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Chapter Text

Demigods, Penelope had found, almost always had some kind of cyclops trauma. Which was fair, she had to admit, because all the individuals they would be encountering on land would be the outcasts of the sea. The ones who didn’t want to live up to her Father’s standards of behaviour and set up somewhere nominally out of his reach. And, presumably, behaved abominably. And other demigods would have borne the brunt of that, not realising that they were dealing with what were essentially the criminals of the sea. Which made doing something about Tyson’s situation difficult now that Penelope lived in a building full of other demigods.

Tyson was a cyclops, an orphan maybe eight years old at a stretch, and unfortunately homeless. It happened sometimes; whatever nature spirit that had so fleetingly caught Poseidon’s eye, not being willing to put up with a cyclops child. They didn’t bring any addition in status to that nature spirit, their relationship with her father boiling down to nothing but a one-night stand. Cyclops children were provided for by Poseidon, but unlike his demigods where he invested actual effort in wooing their mothers and paid accordingly more attention to their offspring, that was all he did. Tyson, abandoned on land, had no-one to guide him to Atlantis by sea where he would be taken care of, and was thus stuck.

Penelope had done what she could for him, when she couldn’t bring him home with her; replacing his clothes and defending him from bullies at Merriweather Prep, where they both attended. She had also been supplementing his education, both in reading and writing, but also in the material she had taken home to study about the sea and the hierarchy and structures within. Tyson had to be prepared for when she finally got him to Atlantis. Penelope didn’t know the way to Atlantis herself, so couldn’t take him, but she was sure some erstwhile monster sibling she could blackmail would come along at some point. Or her father would at last answer her prayers and send Tyson a guide.

Penelope knew why he might not have answered; Tyson had scared away any monsters that would have bothered her at school. And being Poseidon’s daughter and an acknowledged princess, despite Tyson’s age he made for a very effective bodyguard, which her father would encourage. Penelope didn’t believe in child labour like this, but there wasn’t much she could do to gainsay her father. Equally, Tyson seemed blissfully unaware of the situation, and happy with the current state of affairs, so Penelope was leaving things alone at the moment.

So far, Merriweather Prep was the absolute best school Penelope had been to. She might even be invited back next year! The lessons were set up to be engaging for ADHD students, and she was given extra support with her dyslexia. Studying had become a breeze. In fact, she had managed to finish her economics degree, with the teacher’s delighted help. They had even been shopping around for another degree for her to attempt; arguing that to not push her intellectually would be a mistake when she had so much potential with the right support. Penelope wasn’t an idiot, she knew she was being used to push the school’s agenda and potentially to raise awareness and get more funding, but she agreed with their goals, so didn’t care. So long as they continued to be an excellent school for all the children there who needed them, some with far more special needs than Penelope, she would continue to be their poster girl.

Penelope had actually stated to the school that she might want to try for a history degree, or a minor in Ancient Greek Studies, to balance out her maths qualification with a humanity qualification. She was, she explained, able to read the Greek letters much easier than the English ones. Which was true, but also backed up by actual statistics of the dyslexic population. It gave Penelope chills up her spine to find out that there was an easy way of keeping track of the demigod population available to mortals, but it did help her out in class, so she said nothing.

She was a quarter of the way through the degree at the moment, just as the school was going to close for the summer holidays. The number of essays and justifications she had to write were slowing her down immensely. Still, she was invited back to Merriweather next year, so she could continue that degree and the rest of her education after she’d been at Camp. She was considering, due to being able to handle the workload quite easily, doing another degree later on. She enjoyed learning, it was one of her passions, and she had found that she liked teaching too. Maybe she could do a teaching degree when she was done with this one.

“Nelly,” Tyson called, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“Yes Tyson?” She replied.

“What are we doing over the summer?” Tyson asked childishly. “No school.”

Penelope grimaced. She had the outline of a plan, but she had wanted to workshop it some more before bringing it up. No help for it now however.

“I’m going to be away for the summer,” she told Tyson gently. “In a place like my apartment building, where it’d be pretty difficult for you to follow me.”

“Because there are other demigods there?” Tyson asked naively, big brown eye wide.

“Right,” Penelope smiled at him. “Just remember, its not because they’re scared of you personally…”

“It’s because all they’ve met is the mean older brothers,” Tyson finished nodding rapidly. “I will not be mean ever. Promise.”

“Thank you,” Penelope told him. “I think you’re very sweet personally.”

Tyson beamed at her.

“Best Princess!” He declared, drawing her into a crushing hug.

Penelope concealed her grimace into his shoulder. He’d gotten into the etiquette books when she wasn’t looking and insisted on following it as best as his childish mind could understand. That meant even though he knew they were siblings, because cyclops weren’t officially acknowledged as such, he never addressed her as sister. She barely managed to get him to compromise with Nelly, but like Hades was Penelope getting called princess in public with mortals not in the know around.

“I want you to go up to Montauk with my mom,” Penelope told him gently when he released her. “You can stay in our cabin up there, and it’s close to the ocean, so dad can send you aid if you need it.”

“Yes,” Tyson decided. “I will look after Miss Sally.”

Penelope laughed at his earnestness.

“She’ll look after you too buddy,” she replied cheerfully. “Now how about we go get some ice cream before we part for the summer. My treat.”

“Ice cream!” Tyson cheered, completely diverted from any worries about the future.

Penelope smiled at his innocence. Definitely younger than eight, she decided. Her Father had better get his act together regarding Tyson or they would be having words. Her mom had a lot to say about the situation too, and dad would have to listen to her. He was after all, still head over heels for her, despite all the years since they’d conceived Penelope. And Sally wasn’t above involving Amphitrite either. Dad was in for a rough time if he didn’t shape up.

Chapter Text

He was, Cody decided, never going for a career in bull fighting. Spinning into another close dodge, he winced as the heat nearly melted his skin off. The bronze bull thundered past, setting fire to the grass as it passed. There was no way the campers could directly attack the automatons, the heat they generated was simply too much. It melted any weapons that got close to it, including arrows. The best they could do, was distract them, and keep them in one place. The Hermes cabin, as the speediest campers, were playing a deadly game of chicken, and they were fast running out of stamina.

Cody desperately wracked his brain for a plan. He was a warrior of the mind; there had to be some solution! But all he was coming up with was summoning some spirits to take care of the bulls. Seeing as they couldn’t be hurt by mortal concerns such as heat. Unfortunately, that approach came with its own pitfalls. He might get away with claiming to the campers that he had inherited Hermes’ domain as a psychopomp and could thus summon spirits. It was almost true in a way; Maya his new mother had inherited that rare domain from her Father. It was how she’d met Diomedes, and how she’d become his mother in the end.

On the other hand, the Sky King was likely to assume Cody was his brother’s child, and he wouldn’t exactly be wrong. Despite there being no broken oath. And with the poisoning of the remnants of his daughter, who had been killed by minions of the Lord of the Dead, he was likely to smite first and ask questions later. Having been on the receiving end of the Sky King’s fury before, Cody had no desire to repeat the experience. And he had no doubt the Sky King was paying strict attention to the lingering death of his daughter. He’d been lucky enough that his attempt at healing, or at least prolonging the poor soul’s life, could pass as some control over plants, rather than him sharing life-force, or he would have already tasted the King’s lightning bolt.

There was a shout from the crest of the hill and Cody took the time to glance that way, in case a cabin mate needed his help. And there she was. Penelope. The love of his life, this one and the last. Shining circlet at her brow, a royal blue t-shirt and torn jeans, battered converse on her feet, she was a vision of loveliness. Her sea-green eyes flashed, and her dark hair whipped in a sudden breeze. Cody was struck dumb, unable to move or speak at the sight of his beloved. It was only because Travis grabbed him by the armour straps and dragged him that he survived the next charge. Not that Cody was needed for the rest of the battle. Penelope had it all under control.

A tidal wave rose from the distant beach, rushing through the Camp, to a symphony of surprised screams. Not that the bystanders had anything to worry about. His beloved’s control was impeccable. Not one drop of liquid so much as touched the buildings, just the pathways between, as the wave roared its way towards the confrontation. Upon arrival, it doused the bulls with tons of water, resulting in a massive cloud of steam from the heat. There was a tormented scream of metal as the bull’s bodies warped due to the rapid temperature changes. The water was as inexorable as the tide, wearing away at the metal, as the bull’s internal furnaces desperately tried to keep up. But the water prevailed eventually and subsided back down to the beach, revealing the twisted remains of two bronze bull automatons.

Cody stared in awe as Penelope stalked down the hill, green eyes flashing in irritation. She was so competent, even at twelve and no memories of her past life. She booted a scrap of metal out of her way as she bore down on Travis like a hurricane. Cody legitimately swooned as she swept past him without a second glance to begin her interrogation. Connor, who’d been watching Penelope’s approach with utter dread before slumping in relief as she aimed for his brother shot Cody a teasing grin and nudged his arm a little.

“She’d bite your head off,” he mocked quietly.

“What a way to go,” Cody sighed dreamily, eyes on Penelope as she tore a strip off Travis’ hide.

“-and I think the time has come for you to tell me what the hell is going on!” Penelope finished, finger shaking in Travis’ face.

“Someone poisoned Thalia’s tree,” Travis said, serious for once. “And since the barrier is tied to her life-force, the monsters are now breaking through.”

“And no-one’s had any success at healing her?” Penelope asked, whirling to stalk back up the hill towards the tree.

“The new kid Cody had a little bit of luck,” Travis mentioned. “You could almost see the tree perk up. It didn’t last long though.”

“He’s in your cabin?” Penelope queried absently, examining the base of the tree thoughtfully.

“Unclaimed,” Travis confirmed, “but one of my sisters is his mom, so… Plus dad dotes on him. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“He doesn’t have as strong a claim as another Olympian,” Penelope hummed, distracted. “It gives him leeway with the laws he wouldn’t get with you guys.”

Cody swooned again. She was so smart. So talented to summon a wave that precise and controlled. Still his deadly lady who could match him in a combat of wits or even of blades. He’d heard the stories the War cabin was telling about her. She was still his Penelope, even without memories. Still the same soul he’d fallen in love with, the bright sword of sunlight to his dagger in the dark. The…

“Did you guys even think for a moment to remove the poison?” Penelope snapped in irritation.

“How?” Travis asked, genuinely boggled. Cody wasn’t. Penelope had had ocean heritage in their last life too. She had purified wells for their people before. Poison must be similar.

“Like this!” Penelope declared.

Slowly, ever so slowly, an acid green mist began to lift out of the puncture wound in the tree. It was boiling and sizzling corrosively as it hit open air, condensing down into a bundle of floating liquid as more and more of the poison was extracted. Finally, the contributions to the malicious collection trickled to a stop. Hands shaking at being so close to the object of his affections; he really had no chill when it came to Penelope, Cody wordlessly offered her his borrowed helmet as a container. His heart lit up as she just as wordlessly accepted, dropping the contents into their new temporary home with not a splash.

