Hanora Maeve Xanthus and the Titian's curse

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us.

 "They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."

 Zoë swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

 "Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

 "The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Percy said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

 "Mercenaries," Zoë said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

 "But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" Percy asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

 Zoë shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

“Truer words have never been spoken,” I mumbled as I stared out the window.

 The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C. traffic.

 Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

 But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

“I just love the dead-beat dad disease that is running rampant on Olympus, really makes life so easy and safe for us.” I said waving my hands in the air for emphasis. Grover sent me a disapproving glance while Thalia slumped a bit in her seat. Sometimes I forget that my darker sense of humor is not always helpful. Not that I was going to stop, but I am self-aware enough to know when to tone it down. Maybe.

 "There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

 "We'll be trapped," Zoë said.

 "Trust me," Bianca said.

 Zoë shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

 "Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

 "Anything," Thalia agreed.

 We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

 Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

 Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

 Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

 "I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

 Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

 Bianca nodded.

 Now, I knew very little about D.C., but I did know just from the few books Annabeth had shoved my nose in that the subway was way older than twelve years old. I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing, because they looked pretty confused. It made me think about my time with Hephestus, maybe the di Angelos had gone through something similar?

 "Bianca," Zoë said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

 "We need to change trains," Percy cut in. "Next station."

 Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I was losing track as to where we were even heading, but after a while we lost the helicopter.

 Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train, we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. I pulled out the scarf and knit hat that I had packed and thanked past me for having the foresight to grab them. I also threw Percy’s own knit hat at him that I had grabbed from his room, much to his confusion. But I just told him to thank me later which seemed to throw him off enough to just accept the hat and kept moving.

 We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

 A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

 We huddled around his fire; Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

 "My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

 " Feet," Percy corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy but something told me that there was something off about him, I just couldn’t place what it was yet.

 "Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

 "No," Zoë said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

 I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was passed out from severe exhaustion with gods know how many heavy lifting related injuries. Artemis was in chains holding the damn sky. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person’s fire. The craziest part was that these were not the most upsetting circumstances I had ever been in, it was certainly in my top three but not number one.

 "You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy, and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

 "Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"

 He pointed one greasy hand.

 Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

 "That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

 She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him. 

Note to self, always trust my gut, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that I was a natural oracle for all things vaguely mystical. Now if only everyone else would actually listen to my prophetic visions of bull shit.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoë and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

 The radio was playing the White Stripes by Led Zeppelin, but I decided to go crash in a different car as I watched Percy jump in the front seat with her. The two of them had a lot to discuss with the whole ‘child of the big three’ stuff going on. So, I settled into a dark purple Ferrari two cars over from Grover and three cars behind the two snoozing hunters. I am however a little embarrassed to say that I picked the car because I had a good view of all three cars. Call me paranoid but as the unsanctioned sixth party member I wanted to keep an eye on all of these idiots.

I fiddled with my own radio until I had rigged it to tune into the local radio stations. I figured it would be a good idea to know where we were headed, but quickly it got too depressing with all of the mundane issues like robbery and bar fights. If only our lives were that simple. So, I switched it to a music station with no static, which happened to be country. How fitting for a long road trip.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, settling into the music in an attempt to make my brain shut up for a moment, when my passenger side door swung open. Now I have always been very good at picking up people’s walking patterns or just how they move making it easy to guess who it was attempting to sneak up on me. Years spent with a prankster for a brother makes you exist with your head forever on a swivel, and even more years in the Hermes cabin brought those skills into constant practice. It used to drive Luke nuts, but this person must have been someone I didn’t know that well which meant it could be one of two people.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping archer junior?”

“How did you know it was me?”

I cracked my one eye open at a nervous Bianca looking at me with her dark doe eyes, “who else would come in here with so much nervous energy?”

I closed my eye again and settled into the silence that followed.

“Did you want something di Angelo?”

She took a shaky breath,” why do you hate me?”

I turned to face her, finding that she was already staring holes into my head.

“Who ever said I hated you?”

“You did, well…not out loud, but you glare at me a lot. And then there is that disapproving look, and back in the tent with Lady Artemis you looked like you wanted to punch me…..and well….I-I don’t know. Did I do something? Because if I did, I want to fix it, since we are on this quest and we all need to work together and- well-”

“Deep breaths kid, we are fine.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose jostling my glasses a bit. “It’s got nothing to do with you personally. I’ll get over it.”

“Get over it?”

