Chapter 35
The sky was the purest blue ever seen, not a cloud was visible from horizon to horizon, while the sun hung overhead, throwing its rays down to the world below.
The sea was calm, gentle, friendly waves playing a game of chase over the surface of the water. Not a gust of wind disturbed them in their play.
A nineteenth-century frigate sat gently rocking on those waves. Its sails were stowed, its gunports were closed, and it looked, for all intents and purposes, like it didn't have a care in the world as it sat on the gentle waves in the middle of the ocean.
On the main deck, five young people stood, leaning on the railing, looking out over the vast ocean. All four were dressed in 19th century British Naval uniforms, complete with epaulets and those strange hats nobody knew the name of.
"Harry, you certainly have the luck of the Tyche," the first of Apollo's twins said.
The second twin nodded. "This place is brilliant. I can't believe it can create ships at sea."
"Or the uniforms," Annabeth said, studying hers. "I think these are completely period-correct, too."
Silena twitched a bit. "They suddenly have the feel of old-timey clothes," she said, causing the other four to stare at her, not sure whether she was joking or not. "I'm joking, I'm joking! This is brilliant!" she backpedalled quickly with a huge grin.
"The gods outdid themselves," Harry agreed with a nod, ignoring the Daughter of Aphrodite's comment on the clothes. So they were a bit rougher than modern clothes, he didn't care. 19th century sailing vessels required 19th century uniforms in his opinion.
"About the only complaint I have is about the choice of captain," the first twin, whether he be Jack or Jim, said.
"It's my simulator, therefore it's my ship," Harry said, sticking his nose in the air and pretending to be arrogance incarnate. "Those that disagree can earn themselves a flogging."
Annabeth and Silena giggled at the playful arrogance. The twin, however, pouted. "You just want to spin the big wheel and make 'vroom vroom' noises."
Harry laughed for a moment. "Of course not!" he protested, playing at being offended to the depth of his being. "This is a sailing vessel. I want to spin the steering wheel and make whooshing noises."
Laughter bubbled up from his friends. "Seriously, though," he went on, "there's only five of us. We can't sail with only five of us, so anytime anyone wants a turn spinning the wheel and making whooshing noises, feel free."
They all laughed again. It felt good to be carefree, especially when one could be carefree on a sailing vessel gently rocking on top of a totally calm sea.
They watched in silence for a few minutes, each lost in thought.
"Do we try setting a sail anyway?" Annabeth asked. "It'd be a shame to be on a sailing ship and not at least try."
Harry shrugged. "I'm game if everyone else is."
Silena snickered. "Well, the Captain has spoken, crew. Set the mainsails!"
Apollo's twins stared at the complicated mess of ropes, pulleys, sails, and masts that adorned the three-mast frigate. "Ehm… which one is the mainsail?" Jack – or Jim – asked. "And how do we set it?" his brother asked.
"You didn't do the reading?" Annabeth asked, sounding incredibly disappointed in them. Despite being years their junior, the two twins looked properly apologetic.
Harry kept quiet; he'd spent 6 hours yesterday trying to memorize the various terms and while he could confidently explain what a mainsail was, he was very glad Silena hadn't come up with anything more exotic than that.
Annabeth, meanwhile, being the Daughter of Athena, had probably taken to studying naval terms like she took to learning anything else that caught her interest, and pointed to the main mast. "The largest mast, the one in the middle, is called the mainmast, and the mainsail is attached to the mainmast. It's spread by using the mainyard," she explained, her finger pointing to the various sections of the vessel.
"Oh," the first twin said. "Gotcha. That seems logical."
Nobody moved.
"So – who's going to set the sail?" the second twin asked.
Harry rubbed his chin, trying to appear as if he were thinking deeply. "Usually, there'd be a crew to do it, since we're all officers."
Annabeth nodded. "We could demote the twins to crewmen," she offered.
"HEY!" the twins complained at the same time.
The Daughter of Athena giggled at their reactions, triggering Harry and Silena into laughing, which caused the twins to laugh, too – even if it was a bit sour.
"I still think we should have our two Lieutenants do it," Silena said after they were done laughing.
The twins gave her a dirty look. "Why us?" The first twin asked. "Just because we have the lowest rank, Miss Lieutenant-Commander?"
"Not our fault you showed up late to the planning session so the good ranks were already taken," Annabeth said, pretending to be serious.
"But honestly," Silena picked up, "it's because you're the oldest and strongest of us, and those sails look too heavy for us weak little children while you two are big and strong."
The twins frowned at the blatant attempt at flattery, but then sighed. "Fine, we'll have a go," the second twin said. "If someone can explain what we need to do again?"
They made the puppy-dog eyes at Annabeth, who snorted. "Making your Second in Command teach you basic sailing," she said, shaking her head, pretending to be incredibly disappointed in them. She giggled, unable to keep a stragiht face, which triggered them all into laughing again.
"You need to climb up to that yardarm-" she started to say, pointing to the yardarm in question, before abruptly stopping, her gaze locked beyond the ship's rigging, to the ocean behind.
The others, curious, followed her gaze, only to find a man casually strolling toward them.
Strolling toward them on top of the waves.
"Hey, that's Mister Poseidon!" Harry shouted excitedly, causing the four other demigods to pale. The attention of major gods was never a good thing, in their opinion.
Harry raced to the front of the ship – the 'bow', he reminded himself – and waved to the God of the Sea. "Hi Mister Poseidon!" he shouted down to the visitor.
"Hello, Harry," the Olympian said back, his voice somehow carrying despite him not shouting. "Permission to come aboard?" he asked, tone joking.
Harry laughed. "Permission granted," he said officiously, while waving the god up and bursting into laughter.
If Harry expected Poseidon to leap up, he was mistaking. Instead, a tendril of water seemed to casually lift the god up and deposit him gently on the deck.
