Hanora Maeve Xanthus and the Titian's curse

Getting back into my cabin was much more difficult than previously anticipated. Not only did I need to avoid being spotted by the harpies, but I also needed to stay upright for more than a few seconds at a time. Thankfully due to years of practice I was able to slip into the Hermes cabin unnoticed.

I quietly riffled through my belongings, stuffing my backpack with a change of clothes, medical supplies I always kept on hand, a few drachma and the small stash of money I kept for when Chiron let me go into the city to visit Percy a few months back. My normal gadget supply was in the forge so the only thing I had on me was my bracelets and the half-fixed ring I had given to Annabeth for her first quest to retrieve Zeus’s lightning bolt. I popped my bracelets back on and stuffed the ring into a smaller pocket inside my bag.

After a quick wardrobe change and a little bit of cleaning up, because the after taste of my vomit was getting quite tiresome, I tiptoed out into the early morning air. I pulled my dark gray jacket a little tighter around myself as I crept through the shadows toward Cabin three, for those who don’t know that's where all of the Poseidon kids stay which currently would only be Percy (Cause you know the whole forbidden kid thing.)

I stalked up to the window and peeked inside. There was a mound of blankets in Percy’s bed, but I couldn’t tell if he was actually in it. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked a little louder, still nothing. I rolled my eyes, well hopefully Poseidon would understand my next course of action. I pushed open the door and slowly toed my way into the building. I walked up to the bed and threw the blanket aside revealing a very empty bed. Great.

Looking around the room I could still see Percy’s backpack laying untouched in the corner and his damaged shield still hung up on the wall. Annabeth’s hat was gone but aside from that it had looked like Percy left with only what he had on his person.

I sighed and pulled my glasses off searching for his thread. It wasn’t in immediate view, so he was at least not in immediate danger. I took a deep breath and held out my hand into the empty room.

“Show me where Perseus Jackson has gone.” I whispered into the dark.

I had never tried this before, but one could assume that if the threads can come to me, maybe I could summon them. Of course, that was assuming I understood what in Hades I was doing, which I wasn’t.

For a moment nothing happened. I almost gave up when the oh so familiar blue thread came galloping into the room at full speed. It circled around me a few times like I was in the eye of the hurricane before it floated into my outstretched hand.

As soon as I felt the thread settle it shifted into a polaroid with a shifting image phasing in and out of development. I saw an image of Manhattan from the sky from several different angles like the image itself was a stop motion travel sequence. Each image had the same van in it, the one that camp had on standby for transporting campers. The quest must have gone out already, and Percy was in hot pursuit, good. Less good news was evident in the next image which depicted Mr. D standing on a rough top, grape vines surrounded him and covered the roof itself. But before I could be concerned the image changed again showing several road signs heading south. Maryland? Finally, the images faded, and the polaroid burned up its ashes floated away into the dark.

I looked around the room again, maybe I should pack some clothes for Percy too since I was already there. I stuffed some winter essentials and a spare shirt and jeans in my bag, I would have looked for some other things, but I was afraid I’d accidentally stumble across his underwear drawer, and I would rather die than see those. 

Okay so I was packed and moving around better on my own, so the next issue was how would I get out of camp and catch up with Percy? I looked out the window, my eyes falling on the pegasi stable. I plopped my glasses back on my face and pulled my hair up into a ponytail, it was go time.

Sneaking out to the stables had been easy, most people were still in bed or milling about the pavilion for breakfast. The Harpies had gone off duty, and no one ever went to the stables early in the morning anyway.

I slid into the large wooden building, inside picture a classic horse stable but with a lot more wing room. A few pegasi were milling about their pens, but most of them were still asleep. I cleared my throat stepping further into the building.

“Okay so I know it's early, but would any of you be willing to give me a ride south? I think it's Maryland but as we get closer, I’ll have a better idea where to exactly.” 

A couple of the animals stirred a bit but none of them made any obvious signs that they were willing to help.

“I know this is really last minute and maybe not sanctioned by the adults, but please My friend is in trouble. And well- I promised Percy that as soon as I was able, I’d catch up with him. Problem is I’m a little too slow on my own.”

