Chapter Text
The first time Lester Papadopoulos fell flat on his face, Meg thought, You have got to be kidding me.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, honestly. Nero had gone on and on for years about how the gods were selfish and outdated. How he would make a better, kinder Olympian than any of them, especially a vain blowhard like Apollo. But when the teenage sun god tumbled out of the Manhattan dumpster, Meg didn’t think he was so bad. Vain, sure; self-centered, absolutely. But not wholly unlikeable.
That impression wore off quickly—somewhere between “I hate to see you sacrifice yourselves” and “Attend me, mortal,” in fact. Collapsing, puking on her, and making her drag him through the wet woods as he babbled and laughed like an idiot ramped up Meg’s irritation into full-blown contempt. When they spotted the campfire and the six demigods around it, she was only too happy to drop him.
She stood back slightly as the marshmallow-roasters around the campfire leapt to their feet and ran forward. A boy in a puffy ski jacket, with a mop of curly blond hair, knelt by the unconscious Lester’s side. He laid a hand on Lester's forehead and then snatched it back as though he had been burned.
“Oh.” His blue eyes were huge. “Oh. Oh my gods.”
“Will? What’s wrong?” An olive-skinned boy in a bomber jacket knelt next to him, one hand on Ski Jacket’s back. “Did he say Apollo?”
“It’s him.” The boy—Will—looked stunned.
“What?” The other demigods crowded forward for a closer look.
“Oh my gods.”
“How--?”
“Six months…”
“Does Rachel know?”
Bomber Jacket shook himself and looked up. His cool grey eyes landed on Meg, standing awkwardly to one side. She realized too late that dropping an unconscious god at their feet was probably not the best first impression.
“And who are you?”
Her chin went up defiantly. “I’m Meg McCaffrey.”
“Demigod?”
“Yes.”
“Claimed?”
She faltered, not understanding. A younger, green-haired girl put her hand on Bomber Jacket’s sleeve.
“Nico means, do you know who your godly parent is?” she said kindly.
Meg shook her head stiffly.
“We can figure it out later,” Will said. His voice was tight with worry. “We need to get him to the med bay, stat. Austin, take his other arm—Kayla, can you run and tell Chiron—?”
“On it.” The green-haired girl took off through the woods like a deer. Will and a boy with cornrows hoisted Lester's limp body between them, grunting a little with the effort. (Meg sympathized. He was heavier than he looked.) Bomber Jacket—Nico—jerked his chin toward Meg.
“You’d better come with us. It’s not safe out here alone.”
“I’m not alone, I’ve got—”
She looked around for Peaches but remembered, just in time, the way Percy had lifted his sword against the little spirit. She stopped short.
“What? Is someone else out there?”
“N—no. Just me.”
“Alright. Come on. We don’t bite.”
She followed them cautiously.
Don’t trust them. Don’t get attached. Nero’s voice echoed in her ears. Get the job done and come home to me, my dear.
Do the job. Betray the god. Go home.
Your guardian would be sooooo disappointed.
The memory was so fresh that she whipped around, certain the nosoi had returned, but there was nothing there. She hurried to catch up with the others, unnerved.
Nero said not to use her powers. That no gift from the gods came free. They would expect her to repay them one day, and that was something she couldn’t do—not when she was helping Nero to bring them down. Best to leave it alone entirely, and focus on her blade work.
Her stomach clenched. Again, she felt the strange little muscle inside her that she hadn’t known existed until tonight. If she flexed it, she knew Peaches would appear again.
Peaches didn’t feel like a gift from the gods. Peaches felt like a gift from…herself.
And Lester had stood up for him. When Percy raised his sword, Lester had protected Peaches, reminding Percy that the fruit spirit had saved them.
She felt a little bad for dropping him.
She pushed the sentiment away angrily.
He’s a god. And the gods suck. She grit her teeth. Do the job. Betray the god. Go home.
But in the coming months, she thought about that moment a lot.