[Michelle Pfeiffer as May Castellan]
I 03. I
𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔
❝ cliff ❞
ARIADNE HAD BROKEN ENOUGH DUMMIES TO KNOW THAT SHE WAS ANGRY. Despite having taken her medicine, she cracked a few dummies in half before stomping off to her cabin.
Percy was keeping something from her. She thought that after everything, he would finally tell her the truth and not lie to her. But here she was, walking to her cabin that night as Percy and Nico were running off into the shadows in search of May Castellan.
She slammed the cabin door knowing that Pollux was a deep sleeper. The girl let Zoe follow her and the tiger waited patiently until she has changed into her pajamas and climbed under her purple covers.
The brunette stared at the purple ring in her hand. The amethyst glistened slightly in the moonlight that came through the window. Zoe followed the light with her paws and leaped onto her legs, causing the girl to mutter something at the tiger.
Ariadne placed down the ring onto her side table. She closed her eyes, and she felt a slight chill.
No amount of blankets could warm her up. The girl sat up and shivered, rubbing her hands up and down her arms before getting up from bed. She left Zoe to sleep and walked out into the warm night.
In a few minutes, she had raced to the Poseidon cabin and stolen a sweatshirt, before running back to her cabin and slipping on the large grey sweatshirt, which smelled like Percy.
She slipped back under her covers and closed her eyes, as only to find herself swept into another dream.
One minute she couldn't see anything. She could only tell there was someone next to her. The next minutes the shadows melted into a new scene. She was on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. At least, it looked like Connecticut from the few times she'd been there: lots of trees, low stone walls, big houses.
Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was someone's backyard. The property was huge—more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two story white Colonial. Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. She could see a light glowing in the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.
It was odd to see a house like that with a lawn. She hadn't lived in one since Miami, and she was used to being on the run or in an apartment. But, she could imagine herself in one when she was older, maybe after college.
But it was Luke's home, and she couldn't help but shiver and feel her heart sadden at the sight.
Ariadne only noticed it was Percy when Mrs. O'Leary staggered, his fingers wrapped around the bronze links of her dog collar. She remembered what Nico had said about shadow travel draining her, so Percy slipped off her back.
She let out a huge toothy lawn that would've scared a T-rex, then turned in a circle and flipped down so hard the ground shook.
Nico appeared right next to him, as if the shadows had created him. He stumbled, but Percy caught his arm.
"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.
"How did you do that?"
"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental tripes to China."
Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the road of traffic behind them, Ariadne was sure she would've woken up the whole neighborhood.
"Are you going to take a nap too?" Percy asked Nico.
He shook his head. "The first time I shadowed traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."
"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut." Percy gazed at the white Colonial house. "What now?"
Nico gave a glance behind Percy, where Ariadne stood in her misty form. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her presence, and something told the girl he couldn't sense her as well as the son of Hades.
"We ring the doorbell," Nico said.
Ariadne had no clue why May Castellan would open up her door for two strange kids standing on her front porch. In fact, if she saw two people on her doorstep, she would've left them there until they went away, leaving her to do whatever she was originally doing.
But she wasn't May Castellan. And her heart tugged as she saw the home Luke had described to her so many times.
The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out there for a long time—since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.
The front porch was infested with wind chained. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breed. Brass ribbons tinkled like water. Ariadne didn't know how May could stand all the noise. If it was her, she would've gone crazy, which was basically impossible for a daughter of Dionysus.
The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English, and below in Greek: Καστέλαν.
Nico looked at Percy. "Ready?"
But Ariadne felt as if he was directing it at her. She had heard too many stories of May, all from Luke, and she wasn't sure how ready she was.
He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open.
"Luke!" the old lady cried happily.
She looked like someone who enjoyed sticking her fingers in electrical sockets. Her white hair stuck out in tufts all over her head. Her link house dress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched, and the high-voltage light in her eyes made the brunette wonder if she was blind.
