❛007❜

PACKING WAS A  struggle. ivy's siblings insisted that she had to pack seven different outfits; it took her thirty minutes to convince them that it wasn't necessary for a quest. at the end, she ended taking her pin-filled backpack and filled it with two camp shirts (she wasn't going to ruin her clothes on a quest,) a pair of jeans, two changes of underwear, an ipod with headphones, the general necessary hygiene products, and of course her golden knife. the daughter of aphrodite switched the shorts she had been wearing with black jeans, keeping tobias's bowie shirt, and added an oversized bomber jacket. the jacket was of the high school jock type, the color of the sleeves was a vintage beige while the rest was black.

the camp store loaned the questers one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. these coins were as big as cookies and had images of various greek gods stamped on one side and the empire state building on the other. the ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, chiron told them, but olympians never used less than pure gold. the coins always became useful in non-mortal transactions. he gave each of them a flask of nectar and an airtight bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt. it would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. too much of it would make a half-blood extremely feverish. an overdose would burn them up from the inside out.

annabeth was bringing her magic yankees cap, which she got as a thirteenth-birthday present from her mom. she carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in ancient greek, to read when she got bored, and her celestial bronze, hidden in the shirt sleeve of her camp shirt.

grover wore his fake feet and his trousers to pass as human. he wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. his bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. in his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: mozart's piano concerto no. 12 and hilary duff's "so yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.

percy was traveling light, since he didn't have many possessions at camp. so he just packed clothes, a toothbrush, and that type of stuff. ivy was silently worried because percy still didn't have a weapon, but she figured chiron would fix something up for him.

ivy hugged all her siblings and friends goodbye, some tears were shed but she promised she'll try her best to come back. waving goodbye to the other campers, and taking one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean and the big house, then hiked up half-blood hill to the tall pine tree that used to be thalia, daughter of zeus.

chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. next to him stood argus. today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck were visible.

"this is argus," chiron told percy. "he will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

footsteps could be heard from behind them.

luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"hey!" he panted. "glad i caught you."

annabeth blushed, the way she always did when luke was around. ivy had to hide a snicker behind her hand.

"just wanted to say good luck," luke told the son of poseidon. "and i thought...um, maybe you could use these."

he handed the sneakers to percy, which looked pretty normal. they even smelled kind of normal. ivy was glad she wouldn't have to throw smelly shoes out of the moving car.

luke said, "maia!"

white bird's wing sprouted out of the heels, starling percy so much, he dropped them. the shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared. ivy had forgotten those shoes existed.

"awesome!" grover said.

luke smiled. "those served me well when i was on my quest. gift from dad. of course, i don't use them much these day..." his expression turned sad.

percy looked startled at his gestures, the tips of his ears turned red. ivy had thought luke might resent percy for getting so much attention the past few days. the son of hermes had always been the camp's golden boy, and in true golden boy nature, he was being selfless and giving away what had once been precious to him.

"hey, man," percy said. "thanks."

"listen, percy..." luke looked uncomfortable. "a lot of hopes are riding on you. so just... fuck up some monsters for me, okay?"

the two boys shook hands. luke patted grover's head between his horns, shared a brief hug with ivy, and then gave a goodbye hug to annabeth, who looked like the oxygen had been cut off from her lungs.

after luke was gone, ivy told annabeth, "you're hyperventilating, remember the breathing exercises we were practicing?"

"shut up"

percy squinted his eyes at her, "you let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"

"fuck you, guys. why do i want to go anywhere with you two?"

she stomped down the other side of the hill, where mr d's white suv waited on the shoulder of the road. argus followed, jingling his car keys.

ivy looked at the flying shoes while percy picked them up. she realized he probably won't be able to use them as a son of poseidon. he turned to chiron, "i won't be able to use them, will i?

the centaur shook his head. "luke meant well, percy. but taking to the air... that would not be wise for you.

percy nodded disappointedly, then his head snapped up. "hey, grover. you want a magic item?"

his eyes lit up. "me?"

