Choosing Home

Chapter Ten

Hadie sat on the steps of Olympus, his arms crossed as he glared at the gate in front of him. It was completely ridiculous that he was sent up here like a child while Mal and Uma got to fight off Freddy and Audrey.

Wasn't he a member of the Rats? Same as CJ? Same as Harry? Why weren't they being sent up to Olympus too?

Mal could claim it was because he was her little brother but he could still help! If word got back on the Isle that he had been sent up to Olympus, he'd be the laughing stock of the crew!

I mean Squeaky and Squirmy weren't even sent up here! Granted they're not Godlings but still! I'm at least in the double digits, even if I'm under fifteen. If I got sent to Olympus, they should have as well or at least sent back to the Isle! It's still got the barrier after all and Sammy's on the ship, she'd look after them, he thought as he continued to glare at the gate. It was as if he thought if he glared hard enough he could get it to open on his own.

He tried convincing Herkie to take him back to Auradon—it almost worked too until his grandmother found them preparing to leave. The worst part was Herkie had just gotten back from Jane's party! So clearly it wasn't too dangerous for Godlngs to be down in Auradon, even if Freddy and Audrey were acting as a second class version of Maleficent. What with them casting sleeping curses willy-nilly. Nope, still not dangerous for Hyllus, Herkie, or Macaria.

Just him. The worst part was he knew what Freddy was like! He couldn't call himself a pirate and a Rat if he didn't! It was one thing to sideline Ryan who was still on the Isle but CJ at least got something!

And no, he definitely wasn't spying on what was going on in Auradon through Mal's mental link considering CJ had still been on the Isle when he got banished to Olympus. And no Herkie definitely didn't teach him how to do that before he went to Jane's party.

"Hadie?"

"What?" Hadie asked, turning to see Apollo coming toward him. "Oh it's you. Guess you drew the short straw."

Every hour, one of the Gods would come up to him and try to lure him away from his spot in front of the gate. Every hour they failed—though Demeter gave the best shot at luring him away with the promise of lambasting every stupid decision Zeus had ever made to the God's face.

His grandmother knew him well. Or rather knew his father well considering everyone seemed to know how much Hades hated Zeus. In all honesty maybe it'd be better to say both his parents hated Zeus considering his mom had come back from Olympus steaming mad a few times after she came back from the Isle for Mal.

"I see we're still pouting?" Apollo asked as he sat down next to Hadie, pulling the young boy out of his thoughts.

"This is in no way a 'we' situation...and I'm not pouting," Hadie told him as he rolled his eyes. Honestly, you can tell where all of Zeus' brains went—to Athena. And Artemis actually but there's no way she'd teach me how to shoot a bow and arrow. I mean I know she favored some men from the old stories dad would tell—like Orion and Hippolytus, not to mention any hunters she protected. But mom and Mal would have her head if I dared to do anything dangerous. Honestly it's hard to believe they let me around swords if this is how Mal's going to act around a threat.

"You want to go for a ride in my chariot?" Apollo offered, amping up his voice to try to make it seem like the most fun thing ever.

"Does your chariot allow me to go help Mal and Uma?" Hadie asked, rolling his eyes at the attempt. In all honesty, flight didn't impress him—he'd grown up with access to a ship after all. Now if it was the chance to ride in his dad's chariot...that'd be kinda cool, he wasn't going to lie.