EDEN WOKE UP on a beach.
She thought that it was her dad, finally talking to her for the first time after their last disaster of a conversation ( "basically, I know I'm not supposed to play favorites, but your brother Percy's obvi my favorite lmao fuck u" "thanks daddy boy" ) before she realized that she recognized this beach. She was literally here a week or two ago.
Spinning around, she saw him. The hero she'd wanted to be ( besides Achilles ) and then suddenly not wanted to be.
"Who sent me here?" Eden laughed without humor, standing up and looking at Hercules angrily. "Is this some kind of sick joke? Well, they were wrong to send me here, I'm going to kill you now."
"You can't, Fairchild," Hercules said, almost boredly, though the fear in his eyes that Eden had been taught to detect was betraying him. "You need me if you want your girlfriend to live."
Eden froze from where she was striding toward the fallen from grace hero. "What have you done with her?"
"You think too much of me. I haven't done anything," he said, and Eden was just so fucking angry at him. "Khione was on your ship."
"And now?" Eden snapped. "I saw Jason get frozen. Leo shot up in the sky. What's happened to her? Tell me." She took out a pistol and pointed it at him. "Or I will kill you."
"She's still alive, if that's what you're asking." Hercules didn't look fazed. "Looking for you. She can't find you, if that's what you're wondering."
"Wow, it's almost as if we're in the Mediterranean, and they're in the Adriatic. Woo." Eden raised one of her hands sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Bring me back to her. Or else."
Hercules gritted his teeth, obviously mad. Good. "I can't, Fairchild."
"Why not?"
"Because I can give you power."
Eden hesitated, before rolling her eyes. "Why would I want power when I already have Piper?"
"She won't survive without your power. And you'll be all alone, in camp, mourning her death for years. Just like I mourned Deianira."
That made her listen to what he had to say. "What kind of power?" She asked Hercules quietly.
"The power that you want," he told her. "To defeat Gaea."
Eden laughed bitterly. "There's no way you're giving me immortality."
Hercules stared down at her. "I don't know what it's going to do. But it's necessary for you to win."
"Didn't you try and kill us when we wanted to get into the Mediterranean?" Eden asked the hero, crossing her arms. "You literally shouted a threat at us as we left. All because Hera made us go on that quest. Now, I fucking hate Hera with my life. I would kill her as many times as I have slaughtered in my life. But you could've been the person to single-handedly doom the entire world, all because of your fucking pride, which even I don't have. So, why are you helping me now?"
Hercules was quiet. Brooding. Deciding how to answer this question.
"You remind me of when I was a hero," he said. "Bold, strong, cocky. And the rage you have . . . I've never quite seen it in anyone else but you." He looked at her, and Eden almost saw regret. Longing. "I've watched you over the years. You've made Achilles proud. And when you came here, I was surprised. I thought that you were done being a hero, after all that you've gone through."
"It was always her," Eden said. "You know that I'd do anything for her."
Hercules nodded grimly.
"There's no way you're giving me the power for free," Eden frowned, crossing her arms. "What do you want? As long as it has nothing to do with that bull man again . . ."
"No, you've already dealt with him enough, I presume." He said, and she remembered when Piper told her about the stupid cornucopia.
"Sometimes, I can barely feel it. Like, I forget about it. And sometimes, it feels as if I'm carrying, like, an elephant or something."
Every time Eden had reassured her that she'd done nothing wrong. It's never your fault. It was Hercules's.
"I need you to do something for me," Hercules said, and Eden stiffened. "I want you to break into a museum and grab a couple of things for me."
"Say what?" She snorted. "There's no way you're just giving me that."
"I know how it feels to be played with," he said, and Eden wanted to cry. God, why were they so similar? "Unless you want me to make you sing a song or something . . ."
Eden did have new music, but not a guitar or a piano, so she bit her tongue.
"What am I getting for you?" she asked him.
"Just some odds and ends." That wasn't an answer, but alright. "Just . . . go."
"Don't wanna see my pretty face?" Eden rolled her eyes, but then her vision tunneled.
* * *
She didn't even end up at the fucking place. So then she'd had to carjack some rich person's car and drive off. She did almost get caught, but what was the thrill of the chase if not for close calls?