"yes, you," ivy told him a small grin. "you can be the first flying goat boy."

pretty soon the sneakers had been laced over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.

"maia!" he shouted.

he got off the ground steadily, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. the winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.

"practice," chiron called after him. "you just need practice!"

"those things should require a license," ivy mumbled.

"aaaa!" grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading towards the van.

before either of the two demigods could follow, chiron caught them by their shoulders. "i should have trained you better, percy," he said. "and ivy, your powers have a lot more to develop. if only i had more time. hercules, jason– they all got more training."

"that's okay," percy said for the both of them. "i just wish–" he stopped himself. ivy would've questioned him if she wasn't so caught up in chiron's words.

unlike percy, she has been training since she was seven. ivy had never believed she needed more. she was amazing with her knife, a perfect shot with a bow and arrow, and she did well in about every activity at camp. then there's the thing about her powers, she just has charmspeak. albeit, her charmspeak was the strongest out of her siblings and at first she unintentionally used it on everyone around her. but she learned to control it years ago.

"what am i thinking," chiron cried, snapping her out of her train of thought. "i can't let you get away without this."

he pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to percy. it was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. probably cost thirty cents.

"gee," percy said unimpressed. "thanks."

"percy, that's a gift from your father. i've kept it for years, not knowing you were who i was waiting for. but the prophecy is clear to me now. you are the one."

ivy eyes widened, if chiron truly believed percy was the one from the great prophecy... it scared her. because it meant the probable end of the world was approaching.

percy took off the cap, and the pen grew longer in his hand. in half a second, he held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

"the sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," chiron said. "its name is anaklusmos."

"riptide," percy sounded surprised at his quick translation.

ivy raised an eyebrow, "looks like the ancient greek lessons actually stuck."

"use it only for emergencies," chiron interjected when he saw percy wanted to object at ivy's comment, "and only against monsters. no hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."

the wickedly sharp blade glinted in the sun.

"what do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? how could it not?" percy asked.

"the sword is celestial bronze. forged by the cyclopes, tempered in the heart of mount etna, cooled in the river lethe. it's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the underworld, provided they don't kill you first. but the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. they simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. and i should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. you are twice as vulnerable," the centaur explained

"good to know," the son of poseidon said. "what about ivy's knife? that isn't celestial bronze."

"my knife is made out of imperial gold. it's like celestial bronze but..." she looked for the right words to describe it, "a more expensive and rare version."

"of course you'd get the rare option."

"sorry to be on a superior level than you, jackson. your head looks deformed from above, by the way."

chiron sighed tiredly at them, "percy, try recapping the pen."

he touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. ivy wondered how long it'll take him to lose it. at school, percy was the type of guy to never have a pen on him.

"you can't," chiron said.

"can't what?"

"lose the pen," he said. "it is enchanted. it will always reappear in your pockets. try it."

percy looked wary.

"my knife's the same," ivy told him. "look."

she took the golden guitar pick and threw it as far as she could. it get down the hill and it disappeared in the grass. ivy motioned percy to mimic her. he did, throwing the pen in the same manner.

"it takes a few moments," she told him. ivy felt the almost nonexistent weight of the guitar pick in her pocket. "now check your pockets."

percy slipped his hand in his pocket, sure enough taking out the pen.

"okat, that's fu– uh really cool," he admitted, ivy stifled a laugh at the way he almost cursed in front of chiron. "but what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"

chiron smiled. "mist is a powerful thing, percy."

"mist?"

"yes. read the iliad. it's full of references to the stuff. whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate mist, which obscures the vision of humans. you will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."

ivy saw percy put riptide back into his pocket.

for the first time, the quest felt real. they were actually leaving half-blood hill. heading west with no adult supervision, no back up plan, and missing the luxury of cell phones. (ivy always found it terribly unfair for cell phones to be traceable by monsters, demigods really couldn't have anything good.) they were just three thirteen year olds and one satyr who were put in charge of stopping a civil war by reaching the land of the dead.