"Hi, Mister Poseidon!" Harry greeted again, before giving the God of the Seas a quick hug. A quick one, because he didn't know Poseidon all that well and he knew from talks with Artie and Miss Zoë that not everyone liked hugging, but still a hug because he didn't want Poseidon to think he'd forgotten about him.
The Lord of the Seas just grinned and managed to return the quick hug, before patting harry's shoulder and speaking. "I was wondering why there suddenly was a new ocean popping up in my awareness," Poseidon said. "An empty ocean at that, devoid of any kind of life or land, and having only one old-time sailing vessel on top of it."
Harry grinned widely. "It's a simulator!" he explained excitedly. "Miss Athena, Hermes, and Mister Hephaestus built it. Isn't it awesome?"
Poseidon nodded. "It's definitely impressive work," he admitted.
Harry's grin threatened to hurt his cheeks so he turned to look where everyone else was. His four demigod friends seemed to be rooted to the deck, right where they had been, looking both surprised and fearful in equal measure.
Harry waved them over. "Hey everyone! Come say hello to Mister Poseidon! He's awesome, I promise!"
Poseidon puffed up his chest. Yes, he was definitely awesome, that was for sure.
Hesitatingly, the quartet shuffled in the direction of Harry and the Sea-God.
"Hello, Lord Poseidon," Annabeth said,being the first to find her voice in the presence of one of the major gods.
"This is Annabeth, she's a daughter of Miss Athena," Harry introduced. "She's scary smart."
Poseidon grinned at the sight of Annabeth squaring her shoulders and lifting her head. "Greetings, Annabeth," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"T-thank you, Lord Poseidon. It's an honor to meet you as well," she managed with hardly a shake in her voice. Harry smiled at her, in that annoying 'see-I-told-you-he-is-awesome' kind of way.
"Good morning, Lord Poseidon," both of Apollo's twins said, simultaneously, somehow finding their voice after being outdone by a 10-year-old girl. "It is an honor to meet you."
Annabeth gave them a chiding look, as if berating them for cribbing her words.
"Those are Jack and Jim," Harry told the Lord of the Sea. "They keep switching places so nobody can tell them apart, so we just call them 'guys'. It ruins their fun."
The two twins didn't know whether to blush, or glare, so ended up doing both. Poseidon burst into harty laughter. "Jack," he said to the first twin. "Jim," he said to the second. "It's a pleasure meet you."
"How did-" Jack managed before clamping his mouth shut.
"God of the Seas, boys. And this is a sea-going vessel on top of one," Poseidon replied with a grin.
"That's cheating," Jim muttered, before slapping a hand in front of his mouth, and looking like a deer faced with a mountain of headlights.
The other demigods stared at him with disbelief, as they couldn't believe he ahd just mouthed of to one of the major gods.
Luckily, Poseidon didn't seem to take it as an insult, and laughed instead. "Being a god has its advantages," he added, still chuckling.
Silena, who had been quietly standing in the background, seemed to hesitate for a moment. Harry grinned, grabbed her arm, and pulled her forward. "And this is Silena, Daughter of Aphrodite," he introduced her to Poseidon. "She's awesome with Pegasi!"
Silena sent him a bit of a grateful look that his description of her revolved around one of Poseidon's animals, rather than her physical appearance. "Hello, Lord Poseidon," she said, making a perfect curtsy. "It is an honor to meet you."
Poseidon grinned wider at the sight of Harry's introduction of Silena and his grabbing of her arm. "And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Silena," the jovial god replied. He straightened up and looked about the ship. "As I said, this new ocean, with a solitary ship, popped up in my awareness, so I had to investigate. It's a mighty fine vessel, I have to admit. Although I am curious as to why you chose this design."
Two twins, and two demigoddesses, stared at Harry. The boy grinned widely. "Well, I wanted to invite my friends to a relaxing day on a ship. Because a ship, rocking on the waves, is about as relaxing as I can think of."
Poseidon nodded, as God of the Sea he fully agreed to that statement. "So then, of course, I wanted a sailing vessel, because ships with engines make noise and ships with sails don't."
The god nodded again. "I fully agree. They don't pollute my oceans, either."
Harry nodded, grin widening. "Now, there were plenty of sailing vessels in history, but I thought, and they all agreed," she stated with emphasis, staring at his friends, before going back to Poseidon, "that we wanted something that wasn't really that much out of date, you know?"
The Sea-God nodded again, confirming that he was listening. "So, in the end, we narrowed it down. It was either a ship like this, or a clipper ship."
"Clippers were quite fast, for mortal vessels," Poseidon said.
Harry nodded. "I know. But a clipper looks like it's going fast even when sitting still, and it seems like a shame to have a clipper and have it sit still in the middle of an ocean because you're just looking for a place to relax and don't know how to sail. On the other hand, this frigate looks like it sailed right out of a pirate movie, so that's what we settled on."
Poseidon rubbed his chin. "Excellent points," he said, nodding in agreement. "Now, one further question."
"Sure, Mister Poseidon!" Harry said, excitedly; he was just plain happy that Poseidon agreed with their choice; as God of the Sea, he would know best!
"Why call it 'entrepreneurship'?"
Harry grinned and motioned to Annabeth. "Annabeth won the rock-paper-scissors contest and decided that calling a ship 'Enterprise' was a cliché."
The Daughter of Athena blushed as Poseidon glanced in her direction. "They were under the impression that their rocks, papers, or scissors, would beat my gun," she replied.
Poseidon blinked. "Isn't that cheating?" he asked.
Annabeth shook her head. "I quoted legal precedent of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock to show that new symbols and items can be added to the game," she said, before blushing, then paling, as she realizes she was mouthing off to a god who didn't really have any reason to like her, considering his adversarial relationship with her mother.
"Yes, but the game was rock paper scissors, that would indicate that it was just rock, paper, or scissors," Poseidon said, still rubbing his chin, obviously trying to determine whether he liked this development or not.
