Warnings And Bargains

Chapter 9: Warnings and Bargains

21 July 2000

First-class is bullshit. I thought distractedly, running my hand over the velvet-like seat before changing the wet cloth on Thalia's forehead.

The Mist was awesome: tossing Luke and Thalia on a taxi for the airport had been almost a trivial task, and bringing them on the first flight to NY ridiculously easy. I wrapped us, demigods, into my classic invisibility shell, my standard move while traveling, and approached the first pompous captain I had spotted walking around. Making him believe that he was an aviator and that I was his direct superior had been tricky, but far from ineffective. With Thalia on a wheelchair and Luke still lunged over my shoulders, I followed the man bypassing hours of documents-check and whatnot, essentially walking the corridors reserved to the personnel, occasionally swapping my Mist induced control over someone else.

From start to finish? It took me fifteen minutes to reach the airplane, two to make sure that three mortals left us their passports and tickets, another three to make those who checked our identities believe that both Thalia and Luke were conscious and that our faces matched the IDs. It was a novel application of my mastery over the Mist, but not too different from what I used to do as a kid to make people believe I had already paid them.

The flight should have lasted between 5 and 6 hours, however, the captain informed us that we picked an unexpected contrary wind, so the flight would likely last at least 7. Saying that I disliked Zeus was an understatement.

"What... what happened?" Luke awoke with a groan, just in time for me to clean his clock with a punch to the face.

I understood him, I truly did. He had some crush for Thalia, but she liked me, it was hard to miss, Even if I notice only because of how Thalia has ogled my bare ass. That did not help against his blatant inferiority complex, which had made him snap at the worst possible moment.

Which would have been ok, in any situation but the one we were into.

The way my knuckles snapped against the cartilage of his nose likely wouldn't be helping our friendship. But really, I couldn't care less. Once he was unconscious again, I went back to my inefficient nursing of Thalia, who refused to wake for more than a few scant, feverish seconds during which she grumbled and alternated cursing with puking.

At least she's so out of it that she doesn't know we are on an airplane. I thought with a shadow of amusement.

"This is not what I was expecting to see." a voice stole me from my musings. Not a simple voice. A voice.

Something that trembled with unexpressed power, a sound that withheld a hidden quality and depth. Something that I sure as hell not only wasn't expecting, but I actively tried to avoid.

I turned my head towards the source of the sound to find a woman in her late thirties, with a regal bearing and features that seemed cut in marble. Flawless skin, large breasts, wide hips, delicate hands. Her elegant black dress, despite being somewhat conservative, didn't manage to subtract anything to her statuary beauty.

"Who might you be?" I asked, wary of some form of attack. Not that I could have done anything to stop it, in any case.

She gave me a pointed stare before she raised her left hand to adjust the brown hair that didn't need to be fixed, but I caught her only accessory: a simple golden band on her ring finger. Her brown eyes with sparks of gold captured again my attention when she rose a delicate eyebrow, as to say 'Are we really playing this game?'

Begrudgingly, I lowered my head in what could have passed for an approximation of a bow, if seen through squinted eyes in a dark room: "Queen of the Gods."

Normally I would have called her by name, and fuck the consequences, however, I was on an airplane in the company of bastards, being one myself. And Thalia was Zeus' daughter, I had hoped that this would be enough to keep the flight safe since we were crossing the King of the Gods' domain, but with Hera here...

"Such hardship only to pretend proper manners." She commented, her expression managing to convey how much I displeased her without having to influx her voice with any kind of tone. I couldn't help it, and my lips parted to reveal a mirthless smile that showed too many teeth to be anything but a barely restrained snarl. I am free.

The first brick that defined this existence of mine strengthened my resolve, keeping me from falling from my seat in a crumpled mess. Bowing was no longer among the things I could accomplish without forcing myself.

Maybe I should see this as a bargain? I'll be courteous and she won't turn us into motes of dust? However, an agreement set conditions, and I could almost feel the weight the use of manners was imposing upon me. It wasn't a chain, not by a long shot, and I needed to bear it, doing so willingly. Still, it felt forced, and I felt my muscles tense under my skin.

"At least you show that you value your lives above your pride." She kept her absolutely unimpressed attitude: "It's more than I can expect given your less than decent origin, and still less than what I would usually demand."

I waited in silence, not quite meeting her eyes, and without a doubt not ogling her. It would have been a slight insult to the Holiness thst was marriage and if Zeus found out I had no doubt he could deep fry my bones with a lightning bolt.

"We'll make do, I suppose." She hauntingly sniffed, staring me down: "You know why I'm here." her voice was like a golden trumpet stating its value, it was clear and demanding.

I only nodded, I Hated the idea of needing her license to speak, but I had to keep the others two safes, and while usually, gods couldn't directly challenge mortals, I suspected that our escapades in her garden counted as an attack. I felt like I was walking in thin ice, and the silence stretched itself for a couple of minutes while she kept watching me.

