Family
Mellie dived at their feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble and linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, had Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact.
The four of them fell into the pit, and Aeolus screamed, "Mellie, you are so fired!"
It would have been the five of them had Kassandra not had her wrist snatched by Aeolus, hanging her over the pit. His eyes were crazy.
"I can't go empty handed now if I'm going to get that promotion!"
The daughter of Rome looked down to see the others and Mellie falling.
"Go on without me!" she yelled, before they disappeared into darkness.
She was then promptly raised up and placed before the master of the winds, that crazed look rather uncanny. When she looked around, her heart rate dropped to next to nothing.
All around the throne room floors were being raised from nowhere to support what seemed like an army of monsters trodding in. Sea serpents, hell hounds, telekhines, laistrygonian giants, a couple skeleton warriors and plenty of iconic ones such as the Minotaur and a Hydra.
Outside through the shattered windows she even caught sight of something huge. It looked as big as a school bus with grey scales, slithering past so she could barely catch it before it moved on. How hadn't she recognised the presence of so many monsters beforehand?
Then her solution came waltzing up, kitted out in a new cult-like robe and a long hair flowing in the breeze.
"Greetings, young Kassandra!" he called out cheerfully as he approached her. To his right walked a slightly shorter male, but probably as tall as a fourteen year old. He wore a standard looking hoodie and looked like a fourteen year old too, taking in his surroundings with awe and wonder like any other child.
"You!" she cried out as she finally broke free of Aeolus' grip and charged towards the summoner.
Though she moved faster than most could comprehend, he still managed to sidestep her attempt. The boy next to him swiped her leg from out under, grabbed her by the hair and tossed her back over to Aeolus. She panted as she scrambled back to stand and take a defensive position. Who were these people?
"You hype her up to be some unstoppable force brother!" laughed the younger, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
So this was the brother he had talked about at their last encounter. He didn't look like much of an issue, but he displayed such strength...What words did he use again? Oh yeah; a sadistic moron. Didn't seem like it.
"Now that we're all here I think it's time to make proper introductions. I'm Ichiro and this is my brother Ikari. We're here on behalf of... an anonymous benefactor."
"Don't think I've forgotten your little comment about my father, I know you're involved with his disappearance!" she cried out.
Ikari frowned. "We had nothing to do with that. He came to us willingly."
"Then you had to have tricked him, pulled some scheme off! He'd never work with you willingly!"
Ichiro shrugged. "I could care more about how he got into this situation. But anyway, I do have an offer for you."
She frowned. If she had learnt from her parents it was not to trust strangers. Then again, how bad could it be?
"Name it."
"You come with us willingly and we'll deliver you to your father."
"And what of my mother? She has to be wrapped up in all of this too."
Ichiro and Ikari looked at each other, confused.
"Uhh, who's that?" asked Ikari.
"My mother! Bellona! She cut contact with me at the same time my father vanished and you have to know something about that, surely!"
"Your mother isn't related to any of this," said Ichiro confidently. "But I'm sure if you came with us we could get you to her."
Her parents were just an arms reach away. All she had wanted for the last 6 months was right there.
"Don't do this m'lady!" begged Hector in her mind. "There will be more chances to see your parents without dooming the demi-gods and legacies of the gods."
She contemplated the thought.
"I'm a goddess! If I get my parents I'll fully evolve into my divine form and then I can deal with the consequences later!"
"The risks though," said Hector, "People could die if you go through with this." Then Hectors voice went quiet, as if some force had silenced him.
"So, do we have a deal?" asked Ichiro.
She tightened her hands and concentrated her energy on a fine point in her fist.
"Show me what you've got," she whispered into her mind, hoping the prince of Troy heard her.
Faster than anyone in the room could react, she spun on her heel and landed an uppercut on Aeolus' chest. The force was so great that sparks of energy crackled from the impact. Aeolus seemed like a good guy, but right now he was an obstacle.
Then, her crown/tiara fractured and from it burst the scourge of the Achaeans. The scene must have resembled that of Athena's birth, a fully grown adult bursting from her head, covered head to toe in battle armour.
It must have startled the two brothers, as Ikari fell back and Ichiro stumbled.