Annabeth nodded. "When the others pointed that out, I explained that, while verbal agreements are binding, writing ones will supersede them, and that, under the agreed Terms and Conditions, they could have requested a written copy of the rules at any time before the contest, wherein they would find, in section 2, that the legally allowed signs were rock, paper, scissors, and gun."
"It sounds like you bamboozled your friends," Poseidon said, half as statement and half as question. It sounded dishonest, and he didn't like it.
"Ehm..." Annabeth squeaked, as if suddenly realizing who she was being mouthy with. Harry's attitude was infectious, and now she'd mouthed off to the Lord of the Seas!
"Annabeth?" Harry asked, not liking how pale she was. Shuffling closer to her, he asked, "are you alright?"
She shook her head, then leaned closer to him, to be able to whisper. "Lord Poseidon and my mother don't get along. At all."
"Don't worry, Annabeth," Poseidon said, having overheard despite her whispering. God of the Seas. If he wanted to know something that happened on an ocean, then he would know what happened on said ocean; especially if said ocean was completely empty and there was nothing to distract him or drown out the sound. "I may not get along with your mother, but I am not in the habit of taking that out on her children." He didn't, as a rule, either. Of course, individual demigods that upset hi were fair game, so she was still right to be worried.
Harry grinned at his friend. "I told you he was awesome," he whispered to her. Poseidon diplomatically acted as if he hadn't heard that. Even if he did puff up his chest a little.
Nonetheless, the Sea-God turned to Annabeth once more. "I am not sure I like this action, however. It was rather dishonest of you."
Harry grinned. "Oh, we know, Mister Poseidon, but it's okay, really," he said, stepping up for his friend. "We all realized Annabeth was cheating," he ignored the squawk from the Daughter of Athena, "but we all decided that, if it was that important to her, we'd let her name the ship. Besides, it was just the one time. Once is a good joke, but more than that would make it annoying, you know?"
Poseidon gave a slow nod, then glanced at Annabeth, who looked both really grateful for the save, and enlightened at Harry's statement. Since it appeared that the others, and more specifically Harry, didn't mind, and that the demigoddess wouldn't be repeating the trick, Poseidon decided to let it go.
"Very well, then," the God of the Sea said. "Since that appears to have been talked out beforehand, I'll let it go." His mood changed as quickly as the wind at sea sometimes did, and he grinned widely, surveying the ship once more. The god felt happy that there were still young people interested in sailing vessels. "How about some sailing lessons? You said you didn't know how to sail, and it would be a shame to let a fine ship such as this go to waste," the god offered with a smile.
Harry jumped. "That would be totally awesome!"
0000
"That was fun!" Harry said as he and his four friends walked out of the fire at Camp Half-Blood. The quartet nodded enthusiastically.
"Harry, I've said it before, and I'll say it again," one of the twins said, seriously. "You have the oddest life."
Harry grinned. "Blame my mom, she's the Goddess of Fortune, so it's her fault I have strange luck."
They all laughed, yet nobody took him up on the offer. "Honestly, though," the second twin continued, "getting sailing lessons from the Lord of the Sea because he just so happened to take a look when we're on a simulated ship? You literally have the luck of the gods, man."
The young Son of Tyche grinned. "Mom again," he replied.
They all have another laugh.
"Say, it almost the end of August and we won't have as much time," Harry said after they all finished laughing.
"O-oh," Annabeth interjected, on a serious tone.
Harry blinked at her. "What do you mean, 'o-oh'?" he asked, surprised.
"Last year a similar statement got us enrolled in a quest in Rome," the Daughter of Athena answered succinctly.
Harry nodded along with the others. "Yeah, that was fun, wasn't it?"
Silena giggled, and the two twins chuckled, but Annabeth looked fierce. "Fun?" she asked, raising her voice. "FUN!? It was a quest which killed gods know how many of my brothers and sisters! And there were spiders! Lots of them!"
Harry nodded consolingly, then glanced at the huge statue of the Athena Parthenos, still safeguarding the camp. "And we found your mom's statue, and brought it back to camp," he said. "And nobody got hurt."
"Other than you!" she shouted.
Harry shrugged. "I know better now. I wish Hestia had told me that beforehand, I could have found a different way of getting the statue back to camp."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Name one," she challenged.
The young boy shrugged. "I could have stuck a shipping label on it and prayed for the Hermes Express. It would have cost me some gold, Hermes Express isn't cheap, but thanks to the regular maths parties, I'd basically be paying Hermes with money I won off of him, so it wouldn't really matter."
Annabeth cross her arms and grumped at him having an answer ready for her.
"Anyway," Harry went on, "I thought about taking a trip to Central America. Anyone up to coming with me?"
The four demigods stared at each other, each waiting on someone else to speak first.
"Ehm… why Central America?" Annabeth asked.
Harry's smile widened. "Maya's!" he said, excitedly. "They built large pyramids, and I'd love to go see one!"
His four friends fell silent again, once more staring at each other, all waiting on someone else to speak up.
"Ehm… you're aware that the Mayan gods were really bloodthirsty, right?" Annabeth ventured.
Harry nodded, then shrugged. "I doubt that they're still worshipped in the same way, so even if those gods haven't faded, they either won't have the strength to do anything, or they'll have changed considerably."
They all stared at him. Uncomfortably, Harry shuffled from right to left and from left to right. "Ehm..." he said. "It's kind of like Mister Poseidon? People used to see the ocean as something dangerous. I mean, it gave them food, but people back then feared the storms and the ocean and many people drowned because of their primitive boats. So people worshipped Mister Poseidon like an angry, vengeful deity – so of course, he was."
His four friends kept staring at him, and feeling emboldened by the fact that they wern't interrupting him, Harry went on. "These days, the sea is seen as an ideal vacation spot, something beautiful and relaxing, a plce for a swim, to surf, or for a relaxing fishing trip. So Mister Poseidon these days is a lot more relaxed and friendly."
The others nodded slowly, as if things suddenly made sense. "Hence Lord Poseidon wearing beach shorts and a Hawaiian shirt," Annabeth said.
