by Rick Riordan
Page 19
"Um, Lady Hestia," I said, "weve come on urgent business. We need to see—"
"We know what you need," a mans voice said. I shuddered, because it was the same voice Id heard in the vision.
A god shimmered into existence next to Hestia. He looked about twenty-five, with curly salt-and-pepper hair and elfish features. He wore a military pilots flight suit, with tiny birds wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.
"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to the aviator and disappeared into smoke. I understood why she was so anxious to go. Hermes, the God of Messengers, did not look happy.
"Hello, Percy. " His brow furrowed as though he was annoyed with me, and I wondered if he somehow knew about the vision Id just had. I wanted to ask why hed been in May Castellans house that night, and what had happened after he caught Luke. I remembered the first time Id met Luke at Camp Half-Blood. Id asked him if hed ever met his father, and hed looked at me bitterly and said, Once. But I could tell from Hermess expression that this was not the time to ask.
I bowed awkwardly. "Lord Hermes. "
Oh, sure, one of the snakes said in my mind. Dont say hi to us. Were just reptiles.
George, the other snake scolded. Be polite.
"Hello, George," I said. "Hey, Martha. "
Did you bring us a rat? George asked.
George, stop it, Martha said. Hes busy!
Too busy for rats? George said. Thats just sad.
I decided it was better not to get into it with George. "Um, Hermes," I said. "We need to talk to Zeus. Its important. "
Hermess eyes were steely cold. "I am his messenger. May I take a message?"
Behind me, the other demigods shifted restlessly. This wasnt going as planned. Maybe if I tried to speak with Hermes in private . . .
"You guys," I said. "Why dont you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See whos left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and me back here in thirty minutes. "
Silena frowned. "But—"
"Thats a good idea," Annabeth said. "Connor and Travis, you two lead. "
The Stolls seemed to like that—getting handed an important responsibility right in front of their dad. They usually never led anything except toilet paper raids. "Were on it!" Travis said. They herded the others out of the throne room, leaving Annabeth and me with Hermes.
"My lord," Annabeth said. "Kronos is going to attack New York. You must suspect that. My mother must have foreseen it. "
"Your mother," Hermes grumbled. He scratched his back with his caduceus, and George and Martha muttered Ow, ow, ow. "Dont get me started on your mother, young lady. Shes the reason Im here at all. Zeus didnt want any of us to leave the front line. But your mother kept pestering him nonstop, Its a trap, its a diversion, blah, blah, blah. She wanted to come back herself, but Zeus was not going to let his number one strategist leave his side while were battling Typhon. And so naturally he sent me to talk to you. "
"But it is a trap!" Annabeth insisted. "Is Zeus blind?"
Thunder rolled through the sky.
"Id watch the comments, girl," Hermes warned. "Zeus is not blind or deaf. He has not left Olympus completely undefended. "
"But there are these blue lights—"
"Yes, yes. I saw them. Some mischief by that insufferable goddess of magic, Hecate, Id wager, but you may have noticed they arent doing any damage. Olympus has strong magical wards. Besides, Aeolus, the King of the Winds, has sent his most powerful minions to guard the citadel. No one save the gods can approach Olympus from the air. They would be knocked out of the sky. "
I raised my hand. "Um . . . what about that materializing/teleporting thing you guys do?"
"Thats a form of air travel too, Jackson. Very fast, but the wind gods are faster. No, if Kronos wants Olympus, hell have to march through the entire city with his army and take the elevators! Can you see him doing this?"
Hermes made it sound pretty ridiculous—hordes of monsters going up in the elevator twenty at a time, listening to "Stayin Alive. " Still, I didnt like it.
"Maybe just a few of you could come back," I suggested.
Hermes shook his head impatiently. "Percy Jackson, you dont understand. Typhon is our greatest enemy. "
"I thought that was Kronos. "
The gods eyes glowed. "No, Percy. In the old days, Olympus was almost overthrown by Typhon. He is husband of Echidna—"
"Met her at the Arch," I muttered. "Not nice. "
"—and the father of all monsters. We can never forget how close he came to destroying us all; how he humiliated us! We were more powerful back in the old days. Now we can expect no help from Poseidon because hes fighting his own war. Hades sits in his realm and does nothing, and Demeter and Persephone follow his lead. It will take all our remaining power to oppose the storm giant. We cant divide our forces, nor wait until he gets to New York. We have to battle him now. And were making progress. "
"Progress?" I said. "He nearly destroyed St. Louis. "
"Yes," Hermes admitted. "But he destroyed only half of Kentucky. Hes slowing down. Losing power. "
I didnt want to argue, but it sounded like Hermes was trying to convince himself.
In the corner, the Ophiotaurus mooed sadly.
"Please, Hermes," Annabeth said. "You said my mother wanted to come. Did she give you any messages for us?"
