Chapter Text
“Get in the water Percy,” Annabeth said. “Chiron watch this.”
I stumbled into the water, my chest burning with pain from the Hellhounds claws. I slumped in relief the moment my feet hit the water.
Between one breath and the next the pain cut in half, the water soothing it without even touching it. The pain quickly drained away, and when I looked down the large gashes were sealing shut, good as new.
“This isn’t good,” Annabeth muttered.
And then gasps filled the air, and I looked around, finding everyone staring at me. No, not at me. They were staring right above my head.
The crowd around me slowly kneeled, and I looked up.
Above my head, glowing with blue-green light, was a conch shell.
“It is… determined,” Chiron declared. “All hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Aphrodite.”
OO OO OO OO
Moving into the Aphrodite cabin was actually nice. I had my own bed now, and a whole cabin full of friends- or well, siblings.
They helped me carry my few things, despaired over my wardrobe and the state of my hair, and promised to help me set up a skin routine.
They were nice, they welcomed me easily. I was offered new clothes from the collection they kept for new campers. I was given some nicer hair products, and a face wash and moisturizer. They even taught me how to care for my hair properly.
The bed was soft, and they’d switched the white and soft green bedding for blue because it was my favorite color.
And after I was all settled in, I got to join them for activities.
It was my cabin now, so I did sword fighting with them, though most of them preferred not to fight. And we did archery, I was horrible but so was Mitchell so it was fine. We painted pots together, and Silena helped me learn how to layer the glaze to get a vibrant color. We climbed the wall, with Drew offering me a hand up in the harder sections.
Dinner was with a whole cabin who cared.
I still met with Annabeth for review, she seemed a bit confused by me, but was still a good teacher. And our cabin worked in the strawberry fields with the Demeter cabin, so I made some friends from there. The Hephaestus cabin worked with us in the forge, and I learned how to make a knife… sort of.
It was nice, I was happy. I still missed my mom, but it was… comfortable.
And the cabin activities were a lot of fun! We made snacks together, and did each other’s hair, and I learned how to do makeup. Giovanni taught me how to play cards (and count them, which I didn’t quite understand yet), and Marinette was teaching me to knit.
They asked me about my life and told me of theirs in turn.
I learned that my claiming was a bit odd, because normally Aphrodite gives the kids a makeover as part of the claiming.
“Maybe you were already in your most comfortable look?” Lacey offered.
None of the others seemed to agree, but they weren’t sure what was up.
I made an offering to my second mom at dinner, thanking her for claiming me and asking if I’d done something wrong to not get a makeover.
I was confused that it was Aphrodite at first, but one of the others explained that she’s a Hermaphrodite, which means she has man parts sometimes, or is a man, I didn’t quite understand it yet but they said it was possible for her to have been a he when with my mom.
Did that mean I should call Aphrodite he? I asked that while offering some of the freshly made bread, but I didn’t have an epiphany.
One of them mentioned Aphrodite could’ve always just used her powers as a Goddess to make my mom pregnant with me too. I didn’t know how that worked either, but I supposed they weren’t mortal, so the rules didn’t really matter.
By the end of the first week, I felt comfortable. The cabin was like a second home. I could imagine staying there.
But I still thought of my mom. I still thought of how to get her back. Most didn’t seem to consider me much anymore; I was an Aphrodite kid, and they were “weak”. I was a weird one, inheriting from her ocean aspect rather than her love or beauty aspect like most. But I was still one of her kids.
I didn’t care, I was still going to get my mom back.
It was during the next game of capture the flag that I was given the opportunity.
Or more like told to.
OO OO OO OO
Aphrodite was teamed up with the Hermes cabin this game and was mostly hanging out without participating. I wanted to play, so did a few others, so we helped with the defense.
The Dionysus kids had just jumped across the creek, the cheers starting up, when I noticed the mist.
Green mist snaked through the forest, faint at first but steadily growing darker and thicker. Appearing in the mist was a shambling figure.
“What the-“ Annabeth started, stepping up next to me. “Is that-“
The cheers died down quickly, everyone watching the figure coming forward.
“It can’t be-“ Silena whispered.
“Is that… a mummy?” I hissed, eyes wide as I stared at the mummified girl in coming towards us.
“The oracle,” Annabeth responded. “But she never leaves the attic-“
“Approach, asker, and speak,” hissed a voice, curling through the air and my ears, winding over me like snake scales.
I swallowed, glancing at the others, but none stepped forward.
