Clockwork

38

"So she's killed half of the forest?" Percy asked his patron. Jasmine was sitting on the table, with a pair of gloves on. She looked exhausted, and the weight of the large wings on her back didn't seem to be doing any favors.

"Yes and no, thankfully Demeter could save everything before they completely withered away. No nature spirits are dead." Hephaestus told him.

"This is the third time this has happened in the last week. What's triggering it?" Percy asked. "That's... a good question," Hephaestus said. No one had time to keep an eye on the daughter of death when there are several bombs in Olympus, along with demigod trafficking, and the prisoner that was being held.

Hephaestus seemed to have read Percy's mind when he stated, ''There's a lot going on right now, and there's not much I can do much to help her. Not with the Twenty and the natural disaster that is your son." Hephaestus said, but he grumbled the last part.

Then again, Percy could easily take care of that last problem.

"Don't even think about it," Hephaestus said. "You'd regret it if you did."

"Regret what?"

"You got that look in your eye when I mentioned Kenneth."

"I have my helmet on, you can't see any look."

"No, I can feel it. You can't off your kid." Hephaestus said, lowering his voice.

"I wasn't thinking of killing him but now that I am... Can't say it's not a good looking option. Kidding, kidding, I was just thinking that since he can't drown but can't exactly breathe underwater either we can just... put him into a large fish tank for a while. Just for the time being." Percy said.

"That actually... doesn't sound like a bad idea," Hephaestus said.

''Do I really come off as the type of person to kill him?" Percy asked, surprised that that was the first conclusion his patron had come to.

"Not you... Just the look creeped me out." Hephaestus said, turning to the exhausted girl sitting on the work table.

Percy knew his patron meant no harm by what he said, so Percy didn't dwell on the subject for much longer.

"I'll call in a meeting with Thanatos," Percy said, turning to walk off. "How exactly? Only Zeus and Hades can ever summon Thanatos." Hephaestus said. When Percy didn't answer, Hephaestus sighed. "Damn kid, you really shouldn't play with your life that way."

"I'll be back tomorrow at the latest. And, please, at least think about the fish tank." Percy said, resting a hand on Jasmine's shoulder as he walked by her.

''I'm stealing a car," Percy called behind him, picking up one of Hephaestus' car keys.

Percy made it to the forest below the workshop and threw the keys onto the ground. They began to unfold and grow before him until they had become a gray-blue car, the license plate registered to Olympus with 'HEFTY' in red letters. It was one of his older cars, something he made in the 1960s that Percy had decided was his favorite since it was the name of a horse breed.

Percy got into the car and took his helmet off, placing it on the passenger seat.

"You have a knack for breaking into cars unnoticed, huh?" Percy said.

Jasmine, who had ducked into the back seat slowly sat her head back up. "It's one of my most cherished gifts." She said before smiling tiredly. Her wings were still out and they were obviously still bothering her but she still felt the need to break into Percy's car.

Percy picked up his helmet from the passenger seat. "Oh thank gods, my back is killing me," Jasmine said, climbing into the passenger seat. She let out a sigh of relief when she sat down again.

"So where are we going?" Jasmine asked. "I'm going to have a chat with your father. I would've thought you'd know since you did practically break into a car to come along." Percy said.

"How? He's death himself, he has to be everywhere at once... how would you get an audience with him?"

"I'm going to the place where I died," Percy told her. "Hmm. How vague of you," Jasmine said, only half-joking. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Percy said, starting the car.

  Just about everyone who knew how Percy got to most of his sources, including  Hephaestus, disapproved of Percy's quote on quote 'recklessness' with his soul. Percy didn't know how Jasmine would react, but he didn't care to find out.

"Want to talk about how you nearly mass murdered a forest?" Percy asked. "Hmm. Not particularly." Jasmine mumbled. "Well you want to talk about something, don't you? Or did you just want to break into the car out of boredom." Percy said.

He spared a glance at Jasmine before looking back at the forest in front of him. He was pleased to see that her wings were gone and she didn't seem to be in pain anymore, especially since the ride to his death place wasn't a smooth one.

There were no proper roads or paths in this forest, the only paths made were the worn-down grass of Hephaestus' robots which were temporary as the robots had been programmed to cover their tracks.

"Since you brought it up, I didn't mean to hurt anything," Jasmine said, her attention directed out the window. "You've done that frequently. Accidentally kill-- or nearly kill-- things." Percy asked, remembering the state of Jasmine's captors when he had first met her. "It only sometimes. Seriously, I don't always kill everything I touch. This is a rare occurrence." Jasmine said, though she sounded as if she was convincing herself rather than Percy.

"As someone who has seen this 'rare occurrence' three times this week, I'm curious as to what triggers it," Percy said casually. He was inviting her to talk about it, but he would back off if she wanted him to. "I don't know. I was scared when it came to the captors. But this time I... I just didn't feel good," Jasmine said. "I don't kill people on command, I can still hold someone's hand without killing them, sometimes I just can't control it," Jasmine said.

"When was the first time you found out what you can do?" Percy asked.

"When I was thirteen," Jasmine said, not saying anything else after that. It was a sore topic obviously, so Percy easily changed the topic. "Does it make you tired?" Percy said. Jasmine nodded. "That makes me tired and the fact that my wings come out every time it happens. They weigh me down." She mumbled.

"Huh," Percy said, letting the car fall silent. Jasmine was asleep in seconds.

She was still asleep when they reached the spot, and Percy was careful not to wake her when he got out of the car.

The familiar clearing gave Percy a feeling of wistfulness, as he looked around. A lot of the tree nymphs had been there on the day that he died, just far away enough that they couldn't help and the shocked and agonized son of Poseidon couldn't summon water to help or heal him in any way. The grass that he had died on seemed to have died with him, and there was a patch of dirt in the middle of the otherwise lush grass.

Percy removed his breastplate and placed a hand over his makeshift heart.

Then he told it to stop.

The clicking of metal slowed down before it stopped, and Percy tore himself from his body.

The metal heart began up again in his body so it could preserve Percy's brain in his absence, and Percy waited though he didn't have to wait long.

Thanatos was there, iPad in hand.

There were afterimages surrounding them as Thanatos rushed all across the world, collecting souls.

"The last time you did this, I told you I was going to take you to the underworld no matter what Hephaestus said if you did it again," Thanatos' echoey voice whispered coming from all directions.

Percy nodded towards the car with his sleeping daughter. "I've got to talk to you about something," Percy said.

''This had better be good," Thanatos said, standing motionlessly for a second to glare into Percy's eyes before going back to fulfilling his job.

"Okay..." Percy started.

And that's the end of this part. I hoped you enjoyed it. See ya!