer and we raced over the Brooklyn Bridge.
As per usual, they began to argue over the drachma and who could bite it. The middle sister had the actual coin and one on the right had the tooth and they began to fight. It was after all, rather one sided as the one on the left right also had the eye as well. So, she was able to see what she hit until her sister thrashed out in pain and punched her in the jaw, knocking the tooth clean out and sending it flying toward the still open window. I simply waited for it to go out before freezing both it and the taxi in time. I simply leaned over Nemea rolled down the window and grabbed it out of the air before sitting back down again.
"Now look what you have done Wasp! That was the last one we had, now no one can bite the coins." The one on the right screamed looking out the window backwards as if hoping to spot it despite the fact we were still going more than a hundred miles per hour.
"No Tempest it is your fault for having the window open." The driver moaned back who must be Anger by process of elimination.
"Err Hello, Sisters I have your tooth right here, so why don't you stop fighting? You know the score information and I give it back again." I stated waving it in front of Tempest once she pulled her head back inside and looked at me instead the eye widening.
"How did you get that without moving? You are not that fast demigod?" She asked flabbergasted confirming that what I had was the real deal.
"First of all, I am not simply a demigod, I am now the Titan of Time. Meaning I don't have to be fast if everything else is not moving in relation to me. Second tell me something I must know." I said smugly.
"That is not possible, Kronos has faded and gone for good, how can you assume his mantle?" Anger asked not taking her face off the road, despite lacking the ability to see where she was going.
"He made me his replacement how else, now tell me." I said rolling my window down a little and pretending to move the tooth towards it.
"The hunter of the sky holds the key to your completion." Tempest said cryptically of course making no sense to me now but sure it had to in the future perhaps.
"We have fulfilled our end now give back the tooth." Anger asked and I handed it to Wasp who pushed it into her horrible mouth before clamping her jaw on the coin in her hands.
"Just who is the Hunter of the skies?" I asked confused, I had only ever heard of Artemis as called a Hunter.
"That is for you to find out Titan, now we are here and you owe us the additional charges." Tempest said turning and holding her hand out for additional payment which I reluctantly did so before the door opened and I was pushed out by the golden lioness who leapt out after me before stretching. As soon as her tail had cleared the door, it slammed shut behind her before the car took off swerving across the road back towards New York and Manhattan.
"Now then Girl, let's do what we came here to do." I said to her before we began the climb back up the hill. Of course, the lioness herself had no idea what we were doing but seemed happy to follow on behind me.
I looked down on the valley from one of the forts guard towers, the fort itself had seemingly been abandoned by the Romans who were down at camp meeting their Greek counterparts and looked to be staying with their siblings for the night if the lack of sleeping bags was any hint. This was all very well and good for me, as I ideally wanted no witnesses to what I was going to do next or just my presence in general to be honest.
I climbed down the tower and walked towards the middle of the fort, carefully avoiding looking at the point I had tortured Octavian. When I was ready, I once again focused on the threads of time around me and began to reverse it back three weeks to before the Romans arrived.
I watched as the camp disassembled itself and the materials joining back together and forming the familiar structure of the Big House. Finally, the last of blue garbled roof was repaired and it was as good as new. After all, I wouldn't want Dionysius to miss his duties whilst it was being repaired, I thought to myself with a smile. After all, he had voted against my proposition and sat asleep throughout my tale. Besides, I was now officially free of his jurisdiction so there was little he could do about it in return.
The action however seemingly cost me a lot of energy as I quickly semi-shuffled out of the now outline only shape of a fort on the ground. I could do nothing about the dead plants but the Golden fleece should heal that in quick time anyway. Stumbling wearily down the hill I made my way to the edge of the woods with Nemea in tow before I asked her to wait there while I fetched some things. To which she nodded in affirmation and simply curled into a ball.
Fighting fatigue, I snuck into the camp itself careful to avoid any campers even if I had to freeze them for a second. However, most of them were now focused on the rebuilt mansion house looking down at them and seemed to be whispering that the gods must have had repaired it. To this I couldn't help but smile as if the gods would do something that mundane.