"Exactly," Harry confirmed. "I figure it's the same with the Mayan gods. If they're still around, they will likely be very different considering they're not being worshipped like they were back then. I mean, how many blood sacrifices have you heard of lately?"
The foursome stared at each other. "I hate to say it, but he's making sense," one of the twins said.
The others nodded. "It's a sign of the apocalypse, I say," the other twin added. "Shall we man battle stations and supply the bunkers?"
"Very funny," Harry pouted at him. "You're uninvited."
The twin in question pouted back in such an outrageous fashion that they all burst out laughing.
"Seriously, though," Harry said, after they stopped snickering. "Who wants to come?"
The four camp-goers looked furtively at each other. Nobody spoke.
"Really?" Harry asked, feeling oddly hurt by their reaction. "You all suck!" he said, loudly and theatrically, trying to mask the hurt. "I should invite Clarisse, I bet she's not scared."
"Oh? Did I hear you drop my name, Newbie?" Clarisse shouted as she jogged up.
Harry grinned at her. "Hey Clarisse. And Yup. I did. I was inviting this ingrates," he motioned to the quartet of friends, "on a trip, but it seems like they're all scared. So I said I'd invite you instead."
Clarisse laughed loudly. "Not afraid of anything or anybody, newbie. Where're we going?"
Harry's grin widened. "Central America, to see Mayan Pyramids."
Clarisse's enthusiasms dimmed visibly. "Not really my cup of tea, Newbie. I suppose they're cool enough, but I'd be bored as fuck after 20 minutes."
Harry shrugged. "Considering what happened last year in Rome," he started to say, when Clarisse interrupted him.
"Oh, yeah! I heard about that! Sounds like an awesome time! Except at the end, where you let the bitch go. I mean, what a chance for a great fight, and you just talked your way out of it!? That was lame."
Harry grinned in answer. "Because I let her go, Arachne is sending me these clothes… and they're pure spider-silk. You can't get better than these."
In response, Clarisse roughyl grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked on it. The spider silk stretched but did not give, and flexed right back into shape when she released it. "I suppose I can see it," she said, half-heartedly. "Still, pass up a chance for a fight? Lame, Newbie. Really lame."
"We all have your strengths, Clarisse," Harry replied with a grin. "And we make an awesome team, as we proved during Capture the Flag."
"Damn straight!" Clarisse hollered, throwing one arm around his shoulders and roughly pulling him close. "When you do decide to fight, you're great at it!" Harry grinned, although the rough handling was a tad uncomfortable. It was probably the roughest thug he'd ever gotten, but considering this was Clarisse, Daughter of Ares, he couldn't expect better.
After she released him, Harry turned back to his friends, who seemed rather startled at how well he got along with the rough demigoddess. "Since Clarisse's not interested, and you don't want to go, maybe I should just invite other friends," he said, as if thinking deeply.
Annabeth looked shocked. "You have friends other than us?" she asked, surprised.
Harry grinned at her. "I do have friends other than you," he replied honestly. "I do have a life, you know."
Annabeth looked like she trying to study him. "Name one," she said with a smile, as if trying to call a bluff.
Harry opened his mouth to reply. "Friends that aren't gods," she said, knowing how his mind worked. Harry closed his mouth, bringing a victorious smile to Annabeth's lips. He thought for a moment, then re-opened his mouth. "Or the Lieutenant of one," Annabeth added, still grinning.
He closed his mouth again, making her smile widen even further. Harry's grin matched hers. "Luna Lovegood," he replied.
Even Clarisse looked surprised. Everyone had obviously expected someone they knew, or someone they had at least heard of.
"Who is she?" Annabeth asked, sounding slightly jealous.
"She's the girl I met while questing for the Godslayer," Harry answered. "I wouldn't have made it through the caves of Caerbannog if it weren't for her and her mother. She's great fun, like she sees the world through her own special set of decoding glasses. I bet she'd jump at the chance to go to Central America and see the Mayan Pyramids."
Clarisse hollered in laughter at the pouty look on the Daughter of Athena's face, actually sticking out her finger and pointing at the unfortunate girl as she laughed.
Chuckles rose from the twins and Silena as well; Annabeth never took it well when someone defied her expectations.
"You know what?" Silena said. "I'll go, too. I had fun in Rome, and only Harry got hurt, and that was because he hurt himself."
Harry smiled widely at her. "Great!" he said, enthusiastically. "Anyone else want to come?"
The twins shared a look, then a shrug. "Sure," they said, simultaneously. "What's the worst that could happen, anyway?" One of them said.
Even Clarisse stared at him. Even his twin stared at him. "Dude, you just jinxed us," his brother said.
Annabeth, meanwhile, pouted. "Fine, I'll go too. But I'll reserve the right to tell everyone I told them so," she said, not nearly as upset as she was pretending to be, judging from her growing smile. As harry started cheering, she was forced to interrupt. "Just one thing, though.I'm not sure Chiron would even let us go, after what happened last year."
"That's true," Silena said, nodding. "Chiron takes our safety very seriously. A bit too seriously, I reckon."
"I think it's because the gods hold him responsible for our safety, and if anything happens to us, it's him they have a word with," Annabeth explained. They nodded, that made sense.
"Maybe he'll let us borrow Billy again," Harry offered. "I wouldn't mind having him around again, even if he's a bit too nervous for adventuring. He had some great jokes."
Silena giggled. "Only you would comment about a Satyr who managed to safely bring two demigods to camp, a Satyr with enough experience to have a coat filled with secret pockets full of useful equipment, as 'a bit too nervous for adventuring'."
Harry grinned. "He really was jumpy, though. Always going on about turning back and such. We never would have retrieved Miss Athena's statue if we'd listened to him."
"And retrieving that statue is what got us into university," one of the twins said.
"Like that traitor, Louis, who we haven't seen since going to said university," Harry said, arms crossed, a pretend-scowl on his face. "How's he doing, anyway?"
