"Is... Is Odin really that bad?" Grover asked nervously.
"Yes, he is." Mimir said lowly.
"So... what happened after Odin killed Ymir?" Andromeda asked.
"Ah, it's in the blood of Ymir this story starts." Mimir said grimly. " Ymir's magical guts poured out in a torrent so violent it threatened to flood all of creation. The Jötnar were unprepared, as the very last of them were washed away in the endless tide. Not just Ymir, but all of Giant-kind faced extinction. And so would Odin's victory have been complete. But… Ymir's kind did not all perish that day. Staying afloat in the hollowed husk of a tree, the Frost Giant Bergelmir endured, as did his lady wife. For weeks they sailed, until they came upon a new land. They called it Jötunheim, and there they would start anew. As father and mother they would multiply exceedingly, and as King and Queen they worked to make Jötunheim a land where Giants would know no master but themselves. Bergelmir never sought revenge for Odin's slaughter. His vengeance was to live, and prosper. He died at peace, a legion of his kin to mourn him. He would ever be known as Bergelmir the Beloved."
"Wow... he really sounds like a Giant worthy of respect from his people and others." Andromeda said, getting nods of agreement from Annabeth and Grover. "So that's how Jötunheim came to be?"
"Indeed, and it's become one of Odin's most foremost obsessions next to Ragnarök." Mimir sighed.
"Why is he so obsessed?" Grover asked with a frown.
"He's convinced the Giants hold the key to changing his fate when Ragnarök comes. They are the Aesir's oldest enemies, after all—and it's their army that's supposed to do him in, in the end. But more than that, he covets their gifts of prophecy. He wants to know what they know, and see what they see. So much suffering could have been avoided if his insatiable curiosity was not so much stronger than his wisdom." Mimir said with disgust at the end.
"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, feeling a sense of unease in her gut.
"Tell them that story later, Mimir." Jakob cut in.
"Aye, remind me later to tell you why they call Odin the Lord of the Hanged." Mimir said grimly.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, the silence is broken by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"
He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.
They kept moving and started to see a bright light up ahead: the colour of a neon sign. They could smell food. Fried, greasy food.
They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and greasy smell.
It wasn't a fast food restaurant like they thought. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that.
The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. Jakob looked up at the neon sign and frowned a little.
"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium." He said, translating it. Jakob did not have ADHD or Dyslexia like his two fellow demigods. He supposed it was because they were of different cultures.
Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.
Andromeda crossed the street, having food on the mind.
"Hey…" Grover warned.
"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."
"Snack bar," Andromeda said wistfully.
"Snack bar," the blonde agreed.
"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."
"Stop thinking with your stomachs and keep moving." Jakob said with a frown, seeing they were letting their hunger take them off track. "You don't just walk to a stranger's place in search of food."
But they were already walking over to the place, causing the Son of Thor to groan and pinch the bridge of his nose before he followed after them.
The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.
"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"
They stopped at the warehouse door.
"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."
Jakob tensed at those words, nearly reaching for the Leviathan Axe but calmed down slightly. His eyes scanned around for any possible sign of the monsters
"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"
"Stop thinking with your stomach, Annabeth." Jakob warned her. He could smell the food as well, but he was not letting it get to him. His instincts told him something was going on, something that wasn't as it seems. "We should leave. Now."
Neither Annabeth or Andromeda listened, heading for the door. Jakob groaned and shook his head. "Be on your guard." He told Grover before following the girls with Grover behind him.
Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall Middle Eastern woman-at least, one could assume she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black guaze, but that was all one could make out. Her coffee-coloured hands looked old, but well manicured and elegant, so one could imagine that she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.
Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"
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