“It’s not your problem, we’re cool alright. Just go back to Zoë and let me decompress.”

There was a beat of silence, but she made no move to leave.

“Maybe talking about it will help?”

Ugh, this kid was starting to sound like Chiron, or maybe Char, both of which seemed to think I was in desperate need of a therapist. Or well she sounded more like Annabeth and Percy who seemed to think that they were privileged to learn the inner workings of my brain. I pinned her with a glare over the rim of my glasses, but she didn’t even flinch. I must have been losing my edge, a couple of years back I could send kids crying back to their counselors with one look. I blame Annabeth for my waning intimidating aura, or maybe it was Percy’s fault….both? Yeah, probably both.

“If I say no, will you leave?” I asked, voice dripping with annoyance. The little bugger only shook her head in response.

“Fine, but remember you asked for this so don’t be weird about it later.” I pointed at her accusingly, she put her hands up in surrender. “Alright, well let’s just say that I can’t understand the appeal of the hunters. Especially when you have to leave someone behind, a very important someone. For what? A little more strength? Ageless immortality? To take orders from a goddess? I don’t know, I’m sorry you felt my distaste for the hunt to be a wholly personal attack.”

“Hmmm,” Bianca thought for a moment,” well I guess joining the hunt really made sense to me. Being free from all of my responsibilities to finally be, well me. But leaving Nico was a difficult decision.” Her eyes softened,” but I was sure that he would be in good hands.”

I hummed in response, “I just. I can’t imagine making the choice to leave your only family behind. To be immortal while they grow old and die. I just-” I took a shaky breath.” If I had been given the choice, I would have never left my family. I would have stayed in Italy, in our city with my father and my brothers. I would have happily stayed, grown old and died there. I would have chosen to be at home.”

Her breath seemed to get caught in her throat,” Ha-Hanora.”

“But I didn’t get that choice, one day everything was great and the next it was all crumbling down.” I schooled my expression turning my eyes back toward the windshield,” But that was a long time ago.”

***

Bianca left not long after that, we had discussed our plans to head to San Francisco, where Zoë believed the mountain of despair was located. But our conversation died out pretty fast, we had a lot to think about. I only had a few moments of peace before Grover tried and failed to impress Zoë and Bianca with his pipe playing, and then Percy jumped into the seat Bianca had vacated to escape Thalia. We both were a bit hesitant to fall asleep, demigod dreams were rarely peaceful. So instead, I decided to teach Percy Cabin eleven’s favorite version of rock, paper, scissors. Also known as rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock.

“All right guppy it is really quite simple, so the normal rules apply but we add some extra fun stuff. So, Spock smashes scissor and vaporizes rock but paper disproves Spock and lizard poisons him. And Lizard eats paper but is crushed by rock, and my personal favorite, he is decapitated by scissors.”

Percy nodded his head trying to understand till I got to the end,” that’s kind of sick, Specs.”

I shrugged, “alright let's play.”

We shook our fists. Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot.

I threw down Spock expecting Percy to pick rock like he usually did. But this little shit made up his own shit.

“What in the underworld is that?”

He smirked,” a gun.”

“That wasn’t one of the options.”

“You’re just jealous because gun beats everything.”

“It’s not rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock, Glock.”

Percy stuck his tongue out at me, “well maybe we need a bit more Glock in our lives.”

I pondered the idea. A Glock? “Maybe I could rig up a gun that shoots celestial bronze. Oooh, Char would love to figure out how to do that. Maybe we could even make special bullets with Greek fire.” Different schematics and equations started to clutter my mind as I tuned out the world around me. It could work, obviously I’d have to wait to get back to camp but maybe….

The air in the car changed as I felt a presence materialize in the back seat. I looked up into the rearview mirror to see the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in the back seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck, a few times. Percy was already turned back to face him.

 "If it weren't for dreams," the man said, "I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids." He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically:

 "Dreams like a podcast,

 Downloading truth in my ears.

 They tell me cool stuff"

Oh great, this guy. At the same time Percy and I seemed to clock who this man really was.

“Apollo?" We guessed, because I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad.

 He put his finger to his lips. "I'm incognito. Call me Fred."

 "A god named Fred?" Percy asked.

 "Eh, well… Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there's a human quest. Even when something really major is wrong. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

 "Oh, goodie he does have a set of morals. Does that mean you are going to help?" I asked, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

 "Shhh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside?"