Then, because Penelope would wish it of him, Cody thrust the newly deadly helmet at Travis and turned his attention to the tree. Reinforcing souls was what he did. It’s how he gave any shades that he summoned out of the Underworld the strength to interact with the world as more than mist. Thalia’s soul might not quite be dead, a fact that his uncle must be keeping quite close to his chest; the significance of the pine tree had not escaped Ody, but she was close enough to a spirit that he could lend her strength, which did do her some good. Once again, mirroring the beginning of the week, he laid a hand on the bark of his cousin and sent his power into her. Similar to his previous attempt, the tree did gain a little colour back into its needles and some of its branches stopped drooping so obviously. But it wasn’t a cure.

“I couldn’t get all the poison out,” Penelope admitted, as if reading his mind. And if his heart fluttered at her still being in sync with him, well who was going to tell.

“I give her a month at best,” Cody agreed soberly. “I can’t give her anything more than I already have without massively screwing her up.”

He was a specialist in death, not life. He’d reached the limits of his Persephone granted affinity very quickly.

“It’s better than nothing,” Chris butted in. “It will give the Cabin Councillors time to come up with a better solution. Maybe send out a quest.”

“I look forward to that meeting then,” Penelope acknowledged dryly.

With that, she resettled her backpack on her shoulder and strode down the hill towards Camp, booting yet another shard of her handiwork out of the way as she went. Cody was so in love it was painful.

Chapter Text

Good things never lasted, Penelope knew, but it was still frustrating when her streak of good luck ended. Thalia’s poisoning, undoubtably Luke’s work, was an absolute nightmare. Chiron had identified the helmet full of poison as something from the depths of the Pit. He said it was beyond his ability to cure, seemed doubtful that it could be cured at all to be truthful. Seeing as he was being fired due to not protecting the tree better, Penelope was taking his opinion with a whole shaker of salt. That one Hermes kid had been able to help the tree; even just a little. There was bound to be something. And speaking of the Hermes kid…

Penelope knew a crush when she saw one. As popular kid adjacent, Penelope knew the signs and he was displaying every single one. The guy was so very obvious with his mooning. He was cute, Penelope had to give him that. And he had managed to pull himself together enough to prioritise the important things, like a container for the poison and helping Thalia’s tree. So, he was competent and smart too. But Penelope had no time for romance at the moment. She had degrees to earn. A Camp to save. Friends to catch up with. Plus, she was pretty sure her Father would be deciding her eventual marriage, or at least the candidates, being as she was in his line of succession. He’d ensured marriages for her other siblings after all; that history being very hard to swallow when she was learning it last year. She’d mostly come to terms with it over the summer, but it still made her melancholy on occasion. She would have liked to be able to find love on her own terms.

The kindest thing she could do was ignore the Hermes boy’s crush until it went away. She wouldn’t reject his friendship, but Penelope was going to set some very firm boundaries in place. Still, he seemed like an interesting person to know. And not just because of the changes to the Hermes cabin that Travis swore up, down and sideways were his doing. There was just something about him…

“Princess!”

“Allison!” Penelope greeted her cabin-mate back. The strawberry blonde girl had self-assigned as her secretary and personal assistant for the cabin, despite being several years older than her. Honestly, she should be the cabin councillor rather than Penelope, due to being the oldest and a year rounder, but none of the rest of her cabinmates would hear of it. They might be of the sea, but they weren’t the children of its ruler. In fact, most of the occupants of their cabin were Allison’s siblings; children of Oceanus and Tethys. Because of a curse by Gaia, due to their neutrality in the Titan and Giant wars, they could only have mortal children. Sometimes there were loopholes; such as their children marrying an immortal, such as Metis to Zeus, although that was a disaster, or their children binding themselves to a river; like Styx who was now quite powerful and had originally gone there to act as a handmaiden to Leuke who had been married to Hades. Unfortunately, because she was a former mortal, and ocean-coded besides, Leuke had not survived the underworld for very long, unlike her sister who thrived.

Oceanus and Tethys had not stopped having children either, despite the rest of the gods having difficulty producing immortal children in the modern era. The non-interference law had also not prevented them from having what was reportedly a healthy sex life. They simply found a mortal foster parent, or dumped the child at Camp if there were no suitable prospects. Granted the Camp’s speciality wasn’t infants, and if there were no suitable siblings of age to raise their newest child, the Titans would charge one of Artemis’ hunters to raise them until they could be mostly independent. After all, protection of children was one of her domains, and many of their children had joined the Moon goddess.

Penelope wasn’t looking forwards to when their next foster arrangement fell through. She would be in charge of the infant, at least nominally, although her older cabin-mates would probably take up the brunt of the responsibility. At thirteen she didn’t feel qualified in the slightest. On the other hand, Allison would be a good candidate to foster a baby sibling. She was already managing Penelope after all. Scheduling things, anticipating her every need and riding herd on the rest of the cabin with casual efficiency. Which was not easy. The sea doesn’t like to be restrained after all, and every single sea child embodied that. It was like herding cats.

“No power headaches?” Allison checked, casually flanking Penelope as she stalked towards their cabin.

“After that display?” Penelope snorted. “I’ll be good for the rest of the summer.”

“And prior to your spectacular display of control?” Allison prodded, unconvinced.

“A few minor twinges,” Penelope admitted. “Which is much better than the migraines I used to get.”

“You need to loosen the reins on your power a little more,” Allison said, concerned. “The sea doesn’t like to be restrained. Daily practice didn’t help?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s why I didn’t have a debilitating migraine all year,” Penelope said sheepishly.

Ocean children needed to constantly use their powers, or the pressure built up as if locked behind a dam. It manifested in migraines and other such symptoms, but would eventually become fatal if neglected for too long. Apparently, according to Flipper whose real and much despised name was Philos, and who was studying to become an Ocean Healer, Penelope had been right on the edge of that fatal line when she’d finally lost her grip on her powers and exploded; causing an earthquake and flood last year on a class trip. None of her cabin was keen for her to repeat the experience.

“The problem is,” Penelope elaborated, “I can’t unleash the more destructive side of my powers in the middle of New York. And daily practice forming water into shapes is only taking the edge off.”

“So, you need an outlet,” Allison deduced. “We’ll have to experiment this summer, see what works.”

“After whatever quest we send to deal with Thalia’s tree poisoning,” Penelope promised. “She’s got to be the priority.”

“Of course,” Allison echoed. “I’ve got Flipper working on it at the moment.”

“And what else have our cabin-mates been up to?” Penelope asked, highly curious and wanting to change the subject.

“What haven’t they got up to?” Allison groused, rolling her eyes.

Happily, she settled into a long winded and hilarious update on all the various hijinks the other sea kids had been getting up to. Penelope settled into listen, content to set her worries aside for the moment.

Chapter Text

Getting a metaphysical yank on his soul was never fun. Considering this one was from Diomedes indicating he had priority information to share, Cody was highly apprehensive of what that could entail. So, he’d snuck away from the current cabin activity and legged it into the centre of the woods to summon his old friend. Twenty seconds later, staring blankly into the middle distance, Cody knew he’d been right to worry.

“Repeat that,” he requested, hoping he’d heard wrong.

“It’s not going to change, no matter how many times you ask me to repeat the information,” Diomedes informed him dryly.

“Humour me,” Cody retorted, even though his heart wasn’t in it.

“The Sky King decided that Tantalus was going to be the new Activities director.” Diomedes repeated dutifully.

“That’s what I thought you said,” Cody said faintly, mind whirling. Let that disgusting scum around his Penelope? Around the vulnerable demigods for who Camp was the only safe place they’d ever known? There had to be a solution. A way to prevent this entirely. But nothing was coming to him. They couldn’t defy the Sky King’s decree. The consequences were unthinkable. So, mitigation it was.

“Go back to our King,” Cody directed Diomedes. “Get him to put a condition on releasing Tantalus-.”

“You mean your Father,” Diomedes interrupted bluntly.

“Yes,” Cody gritted out. “Go back to my Father. Have him require two guards to be with Tantalus at all times to prevent escape attempts and inappropriate behaviour. Then you and a volunteer are going to escort him wherever he goes, until the Sky King relents. Make sure the other person is known to my mother, because there’s highly likely to be a quest in the near future and I might not be able to maintain the connection.”

“Meaning you’ll drop the connection on your mother’s shoulders,” Diomedes said disapprovingly.

“She’s capable of it,” Cody sniffed offended. “More than capable. And I was planning to ask. But she won’t say no. Not with so many children at stake.”

“She won’t say no.” Diomedes agreed. “She didn’t even say no to your spirit when you came to her with wild tales of reincarnation. Utterly mad that one.”

“She inherited all of Hermes curiosity,” Cody smiled fondly, before jumping back with a squawk as said god appeared in his face.

“Grandbaby!” The god exclaimed cheerfully. He whirled Cody into an exuberant hug, before setting him down gently.

“Hermes,” Cody greeted exasperatedly.

“I hear you’re looking for a quest!” Hermes beamed excitably.

“I am,” Cody said, unsurprised the god had been eavesdropping on them. He had absolutely no boundaries.

“The Golden Fleece would definitely be the way to go then!” Hermes giggled. “But you won’t like it. Not a bit.”

“The Golden Fleece can heal the tree?” Cody double checked, despite the ominous full-bodied giggles the god was releasing.

“It can,” Hermes replied teasingly. “But to quest to retrieve it will be dangerous.”

“I’m trained for this.” Cody replied, a familiar refrain to the god’s teasing. “I’ll put it all on the line.”

“It’s on your old friend Polyphemus’ Island,” Hermes finally admitted. “And you can’t be the one to kill him. Uncle would hold yet another grudge. And Camp doesn’t have a Penelope’s presence to shield it from his wrath like Ithaca did. Don’t get my kids killed.” He said, turning serious.

“Actually,” Cody said hesitantly. “Camp kind of does have a Penelope.”

“Uncle’s daughter,” Hermes acknowledged his point. “That might stay his hand a little. But she and any other sea kids here won’t drown. And she’s not fostering any vulnerable demigods from allied gods either.”

“Not yet,” Cody said wistfully. His Penelope had loved children. She’d been amazing with their fosterlings.

“Wait!” Hermes exclaimed. “Is she-?” He threw his head back in a hysterical bout of laughter. “She is!” He wheezed. “Uncle’s kid!”

He burst into cackles again. It took him quite a while before he sobered again. The irony was apparently too much for his delicate sensibilities.

“You know she’s not going to fall into your arms again, right?” Hermes said suddenly serious. Cody was convinced the god was some form of bipolar with how often his mood changed on a dime.

“I’m aware,” Cody gritted out.

He was. She had no memories of their previous marriage. He was going to have to woo her all over again. But he was determined that he would get his best friend back, no matter what.

“The ocean is loyal.” Hermes intoned seriously. “Every single daughter of my Uncle has been obedient to his wishes. They have married who he has told them to marry. He might pick them kind husbands, he’s just as loyal to them as they are to him, but make no mistake, he makes the final choice.”

“I know.” Cody said, shoulders slumping in defeat.

And the god of the sea held onto grudges like a miser did his coins. Not to mention the god most likely still bore the scars from their last encounter. Convincing him to allow a marriage to Penelope would be his toughest challenge yet.

