Caged Animals and Suspicions of War
Meanwhile, in the truck that had sped away from the restaurant, the explosion caused by Ares' fall echoed behind them… followed by total silence. Naturally, that left the three teens wide-eyed, trying to peer out to see what had happened. But when they looked through the small hatch in the roof, which they assumed was for the animals to breathe, they saw nothing.
Although, to be honest, they weren't particularly concerned for the animals' well-being; the ones in that trailer were clearly not well cared for. It was obvious.
"Was that your teacher?" Annabeth asked with some concern. She was convinced Percy's master had been put in danger. But seeing the boy's calm expression, it seemed he didn't think the same.
"Yeah. He's awesome, right? And he's only over four thousand or four thousand five hundred years old," Percy said with his usual calm.
"Don't you think he's in danger? He's facing the god of war," Grover said. Even though they had seen what Miraak was capable of during the fight against Echidna, it felt different fighting the mother of monsters, whose main ability was just that—being the mother of monsters. That was nothing like fighting a god who was literally the embodiment of war itself.
"He's fine. My master is strong. He can even destroy a mountain with just a shout," Percy said, full of pride. "He still hasn't taught me the Thu'um, but I'm sure that if I show him my increased power during this mission, he'll teach me," he added with a hint of longing.
Flashback:
In the forest near Yancy Academy, Percy lay on the ground—as usual during his training. He felt as if his muscles were about to burst like balloons from lifting so much weight, just before feeling his master's healing wash over him. It completely restored him so he could keep training.
Percy got up from the grass and looked toward his master with a slightly exhausted face. Ever since he'd begun training two weeks ago, he hadn't stopped. It was training until he fell, striking a log with a sword that weighed a ton because it was made of gold, then eating food with strange and probably poisonous meats his master gave him. He hadn't seen many things that said "ancient Viking fantasy"… it was more like training to die repeatedly.
"Master, do you have any special, cool, powerful ability?" Percy asked suddenly, sitting in the grass and looking at his master with excitement.
Miraak, who was sitting, observing him with boredom—as if he were not at all impressed with Percy's progress—glanced at him.
"No," he said simply. "Keep training," he added immediately, not interested in continuing this idiotic conversation the kid always started.
But Percy knew that couldn't be true, and he wasn't about to give up.
"Come on, you must have something, like you said, that proves you're… you know, a Dragonborn," he insisted.
Miraak, of course, knew that this annoying kid would keep pestering until he showed something—unless he hit him. But at this point, he was beginning to think those hits might just be making him dumber.
"LAAS YAH NIR," Miraak said then.
Immediately, something seemed to pulse through the whole forest, with Miraak at its center. Percy felt something strange in his vision; he saw small auras through the trees, like little animal shapes. Then he looked at his own body and saw his own aura—reddish. He could even see through tree trunks.
"Cool," said Percy as the effect began to fade. "How did you do that, master? Can I learn it?" he asked, rushing to him.
"You?" said Miraak, looking directly at the boy's face and seeing that eager sparkle in his eyes. "Only if you change brains, since it requires learning an ancient and powerful language. And unless you're a Dragonborn who can learn by just seeing the words… it would take more lives than you have," he said, pushing him back with a gesture. "Now keep training."
Percy made a slightly annoyed face as he picked up the gold sword to continue hitting the practice log. He had hoped to use the opportunity to rest by annoying his teacher, but it didn't work. Still, he'd witnessed a very interesting power.
"Master, can you only use that power or do you have more?" Percy asked as he struck the log, causing a dull thud.
"I know many. Including one that could completely control your body and make you train twenty-four hours a day. Want to try it?" he said, staring at him seriously.
Percy quickly shook his head, suddenly finding that hitting the log was the most fun thing in the world—and put even more effort into it. As if it were the happiest thing he could do.
End of flashback.
"You do realize your training stories aren't exciting at all and even sound kind of cruel, right?" Annabeth said as she stared at him after Percy recounted his training memories. Although technically, it hadn't been that long ago.
"What do you know?" Percy said, looking at her like she was clueless. "My master is one of those people that don't know how to act with someone they care about. He's just a little tough. But he really cares about me. If not, why would he show up earlier just to stop us from taking Ares' bag? Obviously, there was something hidden in it." Percy's gaze turned serious.
Grover nodded, then glanced at the animals around them, still groaning in their cages.
