The next few days were torture, just like Tantalus wanted.
Not that Lea cared. It was Percy that was having a crisis and trying to come to turn that he was brothers to a mythical creature.
Since Lea refused to acknowledge that she was a part of that side of the Family, it was easier for her to compartmentalize it. Also, she had already come to terms with Chiron being half-horse and he was their "supposed" Father's brother.
A cyclops isn't even the worst thing to have familial relations to.
The Minotaur that Percy fought was technically a prince and there was something about a human getting it on with a cloud who gave birth to mini-clouds.
Lea did not know nor did she care.
"He's not our real brother!" Percy protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like ... a half-brother twice removed, or something."
Lea could agree with him on that. None of them were her real family, but that kind of thinking was natural for her. It was expected of her. Percy was supposed to be the friendly one to those dweebs, so she made sure she looked incredibly disappointed whenever he said that kind of crap.
And while he was going through his own existential crisis, Lea was forced into mageia lessons by Alabaster and his siblings. He was disappointed to know that she had only skimmed through the books that he sent her, but honestly, there was only so much magical theory for her to read before she decided that watching a movie was better than anything else.
If she wanted to know about magic spells and potions, she'd read Harry Potter.
But according to Alabaster, "You're a person looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your whole life trying to widen it...that keyhole. To see more, to know more. And now on hearing that it can be widened, in ways you can't imagine, you reject the possibility."
Which sounded like crap and something that he was quoting from somewhere else, and then he took her nose. Literally. He just waved his fingers and she was looking like Voldemort by the face.
It was disturbing, moreso about the fact that he tried to get her to learn another language. She was still learning ellinika! But nooo, he wanted her to learn latin on top of that. Honestly, she was so lucky to have Drew to help her because Lea was fluent in Google Translate. Latin was a dead language, but apparently, Drew could understand it as it was one of the languages of love also.
(Plus her Mom was the Mother of Rome, so she definitely knew the language.)
"Might I offer you some advice," he had said. "Forget everything that you think you know so that you can know more. And then I will give you your nose back."
Unfortunately for him, his cabin mates that actually biologically belonged to the cabin took offense at anything that could be deemed harmful to the image of their "step-mother". Something that Lea had once loudly protested decided to now quietly ignore as she did get her nose back.
Though, from what Drew told her that while she was spiritually their step-mother, legally speaking they already had one and those cabin mates took offense to her very existence. Then somehow turned the conversation into something about sisters=wives and Lea just decided to check out of the conversation.
Lea had opted out of the chariot racing, through some excuse about not having a license and whatnot. But apparently, Mr. D was going to have her sit it out anyway because she was not to be put at risk under any circumstances and the chariot racing was risky.
Wait until he found out that his brother wanted her to go on a quest in enemy territory!
Alabaster took that as the challenge to practice her mageia. He took to calling it energy manipulation which sounded all science fiction-ish, but it was better than magic.
Lea had problems, but her Mom and twin accepted her alongside the few friends that she had so honestly, no one else's opinions mattered.
Anyway, Alabaster took over her training with a few of his siblings and those of Hermes that were more magically inclined to help. Drew had surprised a lot of people when she pointed out the few of her siblings that dabbled in alchemy. And once people saw that there were energy manipulation lessons going on and the Tenth Cabin was participating, they drew in all kinds of attention.
Mainly the Sixth and Seventh and Ninth cabin as children of gods that dealt in facts and logic and absolutes. They could accept that magic existed as it was fundamental to their culture, but the whys and hows and the laws of magic intrigued them.
Alabaster suddenly went from having one student — that was there by force! — to have half the camp sitting in one session. Even the Fifth and Sixth cabin were able to put aside their differences of who was the better "war cabin" alongside the issues that the Ninth cabin had with the Sixth because magic was another weapon to wield and the children of war and forge understood weapons.
Now though, the group were sitting near the canoe lake. Lea could see Percy and Annabeth not too far away. Percy did say something about the two of them teaming up for the chariot race. Lea wrinkled her nose. She was sure that the two of them had crushes on each other, and Lea was not interested in knowing anything about her brother's love life.
They looked too much alike for her to ignore though.