I too avoided the hunters as well who were all sitting in a group eyeing the Romans up as if plotting revenge but hampered by their injuries and by the goddess, I could almost sense was with them. I was sure I saw a flash of auburn hair amongst them. I wanted to say hello to Thalia but knew that now was not the time, she would ask to many questions that I did not want to answer, especially about Annabeth. Perhaps when everything was sorted out, maybe in a few months if everything went ok?
My first stop of course was my father's cabin where hastily I packed my things up, careful to take all the pictures of me and Annabeth with me. I left the Minotaur horn mounted to the wall as a reminder of what I had been and as a memento of me if it ever turned out I had any siblings. I watched the salt water spring in the corner and was briefly tempted to send a message to Tyson but it was he was probably with Ella maybe at the Roman camp still or in Atlantis perhaps. Once everything was packed, I snuck out and headed towards the stables.
Now the inside of the stables is annoying for me at best as I can hear the dozen pegasi having a shouting contest with one another. About who is the fastest and the best looking whilst alternating this with taking the piss out of the 'new guy'. Scipio too had been brought down here and was in his own stable his head held low because his nickname was Skippy, something Guido and Porkpie found hilarious.
All of them however went silent when I entered and walked past them towards Blackjack's stable at the far end.
"Guys give Scipio a break, how many Giants have you fought?" I asked them and for a few seconds they stayed silent before suddenly becoming excited and demanding information from the Latin Horse. Opposite Blackjack's I saw at the far end of the room was another stable but this one was completely closed and bolted and I automatically knew Arion would be in there. Most likely as none but Hazel and myself could get near him without risk of losing a limb. I wanted to avoid that horse as his constant swearing gave me a headache. Looking through the small view panel the divine horse was laying on the floor clearly asleep despite the commotion being caused by the Pegasi further up. I guess it was fair he too had fought and been injured in the battle.
Finally, turning around I reached my pegasus's stable and procured some apples taken from a crate by Guido's stable and offered it to the black Pegasus inside.
"Hey Boss where have you been for the last few months, no one here gets me donuts." He whined all the while grabbing the apple from my open hand.
"Oh, you know nothing major. First, I got kidnapped by a goddess and had my memories taken, fought another war, fell into hell, lost Annabeth, and became a pseudo-Titan. You know the usual, although it is sad to see you got no donuts whilst I was gone. Maybe you and the others should sign a petition?" I joked back at the Pegasus whose eyes went wide open, although even just the mention of Annabeth was still hard to bear.
"Well, I hope you left some for me, it is so boring here except the new guys one said he came with Romans is that true?" Blackjack asked curiously.
"Yeah, their alright and what do you think of your new stablemate." I asked gesturing with my thumb over my shoulder towards the locked stall.
"What you mean Horsible Lector in there, he tried to take a bite out of Porkpie when he only asked his name. The guy is clearly a whack job and I hear he eats only solid gold." He exclaimed making me laugh at the name Arion had gained.
"Yeah, he is a special one, can you believe he is the god of horses. Although I will tell you all a secret. He is scared of flying and made the others swear not to tell your father or any of you about it but unfortunately for him I wasn't there. We had to strap him down to a statue and throw him off a flying boat with a parachute." I finished sinking into hysterics at the memory not mentioning the crash though.
All of the Pegasi suddenly started laughing at the horse god when the stable suddenly opened and Hazel appeared before looking at me and the Pegasi some of whom were rolling on the floor laughing not that she knew that not able to speak horse.
"Percy what are you doing here?" The goddess asked which still seemed strange an actual teenage goddess, not one with the appearance of one although that was the pot calling the kettle black from me. At the sound of her voice a disturbance could be heard behind me as the caramel-coloured horse contained within rose to its hooves and thrust its head against the iron bar there. Unable to see the daughter of Pluto yet he then proceeded to actually bite through the bar and spit it out so that his head could fit through. Which put the bity bit a little too close to me for comfort.
However, at this show the other pegasi did not quieten down with their jokes and mocking, if anything it only caused them to double down. Fortunately for Hazel she did not understand equine, so she could not understand them and certainly not the barrage of curses that was about to be released. Even so she quickly ran forward and began to caress the horses head as he began to reply to the younger Pegasi.
