Clockwork

*16*

"Wake up Clockwork."

Hephaestus's voice shattered Percy's peaceful sleep. "No!" Percy grumbled, attempting to go back to sleep. "You were the idiot who didn't go to bed for three days rescuing demigods." Hephaestus. "That is a reasonable cause. They were being badly mistreated. They weren't apart of the Twenty but they still deserved to be freed." Percy said back. "You don't need sleep." Hephaestus pointed out. "Get up, your girlfriend is here."

"Since when did I have one of those?" Percy grumbled. Hephaestus pulled the demigod to his feet. As Percy began to wake up and his mind began to clear, he tried to remember the simple stuff before wondering what he was doing today.

Weather... Poseidon's Angry: The Sequel's Sequel. Day... Monday. 8th month... 18th day.

Percy scratched his head. The date rung a bell, but he didn't know why it seemed so important.

Hephaestus came back into the workshop and tossed a bag to him. "Happy Birthday kid." Ohhhhh yeahhhhh it's his birthday.

"Thanks, Hefty," Percy said, catching the blue bag. Inside the blue bag, there was a lot of blue confetti. Jasmine walked in. "Hey get ready, we're celebrating your birthday today." Then she walked out.

Percy didn't want to celebrate it. For the last 10 years, his birthday was nothing but the day he lost everything he had. He was never one for self-pity, but he could normally be found unconscious on his birthday, if not working non-stop.

Percy sighed and looked at the bag of confetti. He took a handful and tossed it into the air. The confetti sort of sparkled. Percy reached into the bag to toss up another handful, but he saw a wooden box instead. The box had 'Hephaestus made this' written all over it. It was small but had metal etched into the wood. The metal was twisted into shiny wings. Percy opened the box, and there was a whistle on a silver chain. Out of curiosity, Percy blew it. A melody whistled out, and the workshop began to shake.

It shook for minutes with Percy wondering why it was shaking, Percy standing still to keep his balance grounded. Then suddenly, the shaking stopped. Percy looked at the whistle, before shrugging and putting the chain on. He put on his armor and after putting on his helmet, he stepped out of the workshop. As always, he fell straight down before the waves caught him and brought him to land.

The water felt different today. The waves seemed to be a little wilder, and Percy realized that he had trouble controlling it. "What's with the... water... today..." Percy asked himself, but his question trailed off as he looked at the sea. It felt like the sea was angry, and it was a dark murky green. It looked more like sludge than water.

The day the sea swallows the earth. Percy shivered at the words that broke out from the back of his mind in the hopes of forgetting it.

What's going on today?

"Clockwork! Let's go, today's my treat." Jasmine said. "I don't--" "Yes I am aware that you don't eat." Jasmine interrupted. Right then a metal stallion ran up to them. "You blew the whistle while in the workshop didn't you?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes... Who's this?" Percy asked. The horse was made entirely out of metal, and even when it ran it sounded like someone was shaking keys. The horse automatically rubbed its nose in Percy's hand. 'Feeeeed meeeeee', it said. Well, she actually. "Um...kay. What do you want to eat?" Percy asked. The horse nudged his hand again. Percy raised his eyebrows before taking his short sword out. 'Yessssssss foooooood!' The mare said excitedly. Percy gave the sword to her and watched as she took joy in eating it. "Yeah Lord Hephaestus told me he got you a horse. She can't come to you in the air or in the sea, but other than that she should always be able to get to you." Jasmine stated.

"Speaking of him, where is he now?" Percy asked. "He took your place in the search. He's currently only at the strength of his demigod children and had the one aiming lightning bolts temporarily suspend his godhood so he wouldn't be breaking any laws." Jasmine explained. "Okay then. I'll thank him when he can use telepathy again I guess." Percy said. "So what's your name girl?" Percy asked. The horse shook her mane, which was made of thin tiny blades. Taking in her appearance, Percy guessed she was a warhorse. 'I'm the descendant of Xanthus.' She answered. Hephaestus didn't build her? How'd he manage to get a descendant of one of Achilles' horses? Did she even say her name?

"I guess you weren't given a name," Percy said. She shook her mane, and the sound of wind chimes filled the air. Jasmine was watching the interaction silently. "We're going to have to name her. Any ideas?" Percy asked, reaching his hand out, asking permission before petting her.

"No... Not really. Not good with names." Jasmine says. "Me neither. Well, the names will come to us later I guess." Percy said shrugging.

('_')(°~°)(^_^)

"I'm not enjoying the fact that one of my senses has been taken away from me," Percy stated. "Why are we doing this?" He was blindfolded and he smelled the forest, but he had no clue about where he was going. "Relax, we're almost there," Jasmine said. "You said that the last four times I asked."

"Well, that should tell you not to ask anymore if you don't want the same answer."

"If you want me to stop asking I recommend you answer with something more informational," Percy said.

"We're here. You can take the blindfold off." Jasmine said. Percy did so, and was greeted with demigods of all ages-- and he knew every one of them. They were demigods he had lead to camp. They weren't all here, which Percy noticed that he was disappointed when he saw none of the Twenty, but he was happy to see everyone else so happy.

"Happy Birthday Clockwork!" They shouted. Percy smiled under his helmet-- repeat, under his helmet-- as confetti blasted out of canons.

"I have a gift! Clockwork open mine firth! Pleath!" Sora, daughter of Nemesis, says. She had sort of a lisp, and she was one of the first demigods that Percy rescued. She was a tiny toddler that day almost a decade ago, and now she was turning 13 soon.

"Well, I would be honored," Percy said, not hiding the smile in his voice. It was a box with too much wrapping paper, which was themed for a wedding, and the bow was lopsided. But there was a card that came on top of the box, which had the names of all of the children present today. They were all written in ancient Greek, and they all had written a message.

Jose, son of Kratos, wrote Clockwork is the strongest person I know.

Lillian, daughter of Demeter, wrote, 'Happy Birthday Clockwork! (My gift is in the blue box!) xoxo, eat your cereal. Percy nearly laughed. It was a joke, as Lill was actually allergic to wheat, and she didn't really eat cereal even if it didn't have wheat. She and Percy had kept the joke going ever since she found out she was allergic.

Molly, daughter of Horme, had a much longer one, which Percy couldn't read as it was in English. And since Molly was also dyslexic, Percy didn't know if he would've been able to read it even if he wasn't hardwired to read ancient Greek. But it showed she put a lot of effort, and Percy appreciated it.

But at the end of each message, each of them put two words that meant a lot to Percy.

ήρωα μου.

My hero.

And that's a wrap! We've hit 10.9k reads!! Yayyyyyyyyy!! This chapter about Percy's birthday was requested by a few readers, so here it is. Also, if that translation at the end is inaccurate, I apologize. I rely on Google Translate even though I know how wrong it can be. What'd you think? I hoped you enjoyed this chapter,
~DemonsFromAbove