Hector got to work straight away, identifying the weak links in monster forces and pouncing from empousa to hell hound to sea serpent. Everywhere he went, monsters turned to ash, but reformed just moments after he moved on.
Meanwhile, Kassandra turned back to the brothers and unsheathed her dagger. Ikari grinned with a mad delight and from his pockets pulled out two blades even smaller than hers. On the other hand, Ichiro produced a staff.
"A stupid choice," announced the staff wielder.
The staff was practically radiating energy, similar to the crown that housed Hector. A dirty energy though, like Tartarus itself.
Ikari was the first to attack, spiralling towards her in a blaze of blades and chaotic laughter. Kassandra was quick to react, throwing an overhand to smash into his cheek. However, he seemed to move even faster than expected, successfully ducking and slashing a knife into the side of her chest.
All that happened in a second, with Ikari sliding across the floor behind her to Aeolus' unconscious body. The daughter of Bellona was left stunned, and it must have shown on her face.
Ichiro laughed warmly. "Come on now Kassandra, you can be better than that!"
Then at the last second the hairs on her neck stood up, prompting her sidestep to the right just as Ikari came in swinging. She put her hand to her side and could feel the wound healing. Slowly, but give it a minute or so and all that would be left was a faint line.
Putting her knife back to her thigh, she drew her bow and notched arrow after arrow, firing 6 in total at the hoodie wearing fiend. Similar to when she went to hit him though, he miraculously dodged all the projectiles with ease. How was he moving so fast?
Growling, she abandoned her bow and snatched her knife again. Darting forwards, she made several jabs, slices and stabs, but all in vain. With every attempt Ichiro's infuriating brother found a way to humiliate her with some sort of weave or dodge.
And then thwack, Ichiro brought his staff hurtling into the back of her head.
"So barbaric," mused Ichiro as everything began to fade to black.
When the Kassandra came to her senses she found herself tied to the throne of Aeolus, the screens torn from their positions. She could feel her crown resting on her head, had they really not managed to deal with Hector?
"No m'lady, I dealt with as many monsters as I could but they just kept reforming and they had no way of hurting me, so we were at a passive. In the end I managed to sneak back into your crown."
She groggily looked around. The palace throne room was empty of monsters, and similarly Aeolus was nowhere to be seen. The spirits were long gone, the room silent apart from the conversation of three figures.
She could see Ichiro and Ikari clearly, but the third member of the conversation had their back turned to her. Kassandra assumed it was a female and tried listening in.
"So she is not a threat?"
That voice... it sounded eerily reminiscent of someone else she knew, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"Not at all!" replied Ikari merrily, "I expected more!"
"That being said, I can read the potential written on her. If something isn't done she will grow stronger."
Mystery woman turned to look at her, and her breath hitched. Kassandra could swear she had seen her before. Was it from Olympus? The hunters? Camp?
"Ahh, you're awake!"
She sauntered over to Kassandra. The woman wore a long black dress, perfectly catching her curves. Around her neck she wore a gold necklace, the symbol of a tree carved into a pendant. Her chest was larger than even Aphrodite's and glossy black hair streamed from her head, which was covered by a holiday style hat, a single black ribbon around it. Black heels accompanied the look.
What really caught her off guard though was a flower that covered her eye. Looking with more detail the flower wasn't an accessory; it was literally embedded in her eye. Yellow petals with fluorescent green leaves sprouted from the socket, and roots slightly came from it like a tattoo.
"Who are you?" she asked, slightly dazed.
"You don't recognise me?" pouted the woman, "I expected you to know this form."
"This form? Plain and simple, just who are you?"
In the back Ichiro and Ikari seemed to laugh to each other. What was the big deal? She struggled against her constraints, the woman joining in giggling too.
"Whilst it was altered by Aphrodite, it fits my needs more than its ulterior design." She took a step closer, and tore her heels off, both hitting the brother in the face. Now it was Kassandra's turn to laugh.
Her attention was dragged back to the woman though when she began to spin like a spinning top. Her dress began to... shift. It changed from free flowing material, shrinking till it stuck to her legs like trousers. Then her sleeveless top changed to a shirt, black tie with gold tree cuff links. Her chest shrunk and hair recessed.