"Messages," he muttered. "Itll be a great job, they told me. Not much work. Lots of worshippers. Hmph. Nobody cares what I have to say. Its always about other peoples messages. ”
Rodents, George mused. Im in it for the rodents.
Shhh, Martha scolded. We care what Hermes has to say. Dont we, George?
Oh, absolutely. Can we go back to the battle now? I want to do laser mode again. Thats fun.
"Quiet, both of you," Hermes grumbled.
The god looked at Annabeth, who was doing her big-pleading-gray-eyes thing.
"Bah," Hermes said. "Your mother said to warn you that you are on your own. You must hold Manhattan without the help of the gods. As if I didnt know that. Why they pay her to be the wisdom goddess, Im not sure. "
"Anything else?" Annabeth asked.
"She said you should try plan twenty-three. She said you would know what that meant. "
Annabeths face paled. Obviously she knew what it meant, and she didnt like it. "Go on. "
"Last thing. " Hermes looked at me. "She said to tell Percy: Remember the rivers. And, um, something about staying away from her daughter. "
Im not sure whose face was redder: Annabeths or mine.
"Thank you, Hermes," Annabeth said. "And I . . . I wanted to say . . . Im sorry about Luke. "
The gods expression hardened like hed turned to marble. "You shouldve left that subject alone. "
Annabeth stepped back nervously. "Sorry?"
"SORRY doesnt cut it!"
George and Martha curled around the caduceus, which shimmered and changed into something that looked suspiciously like a high-voltage cattle prod.
"You shouldve saved him when you had the chance," Hermes growled at Annabeth. "Youre the only one who could have. "
I tried to step between them. "What are you talking about? Annabeth didnt—"
"Dont defend her, Jackson!" Hermes turned the cattle prod toward me. "She knows exactly what Im talking about. "
"Maybe you should blame yourself!" I shouldve kept my mouth shut, but all I could think about was turning his attention away from Annabeth. This whole time, he hadnt been angry with me. Hed been angry with her. "Maybe if you hadnt abandoned Luke and his mom!"
Hermes raised his cattle prod. He began to grow until he was ten feet tall. I thought, Well, thats it.
But as he prepared to strike, George and Martha leaned in close and whispered something in his ear.
Hermes clenched his teeth. He lowered the cattle prod, and it turned back to a staff.
"
Percy Jackson," he said, "because you have taken on the curse of Achilles, I must spare you. You are in the hands of the Fates now. But you will never speak to me like that again. You have no idea how much I have sacrificed, how much—"
His voice broke, and he shrank back to human size. "My son, my greatest pride . . . my poor May . . . "
He sounded so devastated I didnt know what to say. One minute he was ready to vaporize us. Now he looked like he needed a hug.
"Look, Lord Hermes," I said. "Im sorry, but I need to know. What happened to May? She said something about Lukes fate, and her eyes—"
Hermes glared at me, and my voice faltered. The look on his face wasnt really anger, though. It was pain. Deep, incredible pain.
"I will leave you now," he said tightly. "I have a war to fight. "
He began to shine. I turned away and made sure Annabeth did the same, because she was still frozen in shock.
Good luck, Percy, Martha the snake whispered.
Hermes glowed with the light of a supernova. Then he was gone.
Annabeth sat at the foot of her mothers throne and cried. I wanted to comfort her, but I wasnt sure how.
"Annabeth," I said, "its not your fault. Ive never seen Hermes act that way. I guess . . . I dont know . . . he probably feels guilty about Luke. Hes looking for somebody to blame. I dont know why he lashed out at you. You didnt do anything to deserve that. "
Annabeth wiped her eyes. She stared at the hearth like it was her own funeral pyre.
I shifted uneasily. "Um, you didnt, right?"
She didnt answer. Her Celestial bronze knife was strapped to her arm—the same knife Id seen in Hestias vision. All these years, I hadnt realized it was a gift from Luke. Id asked her many times why she preferred to fight with a knife instead of a sword, and shed never answered me. Now I knew.
"Percy," she said. "What did you mean about Lukes mother? Did you meet her?"
I nodded reluctantly. "Nico and I visited her. She was a little . . . different. " I described May Castellan, and the weird moment when her eyes had started to glow and she talked about her sons fate.
Annabeth frowned. "That doesnt make sense. But why were you visiting—" Her eyes widened. "Hermes said you bear the curse of Achilles. Hestia said the same thing. Did you . . . did you bathe in the River Styx?"
"Dont change the subject. "
"Percy! Did you or not?"
"Um . . . maybe a little. "
I told her the story about Hades and Nico, and how Id defeated an army of the dead. I left out the vision of her pulling me out of the river. I still didnt quite understand that part, and just thinking about it made me embarrassed.
She shook her head in disbelief. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"
"I had no choice," I said. "Its the only way I can stand up to Luke. "
"You mean . . . di immortales, of course! Thats why Luke didnt die. He went to the Styx and . . . Oh no, Luke. What were you thinking?"