 "The train. How fast are we moving?" Percy asked

 Apollo chuckled. "Fast enough. Unfortunately, we're running out of time. It's almost sunset. But I imagine we'll get you across a good chunk of America, at least."

 "But where is Artemis?" Percy asked.

 His face darkened. "I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don't know that. She's… clouded from me. I don't like it."

 "And Annabeth?" Percy looked back a glimmer of hope in his voice.

 He frowned. "Oh, you mean that girl you lost? Hmm. I don't know."

 I was fuming, but pissing off immortals is not something I was trying to make a habit of, even if I seemed to be very good at it. So, I kept my mouth shut and let Percy do the talking.

 "What about the monster Artemis was seeking?" I asked. "Do you know what it is?"

 "No," Apollo said. "But there is one who might. If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

 "But it's your Oracle," Percy protested. "Can't you tell us what the prophecy means?"

 Apollo sighed. "You might as well ask an artist to explain his art or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search."

 "In other words, you don't know shit." I mumbled, “What a surprise.”

 Apollo checked his watch. "Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey! Oh, and good luck miss orphan, may your dreams be informative."

 I wanted to protest that I wasn't tired and that his comment was in horrendous taste, but Apollo snapped his fingers, and the next thing I knew I was closing my eyes.

In my dream I was standing in a large open room of marble, much like the one I had dreamt of in the infirmary. There were seven pillars of pure marble lining the room, but this time a chandelier made of gems and crystals lit up the place from the center of the room. Four elaborate thrones had been erected in a circle under the spotlight cast by the crystalline fixture, three of them were occupied.

“Tell me what you have found sister, our dear brother wants a thorough report on your progress.” I recognized the speaker immediately. Mnemosyne in her long flowing gray Grecian style gown, bouncing dark curls, and the stark contrast of her milky white eyes against her deep brown skin. Her throne seemed to be shifting in shape through an array of abstract designs, sometimes it looked like she was sitting on all of the world’s languages and others she was sitting on shifting images of people long past.

“Well progress is steady; I have already convinced Iapetus’s sons to join our cause. I sent them to release our brothers from Tartarus while I garner more support up here. And a few nights ago, Phoebe and I convinced Astraeus to join us as well despite his wife’s insistence on neutrality.” 

The woman speaking motioned to the third occupied seat when she said Phoebe, which left only one of them nameless to me. The nameless woman had long blonde hair covered in adornments of various precious metals and a braided crown made of her own locks kept everything in place. Her dress was long and flowed like molten gold over her throne that was made of solid crystal that nearly blinded me from the reflective glare it shot off in all directions. She had so much jewelry on that going through airport security would have been impossible, not that an immortal like her would ever dream of doing something so mundane. Even her eyes glittered like the rest of her jewels, her left eye was silver, and her right was gold like she could not decide which to wear that day. Her skin was fair and unblemished, but she gave off an air of arrogance that no amount of physical perfection could make her pretty.

Mnemosyne hummed and turned to Phoebe, “So you cannot control either of your children? What use are you to us then?”

Phoebe bristled and flicked her long purple dress over her lap as she leaned back into her throne that seemed to be made out of the shadows of millions of books.” Those girls do as they please, Leto is loyal to her twins and Astrea will never go against her sister.” She shrugged, causing her dark hair to slide off of her shoulders.” And you certainly need me, who else in this place as the gift of prophecy? My grandson may have Delphi these days, but the sight has never left me.”

Her voice was echoey and eerily familiar. Her deep purple eyes bore tauntingly at her sisters, her glowing white pupils daring them to say otherwise. “Perhaps you need a reminder of the key to our success?”

“We need no reminder, what we need is more numbers.” Mnemosyne scoffed,” What of Tethys and Oceanus?”

“Oceanus is thinking on our propositions, but Tethys is still on the fence. She is still soft on the girl despite what we have gone through.” The blonde sister said.

The other two grumbled, “That woman needs to get her priorities straight.” Phoebe lamented.

Mnemosyne nodded, “yes Theia you need to go back and convince her. We need power in the sea for this plan to work.” She leaned forward in her chair pinning the now name-dropped Theia with a withering stare. “It is imperative that she sides with us. Understood?”

Theia nodded; her eyes blown wide in something akin to fear. “As you wish, sister.”

Then in a swirl of light and glitter Theia vanished from her throne. Mnemosyne stood from her own throne and walked to the center point between all four thrones.

