Hermês was technically on a delivery for his Uncle, but he found that he could fly away from watching as Leaneíras and Drew made their way deeper into camp. He was sure that he wasn't imagining the way she stumbled on her feet at the foul magic lingering in the air.
He watched the way she gave Drew a worried glance — proving that she did consider the younger girl a close friend — when the girl paled at the knowledge of the failed barrier. And he took note of the way her eyes widen and the minute flinch that she gave when she learned of the Tree of Thalia.
It took a moment for Hermês to remember that Luke had informed her about the status of his khaos-blessing.
And then Leaneíras learned the truth about Tyson.
It took her a moment to take a deep breath before she began to walk away alongside the need to punch Luke and Kronos and Kheirôn and Poseidôn and Father in the face for dragging her into this weird world and she was doing perfectly fine without it. There were, of course, curses to his own name when she remembered that because of their khaos-brand that she would have been introduced to this life either way.
She was walking around the camp then, eyes a poisonous green and not at all natural making everyone give her a wide berth as she stomped her way towards her cabin. Drew was at her side though it did not seem that she was managing to calm her in any way nor were Ethan nor Alabaster able when they appeared to flank her sides.
"You know I don't even care that he's a cyclops," she was ranting. "I care about the fact that aside from the so-called gods, I have not met a single being in this weird family tree that doesn't register as a creature . Chiron is half horse for goodness sake and now a cyclops! What's next? A giant rug!"
Ethan opened his mouth to comment and the glare she gave him made Hermês back away a bit.
"No," she stated simply. She then sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly, all of this is too much. Learning that my whole life is a lie and everyone is acting like we're suppose to be saviors of Narnia. I'm reaching a breaking point and this mark! It's ugh."
"I'm sorry," Ethan said and she waved his words away. "It's not your fault. It's not even my, um, Father's fault for birthing me."
"Then?"
"It's the white people's fault," Leaneíras sneered. "Invading countries and bringing different races together and messing up people's livelihoods. If they did that then there's a chance that my mom wouldn't have met Father." She ran a hand through her head, a look of disgust on her face. "White people disgust me."
"Lea, you are a white person," Drew noted.
"Incorrect. According to your little fantasy world, I am half seahorse."
"Lea..." Ethan started.
"I will gladly be half seahorse than acknowledge any caucasian bloodline. It's the white van that kids are supposed to be afraid of. Not the red, green, blue, or black thank you very much."
"You can't just hate a race," Alabaster chastised.
"Incorrect. I hate everyone including myself. When is Ragnarök coming? That's the end of the world right?"
"Wrong religion," Drew snorted, eyeing the elder girl who had managed to calm herself. "And don't think we're going to skip past this self-hatred thing."
"Yeah, yeah, Cupid. That's an issue for another day. I, however, am going to find my brother so that I can yell at him about leaving without telling anyone. Like seriously, what if we had been kidnapped! I would have caused a scene before getting in a kidnapped van, but as Speedy Gonzalez proved last summer... the aliens don't have to have a ride to teleport me."
"Lea, the gods are not aliens," Ethan groaned. Leaneíras sniffed. "Interdimensional beings. They don't even live on this plain of existence, something that is heavily implied in their myths."
And then they met Tántalos.
The four of them, not too far from her cabin stood and watched as he chased after a can of nestos.
"And you all said this wasn't a prison camp," Leaneíras scoffed as she eyed his orange prisoner's jumpsuit. Why Dionysos decided to go for him Hermês did not know. "Does this not remind you all of the Chef Boyardee commercial?"
Hermês found himself laughing alongside the three mortals around her.
She turned to look at Drew, waving a hand at the new camp director that seemed to finally notice them. "Do you ever see something that changes your life and you just—"
"I saw you," Tántalos purred and Hermês saw red.
Leaneíras turned an interesting shade of green as she backed away. "That's... very, um, sweet and it makes this awkward because ew."
"Who are you," Drew said snobbishly. She was quite clearly channeling her inner Mother when some noble from Roman Antiquity had infuriated her and did not show her the respect that she deserved. It usually meant that whomever would face some sort of loss in his life and the others learned to stay out of her way pertaining to it as the romans cherished her more than them all.
It was quite disturbing how Drew managed to look almost exactly like her as she turned her nose up at Tántalos while also managing to look down on him when he was an entire foot taller than her.
"I am the new camp director, Tántalos," he replied with all the gravitas he thought was his due. His eyes never left Leaneíras who stepped backwards to let Alabaster and Ethan cover her from view. "It is a pleasure to meet someone as tantalizing as yourself."