At the mention of Percy all of the pegasi perked up, but a particular steed with a red coat and a strip of white running from between their ears to the tip of their nose nuzzled my shoulder from over their gate. I turned to face them, the label on their gate said ‘Ember: our fiery mare’. She was beautiful, her pure white mane was braided with small silver charms that matched the ones on her extra fluffy white tail. The hair on her legs flared out a bit giving her a ‘boots with the fur’ look since her red coat melted into white the closer it got to her hooves.

“Would you help me, Miss Ember?”

She bowed her head and for a moment I thought I heard anything for the young lord. Which would have been a weird thing for my brain to make up on its own but even thinking that gave me a weird sense of deja vu. I shook it off and opened up her gate. Ember walked out into the main hall like a queen coming down her long staircase to me admired by her subjects.

“Alright, let's get going then”

****

Traveling for a long time on horseback was not how I wanted to spend more mornings, but it was very nostalgic. Back at home my entire town only had horseback to travel long distances, unless you were jumping into a boat, but most people tended to steer clear of the water back then. My Father and my brother’s each had their own steeds, of course they didn’t have wings, but they were cool regardless. I had been too young to have my own horse, but they taught me to ride so I’d take one of theirs if they were in the stable, much to my eldest brother’s annoyance.

He used to complain about not knowing where I’d run off to, and the world being an unsafe place for a little girl. Not that I was listening to him, and Dad seemed to be proud of my independence than anything else. I caught him once kneeling over our hearth praying to my mom. Back then I had been told my mom died sometime after I had been born, so I thought he had been praying to her spirit not well- you know an actual goddess. He had told her that my constant traveling around on my own showed that I had inherited her strong spirit. I had been so proud of that fact for a long time, then I discovered what she really was even though her true identity was still a mystery. Now I wanted nothing more than to be my father’s daughter, not Her’s.

Once we passed by the last sign, I had seen I called on Percy’s thread again, but this time I let it float in front of us like a compass needle. Surprisingly it worked with very little effort from me. Maybe channeling my energy into a form that was easy for me to understand like a polaroid image or a compass. My brain had always been fascinated with the way things work, and this way I combined the gadgets I knew with the powers I was learning. I suppressed my little victory dance, no need to embarrass myself in front of my new four-legged friend.

Speaking of she was taking this journey like a champ; she didn’t even look winded. Just chugging along above the highway like it was a nice evening stroll.

“You know if you need to take a break to rest up, we can drop by a rest stop for a while, we don’t need to fly nonstop.” I said into Ember’s ear. She just whinnied in response and shook her head. I didn’t need to speak horse to know that she was balking at the very idea of resting.

“Alright if you say so, just don’t push yourself too hard okay. I would feel really awful if you hurt yourself on my account.”

She huffed at me, no trouble at all.

We continued flying all the way to Washington DC. I had never been to DC before, but I had seen a few maps in some of the books Annabeth had on the architecture of the city. We soared over what I assumed was the Potomac River and into the city itself. I could see so many buildings of varying sizes and colors, modern museums and white marbled monuments. Annabeth had told me about some of the large statues of American presidents that were in the city, one of them being Abraham Lincoln. I was a little bit embarrassed at the time that I didn’t know much about any president aside from a few sporadic names. I was new to the whole American history thing, with no proper schooling and spending the first nine years of my life in Italy there was really no reason for me to learn anything about them before.

Percy’s thread started circling more violently toward a large white structure in the middle of a large section of grass, I think Annabeth said it was the Washington monument. Gods my life would have been so much easier if she were here to tell me what in Hades I was looking at.

I pointed down at the grassy area,” You can drop me off down there. I think Percy is nearby.” Just as I said that Blackjack came flying by almost knocking me loose from the shear wind force, he expended.

Watch it you bloody show pony! Ember whinnied at Blackjacks retreating form.

That I definitely heard, there is no universe where I would use the term ‘show pony’.

“It’s alright Ember, let's just head to the ground please.”

For you my lady, but when I get back to the stables oh that boy is going to get a proper ass whopping for endangering my charge.