“If you have any recommendations for sacrifices or great deeds that would make him look a little more favourably upon me?” He pleaded quietly.

“Not killing or provoking his cyclops son would be a good start,” Hermes snorted dryly.

Very helpful Hermes, Cody thought sarcastically. If not for the ways he really, really wasn’t.

“Penelope will almost certainly be going on this quest,” Cody contradicted him. “It being a sea voyage.”

“And you won’t abandon her,” Hermes hummed understandingly. “I’ll keep an eye out for you,” he said cheerfully.

“My thanks,” Cody said gratefully.

“Good luck,” Hermes said, and then he was gone.

Cody turned to Diomedes behind him. The ghost had been making himself scarce while the god fawned over his old friend.

“I think I would like a spar,” he said slowly.

Better to work out the aggression now rather than later, around Campers who couldn’t keep up with the level of skill he’d worked his way up to after his rebirth. Being able to get tips from the greatest fighters of the ages was immensely helpful. Even if he had to account for every new growth spurt. Being unable to kill or permanently main his sparring partner was also an excellent perk. And Diomedes looked like a great sparring dummy right about now.

Chapter Text

Penelope shifted slightly in her seat, eyeing the other Councillors across the ping-pong table. Beside her, Allison twirled her pen between her fingers, ready to take notes. Chris, the Messenger’s Councillor was shadowed by his interesting cabinmate Cody, and the twins Castor and Pollux were of course sharing a seat, being Co-Councillors of their Father. Otherwise, there was only one representative per occupied Cabin.

Idly Penelope wondered if she shouldn’t have brought Allison, but stopped herself. Allison would have been Councillor if not for Penelope. She definitely had things to contribute to the meeting. The meeting that was never going to start, if they kept waiting for Chiron to start it. Especially when the centaur had already departed from the Camp Borders.

“Should we start?” Penelope suggested. “Chiron isn’t here to officiate or whatever he used to do.”

“We should,” Silena agreed, shooting a quelling look at Annabeth when she made as if to speak. Miraculously, that did actually work. Annabeth had definitely taken Penelope’s advice about developing some emotional intelligence.

“Our biggest problem,” Clarisse began, “is that Thalia’s Tree is dying, and taking the Camp protections with her.”

“We need to save her!” Annabeth burst out, unable to restrain herself. Considering Thalia had been the one to escort her to Camp, and had reportedly spent most of a year on the run with the young girl, Penelope couldn’t blame her.

“So, a quest is needed,” Beckendorf put in calmly. “My Cabin has been working on some automated defences, but we really do need those protections to be completely safe.”

“But what quest?” Katie put in. “None of my siblings have been able to so much as green a leaf from that tree. What has more healing power over nature than we do?”

“Cody certainly managed,” Lee interjected. “Better than myself or my siblings even. Though we did have marginally better success than Katie and her Cabin.”

“How did you do that?” Annabeth asked Cody directly, grey eyes sparkling in curiosity.

Cody shifted nervously from where he was perched on the edge of his seat. He seemed sheepish that they’d noticed his unusual talent.

“Sometimes the Messenger has children that inherit some of his other domains,” Cody started. “My mother is one; she inherited from his domain as a psychopomp.”

“She can speak to the dead?” Annabeth asked fascinated.

“To spirits, yes,” Cody confirmed awkwardly. “And part of the very basics of summoning spirits is giving them part of your life-force. To lend them the strength to make themselves manifest.”

“You were sharing your life-force with Thalia?” Annabeth asked sounding touched.

“Doesn’t that hurt you?” Penelope questioned seriously at the same time.

“Yes, and no,” Cody answered them both. “I could only share so much life-force with Thalia because she’s frozen on the brink of death, but not actually dead. I can’t share any more with her, because it’d destabilise her and she’d die faster.” He answered to Annabeth. Then turning to Penelope. “Those capable of summoning spirits have an excess of life-energy, and it replenishes at an extremely fast rate. So long as we don’t try to do too much at once we’re perfectly safe. From that anyway, the affinity leaves us vulnerable in other ways.”

“Which is why the Messenger is so familiar with you and your mother,” Penelope realised, shocked. She’d been caught up on all the latest gossip by Allison and Cody had featured very frequently.

Cody flashed her a charmingly lopsided smile. Penelope felt her heart flutter slightly, before dismissing it. He was pretty, that was all it was.

“Exactly. There’s a bit of an exception to the rules when it comes to children who can raise the dead. We need training, or we could start the next zombie apocalypse. And in the absence of any demigods to teach us; the Messenger is allowed to step in.”

“And your other parent?” Chris asked curiously.

“Just made my gifts stronger than my mother’s,” Cody answered, without mentioning exactly who his other parent was. Before they could dig deeper into his parentage, he smoothly changed the subject. “Hermes came by with some information earlier. A quest.” He informed them.

“A quest?” Castor asked curiously. “For what?”

“For the Golden Fleece,” Cody replied. “To heal Thalia.”

“With that much nature magic it would almost have to be a sure bet!” Katie exclaimed. “We have so many stories about it!”

“And where is it?” Clarisse asked suspiciously.

“In the Sea of Monsters,” Cody elaborated. “On Polyphemus’ Island.”

“Oh, is that all?” Clarisse said sarcastically. “And why did the Messenger tell you this exactly? Wasn’t Luke his favourite son once upon a time?”

Cody grimaced, looking uncomfortable.

“He was,” he admitted. “But poisoning a comrade-in-arms, especially one who sacrificed themselves for you… it’s a bridge too far.” He drew a hand over his face looking a bit sick. “Hermes is trying to regain Luke’s honour before he loses it completely. Plus, he likes me.” Cody shrugged.

“And I suppose you’ll be leading this quest?” Clarisse asked.

This was a test, Penelope knew. After all, Cody had received the quest information from the gods. He could make an argument for leading it. Clarisse just wanted to know what he’d do.

“No,” Cody refused firmly. “I’m twelve, and have no desire to command a quest through the Sea of Monsters. I would like to come along however. Hermes would likely be of more help if I accompanied whichever questers went.”

“Penelope needs to go,” Alison interrupted. “She will be able to navigate you on the seas.”

Penelope winced at being volunteered by her cabinmate, but did nod her head in agreement.

“I’m not leading this quest.” She stated firmly, “but I will go.”

Annabeth, eyes flashing resentfully, decided to pipe up.

“I can’t go, what with it being a sea voyage,” she grumbled. “The Sea King hates me and my siblings; it would be a hinderance to you for me to go.”

Annabeth had matured surprisingly quickly over the summer, Penelope realised. She was actually thinking with her head and not her pride. Especially since all she’d wanted since she was a little girl was to go on her own quest.

“Do you have any suggestions for quest lead?” Penelope asked the strategist, offering an olive branch.

“Clarisse,” Annabeth offered decisively. “She’s the best choice. Combat capable and a natural leader.”

“I accept,” Clarisse agreed, pushing away from the table to stand up. “I’m going to visit the Oracle. The rest of you start workshopping a plan.”

Chapter Text

Clarisse sat among her siblings at the dinner table contemplatively. The usual roughhousing was avoiding her today; her siblings aware that she would be departing on a quest soon and allowing her to brood over the prophecy she’d received. It seemed fairly straightforward to her. Which raised all kinds of red flags. Most prophecies were not that simple. She went over it in her head again.

“You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone.”

That seemed obvious enough for her. She knew her dad took a tribute from the losing side of every war. Ships might be part of Poseidon’s domain, but at least a couple of river steamers had been designed to do both rivers and the ocean. Her dad would likely be providing their transportation, then. Idly Clarisse wondered what sort of sacrifice he’d consider good enough in exchange for his help.

“You shall find what you seek and make it your own.”

So, they would find the Fleece and succeed in stealing it. Nice to know they would manage to complete step one of the quest before even setting foot on a boat.

“But despair for your life, entombed within stone.”

Clearly something would go wrong on the quest; as these things always did. Clarisse was not looking forward to that. It sounded like a cave in to her and like it or not Clarisse hated small spaces, especially ones she couldn’t get out of. But the fourth line gave her hope.

“And fail without friends, to fly home alone.”

Clearly her quest mates would get her out of whatever jam she managed to get herself into. The flying could be because they were on a deadline and needed to get the Fleece to Camp ASAP. There was absolutely no way, after all, that Penelope was going to fly. And Clarisse had her suspicions about “Cody” too. He looked a little too much like the new paintings of Odysseus on the Messenger’s cabin to be a co-incidence. Plus, he was absolutely head over heels for Penelope, despite having said maybe two words to her.

And there was the way he was watching the new Activities Director and his guards… not that they’d been announced yet, despite them sitting at the High Table. But Clarisse had her suspicions there too.

The Wine Lord looked majorly pissed off. He had forgone the High Table entirely and was sitting with his sons at his own table. The three unexpected guests were seated at the High Table, but apart from the one dressed in a garishly orange prison uniform, which Clarisse could almost swear was a part of his punishment being such an affront to the eyes, none of them were eating. The prisoner was certainly trying to eat, but the food kept escaping him, much to his frustration and the amusement of his guards. The one who looked like a male, giant, version of Penelope even caught a fleeing piece of brisket and popped it into his mouth, to his charge’s outrage.

“An announcement,” The resident god said poisonously, clearly not over his sulk. He waved a dismissive hand at the three at the High Table. “My Father in his infinite wisdom has decided Tantalus will become Activities Director for Camp in Chiron’s absence. He is to attempt to reduce his sentence with good behaviour.”

“Isn’t he dead?” Questioned one of Wisdom’s children.

“He is indeed dead,” the god answered boredly. “He and his guards, who should have remained in the Underworld.”

“And let Tantalus attempt to escape?” Scoffed one of the guards jovially. The one that wasn’t Penelope’s older brother. “My King wouldn’t hear of it.”

“But did it have to be that one as a guard?” The God of Madness shot back. “I’m sure he didn’t even earn Elysium, just batted his eyelashes at your King and…”

“Prevented a war among the gods,” The guard, who Clarisse thought was Theseus, answered flatly, eyes steely.

The Wine Lord sneered.

“Is that what you think, with your puffed-up sense of self-importance and faithless-” he started to rant.

“You threw a madness curse at a Prophet,” Theseus stated with steely calm. “One of the Ocean and not of the Sun, but a Prophet all the same. You know the consequences if this had been known, just as well I do.”

Indeed, the god had gone waxy and pale, purple eyes wide with horror.

“You weren’t proclaimed as a prophet,” he objected faintly.

“Because I knew what you would do from a very young age, and I knew the consequences if I were so proclaimed.” Theseus elaborated point-blank. “I had earned Elysium from the age of eight, following the Fates will.”

“Abandoning Ariadne was the will of the Fates?” The god queried harshly, still looking unsettled.

“I told Ariadne when we set out from Crete,” Theseus said, “that she would have a happy marriage where she was treated like a goddess.” He shrugged. “I’m sure she’s worked out that my promise was true, and there are no hard feelings towards me anymore. She was always such a practical and intuitive soul. I’m sure I slipped up with my abilities in front of her enough for her to put the pieces together in retrospect.”