Drew and Ethan were sitting with them, not too far away as she was forced to meditate. According to Alabaster, she needed to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state so that she had better access to the power within her. He had also admitted that he wasn't sure if he was the best person to teach her as he followed his Mother's teachings and dabbled more so in dark mageia.
Not the evil kind, but just that his power was stronger at night and in graveyards and at crosswords. Though he said what was termed to be 'black magic' depends very much on who was doing the defining.
He preferred using the shadows and the moon was an excellent source of energy especially the fading waning moon. His sister, Lou Ellen, though had smiled and stated that through their Mother's connection to the moon and their great-grandmother being the goddess of power over, and mastery of, the sea that she took more of her mageia through the power of the ocean.
That had gotten the attention of both Lea and the children of Aphrodite.
Alabaster left them under her tender care stopping on the occasion to help with the more stray mageia that was being accessed since one child of Apollo had harnessed solar mageia that somehow awakened something in the child of Aphrodite.
"You cannot beat a river into submission," Alabaster had told them when they were trying to force their mageia to comply with them. "You have to surrender to its current and use its power as your own. Like this..."
Lea looked up watching as some of Drew's more irritable siblings were bothering Percy. One of them had asked him if he needed to borrow eyeliner for his eye. "Oh sorry, eyes."
As they walked away laughing, Alabaster flicked his wrist and the girl was suddenly looking like Argos as eyes appeared all over her body.
She screeched.
And with another flick, she had no eyes and another she had one eye then another she had three and then another she had eight and then another she had her regular two. Drew bit her lip to keep from laughing at her sibling while the other stormed off back to their cabin.
(From behind them, Lea took note of Annabeth throwing down her notebook and storming away from Percy.)
"There are many different forms of mageia," Lou Ellen added. "And we all use some form of it in our day to day life. Some of us use simple nature mageia. We use the sun, the moon, the ocean, and the forest."
"The sun," Alabaster started with a nose scrunch. He was a being of the night. "Heals and charges and warms. You'd find that Lady Circe and Queen Pasiphae and their parents, Lady Perse and Lord Helios, are solar Pharmakís. Lord Apollo and through him, Lady Leto also have power that is connected to the sun and light. Lady Leto is the Titanis-Goddess of Light and Passing Unnoticed."
"Lady Artemis and alongside Lady Selene and Mother and Lord Hermes all have power through the moon," Lou Ellen took over. "The moon connects and manifests and unlocks intuition. Mother, Lady Artemis and Lady Selene are interwoven around each other forming the triple goddess that you see today. Lord Hermes draws his connection through his genealogy: for his grandfather Atlas was the Titan who turned the heavenly constellations on their axis, and his mother Lady Maia one of the starry Pleiades."
Lea suddenly remembered the way stars seemed to twinkle and shine brighter every time she looked at them. Now Lea wasn't good at astrology and couldn't pick out a constellation even if they were traced for her, but she was sure that the Pleiades star cluster shouldn't be visible during June.
"Mother also gathers her connection to the Moon through her Mother, Lady Asteria, Goddess of Shooting stars, nighttime divination. Asteria is also the aunt of Lady Artemis," the girl continued.
"After those two," Alabaster smoothly took over, giving his younger sister a pleased smile. "You have the ocean. Grandmother Eurybia is the goddess of power over, and mastery of, the sea. She presides over external forces which influence the main such as the rise of the constellations, seasonal weather, and the power of the winds. She's the grandmother of a variety of divinities with power over the sea. The Anemoi, the Astra, and Mother. The moon moved the tides, the wind for sailing, and stars for navigating."
"Those like me who used the mageia of the ocean," Lou Ellen cut in. "Would see that the ocean cleanses, refreshes, and opens energy centers. The ocean is vast and unassuming. The depth of power there is innumerable and the various gods that reside there whose power we don't all know is unimaginable. Of course, you'll find Lord Poseidon has power there alongside several of the other Olympian gods who had minor maritime roles including Lord Apollo, Lady Artemis, Lady Aphrodite and the Dioscuri who presided over embarkations, harbors, safe voyage, and salvation from storms. It's the source of your power, Lea, though you would be able to connect with the other powers of nature also as they worked together in an unending knot."
