LEO.
——- All three, excluding Y/n who remained leaning against the table, used all their strength to reel in the charging satyr.
Jason held on tight as Leo released his grasp, hoping the coach would calm himself. "Woah, coach! Bring it down a few notches." Jason ordered.
A young man barreled into the room. Leo looked as he approached the group, and assumed he must be Lit, the old man's son. He was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt that read 'cornhuskers' and some blue, plaid pajama pants. He gripped a long sword in his palm, and Leo wondered if he slept with it. The man had extremely muscular arms, his biceps being very much on display. He had a mean-looking face surrounded by dark curly hair, and the surplus of scars didn't make him look any nicer. He was pretty handsome, Leo admitted.
The man immediately zeroed in on Jason and stalked over to him. Guessing that he was the biggest threat of the bunch, he raised his sword over his head and prepared to swing down.
Piper stepped forward, "Hold on! This is just a misunderstanding," she persuaded, "everything's fine."
Lit looked wary but stopped in his tracks.
Coach Hedge didn't help. He screamed, "I'll get them! Don't worry!"
"Coach," Jason begged, "they may be friendly. Besides, we are trespassing in their house."
The old man sighed in relief, "Thank you! Now, who are you, and why are you here?"
"Let's all put our weapons down," Piper offered, "Coach, you first."
"Just one thwack?" Hedge asked while clenching his jaw.
"No," Piper said.
"What about a compromise? I'll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I'll apologize."
"No!" Piper insisted.
"Meh." Coach Hedge lowered his club.
Piper gave Lit a friendly sorry-about-that smile, and even with her hair messed up and her clothes being two days old she managed to look undeniably pretty.
Lit sheathed his sword, huffing. "You speak well, girl — fortunately for your friends, or I would've run them through."
"Appreciate it," Leo chided. "I try not to get run through before lunchtime."
The old man in the bathrobe kicked the broken teapot that Coach had smashed and sighed. "Well, since you're here, please sit down."
Lit frowned. "Your Majesty — "
"No, No, it's fine, Lit. New land, new customs." the old man began, "They may sit in my presence. After all, they've seen me in my nightclothes. No sense observing formalities."
The old man forced a kind smile, seemingly pretty fake, "Welcome to my humble home, I am King Midas."
"Midas? Impossible," Coach Hedge's face scrunched. "He died."
The king reclined in his sofa as the others sat on the sofas. He leaned back further into the chair and Leo worried that with the bathrobe, the old man may forget to keep his legs crossed. Hopefully, he had some golden boxers under there.
His son stood behind the throne with both hands on his sword, glancing at the girls in the group and flexing his muscular arms just to annoy Jason; unfortunately, he was starting to get under Leo's skin too.
Piper sat forward, "What our satyr friend means, Your Majesty, is that you're the second mortal we've met who should be — sorry — dead. King Midas lived thousands of years ago."
The king gazed out the window, "Interesting..." In the distance, through the brilliant blue skies and the winter sunlight, downtown Omaha looked like a cluster of children's blocks — far too small and clean for a regular city.
"You know," the old man started, "I think I was a bit dead for a while. It's strange. Seems like a dream, doesn't it, Lit?"
"A very long dream, Your Majesty."
"And yet, now we're here. I'm enjoying myself very much. I like being alive better."
"But how?" Piper questioned. "You didn't happen to have a — a patron?"
The king hesitated, with a sly twinkle in his eyes. It was hard to notice, but Leo caught it; he'd been suspicious of the two since the moment he saw them.
Midas tilted his head, "Does it matter, my dear?"
"We could kill them again," Hedge shrugged.
"Coach, not helping," Jason grimaced. "Why don't you go outside and stand guard?"
Leo coughed, "Is that safe? They've got some serious security."
"Oh, yes," the king chimed, "Sorry about that. But it's lovely stuff, isn't it? Amazing what gold can still buy. Such excellent toys you have in this country!"
The man fished through the pocket of his bathrobe and retrieved a small, dark gray remote control, and pressed a few buttons — a password, probably.
"There," Midas nodded. "Safe to go out now."
