Chapter 5
As he was being led down to his vault by a goblin by the name of Bloodiedtooth, he couldn’t help but feel like his half-sister Clarisse would love these guys. Overall they seemed very war-like, if their names were anything to go by. Then again, that wasn’t really fair to Clarisse, because Frank had to admit that despite the limited talking and human-politeness (who knew, maybe walking very fast in disgruntled silence was their version of polite?) he found their clear level of organization very commendable. He’s sure Reyna would agree, with that look in her eyes she got when something pleased her but she couldn’t be upfront about it.
The carts that sent him careening down through the twists and turns and flips of the tunnels brought a giddy, adrenaline-caused grin on his face. He was a big fan of rollercoasters, and this felt like when he would whip through the air as some form of aerial creature.
After an age of leaving his stomach behind him, the cart screeched to a stop.
“Vault 108,” the goblin announced.
“There are vaults older than these?” Frank asked in awe. He had caught on about fourteen levels earlier that it went by age.
“Only a few,” Bloodiedtooth replied easily, confirming Frank’s belief that slightly-disgruntled-ultra-professionalism was, in fact, a goblin’s version of politeness. “Minor gods of the Grecian Pantheon. The one hundreds is when the Roman pantheon begins.”
Frank made a noise of understanding as Bloodiedtooth led him to a massive, heavy vault door. The goblin did some strange hand-wavy magic over certain parts of the door. The seals over it buckled and hissed as they popped open. He then pulled aside a small knob revealing a key hole. He stepped aside.
“Please insert your key. Right to unlock.”
Frank nodded and pulled out his key– imperial gold, of course, and a wolf’s head on the end of the key handle– and slid it into the lock, before smoothly clicking it to the right and pulling it free. There was a great deal of creaking, cracking, and hissing of air from behind the door. Frank glanced at Bloodiedtooth. Was this normal?
Bloodiedtooth looked unbothered. A glance to meet Frank’s eyes, before he looked back to the door.
“The lower the vault the higher the security.”
Frank nodded. Yeah, especially a godly vault? That made sense.
After probably a minute, there was a resounding clang that Frank narrowly avoided jumping at. All the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the door creaked open. Golden light reflecting of the mountains of treasure spilled out. It gleamed off the piles of coins– most golden, but a few silver and bronze– and bounced off armors and weaponry.
Bloodiedtooth handed him a pouch.
“An infinite pouch. It can hold as much money as you desire– but it will only work for money. Stick your hand in and think of the amount and it will appear on your hand.”
Frank nodded speechlessly. He took the pouch faintly.
“Thanks.”
He walked through the threshold as though he was having an out-of-body experience.
“Knuts are bronze, sickles silver, and galleons gold. 29 knuts to a sickle, and 17 sickles to a galleon.”
The sheer absurdity of that currency system shocked Frank out of his stupor.
“What the hell?” He whipped around, looking incredulously at Bloodiedtooth. “What kind of sense does that make?”
Bloodiedtooth, looking long suffering, shrugged. “Wizards.”
Well, at least something in this new world Frank found himself in had some sense. Turning back around, Frank just figured he’d grab a few handfuls of each to be safe. He spotted some drachma and denarii, and grabbed a handful of those as well, for Fleecy messaging.
Hazel watched as the massive vault door– vault 103– took an unnecessarily long amount of time to open. She tucked her key– an imperial gold one with a serpent on the end– into her pocket, accepting the pouch from Snagglejaw with a soft thank you.
The amount of gold, jewels, and relics overwhelmed her for a moment, before she steadied herself with a breath. It made sense, her father was a god and a god of riches nonetheless. She’d be far more shocked if it had been empty. Still, didn’t mean she wasn’t reeling a bit. She grabbed handfuls of coins of all sorts, including greek and roman for messaging. As she was tying her bag closed, something caught her eyes. A pair of armbraces of sorts. They looked to be made of scales.
“Basilisk hide,” Snagglejaw called from the doorway. “Doubles as a pair of wand holsters. Impervious to most magic.”
Well, if she wasn’t supposed to have these then hopefully her father would just send her a letter about it, because she was absolutely taking them.
Strapping on the armbraces, Hazel made her way from the vault.
“Vault 5,” Skullbreaker said. Annabeth and Percy slid out from the cart. Annabeth slid her key in after it had been mostly unlocked– an owl at the end of the celestial bronze– before taking the offered pouch and stepping in.
Percy whistled at the sight of the treasure, keeping himself safely out of the vault. He wasn’t willing to risk Annabeth’s mom’s wrath this early in a quest, thanks.
“Geeze, that’s a lot.”
“Obviously, seaweed brain,” Annabeth chuckled, pulling money into the pouch. Percy rolled his eyes fondly as she stuck her tongue out at him. Skullbreaker remained stoic, but didn’t interrupt their flirting either.
Once she was done, Percy was handed his own pouch and the three had to get back into the cart to go two vaults over. Ah, good old godly amounts of money.
“Vault 3.”
Taking his own key, capped with a horse’s head, Percy walked over to the door with Annabeth just behind. One notable difference in his from Annabeth’s was in how a majority of the armor was clearly made for aquatic life. Still, they were beautiful. A few tridents and beautifully made swords caught his eye for a brief moment to admire their craftsmanship, but he moved on once he’d gotten the coins he needed. He already had a perfectly good sword in Riptide, thanks.