The oracle was looking right at me, did she mean me?
“Percy,” Annabeth said softly. “I think that’s for you.”
I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“Uh- what do I need to do?”
Mist filled the air, spilling from the mummies mouth, slithering over the ground. It thickened until I could barely see in front of me.
“You shall go West, to the God who has turned.
You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned.
You shall return to find friends on whom you can depend
You shall fail to save what matters most in the end”
I swallowed hard as the mist seemed to suck back into her, clearing the air in just a few moments. And then it was silent.
The mummy was sitting on the ground, looking as if she hadn’t moved in a thousand years.
OO OO OO OO
We sat in the Big House, all the cabin heads, Grover, and me.
They were arguing over the prophecy, and what it meant.
Chiron had started out by explaining the theft from Olympus, and how Poseidon was being accused. He explained his suspicion that it was Hades who completed the theft or had another complete it for him. As Hades was in the West, he argued that was proof.
Mr. D seemed to disagree but also didn’t care to argue.
“You’ll end up in the West regardless, if heading to my dear old Uncle’s place will give you a goal then go ahead.”
“Annabeth has already volunteered to go with you,” Chiron explained.
I glanced at Annabeth, who straightened. She looked a bit nervous, but her jaw was set and her eyes gleamed with determination.
“Grover has also volunteered, if you’ll take him,” Chiron continued.
I glanced at Grover, understanding why he was present now.
“That’s fine,” I agreed.
“We need to get him ready for the quest,” Silena said, a worried frown on her face. “When will they leave?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Chiron declared. “This quest is urgent. I’m not sure why Percy has been assigned it, but we must handle it swiftly.”
“Then if that’s all?” Luke asked. “We should help the questers get ready.”
“That will be all,” Chiron confirmed.
With that, the meeting adjourned and I followed Silena back to the cabin.
OO OO OO OO
“Okay, we’ve already gathered good questing clothes.”
“We’ve packed face wash for the go, and some wipes to clean yourself when you don’t have access to a shower or any water.”
“And we packed some extra medical supplies and money.”
“I added the money,” Giovanni chimed in. “Or do you think you need a credit card?”
I didn’t think I needed a credit card, and the amount of money in the bag was more than I’d ever had in my life.
“We also have a present for you!”
I blinked, looking up at them in confusion as Marinette handed me a box.
Inside, wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief (“I was working on that for you, thought you might like it now”), was a very pretty comb, the top shaped like a cresting wave.
“It’s a comb knife,” Drew explained. “All of us have one, it’s kinda a cabin tradition.”
“In an emergency you’ll have a hidden weapon!”
I couldn’t help tearing up, thanking them profusely for the gift. Marinette scooped up the handkerchief she’d embroidered with my name and shells, starfish, and hearts and dabbed at my tears.
OO OO OO OO
They insisted they do my hair in the morning, bright and early. Drew helped me pick out a sword to use for the quest, the best one for me considering that none of them worked. They grabbed one of the enchanted sheaths, that shrunk it to the size of a knife so long as it was sheathed.
I had one last breakfast at the camp, savoring the fresh fruit and homemade bread. I made sure to make an offering to Zeus and Aphrodite, asking for help and guidance on my quest.
And then I was walking down the hill, heading to the camp car that would take us to the bus station.
OO OO OO OO
The ride to the bus station was strange, I had been at camp for weeks and felt like a stranger out in the mortal world once more. I looked at everything we passed, newly fascinated by it.
Annabeth was doing it even more than me, though she attempted to hide the way her eyes were drawn to every colorful sign, every ad for food, every towering building.
I remembered her saying she’d been at camp longer than just about anyone. I wondered what it was like for her, to see the world for the first time in years.
We reached the bus station and Argus bought us our tickets. While we waited for the bus to arrive, we played a game with an apple. It ended when Grover ate it mid move, and we had to sit down from laughing so hard.
Getting on the bus was quick, and we stored our bags above the seats. We were tucked into the back, all three of us in the one spot.
We kept an eye on the entrance, Annabeth pulled out her architecture book, and we relaxed.
The bus started up just a few minutes later, and we were off.
OO OO OO OO
The first bit of the ride was very quiet. I stared out the window, or looked at the pictures on Annabeth’s book, bouncing my leg as the bus drove down the road. Grover was conked out against the window, snoring softly.
Annabeth and I talked softly together about the quest for a bit, wondering why exactly I’d been chosen and what we’d face.
