Chapter 66: Burnt

Prytaneum

Burnt​

When I reached the church, it was to find my house on fire. Already, the white of the building was turning black, burning well in the flames. The church was an old building, derelict and abandoned long before Hestia and I came along, and it had been in poor condition to begin with, especially above ground. With holes in the ceiling, debris, wear and tear, water stains, and more, it didn't take much to spell its end.

But it was still jarring. I'd never been attached to the building, fully intending from the second I step through its doors to ditch it at the first opportunity for something better. Above ground, it was just this side of a ruin. Below ground, it was far too small for two people, and I said that as someone who'd lived in New York. I'd been waiting for the day when I'd have a chance to sleep in a real bed again, take an actually bath, sit in a kitchen, or relax in a living room—to have a real home again. The church was a house for me, but it wasn't a home.

And yet…it's where Hestia and I had lived. It's where I brought home food, where we ate together, where I crawled back to after another exhausting trawl in the Dungeon. It was where we lived, goddamn it, and if I wasn't entirely pleased with it, I was used to it. I was use to the rickety floors, the patchwork furniture, the door we'd had replaced, the stairs up to the surface, and even the effigy of a goddess, standing watch over the church as if waiting for me to come and go.

Now, said statue was burning.

God, I hoped that wasn't an omen.

"Percy!" A voice shouted, drawing my attention. Through the mixture of light and smoke and wavering air, I saw Hestia and released a breath of relief before crossing the street in an instant, blowing a path straight through the column of smoke to reach her. The burning building sent twinges of pain and regret—along with sparks of quickly growing anger—through me, but all of that came a distant, distant second in terms of my priorities. Scooping her up in passing, I carried Hestia away from the church and the assorted dangers of fire and smoke inhalation and collapsing buildings, before setting her down.

"Hestia, are you okay?" I demanded the moment I thought it was safe, looking her over quickly. She didn't seem hurt, but she looked shaken, with her hands, clothes, and face smudged with dirt and smoke. She hadn't been inside the building when it caught fire—trust me, I knew from experience how you tended to look after that. Disheveled and smudged didn't begin to cover it, even if you were resistant to burning like I was. For Hestia? It would show.

But there was more to something like this than burns. A goddess like Hestia, I was betting, didn't have much more attachment to the church than I did, at least in regards to the physical place. As the place she lived, the place where she made a Familia, the place we went back to. More than that, ideal or not, it was one of the few things she had, aside from the gifts I'd given her—most of which were probably burning as we spoke.

And yet, despite that, Hestia swallowed and nodded.

"I'm fine," She said, only a slight croak in her voice. "It was burning when I got back."

"Lili," I said next. "She didn't come back, did she?"

Lili didn't live with us, entirely because what was cramped and uncomfortable for two people would have been miserable with three. Instead, she lived with the Gnome she'd worked with for so long, traveling to and from the nearby store, and she'd left before we'd gone to sleep last night. I couldn't think of any reason for her to suddenly decide to come back at four in the morning, but there were some things you just didn't take chances with.

But Hestia shook her head and I exhaled slowly, relaxing a bit. Only a bit though, because I could feel the muscles in my back, shoulders, and even legs tensing as I kept myself from running off to do something drastic.

Yet. It was on the to-do list, but I'd been metaphorically burnt badly enough before that I knew what was really important. Like Hestia, who was trying not to shake like a leaf—with a bit of fear and a whole lot more rage—as she watched the building burn down. Even leave aside the fact that she'd gotten up at the same ungodly hour I had, though, she looked tired enough that I considered giving her a potion to help. Except I didn't have any on me at the moment, having left a lot of stuff at home where it was probably burning. I had my Nectar on me, thankfully, but…the issue with Nectar is that you fuck up with it exactly once and then someone comes along with a dustpan and sweeps up whatever's left of you. I had no idea how gods with their powers bound would react to drinking the stuff but I'd rather not find out with Hestia.

So instead, I emptied out my pockets, palming the shells I'd stored therein and pitching them silently into the fire. Concentrating for a moment, I felt more than saw the water come pouring forth and guided it mentally towards the flames I saw. Kind of pointless now—all it did was turn the burn wreckage into burnt, water-stained wreckage—but best not to let it spread. Odds were pretty good the church was done for, though; even if we could fix it, it'd probably be easier just to buy a new house. I guess I'd do it with all that money I didn't have.

I shook myself. I was getting off track. Distracted. Or maybe I was trying to distract myself, because there were a whole lot of good reasons not to do what I was about to do—and I flat out didn't give a fuck about any of them.

"Who?" I asked.

"…Who do you think?" Hestia said through grit teeth.

"The Apollo Familia, huh?" I said, looking up at the still dark sky. It occurred to me that the Apollo Familia had fuck all way of knowing we'd have been up at this time or how many of us lived here. If I hadn't made training with Ryuu part of my daily schedule, we could have woken up to the fire instead and while I wasn't too worried about the odds of me catching it in time, that did nothing to make me any happier with the situation.

It did, however, simplify things a great deal.

A moment later, Fels and Ryuu both appeared, the former pausing and pulling back at the sight of Hestia and I, while Ryuu strode forward.