"So you can show some resemblance of respect, I would call it admirable if I didn't know it's shown out of fear." She tilted her head: "But why would you fear me, mmh?"

She rose from her seat and strode regally in my direction: "Perhaps you know I have a reason to be... upset, with you? For something more than the conditions of your birth maybe?"

Her sarcasm went vastly unappreciated by me, and I couldn't help but to mentally thank Hypnos for keeping both Thalia and Luke asleep.

"Do you understand why the circumstances make me... Ah, let's say curious, shall we? Curious about why you are carrying my husband's last betrayal poisoned by Ladon, along with the little thief, away from my garden with such haste?" She stopped less than a meter from me, her eyes briefly leaving me in order to glance over my two companions, she didn't bother hiding her revulsion, even if the souring of her expression did nothing to damage her statuary beauty.

I nodded once more, still holding my tongue behind my teeth, afraid of my choice of words in case I were to answer. "I know there is nothing here that belonged to my garden, that the missing apples have been eaten by those wretched nymphs while you three managed to distract Ladon, even if those little liars insisted on having eaten only one." She sniffed disdainfully.

"The Fates will have their hands full with you three, and since you didn't manage to steal anything, I'll let you three live, but I promise you, it will come a moment when each of you will think about this moment, and curse your survival." Her words weighed down on me like a bar of steel, making me strain my muscles to the tearing point in order to avoid falling from my seat and bowing my head.

"This is your only warning. Do not test me again." And once she said that, she was gone in a flash of golden light.

We landed without fuss, even if heavy rain started falling over us while a rich dumbass got his car stolen. I couldn't help but rage against the relatively brief but adrenaline-filled race towards the camp, the surprise visit from Hera having let me seething and almost frothing at the mouth. The slick road and slow mortals driving their cars forcing me to go slower than I'd have liked did not help the attempt to keep my cool.

We were a few minutes from Long Island when Luke stirred again. I had to restrain myself from punching him again, but if I had to be honest, I started to fear that the several hits to his head could end up giving him something worse than a concussion.

I had chucked him behind Thalia's seat, the knocked out mortal slumped in the trunk, and I adjusted the mirror in order to see his face while I was driving.

"The Oracle, what did it say when you left?" I asked when I saw him once more regain his senses. My tone was flat, and my eyes betrayed no emotions. Yet, it was very clear that I was more than simply pissed. He had charged against Ladon, turning him directly against us, not leaving me the time to properly organize my thoughts nor allowing us to make some sort of plan.

However, between the likely dehydration, and the several hits to the head, the son of Hermes chose unconsciousness over answering my question.

Less than an hour later, when we came close to the Camp, I unbelted Thalia and started running, already knowing what was going to happen. My mind, once it made its way beyond my rage and frustration, analyzed the situation. Too many coincidences. He chose to set out for this quest with only Thalia as his companion, ignoring my skill out of fear I'd seduce her. Luke loses his cool in the worst possible moment, I can't remember where I put my stuff in the Garden, wind opposes the airplane, and neither he nor I are healers, so we can't help Thalia on our own, while Hera jumps out of nowhere only to freak me out

When a rumbling thunder echoed over my head I gritted my teeth. And like hell this rain is natural.

I had either forgotten or ignored that Fate was a thing in the reality I was living. I didn't know if there was some form of sabotage going on, or if the events simply fell on their own to match the situations that Riordan had written. Or maybe Fate was something else entirely, and my taxed mind was grasping straws.

The jet lag between San Francisco and New York was of three hours, meaning that, while we started our flight only a single hour after the sunset, we went towards the night, and as such, the relatively brief hike from the car to the camp was done into the darkness. The moon would have shone upon us, if not for the unnatural lightning storm that I felt watching us.

I parked and quickly left my seat, walking around the car and reaching Thalia, unlatching her seatbelt and carrying her as a potatoes sack over my right shoulder. Whatever ill effect the venom was having on her, it wasn't something I could hold back carrying her gently. I left Luke in the car, he could sort himself out.

The rain was annoying and the wind kept buffeting me, choosing the worst possible moments to make me lose my balance, the wet grass sliding under my feet, pebbles, roots and everything under the sky seemed to exist only to hinder me. The little light the moon should have provided even though the cloudy sky seemed too shy to help me see the path, forcing me to follow my memory more than my eyes.

Thalia's weight was, almost unsurprisingly the less problematic challenge I was facing. Unsurprisingly because after the sky, finding in myself the strength for carrying the fourteen years old demigoddess was easy. Almost because I really didn't expect to feel the whole world act against me. I reached the summit of the small hill before the border of the Half-blood Camp, my legs burning too much for it to be caused only by muscular fatigue, and yet I endured. Step, after step, after step. I walked forward, shifting my weight in order for it to counter the winds, and in the flash of lightning, I suddenly recognized the Camp, I was on the right track, less than fifty meters from the border of the protections, which I could already see as a sort of shimmer through the pelting rain, noticeable only because I was extremely sensitive to magic.

I can make it.

