Chapter Text
I'm not like them but I can pretend
The sun is gone but I have a light
The day is done but I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb or maybe I'm just happy
I think I'm just happy
I think I'm just happy
I think I'm just happy
My heart is broke but I have some glue
Help me inhale and mend it with you
We'll float around and hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down and have a hangover
We'll have a hangover
We'll have a hangover
We'll have a hangover
The song echoed through his ears, as he layed on the soft grass. He appreciated the dark night, he always felt comfortable in the darkness.
Skin the sun, fall asleep
Wish away, soul is cheap
Lesson learned, wish me luck
Soothe the burn, wake me up
He inhaled the smoke from the cigarette that was in his mouth. Then he adjusted his headphones on his ear.
I'm not like them but I can pretend
"I'm not like them but I can pretend."
The sun is gone but I have a light
"The sun is gone but I have a light."
The day is done but I'm having fun
" The day is done but I'm having fun."
I think I'm dumb or maybe I'm just happy
"I think I'm dumb or maybe I'm just happy."
I think I'm just happy
" I think I'm just happy."
I think I'm just happy
" I think I'm just happy."
I think I'm just happy
"I think I'm just happy."
He sang along with the song after he puffed out the smoke that he has inhaled.
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
I think I'm dumb
"I think I'm dumb." He sang along again.
After the song ended, he opened his eyes to look at the sky. No stars today. He thought sadly. He sat up from the ground and looked around him. It's probably gonna be here any second now.
Suddenly, a strange flash of light flashed on his face.
"Get this light off my face!" He yelled at whoever was flashing that light.
"This is private property, what are you doing here?" A very authoritarian voice spoke.
Great, a security guard. "Just appreciating the fresh air." He replied sarcastically.
The security guard then took a good look at him. "How old are you?"
"My birthday day was last week so... Eleven or twelve, I guess." He replied in a bored expression.
"What?! What are you doing at a place lime this at Three AM?" The Security guard asked in confusion.
"I'm waiting for a monster," He answered with a lazy smile.
"Where are your parents?" The Security guard asked, not even caring about his answer.
"You guess is as good as mine." He answered sarcastically while putting the cigarette on his mouth again.
"Hey! Put that down! " The Security guard ordered him.
"Why?" He asked as he inhaled the smoke.
The Security guard then grabbed the cigarette from his mouth, tossed on the ground and stepped on it.
"Come on, that was my last one." He whined.
"What is your name?"
He sighed. "The name is Zachariah Roosevelt, and you should really get out of here." Zachariah tried to warn him.
"You're the one who should get out if here and go home, otherwise I'll h-" He was trying to say something, until he noticed something on Zachariah's belt. "Put it down!" The thing on his belt, was a holster that had a revolver on it.
"I can't, I'm gonna need it." Zachariah tried explained. But before he could say anything else, he saw the thing that he was waiting for. "Oh, there it is." It was walking towards their direction.
The security guard turned around to see what it was, but when he did. Zachariah delivered a kick into the back of the guard's knee and hit him in the head with his foot. Should have just walked away.
He then looked as the monster that he was waiting for approaches him. It looked like a man from afar but Zachariah knew exactly what it was. Although the monster had no idea, who it was dealing with.
"I found you, half-blood." The demonic looking man hissed at the young boy.
"I was waiting for, you know, it's kind of rude to let people hanging like this." Zachariah replied as he stretched himself.
The demonic like man looked confused, like it wasn't used to this type of reaction when coming into contact with him. "Are you mocking me, little godling?"
"No, I'm just a little annoyed." He replied. "Now, would you please assume your real form so we can get started?"
The man looked even more confused, but decided to do what Zachariah said and assumed his monster form. Which it turned out to be a Manticore
"A Manticore ? Oh man, I was hoping for something else." He complained.
But that complain seemed to have enraged the Manticore and it roared at Zachariah in response.
"Hold up second." Zachariah reached for his backpack that was on the ground and pulled out a small orb. He squeezed the orb tightly which caused to form a strange pole at his hand that was engulfed in darkness. The pole then revealed itself to be a Scythe. The Scythe was very strange, the grip resembled a spinal cord, with the top resembling a skull with the blade coming out of it's mouth. I was going to test my new weapon but a Manticore is just not worth it. He thought in annoyance. "Wait, a second more." Zachariah told the Manticore, who looked extremely confused.
Zachariah then put on his headphones back on his ears to listen to another song.
Crawling in my skin
Okay, there it goes.
Zachariah then swinged his Scythe at the Manticore, who just jumped out of the way .
These wounds, they will not heal
Then he swinged downwards in such a speed that the Manticore nearly wasn't able to dodge.
Fear is how I fall
The monster then tried to stab Zachariah with it's tail, but he easily dodge the attack and stab the tail with the Scythe.
Confusing what is real
It yelled in pain when it felt the blade piercing it's tail. But Zachariah quickly pull it out and swings at it's head.
There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
But the Manticore managed to evade the blade and tried to charge at Zachariah.
Consuming, confusing
He jumped out of the way by jumping to the side, before pulling his revolver and shooting at the monster's leg.
This lack of self control I fear is never ending
The bullet landed perfectly and quickly did damage as the leg gave out and the monster fell down into one knee. Zachariah then put the revolver back into the holster.
Consuming, confusing
Zachariah then walked towards the Manticore and looked at it's face.
This lack of self control I fear is never ending
He raised his Scythe.
Controlling
He descends it
I can't seem
The blade pierced through the monster's head, which caused it to become a yellow powder and vaporize on the spot, leaving a smell of sulfur. That Zachariah personally liked.
Too easy. Zachariah thought in disappointment as he pulled the headphones off his ears. He squeezed the Scythe's grip which turned back into a orb.
He walked towards his backpack and put the orb inside and the holster with the revolver as well. Can't walk around with a revolver on me, and I'm gonna have to get myself more bullets. Why did Celestial bronze had to be so rare?
"Uuuhh." He heard someone grunting.
Oh, he's waking up. Zachariah decided to hide behind a tree that was close by.
"Uhhhh, what?" The Security guard spoke out loud. "Ahhhh, dammit!"
He probably remembers, what I did." Zachariah thought as he hides.
The guard then grabbed his radio and called someone. "Alert, a child attacked ne over."
Does he realize how dumb that sounds?
He heard someone speaking on the radio. "It's an ugly kid, he has light brown hair in a caesar haircut and blue eyes." He started to describe Zachariah. "He's wearing glasses, a black hoodie, a long sleeve stripped shirt, vintage blue jeans, gray skateboard shoes and a army backpack."
Wow, pretty good memory for someone who got kicked in the face.
"Because he had a gun! A revolver!" He yelled at the radio.
I guess I better get out of here. He thought, before he decided to sneak out of that place. I'm gonna have to find a place to sleep for the night. Zachariah thought as he was leaving that area. But I really need to be back at the camp before morning, otherwise Thalia and Annabeth are going to kick my ass. He thought in worry as the last beating he got from them for sneaking out of the camp was pretty brutal.
Almost there, I just need to get to bed and pretend to be asleep. Or actually a nap. Zachariah thought as he sneaked inside his cabin on his tip toes.
He lived on Hermes' Cabin, a Cabin for Hermes' demigod children and unclaimed demigods. Which Zachariah was the latter.
His bed was close to one of the windows, which made it easier to sneak in and out. Although, he really needed to get in quickly and silently. He climbed through the window into the room that had a few other boys sleeping in it. The major downside of this cabin is fact that it's packed at all times. Luckily for him, he has an exclusive bed for himself.
