EIGHT—Love in Its Many Forms
─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───
It turned out that meeting a god was like any other Tuesday for a demigod. So was being threatened to be turned into a rodent and ran over by their bike if they didn't accept an errand.
Cool. It wasn't like they already had enough on their plates saving the world or anything.
(The cheeseburger and fries certainly didn't make up for it.)
By the time they were able to spot the water park according to the God of War's instructions, the sun was long behind them, the sky deepening into midnight blue.
The place has seen better days, no doubt once a famous summer spot where children would splash around in knee-deep water and yell for their parents to watch them attempt tricks in the pool, where people of all ages would shout as they went down the water rides. There would be distant "cannonballs" heard somewhere around the park, the air permeated with the smell of sunscreen and chlorine.
Now, this place was a thrill seeker's dream, a rusted padlock securing the gate and barbed wires on the top more than likely did little to deter their curiosity. Who wouldn't want to explore an abandoned water park that might as well be the inspiration for an urban legend?
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
Ciaran choked back a laugh. "Percy, you do know who his girlfriend is, right?"
"Echidna?" Percy ventured.
Annabeth gave Percy a disapproving look. "Be more respectful. His actual girlfriend is very temperamental."
"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added before his face turned dreamy. "She's the goddess of love and beauty, after all."
"Aphrodite? I thought she was married to somebody." Percy snapped his fingers. "Hephaestus."
"What's your point?" Grover replied in an almost deadpan way.
"Oh." Percy turned away, suddenly interested in changing the subject. "So how do we get in?"
In response to his question, Grover said the magic word and wings sprouted from the heels of his shoes. He flew over the fence, did a flip in the air, and wobbled through his landing. He regained his balance and rolled his shoulders as if he planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"
"Smooth, goat boy."
The rest of them trespassed the old-fashioned way, by climbing over the walls and helping each other up. The park did not let up in its creepiness on the other side. The encroaching night embraced the curling slides and the dried-up pools, making them so dark that at first glance you wouldn't be able to see the bottom. The wind whistled a haunting song through the metal pipes and rusted nails clinging the whole place together.
They walked through the weirdly named attractions until they came to a souvenir shop still brimming with branded merchandise. They passed through the shelves of novelty snow globes and random knick-knacks, only stopping upon racks of bright red clothing with colorful lettering.
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just—"
"Watch me."
Annabeth gathered everything she could into her arms and disappeared behind the curtain of a changing room. A few minutes later, she reappeared, decked out in nothing but Waterland merch. If a stranger took one glance at her, they would think she was an obsessive fan.
Ciaran was severely tempted. He had been wearing the same outfit for far too long for it to be considered hygienic. He wanted a fresh pair of clothes, and preferably a shower, but beggars can't be choosers. The children of Hermes would no doubt encourage him to steal them.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon enough, they all walked out in identical outfits, looking like they were ready to film an advertisement for a defunct water park.
They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love through the dark and eerily quiet park. Wanting to get his mind off of the creepy atmosphere, Percy spoke up. "So Ares and Aphrodite, they have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth said. "Three-thousand-year-old-gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"
"Hephaestus, the god of the forge? He's mentioned in the myths to be a legendary blacksmith," Ciaran provided. "But Aphrodite's not attracted to brains, you know? She's the goddess of beauty. I'm sure she wasn't too happy when she found out she had to marry a crippled god who was thrown off of Mount Olympus by his mother."
"So she turned to bad boy bikers instead."
"Sure, you can say that."
"Hephaestus knows?"
"Oh sure," Annabeth answered. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-way places, like..." she paused, her eyes looking straight ahead. "Like that."
In front of them was a deep, empty pool in the shape of a bowl, perfect for any skateboarder to show off their moves. The rim was flanked with statues of Cupid, their wings spread and bows armed. On the opposite side was a tunnel where water would flow into the pool when it was still in operation. Overhead was a sign that read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE.
"A little on the nose, wouldn't you say?" Ciaran commented.
Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."
Nestled at the bottom of the pool was a canopied two-seater boat with pink and white paint flaking from its side, the hearts painted all over the boat to fit the theme all but faded with time. Glinting faintly in the left seat was a polished bronze shield.
"This is too easy." Percy snorted. "So we just walk down there and get it?"
Annabeth walked over to the nearest Cupid statue, running a finger along its base. "There's a Greek letter carved here," she mused to herself. "I wonder..."
Percy didn't let her finish her thoughts. "Grover, you smell any monsters?"
He sniffed the night air. "Nothing."
"Nothing, like in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"
Grover recoiled, a hurt expression crossing his face. "I told you, that was underground."