Clarisse was also putting the pieces together in retrospect. Helen of Troy had been kidnapped as a child by Theseus, supposedly for him to take to wife. Had that been in preparation for her to be kidnapped to Troy? Training?

“You killed your son,” the god pointed out, weakly.

“Which I can lay at your feet.” Theseus snarled. “As I can, the death of my mortal father. I forgot to raise the sails due to your curse. I was almost completely lost to visions at the point that the curse struck at my son through me. I mistook him for the Giant Orion, who also feasted and hunted with the Virgin goddess. They look alike and my mind wasn’t in any state to be rational.”

He leaned forwards on the table, his gaze like a laser at the squirming, horrified god.

“Almost every misfortune and hardship in my life, including my decision to refuse rebirth when the Fates asked for it, is down to you.” Theseus snarled. “But I still volunteered for guard duty, because there was a chance the children could come to harm without my aid. And all I ever did in my life was attempt to be kind.”

That was too much for Dionysus, and he fled the pavilion with a puff of purple smoke. Clarisse stared at the unrepentant ghost in awe. Role model acquired.

Chapter Text

Penelope tucked herself more firmly into the roots of Thalia’s tree, turning an expectant gaze on her co-conspirators. Clarisse and Cody were both sprawled without care on the hillside beside the tree, both contemplating the sky with thoughtful frowns on their faces. This was meant to be a private quest planning session, but very few ideas were being thrown around.

“Have we got a plan for transport?” Penelope asked finally, fed up with the brooding silence.

“Prophecy says I need to get my dad to provide a ship,” Clarisse grunted moodily. “I have absolutely no idea what sort of sacrifice would convince him to help out to that degree.”

“Have you considered going hunting?” Cody offered idly.

“Hunting?” Clarisse echoed, sounding intrigued.

“Well,” Cody told her cheerfully. “The barrier is faltering. Which means the Scent of the massive collection of demi-gods will be seeping out.”

“Meaning a ton of monsters will be making their way here,” Penelope realised, wide-eyed.

“And if we go thin the herd a little bit, and dedicate that hunt to your dad,” Cody hinted.

“He’ll probably grant us the transport we need.” Clarisse finished, smirking.

“I’ll go get our armour,” Cody grinned, flashing a beaming smile at Penelope, before taking off down the hill.

Penelope and Clarisse contemplated his departure for a moment. Then they got down to business.

“He’s head over heels for you,” Clarisse told her bluntly.

“I know,” Penelope admitted, blushing. She was flattered by his attention. He was exactly her type after all. But on the other hand.

“I can’t do anything about it,” she told her friend miserably. “Father will be deciding my marriage. If anything were to happen between us that could compromise my virtue… Father is not known for being forgiving.”

“This is the Twenty-First Century,” Clarisse deadpanned.

“And the gods are old-school,” Penelope shrugged. “I’m going to be married off as soon as I’m of age. Like the rest of his daughters.”

“Ancient Greeks got married super young,” Clarisse said, concerned.

“Sixteen,” Penelope confirmed, resigned. “He’s probably considering all sorts of suitors even now.”

“That’s awful,” Clarisse stated bluntly. “I don’t know why you’d put up with that.”

“God,” Penelope shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”

Clarisse’s face was a thundercloud, and Penelope could almost sense her war-born stubbornness raising its head.

“Personally,” Clarisse said blackly, “I’d want to lose my virginity to a person of my choice. Why not do that?”

Penelope couldn’t help but smile. There was a reason the War God rarely got involved in arranging his daughter’s matches. And that he was patron to the Amazons and all their sexual freedoms.

“Because,” she explained patiently to her friend. “It lowers my value on the marriage market, and my Father would smite whoever I tried it with.”

“Value?” Clarisse steamed.

“My Father will be looking among the immortals, before looking through the established demi-god population.” Penelope elaborated. “Marrying a minor god or monster sounds much better to me than marrying a mortal so much older than me who’d accept this kind of arrangement.”

“Because they’d be mortal and thus perverts.” Clarisse deduced unhappily.

“Yeah,” Penelope admitted. “They didn’t grow up with that as the standard. They absolutely know better.”

Movement down the hill, heralded Cody’s return and they packed away the difficult subject for later. From his raised eyebrows at Clarisse’s face, Cody knew they’d been discussing something, but he gamely handed out armour and didn’t pry.

Once armoured up, Clarisse stalked off down the hill with a muttered comment about really needing to kill something. Exchanging glances behind her back, Penelope and Cody hurried after her to back her up.

………………

Several hours later, and after much therapeutic monster hunting, Penelope was standing on the beach watching Clarisse toss her trophies into the massive bonfire they had set up. Her prayers may be impertinent, but Penelope figured that that was what Ares liked to see in his daughters. It seemed to be garnering a response anyway, she could feel the weight of the War God’s aura increasing by the second, for every scale, claw and fang Clarisse was sacrificing to the fire.

The water began to bubble and boil not far from shore, and there were plenty of oohs and aahs from the onlooking campers. The show was definitely drama worthy of the War God. Penelope hoped his contribution was just as great as his displays of power. The water didn’t really need to be as red as blood, did it? It wasn’t actually blood, she could tell, so what was the point of that little bit of theatre? Ares could really put on a show.

When the actual boat surfaced, Penelope found herself less than impressed however. Even Cody beside her looked like he’d sucked on a lemon.

“That’s a river boat with delusions of grandeur,” Penelope muttered in disgust.

“Crewed by spirits of the dead,” Cody agreed grumpily. “Ones who haven’t been Judged.”

“How are we meant to sail rough seas in that?” Penelope continued with revulsion.

“No way to know which ways their souls would go,” Cody was muttering under his breath. “Makes the entire crew untrustworthy. And for this voyage.”

“We’re going to sink,” Penelope predicted gloomily.

“Another mutiny,” Cody sighed hopelessly.

“Why did I volunteer for this again?” They asked simultaneously, before seeming to realise that they’d both been complaining. They exchanged commiserating looks, seeming on the same wavelength without even trying.

Then they picked up the pre-packed duffel bags with their quest supplies and followed Clarisse onto her newfound vessel. After all, Clarisse was quest leader, and if she said they had to travel on a floating hazard, they had to follow her lead. Despite their perfectly understandable misgivings.

“Once more into the breach I guess,” Cody said sounding resigned.

Something about his tone made Penelope take a closer look. His hands were shaking and he was resolutely ignoring the glimpses of the ocean he could see from the corner of his eye. Which lead her to one inevitable conclusion. Why exactly had someone terrified of sailing volunteered to come on a quest through the Sea of Monsters?

Chapter Text

Sitting around the table in the war room of the civil war ship Clarisse had been given was impressive, Penelope had to give the Confederates that. They’d clearly thought through how to give a briefing, and with the accurate maps Penelope had received from her cabinmates, it did indeed look like a professional set up. Not like it was a bunch of kids, plus the undead captain hanging out in a room trying to plan by the seat of their pants.

“We need to take the route past Scylla,” Cody said, dead serious.

“She needs a sacrifice,” Clarisse denied, just as passionate. “I say we take the Clashing Rocks. Or even try and get around Charybdis.”

Cody side-eyed Clarisse, before turning towards Penelope with a sigh.

“Do you want to clue Clarisse into the capability of our transportation or should I?” He asked her, sounding resigned.

Penelope winced, but did nod that she would break the news gently. This was hard enough, but they had to be practical. And Clarisse would always want the truth aimed straight between the eyes if she could get it.

“Clarisse,” Penelope started. “The ship wasn’t designed for rough waves. We don’t have the speed to outrun the Clashing Rocks, and any interaction with the whirlpool that is Charybdis would most likely sink us.”

“Not to mention, we have plenty of convenient sacrifices on board,” Cody butted in.

“My men-” The Captain started.

“Will have a much better chance of Elysium if they are sacrificed on a quest,” Cody spoke over the captain’s objections. “You won’t continue on as you have been, now that you have been given to Clarisse. You’ll be Judged at the end of this quest. I would think you’d be up for anything that could tip the scales in your favour.”

The captain grimaced, but did accede the point with a conciliatory nod, clutching his hat fretfully.

“These men are my responsibility,” Clarisse protested. That dear, dear war child. So protective of those under her command. Penelope felt a surge of fondness at her friend.

“They’re dead,” Cody replied bluntly. “The further they get on this quest, the more the Judges have to work with in regards to sentencing. As it is, they’re hovering between Punishment and Asphodel. If they’re very helpful those on the verge of Punishment might squeak by into Asphodel and a few might even make Elysium. If they sink just trying to enter the Sea of Monsters, they lose that chance.”

“The best thing for you to do is take the least risks possible while we can,” Penelope backed him up. “We can’t save their lives because they’re already dead. We can attempt to salvage their afterlives. It’s the best thing for them.”

“And how do you know so much about the dead?” Clarisse interrogated Cody harshly. She was making absolutely sure he knew his stuff before she committed, Penelope knew.

“He’s a son of Hades ma’am.” The captain input respectfully. He ignored the other demigod’s glare.

“Thank you,” Clarisse thanked her captain. “Can you please spread the word among the crew about the plan for Scylla? And the reasons why? I have it on good authority that your bravery will be rewarded.”

“Yes ma’am,” the captain replied saluting. He promptly left at a quick march looking thoughtful.

“How old are you,” Clarisse asked Cody next, as soon as their audience was gone.

“Thirteen,” Cody replied cheerfully. “And I was born on Halloween.”

Which made him a couple of months younger than Penelope. And Halloween was strangely fitting for the birthday of a Child of the Lord of the Dead, Penelope wondered if that was on purpose.

“And you’re a Forbidden Child.” Clarisse continued relentlessly.

Cody pursed his lips thoughtfully, dragging a hand through shoulder-length chestnut curls. Idly Penelope beat down the urge to run her fingers through them. She was a sucker for curls.

“Not really,” he hummed. “My conception wasn’t really covered by the oath.”

“So no,” Clarisse deadpanned.

“Not in regards to the Oath,” Cody said. “Politics wise, absolutely.”

“Because the Sky King is a paranoid dick,” Penelope scoffed scornfully.

“Because the Sky King is a paranoid dick.” Cody agreed, smiling at her with his crooked smile. It made her heart flutter, which she sternly told herself to ignore.

“I would appreciate if you kept this to yourself,” he told Clarisse bluntly. “My Father is not going to be as supportive as Penelope’s. If the Sky King tries to smite me, he’s not going to intervene beyond the bare minimum.”

Penelope couldn’t help the pang of sympathy that went through her, despite his deliberately blasé attitude towards the lack of parental support. Her godly family was supportive, but that didn’t mean everyone’s was. At least his grandfather was stepping up, at least from all the Camp gossip Allison had shared.

“You raise the dead,” Clarisse deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

“My mother, who is a child of Hermes, can raise the dead.” Cody shrugged off. “It happens sometimes, kids of his inheriting from his psychopomp Domain. So long as I don’t show off some of my flashier abilities there’s no way to prove that I didn’t inherit this from Hermes.”

