Among Thieves: Child of Hermes

“Why are we here again?” Riff Lorton asked his friend Tony Wyzek. “We’re here because they have a new Greek and Roman exhibit that I want to see,” Tony replied. “Why are you so interested in this stuff, anyway?” Riff asked him. “I don’t know. I’ve just always liked it. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Tony replied, irritated. “Whoa. Calm down. I didn’t say there was,” Riff said, in an attempt to pacify his friend. His best friend stood very tall and muscular, but not bulky, with dark brown, almost black, hair and brown eyes. He got them from his father, who’d abandoned his family when Tony was a baby. They’d also discovered that Tony was dyslexic and had ADHD. Tony explained that he’d been diagnosed with the ADHD since he was a little kid and they’d discovered the dyslexia when he entered kindergarten.

Just then, Riff thought he saw something move in the shadow of one of the nearby columns. “W-what was that?” He stammered, looking at his friends nervously. “I didn’t see anything. You’re seeing things. Hey look, it’s a statue of Heracles taming the Nemean Lion!” Tony called out. “How can you tell that?” Riff asked, puzzled. “Because it says so right there,” Tony said, pointing. Riff looked and saw where his friend was pointing. “Tony, that’s not even in English. There’s no way you could read that,” he protested. “Well, it was in English to me,” Tony told him, shrugging. Riff couldn’t believe it: first Tony had trouble reading, yet now he read something that wasn’t even in English with no problem? Something funny was going on.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to wonder about it, as suddenly the thing Riff had seen earlier burst out of hiding and started attacking them. It was a huge serpent and everything it looked at, bugs, people, etc. were instantly frozen in their tracks. Nothing seemed to pierce the serpent’s hide. Its scales were harder than titanium. Tony was the first to figure it out. “Don’t look in its eyes or you’ll be frozen where you stand, and for heaven’s sake don’t let it bite you!” Tony called out. Just then, Tony heard a voice behind him. “Tony, take this pen and click it,” the tour guide he’d seen earlier, Aaron, called out, tossing something to him through the air. Tony caught it and clicked it as he’d been told. To his amazement, it turned into a sword in his hands! “Whoa!” Tony cried in surprise.

Just then the drakon lunged at him again, and the Jets and Aaron ran toward the nearest door with Tony following close behind, fending off the drakon with his sword. To their horror, though, the door was locked. Finally Tony tried it and discovered he could sense the tumblers in the door lock. Tony pushed and shoved with all his might, concentrating on the lock and suddenly he heard the tumblers click and the door swung open! Grateful to have a way to get away from the drakon, Tony and the Jets didn’t give what had happened, and so Tony had no idea that he’d done anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, the drakon crashed through the wall after them, so Tony yelled at it, trying to persuade it to stop attacking him (which it did for about one minute), but that minute was all Tony needed. He leaped straight for the drakon and hurled his sword into its mouth, where it stuck like a pole, propping the drakon’s mouth open. The drakon tried to close its mouth, and the sword pierced through the roof of its mouth, up into its brain, killing it instantly.

Two seconds later, the sword returned to Tony’s hand magically, leaving Tony mystified. The Jets just stared in mute astonishment at Tony standing there, sword in hand. It was Riff who finally broke the silence. “What the heck?! What just happened here?!” he exclaimed. “I have no idea,” Tony said, not understanding what had happened either. “Explanations later. Right now we need to get you out of here,” Aaron said quickly. “Whoa! I’m not going anywhere with you! I don’t even know you!” Tony said, unnerved. “Look, I’ve been assigned to protect you and others like you, and I’m telling you we need to get you to your home so you can pack and we can get you safely to the Camp,” Aaron said. Tony started to ask more questions, but Aaron cut him off.