The bed has his initials carved on them, which differentiates it from the other beds. There was a small mirror besides it which he used to check himself for any signs of a fight. If someone notices, he's screwed.
He took off his glasses which revealed his blue eyes. He didn't really need them to see, they were for another reason. Which was to hide his eyes, that had an unnatural blue color. But the glasses' lenses make them look like normal blue eyes. Everyone thought it was necessary, but he was kind of annoyed, since his eyes are considered as his best feature. Or his only good feature, since everything else about Zachariah's appearance could be described in a single word. Plain.
Absolutely nothing, just my ugly face. He thought as he started to take off his clothes and go to bed.
The space close to the window was his, there were some things in there. Like his posters of rock bands and some tech that he got on his trips outside of the camp.
After taking off his clothes, he laid on the bed with just white trunks and covered himself with the blanket. Zachariah was about to close his eyes to sleep. Only to be interrupted. "Hey, Zach." He heard someone whispering.
Zachariah opened his eyes to see who it was, it turned out to be one of his friends. Grover Underwood, who was supposed to cover for him. "Please, tell me that they don't know I left."
"Umm..." Grover made an embarrassed face, which signals that he didn't do a good job.
"Scale of one to ten, how mad were Thalia and Annabeth?" Zachariah asked, as he needed to know how bad he was going to get beat up by them.
"Ummm... Annabeth was a six, and Thalia was... a ... nine" The nine didn't sound very convincing, which made Zachariah even more nervous.
"Should I face them now... or tomorrow?" he asked with a worried face.
"Thalia is waiting for you, I suggest you don't make her wait any longer." Grover spoke in a genuinely worried tone.
Zachariah sighed.
Zachariah quickly put his clothes back on and made his way to Zeus's cabin to face Zeus's daughter herself. Okay, maybe she won't be too upset. He thought in worry. But as he got closer and closer, he could see her from afar. And she looked angry. Oh boy, she looks mad. "Ummm... do you think you ca-" Zachariah tried to ask Grover, but when he turned around to do it. He noticed that Grover is running away. "Coward!" Zachariah yelled at him. Although, maybe I should follow his example and run too.
"ZACH!" He heard her yelling his name.
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to run. As he saw her approaching him with fire on her eyes, not literally, of course.
"Hey, Thalia, look I can explain- AAAHH!" Zachariah tried to talk his way out of the situation, but Thalia ignored his words and grabbed his arm, which sent a small amount of static shock throughout his body on contact. It wasn't enough to cause any serious harm, but it still hurted.
"I told you not to leave the camp by yourself! But you never listen!" Thalia yelled at him after he fell on the ground due to the static shock.
"Aahhhh." Zach just winced in pain. "What... is... the. .. deal... anyway?" He asked really slowly. Especially if you're just going to hurt me more than the monsters do. Zachariah thought sarcastically.
"The deal is that I didn't fight all of those monsters to keep you safe just for you to keep being a reckless moron!" She yelled at him again in response.
Zachariah stood up from the ground. "Thalia, I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself no- AAAHHH!" Before he could finish what he was going to say, she shocked him again.
"Shut up!" Thalia yelled at him. "I'm not done with you yet!"
Daughter of Zeus indeed. She's as controlling as he's known to be. But why the hell am I the target? Can't she just order Annabeth or Luke around for a change. Zachariah spoke internally as he laid on the ground tired. I'm probably gonna get an annoying lecture from Annabeth too.
"Zachariah!" Oh Goddammit! Unfortunately for Zachariah, the situation just got worse as someone else decided to join his torture party.
"Hey... Annabeth... how's it y-" Before he could finish what she was going to say, Annabeth threw a bucket of very cold water on him. "AAAHHHH! Cold! Cold!" Zachariah started to yell, as the night wasn't exactly warm.
"Nobody told you to sneak off again, now suck it up." Annabeth spoke coldly towards him.
"Ahhh! Seriously, will you two just get off my back! Who the hell cares if I sneak off or not?" Zachariah asked in a deep frustration while trying to wring his wet clothes.
"We care, because we know how much of a reckless idiot you are." Annabeth was quick to reply. "What was it this time?" Annabeth asked while folding her arms.
"Ummmm, nothing." Zachariah tried to hide the truth.
Suddenly, he looked at Annabeth and realized that she had his backpack in her back. She opened and pulled out his revolver. "One bullet is missing, and you're not dumb enough to waste a bullet made of celestial bronze."
Dammit. He scratched the back of his head. "It was... just a weak monster." Zachariah tried to talk with a forced smile.
"Zach!" Thalia spoke in anger.
"Okay, fine," Zachariah decided to admit. "It was a Manticore."
The moment he said that, Annabeth tossed the bucket at him. Which Zachariah managed to dodge.
"A Manticore! You stupid idiot! I should-'' Thalia yelled at him again and was about to shock him again. Until she got interrupted.
"Okay, that's enough." They all turned around to see Luke standing there. "You guys are being really loud, and pretty much everyone is hearing." Luke told them.
Zachariah looked around and noticed that there was a considerable audience of people, watching him being scolded.
"Look, can you two finish scolding him tomorrow? It's kind of cold out here and they all have training in a few hours." Luke pointed out.
Thalia and Annabeth stared at one another before they replied. "Fine, but I'm keeping his backpack." Annabeth spoke.
"What?! No way! Everything I own is in that backpack! " Zachariah was quick to protest.
"Shut up!" Thalia yelled at him.
Zachariah wanted to argue, but he knew that it was pointless and that Thalia would only shock him again.
They all decided to go back to their cabins but Zachariah is still very frustrated by Annabeth taking his backpack.
They entered Hermes' Cabin, and changing his wet clothes, they went to Luke's room. Where he told Zachariah to sit down on a chair on the wall.
"You can't keep doing this." Luke told him as he sat down as well.
"Why not?" He asked. "Fighting is the only thing I'm good at, and considering that I don't have any special powers like you guys, I don't think I'm much of a use if I don't keep sharpening my skills." Zachariah folded his arms and looked away. I'm really not in the mood for this.
"Look, you can lie as much as you want. But I know very well what this is about." Luke replied as he leaned on the chair that he was sitting.
"Oh, please tell me then."
"You're hoping to be noticed by whoever is your Olympian parent." Luke pointed out with a stoic expression.
Zachariah opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know what to say. Because Luke was right. He looked down in embarrassment.
"Listen, Thalia, Annabeth and I... know how disappointed you were, when no one claimed you." Luke touched his shoulder. "But you have to understand that you don't have to keep putting yourself in danger for it."
Zachariah took a deep breath before speaking. "Luke, you don't understand." He started to tell him while Luke listened closely. "You, Thalia and Annabeth... know who your parents are, even if you guys have problems with them, at least you know who they are. Me? I don't know who is my Mortal parent or my Olympian one." He explained to Luke while looking a bit upset. "I didn't even know what I was until you and Thalia found me."
Thalia and Luke found Zachariah sleeping on a beach while they fled from a monster that was chasing them. They grabbed Zachariah and carried him away from there after he actually saw the monster. He traveled with them ever since.
Luke also took a deep breath before replying. "Do you know why Thalia is like that with you?"
"Because she can't stand when someone doesn't do what she says." Zachariah answered. For as long as Zachariah can remember, between him, Luke and Annabeth. He's the only one who has a habit of disobeying Thalia.