We hadn’t faced any monsters yet, and I hoped we’d avoid that for the whole quest, but somehow, I didn’t think we’d be that lucky.
Almost as if that thought had jinxed us, the bus swerved violently.
The driver pressed down on the horn, a loud honk filling the air as he cursed out a semi for crossing lanes right in front of us.
Annabeth peaked ahead, then blanched.
“Percy that’s not a semi, we need to get out of here.”
“What?”
She reached across me and shoved Grover, who woke with a yelp.
“We need to go, that’s a hellhound,” she hissed.
I peaked past her, out in front of us, and blanched at the Hellhound sniffing the bus.
“Back entrance?” Annabeth asked.
“Can the hellhound get us in here?” I asked.
“If it can’t, it might just tear the bus apart, or knock it over, we need to get out. If not for ourselves, for the mortals.”
The Hellhound barked, then body slammed the bus.
“The hell!” the bus driver yelled, throwing the bus in reverse. There was a crashing sound from outside and I had a feeling we’d just caused a car crash. “What the fuck is his problem!”
The passengers were screaming as the hellhound lunged once more, and we stumbled out of our seats.
“The windows don’t open,” Annabeth hissed. “And there’s no back entrance. Who designed this bus? This does not meet federal regulations, I guarantee it!”
I clutched the seat back, eyeing the hellhound getting ready to launch itself forward once more, and decided reporting the bus company to the government could wait until we got a few miles from here.
The hellhound promptly knocked the bus over, and screams filled the air.
I crashed into the window with a cry, Grover groaning where he was laying next to me. A lady from the row next to us had gotten thrown on me by the movement as well and I had to pull myself out from under her.
“Annabeth!”
She pushed herself up with a hiss, scrambling to grab our bags. “Percy, we need to get out of here.”
I yanked Grover along and stumbled with Annabeth over the windows. Annabeth handed me and Grover our bags as we moved. We had to climb over many groaning people and seats to reach the front and found the driver unmoving against his own door.
I swallowed and looked away from the blood pooling under his head. “Can we help him?”
“No,” Annabeth said with a grimace. “Ambrosia and Nectar will kill a mortal.”
She pushed the doors open with some difficulty and glared up at the door that was above us.
The hellhound was sniffing at the middle of the bus at the moment, so we had a short window of time to make a break for it.
She helped boost me up to grab the exit, and then Grover after me. I balanced on the top and reached down to help her as she used the handles to pull herself up partway.
A bark sounded behind us, and Annabeth yelled for us to get down.
The road was basically at a stop thanks to the accident right nearby, and the bus on its side, so we could run to the trees without worrying about being hit by a car.
The hellhound lunged for us and we dove out of the way. We managed to reach the trees before it knocked Grover down.
I drew the sword, nearly stumbling at the weight of the blade growing as it came out of the sheath, and clumsily stabbed at the hound.
Annabeth darted round and leapt onto its side, driving her knife into its neck.
It howled, shaking its head and throwing her off. I drove my sword into its neck right after and lost my blade to it.
The hellhound stumbled, snarling as its feet collapsed under it.
Moments later it started crumbling away.
“Well,” Grover said. “That was exciting.”
Annabeth wiped off her knife, breathing hard. I drew in a few deep breaths as well.
“To the victor goes the spoils,” Annabeth said, nodding to the dust.
I noticed the claws poking out of it right then and nodded, scooping them up. I wasn’t sure if they were worth anything, but I supposed there was no harm in keeping them.
I also grabbed my sword from the pile of dust and sheathed it.
It was hard to fight with a sword you couldn’t really use right.
Annabeth let out a breath, “Well, we need a new ride.”
Police sirens echoed in the distance, heading towards us.
“And also, to get out of here.”
“I vote no more buses,” Grover said.
I agreed, that was not fun.
“No,” Annabeth agreed, tilting her head. “But I think there’s a train nearby.”
I blinked, and now that she’d said that I could hear a faint noise in the distance, sounding remarkably like a train.
“That would make things easier,” I agreed.
Thus, we started walking towards what we hoped was a train station.
OO OO OO OO
There was a train station, and between the three of us we had enough money to get tickets a good portion of the way there.
“We’ll have a stop in St. Louis,” Annabeth said, eyeing the route. “For a whole two hours.”
“Is that good?” I asked.
“It would give us enough time to visit the arch,” she said, voice full of longing. “Do you think we could?”