"Mr. Jackson?" She asked quietly, glancing towards the church.

"A present from a friend of the Familia," I explained, tilting my head far enough to the left to crack it.

"Ah," Ryuu said and I had the feeling that people burning down buildings to get to her wasn't a strange idea for her. I also had the feeling that anyone who'd tried it on her once damn well never did so again. Ryuu and I were alike in many ways.

"Hestia," I said. "Can they get away with this?"

"They'll be fined heavily," Hestia said, exhaustion overtaking anger before anger returned for the sequel. "Destruction of property, reckless endangerment, and more—the costs will add up quickly, for something like this. But a Familia like Apollo's can probably afford it."

"A hundred adventurers go a long way," Ryuu murmured, and when it came to how people got away with things, I suppose she would know.

"I assume their theory is that as long as they don't include civilians, they'll be able to manage longer than we will," Hestia said, playing with her hair as she watched the fires dwindle.

"I don't think that's gonna pan out," I said. "How much would fines like that be, anyway?"

"Percy, no," Hestia said.

"Perseus," Fels spoke up, abruptly deciding to approach despite Hestia's presence. "I…do not wish to be unkind and this is clearly an inopportune time, but we've no time to waste. Already, Hashana has been murdered and his killer is no doubt pushing forward her own plans in order to avoid being caught. I suspect there are only a small handful of people who understand your anger better than I do, but perhaps we should move quickly."

"I already said I could get us down there in a second," I told him. "So give me a few minutes."

"Very well, then," Fels said. "Allow me to cast away all subtlety. Percy, don't do this; with so many gods interested in you as the new Record Holder and with your…remarks to Ishtar last night, popular opinion will almost certainly lean towards a disadvantageous fight, just to see if you can overcome it. The absolute best you could hope for is that when it comes time to decide the War Game, they will allow it to be decided by random chance. Ishtar doesn't like you. Loki doesn't like you. It seems fairly likely this will end badly."

"…If I let something like that stop me, I would never have done anything I did in my entire life," I answered slowly. Before I could continue, however, Hestia caught my sleeve.

"Percy," She said. "Everything we said before…it's still true. Whatever he thinks, even Apollo can't sustain behavior like this. He'd run out of money in a matter of weeks and friends far sooner. If we just—"

"Hestia," I interrupted, anger making me decide to say something that maybe I should have said a long time ago. "If you want me to bite my tongue and grit my teeth that badly, I will. For you, I will. But you don't and we both know it. You don't want me to get in trouble, you don't want to put me in danger, I get it. I feel the same way about all of you, because I've made that mistake before. You don't want to lose me anymore than I want to lose you. But being careful isn't the same as submitting. You're kind and you care about me—about us—and you don't want to make any enemies, because you don't want to make me any enemies. But we're friends. We're a Familia, for crying out loud, and I'd make this entire city my enemy for you, if it came down to it. And I don't care who they are—I don't take shit like this from nobody."

"Percy…" Hestia said, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. "Can you beat them?"

"After something like this?" I asked. "I'll fucking break them."

"Wait a week," Hestia said. "We'll accept the War Game. You leveled up in less than a month. A week should be enough for you to grow stronger."

"How about this," I replied. "Why don't I just kick their asses right now, instead?"

"No," Hestia said, the anger from before coming to the surface. "I want everyone to see it. I don't want there to be any doubts, any ways around it, anything Apollo can say against it—I want you to crush him for all the world to see. If you truly believe you can fight the whole Familia, use this week to make sure it isn't a fight."

Well, I thought. I could I argue with that?

"Okay," I replied, relaxing a bit. "Your wish is my command and all that. How do we do it, then?"

"We'll tell Apollo we accept," She said. "Publicly. I'll do it right now—"

"Actually," I interrupted again. "Can I do it?"

Hestia stopped, looking at me with a frown, and Fels cleared his non-existent throat.

"Percy," He said, having apparently decided to lay off the Perseus to persuade me. "No offense, but you don't seem the messenger type."

"Disagree," I said. "I'm great at getting my point across."

"Yes, that's what I meant," He said. "Please, keep in mind your budget, if nothing else. Even with the allowances that might be made for the circumstances, if you burn down his house for burning down yours, there will be a price to pay."

"Not gonna burn it," I said, though he had a point, sort of.

"Percy," He said disapprovingly. If he'd been my mom, it might have worked, but I'd have way worse people irritated with my general existence, so.

"Hestia…" I began before pausing, chagrined. "I'm always causing you problems and racking up debts, but…I swear I'll pay it all back eventually. Including this one."

Hestia took a deep breath and then heaved a heavy sigh.

"Oh well," She said with a sigh. She really didn't sound that upset about it. "I guess it can't be helped."

"Ryuu?" I asked her, noticing that she'd been silent for a long while and hadn't been trying to talk me out of it.

In response, she simply pointed.

"The Apollo Familia home is that way," She said. "Head directly south of the Hostess—it's rather distinctive."

I smiled at her.

"Thanks, Ryuu," I said. "I'll meet you back at the park. This won't take long."