Back at the surface, Professor Flitwick looked up when the four students returned. He smiled and bookmarked his page, before setting the book into his messenger bag,
“Ah! There you are. All set?”
“Yes sir,” Hazel said with a smile. Professor Flitwick nodded and began to lead them around the alley. They stopped for potion ingredients first, as it was the closest store, then at Madam Malkin’s for their uniforms.
“Can I get shorts for under my skirt?” Annabeth asked. “Or at least a longer skirt?”
Madam Malkin looked a bit bewildered by the request, but the young woman taking Annabeth’s measurements nodded.
“Sure. You as well?” she asked hazel, who nodded. They left with three pairs of uniforms each– Hazel and Annabeth with three short skirts and three long skirts. Professor Flitwick led them to the trunk store next so that they could store their items. It gave him a very entertaining view of Annabeth haggling with the shopkeeper until they each had warded and self-keyed trunks with two extra compartments for the price of a school trunk.
“Impressive, Ms. Chase,” Professor Flitwick chuckled as the group took a moment to pack away their items. Annabeth preened at the praise as the others chuckled.
“There’s a surprise in yours,” Annabeth said quietly to Percy as they moved onto the bookstore.
“How’d you manage that?” Percy asked with a smile, wrapping his arm around her waist. “I never took my eyes off you.”
“I’m just that good,” Annabeth giggled. Percy snorted and flicked her forehead.
“Yeah you are,” he said softly.
The bookstore had Annabeth buying almost half the shelves, much to her friends’ amusement, the shopkeep’s surprise, and Professor Flitwick's approval.
“Knowledge is power,” he said with a nod as he helped Annabeth pack away her books. He had a feeling he’d be getting a new eagle that year.
Finally, he led them to the wand shop. Ollivander’s.
“I will wait out here for you,” Professor Flitwick said, sitting on a bench and pulling his book back out. The four demigods nodded and entered the shop. It was cramped and dusty and dim, but overall fine. Annabeth and Percy squeezed each other’s hands at the cramped space, but outwardly that was all.
The demigods heard a man walking from around the corner.
“Ah! New students, then?”
The four nodded. No need to elaborate to a stranger.
“Right then, let’s get started. One at a time now, how about you start young miss.”
Hazel walked up to the counter, eyeing the magical measuring tape as it zipped around her.
“Wand hand?”
“Right.”
Ollivander– assumedly– nodded and began shuffling around the shop. He pulled wand after wand out but none seemed to be what he was looking for. Nonetheless, he was positively vibrating with glee as he went about.
It was when he landed on alderwood that he got a spark that made Hazel jump. Olivander snatched the wand back but looked excited.
“We’re on the right track, miss!”
It took two more wands before Ollivander looked certain.
“Yes, here, try-” He held out a long, elegant wand. The tan wood handle was capped with plated gold. Hazel swished it through the air as she had all the others, and the group of demigods watched with wide eyes and golden sparks filled the air like stars. Ollivander clapped gleefully.
“Perfect! Perfect! Alderwood with phoenix feather, ten inches precisely!” Hazel paid the seven galleons as she stepped back, looking at her wand as her bracelet glittered in the air. It… well it wasn’t bad. If anything it just felt like when she used the mist. She rather liked it.
“Yes, yes, you next.” Ollivander pointed at Annabeth. They went through another two minutes of incorrect wands before Ollivander sat back with pursed lips, looking Annabeth up and down analytically.
“I wonder…” he went a bit further back, calling behind him as he went. “I got this wand in from an old friend a few weeks ago, see. At first I hadn’t ever thought to use it, it’s not made of the standard three cores after all. But I can’t help but be curious…”
He returned with a box, producing a warm brown wood with feathers carved into the handle. “Try this one.”
Annabeth jabbed the wand forward and a shimmering specter of sorts appeared for just a brief moment before winking from existence.
“Yes! Brava! Yes, nine and a half inches, pine wood, rougarou hair.” Annabeth stepped back by Percy, inspecting her wand as Hazel tucked her own into her wand holster. Frank stepped up. His took slightly less time than the girls’ had. A pale, milky wood with scales along the base.
“Aspen, nine inches, thunderbird tail feather core. Interesting wand there, young man, take good care of it.” Frank nodded, stepping away to look over his as Percy stepped up.
Two minutes of waving wands and nothing, until a lightbulb seemed to go off in Ollivander’s head and he ducked under his counter.
“Got this one in ages ago, one of the few like it left!”
Percy shared an exhausted look with his friends. He was kinda tired of getting ‘one of a kind’ singling out. Hazel and Frank snickered and Annabeth shook her head fondly. Ollivander popped back up and Percy looked over two him. He took out the deep brown wand, noting the waves along the bottom and concealing a snort. He swished it and the scent of the sea filled the air. Ollivander seemed to take this as a good sign.
“Yes, eleven inches, blackthorn wood, White River Monster spine-”
“Spine?” Percy yelped. Ollivander gave him a reassuring glance.
“Spine as in spines, like an iguana. Don’t worry, they shed and return like teeth for the creatures.”
Percy breathed a sigh of relief and paid. The four thanked Ollivander before returning to Professor Flitwick.