(Ella's POV)
“Martha, may I have the first package, please?” Hermes said.
Martha opened her mouth...& kept opening it until it was as wide as my arm. She belched out a stainless steel canister-an old-fashioned lunch box thermos with a black plastic top. The sides of the thermos were enameled with red & yellow Ancient Greek scenes-a hero killing a lion; a hero lifting up Cerberus, the three-headed dog.
“That’s Hercules,” I said. “But how-“
“Never question a gift,” Hermes chided. “This is a collector’s item from Hercules Busts Heads. The first season.”
“Hercules Busts Heads?” Percy asked.
“Great show.” Hermes sighed. “Back before Hephaestus-TV was all reality programming. Of course, the thermos would be worth much more if I had the whole lunch box-“
Or if it hadn’t been in Martha’s mouth, George added.
I’ll get you for that. Martha began chasing him around the caduceus.
“Wait a minute,” Percy said. “This is a gift?”
“One of two,” Hermes said. “Go on, pick it up.”
“It’s a compass!” he said.
Hermes looked surprised. “Very clever. I never thought of that. But its intended use is a bit more dramatic. Uncap it, & you will release the winds from the four corners of the earth to speed you on your way. Not now! And please, when the time comes, unscrew the lid a tiny bit. The winds are a bit like me- always restless. Should all four escape at once...ah, but I’m sure you’ll be careful. And now my second gift. George?”
She’s touching me, George complained as he & Martha slithered round the pole. I giggled.
“She’s always touching you,” Hermes said. “You’re intertwined. And if you don’t stop that, you’ll get knotted again!
The snakes stopped wrestling.
George unhinged his jaw & coughed up a little plastic bottle with chewable vitamins.
“You’re kidding,” Percy said. “Are those Minotaur-shaped?”
Hermes picked up the bottle & rattled it. “The lemon ones, yes. The grape ones are Furies, I think. Or are they hydras? At any rate, these are potent. Don’t take one unless you really, really need it.”
“How will we know if we really, really need it?” I asked.
“You’ll know, believe me. Nine essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids...oh, everything you need to feel yourself again.”
He tossed me the bottle.
“Um, thanks,” I said. “But Lord Hermes, why are you helping us?”
He gave me a melancholy smile. “Perhaps because I hope that you can save many people on this quest, Nora. Not just your friend Grover.”
I stared at him. “You don’t mean..Luke?”
Hermes didn’t answer.
“Look,” Percy said. “Lord Hermes, I mean, thanks & everything, but you might as well take back your gifts. Luke can’t be saved. Even if I could find him...he told me that he wanted to tear down Olympus stone by stone. He betrayed everybody he knew. He-he hates you especially.”
Hermes gazed up at the stars. “My dear young cousin, if there’s one thing I learned over the eons, it’s that you can’t give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. It doesn’t matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don’t appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet-“
“You invented the Internet?” Percy asks.
It was my idea, Martha said.
Rats are delicious, George said.
“It was my idea!” Hermes said. “I mean the Internet, not the rats. But that’s not the point. Percy, do you understand what I’m saying about family?”
“I-I’m not sure.”
“You will some day.” Hermes got up and brushed the sand off his legs. “In the meantime, I must be going.”
You have sixty calls to return, Martha said.
And one thousand-thirty-eight e-mails, George added. Not counting the offers for online discount ambrosia.
“And you, Percy,” Hermes said, “have a much shorter deadline than you realize to complete your quest. Your friends should be coming right about...now.”
I heard Annie’s voice calling my name from the sand dunes. Tyson, too, was shouting for Percy from a little bit farther away.
“I hope I packed well for you,” Hermes said. “I do have some experience with travel.”
He snapped his fingers & four yellow duffel bags appeared at our feet.
“Waterproof, of course. If you ask nicely, your father should be able to help you reach the ship.” He told Percy.
“Ship?”
Hermes pointed. Sure enough, a big cruise ship was cutting across Long Island Sound, its white-&-gold lights glowing against the dark water.
“Wait,” Percy said. “I don’t understand any of this. We haven’t even agreed to go!”
“I’d make up your mind in the next five minutes, if I were you,” Hermes advised. “That’s when the harpies will come to eat you. Now, good night, cousin & you too little sister & dare I say it? May the gods go with you.”
He opened his hand, the caduceus flew into it.
Good luck, Martha told us.
Bring me back a rat, George said.
The caduceus changed into a cell phone & Hermes slipped it into his pocket.
He jogged off down the beach. Twenty paces away, he shimmered & vanished, leaving us alone with a thermos, a bottle of chewable vitamins, & five minutes to make an impossible decision.
Sorry for the wait😬
But...anyways😅
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Take care my lovely readers.❤
Alice signing off.
XOXO.
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Daughter Of Lightning - Book 2 (A Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)
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