The Ambassador of Athena

New Athens was… well, it was impressive, though it was small. Rachel led me down towards the sea, following a road at the shore. We passed a cliff with huge doors in it. This must be Bunker 9, the secret base of Hephaestus Cabin where Leo spent his days and built the Argo II. Just behind the cliff I saw the city: It was built around a hill in the middle of Long Island Sound, connected to the shore with a long bridge. On circles around the central hill buildings that looked like ancient Greek houses were built, all white with terracotta roofs.
I was stunned.
“Is that… Atlantis?” I asked Rachel, my mouth wide open.
She laughed. “Oh, Annabeth thought it might be funny if we’d build New Athens like Atlantis, with channels, and a central Island with two temples for the two patrons of New Athens, Poseidon and Athena. We’ve got another temple on the hill south of Half-Blood Hill, dedicated to all gods, and it’s an awesome concert hall too. Annabeth will give you a tour through it. But first, let me show you New Athens."

The city was awesome. According to Rachel the central hill and every ring was floating and anchored to the ground so if there was need for more space they just moved them out to the ocean and add another ring. The central hill was beautiful, the two temples standing side by side, statues of each god on a place in front of it, side by side on a pedestal in the middle of a fountain.
The statues were not classic ones, they looked… I’ll just describe them:
Poseidon looked like a classic Greek god, with beard and curly hair, but his clothes were different: he wore a Hawaii shirt and Khaki shorts, his bare feet dangling in the water of the fountain. He held a fishing rod in one hand, looking relaxed and smiling. His other hand held a trident, from each tip a flow of water dripped into the pool. Athena next to him looked exactly how I met her: A simple T-shirt, jeans and her hair loosely over her shoulders. She sat cross legged next to Poseidon, reading a book and smiling slightly. It was a beautiful fountain, and beautiful statues, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. They looked like friends, or at least not as if they’d fight each other the next second.
“Nice statues” I said when we walked around it.
“Yeah, the gods both posed for them, they said it should be a sign of their new peace, a sign of the end of millennia of rivalry.”
“Cool” I said, and we went on, to the first circle.

The first ring was full of shops, cafes and open places, each with shrines for a god or goddess. We walked a full circle, what took us almost an hour, mostly my fault. I looked in every store, from groceries to armour and furniture. The cafes and restaurants were awesome too, each run by a former camper Rachel knew. We shortly stopped by at a pub called “Sword & Shield”, owned by a Child of Ares, Clarisse. She looked as if she could strangle a hippo without effort, but she smiled at us and greeted me. After a bit of Smalltalk we continued, just one more stop, a jewellery store run by a guy named Chris that introduced himself as Clarisse’s husband, a son of Hermes. He obviously got a lot of the god-of-merchant part of his father, because after we left I had a new necklace in form of a sail and a new bracelet made of leather with an Alpha α on it, and I had no clue why I bought them with the last Dollars I had in my wallet.

The second ring was, reserved for the buildings. The town was so small it only had these two circles, so you had a marvellous view of the sea if you had a house on the outer side of the ring. The houses had two storeys, and on the first look everyone looked the same, but they weren’t. Each house was slightly different, for example, one of the houses we passed had reliefs of war scenes that looked as if they took place in New York, along with scenes of a busy port and merchants.
“That’s the house of Clarisse and Chris” Rachel explained as we passed the house. Each house had a garden as big as the house itself, surrounded by a breast-high brick wall. The next house had a stucco of roses and lightning bolts woven to a ribbon that ran around each window and the doorframe.
“Your new neighbours, Jason and Piper.” Rachel said when we walked past their garden. It was full of roses and bird baths, with a rose arch and a bench right under it. It looked like the stereotypical romantic meeting point from a Hollywood movie.
“Your other neighbours are Percy and Annabeth, so you live in a prominent neighbourhood.”
Rachel told me when we stopped at the next house. Percy’s and Annabeth’s house looked pretty nice too, with Greek inscription and frescos of sea animals on the walls, the windows with blue curtains and flowers outside.
“Here we are; your own house” Rachel said and pointed at the door. I tried to open it, but it was locked.
“How am I supposed to open it?” I asked Rachel.
“Oh, it’s a magic lock, invented by Leo and Hazel. Just hold the doorknob and say: ‘I, [insert name and ancestry here], claim this house as my own’, that should be enough.”
I looked at her for a moment, but I decided not to ask and just do as I was told.
I grabbed the doorknob and said:
“I, Florian, heir of Odysseus, claim this house as my own.”
The change was astonishing: The door changed its colour from simple wooden planks to a light blue, the frescos on the facade changed and now showed scenes from the Odyssey and the garden now had a pool with beach chairs and a sun sail.
My mouth was open again, not for the first and not for the last time that day I guessed.
Rachel laughed.
“Come on, get inside.”
I opened the door and was astonished one more time. I took no stop and just explored the interior: The walls were painted light blue like the ocean in Greece, the furniture made of dark wood, all light by spots in the ceiling. The ground floor had a big living room with a beamer instead of a TV, which was awesome to my account. The couch was big enough for 5 people; along the walls bookshelves took every space except the windows. The kitchen was right next to the living room, with a huge American fridge stocked with fresh vegetables, cheese, fruits and beverages. The stove was right next to a big sink and a kitchen island completed the star-cook kitchen. The dining room was next to the garden, a table big enough for eight people and looking at the pool outside. A sliding door connected it to the room.
The staircase in the entrance room led to the first floor: A big bedroom with a queen-size bed big enough for three people to sleep. One whole side of the room was glass, looking out on the ocean. A desk was set in front of it, with a comfy looking chair. More bookshelves completed the best bedroom I’ve ever seen. The bathroom was even better. It had a bathtub twice as big as normal ones, made of marble and looking right out on the sea as well. The rest of the bathroom was awesome too, with a separate toilet and a fluffy carpet on the tile floor.

