Chapter Text
#Percy POV:
“Lady Hecate, what brings you here to me?”
Please no quests. Please no quests.Please no quests.
“Young hero, I have a trade for you.”, cackled the old lady. As I tilted my head to say go on, her appearance shifted into that of an ageless woman with aristocratic features and ink black hair. From what I could see, she was wearing a kind of cloaked robe thingy(?) that wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval drama.
“I come to you not as the Hecate you are acquainted with, but in one of my most widely worshiped forms. You may call me Lady Magick. You see, I am the patron of witchcraft and sorcery but lately one of my most treasured communities seems to be…dwindling.”
“And let me guess, you want me to fight in a war to save it?”, I said with my best imitation of a sneer, ”Despite what you may think, Lady, I’m done with this hero shtick.”
“Are you sure of that, young hero? Could truly nothing convince you to help?”, she asked me as she tilted her head innocently.
“Yes,” I said firmly, ”There’s nothing worth forsaking my hard earned peace that you could offer me.”
“Very well then,” she said as she got up with an apologetic frown, ”I suppose I have a blessing granted to a certain Sally Jackson to rescind.”
“Wait! What do you mean?”, I said, accidentally grabbing her arm, which soon turned out to be a huge mistake on my part.
Her eyes lit up with purple flames, but I forced myself to hold on through the pain. “Please, my Lady, do tell me what you mean? What blessing do you speak of?”, I asked pleadingly, in the most respectful tone I could muster up.
She gave a slight incline of her head, and sat back down.
“Let me tell you a story. Around 36 years ago, a baby girl was born to a witch who was under strong compulsion magic to bear an heir to one of my most misguided children. The witch died in childbirth. He raised the baby for a few years but then rejected it since it showed no signs of being a magical prodigy as its father claimed to be. This child, for she was but a child by then, was utterly disgusted with her so-called family’s deeds and prayed to the creator of magic to get away from him, and all wizardkind. I heard her plea, and removed all traces of her magic and her father while I placed her with a kind and loving non-magical family away from her birthplace and altered their memories to make them think of her as their child. The child grew up to be a wonderful young woman, but I always kept an eye on her even though I couldn’t interfere. She then had a son, who made her famous among my kin. A son, rumoured to be the next Dionysus. Now I demand payment on her behalf from her son, yet he dares refuse me. But no matter, I’m sure she will be willing to do anything for the sake of her only living family-you.”
“No..,” I whispered, “It cannot be.”
“Yet it is. So tell me, Son of Sally, are you willing to pay your mother’s debts?”, she said, with a tinkling laugh edged with cruelty.
“Only for her. And I won’t fight in a war, consequences be damned.”, I said with a stubborn tilt to my chin, though I was weeping inside.
“Oh I don’t expect you to, my dear. All I ask is that you train those who wish to fight and protect those who don’t. I will be sending you instructions and books soon. Study them carefully.”, and with that she kept a hand on my head as I felt a heady rush of power and knowledge course through me.
“I want a guarantee you won’t harm me and mine regardless.”, I said, wanting to tie up all loose ends before I went ahead with her plan, “Swear on your divinity and the River Styx.”
“If that’s what you ask, dear,” she said with a smirk, ”I swear on my divinity and status as Patron of Magick that I will not harm Perseus Jackson or anyone he declares as family unless I am challenged or forced to for the wellbeing magic itself.” After vowing, she vanished in a cloud of something that smelt sickly sweet.
As soon as she left, I slumped in the chair. What have I gotten myself into? I guess the creepy men were part of her “community”? I checked my watch and saw that it was almost three, but I did have some time to reflect.
There was no one except a bored looking Jeremiah around, who had picked up the mantle of cashier as Lee’s shift was over. “Hey J, I’ve got something to take care of so I'm leaving early. Don’t tell Selene, yeah?”
“This is the fifth time this week Percy, and it's only Thursday. I’ll cover for you, but be careful. One of these days you’re gonna lose your job.”, he said without looking up from his phone. I gave him a nod and slipped out.
As I walked back to my apartment, I could feel the three guys follow me invisibly again. Let them. I had Lou Ellen etch protective carvings along the doors and windows of my apartment to alert me everytime someone came in and to repel people without permission. Now that I think about it, Lou is pretty proficient with Runes, which seems to be a kind of magic. But she doesn’t use a wand?