“I don’t see why not,” I agreed.
“Sounds interesting,” Grover added.
And thus we boarded a train.
OO OO OO OO
The train ride was fairly boring overall. It was several days of sitting there doing nothing. The stop in St. Louis was entertaining. Annabeth explained the history of the arch, and we got to stop in the souvenir shop (though we didn’t buy anything). It was kinda cool being at the top but Annabeth was right, it would’ve been cooler if the floor was made of glass so we could see down.
In the end, our tickets only got us as far as some small town in the middle of nowhere. Annabeth led us to a car wash of all places, and we managed to get a call through on a rainbow to Camp. Apparently, people were taking sides over the Zeus-Poseidon war.
After Annabeth terrorized some poor mortal that was blasting music at an obnoxious level, we headed off. I wasn’t the only one who looked longingly at the diner, but we still had snacks in our bags and needed to save our money for an emergency.
“We shouldn’t,” Annabeth said with a sigh.
“I wish we could,” I said longingly.
“Well today’s your lucky day,” drawled a voice from behind us.
Annabeth and I yelped, whipping around, Grover jumped half a foot into the air before copying us.
Before us was a tall, hefty, figure. Wearing a leather jacket, leather jeans, a deep red shirt, and sunglasses, the figure before us was plenty intimidating. There were two scars on his face, criss-crossing on his cheek. And his nose looked like it had been broken a few times.
He pulled off his sunglasses and grinned at us.
“So, you’re my gal’s kid.”
Annabeth gasped, “Lord Ares.”
Oh, Ares. I remembered Silena explaining how he was dating Aphrodite… who was my second mom. Oh.
“Lord Ares,” I said quickly, unsure if I was supposed to bow or not.
“Lunch on me,” he said. “I’ve got a little job for you to do in exchange for a bit of help on your quest.”
Well, that was nice of him.
OO OO OO OO
Ares did indeed buy us lunch, and it was delicious. Then he informed us of the location of a place he brought Aphrodite on a date to and asked us to pick up his shield from there, cause he’d left it.
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get an excuse to help us, because this seemed easy. Annabeth agreed that he was probably being nice, giving us an easy job to give us a reward. Probably because he liked my second mom.
That sentiment held up about until the mechanical spiders tried to eat us while in the Tunnel of Love ride. Naturally it was all caught on camera too, by my second mom’s husband.
I wasn’t sure I enjoyed the family drama.
Ares cheerfully told me that my second mom (I really needed something else to call her, mother? Mama? I’d have to think on it) said I could keep the scarf though, so that was cool!
Quest complete, Ares was kind enough to give us a backpack with more snacks and clothes, and a ride. Our ride was on a truck for some animals, “Humane transport”.
The inside was not humane, at all, and I wondered if he was also asking us to rescue them. Grover looked about ready to commit murder on the drivers, and I figured Ares would also approve of that.
It was hot, stuffy, and smelly in the back of the truck, but it was a free(ish) ride so we didn’t complain.
We snacked on oreos while we rode, and occasionally broke up the silence with soft talk of our lives and families. I found out that Grover was the one who brought Annabeth (and Thalia and Luke) to camp, when he was even younger than he was now. And Annabeth told me about her dad.
I didn’t think I liked him and told her she deserved better.
She hummed, “Yeah, his wife is worse, but… he never wanted me, and I knew it.”
“Well, his loss. Sucks to be him, he had the coolest daughter around and didn’t want her.”
Annabeth laughed, shoving my shoulder. I couldn’t see her expression well in the dark, but she leaned against me and seemed to relax so I figured I did alright.
OO OO OO OO
When the truck stopped in Las Vegas, we rescued the zebra and the other two animals. It was cool how Grover could understand all the animals. I wondered if I’d be able to understand a dove, or maybe sea creatures?
Of course, that also meant we no longer had a ride.
And it was really hot here. I didn’t like the heat at all.
We wandered around for a bit, staring around at all the casinos and various buildings, before a bellhop offered to let us rest in one of them.
I didn’t know if that was legal, but I was hot enough to not really care.
It got really confusing when they gave us cards for the casino and told us we had a room ready though. We definitely weren’t old enough for a casino. Also, how did they know we were coming?
Twenty minutes later I decided that wasn’t important, and what was important was the very cool surfing game I found. Annabeth was building something on some architecture game, and Grover was hunting humans in a reverse hunting game.