“You’re saying his name,” Clarisse said suspiciously.

“I always have his attention,” Cody admitted, “so I’m not really worried about drawing it. He’s pretty benevolent towards me, normally. And he can judge what pranks will be harmful for a mortal if he puts thought into it.”

“Puts thought into it?” Penelope gasped, alarmed. “Gods aren’t really known for thinking about things.”

“No,” Cody admitted humorously. “I was scrappy enough to survive when he messed up beyond mortal limits. There’s a reason that gods don’t raise their own mortal kids. A good one.”

“I would not want to have had your childhood,” Clarisse shuddered.

“Mom was frequently very pissed off with her dad, yeah,” Cody grinned. “It was a miracle that I managed to survive my childhood at all actually.”

“You’re thirteen,” Clarisse snorted in all her fifteen-year-old glory. “You still haven’t survived your childhood.”

“Well, if I survive this voyage, I’ll be one step closer I guess,” Cody shrugged, nonchalant.

With two quests in as many years, Penelope silently agreed with him. There was some sort of prophecy regarding her sixteenth birthday that she couldn’t get anymore details about. And then there was her marriage to consider, little as she wanted to. Surviving childhood was not as daunting to her as actually reaching adulthood, and all the uncertainty that implied. But she had to make it through this quest first. So she would take it one step at a time, just as her mom had taught her.

Chapter Text

Penelope was not afraid to say that she huddled in the cabin like a scared rabbit as they passed Scylla. The distant and horrifying screams of the crew being picked off by the monster terrified her. It didn’t seem to bother her companions though. Clarisse sat straight as an arrow, only the faintest of winces revealing that she was hearing the screams at all. She’d set her course and was now determined to see it through. There was no fear in the Child of War only resolution. Cody was the picture of relaxed, not reacting to the screams at all. He’d settled in the chair next to her, so they were shoulder to shoulder in a gesture of comfort, but it was clear that it was him offering to support her, rather than seeking reassurance himself. Penelope guessed it was a Child of the Underworld thing. After all the crew members were dead, and Cody already knew their final destination.

They sat there in silence for over an hour, before the captain came to tell them that they had passed Scylla and had now entered the Sea of Monsters. Penelope didn’t know whether to be relieved or apprehensive about that. It didn’t matter. They still needed to plan their route accordingly, now that they were actually in the Sea. It couldn’t be a straight shot to Polyphemus unfortunately. The captain had informed them that Scylla had managed to destroy most of their food supply when snatching one of her victims.

“We could try here,” Clarisse suggested, pointing to a specific island that looked relatively close by.

“No!” Cody vetoed at once, paling rapidly. He looked on the brink of a panic attack, and it made Penelope incredibly uneasy.

“That’s the home of the old sun god,” Penelope elaborated, drawing on old lessons. “I don’t think he’ll want visitors.”

“He’s Faded, isn’t he?” Clarisse asked curiously. “Do you really think he’d care?”

“It’s a sacred space,” Cody managed to force out. “Best not to enter without an invitation.”

“If you say so,” Penelope shrugged, resolving not to force him to do anything that made him look that panicked.

“We could try here,” Cody suggested desperately trying to change the subject, pointing out another island on the map.

“Circe’s Island?” Penelope wondered sceptically. “Doesn’t she turn trespassers into pigs?”

Cody smirked wryly.

“She turns men into pigs,” he told her. “She has absolutely no problem with girls, especially if they’re polite. I’ll stay on the ship, while you two go and bargain for supplies. So long as I don’t set foot on the island myself, we should be good.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Clarisse acknowledged. “But what happens if you have to “set foot” on the island for some reason? Is she going to smite us if that happens?”

“I’ll ask Hermes to intervene if that’s the case,” Cody shrugged. “They have an understanding.”

Penelope had a feeling there was more to it than that, but decided to let it go. She didn’t go spilling all her secrets either.

“So, we stop off at Circe’s Island, then make straight for Polyphemus’ Island,” Penelope determined.

“I’ll tell the captain to set the course,” Clarisse agreed, standing to leave the cabin.

………………………………

Circe’s Island was a spa. Somehow Penelope hadn’t expected that. Although, as predicted, the patrons were all women. The ship was anchored at one of the spare docks, and the undead crew made themselves scarce as soon as they’d docked. Cody leaned against the rail, watching as Penelope and Clarisse disembarked. He seemed at ease in this place, despite the very real danger of being turned into a pig. Penelope wondered idly what hole card he seemed to be keeping in reserve. Other than his grandfather.

They were met at the end of the dock by a very pretty spa worker, who informed them her name was Hylla, and was frowning at the ship and Cody behind them, in between giving them dazzling smiles and rattling off a clearly rehearsed welcome speech.

“Is your friend going to be joining us?” Hylla asked pleasantly.

“I thought that this place was for women only?” Penelope deflected slightly. “Like a sanctuary?”

“Oh, of course not,” Hylla laughed off cheerfully. “Boys just have a need for a much more thorough makeover to bring out their inner beauty.”

“As a pig?” Clarisse interjected unimpressed. “We know exactly who’s Island this is, thanks. We just wanted to purchase some supplies and be on our way.”

“And your companion?” Hylla asked, much chillier now.

“Won’t step foot on the Island,” Penelope promised, “unless something happens to us.”

Hylla looked very unimpressed by their reassurances.

“I can’t let any male be unsupervised so close to the Island.” She informed them primly. “Your friend will have to come and meet My Lady the same as any other visitors to the Island. Then we can negotiate for your supplies.”

Penelope winced and Clarisse looked mulish, but they did gesture for Cody to come join them. Penelope couldn’t help but feel that this was going to go horribly, horribly wrong. Hylla was clearly setting them up for something, and she didn’t like that they had no choice but to go along with it. At least the walk was quick. It led them past pools, and treatment rooms and even school rooms where eager young women were learning the basics of magic. Penelope almost wanted to stay to investigate further; this place appealed to all of her interests, but was held back by the looming deadline of their quest and the danger Cody could still be in.

Finally, Hylla knocked on a door and led them through to one of the most beautiful women Penelope had ever seen. She was sat at a loom, which was a work of art in itself, let alone the quality of the material she was producing. Penelope desperately wanted one for herself.

“Guests, Hylla?” Circe asked curiously, frowning almost imperceptibly at Cody in their midst.

“They want to negotiate for supplies My Lady,” Hylla replied promptly.

“She wouldn’t allow us to leave Cody on the ship, ma’am,” Penelope felt compelled to interject. She needed to prevent Cody from being any more in Circe’s bad graces than he already was for being a male.

“I do understand dear,” Circe assured her. “It’s only a security measure. Why don’t you and your friend go and negotiate with Hylla for your supplies. I’ll keep your male companion here with me, so he doesn’t upset some of my more delicate residents.” She smiled sharply. “I’ll return him when you leave.”

Penelope exchanged glances with Clarisse. This wasn’t part of the plan! No way could they leave Cody alone with the all-powerful, male-hating sorceress. They’d never get him back, regardless of what she told them.

“I’ll be fine,” Cody waved them off, to Penelope’s shock. “You guys go get the supplies. I’ll be ok.”

Penelope grimaced, but did start following Hylla out of the door, dragging Clarisse with her. Leaving Cody alone with Circe. He’d better have a hell of a hole card, or she was going to take it out of his hide if he was some sort of barnyard animal when she came back.

Chapter Text

“Lady of the Palace,” Cody began as soon as they were alone, with a respectful nod of his head.

The sorceress squinted at him in confusion, before gaping at him in shock.

“Odysseus?” She exclaimed incredulously.

Cody swept into a theatrical bow.

“In the flesh My Lady,” he said dramatically.

Which prompted a giggle from her, his ultimate goal. She was much less likely to smite him if she was amused after all.

“You re-incarnated?” she queried. “I would have thought you’d have liked to stay in Elysium with your Penelope. And how did you keep your memories?”

“Alas, The Fates saw fit to steal my beloved and incarnate her again. What could I do but follow?” Cody answered theatrically. “As for keeping my memories… well, I have been making all sorts of magic using friends in the Underworld over the years. They were very helpful with coming up with a solution.”

“You always were very resourceful,” Circe conceded with pursed lips. “Which is why I can’t understand how you could be so abysmally stupid, so as to dare the seas again.”

Cody ducked his head sheepishly, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

“It’s a good reason!” He informed her defensively. “And there are precautions in place.”

Circe raised her brows sceptically.

“I can’t wait to hear them,” she mocked him sweetly. “There must be a truly spectacular reason for you to try an Olympian’s wrath yet again.”

“The best,” Cody told her earnestly. “My Penelope received a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus’ Island. How could I let her go alone? Especially to face that foe?”

Circe looked him up and down, assessing.

“Considering your everything,” she hummed consideringly, “I can see that being an adequate reason for you. Which one of the two lovely ladies was Penelope’s reincarnation? The War girl? I know your wife had an affinity for the War god.”

“Not the War girl,” Cody denied, reluctant for what would follow.

Circe blinked at him. Once. Twice. Then burst into such gut-deep laughter that she toppled off her seat, giggling all the way to the floor.

“The Sea girl?” she sputtered incredulously. “Your luck, Odysseus! The irony! The drama!”

Cody impatiently waited out the hysterical laughter from one of his oldest friends. Uncharitably, he wondered whether she’d be better off changing shape to a hyena with the way she was cackling her head off. Outsiders might find it funny, but this was a serious problem for him.

“She is pretty, your Penelope,” Circe admitted, when she sobered up. “And I know better than to question your commitment to her. But are you sure you can deal with her father in this life? How has he not drowned you yet?”

“The ship we’re travelling on is one of War’s tributes,” Cody admitted easily. “His aura covers mine, no problem. Plus, Penelope is travelling with us. He’s unlikely to sink any ship she’s on.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Circe told him sharply. “Her father is going to imprison the poor girl at the bottom of the sea as soon as he notices you as one of her suitors.”

Cody grimaced, because she wasn’t wrong, godsdamn it. And Penelope would hate being restrained that way.

“I’ll find her,” Cody swore sincerely. “No matter what it takes.”

Circe pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed tiredly.

“Your obsession is noted,” she grumbled. She sighed again. Wandered over to a drawer and pulled out a decorative compass, all black with pretty bronze patterns, and weighed it in her hand for a moment. “I got the idea for this from a pirate movie of all things,” she told him frankly. “It will point to what you want most in the world.”

“Penelope,” Cody almost sighed. Circe was giving him a tracking device for his wife.

“Simp,” Circe snorted, tossing the compass to him nonchalantly. “Don’t expect more than that for help against the Sea god. He’s still pissed at myself and my sisters even now.”

“Because of your father’s infidelity?” Cody blinked, pocketing the gift. “What about his own indiscretions? You couldn’t throw a stone without hitting one of his descendants in Ancient Greece.”

“He feels that it doesn’t count.” Circe stated bitterly. “Step-mother regularly attends the spa, along with her siblings, but he feels he has the right to hold a grudge.”