"Okay, I'm sorry." Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you." From the way his voice sounded less than enthusiastic, it was clear he was putting on a facade of bravado, perhaps to make up for what happened in St. Louis.
Percy shook his head. "No. I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."
His face brightened up and he stood a little straighter. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling." He turned to Ciaran. "Ciaran, come with me."
Ciaran wasn't expecting the invitation, but he shrugged and nodded. "Sure, why not?"
They carefully slid down the side of the pool and reached the boat. The shield still laid innocently in the seat, and next to it was a fine pink scarf that glimmered in the dark. Ciaran had an inkling that it belonged to Aphrodite.
He felt a little creeped out thinking about the two gods making out in this exact place, even more disturbed when he spotted the row of mirrors lining the rim. Should he be surprised that Ares and Aphrodite seemed to have a severe case of narcissism? Perhaps not.
Ciaran raised his brows when Percy picked up the scarf, a dreamy smile making his face look dazy as a misty veil was cast over his eyes. He was about to raise it to rub against his cheek when Ciaran pulled it back from him.
"Stop that."
Percy snapped out of his reverie. "What?"
Ciaran flung the scarf outside of the boat, not wanting to touch whatever magic was cast onto it. "Let's just get the shield and get out of here."
Percy went back to focusing on the shield. Meanwhile, Ciaran found his attention drifting to the side of the boat, where he saw a Greek letter etched onto the peeling paint. Eta, like what Annabeth said was on the Cupid statue.
"Wait," he called out, but Percy's hand was already on the shield. As if a switch had been flipped, noises erupted around them, the sound of a million cogs and gears rotating like the inside of a machine.
"Guys!" Grover yelled out from above.
The Cupid statues began to move, drawing back their bows as they got ready to fire. The boys ducked out of instinct, but the statues shot across the edges of the pool, not at them. Silky cables were tied to the arrows, stretching them taught when the arrow tips planted onto the other side, creating a huge asterisk. The pool whirred mechanically once more as metallic threads began to weave between the golden strands to make a net.
"We have to get out," Percy said.
"You think?"
Percy grabbed the shield and they started up the pool, but the sides were so slippery that it was difficult for them to find a footing. Grover and Annabeth tried their best to create an opening for them, but the threads wrapped around their hands wherever they touched.
The Cupids' heads popped open to reveal video cameras hidden inside. Spotlights rose from underground, illuminating the pool with blinding white light. A voice boomed from a loudspeaker. "Live to Olympus in one minute...Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight..."
"Hephaestus!" Annabeth shouted. "I'm so stupid. Eta is H. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now this is going to be broadcast live to Olympus!"
The boys almost made it to the top of the pool when the mirrors opened to let out a hoard of tiny metallic crawlers. At a closer look, they could see it was an army of mechanical spiders, scuttling around with their spindly legs, their pincers clacking and whirring.
"Spiders!" Annabeth screamed. "Sp-sp-aaaah!!"
They've never seen her like this. She fell backward in terror, unable to do anything but scream her head off. The robot spiders continued to flow out of the mirrors, overwhelming the pool and blocking their way out. With no viable way to go, they had to retreat back to the boat, kicking away the spiders that tried to climb up their legs.
"Thirty, twenty-nine," the loudspeaker announced.
The spiders began to spit out metal strands at them. They were easy to break through at first, but whatever they broke was quickly replaced. All of their efforts seemed futile.
Grover was hovering over the net trying to pull the net loose while Annabeth was still paralyzed and screaming. It was difficult for Ciaran to think, not when he had to defend himself against waves of ugly crawlers wanting to take a bite out of him. He liked to think that they weren't programmed to kill, but he could only hope.
Percy was whipping his head around, his eyes calculating in his assessment of something. Ciaran looked in his direction and saw huge water pipes behind the row of mirrors.
"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"
By this time, Annabeth had recovered some semblance of her composure. She scrambled for the control booth, more than likely grateful for the distance between her and the spiders. She slammed her hands on all the buttons, but the ride remained unresponsive. She raised her hands and looked at them helplessly.
All the while, the countdown continued.
Percy screwed his eyes shut. Ciaran didn't know what he was planning on doing, but he got half of his answer when he heard the distinct slosh of rushing water, reminding him of what happened when the toilet back at Camp Half-Blood was busted.
"Two, one, zero!"
Ciaran jumped into the seat and fastened his seat belt just as water burst out of the pipes, washing away the spiders and dousing them in a tidal wave. The boat rocked back and forth and then spun around the whirlpool.
The water was filling up the pool fast and they were rapidly approaching the metal net. Percy was gritting his teeth as he tried to control the boat, wholly uncaring about the spotlights and cameras pointing at them. Finally, the boat's nose turned to the tunnel and they shot into the darkness.