"Oh, my dear boy!" She hugged Nico. Ariadne raised a misty eyebrow before she smiled at Percy and said, "Luke!"
She forgot all about Nico and have him a hug. She smelled like burned cookies. She was as thin as a scarecrow, but that didn't stop her from almost crushing him.
May looked behind him and directly at Ariadne. "You brought a friend! Oh, she's so pretty," the woman cooed.
"Come in," she insisted. "I have your lunch ready!"
Percy looked behind him to see nothing. Nico ignored his eyes and walked as May ushered them inside. Ariadne followed behind.
The living room was even weirder than the front lawn. Mirrors and candles filled every available space. Ariadne couldn't look anywhere without seeing Percy's own reflection. She wasn't really there, but every now and then, the girl saw a glimpse of her scar, and feared it to be Luke.
Above the mantel, a little bronze Hermes flew around the second hand of a ticking clock. Then she noticed the framed picture on the mantle, and she froze. It was exactly like Rachel's sketch—Luke around nine years old, with blond hair and a big smile and two missing teeth. The lack of a scar on his face made him look like a different person—carefree and happy. How could Rachel have known about that picture.
"This way, my dear!" May Castellan steered Percy toward the back of the house. "Oh, I told them you would come back. I knew it!"
She sat them down at the kitchen table. May gave Ariadne a smile, and she could only smile back, even if none of the boys could see her. Stacked on the counter were hundreds—I mean hundreds—of Tupperware boxes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside. The ones on the bottom were green and fuzzy, like they'd been there for a long time.
On top of the oven was a stack of cookie sheets. Each one had a dozen burned cookies on it. In the sink was a mountain of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A beanbag Medusa sat by the faucet like she was guarding the mess.
May Castellan started humming as she got out peanut butter and jelly and started making a new sandwich. Something was burning in the oven. She got the feeling more cookies were in the way.
Above he sink, taped all around the window, were dozens of little pictures cut from magazines and newspapers ads—pictures of Hermes from the FTD Flowers logo and Quickie Cleaners, pictures of caduceus from medical ads.
Ariadne's heart sank. She could tell that Percy wanted to get out of that room, but May kept smiling at him as she made the sand which, like she was making sure he didn't bolt.
Nico coughed. "Um, Ms. Castellan?"
"Mm?"
"We need to ask you about your son."
"Oh, yes! They told me he would never come back. But I knew better." She patted Percy's cheek affectionately, giving him peanut butter racing stripes.
"When did you last see him?" Nico asked.
Her eyes lost focus.
"He was so young when he left," she said wistfully. "Third grade. That's too young to run away! He said he'd be back for lunch. And I waited. He likes peanut butter sandwiches and cookies and Kool-Aid. He'll be back for lunch very soon..." Then she looked at Percy and smiled. "Why, Luke, there you are! You look so handsome. You have your father's eyes."
She turned toward the pictures of Hermes above the sink. "Now, there's a good man. Yes, indeed. He comes to visit me, you know."
The clock kept ticking in the other room. Percy wiped the peanut butter off my face and looked at Nico pleadingly.
"Ma'am," Nico said. "What, uh... what happened to your eyes?"
Her gaze seemed fractured—like she was trying to focus in him through a kaleidoscope. "Why, Luke, you know the story. It was right before you were born, wasn't it? I'd always been special, able to see through the... whatever-they-call-it."
"The Mist?" Percy said.
"Yes, dear." She nodded encouragingly. "And they offered me an important job. That's how special I was!"
Percy glanced at Nico, but he looked as confused as he did. Ariadne knew they couldn't see her, but if they could, her eyes were swimming with confusion.
"What sort of job?" Percy asked. "What happened?"
May frowned. Her knife hovered over the sandwich bread. "Dear me, it didn't work out, did it? Your father wanted me not to try. He said it was too dangerous. But I had to. It was my destiny! And now... I still can't get the images out of my head. They make everything seem so fuzzy. Would you like some cookies?"