Then my right foot slipped, my muscles seizing in a sudden cramp, forcing me to stumble forward. The slippery wet grass was waiting that moment to capitalize on my weakness, completing the work.

I fell forward, My arms naturally coming down to arrest my fall, and with the movement, Thalia, rolled off me and on the grass, crossing exactly the border with the camp.

In that moment, I got goosebumps, my skin tingled, hairs shooting straight up. I didn't hear it immediately, but I saw it.

In my head, there were a lot of facts about lightning: the bottom tip of a lightning bolt traveling from a cloud to the ground does travel rather quickly, although it travels at much less than the speed of light. A lightning discharge consists of electrons that have been stripped from their molecules flying through the air. They are accelerated by a strong electric field, a consequence of the big voltage difference between the cloud and the ground. They crash into air molecules on their way down and free other electrons, making a tube of ionized air. The "leader", the first stroke of a lightning discharge, actually proceeds in steps - lengthening by about 30 meters at a time, taking about a microsecond (one-millionth of a second) to do each step. There is a pause between steps of about 50 microseconds. The whole process may take a few milliseconds (one-thousandths of a second), providing enough time to perceive motion. Most of the charge flows after this leader makes electrical contact with the ground, however. A powerful "return stroke" releases much more energy. That's not the whole story, however, a lightning flash may have only one return stroke or may have several tens of strokes using the same column of ionized air.

And yet, whatever I saw broke every rule and fact I knew about natural phenomena. A single, straight, impossible lightning cut the sky open like a line drawn in white ink over black paper. Faster than it should have been possible, it came and went before my mind could properly register its presence.

It touched Thalia and there was a flash, that much I know and remember.

KRABOOM

I heard the thunder of the first strike from Zeus, and I saw the flash of a second one: following an instantaneous and violent gut feeling, I stabbed my knife in the dirt, before slamming myself flat against the ground.

The second lighting strike was much more physics friendly, it came down zig-zagging through the sky, choosing to strike the pommel of my knife instead of me.

Then physics took a vacation, and an explosion turned everything black.

23 July 2000

The thrumming pain in my head was the reason I awoke. It wasn't nice.

It was downright awful.

Finding yourself in a place you can't immediately recognize would spook anyone, and for a second, I examined my surroundings looking for either an enemy or a weapon to use, before my brain actually kicked in and I recognized the Camp's infirmary.

Groggily, I rose from my seat and grabbed the clothes that had been thoughtfully placed on my bedrest. Living among demigods meant that short of a crippling injury or instantaneous death, between ambrosia and healing mumbo jumbo from either Chiron or Apollo's kids, mostly everyone survived pretty terrifying wounds.

Sure, at some point the demigods left the Camp and ended up killed, but hey, if you're over 18 years old nobody cares a rat's fart about your violent death.

Such was the beauty of the world I lived in.

I left the infirmary after having chugged down two gulps of nectar, I knowingly ignored the Lichtenberg figures on my arms caused by something that I didn't remember, and walked towards the boundary of the Camp, without bothering to recognize the campers' hellos or wary whispering. It was night, but since it was a stormless one, I suspected it had already been a day since the lightning.

I already knew what I would find, it didn't take any kind of stretch of the imagination to figure it out. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't grieving nor in apoplectic rage. But I was pissed.

The fact that such an event happened both in the books and in this reality hinted as something above me pulling the strings. Plan A: Golden Fleece. My mind shot forward considering the possibilities.

No, scratch that. Plan A: Hekate is the goddess of magic, involving her will cost me something, but 'she wants to see what I will do'. She should at least be interested. I shook briefly my head, starting the walk uphill towards what i really didn't want to check.

Plan B: complete the second project with David, then Golden Fleece.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down, there was a problem, and I already had two possible solutions, it could be way worse. "Why there are so many people around after curfew?" I asked a random kid.

"Mr. D and Chiron have been summoned to Olympus, and everyone wanted to see Thalia's tree." he quickly answered before taking a wary step back when he saw my face contort itself in rage. Thalia is not a martyr to be gawked at.

When I recognized one of the demigods around the imposing pine tree, I grabbed the forefront of his shirt and held him less than a palm from my face: "The fucking oracle, what did it tell you for the quest?"

The son of Hermes looked at me with vacant eyes, a defeated expression he had no right to wear on his face.

"Not alone you'll go west,

Go fast, for there one will rest,

With a silent weeper, and the hungry thieves.

After the quest, a wordsmith grieves.

Two only will walk after the task

with direction the first, broken the last,

rooted the third, to not travel the world,

It's the price to pay for the broken vow." his voice reached everyone around the clearing, and the expression of many went from sad to... well, not enraged, but quite annoyed. Far from being complete idiots, they had likely followed my same interpretation of the last part, and being the reasonable cunts that weren't actually friends with Thalia, but were ready to enjoy every occasion to bashing someone else, they wasted no time in taking a collective step back from him.

