Authors Note: I am basing Jason off of pre loving family Damian Wayne, if you have any complaints please say.
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Note to self, don't throw gale force winds at a fire breathing horse in close quarters.
"What do you mean you panicked," the mini version of Luke sputtered. "What happened?!"
I held up the freshly decapitated head of what Miriam had called a Mare of Diomedes —which, weird, never knew I had a species of flaming horses.
Luke was the one to explain to his group what had happened —I think they were part of his group, the boy looked exactly like him so he must've been Jason and the girl looked a lot like daughters of Mars I'd met so she must've been the daughter of Ares.
Wait would that make her and Reyna step sisters? Since she and Mars were married? No, wait they broke up— shit I'm getting side tracked.
Phoebe nudged me in the side, "Cloud boy, the horse head."
What? Horse hea—
"Oh shit!" I cried, tossing the flaming head, allowing it to turn to dust.
Phoebe sighed, walking over to where the head had decayed, raising her foot as she stomped out the embers.
The daughter of Ares rubbed her temples, "how the Hades did a Mare of Diomedes get into Artemis's camp?"
Luke didn't seem to know how himself. None of us did. Phoebe and I were talking to Luke about his quest when we were confronted with the smell of burning methane.
Before any of us could ask what the smell was, the medical tents flaps lit up in orange flames followed by the maw of a horse barging in, coated in dried blood.
We were all startled and I acted out of instinct. I reeled back my injured arm and fired a torrent of wind at the beast. That wasn't a good idea since it knocked the flames into something flammable, mixing the wind gust with an explosion and launching the flaming decapitated head of the Mare of Diomedes into my lap.
"Should we inform lady Artemis?" Luke asked as he and I helped Miriam put out her flaming tent.
"Most likely," Miriam answered, throwing a bucket of water on the fire.
Jason spoke, his toneless voice like static, "wouldn't she have noticed it entering her territory?"
That, is a good question. Circe immediately noticed me when I woke up ok her isle— though I was covered in the blood of a sea monster.
"Lady Artemis has been occupied with her brother's shenanigans," Phoebe explained. "It's why I was sent to hunt the Cretan Bull instead of her going herself."
"Shenanigans?" I asked, putting out the last of the fire.
Miriam sighed, "Lord Apollon has lost track of one of his servants. I do not know much of what happened but it has to do with Lord Poseidon and Lady Hera."
The daughter of Ares piped up, "so that's why it's been storming for two weeks?"
Two weeks?
That can't be right, I only got hit with the storm yesterday. I couldn't have survived two weeks unconscious in the ocean. If that was the case shouldn't I have severe brain damage?
Wait do I have brain damage?
I blinked hard, fingers twitching like maybe that'd somehow test for neural damage. No slurred speech. No memory loss—well, not counting the apparent two weeks I was unconscious.
Maybe I could pray to Monēta? She could tell me what I forgot? No, what would I even give her, I have no stories to offer.
"Yo, cloud boy," Phoebe called as she shook my shoulders. "You traveled the sea right?"
I raised a brow, "yeah? Why?"
"Luke thinks the servant of Apollo that's been missing has something to do with the Cretan Bull you and I killed. Since the bull belonged to Poseidon maybe you have some guesses as to who it could be?"
Apollo and Poseidon? I mean it would make sense, they've been friends since before the trojan war.
But what servant of Apollo has connections to Poseidon?
"The only things I can think of are Telchines —but they're servants of Poseidon and hate Apollo— and Nessus, cause he's half horse."
That didn't seem to be the right answer as Luke and his group seemed to sigh.
"Maybe a Telchine from crete serve's Apollo?" Luke suggested.
Jason shook his head, "what would it being from Crete have to do with it serving Apollo and sending the horse? Wouldn't Poseidon just send the horse here himself?"
"Hold on," I said, blinking as I finally tuned back in. "You think that the horse was sent? Like, on purpose?"
The Ares girl looked at me like I was the dumbest person she'd ever met. "Obviously. You think a flaming cannibal-horse just wanders into Artemis's camp by accident?"
"I mean..." I trailed off. "I was kinda thinking that, yeah?"
It happened a lot on Circe's island —I once woke up to a hellhound gnawing on my foot.
Jason crossed his arms, pale blue eyes unreadable as he said, "It didn't attack randomly. It charged straight for the infirmary without being noticed by anyone in this camp."