They headed out for Tony’s house and when they got there, Aaron told Tony’s mother, Linda, what had happened, simply saying, “Linda, Tony needs to go now—like right now.” Linda immediately raced to the bedroom to start packing a suitcase for Tony, ignoring his questions, promising to explain on the way to the Camp. En route to the Camp, Tony learned that Linda had met his father when she had been a police officer and had caught him trying to steal a doughnut from the doughnut shop she and her partner were visiting to get their daily doughnut fix. Of course she’d had to arrest him, but he was so charming that Linda fell for him, and after the incident was over, she wound up going on a date with him—a date which eventually led to more. Eventually she wound up pregnant, and nine months later Tony was born. Linda didn’t know who he was, but she knew he made her happy.

But then one day he’d had to leave. Linda hadn’t even found out his name, but she kept saying he was “dazzling”. Tony thought he heard Aaron mutter something like, “They’re always dazzling”, but he wasn’t sure, so he kept quiet. He didn’t understand and probably never would, but he tried to not be sullen about it.

Once they arrived, they ran into a fight between a minotaur and a young boy. “Run Percy!” the woman who was with the kid screamed. “Not without you, Mom!” the kid cried, determined not to leave his mother behind. “Go!” his mother cried, and finally the boy, Percy, ran toward the campground Tony could now see in the distance. “Go with Percy, Tony,” Linda told her son. “I can’t enter Camp Half-Blood. Only you can. It’s a place where you’ll be safe, okay?” Tony was reluctant to leave his mother, but he finally did as he was told. He grabbed his stuff and ran toward the camp. Once he got over there, he felt himself pass through a barrier, but the minotaur that was chasing him hit it and couldn’t get through. He was safe, finally. Just then, he saw a guy coming toward him who seemed to have the upper body of a human teenager and the lower body of a goat! “What the heck?!” Tony exclaimed in surprise. “Hi, I’m Grover, one of the satyrs here at camp. What’s your name?” the guy asked. “I’m Tony Wyzek. What kind of camp is this, anyway? Also, are you really half goat?” Tony asked, puzzled. “Yeah, I am. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, camp for young heroes-in-training. You must be the guy my friend Aaron mentioned,” Grover said. Tony was surprised that Grover knew Aaron, but assumed that Aaron must also be a satyr based on the conversation they’d had when Tony met him. “Camp Half-Blood? ‘Half’ meaning what, exactly?” Tony asked. “I think you know. You remember what I mentioned at the museum about how the gods came down to earth and hooked up with mortals, and then they had kids”, Grover said, putting deliberate emphasis on the last word.

“No way,” Tony said unbelievingly. “Yep, you’re a demigod. Two points for you!” Grover whooped. Tony couldn’t believe it—he was the child of a god? “So who’s my parent, then?” Tony asked. “We won’t know for sure until you’re claimed. Once you are, then you move into the cabin of your respective parent. Until then, you stay in the Hermes cabin. Whoa guys! Watch out! Newcomer coming through. Hello! Gosh!” This last comment was directed at several campers with bows and arrows who’d almost shot them full of arrows by accident. After that, Tony and Percy were shown to a field near the lake where a bunch of centaurs were running. “Mr. Brunner!” Percy shouted. It turned out that the centaur was actually known as Chiron. He spent a little time talking to them before they had to go get Tony and Percy settled into Hermes cabin. Then Tony and Percy spotted the gray eyed girl he’d seen before facing off with several other campers, easily besting them all. “What’s her name?” Percy asked Grover. “Her? She will squash you like a bug!” Grover retorted. “Her name,” Percy repeated more slowly. “Annabeth—daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy,” Grover replied. She did look rather fierce, and Tony hoped he wouldn’t have to fight against her in a battle. Grover and the others had mentioned being claimed and Tony wondered what that could mean.