I immediately IM’d Nico. Honestly, I felt quite guilty to unload all my problems on him, but after Ann-she left, he was my only pillar of support. During that time, he had drilled into my head that I was to speak to him about everything and anything. So much so, that it had become a routine: Nico would shadowtravel here once a week, and we IM’d each other every other day.
“Hey, Nico. Listen, I have that meeting with the 3 creepy guys in a few minutes. Could you do me a favour and maybe watch their death auras for me? I just got a really cryptic quest and feel pissed. I don’t want to take any chances. If any of their auras fluctuate a lot, I want you to shadow travel me out of there alright? I’ll be near the coffee store.”
“Yea, alright. I won't even try to stop you. Have fun confronting your stalkers, I guess.”, deadpanned the cheeky little bastard and slashed the rainbow just before I could reply.
I took off my uniform apron and threw on the closest hoodie I could find. Walking the short distance to the coffee store, I tried to process the information I had just been handed. Mom’s biological father was a bigot and mass murderer? Well, it certainly didn’t run in the family, or maybe it had skipped Mom and the murder genes had been passed on straight to me.
Still deep in thought, I leaned against the wall directly across from where I could feel their blood, and started humming the musical scales. I’ve noticed that people tend to be more relaxed if they listen to gentle humming or singing.
Sure enough, I felt their heartbeats slow down and what must be the rush of adrenaline wear out.
The old man dramatically waved his hand as the glamour faded. Some of Aphrodite’s kids could change their appearance using glamours, could they learn to be invisible too?
I saw that the sharp eyed old man was carefully watching me for any sort of reaction, and I refused to shift even in the slightest just out of spite.
One of the other two seemed to be a little nervous and was quietly fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. The other one was looking at me with a hint of shadow in his eyes, as if he were reliving something far away from the present.
I got off the wall, and tapped my foot impatiently. “Well?,” I snapped, ”You wanted to speak to me?”
“Ah, yes dear boy. Why don’t you lead the way to your house? I must confess, I am curious to know where you are living, as your grandfather is quite wealthy and surely must have helped you in some way or the other.”, said the old one, with his blue eyes twinkling. I don’t trust those eyes, they remind me too much of when she was about to manipulate someone.
“Really?,” I asked with an unimpressed look, “ I could literally- I mean, I know you followed me to my apartment, you know. Anyways, I’m not letting you in my house. Nuh uh. Tell me what you want and what you can get me in exchange, and we can speak inside the cafe if I like what you have to offer.”
I could see the old guy was visibly taken aback, I guess not many people asked him what he could offer.
I turned my eyes heavenward, or should I say Olympus-ward as I silently prayed to Hecate that these guys gave me a reasonable, non-fighting thing that didn’t require me to rely on my extraordinarily shit luck. I already knew, deep in my bones, that they shouldn’t get even a whiff of my demigod status.
The curly haired guy barked out a laugh, and said, ”Well this one’s a Slytherin, no doubt.”
Holding out his hand for a handshake, he said with a hint of a smirk, “I’m Sirius. Sirius Black, at your service.”
I just stared as he performed some kind of elaborate bow and snorted involuntarily when he paled after seeing my expression. Hilarious.
The youngest dude said, “Pleasure to meet you, Mr.Jackson. I’m Remus Lupin, but you may call me Remus. Are you aware of recent happenings in the magical world?”
“I know enough, thank you. What I want to know is, what do you want with me? Voldemort may have made your lives hell, but I couldn’t care less.”, I said with a hint of impatience.
“My dear boy, Voldemort has been terrorising our kind, your kind for a long time. He has caused mass destruction and intends to purge the world of Muggles and any wizard without pure magic and blood running through their veins.”
“Listen, kid: if nothing else, then wouldn’t you like to see the wizard world? Wouldn’t you like a taste of the power, the magic running through your veins? Plus, you heard the Headmaster, you’re rich coz granddaddy is believed to be dead by our government. Gringotts exchanges wizard money into credit cards and Muggle cash too.”, said Sirius with a lazy grin.
Huh. They thought they could tempt me with tales of money and power. Typical.
But I was, admittedly, curious about this Wizard world of theirs. And to think, magic was real? It sounded too much like the fantasy novels i used to listen to hiding in the corners of the library growing up.
"My boy Percy, come with us, why don't you? See the legacy of your ancestors, look at our school. Perhaps once you walk through the hallowed halls of Hogwarts, you may be amenable to my plan.", said old man with glittering eyes.
I snorted. "Fine then. I'm willing to hear you out."