"chiron..." percy said. "when you say the gods are immortal... i mean, there was a time before them, right?"

"four ages before them, actually. the time of the titans was the fourth age, sometimes called the golden age, which is definitely a misnomer. this, the time of western civilization and the rule of zeus, is the fifth age."

"so what was it like... before the gods?"

chiron pursed his lips. "even i am not old enough to remember that, child, but i know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. kronos, the lord of the titans, called his reign the golden age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. but that was mere propaganda. the titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. it was only in the early reign of lord zeus, when prometheus the good titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then prometheus was branded a radical thinker. zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and western civilization was born."

"but the gods can't die now, right? i mean, as long as western civilization is alive, they're alive. so... even if i failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?" percy asked.

ivy too was worried about what may happen if they failed.

chiron gave him a melancholy smile. "no one knows how long the age of the west will last, percy. the gods are immortal, yes. but then, so were the titans. they still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. may the fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. all we can do, child, is follow our destiny."

"our destiny... assuming we know what that is."

"relax," chiron told percy. "keep a clear head. and remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."

"i'm relaxed," percy said, totally freaking the fuck out.

ivy grabbed his upper arm, he turned towards her in complete disbelief that she was willingly touching him.

"relax," she told him, slipping charmspeak in her words.

the tenseness on his shoulders lessened, and the usual brood on his face decreased immensely. after a few seconds, his eyes widened in realization. he took a step back away from ivy.

"what– how did you do that?!" percy blinked rapidly.

she smirked, jogging to the bottom of the hill, the son of poseidon hot on her heels. "what? you thought we children of aphrodite are just there to look pretty?"

"that doesn't answer my question!"

when they got to the bottom of the hill, ivy looked back. under the pine tree that used to be thalia, daughter of zeus, chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.

"it's charmspeak," she said. "a power some children of aphrodite have."

percy scratched his temple, "and...you've always had it?"

"pretty much, yes," ivy walked toward the white suv.

"wait so how many times have you used it on me?!"

ivy shrugged innocently, "that's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

percy looked like someone just slapped him in the face.

argus drove the three demigods out of the countryside and into western long island. it always felt weird to be in the mortal world after spending time at camp, annabeth was sitting upfront and grover in between ivy and percy as if they were normal carpoolers. two weeks into the summer session at half-blood hill, and the real world seemed like a fantasy. ivy found herself staring at every mcdonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and of course the shopping mall.

"so far so good," percy clasped his hands together on his lap. "ten miles and not a single monster."

annabeth turned on her seat to give him an irritated look. "it's bad luck to talk that way, genius."

"i know ivy has her own...reasons that made her hate me. but remind me again, owl head– why do you hate me so much?"

"i don't hate you."

"could've fooled me."

ivy decided that for once, she shouldn't be the one insulting percy. annabeth folded her cap of invisibility. "look... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? our parents are rivals.

"why?" percy asked.

the daughter of athena sighed. "how many reasons do you want? one time my mom caught poseidon with his girlfriend in athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. another time, athena and poseidon competed to be the patron god of the city of athens. your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. my mom created the olive tree. the people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"they must really like olives," the son of poseidon responded.

"oh, forget it."

"now, if she'd invented pizza– that i could understand."

"for fuck's sake, i should've listen to ivy when she said you were annoying."

the brunette raised an eyebrow at her best friend through the rearview mirror, annabeth gave her a lot of defeat. she wouldn't have called percy annoying if he wasn't.

percy turned to glare at the daughter of aphrodite, "you said i was annoying?"

"i did, and you're confirming my statement," ivy folded her arms together triumphantly.

"you don't have any room to speak about being annoying."