That's, actually makes sense. How does an entire camp of ancient hunters not notice a flaming horse entering their camp? They instantly noticed me —though have to do with the fact I reek of lotus flowers and pomegranates. For some reason.
"Plus," Phoebe added, "the mare only burst into flames when it got close to Luke. Only reason it didn't incinerate him was because Diomedes hit it with that gust of wind."
I shrugged. "Maybe Poseidon stole it from Apollo? He's a big customer at Triple G Ranch. They sell Mares of Diomedes."
Jason blinked. "What's Triple G Ranch?"
"A monster farm in Texas. "
Everyone—except the Hunters—stared at me like I'd grown an extra head.
Clarisse was the first to break the silence. "What."
"It's a monster farm," I repeated, confused by their horror. "Run by a guy named Geryon. They sell steaks too."
Jason made a sound like he was in pain. "Good. Good to know."
"Whatever," Clarisse muttered. "We'll figure out what the flaming death horse had to do with the quest when the next monster shows up to kill us."
"Clarisse, please don't manifest us dying," Luke said, only half-joking.
"I'm not manifesting anything," she growled.
I blinked. "You just manifested it."
Clarisse's eye twitched slightly. "Listen here, Cloud Boy—"
"Diomedes," I cut in, raising my hands in defense.
Phoebe elbowed me hard. "Stop poking the murder boar."
I elbowed her back. "Maybe don't call her a boar."
Clarisse muttered something under her breath that sounded like a death threat, but instead of stabbing me, she reached into her vest and pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper.
"Ignoring the future smoke-screen," she growled, glaring at me, "I got this from one of the Hunters. Said it's a map to the Garden of the Hesperides."
Luke took the paper with reverence, his eyes lighting up like someone had handed him a golden ticket.
"This is great," he said. "Did she give any clues on how to convince Aigle or one of the others to call off Ladon?"
Aigle? Why's that sound familiar?
Clarisse shook her head. "Nah. She just muttered something about eucalyptus, said it wouldn't help unless we could convince Atlas to intervene."
Luke groaned. "Fantastic. How are we supposed to convince Atlas?"
"Brute force?" Jason offered dryly.
"Wait, why do you need Atlas?" I asked, genuinely confused. A nymph at the Spa once told me Ladon constantly sheds his serpent teeth—those could be used to summon Sparti. Let them do the heavy lifting. I think her name was Lipara.
"He's their father," Luke explained. "Only one with enough sway to get the Hesperides like Erytheis and the others to back off and call off Ladon."
"Wait—Erytheis?" I asked, the name striking a chord.
Jason nodded slowly. "Yeah. One of the Hesperides."
My eyes widened. "That's why it sounded so familiar!"
"What? What sounds familiar?" Luke asked, a glimmer of something in his eyes.
"Aigle and Erytheis," I said in realization. "They're Lipara's sisters."
There was a pause.
"Who?" Jason asked, luckily I didn't have to explain since Miriam did it for me.
"A Hesperide, except instead of her parents being Atlas and Pleione, her mother was Hesperis, though she's been missing for eleven thousand years, so I don't know how he would know her."
"Oh, uh—Lipara worked at the spa I stayed at," I said quickly, it wasn't a lie persay, I just didn't tell them the spa was on an island in the sea of monsters. "She mostly helped with the sun lamps and helped treat venom. She talked a bit about her sisters. Especially Erytheis —said they'd build these reflective mirrors and use it to mess with their dad."
Phoebe made a face, like she'd remembered something. "Definitely sounds like a Hesperide."
... I'm gonna ignore that.
"She said she left the Garden centuries ago. Something about the family being suffocating and Ladon being 'too loud to live with.' She hated how they had to stay stranded in an empty garden."
Jason looked at me like I was suddenly useful instead of annoying. "So... you're saying you personally know one of the Hesperides?"
"I mean," I hesitated, "I wouldn't say we were friends. I lived with her for two years, but I think everyone at the spa thought I was annoying. She never tried to kill me, so I'd say we were on good terms."
Luke's eyes sharpened like he'd just spotted a golden drachma under a floorboard. "If she's not in the Garden anymore, do you think she'd be willing to help us get in?"
"That wouldn't be possible," I said instantly. It's kinda hard to contact someone when you were recently banished from the spa they're at.