Lea huffed, the bangs that had fallen into her face blowing away as she turned back to meditating. Lea could read between the lines and unlike Percy, she didn't care about the dude that abandoned them for twelve years and only showed up because he was accused of theft. They were perfectly fine without him, and sure she can thank the little weird world for getting rid of Gabe, but that was all she was thanking them for.
So if Lou Ellen wanted to know more about the sea, then she'd do better by appealing to her Great-grandmother than hoping Lea would help.
"And lastly, you have the forest which grounds, balances, and stabilizes. You find that Lady Demeter, Lady Persephone, Lady Despoine, Mother, Lord Dionysos, Lord Hermes and a plethora of other gods all have a hand in this kind of mageia. Mother Gaia is the source of our power seated at our core. She gives and receives in a never ending circle. Everything about humanity comes from the bones of Mother and what they once were they shall be again."
Didn't Hermes tell her that before?
"Mageia is nothing more than a technique for bringing about change in the physical world through the force of one's will," Alabaster told them. "Nowadays we tend to call it the mist, but like the ocean, it's so much deeper than that. The mist is nothing more than the morning dew in comparison to mageia which is like the pouring rain."
"Speaking of rain, there are magical properties in water also. Rain water for cleansing and scrying and ritual baths and altar water and growth and rebirth spells. Storm water for courage, self esteem, vitality, mental strength, protection and it can strengthen a spell. Dew water is for healing, beauty, eye sight, love and fertility, and cleansing. It may be why the naiads like to call you Drew-drop, Drew."
The child of Aphrodite startled with a small smile towards the water. She was currently the only child with the siren's call in her voice.
"There's snow water for balance and peace and moon water for charging and blessings and cleansings. Sun water for protection and healing and clairvoyance and happiness. River water for warding and breaking through power. Swamp water for binding and hexes and banishing and just about any mageia for revenge. Well water for healing and wishes and manifestation and intuition. Lake water for peace and joy and contentment and self reflection and self discovery. Spring water for growth and holy water and abundance. And of course, sea water for cleansing, banishing, protection, manifestation, and emotional balance. It's a plethora of things that you can do with water mageia."
Alabaster rolled his eyes at his sister. "She also managed to charm one of her bags so that she can summon the jars of water whenever she needs them."
"It works," Lou Ellen stated. "The most important days of our year also help. Like the solstice and equinoxes overflow with energy and the gods' power strengthens them. The Olympioi have the Summer Solstice and the Khthonioi have the Winter Solstice. The Nomioi gods power through the Spring Equinox whereas the Eleusinioi gods control the Autumn Equinox. I know the Winter Solstice is also important to Lord Poseidon in particular since it falls in the month that is named for Lord Poseidon. Despite the fact that the ancients were the least likely to sail during these months, they held a celebration in Athens called Posidea to celebrate Lord Poseidon. And at Eleusis, there was a festival called Haloea on the 26th of the month Poseidon. The Haloea was actually a festival for Lady Demeter and Lord Dionysus but it included a procession for Poseidon. And the Poseidonia of Aegina may have taken place in the same month. There were 16 days of feasting with rites of Aphrodite concluding the festival."
Lea wasn't sure how this was supposed to help as all that knowledge was going through one ear and out the other.
"But that's a lesson for another day," Alabaster shrugged. "Once you all managed to connect to your mageia cores, we can start crafting your grimoires."
"Grimores," a child of Apollo called out. "You mean our own Book of Shadows?"
"I want to be Prue," another camper called out.
"What, no. I want to be Prue!"
"Well I want to be Piper," someone else said.
"We all know that Apollo's kids are Phoebes!"
"That is stereotypical," one of them yelled back. "Prue liked art and photography. We can be Prue's too."
"Paige is much better," some else scoffed.
"Excuse you? Wyatt is the twice-blessed child! And since Uncle D is called Twice-born that means his children are Wyatt. Pollux and Castor aren't around and since Dad is one of his favorite siblings then that means I get to be Wyatt," one of Hermes' kids snapped.
"Sorry to inform you but Dad is his favorite sibling," a child of Apollo yelled back.
