Jason Grace.
Jason ... Grace... Why does that sound familiar? Don't I know a Grace? She was that actress Hylla and Circe hated; but last time I checked she only had a daughter who had run away.
Miriam asked. "How's he been?"
"Jason's been..." Luke paused for a moment. "He's been Jason."
"What does that mean?"
Luke scratched at his wrappings, "Jason's a bit eccentric. He's a good kid –he's lessened his violent tendencies and tries to think before he speaks...he just thinks a bit too much."
"Jason's a little paranoid," Luke continued. "he could give Koios a run for his money with the amount of questions he asks."
So, he's a bit like Reyna then. I wonder if they would get along?
I leaned back in my cot. "Your brother sounds like a nice kid."
Luke grinned. "He is. He's only nine-years-old and has been such a help on this quest —even if I'm a little worried he'll get hurt."
"You're on a quest?"
Luke gave a calm hum, his eyes dulling slightly.
"I was given the task of going to the Garden of the Hesperides and sneaking in to steal the golden apples of their orchard by my father..."
Luke's tone stuttered slightly; the ay he was talking about going to the Garden of the Hesperides made it sound like it was the easiest get rich quick scheme ever, his eyes shimmering with mischief. Yet the moment he mentioned his father, the diablerie in his eyes morphed into disdain.
What did Mercury do to Luke to cause such a shift in his mood? It made sense for Luke to be taking pride in this; a quest like this could be a once in a lifetime chance to show your skills off to everyone.
Well, unless you're a certain Son of Jupiter. Since the Hesperides Garden is the same place–
"—Hercules went?"
"What?" Luke asked.
"The Garden of The Hesperides, didn't Hercules go there?" I asked again. For some reason the mention of the place made a strange tick go off in the back of my mind.
"I mean — technically, Herakles went there to pay for one of his labors." Luke muttered. "But he had to do it to make up for his mistakes; he needed the help of multiple God's and Titan's to succeed, we haven't needed the help of one and made no mistakes."
Phoebe looked at him with amusement —though that may be the drugs Miriam just fed her. "Really, so you haven't taken help from any gods?"
Luke looked away in embarrassment, "so we got some help from Lady Artemis. Even with her help we found the Garden's location on our own."
In a swift motion Luke reached into his pocket and took out a map, red markings dotting across the paper land mass like a schizophrenic tic tac toe board. He explained how since the garden moved with western civilization, its location must have been somewhere around a place called "North Carolina".
"We had originally checked around Basques and Nantucket but we found squat, so North Carolina is the best guess we have. It matches the closest description of the garden's location in Benghazi."
Phoebe looked surprised, "wow, you thought about this hard; and here I thought children of the big twelve didn't use their brains that much."
Luke grimaced." Big words from the Oread Leucippide."
Phoebe scowled at Luke. If it weren't for her vast amount of injuries I believed she was going to gut him. Honestly she might be able to do it with them.
Luke didn't seem to care about the enraged ginger, going on about his quest and the glory he'd get from it. The more he went on, the more a weird feeling in my gut made me think there was something off about the map he had shown.
Hesperides were Nymphs of the West. Why would Goddesses famous for always being where the sun sets, be on a mountain that far east?
"That doesn't look right," I said.
Luke stopped talking, teal flashing in his eyes, "what do you mean?"
I rested my arms on my knees, leaning closer to the inky splotches on the map grasped in his hands. I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew that wherever Luke was looking was far off from where the Garden of the Hesperides was.
"Where are you going again?" I asked, squinting at the spots.
Luke looked down at the map and tapped an X.
"Right here," he said. "Mount Mitchel, the tallest mountain in North Carolina."
The place Luke was pointing at was entirely landlocked, safe for a few rivers. In the stories it was said that the Garden of The Hesperides was surrounded by Oceanus. If so, why is it so far from the sea?
I told the son of Mercury. "The location is wrong."
"How do you know?"