"Well... partially that, but there's another reason." Luke responded while scratching his head.
"Which is?" Zach asked while raising his left eyebrow.
"You see, Thalia's mother was an unstable person. She was an alcoholic and had a tendency of acting like a spoiled child." Luke started to explain. "Thalia and her mother had a terrible relationship, but Thalia mostly stayed with her because she didn't trust her to care for her brother."
"Did she ever tell you about him?" Thalia never really spoke about him.
"Just bits and pieces, Zeus sired Jason while on Roman aspect, Jupiter. Making Jason an Roman demigod." Zach didn't know that. "I'm not sure what happened to him, but whatever it was, it was Thalia's last straw and she left her mother for good after that."
"But... what exactly does that have to do with me?" Zach asked in confusion.
"A lot to be honest, Thalia told me that you reminded her of her brother on more than one occasion and your stunts to get attention from whoever is your Olympian parent feels a lot like the stunts that her mother did to get attention after Zeus left her." Luke pointed out.
"So...you're saying..."
"Thalia is like that with you, because I think she views you like a little brother like she did with Jason, and personally, I don't think that she can handle losing another little brother." Luke explained. "I mean, I still remember how much she freaked out when she heard what you did when we arrived at the Camp."
When Zachariah, Luke,Annabeth and Thalia arrived at Camp - half blood. They were being chased by a horde of monsters, and Thalia decided to sacrifice herself for them to escape since the monsters were after her. But Zachariah refused, and went back for her.
"You never told us, not even Thalia what happened there." Luke mentioned. "Why?"
Zachariah looked down a bit. "I... don't really know what happened myself."
When he went back, he found Thalia wounded and unconscious. He saw that the hellhounds were about to finish her off. Zachariah stood in front of her, ready to face them. But something incredibly strange happened, the hellhounds didn't attack him. They just stood there, looking at him. The three Furies were also there and tried to attack Zachariah. But something even more confusing happened, the hellhounds shielded him from them. Zachariah then carried Thalia into the camp while the furies tried to pass the hellhounds.
Zachariah never understood what happened. Thalia was gravely wounded but she survived. When she fully recovered, she shocked Zachariah for not doing what she said. But hugged him afterwards.
"Look, I'm not gonna pry or force you to tell me." Luke responded. "But, I want you to understand that, Thalia, Annabeth and I... we love you, okay." Zachariah looked up again. "And, I know that it must be horrible not knowing who your parents are, but... you shouldn't have to work to have whoever is your father or mother's attention. Because... do you think that they would even care if you died?"
Zachariah made a sad face, because he already knows the answer to that.
"You wanna know who would care if you died? Us, we would be devastated if you died, especially over something like this." Luke assured him. "Especially Annabeth, since you're her personal hero."
Zachariah chuckled at that. "What?" He asked in disbelief. "She constantly calls me a reckless idiot."
"In her defense..."
"Oh come on!"
"Sorry, but seriously, she has an immense respect for you since the day you saved Thalia." Luke elaborated. "She literally told me herself." He revealed. "Don't tell her I said it though."
Zachariah was genuinely surprised. Because he can tell that Luke isn't just lying to make him feel better. Suddenly, Zach started yawning.
"You're probably tired, go to bed." Luke told him. "I'll talk to Annabeth about your backpack tomorrow."
"Thanks Luke, good night." Zach then stood up from the chair and made his way out of the room.
"Good night Zach." Luke replied before also standing up and closing the door of his room.
"Roosevelt." Someone calling his name, but he was too comfortable to respond. Too sleepy to answer. "Roosevelt!" Hearing someone yelling his name, didn't exactly gave him a urge to wake up.
Unless it's Thalia wanting to shock me again, I don't care. Zach thought in annoyance.
"WAKE UP!" Unfortunately for Zachariah, whoever was yelling his name, decided to lift the side of his bed up in order to make him fall from it. Which it worked, since Zachariah fell hard into floor.
"AAAHHH!" It was Zach's response when he hit the floor covered on his blanket. He quickly stood up and removed the blanket that was covering him. Revealing that he's only wearing white briefs. "What the hell!?" He yelled before looking who did that to him. It turns out that the person who made him fall into the floor, was someone that Zach detested. "Your beautiful face is clear sign that this day is going to nice, Clarisse." He spoke with extremely obvious sarcasm on his voice when he spoke with the intruder, Clarisse La Rue.
"Shut your damn mouth, and prepare yourself." She ordered him. "I want a rematch, now!" She demanded while pointing at him.
Can she just accept defea-... Nah, who am I joking. I love beating her at everything. Zachariah thought humoursly. "I would love to, but Annabeth got my stuff so.."
"Then we do this the classic way." She replied as she cracked her knuckles.
"Fist fight? Alright." Zachariah got into a very goofy Kung Fu stance that he saw on a movie during one of the times that he sneak off. "Wahhh!" He makes a goofy sound.
Suddenly, Clarisse comes at him swinging a right hook, which he evaded by passing in between her legs by sliding on the ground and delivering s drop kick to her back. Which pushed her straight into the wall,and made her collide with it. And they say that Pro Wrestling moves would never work on a real fight. Zachariah thought humoursly, as he adores Pro Wrestling.
Clarisse, after hitting the wall hard. Turns around in pure fury. Zachariah smiles and starts to dance. "Tired already?" He starts to do a robot dance. Which seemed to anger Clarisse even more. She charges at him in rage and starts to swing punches at him. But Zachariah easily evades them all while dancing. After dodging ten punches however, Zachariah jumps and delivers a summersault kick into her jaw. The kick made her fall into the floor completely knockout.
Zachariah's fighting style was just too unpredictable to anyone to be able to fight against him. Zachariah, thirty eight. Clarisse, zero. He set the score on his head.
Clarisse tries to compete against Zachariah in everything. But Zachariah always wins. Which sincerely makes the children of Ares mad at him. They probably gonna try to ambush me later for this.
Zach then looked around and noticed that the Cabin was empty. What time is it? He asked himself as he went to put his clothes on. My watch is on my backpack. He thought in annoyance as he finished getting dressed. He put on his usual vintage blue jeans and gray skateboard shoes, but instead of putting his black and white long sleeve stripe shirt, he put on the orange shirt with the words "Camp Half-Blood" on the front above a picture of a pegasus that was the uniform of the Camp. How I hate this stupid shirt. Zachariah thought in annoyance, there was nothing wrong with the shirt, but he wasn't really a fan of the color.
"Again?" He heard someone speak on the door. Zach turned and saw Luke standing there.
"Sim, essa idiota não consegue aceitar derrota." Zachariah spoke in another language.
"Umm... Zach, I don't speak that language." Luke replied confused.
"Yes, this idiot can't accept defeat." Zachariah repeated what he said in english.
"Give it back,"
Apparently, Zachariah slept in a few minutes more and Luke went to wake him up. He sent Zach to go eat breakfast while he checked on Clarisse.
But the moment he sees Annabeth sitting on the Dining Pavilion. He decides to go demand his backpack back.
"No." She bluntly told him as she drank water from a goblet. "Zach, if I give it back to you, you just going start to plan your next idiotic stunt."
Zach just sighed before sitting next to her. He grabbed a goblet. "Grape juice." After speaking out loud, the cup is filled with juice. Then he grabs a bit of breath, cuts open and puts a bit of cheese on it to make a sandwich.
"Thalia still mad at you." She informed him.
