Wisdom's Revenge | Olympus's Traitor #2

Chapter 8: Wisdom's Avenger

Snowflakes started fluttering down from the sky as the sun rose. It was a soft snowfall, barely even noticeable; all things considered, it was actually quite pleasant. Aether sat staring into the fire that he had maintained throughout the night, reflecting on his life and what had led him to this point. He was glad that the kids didn't seem to notice that he was older than he looked. Aether was about 22 now, but when he was 15 Mistress Annabeth had granted him partial immortality. He could still remember the day like it was yesterday.

"You wanted to see me?" Aether questioned as he knocked on the door to Annabeth's office.

"Yes, yes. Come in Edikitís," Annabeth said."You have come quite far in your training. Your father and his minions will find you to be quite the formidable foe when you finally meet."

"Thank you, mistress," Edikitís replied, face darkening at the mention of his father.

"The time has come for you to proceed to the next level of your training," Annabeth stated as she stood up and walked over to the window behind her desk, facing it and clasping her hands behind her back as her back was to Aether.

"I see," Aether responded. "What do you need me to do?"

"Oh, it's nothing you can do for me," Annabeth said sinisterly, Aether unable to see the wicked smile forming on her face. "In fact, consider this my gift to you."

As soon as she said this black mist started swirling around her, gathering in a ball above her head before launching itself into Aether's chest. As the mist absorbed into him Aether felt a sharp pain where it had impacted, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to one knee. After a moment his vision cleared, and Aether was able to stand back up.

"How do you feel, Edikitís?" Annabeth asked as she turned around to face him.

"I feel. . . different," he hesitantly replied. "What was that?'

"It was my gift to you. No longer will you suffer the pain of sickness or fear old age. Now you need only fear the attacks of others," Annabeth explained. "Now go, continue your training." Annabeth then turned back around, marking the conversation as over.

"Yes, mistress," Edikitís replied before exiting the office.

A rustling from the tent brought Aether out of his thoughts, and moments later Audrie emerged. "Sleep well?" he asked the still bleary-eyed girl.

"Oh, um, yes, thank you," Audrie responded. "How long have you been up?"

"Most of the night," Aether said casually.

"Aren't you tired?" Audrie questioned, brow furrowed with concern.

"A little, but I've endured worse during my training." Audrie then looked like she was about to say something else, but Edikitís cut her off before she could do so. "I'll start breakfast, and then we can get going so we can get you two to safety as fast as possible."

"How far is it?" Audrie asked.

Edikitís thought for a moment before responding. "I'd say about a week or so on foot if we really push ourselves."

"Where are we going?"

"Maine," Aether responded while he started gathering the things he needed to prepare breakfast for the three of them. "We're going to Maine."

Figuring she wasn't going to get much more out of him this early in the morning, and barely awake as she was, Audrie just silently sat down next to the fire and stared into the flames. Within a few minutes the smell of breakfast brought a still half-asleep Ethan stumbling out of the tent where he then sat next to his sister.