Rachel has followed me through the house, smiling. Now that I finished my sightseeing tour through my house she said: “It’s nice to see that you like it, I will leave you now. We’ll see each other this evening again, up to then you have enough time for an activity at camp; I will send you someone to guide you through our activities.”
I opened the door and said:
“Thank you for your time and that you showed me around.”
She smiled and hugged me.
“No big deal. See you tonight at dinner.”
And off she was.

I had no belongings to store, so I just wandered around in the house and examined the wardrobes and drawers. I found a stack of orange shirts and jeans in the wardrobe in the bedroom, but besides that the drawers were empty.
When the doorbell rang I expected the promised guide, but outside stood a guy with salt and pepper hair and a brown cap that read “Hermes Express”. At his side a brown package was floating with small wings.
“I am here to make a magic removal” the guy said. “And I have a package to deliver, from Athena.” He added and tapped the package with a staff that I just recognised, wrapped around it two snakes.
“Don’t be too excited, there are no rats inside” a voice in my head hissed. It sounded like one of the snakes said that. One of them snapped at the other one. “George! We really have to do something about your rat-issues.” I heard a voice again. It must have been the snakes, definitely. The snake that has snapped turned towards me. “Excuse my husband; he has nothing in his head except rats. By the way, I am Martha, nice to meet you.” I was startled, but my good manners kicked in. “Nice to meet you” I said and looked at the snakes. The delivery guy sighed.
“George, Martha, please, we are on duty.”
He turned to me and said: “Excuse my two co-workers. By the way, I am Hermes, just in case you haven’t figured out yet.”
I must admit that I had a guess. I bowed and said:
“Lord Hermes, it’s an honour to meet you.”
Hermes smiled and said: “Nice to meet you too. I liked your ancestor, even though he could manage to upset me a little. But I made my peace with him in the end. Now, if you could close the door behind you I can start the magic removal.”
I did as he told me, and when I closed it behind me he drew with his staff, his caduceus I realised, an Eta, the Greek H, on the door. I heard a rumble inside, and after a few seconds the letter vanished.
“That’s it; all your belongings now should be inside and in appropriate places.” Hermes said and flipped his staff. “If there are any complaints, please Iris-Message my co-workers. I just need a signature here” His staff has turned into a PDA and a pen, and so I signed where the cross was.
“Hihihi, that tickles” George hissed when I handed the pen and PDA back to Hermes. The god sighed one more time and said: “George, please. How long have we been working together now? Three millennia?” He changed the PDA back into a staff and signed me to open the door. After I did so the package flew inside.
“Do you do all your deliveries yourself? I mean, don’t you have minions to do stuff like that?”
Hermes laughed. “You are the first one that ever asked me that. But to answer your question: No, I don’t have minions to do my job, because I actually like it.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it’s pretty cool to have such an important job.” Hermes laughed and winked. “It is.” He waved goodbye and climbed into the truck standing behind him. I swear it wasn’t behind him a moment before, but I am not wondering about anything anymore. He climbed into the truck and started the engine. Before he drove off he said one more thing to me:
“Oh, and good luck with your quest, I hope you will make it.”
Before I could ask what he meant with that he drove off, descending into the sky and disappearing in the distance.

When I went back into the house the next surprise awaited me. The whole house was full of my stuff, from my toothbrush in the bathroom over my clothes all neatly folded in the drawers and the wardrobe to my violin that somehow was in a drawer in the kitchen. All my books from my huge collection were on the shelves, ordered by theme and even better, by language. I started reading English books when I was 15, and ever since then I only read the English originals. On the desk of my bedroom I found my computer, together with all my games. I haven’t played for months due to my work at university, but I found it amazing that even this relict from normal times was here.
When I went to the living room I found my whole DVD collection along with my Playstation, but what hit me really hard was the empty heart-shaped frame on the shelve next to the screen. When I saw it I was speechless. I bought it as a Valentine’s Day-gift for Johanna, I wanted to take a nice picture of us and put it in there. But on Valentine’s Day instead of telling me that she loved me she broke up with me. It was horrible, the worst day of my life.
Seeing this relict of old times now knowing that SHE was somewhere around her made me feel horrible again.
Thankfully the doorbell interrupted me. I went to answer the door, and outside stood a really pretty girl, I have to admit that. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, pretty much like Johanna, and wore the regular orange camp shirt along with jeans. By her side dangled a bronze sword.
“Hey, I am Rachel” she said with a smile. She looked around 20, but I am bad at guessing ages, really, really bad.
“Let me guess: Another daughter of Athena?” I said with a smile.
“Right. And your personal activity guide too.”
I laughed. “So, what activities can you recommend to me?”
She smiled and looked at me.
“I heard you already mastered the climbing wall, but what about a canoe trip?”
“Sounds awesome. Let’s go!”

Notes

Sorry that took so long, I had a lot to do.
But I have good news too: I have finished the story, 120 pages it is. Now I am at page 24, so if you like the story so far, let me know, I'd love to have your feedback.
Flo