I mean the moment I was safe I wanted to Iris message Reyna and tell her I was alive, but I'm pretty sure Circe's found a way for none of my iris messages to get through to her island if I somehow survived her attempted drowning.
"Why not?" Asked Jason. "We could Iris message her if the Spa's too far."
I scratched the back of my neck, not making eye contact. "I didn't exactly leave the Spa on good terms."
Luke tilted his head at me like I was a particularly odd scroll he couldn't decide how to read. "What happened?"
I stared at a blackened spot on the floor and lied through my teeth. "I flooded the spa. It caused mass property damage and I got kicked out."
Phoebe snorted.
Jason didn't seem to care. "Okay, but even if you're not buddies, you know one of the Hesperides. Maybe you can convince Atlas to help us by telling him about his missing daughter?"
"That's a big maybe," Luke muttered as he looked between the Map and I, expression sharpening. "You said she helped you guys treat venom?"
I nodded, "yeah, she had a treatment plant she said she used back home. She and her sisters got it from Europeans and would plant it near the entrances to the garden, said it was called Broad Leaf Plantain."
Luke went quiet in thought, mumbling the word broad leaf.
Clarisse raised a brow, "isn't that used for snake venom?"
"Yeah they used it to help treat Ladon's venom."
Luke froze like someone had just jammed a dagger into a puzzle box and cracked it open. His eyes lit up with that same look he'd had when he first saw the map—only sharper now, like a blade that knew where to strike.
"Wait," he said, turning slowly toward me. "They used it to treat Ladon's venom?"
I shifted, suddenly very aware of how everyone was now looking directly at me again. "Yeah. Lipara said she and Erytheis used it a lot. Ladon sheds his teeth. A lot. His venom gets everywhere. They used the plantain poultice to keep their skin from blistering."
Jason narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why would they need to treat themselves for venom if Ladon's their protector?"
"She never really explained it?" I said. "Something about her sister Asterope leaving and Ladon growing restless. She said he would get overwhelmed by the slightest noise. Sometimes even their singing would set him off, and he'd lash out before realizing it."
Phoebe muttered, "mood."
Luke ignored us, now pacing in a tight circle, rubbing his fingers together like he could wring an idea out of the air.
"If they're planting broad leaf at the Garden entrance," he murmured, "then that gives us a way in."
Clarisse frowned. "How? We gonna offer Ladon a salad?"
"No," Luke said, pausing mid-step. "We sneak in near where the plantain's growing. If the Hesperides planted it at the entrance to control the venom levels, that means it marks a weak point in Ladon's patrols. A blind spot."
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "So your plan is to walk straight into the mouth of the serpent?"
Luke turned to me again. "Diomedes, did Lipara ever say how often they planted it? Or where exactly near the mountain it grew?"
I squinted, trying to remember. Lipara wasn't exactly chatty unless she was sunbathing or stealing food from Hylla.
"She mentioned something about the western slope," I said slowly. "Near a cypress grove. Said it grew fast so they needed small amounts of sunlight or else it would end up like kudzu. So they planted it at every dusk in small crevices in stone before harvesting it at sunrise every morning."
"So we wait till dusk and jump one of them, find the western slope, and come in under cover of the grove..." Clarisse suggested.
"We have a chance of slipping past Ladon," Luke finished, excitement returning to his voice. "That's good. That's really good."
Phoebe crossed her arms. "And Atlas?"
Luke hesitated, then looked back at me.
"You said Lipara didn't want to go back. But maybe she'd want her sisters to leave. Maybe she'd talk to him if it meant freeing them too."
I snorted. "You've never met Lipara. She'd rather turn herself into compost than ask her dad for anything."
"But maybe you could ask him," Luke said, voice suddenly smooth, kinda hypnotic actually. "You know things no one else here does. Even if you didn't mean to, you've got a tie to the Garden. And to one of Atlas's daughters."
I stiffened, arms folding before I could stop them. "Why would Atlas listen to me?"
"Because," Luke said carefully, "he's been holding up the sky for a long time. If he thinks he's lost control of his daughters—if he hears the one who got away is hiding away in a spa, he might want to reassert power. Or... bargain."
Jason added, "He's prideful. He might help just to remind them he can."
"Or he might hunt you guys for sport," I added. "Plus, I am not revealing the location of someone who ran away from an abusive situation."
"You don't have to actually reveal it," Clarisse said. "Just lie saying you'll tell him if he gets the apples."
"That's..." I dragged a hand down my face. "That's a terrible idea."