"Oh, he's fine. As we will be," the second twin replied casually. "You know how it goes. Move out, be on your own, and you'd rather not return where you're stuck having a curfew and ground rules."
Harry nodded. "I know. I'm so happy that I get to live in Mister Helios' temple. Sure, it means I have to take care of myself, do all my own chores like laundry and cleaning and ironing and stuff, but at least I get to take a shower whenever I want one."
"And if it weren't for all the downsides of having to do all the grown-up stuff all the time, a lot of people here would be extremely jealous of you," Clarisse said.
Harry looked a bit shy. He didn't want people jealous of him. It was a lot of hard work, and he liked it, but he also knew that he really young for it, and if it weren't for Hestia teaching him a lot of things he didn't know, things would have ended badly for him quite soon in the whole adventure.
Blatantly changing the subject, he said, "I should contact Luna and see if she wants to come, before we make any plans."
"And we should have a chat with Chiron, too," Annabeth said. "Because I don't think he'll be happy with letting us go."
"Letting you go where, campers?" Chiron asked, clopping up. "I do believe my ears were ringing."
Harry felt like taking a step back. He disliked how adults would always ruin things. "Before we go back to school, Harry offered to take us to Central America and visit the mayan pyramids," Annabeth tattled immediately. "You know, like he took us to Rome last year."
Harry gave her a dirty look. That wasn't how he would have phrased it.
"I see," the ancient centaur said, nodding softly. Harry gave him a hopeful smile, but was already resigned to the fact that this would either turn into another discussion, or a flat out 'no'.
"And you feel this is safe, Lad?" the Trainer of Heroes asked Harry.
He looked confused; what kind of question was that? Of course it was safe, or he wouldn't have suggested it! "Yes?" he asked, wondering what the catch was. "Of course I think it's safe, I would never intentionally put my friends in danger," he added, just to explain his confusion.
"I see," Chiron replied, still studying him. The silence that followed was rather uncomfortable to those watching, as Harry and Chiron just… looked… at each other.
Finally, it was the centaur who spoke first. "Will Lady Hestia be looking out for you?" he asked.
Harry frowned again. "Of course she does," he replied, as if that were self-evident and didn't even need to be asked. Sometimes adults could ask the most ridiculous questions, he thought. "She always does. She's the best goddess ever," he added, just to make sure Chiron got the point.
Chiron nodded again, although there was a faint smile on his lips now. "In that case, I want you to make the usual promise; contact Lady Hestia the moment you think something goes wrong, and I will allow your friends to accompany you." Cheers broke out in the group. "As long as," the centaur shouted over them, to get them quiet once more, "as long as they are back by nightfall."
Harry smiled widely, that had gone better than he expected! Chiron hadn't even forced a Satyr on them this time! "Thanks, Chiron," he said, relieved, while his friends whooped and cheered.
"I know you see me as some strict authoritarian," the centaur said. "And while that may be true in some regards, it is only for the safety of my charges that I act that way. After all, the gods put their faith in me, and entrust me with the safety of their children. Should any harm come to them, it is me that they will demand answers from."
Harry nodded softly. "The gods are cool and awesome, but they can be a bit excessive sometimes," he answered.
"More than a bit, in my experience," Chiron replied, grin widening.
Harry laughed softly, nodding as he did so. "Still, thanks for letting my friends come with me, Chiron," he said, gratefully, inwardly feeling a bit bad over how he'd thought the worst of the centaur.
"You're quite welcome, Lad. Besides, if I had said 'no', you probably would have asked Lady Hestia to have another chat with me," the trainer joked.
Harry looked a bit embarrassed at that; he didn't want to take advantage of Hestia like that.
Chiron chuckled. "Never you mind, Lad," he said, patting the boy's shoulder. "Be careful, and call Lady Hestia should something happen, that's all I ask.
Harry offered the centaur another grateful look, before the Trainer of Heroes nodded at Harry's friends. "Enjoy your trip, Campers," he said, before turning and trotting off.
"Seriously, that was easier than I thought," Harry said, half to himself and half to his friends, who suddenly all seemed to want to celebrate. Except for Clarisse, who still wasn't interested in dusty old buildings in the jungle and left with a careless wave and a 'see ya'.
Harry chuckled when he saw the Daughter of Ares leave. Sometimes, she resembled her father so closely that it was just plain funny.
"So, when are we having this trip?" Annabeth asked, after they were done cheering.
Harry shrugged. "School starts again next week, so I was thinking, this weekend," he said. "I will need to check in with Luna first, though, and see if she wants to come and when she has time for it."
The quartet of campers looked at each other, and seemed to agree silently. "This weekend is good for us," the twins said. "We should probably go, though. It's our turn to clean the cabin."
"Go, go," Annabeth said, waving them off. "If you had chores, you should have already done them!"
"But then we'd miss the simulator two times in a row!" One of the twins protested with a whine.
"Have some cheese to go with that whine, and go clean your cabin!" Annabeth ordered imperiously, actually sticking out her arm and pointing strictly at Apollo's Cabin.
"Yes, Commander!" The two twins said, playfully throwing a very serviceable salute, and racing off, one twin betting the other that he could clean his side of the cabin quicker than the other.
"Gee, Annabeth, bossy much?" Silena teased.
"Those boys need it," the Daughter of Athena said, shaking her head.
Harry met Silena's eyes and they laughed. Annabeth pouted for a moment, before slowly cracking a grin, ending with laughing as well.
"Anyway, I'm going to go see Luna, and ask if wants to come," Harry said, turning to go to the fire.
Silena and Annabeth shared one look, then, as one, jumped after him. "Can we come?" Silena asked, grabbing his left arm. On his other side, Annabeth had grabbed his right.
"Yes, can we?" the Daughter of Athena asked.
Harry looked confusedly from one girl to the other, then shrugged as well as he could with them holding his arms.
"Sure?" he asked. "I mean, if Luna doesn't mind, that is," he added, thinking that it was rather impolite to invite your friends over to someone else's house without checking if it was OK first.
