Weird relatives

Chapter 9: Furies. Again

Danny packed his belongings fast. It wasn't like he had much. Take on the sunglasses and it is done. He could get spare clothes later during their 'trip'. The same about Ellie, she didn't have anything with her.

Danny took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. When he looked at some campers, he noticed that some looked at Ellie with envy. Most possibly it was because of how much attention Danny paid to his daughter.

Chiron was waiting for them in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer guy. According to Grover, he was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so Danny could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck. There were Percy and Annabeth, but where was...

"Aaaaa!" Grover was flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van. Where that tennis shoes with wings on his legs?

Percy was holding the pen, the same pen he used against 'Mrs. Dodds'. He took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, he held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos"

"'Riptide,'" Danny translated, surprising everyone by his sudden appearance.

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case"

Percy looked at the wickedly sharp blade, "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?"

"The sword is celestial bronze," Danny explained, "Put here a long explanation about how it was made. The point is, sword just passes through mortals, while cutting up the monsters easily. As demigods, we can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. We are twice as vulnerable"

"Good to know," Percy deadpanned.

"Now recap the pen"

He touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. Percy tucked it in his pocket.

"You can't," Chiron said.

"Can't what?"

"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket"

"Well, now I know what to do with TV remote," Danny said.

"Chiron ..." Percy called, "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"

"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age"

"So what was it like ... before the gods?"

"I'll tell you on our way," Danny patted him on shoulder.

"Yay, adventure!" Ellie exclaimed, throwing hands in the air. Only now others noticed her.

"Danny...surely you don't..."

"I'm a VERY irresponsible parent"

-Laterr-

Argus, the surfer guy, dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from Percy and Phantoms' apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with Percy's picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?