My face heated up,” Oh you don’t have to do that. He’s probably just tired from the long journey.”

Ember gently glided to the grass and bent her knees to bring me closer to the ground.

“Thank you,” I said as I slid off onto the ground. “I really appreciate you helping me out.”

Ember nodded, I trust that you have the young lord’s best interest at heart, and as long as that remains true that is all I could ask for.

Wow, I didn’t realize how much of a celebrity Percy was in the horse world, or a prince, I guess. Also, I was literally talking to a horse, like a full-on back-and-forth conversation. The saddest part about this revelation was that it was not even in my top ten weirdest things I had experienced.

“I’ll certainly try to keep him in one piece, but you know how he is.”

She nodded, take care my lady. Call on me if you are in need of help, I found your company quite enjoyable.

I nodded and watched her red wings shoot her off into the sky like a streaking red comet. I sighed and looked around the field for the blue thread. I tracked it galloping in the wind toward one of the larger buildings lining the Mall, and based on my limited knowledge of this place I think Annabeth had called it the Smithsonian Museum. I readjusted my backpack and ran after it.

As I got closer to the building, I could see Thalia and Grover’s threads bobbing in front of the NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM while Percy’s thread bounded up the stairs of the MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY across the street. It only took me a second before I crossed over to follow Percy, gods know he was probably the one about to get into serious trouble.

There was a large sign on the door that read CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT. I followed Percy’s thread inside, through a huge chamber full of mastodons and dinosaur skeletons. There were voices up ahead, coming from behind a set of closed doors. Two guards stood outside on either side of the doors.

Great how in the Hades was I supposed to sneak past both of them? I ducked behind a display and surveyed the area. Off to the right of the doors was a map of the building, I scooched closer to it careful to not draw attention to myself. Bingo, that room was huge with a balcony around its second floor which I could get to through a different room. I slinked out of the main room and off to another room full of more skeletons that I unfortunately had no time to look at. I padded up the stairs to a suspiciously unguarded door to the balcony. I pushed the door open slightly to peer inside.

I could see maybe ten mortal guards lining the balcony and from across the way there were also two Scythian dracaenae, or as Percy liked to call them ‘snake women’ which didn’t make sense considering they had double-snake trunks instead of legs. So, it was more like women with snake legs, not that it matters, but doesn’t it? In between them stood Luke who was peering down at the room below. I couldn’t tell what was down there, but I was really hoping that it wasn’t a restrained Percy.

Luke looked terrible. His skin was pale, and his blond hair looked almost gray, as if he'd aged ten years in just a few months. The angry light in his eyes was still there, and so was the scar down the side of his face, where a dragon had once scratched him. But the scar was now ugly red, as though it had recently been reopened. His white thread was getting more difficult to see if I wasn’t looking dead at him, but it too was graying and frayed at the edges. I felt the itch start to crawl up my arms, but I resisted the urge to move.

Next to him, sitting down so that the shadows covered him, was another man. I could only see the outline of him, but he gave off the presence of the man from the cave. Also, in the shadows stood a frighteningly familiar face, Mnemosyne the titaness of memory and language, and also the immortal who I had launched my saliva at last summer on the Princess Andromeda. Her fully milky white eyes glowed from the shadows like headlights on a dark road, I was afraid that I would be caught in them even from my hiding place.

Thorn was also on the balcony and was reporting something to the three of them. I took a quite breath and leaned closer to listen in.

"How many?" Luke asked.

 Thorn pretended not to hear, something told me that he did not like Luke all that much.

 " How many?" the shadowy man demanded.

 "Four, General," Thorn said. "The satyr, Grover Underwood. And the girl with the spiky black hair and the—how do you say—punk clothes and the horrible shield."

 "Thalia," Luke said.

 "And two other girls—Hunters. One wears a silver circlet."

 "That one I know," the General growled.

 Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably.

 "Let me take them," Luke said to the General. "We have more than enough—"

 "Patience," the General said. "They'll have their hands full already. I've sent a little playmate to keep them occupied."

 "But—"

 "We cannot risk you, my boy."

 "Yes, boy," Dr. Thorn said with a cruel smile. "You are much too fragile to risk. Let me finish them off."