“He’s never been known for being reasonable,” Cody pointed out, disgusted.

“He has not,” Circe agreed flatly. “Now change the subject before I really do turn you into a pig.”

Knowing she was serious, Cody scrambled for another topic.

“How’s Telegonus doing?” he ventured, asking after her adopted child.

Telegonus had been the result of the previous visit to Circe’s Island before his own. The one that had turned her against men entirely. His nymph mother had died giving birth to him, leaving him in Circe’s care. Odysseus, once he had proven himself a decent man to the sorceress, had been held up to the tiny toddler as a role model. And Ody had to admit he had enjoyed playing with the tot in between enacting repairs to their ships.

“He and Little Ody are doing well.” Circe answered cheerfully. “They’ve set up an outreach business overseas at the moment so they’re not really available until that settles properly.”

“Little Pen went with them?” Cody asked, unsurprised.

“She’s surrogating for them again,” Circe confirmed. “So won’t be straying far.”

“More grandchildren,” Cody grinned, rubbing his hands together. “Excellent.”

Circe snorted.

“Have you heard the tangle the myths have made about them?” She asked slyly.

Cody pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course. This was what came of having grandchildren named after yourself and your wife. Especially a pair of headstrong and stubborn twins.

“They seem to think that Telegonus “spearing” my grandchild was more than metaphorical,” he said long-suffering. “I told them that joke was going to come back to haunt them.”

“Come now,” Circe clucked mockingly. “The young are always as bawdy as possible. It’s only when they encounter consequences such as this that it dawns on them to keep it behind their teeth.”

“What I don’t understand,” Cody said throwing up his hands, “is how Telemachus’ name got mixed up in the entire sordid tale. Rumours of my grandson marrying you instead of Telegonus, I can understand due to the blatant homophobia going around in archaeology. Equally, Little Pen marrying Telegonus rather than training under you in magic, I can understand, because she was surrogating for her twin. But how my son’s name got mixed up in it…”

“Well, if Telegonus had supposedly killed you,” Circe snorted, “which male member of your household was he supposedly bringing back to be my husband?”

“Little Penelope I assume,” Cody snorted, “seeing as you two were… are in a committed relationship.”

“Are,” Circe confirmed. “And you’re forgetting about the homophobia my dear. All men seem to think that women yearn for their touch only. It’s much more pleasant without, to be truthful.”

“To each their own,” Cody shrugged off. “Now catch me up on all the family gossip please? Exactly how many kids has Little Penelope surrogated over the years?”

Chapter Text

Penelope had to concede that Cody had indeed been correct in his confidence that he would come out of his encounter with Circe unscathed. That didn’t mean that it had been any less jarring when herself and Clarisse had returned to the room to find him mid gossip session with the man-hating sorceress. In fact, it had knocked her world-view askew ever so slightly. Not that Penelope had believed the myths were all correct. But it was a good reminder that people weren’t all one-dimensional caricatures. Although she was feeling less than charitable towards Hylla. Not only had she bargained like she wanted to skin them down to the bone, she looked very disappointed to find Cody in perfect health when she led them back to Circe.

But their ship had been stocked up post-haste with their hard-won supplies, and Cody had parted from the sorceress as friends, though the gods knew how. They were on their way and sailing towards Polyphemus’ Island. Now if only Clarisse and Cody could agree on the route…

“Going past the sirens is a bad idea!” Cody argued frankly.

“They provide great wisdom of a warriors fatal flaw!” Clarisse argued right back. “You can put wax in your ears like a pussy, but I’m going to face them like a true warrior.”

“I already know my fatal flaw,” Cody huffed angrily. “And I’m pretty sure Penelope knows hers. Try meditating on it like a normal person.”

“I’m the leader of this quest,” Clarisse blustered red-faced. “So, I get final say on the destination. And I say we go via the sirens.”

“It’s not too much of a risk,” Penelope tried to mediate. “The crew is dead, so won’t be affected. And we can always use wax to block our ears.”

“And when Clarisse throws herself into the sea, too tempted by what they’re singing to do otherwise?” Cody asked.

He was clearly still just as furious as before, but had softened his question towards her. Penelope appreciated the control that it would take to put a leash on that volcanic temper enough to worry about bystanders. That kind of self-control really appealed to her.

“We won’t let her,” Penelope told him firmly. Daring him to argue.

Cody sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This is such a bad idea,” he muttered, before fixing Clarisse with a flat look. “You get tied up,” he informed Clarisse flatly. “You get disarmed. No spear, no sword, no holdout daggers. Anything you could use to get out of the ropes. You get gagged, because absolutely no-one wants the kind of insight into your inner self that the sirens are going to bring out in you. Your private life is no-one else’s business.”

Clarisse nodded, soldier to commander, and marched off to begin giving her orders.

…………………………

Later, sitting and comforting a sobbing Clarisse from where she was curled up in her bunk, Penelope wished that she’d listened to Cody. She didn’t know any of the details of Clarisse’s experience. But watching her friend scream and thrash as she was cocooned in ropes had been horrifying enough. The way she’d just collapsed into tears afterwards, when presumably they had moved out of the siren’s range was worse. Penelope really wished that she’d opted for the meditation option.

Penelope knew her own fatal flaw was loyalty. It tended to go that way with Children of the Sea. Her Father loved her; she knew that down to her bones. So of course she would reciprocate his care. Allow him to pick her a husband, despite her modern sensibilities and the fact that as an immortal god her Father wouldn’t have any idea of what she would value in a husband. She didn’t dare break from him. She loved him and was loyal. Any demigod other than a Child of the Sea would object to an arranged match. For the god’s sake, Artemis, Athena and Hestia had outright refused to get married ever. They had boundaries that Sea children just couldn’t manage amongst themselves. The waters after all blended together, it was only the shoreline, the outside, that acted as a boundary for them.

Penelope had absolutely no idea what Clarisse’s fatal flaw could be. But for the other girl to be so horrified by it; it couldn’t be a good one. And they definitely needed her to be on the top of her game for this next stretch. Cody was right, Penelope had to admit. They shouldn’t have gone via the sirens. She had the horrible feeling that this detour was going to get one of them hurt. And for that person to be Clarisse? Penelope’s friend? She couldn’t let that happen.

Glancing up, she caught Cody hovering in the doorway. He took in the tableau of Clarisse on the bed and Penelope sat beside her with a grimace. Clearly, he didn’t like being right, despite the proof staring him in the face. It made Penelope feel a little better about this situation. He wasn’t going to say I told you so. He was being the better man. It was surprisingly attractive. Before Penelope crushed that notion. She would marry who her father wanted her to and there was absolutely no way Cody would ever make the list. Even if she wanted him to.

“We’re in sight of the Island now,” Cody announced softly. “I suggest putting on your armour, we need to be quick and get the ship back out of range.”

“Out of range?” Clarisse asked thickly, eyes red and bloodshot as she picked her head out of her pillow to glance back at Cody.

“Cyclops can throw rocks for miles,” Cody answered. “I wouldn’t want us to sink.”

“And how are we getting to the beach then?” Clarisse queried.

“The ship has lifeboats,” Cody replied evasively. “We could take one of them.”

“You just don’t want to swim,” Penelope chuckled amused.

“Your father would smite me,” Cody informed her deadly serious.

It sobered Penelope right up, that reminder that the kind father she knew was not that way with the rest of the world. And they were about to invade her sibling’s Island and potentially kill him. She would get away without consequences, her father was ever doting with his daughters, but the reminder that her quest companions may not was terrifying. Penelope resolved to beg for mercy on their part if her father took notice. It was the least she could do.

“Lifeboat it is,” Penelope nodded firmly.

Chapter Text

Polyphemus’ Island was beautiful; Penelope had to admit to herself as she jumped out of the lifeboat onto the perfect white sand beach. Her half-sibling had good taste to set up in such a lovely place. All green rolling hills and sheep flocks, with the occasional picturesque waterfall to really round out the impression of paradise. At least it looked that way until the sheep swarmed a random deer like piranha’s and left only a stripped clean skeleton. Then it rather lost its charm. “

Gods,” Clarisse swore softly. “How do we get past that?”

“He didn’t have those when Odysseus visited,” Cody said confidently. Penelope supposed that he would know, having open access to the spirits of the Underworld.

“Guards for the Fleece?” She ventured. On a second glance, she could spot the glittering gold sheepskin hanging from the lower branches of an apple tree in the meadow with the murderous sheep. In all honesty she didn’t know how she missed it the first time. It sparkled.

“I could summon a spirit to collect it,” Cody mused. “They wouldn’t have flesh, so shouldn’t be tempting to the guard sheep.”

“And the magic of the Fleece won’t affect them?” Penelope asked curiously. “It’s life and healing magic, isn’t it?”

Cody smiled at her brilliantly.

“It shouldn’t if I summon the right spirit,” he reassured her. “If they don’t want to be re-incarnated then they should be free of its influence, choosing the Underworld instead.”

“What warrior doesn’t want another chance at the battlefield?” Clarisse scoffed.

Clarisse was still off-balance from the Sirens, so Penelope tried not to take too much offence that she thought it was all about the fight. She knew from prior experience that that wasn’t true. Clarisse was falling back on the War Child stereotypes to deal with whatever she’d been shown.

“One who died at an incredibly old age and made peace with their death,” responded an unexpected voice.

Penelope turned around with a gleeful shriek. The spirit stood nearby, half-transparent in the light of day, with a wry smile on his face, but just as welcome as he had been on her first quest.

“Telemachus!” She beamed. “It’s good to see you!”

She hesitated to go in for a hug, eyeing his semi-translucent state, before he solidified and held his arms out for her. She darted forwards and threw her arms around his waist. He caught he close and lifted her off her feet, and Penelope couldn’t help but lament about how tall the spirit was in comparison to her. She was always on the shorter more petite side, but she wanted Telemachus to see her as a grown-up, and reliable. She wasn’t that clueless kid of twelve she had been, but it felt like she hadn’t grown at all as he spun her around.

“Telemachus,” Cody greeted with a polite nod. Telemachus blinked at him, and set Penelope down gently in the sand.

“Cody,” he responded. It sounded slightly off to Penelope’s ears, but she brushed it off as a spirit to commander type situation. “You had need of me?”

“Those sheep will eat anything with flesh,” Cody nodded, pointing to the meadow of piranha sheep. “We need you to grab the Golden Fleece and bring it back to us please.”

“Because I don’t have flesh, so they won’t be interested in me” Telemachus snorted. “Smart.”

“Thank you,” Cody hummed, eyes turning towards the Golden Fleece.

There was something so off and stilted about their reactions and interactions with each other that Penelope just couldn’t put her finger on. It niggled at something at the back of her mind, making her highly uneasy. She liked Cody, and she adored Telemachus, but the way they were so careful in their interactions raised all sorts of alarm bells. Telemachus ducked down to press a kiss to her hair, and then walked off towards the killer sheep with a nonchalant backwards wave.

“Wish me luck,” he called behind him casually.

“Good luck!” Penelope responded immediately.