"Just saying hello to an old friend and seeing if he wants to come with me." I told her before turning back to the Pegasus. "Well how about it then Blackjack, fancy an adventure?" I asked the raven-feathered horse even as I opened the stall and he immediately began to walk out.
"You bet boss this place is small, uncomfortable and full of cry babies who don't like flying." My horse snickered looking over his at the other horse who began to tremble with rage snapping his teeth dangerously close to Blackjack's tail. Hazel was barely able to control him at this point as he thrashed about.
"I think it was time we left now before Arion tramples us all, guys remember what was said does not leave this room and your father certainly must not find out at any cost.' I said turning to the others who were paying attention to me and the crossed fingers I was holding away from the other horses view and they all nodded in mock agreement and went silent.
I knew before the night was out most of the equestrian world would know.
I quickly mounted Blackjack's back avoiding Arion's glares at the pair of us as we maintained our smiles before we trotted out and making sure no one was about burst high into the air. No one saw Blackjack leave except the silver-eyed goddess who I almost could have sworn raised a hand waving, but that could not have been right, right?
Flying a full lap around the forest we swooped in low and despite Blackjacks initial uncertainty we landed and cantered up alongside the sleeping form of Nemea. I decided against waking her and simply aged her again even smaller back into a kitten, before picking up the golden ball of fur and remounting Blackjack and holding her in both arms.
"New friend of yours boss? Though to be honest she doesn't match the colour scheme." The horse joked before flapping his wings and we rose back into the air.
"What do you mean colour scheme?" I asked confused.
"Well, you know. You got black hair boss, I've got black fur and feathers and that hellhound of yours has got black fur, she is gold and so she doesn't match." The horse explained and I realized I did not know where the hellhound was, last thing I knew she was in New Rome and the Romans had better not of touched my dog. I would message Nico and make sure she was being looked after in the underworld when I got to my mum's place. At least then she could play with Cerberus and solve the problem of amusing both for a while.
"Anyway, where are we going first boss?" Blackjack asked and I realised I hadn't actually filled the horse in with what was going on.
"My mum's place, land on the roof and then take off and meet me back there in the morning. It will be a long day of flying tomorrow mind you."
"That's fine but remember the finest horses run on doughnuts preferably sugar glazed with the sprinkles." The horse hinted before veering around towards the Manhattan skyline.
During the journey I began to explain everything that had happened whilst I had been away. Of course, there was not enough time during the short flight but I told him we would carry this on tomorrow. As we began to circle down to the roof of apartment building below.
After the Pegasus had left to terrorize Central Park carriage horses with promises to be back by nine in the morning as long as the payment was waiting. I climbed down the roof access hole before taking the stairs to my mum's apartment. I knocked on the door to hear movement on the other side followed by the chain being drawn back and Paul stood in the doorway. As it opened his eyes widened in recognition and surprise and he grabbed me in a Suprise bear hug.
"Percy, where have you been for the last month? No one had heard from you except that one message you sent us, we thought something had happened?" My stepfather explained letting me go and showing me in as soon as I saw my mum sitting on a chair, I felt some of the tension in my life immediately dissipate.
However, the more I looked at her there was no denying the most noticeable thing was the lump on her stomach that caused me to freeze in my tracks as I couldn't help but stare.
"Hi Percy it's good to see you again and will you stop staring." I averted my eyes quickly. As she pulled herself up a little in the chair she was sitting.
"Mum are you –." I began to ask trying to process information, I mean sure they had got married...
"Yes Percy, me and Paul are expecting a baby you are getting a sibling." She explained answering my questions before my brain returned to normal.
"I am happy for the pair of you, you deserve it." I congratulated whole-heartedly. If anything, this was proof that good things could come to people, despite the bad times they might experience.
"Do you know how many weeks?" I asked curiously.
"Eleven, we didn't know when we last talked. Anyway, that's enough about us, what happened with you? How are you and Annabeth?" Once she finished that question my heart suddenly froze and she saw my expression fall into melancholy as I remembered her last moments. Suddenly I felt like I was back there cradling her body in my bloodstained hands. I don't even remember falling to my knees as tears began to well up. It was only when Paul touched my shoulder did, I remember where I was.