The two girls seemed to find that acceptable.
Harry stopped them in front of the camp's fire, then looked from one to the other. "Someone is going to have to let go of me," he suggested.
"You let go," Annabeth told Silena.
"No, you let go," the Daughter of Aphrodite replied with a giggle. Harry rolled his eyes as the two girls started a game of pretend-arguing.
"How about rock-paper-scissors?" Harry finally suggested.
Annabeth giggled, soon joined by Silena. "I want a written copy of the rules," Silena told her friend. "Now chop-chop, go get me my copy."
Annabeth pouted out her bottom lip. "I knew that was going to come back and bite me," she protested, letting go of Harry's arm.
"Freedom!" the boy cried happily, only to feel Silena give a cough and grip his arm harder. Harry looked at her as she smiled impishly at him. "Well, half-freedom," he said. "At least now I have one arm back, it's better then no arms at all," he added.
Silena giggled, then let go. "I think we've driven that joke into the ground," she commented.
Harry just nodded, then turned ot face the fire and waved his hand. "Luna Lovegood at the Rookery," he said.
The fire flashed. "Huh," he said. "That's new."
"What's new?" Annabeth asked, stepping closer and trying to discern the secrets of Fire-travel by gazing into the blaze.
"It's like… ringing? Like when you use a phone to call someone," Harry answered, still confused.
Finally, the fire turned green. "Hello?" a young girl's voice asked. "If this is a Heliopath, then you have reached the wrong connection. If you're not a Heliopath, then you've reached The Rookery."
Harry grinned, he loved Luna. Silena and Annabeth shared a look. What's a Heliopath? Silena mouthed silently to her wise friend. Annabeth shrugged and looked as lost as Silena was.
"Hi Luna, it's Harry," Harry identified himself. "I was wondering if you had some time, I wanted to ask you something."
"Harry!" Luna said, sounding quite happy at hearing him. "Sure! Come on through!"
"Ehm… I have a couple of friends with me, can I bring them over as well?" Harry asked, wanting to remain polite and not just show up with two uninvited guests.
"Oh, sure!" Luna replied on the same tone. "The more, the merrier!"
Harry grinned. "Thanks, Luna. We'll be right through."
They emerged from a fire in a perfectly circular room, which seemed to double as some kind of living room and workplace. Books were stacked artfully against one wall, and a large table was covered with various papers not far away from them; obviously a working area. The rest of the room was a semi-conventional living area, with comfortable looking furniture that sat invitingly around a fire. In the exact center of the room stood a wrought-iron spiral staircase, leading both up and down, indicating they weren't on the ground floor.
"Hi Luna!" Harry said to his wizarding friend, giving her a hug. She hugging him back effortlessly.
"Hi Harry!" she greeted enthusiastically.
As he broke the hug, he motioned to the two demigoddesses. "Luna, this is Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, and this is Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite."
Silena and Annabeth looked shocked as Harry introduced them with their godly parentage, but Luna took it completely in stride. "Pleasure to meet you both," she said, grabbing a hand of each, despite them not being offered, and pumping them enthusiastically.
Thankfully, demigods recovered quickly by necessity, and both girls actually tightened their hands into a proper handshake and shook back, despite their surprise and the fact that Silena was engaged in a left-handed handshake.
Annabeth, always up for being spokesgirl, said, "It's nice to meet you too, Luna." Silena mirrored the greetings, and Luna finally let go of their hands.
"Shall we sit?" the blond witch offered, motioning for the couches. The three demigods accepted that offer readily, and soon they were sitting in front of the fire, in a set of incredibly comfortable couches that seemed to mold themselves to the backs of the people sitting on them.
"Mommy charmed them herself," Luna explained without being asked.
"Magic?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
Luna nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, magic," she answered. "Although I've heard someone call it 'collapsing the quantum waveform into the desired configuration', but that sounds like hogwash."
Annabeth gawked at her fellow blonde, as if unable to come up with a reply. Silena giggled at the sight of her usually unflappable friend being flummoxed like that. "So, Luna," the Daughter of Aphrodite said, "you didn't seem surprised when Harry introduced us as demigods."
Luna simply nodded at the statement. After a few seconds, it became clear she wasn't going to answer, and Silena ent back to review her question – and realized it had been a statement that implied a question. Giggling softly to herself, she added, "Why is that?"
Luna smiled at Silena catching on. "Well, Harry said last time that he was on a quest for the God of War, so it's not that much of a stretch to imagine the Greek gods having children, considering their philandering in mythology."
Silena blinked. "That makes sense," she said. "You weren't surprised? And you just believed him?"
Luna shrugged. "When magic exists, everything is possible, and it wasn't as unusual a tale as I have heard before. As to believing him – Harry is my friend. Why would he lie to me?"
Harry grinned at her. This is why he loved Luna.
"It's hard to argue with that," Silena said, while looking at Annabeth. Her friend looked just as surprised.
Harry, still grinning, turned to Luna. "Luna, while these two digest the meaning of friendship," he said while ignoring the dirty looks he got from his two friends, "would you like to go on a trip?"
The blonde witch smiled. "Sure. When are we going?" she asked, as if the destination didn't matter. Then again, considering this was Luna, the destination likely didn't matter.
"Wait, you're just going to say yes? Without knowing where we're going?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
Luna shrugged. "Sure. Harry's going, and he invited me, so I know it won't be anywhere dangerous."
Harry's grin widened. He so loved it when people trusted him. "We're thinking this weekend," he replied to Luna's question. "Considering school starts again next week, I as thinking this would be an excellent time to celebrate."
Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Well, school starts for muggles, I suppose," she answered. "Magical children are home-schooled until Hogwarts starts at age 11."
It was Harry's turn to nod thoughtfully; he'd heard that name drop before, in letters from his mother. He would have to write her and get more details on the school. It sounded like it could be fun. "Muggles are non-magical people, right?" Harry asked in confirmation.