She watched anxiously as Telemachus crossed the rickety looking rope bridge over the canyon into the meadow and was immediately swarmed by the sheep herd. As he walked further through the herd, their loud baa’s echoing through the canyon, it was clear that he had nothing to fear from them. They may be crowding close to him, but not one had attempted to take a bite. It was just their very presence and trying not to trip over them that was slowing Telemachus’ progress. They were acting like very affectionate pets, rather than the piranha sheep Penelope knew they were. But any worries for Telemachus soon fled her mind.

“INTRUDERS!” Came the unexpected bellow.

It sent a chill down her spine, the unexpected harmonics within that tone, shading off from human. Tyson might have the same sort of voice effect, but his was at least modulated because he’d grown up in the human world, and it was a reflection of the human voices he’d grown up listening to. Penelope had been told the Atlantis cyclops had the tide in their voice. Her Cabin apparently found it very comforting when speaking to them. This was not that. These harmonics were the sounds of human suffering, screams threading through every word. It told Penelope exactly what kind of person her sibling was. With just one word.

“Run!” Clarisse gasped, grabbing her arm and yanking her off to the side in a dead sprint.

The cyclops roared again and turned to sprint after them, clearly triangulating their location from the sound of their footsteps. The milky eye said it all really. He was blind, but clearly that didn’t hinder him very much at all. Although he had missed the boat, which she was very grateful for. Penelope’s heart was beating rabbit quick as she fled, but before the monster could catch up to her and Clarisse, he skidded to a stop on his own and turned back the way he’d come.

“Hey Cyclops!” Roared Cody, standing at the beginning of a trail where he’d have better footing, sword unsheathed. “Nobody has come for a re-match!”

And he turned tail and sprinted further into the island.

“NOBODY!” howled Polyphemus, tearing after Cody with vengeful intent visible in every line of his form.

Chapter Text

Of course Polyphemus would find them the minute they stepped foot on his island. What had Cody been expecting, with the way his luck ran. As it was, distracting the massive behemoth, his living nightmare, from their only escape route, and more importantly Penelope, was his best and only course of action. Foliage tried to smack him across the face, and rocks attempted to trip him at every turn. At least the girls seemed to have gotten away. Keeping ahead of the monster who had thrice his leg length and was extremely fast for his size was bad enough alone. Cody thanked Hermes for his inherited speed; it was the only thing keeping him away from his pursuer in the unfamiliar terrain. And then his luck caught up to him.

Cody didn’t hesitate as he approached a deep canyon at a dead sprint, just allowed himself to be swallowed by the shadows mere steps from the edge. With any luck the beast would continue running and plummet to his death. Not that Cody would be around to see it. He’d travelled back to the beach where they’d arrived, double-checking the life-boat was unharmed before jogging off in the direction the girls had fled. They needed to get off this Island now. While the cyclops was distracted. Telemachus could catch up with the Fleece.

With horror, Cody realised that the girls had followed the trail to the cyclops’ cave lair. He increased in speed, desperately trying to catch up to them before they fell for that trap, the way he and his men had in his previous life. He could almost hear the screams of his previous crew echoing in his ears as he ran. The worst was the surprised breathless gasp of Polites replaying like a record again and again in his head. Why had he let Penelope come on this quest? Why had he volunteered? There was always the guarantee of a slaughter when you sailed the Sea of Monsters, and Cody could feel in his bones that now was the ideal moment for it.

Not Penelope, he begged internally. Not Penelope. It wasn’t like he had anything against Clarisse, but Penelope was the one he couldn’t live without. The one he’d constructed his world around. And there she was, up ahead, in front of Polyphemus’ cave lair. Her sword was drawn, and she was being appropriately cautious as she backed up Clarisse with her spear. But Cody could see from an angle they couldn’t and it sent horror thrilling up his spine. Polyphemus could be sneaky when he wanted to be. And he was creeping up behind the two demigods.

Cody opened his mouth to shout a warning, but it was unneeded. Clarisse whirled on the spot, spear coming up on guard to face the cyclops with seconds to spare. And then she…hesitated. It was like a horror movie met a car crash. Cody just couldn’t look away. Not when Penelope leapt between them, using her sword to more or less block the blow from his club. Not when the sheer momentum threw both girls from their feet, Clarisse landing in the cave and Penelope… Penelope impacting the cliff face with devastating force. Not when there was a massive crack and the cliff collapsed the entrance to the cave, trapping Clarisse inside. Not from the massive pool of blood that surrounded Penlope’s limp body, twisted in a position that it should never be in. He could feel the weak flutter of her life force as it prepared to exit her body forever. And Cody snapped.

With a berserker scream he threw himself at the monster that had taken so much from him, in this life and the next. He didn’t bother with weapons, too far gone in his rage and despair to bother with them. Instead, shadows elongated into talons on his hands and feet and he threw himself at the source of his misery, kicking and biting and clawing. Determined that it would feel the same amount of pain as he was experiencing. He was a feral whirlwind, scouring deep wounds into his foe, face locked into a rictus of rage and an animalistic scream continually tearing its way out of his throat. He ignored his target’s screams of pain and pleads for mercy, savaging it for all he was worth.

Only when all that was left was sulphurous yellow dust on the wind did Cody begin to regain some measure of sanity. He found an unimpressed Telemachus staring at him. Cradled in his lap was Penelope swathed in the Golden Fleece. Already her colour was improving, and if he reached out, her life force was strong once more. Cody almost collapsed in relief. His love was alive. Penelope lived.

“Go fetch Clarisse out of the cave Father,” Telemachus commanded him flatly. He looked pissed.

Cody didn’t bother to reply, sliding into the shadows and emerging in the cave of his nightmares. Clarisse was sitting vaguely upright, leaning against a stalagmite and bleeding from a nasty looking head wound. She couldn’t see in the dark and looked appropriately freaked out at being stuck in a monster’s lair in the pitch black. Cody struggled to pull up any sympathy for her, but decided to treat her with kindness regardless. It’s what Penelope would want him to do, and having almost lost her today he was going to act as she would want him to, gods damn it.

“Clarisse,” Cody announced himself quietly, feeling a vicious jolt of glee when she jumped at his unexpected voice.

“Cody,” she responded warily.

It was well known that cyclopes could imitate voices, Cody couldn’t fault her caution.

“The Fleece is currently in use,” Cody informed her, “but I have some ambrosia and bandages for that head wound.”

“Get me out of here first,” Clarisse bargained, voice cracking with nerves. The way her eyes made a useless circuit of the cave made her claustrophobia clear.

Sighing to himself, Cody snatched her by the arm and shadowed them out of the cave. He had a wife to fuss over and no time to comfort a wayward War child. She’d brought it on herself anyway.

Chapter Text

Penelope awoke to pain. The fact that she woke at all was a surprise to her to be honest. She had known how it was going to go as soon as she’d gone to take the blow for Clarisse. But now she was warm, cradled in someone’s lap and only feeling the residual pain that came with rapid healing. Penelope scrunched her nose slightly in thought. How did she know what the aftermath of rapid healing felt like? She had never been under the tender mercies of the Healer’s cabin. But she did know it, down to her bones. The suitors liked to attempt to take liberties on occasion, and the injuries taken from fighting them off were always healed with as much precision as possible. Penelope’s eyelids fluttered. What suitors? She thought in bewilderment. Her head was a mess.

“Penelope?” someone asked hesitantly. It was the person cradling her in their lap.

“Telemachus?” Penelope responded weakly. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” he responded seriously. “So are Cody and Clarisse. It’s you who we’re worried for.”

“I’m alright,” Penelope responded struggling to sit up in his lap.

“You’re speaking to me in Ancient Greek.” Telemachus deadpanned. “And you just had most of your bones realigned by a magical object of dubious healing ability.”

“What else would I be speaking?” Penelope wondered curiously. She was speaking in her native language, wasn’t she?

“Try English,” Telemachus suggested.

Penelope blinked at him slowly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be older?” She asked him, sticking to the correct language with an effort, but unable to keep her thoughts straight.

“I’m a spirit,” Telemachus replied patiently. “I appear how I want to appear.”

“Oh,” Penelope responded blankly. She’d known that. So why did the thought of Telemachus being dead feel so wrong?

“Penelope!” Came a fervent exclamation from beside her, and someone grabbed her hand desperately.

“Ody,” Penelope sighed, squeezing her husband’s hand in return.

She paused. That wasn’t right. Her Father was going to pick her husband. She wasn’t yet married.

“You remember?” Cody queried breathlessly beside her. Mismatched blue and brown eyes alight with hope.

“It’s all mixed up,” Penelope complained in the same language. “It’s like I’m two people.”

“You probably are,” Clarisse stuck her oar in. “I’m pretty sure you re-incarnated. I think the Fleece caused the Lethe to fail.”

“Oh,” Penelope replied, several things clicking into place all at once. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, and only now did she know where to put the pieces. Everything that she spoke or thought in Ancient Greek belonged to one life, and anything English belonged to the other. There was no other way to sort it, demigods had been part of her life both times. “I don’t think the Fates used the Lethe,” Penelope continued in English.

They hadn’t that she recalled. Not that she’d had any choice in her re-incarnation. The Fates had been clear about that. It was either Penelope or Theseus, and that poor man was absolutely terrified of returning to the living. She couldn’t do that to her friend.

“So, the memory block was supposed to fail.” Ody concluded grumpily.

“And the Fates predicted you would follow me,” Penelope teased him gently. “I see they were right.”

“I would follow you to the ends of the Earth and beyond,” Ody told her, eyes shining with fanatical devotion.

If it had been anyone else, besides her former husband, Penelope would be making plans to run right about now. But his fatal flaw was Dedication. Odysseus could no sooner hurt her than he could fly as a son of Hades. He’d Dedicated himself to her and followed her across lifetimes. Penelope wanted to bury herself in his arms and not let go. To let him shelter her from the world, to protect her once more. But all the reasons of her current life still stood when it came to a romantic relationship between them. Penelope had to keep a straight head about it. Ody was compromised by his fatal flaw; it was up to her to be his brakes, to keep him from going too far. As his steady descent from decency during the Odyssey and the Trojan war proven.

“How about you follow me onto the ship,” Penelope said carefully. She ached and desperately wanted a rest before she had any such difficult conversations with her husband. “I would like to leave the island before my Father notices that something has happened to my beastly brother. Plus, I could do with a nap,” She admitted. It was getting hard to keep her eyes open in fact.

“Of course,” Cody agreed at once, shifting to haul Clarisse to her feet from where she had been slumped exhaustedly to the side of Penelope.

Telemachus gathered her up from his lap and set off towards the beach and the life-boat at a steady ground eating trot. Penelope leaned her head against his chest tiredly, unable to keep it up anymore. Idly she listened to the cursing and swearing behind them as her former husband aided Clarisse to stumble back down the trail.

“You’re not going to marry him again, are you?” Telemachus asked her softly, sounding resigned.

“No,” Penelope breathed back. “The politics of the situation forbid it. I refuse to be your aunt Eleni. Or worse; if taken to its logical conclusion our union could cause a war between the gods.”

“Father’s not going to like that,” Telemachus warned her seriously.