It was over a week before Tony found out what being claimed meant. They were at the campfire, when suddenly all the campers stared at Tony and everyone gasped in shock. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Tony asked. Then he saw a fading symbol over his head: a caduceus! “The parentage is revealed. Hail Tony Wyzek, son of Hermes, God of the Roadways, Travelers, Merchants and Thieves!” Chiron declared, to the astonishment of the whole camp. After that, Tony went back to the Hermes cabin to stay, now that he knew Hermes was his father. He soon discovered he had special powers related to his godly father. He was skilled at theft and trickery, highly athletic, and very persuasive. He could sense any physical traps, was very good at alchemy and making potions, was extremely good with money, and could even teleport (due to Hermes being the god of speed and travel. Only one other known demigod could do that: Tony’s half-brother, Luke Castellan. Another thing he and Luke had in common was their ability to pick locks with their minds, which was how he and his friends had opened the door to escape the drakon before. Both of them also resembled their father, with a sharp nose, upturned eyebrows, and a mischievous smile. While the Hermes cabin was overcrowded, it felt like home with all his half-brothers and sisters. He wasn’t too fond of his natural tendency toward thievery, though.

One evening, life at Camp Half-Blood was rocked with the dramatic appearance of Hades. That was when the campers found out that Zeus’s master lightning bolt had gone missing and Percy was the prime suspect due to being Poseidon’s son. In order to prove his innocence, he had to go on a quest to find the bolt and return it by the summer solstice in ten days or there would be dire consequences. Annabeth and Grover volunteered to go along with Percy to help him retrieve it, and Tony did too,figuring he might be able to help them find it. However, Chiron believed that Hades had stolen the bolt, so Percy and Annabeth they headed to Los Angeles where the entrance to the Underworld was located. Along the way, they encountered several mythological monsters and Ares, who told Percy that his mother had been taken to the Underworld, but she was still alive. As they approached the pit of Tartaurus, Luke’s winged shoes—which he’d given to Percy, who’d given them to Grover—tried to pull Grover into the Underworld, but Grover managed to get them off his hooves just in time. They eventually made it to the Underworld and had a confrontation with Hades, who also believed Percy had stolen the bolt as well as his Helm of Darkness. It turned out Hades hadn’t stolen the bolt, so they were at a dead end again. But then, Percy checked his backpack and discovered the missing bolt inside. Apparently when Ares had given him the backpack, he’d snuck the bolt inside. They fled the Underworld and they relocated Ares, whom Percy defeated by hurting his heel. Ares then gave them back the Helm of Darkness, which they returned to Hades. They then headed out of the Underworld and caught a ride back to New York City, where they headed toward the Empire State Building to return the Master Bolt to Zeus.

They managed to make it and Tony beheld his father at full size in the Olympian Pantheon. Percy was exonerated, but one question was still unanswered: who was the original thief who took the Bolt? The group headed back to Camp Half-Blood after returning the Bolt, but before they’d even gotten off the building, they ran into Luke. He told them Chiron had sent him to help them, but then Annabeth sensed something wasn’t right since they hadn’t been able to tell Chiron anything. She confronted Luke about that, and Luke revealed that HE had taken the lightning bolt, but had been captured by Ares. Luke had appealed to Ares’ love of a good war and convinced him that all he had to do was hide the Bolt for awhile and it would start a war between the Olympians. Ares had accepted and as a result, a war had begun between Zeus and Poseidon, with different gods taking each side. Percy was the first to figure out that Luke was working for Cronos.

He was proven right a moment later when Luke laughed evilly and confirmed Percy’s suspicions. The young demigods engaged Luke in a battle royale over New York City. Tony hated fighting his half-brother, and kept hoping Luke could be redeemed. However, when he realized Luke was past all hope, Tony began to fight him in earnest. Unfortunately, being a child of Hermes himself, Luke was able to guess what Tony’s moves would be and countered them. Unbeknownst to Tony, his friends were watching the battle and saw him fighting Luke alongside the other demigods. Finally Percy managed to vanquish Luke with his power over water and they all returned to Camp Half-Blood, where they found forms to fill out so the camp director, Mr. D. (aka Dionysus) would know who was staying at camp year-round. Tony and Percy chose to return home and Percy got to go to a new school and get rid of his smelly stepfather, Gabe Ugliano. Tony lived a very different life after that as well. He had a new sword from Chiron that he frequently used to battle the mythological monsters and other creatures that came into his life, while balancing time with his non-demigod friends, school, and camp too. He made a name for himself as a hero and left behind a legacy that would last a lifetime.