I took another step in his direction, the frail control I had over my temper thinning even more: "And you chose to ask Thalia, the only one born under a broken vow on the Styx, as your only companion." while my voice remained quiet, I felt my face contort itself in abject fury: "Because you were jealous."

A part of me knew that he was a teen desperate for attention and with more than a few issues, I knew that he was a cardinal element of the world I was living into and that Fate had more than a veiled interest in him.

Too bad that I was fresh out of fucks to give.

"No! I wouldn't..." he stammered, his honest outrage hot enough to push him through his daze, but not enough to not be interrupted by me.

I desperately wanted to say something to hurt him, but there weren't words to express myself. I simply punched him.

Hard. My knuckles burying themselves into the pit of his stomach, causing him to bend forward, enough to meet my other hand, which came in a downward haymaker that carried my intention of punting him into the ground.

Which kind of idiot asks for a prophecy and doesn't try to figure it out before going on the fucking adventure? But then, if one can ignore a prophecy, is it even valid?

My mind went through those options without my consent nor attention, which was focused on the son of Hermes, and I looked almost like a passenger on my body as my right hand clasped the forefront of his shirt and held him close enough for my forehead to crash against his nose. After that my rage was... gone. Maybe I just recognized the futility of manhandling Luke. It won't help Thalia.

I glared at the back of two sons of Hermes that came to drag away his slumped form but didn't stop them.

"I may have a way to heal Thalia." I said loud enough to be heard by the ones around me: "If it doesn't work, I'll need fifteen voluntaries for plan B. I'll choose who, my team, my rules."

I turned to go away only to come immediately to a full stop: less than five meters from me there was a shriveled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress. I remembered and heard enough to know that this was the infamous Oracle, the same one that sprouted the bullshit prophecy that fucked with Luke's head enough to make him not think clearly. Be it deliberate or not, the act of telling the future had been instrumental in shaping the events.

The raspy whispers that came with her sudden intake of breath remembered me of the sheer wrongness that Fate was. It was unavoidable, the ultimate cage. I am free.

I didn't think, didn't plan, I reacted: with two steps I was in front of the Oracle.

"The price to be paid for the broken vow, uh?" I hissed, less then an inch from its face: "Look closely into your future little Oracle, and tell me, what will happen if I hear a single word leave your wrinkled mouth?"

The rasping breath deepened, and whatever sort of fake life the mummy seemed to hold, it seemed to no longer want it, because it started to talk: "Change..."

As soon as I heard the word, I slammed my foot on its stomach, hurling back the talking corpse and following in pursuit. I was done with the shit Fate was throwing around.

I was about to bury my punch into his head when I felt a sudden spike of danger coming from my side. I turned my punch into a fast roll over the damp grass, and in a fraction of second, I was jumping on a new trajectory, narrowly avoiding what felt like a streak of pale moonlight.

When I righted myself, I stared at my aggressor: female, beautiful, coppery colored skin and dark eyes, a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair. And more importantly, a silvery arrow ready to be unleashed.

I stilled, she was far from being a mediocre archer, and I would have a single opportunity to attack. I studied carefully my opponent, taking notice of how two of the campers were suddenly holding their knives in threatening motions against other girls with silvery arrows, while the other demigods had suddenly taken several steps back from the confrontation, and were running around like headless chickens: "Someone call the Cabins' Heads!" and other such tripe.

I kept my attention on my opponent: "Any reason why you thought attacking me was a good idea?" I asked sardonically, Mist rolling over the area and slowly creeping up the girls I had never seen before.

"You dare touch what is beyond your station. The Oracle is under the protection of Akesios." her voice rippled through the air, managing to express her outrage and disgust for my action, along with the contempt I was held in. My mind quickly recognized one of the surnames of Apollo, under which he was worshipped in Elis, where he had a splendid temple in the agora. That surname, which has the same meaning as akestôr and alexikakos, characterized the god as the averter of evil, in particular, the young woman tried to associate the prophecies given by the Oracle to the 'averting of evil'. From the way she held herself, I had no doubt it was done knowingly.

"The sun isn't up, what's it to you?" I seethed. I decided that prophecies were better not heard, and like hell I was going to listen to a single word.

"My Lady wouldn't allow it." she quietly answered, her arms unwavering despite the tension she was applying to her weapon.

I snorted, once more observing her features: "I couldn't care less about your lady, who are you to stay in my way?"

"I am Zoe Nightshade, Lieutenant of the Hunt, and I will defend the Oracle from the brutality of men." she proudly stated.

I didn't bother holding back a sigh, this brought feminism to a whole new level of idiocy. I'm all for equality, but only because the Oracle's body was one of woman, she could sprout prophecies that had as the only effect one of the disturbing mental processes enough to turn a quest that could have gone smoothly in the clusterfuck it became. All without consequences? I don't think so.

"I did warn the Oracle to keep her forked tongue behind her teeth. She ignored my prophecy, she pays the price, much like Luke did with hers." I rolled my shoulders, noticing with a frown that the Mist couldn't overcome the moonlight.