"I don't particularly care about who's the favorite and who is who," Lea drawled. "I am Chris Halliwell because he is literally the best out of the entire dysfunctional family. Season Six is also the best season. And Drew Fuller is hot."
There was a moment of silence before a round of agreements were heard.
"I mean the love story between Cole and Phoebe is a literal fav," one of the Aphrodite kids started. "And though she ended up with some knockoff version of the Erotes. I can admit that Chris and Evil Wyatt were the best looking men in the series. Cole and Andy were like the next best."
"Don't forget Jason Dean! He was hot. I really wanted Phoebe to end up with him."
Drew scoffed. "It was so obvious that Phoebe was going to end up with a cupid from the first cupid that she was with. Her powers of Empathy that she ended up getting just emphasized that. I mean seriously, who better to end up with for a person that can literally see the future and read emotions. She's like a knock-off cupid without actually being one."
"That's true," a couple of them muttered.
"Anyway," Lea piped up, ignoring the conversation going on. "You're going to teach us how to make one?"
"Uh, yeah," Alabaster blinked. "There's a slight difference between a book of shadows and a grimoire though. A Book of Shadows contains religious text and instructions for magical rituals. They were burned after a person died, so that it wouldn't be discovered that they had been a witch. And like CHARMED, some had the supernatural ability to defend itself from harm. Some of them were passed down from generation to generation, each generation appears to write their own spells or notes."
"And a grimoire is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities, and demons. They're imbued with magical powers. The only contents found in a grimoire would be information on spells, rituals, the preparation of magical tools, and lists of ingredients and their magical correspondences. And while all books on magic could be thought of as grimoires, not all magical books should be thought of as grimoires."
Lea drew the absolute fucking line on angels and demons and spirits. Now, a part of her did believe in interdimensional beings. It was what fueled her on the species of the so-called gods. But she refused to believe that angels existed. No way. Hell no.
But then again, they probably were interdimensional beings also. Reading the lore of just about every myth, the deities existed in different planes of existence even the Gods of Olympos lived in the heavenly aither located just below the peaks of Mount Olympos. There were gates to get there and the Olympian akropolis lay above the clouds and the paths of the stars.
Maybe it was like that?
Lea didn't actually believe in Big Daddy G nor did she believe in Sky Daddy Z, O, S, R, et cetera. So Lea wasn't going to worship them or anyone else.
She was a proud and avid atheist.
"You know each cabin should have their own book of shadows," Lou Ellen mused. "The Eleventh Cabin is obviously going to have multiple. But we're all extended family right? We can do this."
Lea did not like the way that Hermes' kids looked at her when she said family. No. She did not like that at all.
The next couple of days, Alabaster was tasked with controlling the mageia within Lea since she "obviously can't do it yourself". He helped her create her own grimoire made from cow skin. Lea had been appalled, but Lou Ellen had assured her that it mostly came from animals that were fatally ill or wounded and that they purify the skin.
That wasn't any better to Lea but it was better than actively hunting animals just to kill them for material goods.
It was a pretty blue color with an engraved glowing green triton in the middle as if that wasn't subtle enough. Lea, however, didn't want the grimoire, but if she was going to have it then she wanted something that spoke of her. So, in the bottom margins, she engraved her name... somewhat.
She was incredibly jealous that Percy was getting flying lessons on the pegasi. Though she was smug to realize that the white pegasus refused to let anyone even touch her coat let alone ride her. Not even Tyson crying because the "chicken ponies" wouldn't let him would make her feel bad.
Beckendorf fixed that issue by sequestering Tyson away to the armory to teach him metalworking. The cyclops had been delighted by the toys he could make and the new friends that he made within the Ninth Cabin. And for the past few days, he stumbled into their cabin barely in time for curfew to fall dead asleep on his bed. It was quite amusing and the boys' side was quickly being covered in metal parts that Percy kept tripping over.
Lea had been on her way to see her brother after lunch— something about him in the arena with the Seventh Cabin. Percy was surprisingly beating them at sword work, but the cabin was making him work overtime for it. Lea approved because the more whispers she heard about this Great Prophecy and all the implications of upcoming war with Percy being the deciding factor well... Lea approved of anything that meant that in the end he would come back to her and their Mom.