When she stopped spinning, the flower stayed. But she looked more like a he. And he looked like...
Her heart stopped.
"Father?..."
The man that stood before her was identical to the man that she had longed to see again for so long. Her voice wavered like the whistle of the wind. Holy Hera, Holy Hera.
"My dear Kassandra, I've waited for this," said (Y/N), holding his arms wide.
His daughter sat motionless in the chair. Alarms were going haywire in her mind, and she could hear Hector yelling but couldn't hear what he was actually saying.
Her bonds relaxed, but yet she still didn't move.
"Don't you want to give your father a hug?" he asked, smiling warmly. This seemed too perfect. Too perfect.
"...out of here! It's a trap!" shouted Hector. She had no regard for the concerns of the prince of Troy.
As if she were in a trance Kassnadra stood up and cautiously approached her father. Her eyes glimmered with wonder. She was so close to him, just an arms reach away. She was just one step closer to reuniting her family again.
Then at the last moment, before they made contact, Aeolus burst into the room, followed by a horde of skeleton warriors.
"Run Kassandra!" he shouted, his eyes and face strictly serious, contrasting his usual goofy presenter appearance.
(Y/N) turned to face the master of the winds, his face souring at the presence of him. "Did we not have a deal?" he hissed.
Ikari and Ichiro also twisted to face the news presenter, frowning. But before anyone could properly react, Aeolus threw his hands up then down in a slamming motion.
The wind followed his commands, and before she knew it Kassandra was thrown from in front of her father and towards the centre of the room. The floor towards she was heading to collapsed.
"No!" screeched (Y/N), tossing a hand in her direction. The floor seemed to obey his will, had he always been able to do that?
The ground whipped after her, hands made of plywood, marble and grass-sod attempting to grab her. Kassandra would have grabbed them if she could think fast enough, but by the time she came to her senses she was already plummeting through the pit.
As she fell the wind seemed to guide her to a particular chute, twisting her through vents and tunnels. The place started to get dark, real dark until there was a bright light ahead. The rushing winds popped her ears as sunlight flashed her eyes.
And then she was out of the tunnel, flying. The world went dark again.
The first thing she noticed was the smell of coffee. Strong coffee at that. She wrinkled her nose at the smell before opening her eyes. She came face to face with a man, staring at her with incredible curiosity.
"Ahh!" she yelped like a schoolgirl, stumbling forwards from her resting place.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the man, fumbling through his pockets, eventually producing a knife. A butter knife.
He wore an apron with a branded cap reading Cafe Verve and looked pretty silly with his pitiful excuse of a weapon. Behind him was a sack of coffee beans, dark and rich. She assumed that's where she had been lying.
"I'm... I don't really know how I got here sorry."
The man trembled, but didn't drop the knife. Kassandra sighed. There were two options here, an easy one and a more morally correct one.
She went with the easy one.
Before the man knew it, he was the one now lying on his back on the coffee sack, unconscious too. The daughter of (Y/N) flicked her hair back and panted, properly taking in her surroundings.
She was in a storage closet, shelves lined with everything you might find in a coffee store from cups to machinery to sweet treats all neatly packaged up. There were a few more sacks of coffee beans which really did create a hypnotic smell. Where exactly was she?
According to the hat of the employee she was in Cafe Verve, but where was that? She was lost.
But she wasn't going to let something like this stop her. She'd find the demi-gods and satyr no matter where they were, no matter how long it took. Snatching a croissant from a shelf, she kicked down the door and marched out of the storage room.
Kassandra burst into the employee side of a counter, making quite the ruckus in a silent shop. She frightened another worker but paid them no heed, continuing her drive through the coffee shop and out the door with the pastry in her mouth.
She could smell eucalyptus trees. Lots of foot traffic passed in front of quaint little shops. The street was lined with bottle-brush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter was a foreign concept. It was perfect weather to be sitting outside, explaining why nobody was inside the store.
Across the horizon she could see a mountain that could only have been Mount Diablo. It looked serene, but she could almost feel some sort of evil emanating from the place.