"Thalia is always mad at me," Zach replied as he eats his sandwich. "Maybe if Luke just confessed his feelings to her already, she could start to focus on bossing him around for a change."
"If you'll just stop getting yourself into trouble, she wouldn't have to boss you around." Annabeth stated.
"Oh please, she's been doing that since the day we met." Zach pointed out. "She does it with Luke too, but he doesn't have a problem with doing whatever she wants."
Annabeth stared at him with her gray eyes . "Look, I know Thalia is a little overbearing but she doesn't do it out of malicious intent or anything like that, she just..." She was trying to find the right words.
"I know," Zach spoke as he took a sip of his juice. "At least she didn't fry my eyebrows."
Annabeth chuckled a bit, then she looked around. "Where's Luke?"
"Oh, Clarisse invaded the Cabin and started a fight with me." He finished his sandwich. "I knocked her out and Luke stayed behind to check on her."
Annabeth didn't say anything, as it wasn't the first or last time this happened.
After finishing with his breakfast, it was time for practice. Zachariah made his way to the Sword Fighting Arena for some training. Unfortunately, he ended up getting stuck with the last person that he wanted to practice with.
"Keep you damn shield up!" Thalia yelled at him.
Zachariah and Thalia were currently training together. Not by Zachariah's choice. He had a sword and shield in hand, while Thalia had a shield and a spear.
I hate shields, they just get on the way of the attack. He thought in a bit of annoyance.
Thalia was being relentless in against him. Zachariah was simply dodging her attacks, not even bothering to use the shield.
"Why are you practicing with me today?" Zachariah asked in a bit of confusion.
Thalia didn't answer, she just delivered a very powerful thrust, which Zachariah dodge.
"What? Am I getting the silent treatment now, that's not really your style." Zachariah spoke in a somewhat mocking tone that pissed Thalia.
"Shut up and fight, you imbecile." Thalia told him with a lot of animosity.
"Not until you stop being mad at me." Zach replied with sad puppy eyes while leaving his guard completely open.
Thalia closed her eyes in frustration. "Look, I'm sorry for shocking you but I'm really tired of constantly have to sit around and wait in worry, every single damn time you sneak out."
Is she apologizing for shocking me yesterday or the other hundred times? Zachariah sincerely wondered. "Listen, I'm very thankful for your worry but I-" He tried to speak before getting interrupted.
"But you really need to stop picking fights with monsters to get acknowledge!" Thalia finished for him, saying the complete opposite of what he was going to say.
Zachariah for some reason got annoyed at that. "Oh, it's so easy for the daughter of Zeus to give out orders, isn't it." He spoke sarcastically.
"Zach, how many times it has been? Ten, fifteen, twenty?" She asked calmly, which surprised Zachariah. Since Thalia would usually get hostile due to his sarcasm. "If whoever is your Olympian parent planned to acknowledge you, he or she would have done it already." She told him calmly.
"Will you get to the point!" Zachariah lost his patience.
"My point is, you're wasting your time in trying to be acknowledged." Thalia clarified. "Seriously, how many times will you keep finding monsters to fight in an attempt to call the attention of a god?"
"How many times it takes." Zachariah tossed both the shield and the sword on the ground and stormed off.
"Zach." Thalia called his as he walks away from her.
Zachariah didn't really care anymore, he decided to grab his backpack back from Annabeth. He sneaked inside and grabbed it from under her bed.
He then made his way to out outside of the camp to shoot some makeshift targets with his revolver.
Hah! Bullseye. He thought proudly as he shoots the target perfectly. Zachariah's revolver was a Smith Wesson Model 29, that had his initials engraved on the grip. If you're only had infinity ammo, I could have already destroyed nearly every single monster in the world. Zach was of course exaggerating.
He shots at the targets a few more times. The targets are mostly junk that he collect to use as targets. The revolver was loaded with regular bullets, that he stole from a gunshop.
"Frustrated?" Suddenly, Zach heard someone speaking from behind him. It was Grover.
"Yes," He replied. "Did Thalia send you?"
"No, but she did said that she was worried about you." Grover told him.
Zach just kept on shooting the targets. "I don't need her worrying about me, but telling her that, would be the same as telling Annabeth to not be judgmental about something." He then stopped shooting because he remembered something. "Oh, right, I forgot" He spoke out loud before walking to grab his back pack that was besides a tree. Inside of it, there was a bag of tin cans. "Here, I got it for you."
"Hey, thanks." Grover thanked Zachariah before eating one of the Tin Cans as a snack.
"No problem." Zach replied as he twirls the revolver.
"ROOSEVELT!" Both friendly heard someone yelled Zach's last name. As they turned around, to see who did, they see a small group of six, coming at their direction.
"Children of Ares." Grover announced.
"I think Clarisse still mad about our little confrontation this morning." Zach commented.
"I don't see her with them." Grover pointed out.
Suddenly, the group got close enough. "You think you can beat one of us and get away with it." One of them spoke out loud. They were all carrying weapons, which made Zachariah wonder if they got from the armory or from somewhere else.
Zachariah just stood there with a lazy expression before putting his revolver on the holster on his belt. I been doing that since I first came to the camp. But whatever. Zachariah simply reach for his back and pulled out the orb. Which was basically s snow globe that Zachariah painted to look like an orb that he saw on a comic book. He squeezed to make his Scythe appear. "Wanna try your luck, bring it on."
Grover took several steps back as he realized what was about to go down.
Zach then prepared himself, he lift his Scythe towards the sky. And strangely enough, the blade changed position. Making the scythe turn into a spear. Then he made a bunch of fancy manoeuvres like spinning and twirling the spear around. Before finally getting into a fighting stance.
The Children of Ares also followed his example and all if them got into a fighting stance.
"Bring it on, suckers!" Zachariah yelled out.
With that, the children of Ares charged at Zachariah. Who in response, tossed his spear horizontally at them. Which they all grabbed at the same time. It turned out to be a mistake as Zachariah delivered a drop kick right in the middle of the spear, which sent all six stumbling back. Zach fell into the ground afterwords but quickly stood up performing a Starfish Kip Up. Hah! Classic.
He then approach the spear and lifted using the tip of his foot. Then he performed a few more twirls with it. Before holding the spear upside down. "Is that all you guys got? What would Papa Ares say?" Zach mocked them.
The mockery seems to have worked, as the six children of Ares, that Zachariah sincerely forgot the names, stood up in fury. They charged at Zach at the same time.
Zachariah's hit the first one that got close with the botton of his spear right in the nose. Before swinging at the second one and smashing on his left cheek. The third one tried to slash Zachariah with a sword, but he easily deflected the attack with the staff part of the spear. The fourth one tried to take advantage of the situation by attacking Zach, but he was quicker and grabbed the third one by the shirt and pushed him at the fourth one making the two collide at one another. But Zach didn't leave any time for the two to recover, as he dropped his spear and approached them quickly, where he wrapped his arms around their hips from the side and lift the two off the floor and performed a double suplex on them, smashing both into the ground.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be a mistake. Since doing that, left him exposed to the two that were left. The fifth one, delivered a front kick into Zach's face as he was standing up, which Zach quickly rolled back in response. But then he got hit by the sixth, who ran him over with a shield, making him fall into the ground.
"You're good Roosevelt, but not that good." The one with the shield told him.
"Bang." Zach spoke as he was on the ground.
"What?" The one with the shield ask.