She pulled a tray out of the oven and dumped a dozen lumps of chocolate charcoal on the table:.
"Luke was so kind," May murmured. "He left yo protect me, you know. He said if he went away, the monsters wouldn't threaten me. But I told him the monsters are no threat! They sit outside on the sidewalk all day, and they never come in." She picked up the little stuffed Medusa from the windowsill. "Do they, Mrs. Medusa? No, no threat at all." She beamed at Percy. "I'm so glad you came home. I knew you weren't ashamed of me!"
Percy shifted in his seat. Ariadne imagined an eight or nine year old Luke, who sat at that very table and just began to realize that his mother wasn't all there. Some part of Ariadne wanted to cure her madness, but she had ability to do so, and she wasn't actually there, just her conscious.
"Ms. Castellan," Percy said.
"Mom," she corrected.
"Um, yeah. Have you seen Luke since he left home?"
"Well, of course!"
Nico sat forward expectantly.
"When?" he asked. "When did Luke visit you last?"
"Well, it was... oh, goodness..." A shadow passed across her face. "The last time, he looked so different. A scar. A terrible scar, and his voice was so full of pain..." She gazed over at where Ariadne invisibly stood. "Just like you, dear."
Percy finally understood what her and Nico were seeing.
"His eyes," Percy said, getting back on track. "We're they gold?"
"Gold?" She blinked. "No. How silly. Luke has blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes!"
So Luke had been there, and it happened before last summer—before he'd turned into Kronos.
"Ms. Castellan?" Nico put his hand on the old woman's arms. "This is very important. Did he ask you for anything?"
She frowned as if trying to remember. "My—my blessing. Isn't that sweet?" She looked at them uncertainly. "He was going to a river, and he said he needed my blessing. I gave it to him. Of course I did."
Nico looked at Percy triumphantly. "Thank you, ma'am. That's all the information we—l
Ms. Castellan gasped. She doubled over, and her cookie tray clattered to the floor. Nico and Percy jumped to their feet. Ariadne watched with wide eyes, seeing as that was the only thing she could do.
"Ms. Castellan?" Percy said.
"AHHHH," She straightened. Percy scrambled away and almost fell over the kitchen table, because her eyes—her eyes were glowing green.
"My child," she rasped in a much deeper voice. "'Must protect him! Hermes, help! Not my child! Not his fate—no!"
She grabbed Nico by the shoulders abs began to shake him as if to make him understand. "Not his fate!"
Nico made a strangled scream and pushed her away. He gripper the hilt of her sword. "Percy, we need to get out—"
Suddenly Ms. Castellan collapsed. Percy lurched forward and caught her before she could hit the edge of the table. He managed to get her into a chair.
"Ms. C?" Percy asked.
She muttered something incomprehensible and shook her head. "Goodness. I... I dropped the cookies. How silly of me."
She blinked, and her eyes were back to normal—or at least, what they had been before. The green glow was gone.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked.
"Well, of course, dear. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
Percy glanced at Nico, who mouthed the word Leave.
"Ms. C, you were telling us something," Percy said. "Something about your son."
"Was I?" she said dreamily. "Yes, his blue eyes. We were talking about his blue eyes. Such a handsome boy!"
"We have to go," Nico said urgently. "We'll tell Luke... uh, we'll tell him you said hello."
"But you can't leave!" May got shakily to her feet, and Percy backed away. Ariadne let her hand mist by the woman's shoulder, and she saw May shiver slightly at her touch.
"Hermes will be here soon," she promised. "He'll want to see his boy!"
"Maybe next time," Percy said. "Thank you for--" He looked down at the burned cookies on the floor. "Thanks for everything."
She tried to stop them, to off them Kool-Aid, but Ariadne couldn't stay in that house any longer. It was too much of Luke. On the front porch, she grabbed Percy's wrist and he almost jumped out of his skin. "Luke, at least be safe. Promise me you'll be safe."