"You dare?" she hissed, the sheer outrage that emanated from her form was almost visible to the naked eye.

At that I laughed, my burning hot rage turning into something cold and calculative: "You'd be surprised by what I dare accomplish, little nymph. Lipari is right, you are self-entitled."

I had no qualms about revealing my presence in the garden since Hera already knew, and while the only time I ever spoke about zoe was with Atlas, I had no intention of revealing that tidbit of information. What did Atlas say?

'it hurt me discovering that one of them betrayed her family, forsaking her own name.'

She recoiled as if I had struck her, and at that moment I shot forward, swerving right to avoid another streak of pale moonlight and clamping my hands upon her wrists. "You think you are above consequences because you slave away your name under the Apanchomenê?"

When she heard how I had called Artemis, it was like all her strength had bled out.

"Apancho-what?" asked a child of Atena that didn't know what do to stop the situation from escalating, but couldn't resist the opportunity to learn something new.

I tilted my head questioningly, dropping Zoe' wrists and turning around to notice that the tensions between the two demigods and the two huntresses had somehow deflated when Zoe didn't fight back. "The Oracle used words and fucked us over, you defended it in your Lady's name, so let me use words to make you reap what you sowed." I sported a bloodthirsty grin, finding a better way to get revenge over the huntress stopping me from destroying the Oracle.

With a wide gesture of my hands, I started telling a story: "In the neighborhood of the town of Caphyae in Areadia, in a place called Condylea, there was a sacred grove of Artemis Condyleatis. On one occasion when some boys were playing in this grove, they put a string round the goddess' statue, and said in their jokes they would strangle Artemis. Some of the inhabitants of Caphyae who found the boys thus engaged in their sport, stoned them to death."

I turned slowly on myself, noting that everyone around me, even the other two huntresses, was waiting for me to complete the story: "Even with the guilty stoned to death, She of The Wild is the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and chastity. And since she helped her mother give birth to her twin, she is also the goddess of childbirth. After the offense given by the boys, all the women of Caphyae had premature births, and all the children were brought dead into the world."

I looked again at the Lieutenant of the Hunt: "This calamity did not cease until the boys were honorably buried, and an annual sacrifice to their manes was instituted in accordance with the command of an oracle of Apollo. The surname of Condyleatis was then changed into Apanchomene."

Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for a rebuttal from Zoe, or a divine punishment from the heavens, I didn't know nor care, I snorted derisively one last time and turned my back on her looking at the Athena's son who had asked for an explanation.

"If you are one of the people in charge of teaching mythology to the newcomers, it's no wonder that everyone only dreams of quests and being claimed." I shook my head, letting the action express what I thought of the situation, and left the area, there was nothing more to be said.

After the less than flattering first meeting with a member of the Hunt, I dragged myself back to the special three-way crossroad, taking the fourth path and walking back to my abode. I felt... spent. More for my confrontation against the Hunters than for the lack of sleep. Sure, seeing Thalia being hit by a bolt of lightning and becoming a fucking tree less than 10 minutes from a healer hasn' t done me any favors.

I eyed critically my home: I had managed to greatly improve it, it actually resembled a proper hut: I had placed straight wooden poles in two concentric circles, and filled the space between with sacks of sand. It wasn't much, but it worked. The roof was an oblique plane made with planks of wood, and the door...

Well, I've never been a carpenter. I somewhat consoled myself, looking dejectedly a wooden door held in place by rocks.

I entered my frankly horrible hut, eager to sleep in the hammock I had tied inside. The summer is hot enough that I don't need to lit up the brazier. I was sighing in relief while taking the first step inside when I tripped and fell.

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed, a mix of surprise and irritation coloring my voice.

Looking on the ground, my eyes quickly found the reason behind my fall: a freshly pruned tree branch, and a very familiar one. At its side, a jute sack wrapped in a black band with 'HERMES EXPRESS' printed in gold over it.

Without thinking, but with a growing hope that was quickly turned into certainty, flashes of what I had forgotten blossoming in my mind.

I awoke under a column of sky held by Atlas with my body screaming abuse. I realized that for Ouranos I was unworthy of attention he didn't hate me, nor my shoulders for holding him, but it was clear that he despised every one of my muscles equally. I could feel my tendons grinding together, my joints locked and stiff, and even my heart was beating erratically."You held the sky for a whole night." Atlas rumbled, his voice wavering between amusement and respect "Your will matched mine, but your body is without a doubt mortal, consequences are your curse."I squinted my eyes at him, focusing on his words, dissecting them for hidden meanings. Anything but acknowledging my body's outraged screams. I was thinking of an appropriately prideful answer when everything faded to black.

When I came back to my senses, I saw that the sun had long since started his path towards the west and that I had an hour or two at most before the dusk.

Forcing my body to obey, I rolled on my stomach, scrambling to get my legs under me. "I have to admit," I spoke, marveling at the gravely and scratchy sound that left my mouth, "That it's been far more than simply interesting."

