Son of the Moon

28

-Percy-

"You guys find anything useful?" he asked as Castor and Katie, the last to arrive, returned to the group, eager for a chance to break the tension that was being born from Thalia's staring at him and his sister's glaring at the daughter of Zeus.

"We found a couple useful weapons for ourselves, some journals to use, and some gifts for our siblings." Castor said with a shrug, "What about you guys?".

"I," he paused deciding how much to admit "I got a set of stygian iron throwing knives and a kanabo along with a bag full of armor and weapons to send back to the camp…and a guitar shaped like Apollo's Lyre.".

"I found a bow that was project of a Daughter of Hephaestus that used to be among our sisters," Zoe said, fingering a crescent moon hair clip he noticed she now wore "along with a barbed silver whip that turns into a bracelet and something I sent back to see if Beckendorf can get it to work.".

"I just found a couple things here and there," Thalia said but he could hear the evasiveness in her voice "nothing major.".

"Alright," he said, deciding he didn't have any room to try and push the issue as he was hiding part of what he found as well "let's get moving, we might be able to find a vehicle or something at the end of the yard.".

It turned out there was and when he saw that the truck not only had the keys in the ignition but had a full tank of gas he knew that it was another anonymous gift from his family. In the end castor decided to drive with Katie in the middle and Thalia taking the last seat inside while he and Zoe would ride in the bed of the truck, something he could tell upset Thalia to no end. "So what didn't you tell us earlier?" Zoe demanded after a couple minutes of riding in silence "I know you found more than you said you did.".

Sighing he looked down in embarrassment, a light blush creeping up his face as he groaned softly, having never been able to hide anything from his eldest sister "I found some treasure," he admitted "gold, silver, and jewels.".

"But why hide that?" his sister asked in confusion, having probably imagined something far worse.

"For one I didn't want to add even more fuel to Thalia's fervor, I'm trying to get her to move on for Olympus' sake!".

"Okay," his sister admitted with a cringe "that's a good reason. What else though?".

Sighing he ran a hand through his hair as he pulled out the ring he had found "I found this," he admitted "I…I wanted to give it to Bianca, to show her how much she means to me, how much our relationship means to me, and how I want to be fully committed to her, a promise of a future together. The treasure was both to help fund the war and, hopefully, a life with Bianca afterwards.".

"You're going to propose?!" Zoe asked in shock as she stared at the ring causing his blush to darken even further.

"Not yet," he admitted, still embarrassed "this is more of a promise ring, a promise to her that I will always love her and that someday I'll give her an engagement ring.".

"I'm sure she'll love it little brother," Zoe said softly as she gave his shoulder a firm squeeze of support "and I'll make sure you get the chance to give it to her, no matter what.".

After his sister's declaration they settled down into silence, simply watching the land fly by as they move closer and closer to their destination. They finally stopped by the edge of a river canyon when the truck ran out of gas, a tire blowing to simply add to the problem as Castor, Katie, and Thalia clambered out of the vehicle. "Alright," he said as he looked around using his spyglass "I see a shack down there, it might have a kayak or something.".

The rest of them quickly followed his lead as they walked for a good half mile before finding a good path leading to the bottom of the canyon where they saw that the building was actually a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season. Getting an idea he turned to Castor and Katie "Could you two go grab a couple canoes?" he asked the children of the nature Olympians "I'm going to see if the Naiads would be willing to give us a hand.".

It took some work, and Zoe threatening to shoot the Nymphs with an arrow after they tried flirting with him, a sentiment that Thalia didn't seem far from joining, before the Naiads agreed to push their canoes upstream and then bring them back when they got as far as they could.

"Who rides with who?" Zoe asked when they got the canoes over, her gaze clearly stating how she didn't want Thalia riding with him.

"How about you three take one Canoe while Castor and I take the other one," he suggested "I want to talk with Castor about something anyway.".

Thalia didn't look too happy about it but Zoe dragged her away before the daughter of Zeus could begin to protest as he clambered into his Canoe, Castor joining him after getting a final kiss from Katie. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Castor asked in confusion "Or did you just want to avoid Thalia.".

"While avoiding Thalia until I find a way to get rid of her infatuation with me is a bonus I did wish to talk to you about something." He answered as they worked to get comfortable in the small canoes that sped across the water. "I wanted to ask more about the situation you told me about earlier," he explained after carefully selecting his words "about how you said many of your siblings go insane do to who your father is. I'm not sure I fully follow how that works.".

Sighing Castor paused as if to try to find the best way to explain the situation "Every child of Dionysus is born with a 'could of madness', for lack of a better term, in their minds that, if they aren't careful, will overtake and consume them, plunging them into the abyss of insanity.".

"Is there no way around it?" he asked in shock, having never heard of the cloud of madness before.

"There are failsafe's," Castor told him with a wistful smile "every child of Dionysus has at least one thing, sometimes more than one, that will help them push away the cloud and be safe from it. However there are times when something, or someone, that would normally help save them from the cloud would only enhance it when they two have been affected by madness. Other times they have one person, or item, or belief that they latch onto and decide to protect and are unwaveringly loyal to that person and will do anything they believe is for that person or items good.".

"I'm guessing Katie helps you push away the cloud?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as Castor blushed sheepishly.

"Yeah," Castor admitted "I can barely feel it when I'm around her. I…I never even dared to dream I would be able to feel the cloud pushed away from me. I also know that my brother Pollux has feelings for Katie's sister Miranda.".

"Well I wish you both all the happiness in the world," he told his friend sincerely, his own knowledge of how painful a broken heart could be flashing across his mind "I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help you with the situation."

"Thanks for the offer Perce but I think we have it under pretty good control," Castor said, the son of Dionysus casting a loving glance over at Katie Gardener "and I guess I kind of have you to thank you for that…don't I?".

"Hey, all I did was heal her enough so that she would wake up to the point she could hear what you had to say," he said grinning "her returning your feelings and the relationship that bloomed between you two is all your own doing.".

"It still means a lot to me Percy," Castor insisted "and I know Katie feels the same way. You're a good man, a good leader, and a good friend. I'm honored, to fight by your side on this quest and beyond.".

"And I am honored to have you at my side my brother in arms," he said sincerely, clasping arms with his comrade before his eyes turned solemn and turned west "now I just pray we get to our battle before it is too late.".