Coach Hedge grunted. "Fine. But if you need me..."
Leo saw Coach wink at Jason meaningfully, hinting something like "Say the word and I'll bash these dudes to a golden pancake."
Then he pointed a finger at himself, pointed two at Midas and Lit, and sliced a finger across his throat. Leo made a mental applause to his subtlety.
"Yeah, thanks," Jason muttered.
Piper tried another diplomatic smile after the satyr left. "So... you don't know how you got here?"
"Oh, well, yes. Sort of," the king replied. He frowned at Lit. "Why did we pick Omaha, again? I know it wasn't the weather."
"The oracle," Lit answered.
"Yes! I was told there was an oracle in Omaha. Apparently," The old man shrugged, "I was mistaken. But this is a rather nice house, isn't it? Lit — it's short Lityerses, but the way — horrible name but his mother insisted — Lit has plenty of wide open space to practice his swordplay. He has quite a reputation for that. They called him the 'Reaper of Men' back in the old days."
"Oh." Piper faked an enthusiastic demeanor. "How nice."
Lit offered a cruel sneer, and Leo was sure that this guy was no good. He wished Jason hadn't sent Hedge outside.
"So," Jason chided. "All this gold — "
A light twinkled in Midas's eyes, "Are you here for gold, my boy? Please, take a brochure!"
Leo watched as Jason looked down at one of the brochures on the coffee table and followed his gaze. Upside down, he read "GOLD: Invest for Eternity."
"Um, you sell gold?" Jason asked.
"No, no, I make it." The old man answered, "In uncertain times like these, gold is the wisest investment, don't you think? Governments fall. The dead ride. Giants attack Olympus. But gold retains its value!"
Leo frowned, "I've seen that commercial."
"Oh, don't be fooled by cheap imitators!" Midas rang, "I assure you, I can beat any price for a serious investor. I can make a wide assortment of gold items at a moment's notice."
Piper shook her head in confusion, "But, Your Majesty, you gave up the golden touch, didn't you?"
The king was dumbfounded, "Gave it up?"
"Yes," Piper reiterated, "You got it from some god — "
"Dionysus," the king agreed. "I'd rescued one of his satyrs, and in return, the god granted me one wish. I chose the golden touch."
"But you accidentally turned your own daughter to gold," Piper remembered the myth, "and you realized how greedy you'd been. So you repented."
King Midas looked at Lit incredulously, "Repented!"
"You see, son? You're away for a few thousand years, and the story gets twisted all around. My dear girl, did those stories ever say I'd lost my magic touch?"
"Well, I guess not." Piper shrugged, "They just said you learned how to reverse it with running water, and you brought your daughter back to life."
"That's all true. Sometimes I still have to reverse my touch, there's no running water in the house because I don't want accidents" — he gestured to his statues — "but we chose to live next to a river just in case. Occasionally, I'll forget and pat Lit on the back — "
Lit stepped back in retreat, "I hate that."
"I told you I was sorry, son. At any rate, gold is wonderful. Why would I give it up?"
"Well...?" Piper looked truly lost now, "Isn't that the point of the story? That you learned your lesson?"
Midas laughed, "My dear, may I see your backpack for a moment? Toss it here."
Piper obliged, not wanting to offend the king, but she made sure to empty its contents before she tossed it over to the old man.
The second he caught it, like frost spreading the backpack turned to gold. It looked flexible, soft, but definitely gold. Midas threw it back to her.
"As you see, I can still turn anything to gold," Midas nodded, "That pack is magic now, as well. Go ahead put your little storm spirit enemies in there."
Leo was suddenly interested, "Seriously?"
Leo grabbed the bag from Piper and held it close to the cage, and as soon as he unzipped it, the wind spirits howled and stirred in protest. The bars of the case shutters, and the metal barred door flew open and the winds got vacuumed straight into the pack. Leo, while grinning widely, zipped it back shut. "Gotta admit; that's cool."
"You see?" Midas smirked, "My golden touch — a curse? Please. I didn't learn any lesson, and life isn't a story, girl. Honestly, my daughter Zoe was much more pleasant as a gold statue"
"She talked a lot," Lit offered.