“Phoebe you have only the next two months to put your plan into action. Should you fail, I will have to take things into my own hands, regardless of the protests of that sniveling boy.”

“I will do my best sister, but I have foreseen the importance of doing this my way instead of yours.”

Mnemosyne started to evaporate in a swirl of darkness, “then get it done.” And then she to disappeared, leaving Phoebe alone on her own throne.

She looked to the fourth throne which was made of running water that somehow stayed in shape without collapsing into a large puddle. “Tethys, I know that you wish to stay out of this fight, but we need you to change these tides.” She sighed and rose from her own chair, “The threads of fate are not as set as we thought. Your ward changed things in the days of Rome, we must use it. The prophecy dictates that her secret weapon will be the final blow to decide the winning side.”

She then turned her eyes to stare directly at me. Dark purple mist spilled from her eyes, mouth and nose, all snaking their way toward me. A little too late I realized why she sounded so familiar. I tried to move but I was stuck in place, all I could do was watch as I was encircled by the mist. Her voice echoed around me as the mist closed in, “A child hidden from fate, born of a broken vow!” It was getting colder and darker; I started shivering uncontrollably. “Three threads intertwined shall never stand down!” I fell to my knees; it was getting difficult to breathe. “In fire and ash, a protector forged a new!” I couldn't move or breathe. I felt something shaking my shoulder, but it was too dark to see. “A side they must carefully choose, for their aim holds true!”

“Hanora!” someone shouted but it sounded so far away.

“Loyalty so strong answers the call!” I was being crushed by this overwhelming weight.

“Hanora! Wak-”

“The last son of the dragon shall fall!” 

“Wake up-”

“Fall!”

“Hanora!”

“Fall! Fall! Fall!”

I sat bolt upright in the driver’s seat of the Ferrari breathing heavily as Grover was shaking my arm from the back seat. Percy was eyeing me warily from the passenger seat, his hand hovering just over my own that was white knuckling the center console.

“Come on Hanora it’s morning!” Grover bleated, “The train’s stopped! Come on!” And then he skipped out of the car and towards Thalia, Zoë, and Bianca had already rolled up the metal curtains.

I sat for a moment catching my breath, Percy had decided that with Grover gone it was safe to move a bit closer. With one hand he was rubbing gentle circles into my shoulder and with the other he was carefully prying my death grip from the console.

“Nightmare?” He asked.

I shook my head, “worse.”

He nodded and took my now freed hand into his own, “me too.”

We sat in silence for a moment watching the others through the window.

“Do you want to- to talk about it?” I jokingly choked out.

He laughed, his sea green eyes finally clearing of worry and drowsiness. “I had a dream about my sword.” He paused looking back out at the rest of our group, “and Zoë Nightshade was in it.”

I hummed and squeezed his hand, “I’m assuming it wasn’t good.”

He shrugged, “I’m not sure to be honest. But it was something. What about you?”

A couple of years ago I would have shook him off using a few choice words that would make Chiron shove soap in my mouth and run off. But in that moment in the quiet of the car with one of the most important people in the living world to me (Don’t tell him I said that.) I caved. I told him the whole dream down to the smallest details, and annoyingly I felt lighter. He listened with rapt attention, never letting go of my hand but moving the hand on my shoulder to rub circles into my wrist instead.

“She said something about threads, does that have something to do with you? I mean you can see them, right?”

I shrugged,” I can see a few threads but not like the fates can. But to be honest I am more worried about the last line.”

He tilted his head in confusion.” The last son of the dragon shall fall? Why, what does that mean?”

I let out a shaky breath and pulled out my golden necklace from under my shirt with my free hand. I held out the pendant for Percy to see. He squinted at it, trying in vain to read the inscription. “ Mi- Mer- M- gods Han you know reading is hard for me! There is no need to flaunt your superior reading skills at me!”

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, “It is my family crest on my nan’s side.” I swallowed the lump in my throat,” It’s in Gaelic so you wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.”

He rolled his eyes at me, “Okay so are you going to actually explain or….”

“Yeah, yeah. Gods you are so impatient.” I tried to joke but I was to on edge for it to really land. “It is the family crest of Clan Mac Beithir.” I rubbed my thumb over the engraving of the dragon with its tail wrapped in the triquetra. “And Mac Beithir means… it means ‘son of the dragon.’”

I looked at Percy to see confusion still coloring his face. “Percy, I am the last son of the dragon.”