She, however, did not approve of those crazy bastards shooting arrows and bullets at her brother.
What the fuck!
Lea was so shocked that it took all of them a moment to recognize the shields that were surrounding them that were the same shades as her eyes.
In the back of her mind, she had a lecture waiting for Percy on getting over his pride to ask Clarisse and her cabin for help in training or asking Annabeth and her siblings since the latter was his friend.
Alabaster had snatched her up right after that and suddenly, her mageia was helping sustain the shield which brought an uncomfortable conversation about her core. The seat of her power within that fuels anything that her heart desires with how she shaped her mageia.
Lou Ellen told her that it would grow as she did, but she was still stuck on border patrol even though Tantalus had insisted they all forget trying to protect the camp. How he thought Lea was going to listen to that she didn't know, but the shields had definitely come in handy whenever that creep got too close to her.
Something that Hermes' children took offense to in the name of their Father and took on their favored cousins of the Apollo's cabin assistance. Sometime in the middle of the night, a scarecrow was hoisted onto a log, in a blow up pool filled with lake water, and apparently, the sons of Dionysos had also been recruited because grape vines danced all around the scarecrow.
Tantalus had been infuriated and demanded that it be destroyed, but Mr. D refuted that order saying that it was the campers were able to make anything that they wanted for arts and crafts.
Drew and her siblings— the ones that liked Lea— had fun with decorating it. It was almost as good as the bust that Percy made of their Father that looked more like Sylvester Stallone than anything that looked like the twins if they really did look like him.
Either way, the shields made it easier for her to keep distance while she helped the satyrs and dryads as they sang and played nature mageia songs to the dying pine tree. For a while the pine needles seemed to get fuller. The flowers on the hill smelled a little sweeter and the grass looked greener. But as soon as the music stopped, the sickness crept back into the air.
The whole hill seemed to be infected, dying from the poison that had sunk into the tree's roots.
And no matter what healing salves that the children of Apollo and those of Hekate managed to make did anything to stop it.
The nights found her being hounded by Hermes who offered his own lessons at mageia and look, Lea could somewhat show interest in it even though she still refused to acknowledge anything that dealt with fate, astrology, reading ley lines, tarot cards, shadow work, or even ouija boards.
A part of her did recognize that she was in denial, but Lea was not going to lose the foundations that she crafted her life around. The mental breakdown the year before was enough for one lifetime.
The night before the race, Lea watched as Tyson and Percy finished their chariot. She had refused placed a few good luck charms that she learned from Lou Ellen and Alabaster on it and equipped them with some of the potions that Drew gave her — yes, she realized that they were actually perfume that the Tenth Cabin used, but she also knew that Drew and her siblings tweaked them making them both unassuming and deadly to monsters.
A simple spell that Hermes taught her made the wave designs on the carriage actually move.
As they were getting ready for bed — and for Tyson's sake, she actually slept in the bed now—, she heard the youngest speaking to Percy. "You are mad?"
"Nah. I'm not mad."
It was quiet for a moment and Lea wondered if Tyson was going to take him at his word. She definitely knew that while he wasn't mad, he was frustrated and confused and helpless. All things that Percy hated being.
But then Tyson's voice echoed around them. "I am a monster."
Lea wanted to sit up and refute that, but by definition, he was a monster.
"Don't say that."
"It is okay. I will be a good monster. Then you and Lea will not have to be mad."
Nevermind. She wanted to refute that instead as well as the startling realization that the young cyclops was a lot more perspective than he let on.
"It's just... I never had a half-brother before." Percy said, with a small crack in his voice. "It's really different for me. And I'm worried about the camp. And another friend of mine, Grover ... he might be in trouble. I keep feeling like I should be doing something to help, but I don't know what."
Tyson said nothing. And neither did Lea.
"I'm sorry," Percy continued. "It's not your fault. I'm mad at Poseidon. I feel like he's trying to embarrass me, like he's trying to compare us or something, and I don't understand why."
Lea kept quiet even after Tyson started snoring.
It was a while before she went to sleep.