"please, perseus, i am–"

grover held up his hands in a time out motion. "stop it! i'll like to get my drive through the city in peace."

the two demigods glared at each other, but stayed silent throughout the rest of the ride. argus dropped them off at the greyhound station on the upper east side. the head of security unloaded their bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.

the rain kept coming down.

the four campers got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some hacky sack with one of grover's apples. annabeth was unbelievable. she could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. percy wasn't too bad. ivy was almost as good as annabeth.

the game ende when percy tossed the apple towards grover and it got too close to his mouth. in one mega goat bite, our hacky sack disappeared– core, stem, and all

grover blushed. he tried to apologize, but the three demigods were too busy laughing their asses off.

finally the bus came. as they stood in line to board, grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled some tasty enchiladas.

"what is it?' percy asked.

"i don't know," he said tensely. "maybe it's nothing."

but ivy could tell it wasn't nothing. she started looking at everyone as if they were monsters.

she was slightly relieved when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. we stowed our backpacks. annabeth kept slapping her yankees cap nervously against her thigh. ivy tugged at the ends of her hair, she really needed to get rid of that habit.

as the last passengers got on, ivy noticed someone that made her blood run cold. she clamped her hand onto percy's knee. "jackson."

an old lady had just boarded the bus. she wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. when she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered.

it was mrs dodds. older, more withered, but definitely the same evilly ugly face.

percy scrunched down on their seats.

behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. otherwise they looked exactly like mrs dodds– same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. triplet demon grandmothers.

they sat in the front row, right behind the driver. the two on the aisle cross their legs over the walkway, making an x. it was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

the bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of manhattan. "she didn't stay dead long," percy said, "i thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

"that only happens to lucky people," ivy said. "It's obvious that you're not."

"all three of them," grover whimpered. "di immortales!"

"it's okay," annabeth said, the gears on her brain were turning. "the furies. the three worst monsters from the underworld. no problem. no fucking problem. we'll just slip out the windows."

"they don't open," grover moaned.

"a back exit?" ivy suggested.

there wasn't one. even if the had been, it wouldn't have helped. by that time, they were on ninth avenue, heading for the lincoln tunnel.

"they won't attack us with witnesses around," percy said. "will they?"

"mortals don't have good eyes," annabeth reminded him. "their brains can only process what they see through the mist."

"they'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"

ivy pursed her lips. "what they'll see if a distorted version of a murder, so we can't count on mortals for help."

"maybe there's an emergency exit on the roof...?" annabeth trailed off.

they hit the lincoln tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. it was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

mrs dodds got up. in a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "i need to use the restroom."

"so do i," said the second sister.

"so do i," said the third sister.

they all started coming down the aisle.

"i've got it," annabeth said. "percy take my hat."

"what?"

ivy was starting to catch on to her best friend's train of thought.

"you're the one they want," annabeth continued. "turn invisible and go up the aisle. let them pass you. maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"but you guys–"

"we stand a chance of going unnoticed," ivy said. "you're a son of one of the big three. your smell might be overpowering."

"i can't just leave you."

"don't worry about us," grover said. "go!"

ivy grabbed the yankees cap and shoved it on percy's head. he disappeared from sight. she could feel percy go past her, his shoulder brushing hers like a feather. and then it was gone.

breathing unsteadily, ivy watched as the furies made their way down the aisle. she took out her guitar pick out of her pocket, gripping it in her hand. finding comfort in it, but also ready to take out her knife at any moment.

mrs dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked into an empty seat about ten rows ahead of where they were. then, she and her sisters kept going.

they were almost through the lincoln tunnel now. but just as ivy thought they might get out of here alive. the old ladies were not old ladies anymore. their faces were still the same– they couldn't get any uglier –but their bodies had shrivelled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. their handbags had turned into fiery whips.

the furies surrounded grover, annabeth and ivy. they lashed their whips, hissing: "where is it? where?"

the other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. they saw something, even if they just were horrified by three ugly bitches.