"Exactly! And so I turned her back to gold." Midas pointed to a statue in the corner of a girl with a shocked expression, as if she couldn't believe what was happening to her.
"That's horrible!" Piper yelped.
"Nonsense. She doesn't mind. Besides, if I'd learned my lesson, would I have gotten these?"
Midas pulled off his oversize sleeping cap, and Jason didn't know whether to laugh or get sick. Midas had long fuzzy gray ears sticking up from his white hair--like Bugs Bunny's, but they weren't rabbit ears. They were donkey ears.
Midas slipped his oversized sleeping cap off, and Leo tried to hold back a nervous laugh — he wasn't expecting to see two long, fuzzy, gray ears sticking out from his hair; donkey ears.
"Oh, wow," Leo grimaced, "I didn't need to see that."
"Terrible, isn't it?" Midas sighed. "A few years after the golden touch incident, I judged a music contest between Apollo and Pan, and I declared Pan the winner. Apollo, sore loser, said I must have the ears of an ass, and voilà. This was my reward for being truthful. I tried to keep them a secret. Only my barber knew, but he couldn't help blabbing." Midas pointed out another golden statue — a bald man in a toga, holding a pair of shears.
"That's him. He won't be telling anyone's secrets again."
The king smiled, and suddenly Leo felt uncomfortable. He wasn't just a harmless old man in a bathrobe; he had the eyes of a madman, a mischievous glimmer to them. He seemed to know he was a bit crazy and reveled in it.
"Yes, gold has many uses. I think that must be why I was brought back, eh Lit? To bankroll our patron."
Lit nodded, "That and my good sword arm."
Leo nervously looked at his friends, and suddenly the air in the room seemed much colder. He made eye contact with Y/n, who had an expression that led him to believe she was already preparing for a fight. That and the fact that she had her hand on the hill of her sword the entire conversation.
"So you do have a patron," Jason said sternly, "You work for the giants."
King Midas waved his hand dismissively. "Well, I don't care for giants myself, of course. But even supernatural armies need to get paid. I do owe my patron a great debt. I tried to explain that to the last group that came through, but they were very unfriendly. Wouldn't cooperate at all."
Leo held on to his tool belt.
"The last group?"
"Hunters," Lit snarled, "Blasted girls from Artemis."
"When?" Jason demanded, "What happened?"
Lit shrugged, "A few days ago? I didn't get to kill them, unfortunately. They were looking for some evil wolves or something. Said they were following a trail, heading west. Missing demigod — I don't recall."
Midas scratched his donkey ears, and Leo was trying not to think of how goofy he looked without the nightcap on.
"Very unpleasant young ladies, those Hunters," he recalled. "They absolutely refused to be turned into gold. Much of the security system outside I installed to keep that sort of thing from happening again, you know. I don't have time for those who aren't serious investors."
Jason stood warily and glanced at his friends. They got
the message.
Well," Piper managed a smile, "It's been a great visit. Welcome back to life. Thanks for the gold bag."
"Oh, but you can't leave!" Midas insisted, "I know you're not serious investors, but that's all right! I have to rebuild my collection."
Midas rose, and Leo and Piper moved away from him. Lit was smiling cruelly. Y/n slowly moved towards Jason and whispered something in his ear. Jason nodded, whispered something back, and turned back to the king with a determined grin; Y/n wore a grin too, but hers seemed more devilish as if she were anticipating the fight.
"Don't worry, you don't have to be turned to gold." The king reassured, "I give all my guests a choice — join my collection, or die at the hands of Lityerses. Really, it's good either way."
Piper tried to use her charmspeak, "Your Majesty, you
can't — "
The old man moved at spears no old man should move — Midas reached out and grabbed her wrists.
"No!" Jason yelled.
But gold spread over her like frost once more, and in a heartbeat, she was a shimmering gold statue. In defense, Leo tried to summon fire but forgot his power wasn't working. His stomach sank as Midas touched his hand, and suddenly, Leo was solid metal.
(unedited.)