"Oh Percy, I am so sorry for you what happened?" She asked clearly in shock; it was abundantly clear from my reaction that what I was going to say was not going to be good.
Sitting in a spare chair to one side as Paul sat beside my mother. For the third time today, I began to explain to the pair of them everything that had happened since I was kidnapped all the way through to Gaia's defeat. I left out the actual details of Annabeth's death and certainly my torture of Octavian, there was no way I was letting my pregnant mother ever find out those details. My parents listened to the entire tale asking questions here and there about things when I finished, I was engulfed in a massive hug. As she practically leapt out of her chair at me.
"I knew you could do it, if anyone deserves immortality it is you. But I am sure Zeus was upset by you turning down godhood again."
"Well, I wouldn't say he was thrilled about it. But dad 'convinced' him to roll with it."
"So, what are you going to do now?" She asked after rolling her eyes, I was sure she could imagine what Poseidon at done.
"I am gonna travel west to San Francisco, I am going to break the news to Annabeth's family myself. I owe that to them, before I go deal with the rest of the Titans that have now been released. Who knows how that is going to turn out." I said with a shrug, as I finished Nemea had strolled into the room from the hallway rubbing herself against my leg. I had actually forgotten that I had dropped her when Paul grabbed me in the doorway.
The fall had obviously not woken her at the time as she was yawning while my parents looked on.
"Percy when did you get a cat although it has a lovely looking coat a real nice golden colour' Paul asked the noise gaining the cats attention.
"Mum, Paul meet Nemea, The Nemean Lioness." I explained grabbing the cub around the waist and lifting it into my lap.
"I thought you said it was large enough to ride and it defeated a giant, that is a kitten." Paul queried pointing his finger at her whilst frowning trying to understand.
"One of my new powers as Titan of Time is that I can manipulate Nemea and make her younger or older to fit the need. I didn't want to leave her behind and I can't bring a three-tonne golden tank with me, so I made her younger and yes, her fur is real indestructible gold." I finished earning wide eyes from both at the mewling bundle of fur in my lap that was more than capable of destroying an army.
"I can't wait to see the apartment manager's face, if they say we can't have pets in here. First an enormous black dog and now a lion cub and a flying horse on the roof. What's next wolves or dragons?' Paul joked.
"I don't know about wolves but I will have a dragon to deal with soon when I get to Orthrys." I explained earning a look of shock from Paul, for her part my mother simply pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You do know I was joking right?" Paul said looking at my mum.
"Sadly, I am not. Ladon guards the garden of the Hesperides, which is where the palace is located, I will need to get past him if I can't fly there on Blackjack'
"Blackjack... isn't that the Pegasus that dented my car when you borrowed it?" Paul asked and I briefly remembered back to that totally not a 'date' with Rachel.
"Yeah, that's him; he is in Central Park at the moment and will be back in the morning to pick me up." I said scratching the back of my head.
"It is not a problem, the insurance paid it out as a result of all those 'problems' New York had last summer when Kronos attacked. Back before he put you in the will. I won't mention your inheritance to the IRS if you don't." He said jokingly how could any insurance company claim horse hoof prints were the result of a solar flare or whatever story, they believed it was now. As for the tax man they were welcome to try.
"Any way it is getting late and you have to get up early if you want to buy those donuts for your friend in time." My mother mentioned looking across the room towards a clock as I internally checked the time and realized I had been up for more than twenty-four hours due to the difference in time zones. Even if I had been unconscious for three hours of it due to exhaustion but there was no denying it had been one hades of a day since I woke up on the ill-fated Argo II over Greece. Since then, I had fought four battles, two of which single- handed and heavily used my powers numerous times.
Rising to my feet silently I simply nodded to my mother and headed towards my room careful to place the cub on the windowsill whilst I got undressed and ready for bed. Finally, I got into the bed and placed the sleeping kitten beside me on the bed so I could keep an eye on it. Afterall there was no way, I was having a repeat of Annabeth's cabin in my own bedroom.
To be truthful I thought I would have nightmares about the experiences I had seen today. But the truth was I was so exhausted physically and mentally, that I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and I slept in blissful uninterrupted peace.