The low rumble of rocks falling one over another was the amused chuckle of the Titan made me look at his amused expression: "What is your name, mortal?" he asked.

I tilted my head, considering his request. It would have been fair answering truthfully, after all I knew the titan. And sooner or later, a monster or resentful demigod would give my name to the son of Gea. Or at least, he would find out once the Titan War started.

Still, keeping the cards close to my chest was a smart move.

But I liked Atlas. And frankly, after the freak out I had pushed him through, I doubted he could divine any deeper understanding of me from my name. Sure, the simple act of answering or not would have given him an in into my personality. And even the long minutes I was spending analyzing the situation was telling him about my natural carefulness.

Oh, fuck it, what's the point of being alive if you never risk anything? I asked to myself.

"I was named Icarus." I smiled winningly at the Titan. I didn't tell him it was my name, nor that it wasn't.

"Icarus." he repeated, "I can see the similarities with your predecessor, even if you seem to have what it takes to back up your excessive daring. I'll remember this name."

I frowned at his answer. Why every chat with an immortal turns out to be a game I don't know the rules of? I wondered.

"How would you know about the first Icarus? He came after your time." I asked, slowly limping towards the backpack that I had discarded against a rock.

"The Hours are chatty, as are the Winds, even the Stars echo what they find interesting." was his totally-not-obscure answer.

I popped a small cube of ambrosia in my mouth, relishing in the warmth that soothed my abused muscles, untying knots, and relaxing my shoulders. "Another mystery for me, uh?"

I dragged out of my backpack the project David had cursed me for: celestial bronze, of a rectangular shape, 70x25x15 centimeters, and was covered in greek letters which could slide on several tracks.

"Are you familiar with mortals' music?" I asked, pressing an Alpha letter that acted like an on-off button.

Keith Jarreth's piano music started to play around the relatively small plateau at the top of Mount Othrys, and I was happy to see the dumbfounded expression on Atlas' face.

"I am not." He replied, clearly torn between confusion and curiosity: "I didn't hear anything about music since Orpheus managed to undo Tanathos' work."

At which I frowned: "I thought that he was the peaceful aspect of death, Atropos is the sudden one."

The titan grinned, his eyes never leaving the over-glorified jukebox I had David build. "My mistake then." He corrected himself, but his shit-eating grin told me that there was something else at work in his words.

I let my fingers trail over the celestial bronze jukebox until I found a circular section, which I turned this and that way until I was satisfied.

"I set it so that it will play from dawn to dusk." I told the titan distractedly, walking over the branch he had clearly ripped from the golden apple tree and bringing out my trusty, multi-purpose knife.

Going around with it is a must, but it's hardly manageable. I commented by myself, my eyes landing briefly over the round mounds hid by the jute sack. I didn't want to test myself so soon with six Immortality Apples.

"You would have me listen to mortal music, Icarus." Atlas accused me.

I didn't know if his use of my name should have made me feel something, but I couldn't discern any kind of magic suddenly moving aroud me, so I ignored it. "I would have you learn a bit of what humans have made since you have been tasked with holding the sky, yes."

Atlas was too prideful to ask why, and I wouldn't have answered him anyway. Music, along with the other Arts, was simply a branch of mankind's skills that best expressed our creativity and dreams. Maybe it would be enough to not have him join into Kronos' crusade, or at least to make Atlas spare some humans out of curiosity in case the Titan War was lost. Frankly, it was my reserve plan in case everything went to shit due to my presence in that reality. Well, more hope of a miracle than a plan, if Kronos wins, I'll have other shit to care about instead of preserving human culture. I amended in my mind.

Watching the slow descent of the sun, I knew that I was short of time if I wanted to enter the garden of dusk. How to get the nymphs to not call on Ladon once I am inside? I wondered while carefully pruning the branch and setting aside both twigs and leaves.

Corrupting them with an apple. Was the immediate answer.

But how do I make sure they don't steal my shit until I leave with Thalia and Luke once they join me? My mind outlined for me the next problem.

My eyes fell on the canteen still full of Dionysus' brand of wine and a smirk blossomed on my face, a plan starting to take form in my devilishly twisted mind.

Bribery with an apple, getting wasted with the wine. I reassumed the general lines. Now, how to keep them away from my loot?

Minutes later, when the magic jukebox had left classical music behind only to jump to hip hop, the solution jumped to the forefront of my mind. Didn't Hermes have a Fed-Ex jig going on?

I opened the jute sack and watched inside with a shadow of satisfaction worming its way on my face. Thalia's situation had been a hit, but one I knew how to fix, more or less. Finding out that my trip ended up with a sound success was a gladly received surprise.

Above the golden loot, there was a square piece of paper, folded like a couple of snakes spiraling around each other. Which is impossible, it doesn't matter how good you are with origami.