Zachariah then pull out his revolver. "It's the sound that it does." He then unloads the revolver by shooting all the bullets, not at his opponent, of course. He shot at the tree that was besides him, at one of the branches to be more precise. Which made it fall, right on top of his opponent, knocking him out cold.
Zachariah then stood up and put his revolver back on the holster. Then he turned to last child of Ares standing. Zach then made a goofy kung fu pose, and signaled him to come at him.
His last opponent was carrying a sword. He made an angry face before charging at Zach. Who in response, kicked him on his crotch.
"Ohhhh!" That was the sound that he made when Zach's kick connected.
Everyone underestimate the kick in the crotch. Zachariah thought humorously. Before grabbing the sword that his opponent was carrying it, that he dropped after falling on his knees after the kick. Zach then flipped the sword upside down and, like a baseball bat, swinged at his opponent's face at full force.
"I think you I saw one of the teeths of the last one fly out of his mouth." Grover commented as the two walked besides each other around the Camp.
"Well, that's what he gets from picking up a fight with me." Zachariah replied.
"Still, I sincerely don't understand how can you do that." Grover pointed out. "You're strength,speed and endurance is superior to everyone on the camp, but you don't have any other ability besides that."
"Annabeth wondered that as well." Zach mentioned. "She first suspected that I was the son of a minor god, but Luke said that it's probably not the case because my physical abilities are superior to everyone here."
"Not to mention, that you should posses at least a minor ability from whoever god is your father or mother, but you can't really do anything." Grover added.
"That's what annoys me, why the hell am I stronger than most demi-gods but I don't have any special powers." Zach complained. "But, honestly, I just wish I knew anything about my parents."
"Ummm... Do you have any clue about who your mortal parent might have been?" Grover asked in curiosity.
"Only a damn book that I found on my backpack that had the initials, VR on it." Zachariah explained. Apparently, his backpack used to belong to whoever was his mortal parent. "The book was in a different language as well, so it made it even more difficult."
"What language?" Grover asked.
"Brazilian Portuguese, it could mean that I'm part Brazilian." Zachariah answered him. "Let's change the subject, I'm not really in the mood to talk about that."
"Okay," Grover replied. "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
"Thanks again for helping me out."
The boy with light brown hair and his Satyr friend, decided to pay a visit to two particular individuals that coincidentally were on the same location. Which happened to be the Pegasus stables, where Zachariah would help on it from time to time.
"No problem, someone as lovely as you shouldn't be doing all this by yourself." Zachariah told her. One of the main reasons to why he would help there from time to time, was because he had a crush on the one in charge of the stables. Silena Beauregard , a daughter of Aphrodite. I know I have absolutely no chance with her, but I can't help but adore being at her presence. The plain looking boy thought. Which is so pathetic in so many different ways.
"She said that she hates your backpack." Zachariah heard Grover speak to him.
"Oh yeah, why?" Zachariah asked, wondering what exactly is wrong with his army backpack.
"She said that it makes you look like a hobo." Grover told him.
"I actually agree with her," Silena spoke afterwards. "You should really get yourself a new backpack, that one is really used up."
Zachariah's backpack was indeed pretty used up, but he would never get rid of it. Too much sentimental value. "Any other complains?" He asked as he walked to the individual that complained about this backpack. The individual in question, was a Pegasus. A beautiful female white Pegasus that had black wings. "Feel free to speak up, Fantasy." Her name Fantasy and she was Zachariah's pet.
Zach found her during one of his monster hunting escapades. During a particularly memorable one where he fought against a Chimera. Fantasy, according to Grover's translation, was attacked by it. After Zach was done with the Chimera, he took Fantasy back to the camp with him. Which was the other main reason to why he started to help on the stables.
Fantasy made a sound and Zach waited for Grover to translate. "She said that you should really clean your teeth before Thalia discovers that you been smoking again."
"My teeth was always yellowish."Which is why he always smiled with his lips close. "Besides, who cares about my teeth?"
"A white smile always beat a yellow smile." Silena told him while smiling, showing her perfect white teeth.
"Not when you have a face as forgettable as mine." Zachariah replied.
"Not true, you have prettiest eyes in the camp." Silena told him with a lot of sincerity in her voice.
That caused Zachariah to smile.
"But I'm telling Thalia about you smoking." She informed, which obviously scared Zachariah.
"What?! Why?!" Zachariah asked why the girl he has a secret crush on would condemn him like that.
"Because smoking is bad for you, and only Thalia can intimidate you into quitting." Unfortunately for Zach, that made complete sense.
Suddenly, Fantasy made another noise. "She said that, you better prepare to have your eyebrows fried again." Grover translated.
"Eu não sei porque que mulheres me odeiam tanto." Zach complained in Portuguese. "Será que é porque eu sou mais feio do que eu pensava?"
Grover, Silena and Fantasy just looked at him as he complained out loud in another language.
"AAAAHHH!" For Zachariah's misery. Silena actually went through with her promise of telling Thalia.
"I told you to not smoke anymore cigarettes!" Thalia yelled at the fallen Zachariah.
After helping on the stables, Zachariah decided to spend some quality time sitting on the entrance of Hermes's Cabin while playing a bit of Harmonica. That was until a raging Thalia came out of nowhere and shocked him over his smoking habits. And Zach had to admit, he was hoping that Silena would have mercy on him, but it turns out that he wasn't so lucky.
While still on the ground, Zach didn't even bothered to stand up. He just kept on playing the song that he was he played, he heard steps coming his way.
"What was it this time?" He heard Annabeth ask.
"Silena told me that he has been smoking." Thalia informed her on a completely different tone.
"Again? I thought we agreed that you would stop." She told him in a nearly identical controlling time as Thalia.
More like the two of you agreed it and threatened me into agreeing too. Zach thought sarcastically as he played the harmonica.
"Wait, since when do you play harmonica?" Annabeth asked.
"I found it on a trashcan last week." Zach explained, he was actually looking for a new skateboard, but the harmonica was good enough.
"What did I tell you about searching trashcan?" Thalia was quick to complain.
"Give me a damn break!" Zach instantly rebuffed. "You know I don't have cash for anything, I had to take this clothes from charity."
"About that..." Suddenly, Zach heard Luke's voice coming from the entrance. But once he turn his head to see him, he noticed something on his hand.
"AH! What happened to my hoodie?!" Luke was holding Zachariah's black hoodie, which was completely ripped apart. He quickly stood up to grab the pieces.
"Clarisse, wasn't really happy once she woke up." Luke explained.
"Oh goddammit!" Zach yelled in deep frustration before collapsing into the ground dramatically.
"Don't be so dramatic, it's only a hoodie." Annabeth told him as she approached and leaned on the wall next to the door that Luke was standing in front of it.
"It was my hoodie." Zach whinned. Zachariah was always a bit possessive about his things, probably a result of not having much to begin with.
Annabeth just sighed, before sitting down on the floor next to Zach. "Let's make a deal, I'll get you a new jacket."
Zach instantly cheer up. "Really?"
"If you promise you'll not smoke anything anymore." She added a term to.
Ah! I knew there was going to be a catch. He thought in annoyance.
"You been smoking again?" Luke asked him while folding his arms. "Come on, Zach."
"You seriously surprised about that?" Thalia asked Luke in annoyance as she approached them.
"No..." Luke replied.
Zachariah, not really in the mood to argue, crawled towards Annabeth and placed his head on her lap. No more smoking and new jacket or keep smoking and no jacket, what a difficult dilemma. He thought as he was planning on keeping his promise. After a short silence, Zachariah gave her his answer. "Alright, I promise."