"I will... Mom."
That made her smile. She released his wrist, and as she closed the from door Ariadne could hear her talking to the candles: "You hear that? He will be safe. I told you he would be!"
As the door shut, Nico and Percy ran. Ariadne was frozen, but she was tugged away from the porch, as she was just in a dream. The little beanbags on the sidewalk seemed to grin at them as they passed.
Back at the cliff, Mrs. O'Leary had found a friend.
A cozy campfire crackled in a ring of stones. A girl about eight years old was sitting cross-legged next to Mrs. O'Leary, scratching the hellhound's ears.
The girl had mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress. She wore a scarf over her head so she looked like a pioneer kid—like the ghost of Little House on the Prairie or something. She poked the fire with a stick, and it seemed to glow more richly red than a normal fire.
But Ariadne knew exactly who it was.
"Hello," she said.
But Nico bowed to the little girl. "Hello again, Lady."
She studied Percy with eyes as red as the firelight. He decided it was safest to bow. "Sit, Percy Jackson," she said. "Would you like some dinner?"
After staring at moldly peanut butter sandwiches and burned cookies, Ariadne couldn't think of how Percy could have much of an appetite, but the girl waved her hand and a picnic appeared at the edge of the fire. There were plates of roast beef, baked potatoes, buttered carrots, fresh bread, and a whole bunch of other foods Ariadne hadn't had in a long time. Percy's stomach started to rumble. It was the kind of home-cooked meal people are supposed to have but never do. The girl made a five-foot-long dog biscuit appear for Mrs. O'Leary, who happily began tearing it to shreds.
The young girl smiled at the spot where Ariadne's form stood. "Come, Ariadne, join us." She waved her hand, and Percy could finally see the flickering image of Ariadne in the firelight. The brunette sat next to Percy, and gave the girl a smile.
Percy sat next to Nico. The two picked up their food. Percy scraped part of his meal into the flames, the way they did at camp. "For the gods," Percy said.
The little girl smiled. "Thank you. As tender of the flame, I get a share of every sacrifice, you know."
"I recognize you now," Percy said. "The first time I came to camp, you were sitting by the fire, in the middle of the commons area."
"You did not stop to talk," the girl recalled sadly. "Alas, most never do. Nico talked to me. He was the first in many years. Everyone rushes about. No time for visiting family. But Ariadne keeps me in her mind, she talked with me when she first arrived at camp."
The brunette had. She was five, and scared of everyone else except for the girl who looked her age, and eyes that seemed warm.
"You're Hestia," Percy said. "Goddess of the Hearth."
She nodded.
"My lady," Nico asked, "why aren't you going tu the other Olympians, fighting Typhon?"
"I'm not much for fighting." Her red eyes flickered. Ariadne realized they weren't just reflecting the flames. They were filled with flames—but not like Ares's eyes. Hestia's eyes were warm and cozy.
"Besides," she said, "someone has to keep the home fires burning while the other gods are away."
"So you're guarding Mount Olympus?" Percy asked.
"'Guard' may be too strong of a word. But if you ever need a warm place to sit and a home cooked meal, you are welcome to visit. Now eat."
Percy's plate was empty before Ariadne knew it. Nico scarfed his down just as fast.
"That was great," Percy said. "Thank you, Hestia."
She nodded. "Did you have a good visit with May Castellan?"
"What's wrong with her, exactly,9 Percy asked.
"She was born with a gift," Hestia said. "She could see through the Mist."
"Like my mother," Ariadne said. She was also thinking, Like Sally. "But the glowing eyes thing—"
"Some bear the curse of sight better than others," the goddess said sadly. "For a while, May Castellan had many talents. She attracted the attention of Hermes himself. They had a beautiful baby boy. For a brief time, she was happy. Abs then she went too far."
Ariadne remembered what May had said: They offered me an important job... it didn't work out.