If that was the place the demi-gods needed to be, she might as well tag along. Seeing that her newer prophecy was intertwined with the quest of the three, she had a faint idea that this tree thing was somehow connected.
It was weird knowing the brothers names, especially the monster summoner. Ichiro and Ikari, weird names with a style she hadn't heard before. They reminded her of something Japanese, she should look into when she got back to camp.
But anyway, now she had to find...
"Kassandra!" called out a voice close by. She was startled by her name, twisting to find the demi-gods and satyrs sitting down and enjoying the atmosphere. Quick search.
At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sat chatting and drinking coffee. Kassandra made her way over.
When she properly looked at them, they were wearing the most outrageous outfits only Apollo could be caught wearing.
Piper was wearing a turquoise dress, with black leggings and black leather boots. She had on a silver charm bracelet and an old snowboarding jacket which may have salvaged the look. Her hair had been done too, similar to when she was claimed at camp.
Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.
Jason was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like she'd seen him wear at the Grand Canyon.He had new track shoes on, and his hair was newly trimmed.His eyes were the same colour as the sky.
Worst of all though was Hedge. The satyr was a pastel nightmare. He wore a baggy canary yellow suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-coloured shirt and a baby blue tie. Something pulled straight from the closet of Iris.
She sat down cautiously, eyeing the others up.
"At least someone got a good look," grumbled Leo.
Kassandra looked down at herself, and the son of Hephaestus was right. She now wore a traditional Greek chiton with a golden brooch. However, in all the right places the dress was reinforced with armour, her shoulders, knees, chest and so on. Somehow she couldn't feel the weight of the metal.
"What is this?" she mumbled, patting the chiton to make sure it was real.
"Courtesy of Aphrodite, we all got makeovers, some better than others," bleated Hedge.
"But anyway, what happened back there? With Aeolus?" asked Jason, leaning over the table. It all came back to her.
Ichiro, Ikari... her father.
"It was nothing bad, just had to clean up some messes," she remarked, a throwaway comment. It was probably for the best to keep them in the dark anyway. "So what's your guys' plan?"
The four looked at each other, then all turned to her as she cracked down on her croissant.
The menus said "Café Verve, Walnut Creek, CA." And according to the waitress from behind the counter who came over, it was 9 a.m. on December 21, the winter solstice, which gave them three hours until Pipers issue hit deadline. Just how would they go about it though.
"That giant has insulted your honour as a woman, a goddess and a warrior. We should charge the mountain to regain your kleos," said Hector.
"As a woman?"
"Of course, such a stain on your reputation can't be allowed to go unpunished."
Kassandra sat there in thought.
"If we go in there guns blazing, Piper will lose her father. I may have only known the girl for a few days, but that's not a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, it's not my choice. Like I said before, it's these heroes who will be making most of the choices."
"Well, whatever your word is m'lady," said Hector before going quiet again.
She was pulled back to the real world when Leo pulled something out of his pocket- the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him back at the palace.
"What is that?" Piper asked.
Leo folded it up gingerly again and put it away. "Nothing.You don't want to see my kindergarten artwork."
"It's more than that," Jason guessed. "Aeolus said it was the key to our success."
Leo shook his head. "Not today. He was talking about... later."
"How can you be sure?" Piper asked.
"Trust me," Leo said. "Now- what's our game plan?"
Coach Hedge belched. He'd already had three espressos and a plate of doughnuts, along with two napkins and another flower from the vase on the table. He would've eaten the silverware, except Piper had slapped his hand.
"Climb the mountain," Hedge said. "Kill everything except Piper's dad. Leave."
"Thank you, General Eisenhower," Jason grumbled.
"Hey, I'm just saying-"
From somewhere behind Kassandra she heard a whistle; a catcall.
"Nice views!" laughed a guy riding past them on a bike, making it very obvious he was staring at the girls chests.
Kassandra could feel Hector straining to escape her crown, but she figured she'd take action into her own hands.
With a flick of a wrist, she flung a small but sturdy rod of energy towards the bike with precise accuracy. It lodged in the front wheel and with a sudden jerk the male was sent flying forwards from his bike before crashing into a store window. Idiot wasn't even wearing a helmet.