At least the music was good. But then again, it was a rich person's car. Of course they had good shit in here.
Eden bopped along to Green Day, as an ode to Thalia, as she drove from Miami to Austin. She didn't really want to go on a plane, because Zeus could and would fucking kill her in a heartbeat, and she just wanted to get to Piper.
Which meant getting some power. Yippee. Eden loved power.
Anyway, she'd made a pit stop in the middle of literally nowhere because she needed to pee really fucking badly. And when she'd come out, there was a dog on top of her car.
So, naturally, Eden had pet the dog. And then he'd ( she checked the gender, don't worry ) became her best friend in that instant. What a cute bullmastiff.
Now? They were vibing on their roadtrip. The dog ( Eden had named him Moose, because she liked moose. Mooses. Meese? Whatever. Did she need another explanation? ) jumped from the passenger seat, where she pulled down the window and let him drape his body out, and the back seats where he slept while she drove through Alabama and Mississippi.
He was a good dog. Eden wanted him, but she knew that she couldn't keep him after this. Maybe she'd ask Hercules to bring him to camp so that Connor could take care of him. At least until Piper got back, because there's no way that Eden would let her die. Then she'd take care of him.
Moose also protected her while she was sleeping. He also made for a good blanket, when he'd lay down on her. She didn't mind the fact that she had to feed him. Or when he'd bark right in her ear when the monsters attacked.
Eden didn't want to talk about the monsters. They were hideous. And she beat them easily. And Moose had helped her with them, because he was a good boy.
Two days later, because she hadn't wanted to drive at night, they'd finally made it to Austin, where the museum was.
And sure, Leo was from Houston, but Eden wondered why he was nostalgic for this. Despite that she was in a different city.
The city was small, or maybe it was because she was raised and born in New York City. Lots of trees, which just reminded Eden of Grover's girlfriend, Juniper. There was however a lot of good music and food here, though.
"We should find somewhere to eat, then we're gonna break into a museum, Moosey," she knelt down to scratch him behind the ears. "How bout that?"
The wagging tail and licks on her face probably meant yes. Eden put on sunglasses and walked into the city of Austin.
As she was walking, her phone rang. She picked it up and walked into a pet store to get a leash for Moose. Not that she didn't trust him, she'd told the big dog earlier, feeling stupid. But just for appearance's sake.
"Hullo?" she asked, looking up for a leash, the jangling noise echoing, and she winced.
"You're alive?" a familiar voice asked.
"Yes, I am," Eden snorted. "What's up, Con?"
"The fuck are you doing?"
Eden picked up a random leash, showed it to Moose, who didn't bark, so she felt as if he was okay with it. "Preparing for a heist in a museum. What're you doing?"
". . . the fuck did you say?"
She explained, stopping in the middle to buy the leash and a collar, smiling at the cashier before slapping down a fifty dollar bill for a leash that probably cost fifteen bucks and a collar that cost the same. "Keep the change," she said, before leaving the pet store, continuing to explain to Connor the amount of shit she'd been through the past couple weeks.
"So now you're in Austin, going to steal things at a museum, for power." Connor said slowly.
"Pretty much," Eden balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder, kneeling down to attach the collar and leash to Moosey. "You know any place that'll accept me and my dog here for dinner?"
"No."
Eden pouted, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Gee, thanks. Well, since I have a dog, and I'm doing this quest for Mr. Hercy, he's totally going to let me keep this dog. So, when I inevitably send him over to you, can you take care of him until we come back?"
Someone was yelling at Connor. He said something back, then said, "yeah, sure. What's the dog's name?"
"I so thought you were going to ask what the dog was doing." Eden stood back up, walking around the city in hopes for a food truck or something. She accepted treats that people gave her. Do people really have random ass dog treats in their pockets here? Maybe she should start doing that. "His name is Moose."
Silence.
"You fucking named a dog Moose?"
"What else was I supposed to name him?" Eden asked. "Iris? Reindeer? Spots? Hell no, I'll name my dog Moose if I want to."
"You're the weirdest person I've ever met," Connor said to her. "So I'll be expecting a dog at midnight?"