I pointed at the map. "I'm not sure — it's a garden for golden apples, a mountain that tall and that far away from a consistent water source would barely be able to grow weeds." I put my arm down. "If the Hesperides are Goddesses of the Sunset, why would they be this far east?"
Luke went quiet, looking at his map front and back; mumbling to himself, trying to see if there was any sense to the nonsense I was spouting out.
"You might be right," he said with a hint of suspicion. "But then where would it be?"
"I don't know." I admitted, unsure of how I even knew what I just told him.
We sat there for a moment, trying to piece together where Luke and his crew would have to go. It wasn't until Phoebe snapped her fingers that we'd gotten an idea.
"San Francisco." She declared with a wince. "That place is wall to wall with water."
Luke looked unsure. "Does that city even have a mountain?"
"It has Mount Tamalpais," said Phoebe, pointing to a spot on the map. "It's the farthest west of the west coast mountain range."
"Making it the perfect place for the Titan of the West," realized Luke, flipping the map to himself, "that's what I was missing from the prophecy."
"Prophecy?" Phoebe and I asked. "What prophecy?"
Luke pulled a pen from his pocket, "it's a bit complicated and long winded, you wouldn't understand."
The Son of Mercury muttered curses in frustration. His hands attacked the paper with writing, trying to understand how he and his quest mates never realized how far off they were. He wrote and wrote till he whimpered in pain, pulling back his bandaged hand and alerting the resident medical professional.
"Luke" Miriam chimed, moving his injured hand aside. "You're busted up with about half an hour till your arm fully heals —longer if you keep writing like that– maybe you should let new ears hear your prophecy so it doesn't keep you in that cast longer. You of all people should know how dangerous a prophecy truly is."
Luke grumbled and sighed, his body shifting as he massaged his bandaged hand.
"It's a poem from what I remember," he began. "It went something like this:
To find the path to the Sunset's Garden, the Son of Thieves must collect the hardened.
Children of war and thunder shall trail his direction, while the winds of change blow the Scourge of the Sea God onto their growing ascension.
To proceed in his quest and enter the gardens, the Son of Thieves must beckon the imprisoned. For his quest to succeed he shall need expertise, only the Scourge of the Sea God can gain it with ease.
Through wrath and dissension will two sons link, as without their trust the son of the heavens may lose Theia's gift at the brink."
Luke finished the prophecy with a tired breath. "I already know who the children of war and thunder are. And with what my destination is, I have pretty good suspicion on who the 'Scourge of the Sea God' could be." He quickly muttered under his breath. "Though that's probably wrong as well."
"Polybotes?" I guessed, stretching my legs.
Phoebe shook her head. "No, he's the Bane of Poseidon; and he's stuck under an island for the rest of eternity."
Miriam added. "Hopefully."
"Then who do you think it would be?"
Luke clasped his hands together. "Atlas."
"... what?"
"I know it sounds weird; but it made sense to me and my group. Lord Poseidon hates Atlas because his wife —Lady Amphitrite— ran to the titan when she didn't want to marry Lord Poseidon; Lord Oceanus became bitter with having to constantly protect the island because of a war he never fought in; and with Atlas being the Hesperides father—"
"He would have the most ease entering the garden." Phoebe finished. "Which means you need help from another God, Castellan."
I added, "like Hercules."
Luke grunted, unamused by Phoebe and I's addition. "I guess. I just need to figure out who or what the wind of change is that's going to get Atlas on our side."
"You could ask Aeolus?" I suggested. "He's the master of wind after all."
Luke let out a noise. I wasn't sure if he was laughing at the idea or scoffing at the fact I had suggested it.
"It's a good idea," Luke said. "But we don't need help from any more Gods; Lady Artemis has already helped me enough and Atlas is going to be a pain in the neck for sure."
"But Aeolus is the Master of Winds, not a God." I reasoned. "Maybe he'll be more cooperative
Luke waved me off, "he's so high in the sky he probably doesn't have time to help anyone but himself."