Clarisse shrugged like she got told that a lot and did it anyway. "Most plans are. The good ones just don't get you killed as fast."
"We're not asking you to actually give her up. Just make him think you might. Long enough to get the apples. Then we run." Jason explained.
"Or fly," Luke added helpfully. "I've got a plan for that too."
I blinked at him. "How many plans do you have?"
He grinned. "Enough to not get killed."
I shifted awkwardly, my gaze dropping to the scorched, soot-smudged ground. I could still smell the burning gauze and horse blood. My chiton was torn. My hair smelled like burning ozone, the cuckoo sleeping soundly in my curls.
"Okay, say I agree," I humored. "What do I get out of this?"
I have been burned way too many times. I'm not getting nothing out of this.
"Glory in the name of Hermes?" Luke suggested.
"An apple of immortality?" Jason offered.
I was about to decline —I didn't really trust Gods anymore and spending an eternity in a world where Zeus exists sounded like torture; but what Clarisse said next got me to rethink.
"A place to stay?"
"What?" I said in confusion.
Clarisse shrugged, "you're greek and can control the wind. Gotta be something you can do at camp so they'll let you stay."
"Camp? What camp?"
"Camp Half-blood," Clarisse said, like that explained everything.
"He's hasn't seen civilization till now," Phoebe explained. Rude, but she isn't entirely wrong.
Clarisse sighed, not having expected to explain what a camp was today.
"It's a training ground," Clarisse said, rubbing the bridge of her nose like this was physically painful to explain. "For people like us—well, specifically demigods. Monsters want us dead, gods don't help, mortals can't see what's happening, so we train. Fight. Survive. That's Camp Half-Blood."
I tilted my head. "That's the actual name?"
"Yes," Jason answered, deadpan.
"Half blood?"
"Yes?"
"That sounds like a slur."
Jason opened his mouth to protest but paused. "... is Zeus petty enough to do that?"
Clarisse pressed on. "It's in Long Island. Protected by magical borders. The gods—some of them, anyway—agreed not to let monsters or mortals in without permission. It's the safest place you'll find outside Olympus, and unlike the Hunters, we don't make you swear off dating or life expectancy."
Phoebe muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "cowards."
Clarisse growled at her. "We've got cabins for each godly parent, campfires, sword training, pegasi stables, war games, a lava climbing wall—"
"I'm sorry, did you say lava wall?"
Luke smiled like this was the best part. "Oh yeah. It collapses and tries to kill you. Builds character."
"Whose character?" I asked.
"Yours, hopefully," Clarisse said dryly. "Point is, you don't have to keep hopping from place to place as monsters hunt you. Camp's a —mostly— safe place to stay. It's got food, beds, showers. Showers," she repeated like that was the main selling point.
Which—okay. That was tempting. All I got was a bucket and a closet at Circe's spa.
"Is it a cult?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "Be honest. I've met three cults disguised as sanctuaries so far and I am not getting drugged again."
Clarisse shook her head. "Definitely not a cult. We're way too dysfunctional for that."
Jason nodded solemnly. "I've never seen a successful chant last longer than five seconds."
Luke folded the map again, slipping it into a waterproof pouch. "You don't have to make the decision now. You can come on the quest. See what we're about. If you hate it, we'll drop you at the next safe haven."
Phoebe frowned. "Why are you assuming he's even coming?"
Everyone turned to look at me again.
I looked at the soot-stained tent, the way Miriam was studiously not looking at us anymore. The way Phoebe had folded her arms just a little tighter.
Clarisse had offered a lot of things—danger, mostly—but also a way out. A direction.
And frankly, I've been here for an hour and staying here is gonna mean more side-eyes from the Hunters, more muttering behind my back. And Phoebe... as much as she was starting to tolerate me, she wasn't going to let her guard down.
I took a deep breath, then exhaled. "So... lava wall, flying, and more potential god-related trauma?"
"Yep," Clarisse confirmed.
Jason added, "Also possible death at the breath of a snake dragon."
Luke smiled. "And glory."
I hesitated.
"...Do I get my own bed?"
"If you survive the quest and get claimed." Clarisse said before pointing at the cuckoo on my head. "Gonna have to feed that on your own though."
"Well then," I said, standing up, brushing ash from my sleeve, and straightening my spine like I hadn't just been burned by a flaming horse. "Guess I better not die."