I cheerfully explored the place, playing any game that caught my eye. It was while playing bowling with some guy in old clothing that something started to bug me.
There were a lot of people here, a lot, in all different style of clothing. Some didn’t seem to speak English, and some spoke English weirdly, like an older way of speaking. The guy I was playing kept saying “groovy” when one of us did well too.
It was weird. One or two using older terms was one thing but-
I asked them the date and they said 1975.
Well then.
I went looking for Annabeth.
OO OO OO OO
We escaped the casino fairly easily after that, but it turned out days had passed. We did gain a ride out of it though, so I wasn’t sure if that balanced out. Those casino cards were amazing, and I was absolutely keeping mine. I hoped they worked at stores, because this would be great for mom.
The cab driver we paid with the casino card was treating us like royalty, and the car hadn’t dropped under 90mph for a good hour.
This was both a good thing and a bad thing. We weren’t sure where in LA the entrance to the underworld was, and we didn’t have much time to find it, so every minute counted. But also, we weren’t sure what awaited us in the underworld.
It was scary, but hopefully it would go well. We didn’t have much time, and the world was counting on us.
More importantly, my mom was there, and I was determined to save her.
OO OO OO OO
The city itself was big, and we didn’t know exactly where to go. The taxi driver drove us around for a bit, not at all concerned with the delay considering we were paying him double. We didn’t see anything that was obviously “underworld entrance” so asked him to let us out on a street as the sun started to go down.
He seemed mildly concerned for our safety, but Annabeth added a tip of another five hundred dollars and he shut up and headed off.
Grover was the one who ended up finding the place in the end.
“It’s the smell,” he said, as he led the way. “It’s kinda… underground… and dead stuff… I’m not sure how to explain it.”
Neither of us complained, just followed him to DOA STUDIOS.
“Dead on Arrival,” I read out. “No living allowed.”
“Cool,” Grover squeaked.
“Okay,” Annabeth said. “We need a plan.”
“A plan?” Grover asked.
“Yeah, we’re going into the underworld.”
“Doesn’t Hades have a guard dog?”
“Yeah, Kerberos.”
“How do we get past him?” I wondered.
Grover and Annabeth looked at each other, then back at me, both looking worried.
“We could… throw a ball?”
Grover turned to look at her, baffled. “What?”
“Well, he’s a dog.”
“He is a dog,” I agreed. “Dogs like balls, I hear.”
“So…” she shrugged.
Grover sighed, “Okay, we’ll throw a ball. Do we have a ball?”
“I think I have one from the water park?”
“Why did you get a ball from the water park?” I asked.
She shrugged, it was deemed irrelevant.
With our plan solidified, and clearly unmatched, we headed in.
And promptly realized we forgot a plan on how we died.
OO OO OO OO
“All three of you drowned in a bathtub?” Charon asked mildly.
We sweated and nodded.
“Big bathtub.”
“So uh… can we go?”
“No, I don’t allow the living in the Underworld.”
Damn, that didn’t work.
I switched to plan B, which I came up with on the spot, bribery.
I still had the money from my siblings, and I promptly got to work convincing him to let us in with a bit of sweet talk and gold.
OO OO OO OO
When we got off his boat, Annabeth let out a breath. “You know, I really thought your parent was Poseidon at first, I mean after the water healing. But I absolutely see how you’re a child of Aphrodite after that.”
“What?”
“The sweet talk, the soft voice, the smiles, that was all Aphrodite.”
I straightened. I’d been noted to not be the normal Aphrodite kid several times, so it was nice to hear that I did resemble her, somewhat. Even if it was because I was good at manipulation.
“Well then, time to play ball with a three headed hound of hell,” Grover muttered.
“Hell is fake,” Annabeth corrected, leading the way forward.
OO OO OO OO
It was just our luck that the magic shoes Luke gave us at the beginning (that I’d honestly forgotten about cause they’d been exactly no use thus far) ended up trying to drag us into a pit.
“That’s Tartarus,” Annabeth whispered as we escaped the wind pulling us in. “The greatest prison of the Gods.”
“Why did the shoes try to drag me in?” I asked, rubbing my arms and eternally thankful that Grover had snagged my arm and pulled me back.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe they were sabotaged?”
I wasn’t so sure, but I wasn’t sure what exactly could’ve messed with them.
Regardless, we’d escaped Tartarus with only minor injuries on myself.
I hoped we didn’t end up anywhere near the pit in the future.
