Son Of None

The Recruiting Process

"There's got to be some sort of connection." Percy insisted. He was sitting on the bed next to Loki's bunk, crosslegged, with Jeannie sitting next to him. "You remember, Atë cursed my voice. And then Nyx went after you, and you're similar to her. There's something important there."

Loki sighed. "Unfortunately, I have absolutely no clue what that connection might be."

Jeannie frowned. "Atë cursed you?"

Percy nodded. "Took my voice for about a week. I helped kids to camp, with two different personas."

"Damien!" Jeannie sat up straight, grinning. "You were Damien!"

He chuckled and nodded. "I was. Is that a bad thing?"

"There are so many kids worried about you!" She shook her head. "When you stopped showing up they got scared that you had gotten hurt!"

Percy sighed. "I suppose I'll have to talk to all of them as well."

"If I could interject." Loki spoke up, his expression neutral. Something twitched in Percy's chest, some sort of 6th sense that warned him he wouldn't like the suggestion the god of mischief was about to make.

"Yes?" He looked over at Loki.

"I've just thought of something, something that may be the link between myself and this other goddess, Atë."

"Care to share with the class?" The son of Ouranos rolled his eyes. Sometimes gods (and alien approximations of them) were all-together too dramatic for his taste. Jeannie giggled.

"Well, this Atë seems to have some modicum of control over mortals, and demigods. I have access to a form of magic similar to the Greek Mist of Hecate, which I can use to play with illusions, change surroundings, and with the right tools..." his eyes were stormy. "Control the mind. Perhaps this is what Lady Night was after."

"Lady Night?" Jeannie asked.

Loki nodded. "Her name has power, I would suggest not risking a disturbance by avoiding her name entirely."

Percy nodded. "Seems fair.... so you think she wanted your powers."

"Yes. And I also think there is a way for us to use them against her."

"I'm all ears."

Loki stood up slowly, eyes flicking around as if expecting someone to run over and insist he lie back down. Percy raised his eyebrows.

"As soon as someone allows me to leave," his tone was grudging, but he would stay until he was told otherwise, "I would like to observe the fighters of this camp. There may be some that I can teach to wield the Mist in a similar way I wield my powers."

Percy nodded and glanced around. A frazzled looking Will Solace was bustling around the room with a box of supplies. Before he could ask the son of Apollo to come over Will looked up and waved a distracted hand at Loki.

"You're some sort of god, you can leave. You'll be fine I'm sure."

Percy chuckled and walked with Loki out of the building. Jeannie scurried after them.

"Why don't you go join your cabin." Percy suggested to her. "So they're not worried about you. I'll come find you if I need to."

She nodded and darted off towards the lake.

Percy and Loki continued on towards the arena.

The Ares cabin was there. Percy took a slow breath. "This might get interesting. These kids are... stand-offish and aggressive at bet."

Loki just nodded.

Percy sighed and put two fingers in his mouth, whistling sharply.

"What the Hades, Jackson?!" Clarisse leveled her spear at him.

"I'm just recruiting, Clarisse. We're looking for potential candidates."

"For what?" She narrowed her eyes. Her cabin-mates gathered around, expressions ranging from overly curious to extremely hostile.

"Loki is looking for people to train in a type of Mist magic that will give us an advantage in the war we've been caught up in."

She narrowed her eyes. "What's he wanna see?"

"I'd like to watch you fight Percy, if that's alright." Loki spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"There are two conditions." Percy added. "If he picks someone, they have to be attentive, and they have to follow his orders to the letter."

Clarisse sneered. "I'm not taking orders from some skinny little jerk like him." She was sizing Loki up. "You've gotta prove yourself first."

"Lets watch him spar Percy." Someone suggested from the back. Percy couldn't see them and didn't recognize their voice.

The son of Ouranos glanced at Loki.

He shrugged. "I've got no issue with that."

"Alright. Lets do this, I guess.".