"One minute she was all happy," Percy said. "And then she was freaking out about her son's fate, like she knew he'd turned into Kronos. What happened to... to divide her like that?"
The goddess's gave darkened. "That is a story I do not like to tell. But May Castellan saw too much. If you are to understand your enemy Luke, you must understand his family."
Ariadne just imagined being a young Luke and seeing those sad little pictures of Hermes taped above the sink. She could only imagine how scary May must've been for a nine year old kid who's mom was crazy. And if Hermes didn't visit all those years...
"No wonder Luke ran away," Percy said. "I mean, it wasn't right to leave his mom like that, but still—he was just a kid. Hermes shouldn't have abandoned them."
Hestia scratched behind Mrs. O'Leary's ears. The hellhound wagged her tail and accidentally knocked over a tree.
"It's easy to judge others," Hestia warned. "But will you follow Luke's path? Seek the same powers?"
Nico set down his plate. "We have no choice, my lady. It's the only way Percy stands a chance."
"Mmm." Hestia opened her hand and the fire roared. Flames shot thirty feet into the air. Heat slapped Ariadne in her face. The fire died back down to normal.
"Not all powers are spectacular." Hestia looked at Percy. "Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding. Do you believe me?"
"Uh-huh," Percy said.
The goddess smiled. "You are a good hero, Percy Jackson. Not too proud. I like that. But you have much to learn. When Dionysus was made a god, I gave up my throne for him. It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods."
Ariadne looked at her flickering hands at the mention of her father. She hadn't spoken to him since December.
"It unbalanced the Council," Percy remembered. "Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls."
Hestia shrugged. "It was the best solution, not a perfect one. Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background. No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this?"
"I don't know what you mean."
She studied him. "Perhaps not yet. But soon. Will you continue your quest?"
"Is that why you're here—to warn me against going?"
Hestia shook her head. "I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian. You must remember me when you face your final decision."
Ariadne didn't know what Percy was doing, and what Hestia was telling him. She looked at the boy who seemed a bit pale.
Percy looked at Nico, then back at Hestia's warn glowing eyes. "I have to continue, my lady. I have to stop Luke... I mean Kronos
Hestia nodded. "Very well. I cannot be of much assistance, beyond what I have already told you. But since you sacrificed d to me, I can return you to your own hearth. I will see you again, Percy, in Olympus."
Her tone was ominous, as though their next meeting would not be happy.
The goddess looked at Ariadne's figure. "Heed my warning, Ariadne. The one I told you last summer."
Percy looked at the girl, only to see her image flickering in and out even more.
The goddess waved her hand, and everything faded.
Ariadne disappeared from the boys, waking up back in her own bed in cabin twelve.
She gasped and looked around, seeing herself wearing Percy's sweatshirt and her black shorts. Her hair was knotted, and she ripped the ponytail out of her hair before she looked at a sleeping Zoe.
Hestia's words hung in the air. She wasn't meant to break Lunacy, but why would she want to. It could deal with the prophecy.
Ariadne sighed and let her feet touch the cold floor. It sent a shiver down her spine, and the girl wrapped her arms around herself and took in the warm feeling of Percy's sweatshirt. She wasn't planning on ever giving it back, not anytime soon. She had missed his embrace for too long.
The brunette focused on the ring on her finger. The sea green trident glowed brightly in the night, which caused her to look up toward the mirror hanging on the back wall.
She saw her reflection, and swore there was a glimpse of her twelve year old self. Of the smaller girl with brighter eyes, and a face that wasn't scarred, and still held a smile. But now, all she saw was a broken girl who had grown up too quickly, and her face riddled with scars and a frown.
Ariadne didn't know what she could ever say to her twelve year old self. She wasn't sure she could say anything. And if she did, it would probably be about how things change, and to cherish how young she was.
Because only the gods and fates know what pain she's been through. And she wasn't sure she wanted her younger self to find out.