Cassandra's Curse

{22} Friend or Foe

Hello and happy New Year! 2015 is the year Cassandra's Curse will be completely finished I guarantee it AND PROMISE IT. So get excited for that. 

Anyway, comments keep my blood pumping so please get right on that *puppy eyes* Anyway, let's get this show back on the road shall we?

Read on.

***

"'You're my father'? Wow, how very Star Wars of you." I cracked, narrowing my eyes at him while keeping my guns in place. You never know when someone's telling the truth or not, and with this whole Demigod business I've learned to never take anyone at face value. 

The man's strange amber-coloured eyes glinted in amusement, "Yes I suppose it is," He replied, reaching down to pick up the sword he'd dropped

He looked far worse for wear than when I saw him in my dream-vision-thing, in that he was clean-shaven and looked like he actually knew how showers worked, but now he had grease and grim all over his face and cover-all's, a beard the same colour as his hair which was longer than his ears and hanging in greasy tendrils around his face. 

Nobody in my group said anything, just watched as he put the sword in an umbrella stand next to a massive workbench. 

"What brings you here?" He asked, reaching up to a switch and flicking more lights on. 

"You," I said, matching his tone. Trying to find similarities between us, something that'd mark me as his daughter. 

"Little old me? I'm flattered." He leant against his workbench, arms crossed and eyes almost seeming to glow in the dim light. He studied my companions, narrowing his eyes at Leo in particular, "Who are they?"

"This is Zianna, a naiad from a river next to Camp Half-Blood. Nico, son of Hades. And this is Leo, son of Hephaestus." I grabbed Leo's hand so he would try to say anything, I thought it best to let this one run it's course and we'd see how it played out. 

Nico stepped forward, "You know our names but we don't know yours?"

My dad's eyes were on mine and Leo's hands as he replied, "Garth Nix, son of Ares." 

Nico nodded, but looked perplexed, "As a son of Ares, what are you doing in Hephaestus' biggest forge?"

Garth Nix looked away from me and Leo, staring down at Nico, "That's a good question."

"Yeah," I interrupted, "Don't dodge it." That'd be where I got it from, dodging questions and redirecting conversations obviously ran in the family. 

He rolls his eyes, scratching his chin, "I'm good with the mist."

Zianna walked up to stand next to Nico, while I studied my glove-shield. Was he the one who made it? We my dad the one who made the shield that'd gotten me through more battles than I could count?

"What do you mean?"

Garth ran a hand over his eyes, "Well... you know how your weapons and armor transform into everyday objects?" 

"Yeah," Leo said at the same time Nico said, "Not really," While glaring at the sword at his hip.

"That's because your sword sucks balls." Garth said, "Anyway, that kind of stuff doesn't just happen, they need something to change into, and it takes some complex stuff to help the mist along to actually do it. That's my job. Well... that's mostly my job. Sometimes I take commissions for weapons with special characteristics."

I spoke up, holding my gloved-hand up so he could see, "Like this thing?" 

He stared at it until a glint of recognition appeared on his face, "Oh, that shield was the first thing I made -it's a work of art really." He held his hand out, and I let go of Leo's hand to take the glove off and give it to him, "It was commissioned by Apollo for a boy named Emmanuel, seemed he wanted him to protect something one day- but that's another story." He handed it back to me.

Slipping the glove back on, I stepped in between Nico and Zianna, finally sick of the run-around. "None of this explains why you're here." 

His amber eyes hardened slightly, "Cassandra-"

"C'mon, I came here to find out what happened to my dad. So I find him just sitting alone in a volcano talkin' about weapons? That's not it." I stepped closer, glaring up at him, "Tell me what happened to make Aphrodite leave me in that orphanage." 

He looked up in exasperation, "You got your Mum's stubbornness, that's for sure."  

I felt something twinge in my chest; and I had to reach back to Leo so I wouldn't either break down, or try and break something. 

Either one would've been an appropriate reaction. 

"I can't really... tell you." 

Breaking something it is. 

I stepped forward, but Leo squeezed my hand in caution. 

I narrowed my eyes at Garth, "What did you just say?"

"I swore on the Styx okay?" He slumped down on the chair in front of the bench, "I'd like to tell you, but I can't." 

Zianna put her hands on her hips, "Oaths are so old-school -what was the exact wording?" 

"I swore not to speak of the events that landed me here." He replied with a defeated look on his face. 

"So... can you write it down?" She suggested in a tone that suggested that it should be obvious.

"Worth a shot." He shrugged, grabbing a pencil and some paper off the bench, "Alright then."

***

"There's someone coming!" Zianna ran back into the workspace, eyes wide and alarmed, "There's someone coming up the stairs!" 

Garth's expression didn't change, he simply pushed away from the bench and handed me the papers he'd been writing on, "Cassandra. You must hide."

I gave him an 'are you kidding me' look, "Seriously."

"Yes. Hephaestus hates your guts. It is he who is coming up the stairs right now, you must hide while we distract him." He grabbed me by the shoulders, glaring into my eyes, "You must do as I say."

I rolled my eyes in response. And here I thought I wanted a parent before, but all they do is order you around and tell you what to do and what not to do. Urg, that's a mess really. 

Leo let go of my hand, "I can distract Dad. Ask him about his forge and he'll talk for hours."

Nico remained silent, simply looking down over the railing on the stairs while we all bustled about and argued like headless cockroaches. 

Then he cleared his throat, "Guys, quick he's coming. We should meet him on the stairs, give us more time."

Garth rushes towards me, grabbing my shoulders and shoving me towards one of the darker corners of his workshop, "Go Cassandra. You must hide."