Luna nodded agreeably. "You're home-schooled?" Annabeth asked, sounding a mite jealous.
"Oh, yes," Luna said airily. "Mommy and Daddy teach me the basics of the three R's – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. All magical children are supposed to have a basic education before going to Hogwarts."
Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "Writing and Arithmetic don't start with an 'R'," she half-stated, half-whispered.
Luna nodded again. "I didn't say Mommy and Daddy are good teachers, but they try," she stated, perfectly levelly, as if this was no big deal.
Harry, on the other hand, saw a mischievous look in Luna's eyes and knew she was playing a joke on Annabeth. He looked at Silena, who grinning widely. She had caught on as well it seems.
Annabeth opened her mouth, saw the tiny smirk on the witch's lips, and noticed her friends trying to hide their snickering. "Oh, very funny," Annabeth pouted theatrically, before laughing. Which triggered the others inot laughing as well.
It felt good to laugh, and soon they were in that state where laughter would peter out… before someone caught the eyes of another and laughter would start up again.
"So," Harry said, after they had finally snickered their last snicker. "Would you be able to come this weekend?"
"Sure," Luna said immediately. "I don't have anything planned, and it sounds like it could be a lot of fun."
"You still don't want to know where we're going?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
Luna shrugged. "If someone wants to tell me, that's fine. If not, I'm sure it'll be a nice surprise. Except if it's to the North or South Pole, I suppose, because then I'd need to break out the arctic gear before leaving, and I'd rather know that in advance."
Silena giggled at the look on Annabeth's face.
"We're going to Central America, and seeing the Mayan Pyramids," Harry explained.
Luna nodded, as if she had known that all along. "That sounds like a lot of fun," she said. "I'll make sure we have bug spray. Tropical insects are a menace."
"Thanks, Luna," Harry said, gratefully.
"You're quite welcome, Harry," Luna answered honestly. She cocked her head slightly, then asked, "Why the Mayan Pyramids, though? Most people who think 'Pyramids' would think 'Egypt', not 'Mesoamerica'."
Annabeth gave the blonde a grumpy look at her choice of words. Apparently, her parents had taught her a lot more than just reading, writing, and some basic maths.
Harry shrugged. "Well, Egypt is rather touristy these days," he said. "And you can't even climb their pyramids anymore. I want to learn about them, not get my picture taken with them, you know? Besides, Miss Athena made me learn about the Maya recently and they sounded awesome, so I thought, 'why not go there and have a look', you know?"
Luna nodded again, as if simple curiosity was a perfectly valid reason to travel long distances. "That makes perfect sense."
"Can you just take off like that, though?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, don't you have to ask your parents?"
The witch suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face. "Daddy has a newspaper and works as an investigative reporter. He'd be the first to encourage me to go on a study trip," she replied. "I suppose I should let Mommy know. As I told Harry, she's a good mother but she's a bit tightly wound and would probably panic."
Silena and Annabeth shared another look. Harry, on the other hand, just nodded agreeably. He knew how that went, that's why he tried to let Hestia know when he would be gone for more than a day.
Luna stood up. "She's working in her basement lab. She warned me not to interrupt, but I suppose I could listen at the door and see how things are going," she said, calmly walking to the cast-iron staircase.
Harry suddenly was hit with a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. It had been quite some time since he had instinctively tapped into his probability senses, and the whole things blindsided him. He drew a breath – something really bad was about to happen. Was it Luna asking her mother?
Not knowing what to do, he jumped up to follow. Annabeth and Silena shared a shrug and joined them.
The entire group trouped down the staircase, to emerge into yet another perfectly circular room. This one was set up to be a kitchen, with all the cabinets built to fit the circular walls. It was also the ground floor, considering there wasa front door situated in the wall, between the cabinets.
"This is an unusual building," Annabeth, ever the architecture buff, commented.
"It's called the Rookery because it looks like the chess piece; It also makes it easy to add and subtract floors when and if you need them," Luna explained as they went down another floor.
They stopped descending when the stairs hit the basement level, but rather than emerging straight into the room, walls had been built to encase the stairs, and a door stood in their way.
Harry was hit without another feeling of misfortune. "Please be quiet," Luna advised. "Mommy works as a spell researcher, and if a new spell goes wrong, it could be very bad." Another wave of instinct washed over Harry, causing him to physically shudder.
Something was going to go wrong with Luna's mother; but he didn't know whether it was them interrupting her, or them not interrupting her? What if interrupting her was the right thing, stopping the bad thing from happening? But what if them interrupting her was the bad thing?
Held by indecision, Harry froze, unable to come to a conclusion. Luna, meanwhile, put her ear to do the door.
The feeling of impending doom hit crescendo, and suddenly Harry felt himself moving. Grabbing Luna, he shoved her at Silena and Annabeth, before diving on top of the entire group and bringing out his shield and bracers, shielding his friends with his own body.
Just as a rumbling sound started to come from behind the door, Harry pulled the shield on top of their pile-up, trying to aim it between them and the door. Next, he crossed his right arm behind his left, causing the bracers to touch and form an extended shield of energy, seemingly extending the range of his conventional shield.
Then; the door exploded. Energy, debris, shrapnel, fire, and found surrounded the group, and Harry felt like he was in the eye of a thunderstorm as his divine items shielded not only himself but also his three friends.
The storm died down nearly as quickly as it had started.
The quartet was silent for a few moments, then Harry slowly uncurled from his position on top of everyone else, and cautiously snuck a peek over his shield.
The walls surrounding the staircase were still there, but the door had disintegrated, driving shrapnel into the walls.
Except for the position they had been in, Harry's shield and bracers having protected them.
"Mommy?" Luna asked, suddenly realizing what had happened, and racing through the now no-longer-there door. Harry swallowed deeply, and raced after her. Demigods were born heroes, and both Silena and Annabeth didn't hesitate nor wonder if it were safe, and ran after them.
The workroom was destroyed, the furniture had disintegrated under the blast, and the circular basement wall was caked with soot and ash.