OO OO OO OO
Hades was the first God I’d met that made me think God on sight. I figured the other two were hanging out with us Mortals, so they didn’t give the vibe, but Hades… we were in his house, and it was clear.
The air was heavy with power, his mere presence made me feel the urge to bow. Divinity shone from him.
He watched us, gaze intense.
“You dare to enter my home, claiming to be innocent and accusing me, while you carry my brothers bolt?”
I blinked. Annabeth blinked. Grover was the one who asked “What?”
“Open your bag, little demigod,” Hades challenged. “I suspected you had a hand in it but thought as you were Aphrodite’s child and not Poseidon’s that I was wrong. Clearly I’d been correct.”
I opened my bag to find only the stuff my cabin packed.
“The other bag,” he snapped. “Don’t play coy.”
That wasn’t my bag, that was Ares’ bag that he …. Gave… us…
Oh no.
Annabeth was the one who opened it, her face going white when she saw what was inside.
“Lord Hades,” I said quickly. “This bag isn’t ours. It was given to us by another.”
He studied us, eyes narrowed, “Oh?”
“Ares gave it to us,” Annabeth said. “It was supposed to be a reward for helping retrieve his shield-“
“It’s a trick,” I muttered. “The God who had turned was Ares.”
“You are accusing Ares of being the thief?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we got the bag from him. If he had the bolt, then he might have your helm as well."
“Let us return to the land of the living,” Annabeth pleaded. “We can retrieve your helm.”
“Yeah,” Grover said. “Ares gave us the bolt; we can get your helm from him too.”
Hades seemed to consider us carefully. His gaze lingering on each of us.
“I hold your mother,” he said, looking at me. “Sally Jackson. She is not dead, she is in my grasp. Should you fail to retrieve my helm, or should you lie to me, I will claim her soul. Should you return my helm, I will return her to your home.”
My breath caught.
“You have until the sunset on the solstice.”
OO OO OO OO
We arrived back above in an instant, on the beach. It was a pretty day, lots of surfing and people playing. I wondered for a moment how we would find Ares, but then I noticed the figure wearing all leather.
Looks like he found us.
“What do we do?” Annabeth asked. “We can’t beat him-“
“We could ask nicely,” I offered.
Annabeth and Grover both stared at me.
What? Silena always said to ask nicely first. It worked for her.
I led the way to Ares, who grinned at us when we reached him.
“You made it out.”
“You set us up!” Annabeth cried.
“I did,” he agreed. “Felt bad, of course, I mean the kid here is my gal’s child. I don’t like getting her kids involved in things… but you were headed there and I needed the bolt there. Course, you were supposed to leave the bolt there.”
I swallowed, “Well that’s not happening. We have to return it to Zeus. Can we have the Helm?”
Ares snorted, “What?”
“Can we have the Helm? I assume you have it?”
He plucked up the helmet on his bike, and it morphed into a helm in his grasp. “I do indeed. But I’m not giving it to you.”
“Why?” Annabeth asked.
“It’s war darling.” Ares said as if it were obvious. And at our confusion, he helpfully elaborated. Going into his whole elaborate plan to start a war of epic proportions.
I was confused.
“But that’s senseless?” I said. “Don’t you like- stand for something? It’s not just killing for killings sake. You’re war, and war has a purpose even if its dumb. This is just… conflict for conflicts sake.”
Ares blinked at me for a moment, something strange in his eyes. “Anyways-“
“No, Percy is right. This is… weird.”
“It’s war!”
“Not the right kind,” I snapped back.
“There’s a right kind?” Grover asked.
“How am I supposed to know?” I grumbled. “I’m twelve. I imagine fighting to protect or to rescue or something would be ‘right’?”
Ares looked up for a long moment. “You are definitely Aphrodite’s kid.”
I blinked at him in confusion, but he just shook his head.
“So can we have the Helm?”
“No, you’re not getting it. And the only reason I’m not killing you is cause Aphrodite would be upset.”
“Can we fight you for it?”
“What.” He said, looking entirely unimpressed.
“Fight you. For the Helm.”
“… you know what, sure. If you can draw blood I’ll give you the Helm.”
Annabeth shot me a worried look, clearly as aware as me that I sucked with the sword I had.
“Awesome,” I said. As the challenger do I get to pick the spot we fight?”
“No, you get to pick weapons. I pick the spot.”
I did not want him to pick the spot, but I drew my sword nonetheless.