Annabeth smiled at him. "Good." She didn't even seemed surprised, which led Zachariah to think that she knew that he would comply to her terms. "And if you break your promise, I'm gonna destroy your revolver." She added a threat to make sure.
Zach was instantly frighted by her threat, because the revolver was his second most prized possession, only behind his Scythe.
"When did you start smoking anyway?" Luke asked.
"Since I was five or... six, I used to steal it from Captain Gotts." He answered Luke question, but then he noticed that they made really confused faces.
"Ummm... Zach?" Annabeth looked at him. "Who's Captain Gotts." She asked him.
"The guy I used to live with before I met you guys." Zachariah answered casually.
Unfortunately that caused the three of them to look even more confused. "Wait?! You told us that you didn't had any family." Luke was quick ask.
"I don't, we weren't really related." Zach explained. "Apparently, he found me when I was around two years old and took me in. I grew up inside of a boat that he owned sailing from place to place."
"But, why didn't you ever said anything about that?" Annabeth asked in confusion.
"I don't like talking about him." Zach spoke bluntly. "He was a drunk, always complaining about everything and feeling sorry for himself, and the only times that he wasn't complaining about something was when he was passed out from drinking too much."
"Is that why you left him?" Thalia was the one to ask that, probably finding the story too familiar.
"I didn't left him, he died." Zach told them.
A small silence ensured, until Annabeth broke it. "How?"
"Liver disease from alcohol consumption, the only problem is that he died while we were in sea." Zachariah told the story while having his eyes closed. "I didn't know how to operate a boat, so I was stuck in it for a week. There was some food and clean water in it, so I was okay for a time. But then there was a storm that rocked the boat quite a bit, and... now that I look back to it, there was probably a sea monster attacking the boat or something, because the storm wasn't strong enough to turn a boat upside down like that." Oh man, If I had my Scythe, I could have killed the monster and kept the boat for myself. He thought in deep annoyance, because with the Captain dead, Zach was the owner. "Then, I was probably washed up to that beach where the two of you found me." He was obviously referring to Luke and Thalia.
Zach was expecting them to say something. But to his surprise, he was met with a small silence. So he decided to open his eyes and noticed that the three of them were staring at him, with a look that Zach detested. The look of pity. "Stop looking at me like that, the three of you are the last people I wanna receive that type of look from." He instantly stated.
"Yeah, but..." Annabeth was trying to find the right words.
"But nothing, let's just change the subject." Zachariah interjected. "Is it true that you're father visited the camp?" That question was for Luke, who seemed bothered by that question.
"Yes," He replied not really making eye contact with anyone.
"Did something happened?" Thalia asked while touching his shoulder.
"The usual." Luke folded his arms and leaned on the wall right besides Zach and Annabeth.
What means by usual, is basically the God's usual less than stellar treatment of their half-blood offspring.
"But... Did he want something from you?" Annabeth asked him.
Luke just stared at the two for a minute before answering. "He said that... There is a quest that he needs me to do and he will return in a few days to tell me what it is."
That surprised the three, as none of them actually went on a quest. An official one to be more precise because Zachariah's escapades could be considered quests. But the vast majority doesn't, because that would mean that Zach has the highest number of quests in camp. And that would anger a few people that have been in camp for longer but never received a quest.
"You don't seem very happy about it." Thalia pointed out.
"It's just... I'm pretty sure there's going to be catch or it won't be as good as it sounds." Luke explained.
"If don't want it, tell him that I'll take it." Zachariah was quick to input.
"Like hell you will!" All three yelled at him in perfect synchronisation.
Zachariah folded his arms in response. "You guys suck." He whined. Then he remembered something that he actually really wanted to know. "So, can you ask him why those Furies and Hellhounds wanted to kill Thalia?" He never really understood why, and he kind of forgot about it after they settle down on the camp.
A small pause ensued with Luke looking at Thalia. Zach looked up at Annabeth who was a little confused as well.
Thalia looked at the two before taking a deep breath. "I already know why." She informed them.
"Really?" Annabeth instantly asked her.
Thalia just nodded in response.
"Then... Why?" Zach asked as he really wanted to know.
Thalia paused a bit, trying to find the right words. She took a deep breath before speaking. "A long time ago, there was a prophecy regarding Zeus, Poseidon and Hades." She sat on the floor before continuing. "I don't know the exact words but, in a summary, the prophecy said that... A child of Zeus, a child of Poseidon and a child of Hades would help a very powerful being in either destroying or conquering the whole world, including the Olympus."
Obviously, both Zachariah and Annabeth were surprised by that. Especially the whole conquering or destroying. "But... Why they wanted to kill you?" Annabeth asked as that part was still unexplained.
"After this prophecy was heard, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades swore an oath to no longer sire any more demigod children but... there was a problem." Thalia paused for a second. "Hades already had children before they made this deal and... I don't really know what happened, but my father did something to them that really angered Hades."
"And your father, later, broke the oath himself and fathered you and your brother." Annabeth spoke up in response.
"And Hades being justifiable pissed off on Zeus's hypocrisy, decided to attack you in retaliation." Zachariah added.
Thalia nodded.
Zachariah was very surprised by what he just heard, mainly about that prophecy. But now that he thought about, he started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Luke asked.
"Come on, can you imagine Thalia helping someone do something like that." He replied while laughing.
Luke paused for a bit, before laughing a bit himself. "Yeah, you're right."
"She would shock this "powerful being", just like she does to you." Annabeth spoke while laughing too.
Thalia just stared at the three as they laughed at the idea of her helping someone conquer or destroy the whole world. Before she started to laugh alongside them, probably realizing how silly that idea was.
"But seriously though, although hurting you because of something that your father did is totally a jerk move, I can understand why Hades would do such a thing." After saying that though, an idea came into Zach's head. Is it possible that I could be Hades's son, I mean it would make sense. He seriously considered the idea. I mean, it would explain why the Hellhounds didn't attack me.
"If you're actually thinking about the possibility of you being Hades's son, you can forget about." Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by Annabeth speaking to him. "If that was the case, you would have already manifested some sort of ability that Hades posses, like... Necromancy for an example."
Damn! She's right. He thought in annoyance. And having this type of power would be awesome. Zach looked disappointed.
Annabeth then caressed his head in order to console him.
Zachariah, while enjoying Annabeth's touch, decided to continue to play his Harmonica. But as he played a song on it, someone had a question.
"Wait, are you playing Guns N' Roses?" Thalia asked. She was right though, as Zachariah was playing Used To Love Her. He ignored the question and kept on playing. "I used to love her, but I had to kill her." Thalia then started to sing along with his music. "I used to love her, mmmmm, yeah. But I had to kill her."
"I had to put her, six feet under." Zach stopped playing and sang a bit.
"And I can still hear her complain." Both sang together.
Luke and Annabeth just stood there watching and listening the two singing that song while smiling and laughing.
"I knew I'd miss her. So I had to keep her. She's buried right in my backyard." Zach and Thalia kept on singing together enjoying each others company alongside Annabeth and Luke.
Darkness, it all dark again. Sitting down, completely numb on the nothingness hugging his knees. There was nothing there, just a completely empty space, completely depraved of light. Zachariah was feeling an almost unbearable cold, accompanied by an unbearable silence. Where is this place? Zach thought as he looked around but no matter where he looked, there was nothing there.