 "No." The General rose from his chair, and I got my first look at him.

 He was tall and muscular, with light brown skin and slicked-back dark hair. He wore an expensive brown silk suit like the guys on Wall Street wear, but you'd never mistake this dude for a broker. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half. His eyes were like stone. I felt as if I were looking at a living statue. It was amazing he could even move.

 "You have already failed me, Thorn," he said.

 "But, General—"

 "No excuses!"

Thorn flinched. I'd thought Thorn was scary when I first saw him in his black uniform at the military academy. But now, standing before the General, Thorn looked like a silly wannabe soldier. The General was something else entirely. He didn't need a silly uniform. He was a born commander.

The titaness sighed, “boys please yelling will get us nowhere. Thorn, what of the other matter?”

Thorn shrunk deeper into himself despite Mnemosyne remaining seated; she still was a deeply imposing force. “My lady, I do not ha- have any personal confirmation but I am sure that the trap will be sprung.”

“It appears you are as useless as my nephew says.” She flicked her wrist sending Thorn to his knees. “We sent you to collect a child of the three elder gods, you had two viable options. And what did you bring back? A pitiful child of Athena. You didn’t even have the finesse to acquire the child of my sister’s prophecy, but perhaps we were expecting too much of a worm like you.”

Pitiful? This bitch was just asking for a swift kick to the face. Those were fighting words and I’m sure Percy was down in the main room equally fuming.

"I should throw you into the pits of Tartarus for your incompetence," the General yelled.

Thorn tried to stand up on his shaky legs. "But you promised me revenge.'" He protested. "A command of my own!"

 " I am Lord Kronos's senior commander," the General said. "And I will choose lieutenants who get me results! It was only thanks to Luke that we salvaged our plan at all. Now get out of my sight, Thorn, until I find some other menial task for you."

 Thorn's face turned purple with rage. I thought he was going to start frothing at the mouth or shooting spines, but he just bowed awkwardly and left the room. Good riddance, his face was making me sick to my stomach.

 "Now, my boy." The General turned to Luke. "The first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her."

 "The Hunters will be difficult to dispose of," Luke said. "Zoë Nightshade—"

 "Do not speak her name!"

 Luke swallowed. "S—sorry, General.  I just—"

 The General silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Let me show you, my boy, how we will bring the Hunters down."

 He pointed to a guard on the ground level. "Do you have the teeth?"

 The guy stumbled forward with a ceramic pot. "Yes, General!"

 "Plant them," he said.

I dared to open the door a bit more to see the room below, luckily no one noticed the small squeak of the hinges. In the center of the room below was a big circle of dirt, where I thought a dinosaur exhibit was supposed to go based on the books Annabeth had showed me. I watched a bit on edge as the guard took sharp white teeth out of the pot and pushed them into the soil. He smoothed them over while the General smiled coldly.

 The guard stepped back from the dirt and wiped his hands. "Ready, General!"

 "Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey."

 The guard picked up a little tin watering can with daisies painted on it, which was kind of bizarre, because what he poured out wasn't water. It was dark red liquid, blood. I was hit with a wave of deja vu, but I shook it from my head. There was no time for a flashback.

 The soil began to bubble.

 "Soon," the General said, "I will show you, Luke, soldiers that will make your army from that little boat look insignificant."

 Luke clenched his fists. "I've spent a year training my forces! When the Princess Andromeda arrives at the mountain, they'll be the best—"

 "Ha.'" the General said. "I don't deny your troops will make a fine honor guard for Lord Kronos. And you, of course, will have a role to play—"

 I thought Luke turned paler when the General said that. Mnemosyne moved behind Luke and draped a hand on his shoulder, a dark and yet also serene smile split across her face.

 "—but under my leadership, the forces of Lord Kronos will increase a hundredfold. We will be unstoppable. Behold, my ultimate killing machines."

 The soil erupted. I stepped back nervously.

 In each spot where a tooth had been planted, a creature was struggling out of the dirt. The first of them said:

 "Mew?"