I frowned and picked up the strange 3-D construct, which unfurled on its own, revealing a message written in ancient greek: I took the drachmas for the expedition, and a single apple to keep the transaction off the books. Well played, but I allowed you to use my godly services to secure your loot only because you are one of my favorite thieves. It won't happen again!

(Unless you keep 'tipping' so awesomely!)

Safe Travels!

-Hermes

My mind went blank for several seconds.

Safe Travels. I read it again. Why does it feel like he knew I would Travel? It could pass as a reference to his realm, but its annoyingly convenient...

"What do I do with four of one of the most sought after prizes in the world?" I muttered to myself, pushing the thought of Hermes' message to the back of my mind. For a second, I felt like at the end of an RPG game, at the point where you have just so much gold and artifacts that you couldn't use them all even if you wanted to. Then I remembered that Plan A required Hekate assistance, and I knew what I needed to do.

Golden apples of immortality are hardly going to rot. I mused silently, letting my newfound sensibility towards magical flora wash over my treasure: I had to forcibly snap my eyes closed in order to stop myself from gobbling down the golden fruits. Their presence was... unique. In the garden, they were subdued, in the same way, a single voice in a choir was hard to pick up, but here? It was like hearing a constant humming just beyond my line of sight, a whisper of a promise that was not uttered out loud. The image of the sand stopping its flow inside of an hourglass, and the song of eons passing leaving the one to eat one apple undisturbed.

I felt around the four blazing presences that the apples were, taking notice about how unquestioningly alive they felt, and my senses fell to the pruned branch from which they had been picked. It was... waiting? For what, I had no idea.

With a sigh, I reached my hammock and collapsed into it, Hermes letter clutched into my hand, thinking about the implications. In the books, Thalia had been turned into a tree. Now, she had become a tree once more, and again, before she could hit 16 years of age, so the big ass prophecy was not triggered. And it was clear that Artemis' hunters had been asked to recruit Thalia and Bianca in the books, exactly for the purpose of delaying the prophecy.

I frowned, instinctively disliking that Hermes or anyone knew what I was going to do before me. How do I solve the problem?

My first plan of action was in my opinion reasonable: finish the ship I had asked David to craft, man it, and sail to find the Golden Fleece. There was no reason to invent again the wheel, after all, it healed Thalia the first time, it could do it again. And while grabbing the ten years old Percy Jackson was tempting if only to keep the sea complacent towards us during our travel, I knew that plot armor extended itself only to the characters with an extremely meaningful connection with the main character, which was something I had neither the patience nor the inclination to cultivate. Hades, I barely manage to behave like a functional human with Thalia and Luke, and they basically raised themselves fighting monsters, a coddled ten years old would bring me to make human offerings again.

But the problem was another: How do I make sure Thalia isn't forcibly turned into a slave for a stuck up, weak-willed goddess or metamorphosized into another tree just because Zeus is a dumbass?

I fell asleep pondering my options.

The night was quiet and without wind, the only sound that could be heard over the bristling of the flames in the brazier was the low echo of the waves, just beyond the trees. The new moon gave only a dim light, but in the cloudless sky, it almost resembled a bloodthirsty grin, while the shadows in the clearing twisted and rolled one over another. It took me weeks to figure out how to call Hekate, and in all that time I dedicated myself to push forward the project I had going on with David: building a fucking ship.

I cut my palm with a switchblade, letting enough of my blood to fill the cup I was making with my hand, and tossed it into the fire, the memory of my mother clear in my mind.

"Hekate." I called, "Mother, I have a bargain for you." Magic has a price has it not? Let's see if it holds true for the goddess of magic.

The fire flickered, before turning silver, with an eerie howling, which had nothing to do with wolves and wind, and was more resembling of a door opening and suddenly allowing a current of air to pass through. And out of a door that I couldn't see, my mother walked into the clearing.

She was the same as the last time I had seen her, only, she was sporting a smile that I could have mistaken for a strange mixture of pride and motherly affection.

It really had no place on the face of the goddess who, from what I could discern, had ripped my soul from its previous existence and chucked it into a bastard that she had for shit and jiggles.

She tilted her head questioningly while walking forward, her hand trailing gently across my cheek: "Normally I wouldn't have answered, and if any mortal dared call me and actually expect me to come would be punished for his daring."

Her hand came to rest on my neck, and when I felt her rest her dainty fingers on the sides of my throat to squeeze lightly, I found myself unable to move.

"Heal Thalia." I asked.

She chuckled, shaking her head in a slow and almost gentle denial: "No can do, the King turned her, and even if I were amenable to go against his wishes, Ladon's venom is not something a mortal can be healed from. Even a demigod of the Big Three."

"What do you know about the divine properties of demigods?" she suddenly asked, forcing me to raise an eyebrow in mock outrage.

A test, really? I rolled my eyes: "Each demigod can operate in the realm of his divine parent, the extent of his powers, or better yet, the extent of his influence over his godly parent's realm is limited by either the relationship with the said parent or the... strength, I guess, of the demigod."

And while I was saying it, I frowned: "Well, that's not exact, is not about strength, but about the... assertiveness? Strength of character? Will? Understanding of said domain?"