"Is he okay?" asked Leo, looking past Kassandra at the growing crowd around the victim of her wrath.
"Leo, I might not be as strong as my parents but I'm still a goddess. The lives of mortals who choose to act in such aggravating ways is of no concern to me and it shouldn't be to you either. Please, continue."
They seemed a little cautious, but everyone knew he deserved it, so the initial shock passed over quickly.
Piper was the first to continue, taking a deep breath before speaking.
"There's more you need to know. I... I had a dream just now with my- where I figured some stuff out. Apparently the reason monsters are coming back is because their patron has some sort of deal with Tartarus to bring them back. She also controls the giants like the one with my dad right now, along with some other freaks who've been making a mess for the Olympians for a while."
Someone who could control the giants, was in league with some 'freaks' and
"It's Gaia, isn't it," said Kassnadra drearily.
Piper glumly nodded.
"Yeah."
"Gaea?" Leo shook his head. "Isn't that Mother Nature?She's supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and deer and rabbits doing her laundry."
"Leo, that's Snow White," Piper said."Okay, but-"
"Listen, cupcake." Coach Hedge dabbed the espresso out of his goatee. "Piper's telling us some serious stuff, here.Gaea's no softie. I'm not even sure I could take her."
Leo whistled. "Really?"
Hedge nodded. "This earth lady- she and her old man the sky were nasty customers."
"Ouranos," Piper said.
"Right," Hedge said. "So Ouranos, he's not the best dad.He throws their first kids, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. That makes Gaea mad, but she bides her time. Then they have another set of kids- the twelve Titans- and Gaea is afraid they'll get thrown into prison too. So she goes up to her son Kronos-"
"The big bad dude," Leo said. "The one they defeated last summer."
"Right. And Gaea's the one who gives him the scythe, and tells him, 'Hey, why don't I call your dad down here? And while he's talking to me, distracted, you can cut him to pieces. Then you can take over the world. Wouldn't that be great?'"
Nobody said anything. Kassandra was almost thankful she was so young to not be involved in so much family drama.
"Definitely not Snow White," Piper decided.
"Nah, Kronos was a bad guy," Hedge said. "But Gaea is literally the mother of all bad guys. She's so old and powerful,so huge, that it's hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time, she sleeps, and that's the way we like her- snoring."
"But she talked to me," Leo said. "How can she be asleep?"
Not fully conscious... But what if she found a way to roam the earth through someone else? A way to transport a small part of her consciousness that was awake into a vessel to do her bidding though.
Hedge brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as quarters.
"Even in her sleep, part of her consciousness is active- dreaming, keeping watch, doing little things like causing volcanoes to explode and monsters to rise. Even now,she's not fully awake. Believe me, you don't want to see her fully awake."
"But she's getting more powerful," Piper said. "She's causing the giants to rise. And if their king comes back- this guy Porphyrion-"
"He'll raise an army to destroy the gods," Jason put in."Starting with Hera. It'll be another war. And Gaea will wake up fully."
Hedge nodded. "Which is why it's a good idea for us to stay off the ground as much as possible."
Leo looked warily at Mount Diablo. "So... climbing a mountain. That would be bad."
"No kidding," laughed Kassandra, "We're talking about a primordial being here! If all the gods in the entire Greek or Roman pantheon took arms against even 15% of Gaia's power, it wouldn't even be a contest. When she stirs in her sleep cities fall into the Earth, continents split and even Poseidon's domain erupts. A mountain is like the size of a hair strand for her."
"Guys, I can't ask you to do this," Piper said. "This is too dangerous."
"You kidding?" Gleeson belched and showed them his blue carnation smile. "Who's ready to beat stuff up?"
"Uhh, I'll grab three more of these croissants please," asked Kassandra to the guy across the counter. The same one she had knocked out earlier. The daughter of Bellona was surprised he had risen so fast. Had he forgotten their encounter?
As the employee bagged up her order, he looked at her with suspicion in his eyes.
"Say, have we met before?" he asked, wrapping up her bag.
"No, I don't think we have," she responded innocently, conjuring a few fake notes behind her back.