Legend of Perseus 2: Mission: Bermuda (Completed)

~Chapter 23~

The night before the race, I stayed late at the stables. I was talking to the horses and pegusus's, giving them one final brushing, when somebody right behind me said, "Fine animals, horses. Wish I'd thought of them."

"Hello, Hermes." I responded withought looking back

A middle-aged guy in a postal carrier outfit was leaning against the stable door. He was slim, with curly black hair under his white pith helmet, and he had a mailbag slung over his shoulder.

"Hello, Percy. I am shocked you knew who I am. And shouldn't you be respectful and put 'Lord' infront of my name?"

"You want respect, than you earn it. And so far you haven't earned it from me, so no." I responded as I set the brush down and turned to him. "Why are here?"

"I am here to ask a favor-"

"I will tell you this," I said, "I don't care about you or Luke, he gets in my way, and I will kill him. "

"Can't you talk some sense into him?"

"Dude, no. I don't care if it some divine favor from a god. I don't really care."

"You don't want to make an enemy of me." Hermes sighed.

"And I will tell you the same, after all. I follow only three gods and they make you look like and ant in comparison."

I waited for Hermes to get angry. I figured he'd turn me into a hamster or something. Instead, he just sighed. "Do you ever feel your father abandoned you, Percy?"

"My father, Hades, always helps me out. and tries his best. Poseidon may be an idiot but he is trying and that matters. As for Zeus, he didn't even have the guts to claim me as his son until I ratted him out last year." I laughed. "So no I don't feel abandoned when I got two fathers and a step-father that care for me."

Hermes readjusted the mailbag on his shoulder. "Percy, the hardest part about being a god is that you must often act indirectly, especially when it comes to your own children. If we were to intervene every time our children had a problem ... well, that would only create more problems and more resentment. But I believe if you give it some thought, you will see that Poseidon has been paying attention to you. He has answered your prayers. I can only hope that some day, Luke may realize the same about me."

"Uh huh, okay."

Hermes shrugged. "Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse ... and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."

Was this guy not even paying attention to anything I said? In the distance, the conch horn sounded, signaling curfew.

"You should get to bed," Hermes said. "Anyways, I really only came to make this delivery."

"A delivery?"

"I am the messenger of the gods, Percy." He took an electronic signature pad from his mailbag and handed it to me. "Sign there, please."

I picked up the stylus before realizing it was entwined with a pair of tiny green snakes. Martha and George wriggled under my fingers, forming a kind of pencil grip like the ones my special ed teacher made me use in second grade.

I signed my name and gave the pad back to Hermes. In exchange, he handed me a sea-blue envelope and a black box.

"Good luck tomorrow," Hermes said. "Fine team of horses you have there, though you'll excuse me if I root for the Hermes cabin."

"And don't be too discouraged when you read it, dear," Martha told me. "He does have your interests at heart."

"What do you mean?" I asked.