"Your observations are vague to the point that they almost sound incorrect, darling." Hekate chastized me: "But I shall enlighten you: " she raised a torch while saying that, the fire on it blazing silver and light filling the clearing for a brief instant.

"The right to manipulate your divine parent's domain is bestowed upon conception and cannot be taken back. Sure, if I were cross with you, my dear Icarus, you would find the Mist extremely uncooperative."

My eyes narrowed: "You like me." I accused her, "That's why my illusions sometimes act without the need for explicit instructions on my part."

The goddess grinned: "Yes, well done spotting it. But its also due to your upbringing, your familiarity with my domain is, after all, an important factor."

"Does it means I could call upon storm and earthquakes?" I asked, eager for an answer.

"Do not make questions you already now the answer of." she chided me.

I raised my hands and drew small circles on my temples: "The Big Three, along with their sisters... what is the difference between them and the other gods?"

"Being children of the Titan of Time is surely a factor, that defines the... let's say hierarchy, he was the previous Ruler and the one to organize the demise of his father. But the nature of their domain is far more relevant. Think Icarus, the sky, the sea, the underworld, what do they have in common?"

"They were beyond terrifying to humans, back during ancient Greece golden age, I swear." I instinctively answered, "Or at least the ones that raised the more questions: mankind had always stared in wonder at the sky, wondered about the meaning of death, and was awed or terrified by the sea, obsessing on what existed beyond the horizon."

My... mother, smiled mysteriously, not explaining further.

"So... I cannot summon earthquakes and hurricanes?." I frowned.

"You did admirably in your challenges, why would you look into your father's side of the family?" she asked sardonically, giving me pause.

"What happened to 'Do not make questions you already know the answer for' ?" I half-heartedly protested.

"You are the one who called me here, entertaining me is the least you can do." A delicate eyebrow rose on her forehead.

"First: there is no way in Hades that you chose randomly the father for the body you chucked my soul into." I raised a finger, as I was counting: "Second: Thalia was unstoppable, she didn't get tired until we where out of danger, and she doesn't have to think about her power as I do, she kept us alive without any extraordinary grasp of her divine side. Third: I use every tool I can, it's a matter of principle."

"Well argumented dear." she said, resuming her walk around me, "But as you are beginning to learn, actions have consequences, and everything as a price, but I need to hear what you're looking for if you're seeking my counsel."

"What do I have to do to gain over Poseidon's realm the same birthright Thalia has over her father's domain?" I asked clearly, my chin rising a bit as if I was challenging her.

"You would need to do stuff you can't hope to survive, I, however... With apples from the Queen's garden, I could make it work." She tilted her head expectantly.

"Apples? As in, more than one?" I asked.

"Don't be deliberately obtuse dear, there is a reason why Heracles had been tasked with plucking three." she started walking around me like some kind of predator eyeing its next meal.

Saying that it unnerved me was redundant. "Three apples to gain over Poseidon's realm the same birthright Thalia has over her father's domain." I repeated, carefully avoiding using Poseidon's name but making sure she wouldn't give me the power of someone else's grandfather.

"Indeed, one for me to set things in motion and kept the whole thing hidden, one for another who will need to help to pull a certain string, and one spent to... well, you don't have the frame of reference to understand what I'll do with it." She explained, making me only more suspicious.

"You are unnervingly talkative and informative about this matter, while obviously hiding something. Any reason why?" Not knowing what actually was going be done with my prize greatly unnerved me.

She sauntered towards me and placed her hands on my shoulders, her torches floating quietly at her sides: "Oh, dearie, haven't we already had this conversation? You are my masterpiece, I want to see what kind of things you can accomplish, besides, giving the payment, it's only fair that I explain, but magic is a mystery, so I can't tell you everything."

"Those three apples are an awfully high price to pay without knowing what they will be used for..." I objected half-heartedly.

"When the price is paid, your claim can gain... weight, but you'll take something not meant for you, cabin 11 influence over you is clear." she started, before lightly shaking her head: "Dearie, this isn't like a professor of mathematics teaching you something too advanced for you to understand, it's like a dragon teaching a stone how to fly."

I slowly handed over a small sack with three apples: "There you go, mother." I noted with a sarcastic tint to my voice.

She grinned to me almost impishly: "Don't be sad for the loss of your treasure, even if greed suits you, apples cannot stay among mortals. Even the last time, they couldn't remain with Eurystheus. After all the trouble Hercules went through to get them, he had to return them to the goddess Council, who took them back to the garden that was then at the northern edge of the world."

I sighed: "I already gave you my apples, mother."

"That you did. However, certain conditions are to be met before your request can be executed." Hekate answered, looking amused.

"Conditions?" I said with a low growl.

"You'll feel the difference once I'll be done with my part, but from there on you'll have to... oh, you'll find out." And with a mad cackle, my mother vanished in a flash of silvery fire that gave off the impression of moonlight.