"he's not here!" annabeth yelled. "he's gone!"

the furies raised the whips.

ivy unsheathed her golden knife. annabeth drew her own bronze one. grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.

a furie approached ivy, she prepared herself to send her to tartarus. then the just jerked to the left. everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, the three furies smashed against the windows. the daughter of aphrodite managed to cling to a seat like a koala, avoiding getting hurt.

"hey!" the driver yelled. "hey– woah!"

the driver was wrestling for the wheel with an invisible force. ivy immediately it was percy. the bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them.

they careened out of the lincoln tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars ploughed aside like bowling pins.

somehow the driver found an exit. they shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barrelling down one of those new jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from new york. there were woods the their left, the hudson river to their right and the driver seemed to be veering towards the river.

the bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet tar and crashed into the trees, the emergency light came on. the door flew open. the bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him.

the furies regained their balance. they lashed their whips at the two girls, annabeth waved her knife and yelled curses in ancient greek. ivy used her charmspeak to get them to leave, but as they were debatably the worst monsters ever, it only made them pause for a second before they got their senses back. grover threw tin cans.

the air shimmered behind them, percy appeared in front of the bus. "hey!"

the furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at him, ivy cursed percy for not leaving when he could. mrs dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver a F- math test. every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.

her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled towards percy like huge nasty lizards.

"perseus jackson," mrs dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere further south than georgia. "you have offended the gods. you shall die."

"i liked you better as a maths teacher," he told her.

she growled. the brunette bit her tongue to not yell at percy that right now wasn't the time to bait her.

ivy, annabeth, and grover moved up behind the furies cautiously, looking for an opening to attack or escape.

percy took the pen out of his pocket. riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.

the furies hesitated.

"submit now," mrs dodds hissed. "and you will not suffer eternal torment."

"nice try," percy said.

mrs dodds made an almost unseen move, but ivy caught it. she was getting ready to pounce. "jackson, look out!"

the fury lashed her whip around his sword hand while the other furies on the either side lunged at percy.

managing to not drop his sword, he struck the fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backwards into a seat. he turned and sliced the fury on the right. as soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. annabeth got mrs dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backwards while grover ripped the whip out of her hands.

"ow!" he yelled. "ow! hot! hot!"

the fury percy had hilt-slammed cam at him again, but he was focusing on mrs dodds. ivy blocked percy from her view, the fury came at her, talons and whip ready. she flicked her whip around ivy's left upper arm. it burned through her bomber jacket, reaching her skin, that burned at the contact. then she got an idea. probably painful, but an idea.

ignoring the pain, ivy wrapped her arm around the whip. pulling it towards her with all of the strength she could muster through the unbearable pain. the fury was yacked closer to her, ivy took her opportunity and stabbed her right in the chest. she exploded like a piñata full of firecrackers.

mrs dodds was trying to get annabeth off her back. she kicked, crawled, hissed and bit, but annabeth held on while grover got mrs dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. finally they both shoved her backwards into the aisle. mrs dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "hades will have your soul!"

"braccas meas vescimini!" percy yelled.

the latin lessons ivy has given to percy seemed to be working, even if the insult was as bad as "eat my pants!"

thunder shook the bus. the hair rose on the back on her neck.

"get out!" annabeth yelled. "now!"

they rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "we're going to die!" a hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped a photograph before percy could recap his sword.

"our bags!" ivy realized. no, no, no. she couldn't lose her backpack, and the notebook was in there, too. "we left our–"

booooom!

the windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. lighting shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told her mrs dodds was not yet dead.

"run!" annabeth said. "she's calling for reinforcement!

"but my bag–" ivy felt tears threatening to spill from her blue eyes.

"i know! but we have to get out of here!"

they plunged into the wood as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, her heart heavy as she left the last two pieces of her dad behind and nothing but darkness ahead.

a speaks!

i'm kinda proud with what i did when ivy fought the fury. bad bitch shit.

thoughts???