Percy and Ciaran held tight, screaming as the boat weaved through the loops and curls of the ride, whizzing past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and other lovey-dovey Valentine stuff.
They made it out of the tunnel and were barreling towards a barricaded gate, where two previous boats met a grim fate.
"Unfasten your seat belt," Percy yelled.
"Do you want us to die?"
"We will if you don't," he shot back. "We're going to have to jump for it."
Ciaran understood his plan. He unfastened his seat belt as the gate became closer.
"On my mark!"
"No! On my mark!" Ciaran protested.
"What?"
"It's physics! Quinn told me about it when he did his homework! Force times the trajectory angle—"
"Fine! On your mark!"
Ciaran mentally calculates, desperately hoping that his estimations were correct. He hesitated...and hesitated...until he finally shouted, "Now!"
They lifted off of the boat just as it crashed against the gate, throwing them into the air and straight over. Unfortunately, it was a little more than they needed, and instead of landing in the exit pool, they were heading straight toward the solid asphalt.
"Ouch!" Ciaran let out a yelp when he felt a hand clamped around his arm in midair. He looked up to see Grover holding him up, Percy's shirt in his other hand as he tried to soften their landing.
"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"
They spiraled toward the ground and crashed into a photo board. While Grover's head went straight through where the visitors would put their faces, Percy and Ciaran rolled to the ground, scratched up by the pavement.
Annabeth ran over and got the satyr out as the boys regained their breath and got to their feet. The cameras from the statues were still trained on them, swiveling around to catch every moment.
"Show's over!" Percy yelled in frustration. "Thank you! Good night!"
The cameras turned off and the Cupids went back to their original position. All the lights shut off and the park went back to its quiet state as if nothing had ever happened. Ciaran hoped that meant the gods had their share of entertainment for the evening.
Percy was scowling, his eyes barely hiding the stormy waves within. He hefted the shield on his arm. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."
─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───
Ares kept to his end of the bargain, divulging information about Percy's mother being kept hostage by Hades and arranging a ride straight to LA for them.
Granted, it was in the back of a truck transporting starving zoo animals, emblazoned with the most ironic name Ciaran had ever seen.
Was it worth the trek to an abandoned water park, being caught in a trap, and being made to be the laughingstock for all of Olympus to see? Ciaran begged to differ.
They were appalled at the type of "kindness" shown to the animals, all of them nothing but sacks of bones, their eyes lifeless husks. They resembled twisted caricatures of the proud, wild creatures they were supposed to be more than anything else.
Grover was the most incensed out of them all, and if the truck didn't move right then, there was no doubt in their minds that the satyr would have gone out to beat up the drivers with nothing but his reed pipes.
They helped the animals to the best of their abilities—Ciaran and Percy filling their water bowls and redistributing the food while Grover calmed the antelope down as Annabeth cut the balloon string tied to its horn. But as the night winded down, they huddled into the corners of the bumpy truck, munching on rations given to them by the God of War.
"Hey," Annabeth said as she nibbled on a Double Stuf Oreo, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park."
Percy shook his head. "That's okay."
"It's just..." She shivered. "Spiders."
"Because your mother cursed Arachne after she refused to give thanks for her talent and challenged her to a weaving contest?" Ciaran guessed.
Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things."
"Hey, we all have our weaknesses."
"You've already helped more than enough," Percy piped in. "We're a team, remember? We help each other out. Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."
They all thought he was already asleep, but then came his voice from the corner. "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"
After enjoying a rare burst of laughter, they went back to sitting in the darkness.
Annabeth plucked another Oreo from the bag. "In the Iris message...did Luke really say nothing?"
Ciaran gave Percy a look, and he knew what it meant. He just didn't know how to articulate something that had been bothering him all evening. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."
Grover gave a mournful bleat. "I should've told you the truth from the beginning. I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."
"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."
He nodded glumly.
"So that would make the two half-bloods she befriended along the way, the ones that got safely to camp...Annabeth and Luke?" Ciaran filled in.
Annabeth put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve, Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were...amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."
"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought...I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker..."
"Stop it," Annabeth cut him off. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."
"She sacrificed herself to save us." His miserable mood didn't lighten. "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."
"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" Percy said incredulously. "That's not fair."
"Percy's right," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says."
"You weren't wrong for following your heart," Ciaran joined in, wanting to make his friend feel better. "Anyone could see that you did the right thing bringing Luke and Annabeth along. The council just needed someone to blame."
Grover sighed heavily. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."
"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name another who would dare to go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."
She pointedly kicked him in the shin.
"Yeah. It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."
Instead of sniffles, they heard a deep sigh that might have carried with it the hint of a smile. They waited for him to say something more, but the only answer I got was snoring.