"ZZZAAACCCHHhhh..." Here it comes that unbearable voice once again. It was a nearly incomprehensible voice calling out his name. "It Hurts!" All he could do, was cover his ears in a futile attempt to ignore that voice. "ZachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachZACH." Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! "Why...?" SOMEBODY MAKE IT SHUT UP! "YOU... LEFT.. MEEEEEEE!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The boy screamed as loud as his lungs allowed.
In the blink of an eye, his agony ended. Ironically, by the simple act of opening his eyes. Which presented him the sight of the ceiling of his cabin. His first act was to look around and notice that it was still dark and everyone else was still sleeping. Zachariah then sat up on his bed, he was shirtless only wearing his vintage jeans and red socks, very frustrated. I haven't had that damn dream since we came to the camp. Why did it started again? Deep in thought, Zachariah decided to stand up from his bed, put his shoes on and make his way out through the window to go somewhere.
It only took a small walk for him to arrive at his destination. Once he was standing in front of it, he looked up the sky and said something. "Hit me with a thunderbolt if you object." He spoke out loud to the sky, obviously telling this to someone. After a few seconds have passed. "I'll take this as an okay." He gave a thumbs up to the sky before he made his way inside Zeus's cabin. It wasn't the first time that he went there, but he honestly expected some type of objection or something. It is allowed, although not encouraged to go to other cabins, but still not forbidden.
Zeus's Cabin looks like a white marble box, with heavy, white columns in the front. This cabin is the biggest and bulkiest of all the cabins. It has polished bronze doors that shimmer like a hologram, and have lightning bolts streaked down them. The dome-shaped ceiling is decorated with moving mosaics of a cloudy sky and thunderbolts. It also thunders all the time.
The cabin has no furniture on the inside at all, described as looking like a bank. It only has alcoves with golden eagle statues and one intimidating statue of Zeus in the middle. To Zachariah though, it looks like a glaring hippie that was ten feet tall and has sight of every place in the room except a corner where Thalia had put her sleeping bag, and a few photos of herself, Luke, Annabeth and Zachariah.
Once inside, Zachariah made his way to the corner where Thalia was sleeping peacefully on her sleeping bag. The boy with unnatural blue eyes felt bad about waking her up, but... He knelled down besides her poked her softly on the arm. Thalia quickly opened her eyes and stared at Zach with her blue eyes. "Zach?" She rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" Looking around, she apparently noticed that it was still dark. "What is going on?" She asked him.
Zach didn't answer. He just looked down and bit his lip.
It didn't took long for her to understand what was happening. "That nightmare again?" She asked him, and he nodded slowly in response. "Dammit, I thought they were finally over." She sounded really frustrated. But then she opened her sleeping bag. "Come on." She invited him warmly.
Zach took off his shoes and crawled inside Thalia's sleeping bag before he was hugged tightly by her. He has had that nightmare a lot of times before. When they happened, his response to them was always the same. "Thanks." He returned her hug.
"No problem." She tenderly kissed his forehead before closing the relatively big sleeping bag.
Thalia's embrace was always comfortable and warm, something that Zachariah always desired when he has that horrible nightmare. They used to happen very often before, which caused Thalia to get a sleeping bag that fit the two of them as a result. The exact same sleeping bag that she still uses to sleep. "Did you kept the sleeping bag because it was comfortable, or because of me?" Zach asked in curiosity while he had his eyes closed.
"Both." Thalia answered his question.
"Okay..." Zach was actually happy for hearing that. And hugged Thalia tighter as a result.
Luckily, Zachariah was able to go to sleep again and actually sleep peacefully. The lazy boy with light brown hair was having difficulty to wake up. It's not time to wake up yet, Thalia is still asleep. Still enjoying her embrace, Zach was about to fall back to sleep again.
Until, he heard the sound of steps coming from the entrance. Zachariah decided to ignore it as he already knew who it was as only a selected few, would dare to enter that Cabin.
"Oh no," The person was one of the selected few besides Zach. "That nightmare again?" It wasn't really a question, and he felt someone touch his arm gently.
"Hey Annabeth." Thalia greeted her in response while Zachariah still had his eyes closed. "He came here in the middle of night."
Zachariah decided to finally open his eyes and roll to face Annabeth. "I thought it was over." He told her sadly. "But yesterday, it was just louder than last time."
"I told you, we should try to figure it out what the dream is about." Annabeth was quick to input. "It could be something intention-"
"I don't want to talk about it, Annabeth." Zach interrupted her as he sat up. "And I don't think there's any meaning behind it."
"But Zach-" Annabeth tried to argue further but Thalia shaked her head, signaling her to not press it further. Which caused her to look annoyed.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Thalia asked, as although Annabeth is free to go there whenever she wants, she usually doesn't.
Annabeth took a deep breath before speaking. "You two better follow me."
Both Zachariah and Thalia looked at one another in deep confusion.
After making a quick stop at Hermes's Cabin to put on his long sleeved T-shirt alongside the Camp's shirt over it. Zachariah and Thalia decided to follow Annabeth to check what exactly is going on. But Zach was instantly worried as Annabeth seemed uneasy.
"Alright, what is going on Annabeth?" Thalia asked her as she saw that they were approaching the Big House, a large, sky-blue house which served as the main administrative building at Camp Half-Blood.
"Are you taking us to Chiron's Office?" Zach added another question.
"Well..." Annabeth seemed to be trying to find the right words. "Luke's father is here."
"Oh boy..." It was Zachariah's instant reply as Luke and Hermes being on the same place is a recipe for disaster.
"How long has he been here?" Thalia asked as she rushed towards the Big House with Zach and Annabeth following behind her.
"An hour or two, Grover is the one that told me that he was here." Annabeth explained to them. "He told me to call the two of you."
All three decided to hurry it up in order to try to mitigate the damage caused by whatever Hermes does or says to Luke. Struggling to keep up with Thalia, both Zachariah and Annabeth followed the daughter of Zeus as she entered the Big House. The plain looking boy never liked the place for some reason, he never really understood why though.
Arriving at the entrance of Chiron's Office, they could hear voices coming from inside and the one that stood out the most, was Luke's. Who was apparently yelling at someone. It's amazing how Hermes can make Luke yell like that, he never yelled at me, even when I deserved... Which is pretty often.
Thalia wasted no time in bashing in. Once they were inside however, they saw Luke pointing a finger at Hermes looking enraged about something. Chiron was standing there looking very uncomfortable with the current situation. Luke didn't seem to notice their presence and kept on yelling at Hermes. "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS OR WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THIS, YOU GONNA GO BACK TO THE OLYMPUS AND TELL-" The son of Hermes kept on yelling at the God of Speed loudly before the daughter of Zeus decided to intervene.
"Hey!" Thalia interrupted him and touched his arm.
Luke noticed her presence as soon as she touched him and saw Zach and Annabeth standing there. He looked away embarrassed, probably ashamed that they saw his outburst at his father. "Sorry..." He apologized to them.
"Don't sweat it man." Zach instantly spoke to him.
"What is going on?" Thalia asked in worry.
Luke gave his father a hostile look before looking at Zach and Annabeth, then he looked at Thalia. He took a deep breath, approched her ear and whispered something to her.