“He’s not,” Penelope agreed. “But he won’t hurt me.” She smirked slightly. “I’m the one who wears the pants in our relationship remember?”

“Vividly,” Telemachus shuddered, lost in memory.

They’d reached the lifeboat by this point, and Telemachus casually transferred Penelope to one of the seats. He fussed slightly, tucking the Fleece more securely around her shoulders and fidgeting with her curls, before jumping back to shore.

“I’m glad you remember,” Telemachus confided to her. “And I will see you around whenever father summons me.”

“I love you,” Penelope returned, “and I’m proud of you.”

Telemachus casually sidestepped Clarisse’s mad dash for the boat, and his father trailing exasperatedly behind her, and saluted them wordlessly. Penelope, recognising no more words needed to be said, gave in to the pulling of the tide and allowed the current to sweep them back into the sea, in the direction of the ship. Her last sight of Telemachus was him standing lonely on the shore before he shimmered away, mission complete.

Chapter Text

Penelope safely tucked up in a bunk, asleep, with the Golden Fleece wrapped around her, Cody finally managed to corner Clarisse in the briefing room for their much-needed talk. There was no way the War Child should have hesitated when faced with a monster. Which meant that it had to be some reaction to her Fatal Flaw, and Cody was probably the best person to talk her through the crisis she was going to. After all, he was the only one who’d managed to claw his way back from the depths of his own Fatal Flaw.

“We need to talk,” he told Clarisse catching a hold of her arm.

“I know,” Clarisse admitted shamefaced. “I hesitated. I shouldn’t have and Penelope paid the price.”

“I take it that it had something to do with your Fatal Flaw?” Cody asked smoothly.

He buried any resentment deep, deep down where it wouldn’t be perceptible to the War Child. This was Penelope’s best friend, much better than her best friend in her previous life in his opinion, and he wouldn’t scare her off. Penelope wouldn’t want him to.

“I can’t give into it!” Clarisse wailed insistently. “But I can’t avoid it either! You have to commit to a strike! This just proves hesitation can be deadly.”

Cody had a sneaking suspicion about what exactly Clarisse’s Fatal Flaw might be. It sounded terribly familiar. But first he needed a little more information from her.

“The Sirens showed you something pretty terrible huh?” Cody asked neutrally.

“What could happen if I don’t stop,” Clarisse confirmed. “War and death and strife. Because I don’t stop.” She became slightly hysterical. “I never know when to stop!” She keened.

“So, your Fatal Flaw is Obsession?” Cody checked, just to be sure. “You pick a course of action and just keep going? Like a steam-train with no brakes? A one-track mind? Tunnel vision?”

“Yes,” Clarisse admitted, tears streaking down her cheeks as she ducked her head miserably.

“That’s simple enough to solve,” Cody informed her calmly, attempting to leave space for her to calm down, and deliberately not reacting to her tears. “My own Fatal Flaw used to be Obsession. You need to transmute it into something less likely to cause death, destruction and mayhem.”

“Transmute it?” Clarisse echoed, completely confused, but startled out of her misery.

“Fatal Flaws are like branches of a tree,” Cody elaborated. “Or a river, maybe. There’s the main branch, which is Obsession, and then the smaller branches, the safer Flaws, such as Dedication, or Loyalty, or Commitment to a Cause. You just need to shift yourself to a safer branch. You’re not fundamentally changing yourself, but changing your approach to things instead.”

“And what did you go for?” Clarisse asked curiously, eyes distant with thought.

“Dedication.” Cody told her. “I dedicated myself to one single person, and let their morals guide me in what actions I should take.”

Because make no mistake, Cody had no innate morals of his own. Not after falling so deeply into his Fatal Flaw of Obsession.

“Penelope,” Clarisse realised, proving that she had sussed him as a re-incarnation. He knew she’d been way too calm when Penelope had revealed her own re-incarnation. He wondered when she’d figured it out.

“Penelope,” Cody confirmed. She was the best person really. Telemachus shared maybe too much of his lack of morality for him to provide an anchor. “She’s my anchor. You’ll need to find your own anchor to keep you out of the main flow of Obsession and into a safer Flaw. Mine being a person works for me. You might suit a Cause or need to establish Principles that you’ll stick to no matter what. It never hurts to get peer review on whatever crusade you want to go on either. Outside perspectives can be surprisingly useful.”

“And what happens when your anchor fails?” Clarisse asked, suddenly highly suspicious. “If Penelope doesn’t re-marry you for instance.”

Cody sighed. He was well aware that there were multiple issues with him picking back up where he left off with his wife. That Clarisse was aware of at least some of it was unsurprising but still unwelcome. That meant she’d discussed it with Penelope, and as her best friend probably knew more about Penelope’s thought process than most. It wasn’t an encouraging revelation.

“I wouldn’t hurt her,” Cody promised. He meant it too. He would never hurt Penelope. “I’d still try to live like she would want me to. But if I’m not in regular contact with her,” he shrugged, “my perception of what she would want can get warped. I dealt with it this time by relying on my mother, her views mostly align with what I remember of Penelope’s values. But it’s not one to one. And it’s harder than anything I’ve ever tried before.”

“So, choosing a person is not a good idea,” Clarisse concluded with a grimace.

“It depends on the person,” Cody disagreed. “But with your personality, no I don’t recommend it.”

“But it works for you?” Clarisse said sceptically. “Why’s your personality so different?”

Cody grinned at her impishly. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to use some of the new vocabulary he’d obtained from this century. Plus, this could count as a subtle revenge for Penelope’s suffering. She wouldn’t even be mad at him for it. It might even make her laugh.

“I’m an Uke of course,” he grinned at Clarisse. “A Simp. A Subby little bastard. A Yandere nightmare.”

Clarisse clapped a hand around his mouth before he could continue to list his new terms. She was blushing furiously, cheeks flaming with embarrassment. She was also speechless, her jaw working but no sound other than splutters escaping.

“I don’t need to know that!” She squawked finally.

“You asked,” Cody informed her mischievously.

“Ugh!” Clarisse swore, throwing up her hands. “I don’t have to listen to this! I have thinking to do.”

Without another word she spun on her heel and stormed out of the door, leaving a laughing Cody behind.

Chapter Text

Cody did not have time to have a private talk with Penelope before the next disaster made itself known. He’d prioritised Clarisse because he knew from experience you didn’t leave soldiers with PTSD alone to stew. Having straightened her out enough that she wouldn’t explode if left untended, his next priority had been Penelope and greeting his wife after her newly restored memories had settled. There were enough rooms on the boat for them to do that in relative privacy, although it wasn’t the ideal place for their reunion. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how things were turning out.

Hermes had made himself known, with his usual flair for dramatics, on the upper deck. There was been quite the light show involved. Plus, rock music blaring out of nowhere in a bizarre attempt at a theme tune. It alarmed the undead crew enough for them to be running around like headless chickens. Cody had simply rolled his eyes at the god’s theatrics and gone up to meet with his grandfather. Clearly something had gone wrong if he was interfering on a quest. Especially an almost completed one. Cody did not need the existential dread this visit was provoking, especially on top of his general anxiety at being at sea, the terror inspired by being in the Sea of Monsters specifically, and the paranoia and horror that was having Penelope journey alongside him, especially with her near catastrophic injuries proving his worries right. So he was, understandably he thought, a bit more abrupt than he really should have been with the god.

“What do you want Hermes?” he asked grumpily.

The god’s eyes widened in delight at the sight of him. Cody took a step back, the hairs on the back of his neck raised in warning. That wasn’t the delight of a “doting” grandfather. This was the expression of the god at his most mischievous. The one that all but stated that Cody himself was going to be involved in an Immortal prank war that he was only going to survive by the skin of his teeth. After multiple incidents in childhood, Cody knew that look like the back of his hand. And dreaded it.

“Grandbaby!” Hermes crooned grandiosely. “I have some stolen goods that I want to fence with you! I’m sure you’ll love them!”

“I want no part in whatever scheme you’ve come up with to annoy another god,” Cody replied instantly, holding his hands up defensively.

“You’ll like it promise,” Hermes steamrolled his objections.

The god reached into the pouch at his side and somehow managed to extract a spitting mad swan the size of a small airplane. It was honking and squawking and making its displeasure generally known, with flailing wings and clawing feet. Normal swans could break a man’s bones if they were so inclined. Cody didn’t want to think about what a divine swan could do. Particularly one of this size. It took up half the deck! He backed away; he was at least vaguely familiar with this particular breed of swan and their capabilities. Ithaca had been swarmed with them. Unfortunately, their patron god hadn't given this swan orders not to harm anyone on the boat.

“Cressida!” Squealed Penelope, having come up on the deck behind him.

She darted forwards, and the swan immediately stopped its tantrum in favour of crooning to his wife and preening her hair. Penelope in return began stroking its feathers. Cody winced. This was one of the swans that had been on Ithaca then; which meant Hermes had been stealing from his older brother again. And wanted to involve them in the inevitable feud. At least that would have been the plan; if his wife’s former best friend hadn’t been the Sun god, and thus inclined to be more lenient. They might even skip out of this with no consequences. The Sun god had already lent out his swans to Penelope once before.

“I thought you guys could use a lift back to Camp,” Hermes beamed at them smugly.

“Swans can only carry one person,” Penelope corrected him. “Two at a stretch. And the Sky King won’t want us to fly anyway.”

She cooed at the enormous bird, cuddling into its feathers. It chirped at her lovingly in return. Cody resigned himself to the return of the pet swans. She wasn’t ever going to send it away after this.

“So send the War Child with the Fleece,” Hermes shrugged. “She has no restriction from flying.”

Cody jerked slightly, turning his full attention onto the god once more. That was a heavy-handed hint from the Trickster. The Ancient Laws might prevent the god from overtly interfering on quests, but he was clever enough for a loophole. And Cody would definitely take the warning for what it was.

“Clarisse,” he called to where the other demigod had been watching the chaos from the side-lines. “I think now might be the time for you to learn to ride a swan.”

Clarisse shot an evaluating look between him and the god, but gamely trotted over to Penelope and allowed her to talk her through the basics of riding a giant swan. Cody wasn’t worried. Penelope was an experienced instructor, and the swan had carried multiple demigods in the past. Their foster children had loved flying with them.

“Is the oncoming threat going to harm Penelope?” He interrogated Hermes subtly.

“I really couldn’t say,” came the evasive reply.

It confirmed at least some of Cody’s suspicions. He wouldn’t be encountering the Sea god just yet. Just some other unknown danger. On the other hand, as a Child of the Sea, Penelope had an exit route should she need one. Cody, stuck on the ship Ares had gifted them because he was hiding behind its aura, had no such grace. He grimaced, but accepted the warning stoically. He wasn’t a coward; he would stick this quest out to the end. At least he had gotten to see Penelope, should the worst happen.

Sighing, Cody accepted command of the ship from Clarisse, mildly pleased that she trusted him with the remainder of the men. Then he was waving her off as she departed by swan-back, the Golden Fleece glittering in her arms. All he could do now was brace for the next disaster.