Then who else was he supposed to ask? It's not like Luke's going to find a cloud nymph or venti willing to help steal from the gods. I've only met one Venti and he instantly ran from me the moment I tried asking for help.
The thought lingered, warm in my chest, the cuckoo squeezed its talons into me –something it seems to only do right before trouble finds me. A breeze slipped through the infirmary tent and tugged at the loose edge of Luke's map, fluttering it against my cot.
Luke paused curiously.
His eyes followed the paper, then the blank, all the way to me.
Slowly, something careful and sharp settled over his face — not suspicion or relief. Realization.
He was looking at me.
"Aeolus may not want to give me a hand," Luke said as he gazed at me. "But one of his servants probably could."
"Servant?" I sputtered.
"You were the first person out of three demigods, a bunch of hunters, and a multitude of others to notice the mistakes of my map. It has to mean something."
The offer sounded nice. Quests are a huge deal, but...I don't think I should go on this quest.
It's nothing against Luke, but should I really be going around helping more strangers? Look at what happened to me all of the times I have:
I got drugged by a cult because I did something for some old lady, I was thrown away by the goddess I served for years and the woman I helped escape a cannibal island, I'm in a cot with a bird's nest in my hair and ribs that feel like they'd been torn out and shoved back in because I agreed to help Phoebe.
I should just sit this one out. I mean what would I even do to help convince Atlas of all people to get his daughter to let us rob them. I'm pretty sure I only know all this stuff about their garden because I tended to Circe's.
I opened my mouth to decline but something Luke said cut me off.
"I know it's a lot to ask of a stranger, but you'd be a big help to us."
I paused.
My mouth still knew what it was supposed to say. Sorry, I can't. I shouldn't. I could already feel the shape of the refusal forming behind my teeth. My ribs ached just from breathing. My head still rang from the clap of thunder after I slipped on the oil. I had absolutely no reason to go chasing Titans with a boy I'd met less than a day ago.
And yet—
Something twisted low in my chest.
Not fear or excitement.
Pressure.
The same tight, pulling sensation I'd felt on Circe's Isle when Reyna's voice cracked. The same wrongness I felt when my mom...when someone was about to get hurt and I was the only one standing close enough to do anything.
I pressed my fingers into the blanket, grounding myself. Luke had his brother, and a daughter of Mars. He had Artemis's help. He had a map and a prophecy and an entire plan. All I did was happen to notice a mistake.
But the pressure didn't go away.
It grew the more I sat as the cuckoo's talons burrowed deeper into my shoulder.
"I don't..." My voice came out thin. The pull in my chest sharpened, almost impatient. It was as if I couldn't say no.
Slowly, like I was stepping onto thin ice, I nodded.
I swallowed, " I don't see why not."
The pressure disappeared almost immediately.
What the Hades was that?
Luke, Miriam, and Phoebe all looked at me with concern.
"Are you sure?" Luke asked.
I wasn't so sure anymore, but as the pressure in my chest began again I shook my head.
"Yeah, how bad could it be?"
The words came out half heartedly. I didn't mean for them to, but I did not want to experience that feeling again.
"Now hold on." Miriam interrupted. "No one is joining any quests till that arm is healed and he doesn't look like he was ransacked by the Nosoi." She said, gesturing to my lack of clothing and thick coating of blood, dirt, and sea scum.
Relief washed over me, at least I won't be going out with a ruptured liver and powdered ribs. Luke reluctantly agreed, deciding to share the news with his questmates instead of just sitting in a tent for an hour. Miriam confirmed that it was okay, just as long as she escorted him to the tent they were resting in.. With Luke and Miriam gone, Phoebe and I sat in the medicine tent, sore and bandaged.
Light gazed over the test, a warm feeling as the sun set before us.
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A/N: sorry for the late post, I've been busy with my first semester of college and rewriting other stories, things should be back on track as my spring break is next month