Whatever it was, it got a reaction out of Thalia. Because as soon as he finished whispering at her ear, Thalia's face changed in a blink of an eye from a neutral expression to a enraged one that precisely matched the one that Luke had just a while ago. "YOU BETTER FLY BACK TO THE OLYMPUS AND TELL WHOEVER TOLD YOU TO DELIVER THIS MESSAGE TO SHOVE IT DOWN THE PLACE WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE!" Suddenly and out of nowhere, Thalia started to yell at Hermes much louder and angrily than Luke was just a minute ago.
Zach looked at Annabeth with a; What the hell is going on here? face.
Annabeth responded with a; I have no idea. face.
Zachariah decided to try to get some answers from Chiron. He approached him stealthily without being noticed. "What is going on?" He whispered to him in order to ask.
"Hermes came here to deliver a quest." Chiron replied to the son of... Someone.
"But, why is Luke angry, wasn't he expecting this quest from his father?" Annabeth, who was behind Zach, questioned.
"The thing is, the quest is not for Luke." The centaur clarified.
"What?" Zachariah was very confused. "Then, for who?"
"And why is Thalia angry?" The blond girl didn't understood that part. "If the quest is for someone else, then wh-" Annabeth was asking a question but stopped in the middle for some reason, when Zach turned his head to see why she stopped. He could tell by her face that she figured out already. But to his shock, instead of telling him, she moved towards Hermes as well. "Thank you, but the answer is no, he's not doing it." The daughter of Athena politely declined something, clearly agreeing with Luke and Thalia on the subject.
The boy with unnatural blue eyes was more confused than ever.
"Listen, I know you three have good intentions but, you can't just refuse a quest for someone else." Chiron tried to calmly argue with the trio. The three looked at him with different expression. Luke had a neutral expression, Thalia was frowning angrily and Annabeth had a worried one.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" Zachariah had enough of being clueless about the situation. "Why are you three refusing a quest for someone else." He questioned his surrogate family.
The three looked at one another, apparently unsure of how to respond.
Luckily, Hermes stepped forward to answer his question. "As I just explained to Luke." He approached Zachariah. "He misunderstood what I meant, I told him I had a quest but I never specified that it wasn't really for him." The last part was for Luke, who just folded his arms in response and looked down. "The Quest I bring is actually for you, Zachariah Roosevelt."
The light brown haired boy widened his eyes in response, then he frowned. "Seriously?" That wasn't for Hermes. "You guys were seriously refusing a quest for me?!"
"Zach," Luke calmy spoke. "Don't think that any of us deny your capability, it's just..."
"You're immature, childish, arrogant, considerably dumb, reckless and a lot of other things that would take too long to list." Annabeth bluntly stated. "If you weren't unbelievably strong, you would have died on one of your escapades a long time ago."
"And quests aren't like your monster hunting escapades, you can't just swing your scythe around and hope for the best." Thalia calmly told him, which was kind of strange.
"It worked so far." Zach folded his arms in annoyance. "And the fact that I killed several monsters like that, should speak for itself."
"Yes, which is the main reason you being given this quest." Hermes told him. "The Gods have been observing you for quite sometime."
"So, you guys were watching." Zach was relieved to have the confirmation. "Does that mean you know which god is mother or father?"
That question appeared to have caused some commotion, as everyone in the room seemed to want to know the answer to that question. Luke, Thalia and Annabeth wanted to know in hopes that it would finally put an end to Zach's monster hunting escapades, while Chiron probably wants to know out of curiosity.
Hermes paused a bit, before he answered the boy that was the most eager to hear his answer. "I'm afraid, I don't know Zachariah." That, of course, caused the plain looking boy to look visible disappointed. "And... No one really knows to be honest." The disappointed boy then looked at the God confused.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked Hermes, with a somewhat hostile tone towards his father.
"The others took notice of Zachariah as soon as he killed his third monster and we tried to discover which of us actually sired him but, no one seems to know or at least not remember." Hermes explained to the people on the room.
Although they all had neutral expressions, Zachariah's disappointed face seemed to get worse over it. "W-what do you mean with not remember?" He noticed that detail.
Luke seeing his disappointed face, decided to step forward. "One of the main reasons to why our Cabin is always full, is because some of the gods, the minor ones to be more precise, don't really keep count of how many children they have."
"So..." Zach's disappointment reached an all time high.
"Hey," Luke kneeled down to match Zachariah's height. "Listen to me, I said this a thousand of times and I will say it again." He put his hands on Zachariah's shoulders. "We will always be here for you, even if we never discover who is your Olympian parent."
"While discovering who is the god that sired you proved to be a difficult task, we were at least able to uncover who was the mortal that birthed you." Hermes added before Zachariah could reply to what Luke said, which took everyone by surprised.
"What?!" It was Zachariah instant response.
"You found out who his mortal parent is?" Luke asked his father, who just nodded in response.
"Yes, we got a name and a location." Hermes informed them.
"Where?!" Thalia asked the god.
Hermes paused for a bit before he could answer. "I can't reveal it yet."
That caused everyone in the room, except for Chiron, to look at the Olympian angrily , but surprisingly, the one who's rage seemed to overflow, was Luke. Who angrily stood up and approached his father. "YOU DROP THIS BOMB ON US AND NOW YOU'RE GIVING US THAT!" He yelled hatefully at his father while pointing at him. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG ZACH IS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO HIS PARENTS ARE?!" The rage in Luke was unmeasurable. "YOU AND THOSE DAMN GODS, ALWAYS TREATING YOU CHILDREN LIKE DIRT, OR WORSE, FORGETTING ABOUT THEM! YOU KNOW WHAT?! WHOEVER OF YOU WAS SIRED ZACH, IT'S A GOOD THING THAT HE OR SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER." Everyone widened their eyes after hearing what Luke just said. "BECAUSE NONE OF YOU BASTARDS DESERVE TO HAVE ZACH AS A SON!"
An very uncomfortable pause ensured once Luke finished. They were all unsure on how to go on. Especially Zachariah, who was the one who's this entire conversation was about. So... My mother or father don't even remember having me... You know what? Luke is probably right. The fact that his Olympian parent probably doesn't even remember having him, really made him sad. But... If I can at least know who my mortal parent is... Zachariah took a deep breath before approaching Hermes. "Can you at least tell me if my mortal parent is my father or my mother?"
Hermes looked at him with a look of pity, which Zachariah disliked. "It's your mother." The Massager of the Gods told the unclaimed boy.
So my father was a god and my mother was a mortal! The amount of happiness that Zachariah was feeling at the moment was pretty high, because just the information made him happy.
"Is there a particular reason to why you can't give us her location?" Annabeth asked Luke's father. "If yes, it's regarding this quest isn't it?"
"Precisely." Hermes clarified. "There is a quest that requires completion, and Zachariah through the impressive number of monsters that he slayed, was the one selected for it." Zachariah never really counted how many monsters he has defeated. "The reason why I called you was because, as usual, two people must join him on this quest." The God told his son.
The completion of this quest for my mother's location?
Luke looked at his father for a bit, before he took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, but I want your word that you will tell us where to find Zachariah's mother once we get this done with." The son of Hermes was very serious. "I'm gonna swallow the fact that the Olympians are using such a delicate and personal information to blackmail my fri-" Luke was about to say friend but stopped. "My brother into doing your bidding." He corrected himself.
Strangely, hearing that made Zach smile as the feeling was mutual. He noticed that Annabeth and Thalia smiled at that too.
"You have my word, Luke." The Messenger of the Gods sounded sincere but Luke just looked at him unconvinced.
"Okay, but..." Zachariah called their attention. "What is the quest?"