“Spot is right here, try to survive,” he grinned, all teeth and sharp edges.
And the battle began.
OO OO OO OO
It was quick, it was dirty, it involved a lot of screaming mortals. I lost my sword at one point and didn’t bother to try and get it back. I only had to draw first blood, if I could get close enough-
I jumped back, into the water at last, and dodged his next swing. He stalked after me eyes narrowed and gaze intense.
“Have you considered getting a balanced sword?” he asked, blade held loosely to his side.
“There isn’t one,” I explained between breaths. “It’s a pain.”
He swung at my head, and I ducked and leapt towards him, the water crashing over me and around me. A shape slid into my hand, the water swirling around it, and I thrust without thinking.
Between one moment and the next, all the water was gone.
Ares had screamed, I realized belatedly. I was laying on the ground, the water having been forced away. There was still something in my hand, and I looked at it with blurry vision.
A trident.
“You-“ Ares staggered, hand on his side.
I’d managed to hit him with the trident pretty hard too. He was bleeding.
“The fuck- where did the trident come from-“
Water crashed down on us and I forced myself to the surface, clinging to the trident.
Ares glared at me, hand covering the injury that was still bleeding.
“I suppose,” he grit out, “that you win this match.”
He started glowing, and I didn’t need Annabeth’s shout to know to look away. When I opened my eyes, he was gone.
The Helm washed onto the shore.
“Well,” Annabeth said after a moment. “That was… something.”
“Where’d the trident come from?” Grover asked.
I shrugged, holding it up in front of me.
A conch shell charm hung from it.
Had my second mom- my mother? Sent it?
Annabeth moved over to look at it.
“It’s a lovely trident.”
It was. It shone bronze, with curling waves pressed into the leather. The trident itself was sleek, shining in the light. The base had a strange pattern curling around it. An octopus maybe?
“Well,” what do we do now?” Grover asked.
I opened my mouth to respond, only to falter at the sight of three demonic grandmothers coming down to us.
“You retrieved the Helm,” one said, staring at the Helm Grover was holding.
He quickly held it out.
“Please return it to Lord Hades,” I said. “We’ll get the Bolt back to Zeus.”
They accepted it, considering us for a long moment. “Very well.”
And with that, we were alone… except for all the police heading towards us.
OO OO OO OO
Apparently, they’d been looking for me. I didn’t know that.
They explained to us that we were clearly kidnapped, the poor kids that we were we’d tried to escape from the evil kidnapper (Ares apparently), and I’d been so brave to fight him shotgun to rifle on the beach.
Why they thought our weapons were shotguns and rifles I wasn’t sure. I was just glad that they didn’t seem to notice my trident… for some reason.
We managed to get plane tickets back to New York, with a little bit of teary eyes and also throwing Gabe under the bus. I hoped he got fired for this.
OO OO OO OO
Annabeth and Grover came with me to Olympus, riding up the elevator with me and walking up the Mount by my side.
We walked into the room where Zeus and Poseidon sat, both studying us as we entered.
“Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon,” I said, kneeling before Zeus alongside Annabeth and Grover.
They both studied us, gazes intent.
“Heroes,” Poseidon said. “Why don’t you tell us about the quest.”
We shared a look before diving into the story.
Annabeth explained our travel, I talked about the monsters we fought, Grover described the side quest Ares sent us on. Zeus confirmed he’d seen the video of us on the Love Ride, which was… something.
Apparently, it was a popular episode on Hephaestus Trapping.
We talked about the trip to the Underworld, and what Hades revealed, along with how we nearly got dragged into the pit. I told Zeus about the conversation with Ares, and the following fight. I explained how the trident I held, still unsure what to do with it, had arrived in my hand.
Zeus sent a look to Poseidon, but Poseidon just shook his head.
At the end of it all Zeus nodded and told me to take out the Bolt.
I carefully reached into the bag and pulled it out, stepping forward to place it before his throne.
“You’ve done well,” Zeus said, holding out his hand to call the Bolt to him. “You shall be rewarded. Hermes will deliver the reward later.”
We nodded, eyes wide.
“I believe,” Poseidon said mildly. “That I am also owed something.”
Zeus grimaced, shooting him a glare. Poseidon just raised an eyebrow.
“I… apologize,” Zeus grit out. “I should not… have… wrongly accused you.”
“I accept your apology,” Poseidon declared, magnanimously. “There’s one more thing to discuss before you leave.”
Zeus, who’d been about to stand up, paused. “What?”