 It was a kitten. A little orange tabby with stripes like a tiger. Then another appeared, until there was a dozen, rolling around and playing in the dirt. Everyone stared at them in disbelief. 

“Oh, dear how truly horrifying,” Mnemosyne deadpanned. 

 The General roared, " What is this? Cute cuddly kittens?  Where did you find those teeth?"

 The guard who'd brought the teeth cowered in fear. "From the exhibit, sir! Just like you said.  The saber-toothed tiger—"

 "No, you idiot! I said the tyrannosaurus! Gather up those… those infernal fuzzy little beasts and take them outside. And never let me see your face again."

 The terrified guard dropped his watering can. He gathered up the kittens and scampered out of the room.

 "You.'" The General pointed to another guard. "Get me the right teeth. NOW!"

 The new guard ran off to carry out his orders.

 "Imbeciles,' muttered the General.

 "This is why I don't use mortals," Luke said. "They are unreliable."

 "They are weak-minded, easily bought, and violent," the General said. "I love them."

“Oh, course you would,” Mnemosyne said,” only a few mortals truly have any use at all.” She caressed the side of Luke’s face which may be on the punchable side these days, but seeing her hands on him made me want to slice the offending appendage off of her body.

 A minute later, the guard hustled into the room with his hands full of large pointy teeth.

 "Excellent," the General said. He climbed onto the balcony railing and jumped down, twenty feet. Where he landed, the marble floor cracked under his leather shoes. He stood, wincing, and rubbed his shoulders. "Curse my stiff neck."

 "Another hot pad, sir?" a guard asked. "More Tylenol?"

 "No! It will pass." The General brushed off his silk suit, then snatched up the teeth. "I shall do this myself."

 He held up one of the teeth and smiled. "Dinosaur teeth—ha!  Those foolish mortals don't even know when they have dragon teeth in their possession. And not just any dragon teeth. These come from the ancient Sybaris herself! They shall do nicely. Watch this dearest Auntie"

 He planted them in the dirt, twelve in all. Then he scooped up the watering can. He sprinkled the soil with blood, tossed the can away, and held his arms out wide. Rise!

 The dirt trembled. A single, skeletal hand shot out of the ground, grasping at the air.

“Magnificent,” the titaness said leaning over the balcony railing,

 The General looked up at the balcony. "Quickly, do you have the scent?"

 "Yesssss, lord," one of the snake ladies said. She took out a sash of silvery fabric, like the kind the Hunters wore.

 "Excellent," the General said. "Once my warriors catch its scent, they will pursue its owner relentlessly. Nothing can stop them, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter. They will tear the Hunters and their allies to shreds. Toss it here!"

 As he said that, skeletons erupted from the ground. There were twelve of them, one for each tooth the General had planted. They were nothing like Halloween skeletons, or the kind you might see in cheesy movies. These were growing flesh as I watched, turning into men, but men with dull gray skin, yellow eyes, and modern clothes—gray muscle shirts, camo pants, and combat boots. If you didn't look too closely, you could almost believe they were human, but their flesh was transparent and their bones shimmered underneath, like X-ray images.

 The snake lady released the scarf, and it fluttered down toward the General's hand. As soon as he gave it to the warriors, they would hunt Zoë and the others until they were extinct.

I didn’t know what to do, what could I even do from my position? Not that I had to think long about it as the scarf was snatched out of the air by an invisible form.

Percy!

  "What's this?" bellowed the General.

 I watched the scarf flutter a couple feet in the air closer to a group of skeletal men.

 "An intruder," the General growled. "One cloaked in darkness. Seal the doors!"

 "It's Percy Jackson!" Luke yelled. "It has to be."

“Oh goodie,” Mnemosyne clapped her hands, “you know what is sure to follow a Percy Jackson?” 

My blood ran cold as her head snapped to me.

Shit.

I turned and ran down the stairs. There was no time to wait for Percy. I already knew where he’d be heading. So, I flew down the rest of the stairs and out onto the mall. I had to get to Thalia and Grover, and I guess the other two, before those monsters did.

I felt a rush of wind next to me.

“Guess we are in for another fight, guppy.” I muttered as I threw open the doors to the aerospace museum.