"How does he do that?" Percy blinked in wonder.
"I don't know," Annabeth said, "but that was really a nice thing you told him."
"I meant it."
"He deserves to know how important he is," Ciaran said.
They rode in silence for a few more miles. Annabeth began fiddling with her pine tree bead, that familiar calculating look on her face.
"That pine-tree bead," Percy pointed out. "Is that from your first year?"
She looked down. "Yeah. Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that's a weird summer..."
"And the college ring is your father?"
"That's none of your—" she clamped her mouth shut before she could finish, her face falling. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"You don't have to tell us," Ciaran said.
"No, it's okay." She took a deep, shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her...that's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"Yeah, well...the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" Percy asked.
Annabeth averted her eyes, choosing to look at the animals instead. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."
"You shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."
"Thanks for the advice," her voice turned cold. "But my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."
Ciaran had been silent, but he felt that it was time for him to speak up. "Have you heard about how Lux and I thought about running away from home one time?"
Percy looked at him in surprise, but Annabeth only craned her head to one side. "Yeah, Lux told me about it."
Ciaran clicked his tongue. "Darn. She took my chance to be the wise side character. Well, let me see if I can still give you something to think about. Just because they're adults doesn't mean they know everything, no matter how much they want to believe that. Sometimes they make bad decisions and say things before they can think about the consequences. That doesn't mean we should excuse their actions. But sometimes, they learn from their mistakes. And sometimes, they realize that what they thought was the right thing to do or say brings nothing but pain. Sometimes we can only truly understand them when both sides are honest with each other. It isn't something set in stone, but isn't that sliver of hope worth at least some effort?"
A small smile played on her lips. "You sounded so much like your sister, you know that?"
"We aren't siblings for nothing."
"But, I don't know." Annabeth drew her legs closer to her stomach. "It's easy for you to say, you actually have parents who care about you. I don't know if I can place my trust in him again just to be disappointed."
"Who says that deep down they don't? The fact that he sent you his college ring and told you to come home tells me he does care, even if a little."
Silence descended on them for a few more miles.
"So if the gods fight," Percy turned the conversation around. "Will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"
Annabeth adjusted her position to lay her head on the backpack Ares had given them and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"
He didn't say anything more, nor did Annabeth. She was fast asleep alongside Grover.
Ciaran and Percy were the only ones left awake. It was nothing new to him, he was the most alert when the moon was highest in the sky. But he wondered what was on the son of Poseidon's mind.
"Hey, Ciaran?"
"What's up?"
"Can you tell me about it? About why you and Lux thought about running away from home?"
Ciaran closed his eyes to bring back the memories of that day. "We were adopted by our current parents the year we turn 6. At first, everything was perfect. More than perfect. They were loving and kind, and they didn't mind that we had such different schedules. That summer was probably the best one we've ever had. For the first time, we felt like we actually had a real childhood."
His smile faded. "But then the school year started. I constantly got scolded and given detention because I kept dozing off in class. Meanwhile, because Lux fell asleep as soon as the sun set, she barely had any time to catch up on her homework, especially not with her dyslexia and ADHD. One afternoon, we overheard our parents talking with each other about how they didn't know what to do with us and what the best solution would be. They looked so anxious, like they didn't know what they got themselves into."
Ciaran sighed. "We were afraid they were going to send us back to the children's home and back into the foster system. It wouldn't be the first time someone reprimanded us and complained about our abnormal sleeping schedules." At that, a melancholic expression crossed his face. "That day, Lux and I snuck out of detention after school. We got on the subway without a destination in mind. All we knew was that we didn't want to go home because we didn't want to face them and hear them say they were returning us. So we kept on going, holding hands even as Lux's eyes began to close. We found ourselves in Central Park, walking around and dodging the looks and questions from the people around us. We thought maybe it's better this way, to go before we get too attached."
"But then our parents found us." He grinned. "We didn't know how. We were barely able to think anything before they pulled us into their arms, rambling about what on earth we were thinking and never to scare them like that again. I felt my mom's tears falling down my shirt and how tightly they hugged us, enough to knock my breath out of me. I think that at that point, Lux and I knew we found the place where we belonged."
"Do you think you would've actually gone through with running away?"
"Probably not," Ciaran mused. "My sister didn't show it at the time, but she fell in love with them almost immediately. I was also going down that road. Besides, we were kids, where else would we go? Definitely not back to the home. Deep down, we wanted nothing more than to go back to them, but fear dictated our actions back then."
"Well, I think it's a good thing that you guys didn't. I'm glad things worked out for the both of you."
"Me too, Percy," he said as he watched his friend slowly go to sleep. "Me too."