Drew rolled her eyes, turning to look at Leaneíras, "I suppose this is what he meant when he said a 'Tantalean punishment'."
His blessing snorted, turning slightly green the longer the old king looked at her as if she was a meal. "And you claimed this was not a sex-trafficking ring. He comes anywhere close to me and I'm setting him on fire."
Drew placed a hand to her forehead. "No fires, daarin. Come on. Let's get settled in." There was a commiserating look shared between the two and Hermês remembered a passing mention from Aphroditê that the two had plans to go shopping before they returned to camp.
And with that, Drew pulled her friend away with Ethan and Alabaster blocking them from Tántalos' view. Hermês hummed. He will finish the deliveries for Haidês and then return to put the fear of him into the newest director.
Hermês sat atop a cloud, finished with the day's deliveries and watching over his khaos-blessing. She and her group of friends were sitting around in her cabin playing Uno? Twas a mortal card game.
His beloved was winning of course, and she didn't even need to use the slight of hand tricks that fed through their mark.
A cocky smirk that would actually appear better on Apollôn, Athênê or Arês danced across her face. "Oh yeah. Draw 16. No pull and play. Color is green. And Uno," Leaneíras cheered, slamming down all four Draw Four cards.
Hermês stifled a laugh at the look of despair on Alabaster's face. "I knew I should have charmed the cards."
"Yeah yeah yeah. Should've. Could've. Would've. But you didn't," Leaneíras said, waving her hand while Alabaster sorted his cards and Ethan had to pull since he didn't have a green. "I have a question though."
"Don't you always," Ethan griped as Drew placed down three Skip cards and then cleared out the reds in her hand.
"Ha ha ha," his khaos-blessed mocked, peridot eyes glimmering in amusement. "Anyway, I was doing some studying the other day."
Drew gasped dramatically, reaching over to place a hand on Leaneíras' forehead. "Who are you and have you done with my friend? Lea? Studying?"
"I study," Leaneíras protested.
"You read and complain that anything dealing with school that is done after school hours should be illegal. And you only take notes in class because having notes is also a part of the grading system."
"And they're pretty color coded notes also," the child of the sea sniffed. "Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was doing some studying on the gods—" It was still cute to see her refuse to acknowledge them as divine beings. Oh, she knew that they were powerful, but gods were pushing it in her mind.
"And I noticed that Zeus—Lord Zeus? King Zeus? Uncle Zeus? The King of the Gods," she settled on. "Has an epithet that calls him the All-Parent. And I was wondering if it was something like the GodFather? And seriously, how much is he paying in child support and who was his lawyer? I'm sure we can work out a deal even if Greece and New York don't believe in child support."
Drew placed down her cards, peeking over at Leaneíras. "Sometimes I wonder about you. Oh, and Uno out!"
"I swear you cheated," Ethan argued. Drew laughed lightly. "Pretty people never cheat."
There was a moment of silence from all of them before the four fell into each other cackling.
"Come on," Alabaster told the younger ones. "We've hid here long enough." The four of them were still snickering as they left while Hermês turned to look at the goddess that came to sit at his side. Aphroditê had her gaze on the demidivine as they left the cabin.
"I'm glad to see Aeri making friends," the goddess commented.
"Aeri?"
"Drew's actual name," she admitted. "I chose both of course. Her Father—" here, her face darkened and Hermês remembered the everlasting screams that had echoed from within her temple. "I found none of his options suitable. He wanted her western name to be Abigail or Darlene. Όχι, my darling Drew-drop needed something different. And her friends are different."
"She doesn't seem like the type to be without friends."
"That's true, but these are true friends and one she's making on her own. They're not flocking towards her because of her wealth or her beauty or power. They see her just as she is." She then cast a glance at Hermês. "I believe thanks are in order to your...Leaneíras."
"Why are you thanking me and not her Father?"
The goddess of seafaring hummed lightly, casting a glance at the sea. "When this generation's Great Prophecy was announced, one of the first things that happened was Father Zeus calling in his siblings and I for a private meeting. Oh, how we argued over and over. We raked each other over the coals. Dêmêtêr and I did not even bother to mince our words of what we thought once it had been suggested for us to refrain from having children also. I recall Dêmêtêr brandishing the heartache she still felt for losing Iasiôn before he was brought to the stars to reside as her khaos-mate."
Her rage had nearly caused another great deluge before Haidês and the Moirai sent him back to the heavens.