"At least by tomorrow," she found somewhere to eat, walking up to the food truck. "So, see you later?"
"If you're alive by then," he said. "I gotta go. Your Roman peeps are raging on us."
"Yikes," Eden winced. "Bye. Love you."
She went and got dinner, then got into a cab to take her and Moose closer to the museum. Giving the poor driver a hundred because they were surely scared of Moose, she got out of the car and walked up to the museum, getting stopped at the admissions station.
"We're closed now," the dude at the register or whatever said.
"It's 7 pm, is it not?" Eden looked down at her phone, seeing that the time was 6:58. "You're not gonna just let a pretty girl be stranded out here with no ride? My contact's in here, and I need to get to him for an event tonight."
The guy hesitated, looking at her up and down. "I don't know . . ."
"Look." Eden leaned forward, taking off her sunglasses. She wished that Piper were here. Or Thalia, who could control the Mist for her. "Mate, if you don't let me in, I will eat your children. Each and every single one that you have, I will eat it. I will actually fork and knife, medium rare each single one of your children."
Moose growled in agreement.
The guy paled, slipping the velvet rope off. "Yes, ma'am."
Eden walked in, but then sent a punch to the back of his head. He fell to the ground, unconscious. She turned to Moose and leaned down to pet him.
"Good Moosey," she grinned. "Let's go and steal some shit."
She sauntered to the Greek section, ignoring the people around her, jumping on top of the metal detectors in her way and hopping down. She didn't want to look around for that long; just to find the items that Hercules wanted.
Now, god, how to get these things without the alarm going off?
That was impossible, so naturally Eden turned to the next best idea. Arson. She did, in fact, set fire to an exhibit.
And the fire alarm did, in fact, go off.
Screaming ensued, and she took off some artifacts — a sword, a bow, whatever. Eden put it in her bag and ran after the rest of the crowd to get out of there.
"Hey! Get her! She has the sword."
Shit. Well, it's nothing that Eden couldn't get out of. She ran as fast as she could, which was of course fast, because she's Eden Achilles-Fairchild, after all.
Moose was in her arms, so he was fine. They ran to a random car, and a person was running toward it.
"Hey!" Some woman said as Eden "hacked" her way into the car, quickly carjacking it as Moose barked at her.
"This car's nice," Eden said, winking at the woman, starting the car. "Rich people have good taste. Unfortunately, you're overpaid."
She hit the gas and zoomed away, laughing into the night.
She ditched the car in the middle of nowhere, getting herself and Moose out and running behind the nearby motel.
"Alright, Moosey," Eden sat down on the ground. "I gotta go, okay? But I promise I'll be back soon."
Moose whimpered.
"I know, I know." Eden scratched behind his ears. "But I'm gonna send you to New York, alright? Connor'll take good care of you before me and Pipes come back."
Eden hugged the dog, sighing. Now she'd finally go back to Piper. "Hide now," she whispered. "I'll see you later."
She took out the sword that Hercules had told her to get, and then her vision went black.
When her vision cleared again, she was facing him on his island.
"Took you longer than I expected," Hercules commented.
"Shut the fuck up, you made me drive from Miami to Austin," Eden snapped, handing him the artifacts that he wanted. When she went to give him the sword, he didn't take it.
"That's the key to your power." He nodded at it. "Keep it. Until you unleash it. You have to wait for the right moment to get the power from it. Understood?"
Eden rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." She hesitated, not knowing where to put it, and Hercules rolled his eyes and gave her a sword belt to put it on. "Don't die, Fairchild, alright? Otherwise that mission would be for nothing."
"Do you think that I'm stupid?" Eden bit back, but put the sword in her belt. "Can you bring my dog back to camp?"
He snapped his fingers, and she considered it done. She hesitated before saying, "thank you. You're not as bad as the gods after all."
Hercules smiled at her knowingly. "Aren't you forgetting that I was a hero, exactly like you? Now, I don't want to see your face anymore."
Eden got one last glimpse of him before her vision turned black.
looking back ,,, this chapter was a fucking fever dream. yet i am all up for it 😭
<3 maybel