"And speaking of hidden things," Grover muttered nervously, "I don't think we're the only ones in danger here…"
This slightly surprised Annabeth and Grover, the latter having just been talking to the nearby animals when Percy finished speaking.
"What are you talking about? You think Ares planned something with that bag?" Annabeth asked, looking at him seriously.
She didn't think someone like Ares was the type to plan anything truly complex.
"No idea. But we did a quest for a god in exchange for transportation; the contractual relationship should've ended there. And Ares doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd give us bonuses out of kindness. Considering the absolute contempt he showed for our existence from the second he saw us," Percy said in a surprisingly analytical tone. That alone was even more shocking than what he was saying, judging by Grover's and Annabeth's faces.
"And who else but the god of war would benefit if a war between two of the three most powerful gods of the Greek pantheon erupted, causing a massive world war?" Percy added quietly.
Annabeth shook her head. "We can't assume anything, Percy. We're talking about a god. Even if he's the god of war, it doesn't make sense for him to provoke a war among his own family. For what? If you keep saying things like that, you're only going to cause more problems than the ones we're already trying to dodge," she said, feeling that Percy's words came more from how much he hated Ares than anything else. She disliked him too, but she didn't think he'd go that far—even if he gave her a very bad feeling.
Percy just shrugged, unconcerned. "Then just take it as dumb words," he said calmly, letting his serious side slide back into his usual demeanor.
"Obviously," Annabeth said with a touch of sarcasm.
Now that all three had stopped talking, they could focus on their surroundings; particularly the animals around them.
In a row of grimy metal cages were three of the sorriest zoo animals Percy had ever seen: a zebra, an albino lion, and some kind of odd antelope. Someone had thrown a sack of turnips at the lion, which of course it didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had polystyrene trays of ground meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, as if someone had spent the whole afternoon spitting on it. The antelope had a ridiculous birthday balloon tied to one of its horns that said "Over the Hill." Apparently, no one had dared get close enough to harass the lion; but the poor animal was pacing in a tiny, filthy space, panting from the suffocating heat of the trailer. Flies buzzed around its pink eyes, and its ribs showed through its white fur.
Percy let out a sigh while Grover looked furious at the people transporting the animals like this.
"International kindness, sure," Grover grumbled angrily as he approached the animals, his eyes sad at seeing them in such a state. "This should be illegal," he added, voice trembling with restrained rage.
Percy walked toward the "food trays" and removed them. He was careful with the lion's sack of turnips; the lion clearly saw Percy more as food than the vegetables. Percy swiped the bag quickly, then placed the ground meat inside the lion's cage and gave the turnips to the herbivores.
He then found a water jug and filled each animal's bowl.
Annabeth helped remove the balloon tied to the antelope's horn. She also wanted to help the zebra with the gum stuck in its mane, but they all agreed it would be dangerous to try that while the truck was still moving.
"Grover, tell them that we'll help them again in the morning. For now, we need to rest," Percy said, finally feeling the exhaustion hit him.
Too much had happened that day; and Percy was sure the coming days wouldn't get any easier.
So, the three set up their things in a corner of the trailer to get some sleep. Since there were still plenty of days until the solstice, they were on schedule, which helped them relax a bit.
Percy pulled out some dried meat and shared it with Annabeth. Grover, for his part, opened some sodas he'd bought from a vending machine earlier. Since they still had drinks, that practically counted as double snacks… maybe.
Of course, Grover happily took his soda, grateful that Percy had thought of him.
"Hey," Annabeth said suddenly to Percy, as if she'd been holding it in until then. "I'm sorry I lost it at the water park."
"It's fine," Percy said calmly.
"It's just… you know… the spiders…" said Annabeth.
"It's because of Arachne, right? The woman who challenged your mother to a weaving duel and, when she won, was turned into a spider," Percy said, matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. Well… Arachne's children have always attacked Athena's children since ancient times. If there's even one spider nearby, they could detect us from miles away. So… well… I owe you," Annabeth said, a little embarrassed by her earlier reaction.
Percy was about to make some sarcastic comment, as always; but when he saw Annabeth's embarrassed expression… he couldn't.
"It's fine. We're a team. All three of us," Percy said with a smile.
Grover, who seemed asleep but wasn't, chimed in. "Of course. We're the best team."
That made Annabeth and Percy both laugh softly before lying down to sleep.