"My point is that in the end, the sons of Kronos were the ones to take that oath and for the past few decades, Dêmêtêr and I have been dealing with the remarks of how we should confine ourselves to an oath also." Her lips pulled back into a sharp smile, the red of her lipstick like fresh blood. "Poseidôn will hear no thanks from me for he not only broke his oath endangering us two-fold, but alongside the remarks he made."
Her eyes were cruel as she glanced back towards the children. "Oh, it would have pleased me greatly to be the one to gain my vengeance for the slight to my honor this way, but alas I was not the one to stir sweet passion within him for his mortal. Nor would I thank a mortal for lying with god and keeping the child a secret despite the warnings that she had been given."
Poseidôn had confessed to that, after all. If he were to break their laws, then he would do so by minimizing the punishment. He had not set out to hide the children from the Council, but he left the decision in the hands of their mother.
"She wanted to keep them safe," Hermês pointed out.
Aphroditê waved a dismissive hand. "A demidivine's child is never safe. And truly, as much as the world seems to forget, I am of the sea. Any of my children from the years before would have watched over them to keep from nefarious attacks. And what better way to ensure loyalty than to raise them in our love and care?"
"You would have given them more privileges than normal. Your own children would have become your agents to find out if there was any discontent within them."
"And Dionysos could have brought them any trinkets under the guise of it being from their Father whether it be a lie or not one at all."
"What of their Mother?"
"What of her? If they were to be raised by us, then that meant she would have given them up. Not all children wish to connect with those that abandon them and to ensure that it was to our liking, we could have taken the memory of her being with child away or changed it to her believing that the children died in infancy. We could have killed her also. So many options, yet this is the path that the Moirai have chosen."
It was times like this that he was reminded of her status as a war goddess. He knew that she and their other battle-loving siblings had thought over thousands of plans and contingencies of what they would have done and what they should do to ensure Olympos' victory. Hermês would not even be surprised if on the day of the twins' sixteenth birthday that Apollôn puts an arrow through Perseus' neck while Aphroditê raises Leaneíras to godhood.
"Do you think it's one of them," he asked before elaborating. "The children of the prophecy?"
"It matters not what I believe," she reproached. "Do I want to believe that they will not raze Olympos to the ground, ναί? But I will not waste my time hoping for a miracle when I can work to ensure that it happens."
'What do you mean by that?"
"What better way to ensure our victory than through love itself," she stated rhetorically. "I am here to offer my help, Hermês. You will gain your blessing and she hers while we also hold onto the loyalty of her brother through her."
"How charitable of you," he muttered. "And what of Peithô? She is your handmaiden and personal herald."
"Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few for the price of many," Aphroditê shrugged. "What she not know shall not hurt her."
Hermês snorted. "How devious of you."
"A trick worthy of the Divine Trickster is it not," she teased before she sobered. "You have my support, brother. Even outside of ensuring their loyalty to Olympos, I have never wanted anything more than to see you all happy. You were married to Ôkeanos' daughter long before Leaneíras held a thread on the tapestry. I will do what I can to stop her own tricks."
Leaneíras was a threat to her marriage that none of his other mistresses could ever hope to be; not even his beautiful May.
Aphroditê turned his face to his, resting her forehead against his own. "I know you can do this, little trickster. You can ensure their loyalty to Olympos, but more importantly, you can get the blessing that is being granted upon you. My advice is to stop approaching her as if the two of you are already married and approach her as Hermês, friend to mortals."
"Do you truly think that I can?"
"Ahh, aside from Apollôn, who else believed in you before anyone else did or when none else would? Love is what makes this world go round, and you have a lot of love to give."
He made a sound that was a mixture of a huff and a laugh.
"Mayhaps, I should arrange for her to meet those that were also blessed to be mated to gods? Hm, Hermaphroditos would be a good choice also."
"I doubt she would want to be reminded of another being that she is technically the stepmother of, especially one that is millennia older than her, but it has its merits. And it would be good for Drew to meet more of her siblings."
Hermês sighed, giving her a small smile. "Love is the wisdom of the fool and the foolly of the wise."
Her answering smile was just as beautiful as she. "Indeed it is. Now, come. I wish to learn more of the mortal that is charming our allies back to our sides and that you dare compare to me. The mortal who has somehow stolen the heart of the Prince of Robbers. I wish to help you and Apollôn in your attempts to seduce Luke back to our side and try to mitigate the damage as the Great Prophecy unfolds around us also."
"Very well," he said, standing to his feet and helping her rise. He tucked her arm into his elbow before flying them onwards to Delos where Apollôn and Huákinthos were tending to the few cattle that the former stationed there and not at Triple G's ranch. "We have many plans."