Poseidon coughed and turned his gaze to me. I stilled.
“Perseus… is not Aphrodite’s son.”
I blinked. Annabeth blinked. Grover asked “What?”
“I knew it!” Zeus snapped. “You did break the oath!”
“What?” Poseidon said. “No. He’s not my child.”
“Wha-“
“He’s my grandchild.”
“What.” Zeus said.
“What?” I asked.
“He’s Triton’s son. The conch shell is Triton’s symbol. Triton was claiming him at the creek.”
There was a long beat of silence.
“Well,” Grover said. “That’s uh… awkward.”
“Oh my Gods,” Annabeth whispered. “That’s why you didn’t get a makeover.”
I gaped.
“Triton is quite upset about the mix up,” Poseidon continued. “Amphitrite had to stop him from vaporizing Chiron for mixing up the claiming.”
Zeus coughed, looking a dash awkward himself. “I see… well… I’ll send a message to Dionysus and he’ll clear things up.”
“Naturally,” Poseidon said, “As he’s my grandchild he can stay in my cabin.”
“He can?” Annabeth asked.
“That’s not allowed!” Zeus argued.
“Let me clarify, if he has to stay in the Hermes cabin, I cannot guarantee the safety of the cabin when Triton slips past Amphitrite.”
“… fine he can stay in your cabin.”
“Wonderful,” Poseidon smiled at me and it was like the clouds cleared, brilliant sparkling sea ahead. “It’s good to finally meet you.”
“It’s- it’s nice to meet you too,” I said shakily.
That meant that Aphrodite wasn’t my mom. I… wasn’t sure what to think of it.
“I thought Triton didn’t do relationships,” Zeus said, as he waved a hand to dismiss us.
“He doesn’t,” Poseidon said. “But he grew very close to Sally from what I understand, and as a result crafted a child-“
“Wait,” I faltered. “Crafted.”
Then I realized I’d interrupted their conversation and flushed.
Poseidon smiled, “Yes. He has only had one other child, besides yourself. It was after he grew close to a naiad of a lake. Pallas was her name, she was a nymph Goddess herself. Unfortunately, she died-“ he shot a look at Annabeth there “-and Triton has not had any children since… until you.”
I wondered at the look he sent to Annabeth, but nodded all the same. “Oh. Does that mean I wasn’t like- born?”
“You were born when he crafted you,” Poseidon said. “It’s akin to the same thing Athena does. In fact, I’m fairly certain that for all most call her children thought kids, they’re actually crafted by her much the same that Triton crafted Pallas and yourself.”
“Huh… interesting,” I said after a moment.
I’d have to ask mom about it sometime.
“Oh,” Poseidon said even as we’d bowed and turned to leave once more. “And your mother was returned to her home. You can see her on your way back to camp.”
OO OO OO OO
I gave my mom a big hug when I saw her and didn’t stay too long. Gabe was still there after all, and he sucked.
I wasn’t sure if I’d return home after camp, I wanted to. I wanted to see my mom again, be home and with her… but I really didn’t want to be around Gabe again.
I decided to pray to my dad and my uh… not-second-mother. Would Aphrodite be upset that I was mistaken for her kid? I felt a bit bad.
Hopefully that got figured out.
OO OO OO OO
We arrived back to camp to a celebration. We were the first to come back from a quest since Luke, the first to take one since Luke, and his wasn’t exactly a success from what I understood.
We were celebrities as a result and were treated to great food and entertainment. We also got to burn the shrouds they made for us in our absence. I smiled at the beautiful shroud, covered in curling waves that shaped like doves and hearts, with a conch shell emblazoned in the center.
It was at dinner that Dionysus stood up.
“It has been revealed that there was a misunderstanding at Johnson’s-“
“Jackson’s,” Chiron whispered.
“-er- Jackson’s claiming,” he declared. “It was actually Triton claiming him, not Aphrodite, so-“
There were gasps suddenly, heads turning to me. I blinked, noticing the pink light that my cabin members were bathed in.
I looked up and found another conch shell floating above me. This one glowed a light pink, not blue-green.
I looked down and found my clothes changed. My jeans new and gleaming, with a nice belt. My shoes very nice tennis shoes, with a wave pattern along the sides. My shirt was collared, very soft, and seafoam green with a little embroidered conch shell on the chest.
“Nevermind,” Dionysus said. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with this. He’s whoever’s kid, let them fight over it.”
Oh dear.