Pandora Lovegood was lying on the floor, not far from a completely annihilated workbench; her chin moved rhythmically, as if the woman was trying to gasp a breath; a breath that would never come as her chest had been ripped apart by the blast.
Luna, paler than Harry had ever seen a human being, stared with aghast horror at her mother.
"Luna, get a doctor!" harry shouted at her, before dropping down next to Pandora's head. When he looked up, he saw that Luna hadn't moved. "Luna!" he shouted, his magic reacting to his instincts and hitting her like a small balloon filled with water. "Doctor!"
"I'll call!" Annabeth said quickly. "Where's the phone?"
Luna blinked. "Healer. Right. Saint Mungo's," she muttered, shakily, before turning and racing up the staircase as if the very hounds of hell were nipping at her heels. Annabeth made good on her last name and chased after her.
"Harry?" Silena asked. As Daughter of Aphrodite, Silena had acute senses when it came to social interactions. She had instinctively sat down and taken the poor woman's hand. Nobody should have to die alone, and everyone deserved to have someone hold their hand during the transition.
Harry shifted so he was kneeling near the top of Pandora's head. He drew a breath, and hoped that Apollo was watching, because Pandora wouldn't be long for this world if he wasn't.
Gently, he took her head in his hands, and focused. Apollo's courses in healing had dealt with the basics; how to set a break. How to treat bruises or cuts or blisters. This… this was way, way worse.
But, there was one thing he had learnt, from Apollo, from Athena, and even from Artie's lessons in survival.
As long as the brain survived, the person would live. The Human body knew this instinctively, and would cut loose limbs to save the brain, it would eat its own heart muscle when starving to death.
And all a brain needed to live, was a supply of oxygenated blood.
Closing his eyes, Harry reached with his magic. His focus was instinctive now, he no longer had to think about it. He dropped, immediately, in the vision of his energy network; an energy network that now seemed to have Pandora's attached to it, through his ethereal hands.
He was dismayed at the damage, seeing as he was through the eye of his mind. Her lungs had been punctured, her heart was failing, so many of the major veins and arteries had been severed.
Still, he could feel the life in Pandora's brain, waning though it was. Without oxygenated blood, the brain lost consciousness within seconds, but it would still take minutes to die.
Alright, he needed to ensure oxygen-rich blood returned to her brain, pronto. He had no clue on how to start repairing the kind of damage Pandora had suffered, but het knew there was something he could do to keep her alive until the doctors got here.
His mind's eye scouted, and found, the vein and the artery he was looking for. Focusing, he built the imagine he wanted, needed, in his mind, the threw Shen at it.
The blood coming down the vein was oxygenated through Harry's magic, then pumped up the artery, back into the brain; it was closed-circuit loop of a small amount of blood that did nothing but circulate oxygen-rich blood up and oxygen-depleted blood down before starting over.
Sweat beaded on Harry's forehead. The concept wasn't hard to follow, but the execution was killing him. He knew that he was running low on stores of Shen.
Pandora's eyes blinked open, her conscious slowly returning with the flow of oxygen to her brain.
Harry grunted. His stores were depleted now. Where were that doctor?
He had no choice. No choice at all, if he was to save Pandora's life. His conscious mind fell away, reappearing in the tower he had built, the tower on the shores of the magic of the universe.
A tower that was all but empty of the vibrating-air-magic-mist thing. "Please don't kill me. I need to keep Pandora alive until the doctor gets here," he muttered, as if in prayer. Then, he drew a breath. "You won't kill me," he snapped. "Because I have something I have to do."
Throwing one metaphysical arm up, he opened up one the hatches below the ceiling, and let the wild, untamed, writhing, wild magic of the surrounding universe in.
Silena startled when suddenly, Harry started glowing. She didn't know what he was doing, but it was definitely doing something. Pandora had seemed to wake up a few moments ago, although her eyes were glassy and it definitely looked like she was still out of it. She still wasn't breathing, and Silena swallowed down bile when she noticed that her heart had stopped beating. A fact she could see through the damage done to Pandora's chest.
Suddenly, three men stormed inside, followed by Annabeth and Luna.
"Dear Merlin," one of the men whispered at the carnage, before getting a good look at the boy kneeling at pandora's head. "And Is that Harry-" he started to ask. The oldest man shot him a filthy look, shutting him up, and started waving a wand.
"Hendricks, take the nerve and vascular damage. McKinnon, the internal organs. I'll take cardio-pulmonary," the old man snapped at the two others. Before he set to work, he looked at Harry. "Keep it up a few moments longer, young man. You're doing great."
Harry heard the commotion, heard the comments, but let them wash over his like water off a duck's back. He couldn't spare the attention to process the words or the actions and would therefore let them pass.
He felt them start to work, though. He could feel wounds closing through his connection with her energy system, could feel her pain ebbing away through the empathic link of the world's magic.
"I spelled some blood-replenisher into her stomach, Healer," one of the man stated. "I think that's the best we can do out here. We need to get her back to Saint Mungo's as quickly as possible."
The Senior Healer was silent for a few moments as he worked. "I've repaired as much of the heart and lungs as possible." He turned to Harry. "Alright, young man, we need to reconnect her circulatory system and let her act on her own. Just follow my lead."
Harry once more didn't consciously register the words. The magic, however, the magic was something he could listen to. It reached out to him, enticed him, and Harry reached back, following its lead, slowly letting the heart and lungs of the woman take over, slowly reconnecting the blood supply of the body with the limited quantity that Harry had kept circulating through her brain.
It was a good thing, too, it wouldn't have lasted for very much longer, saturated as it was with waste products. Blood wasn't meant to be kept in a short-circuit closed loop like that without a decent filter.
Pandora gasped. "She's stable," one of the healer stated.
"We need to move her," the Senior Healer said, patting Harry's shoulder. "Well done, young man."
That was the last thing Harry heard before darkness claimed him and he slumped over.