The Ambassador of Athena

‘That’s it’ I thought. Stabbed by a jerk that only knows how to punch. My goal always was to die with 120 years next to my wife and my great-grandchildren, but this was definitely a downgrade.
But wait…
I expected severe pain, bleeding, falling to the ground, but all I felt was like I got punched in the stomach.
I reacted as anyone would react that just got stabbed:
I hit Jessy as hard as I could in the face. From the sound his nose made it was probably broken and he backed off, falling to the ground.
“What in Tartarus?” Jessy mumbled while blood ran down his face.
I looked down my new jacket, but there was no blood, nothing. I looked over to Jessy who looked terrified.
“You just tried to stab me.” I whispered soundless. Johanna just stood there, again petrified and not moving, staring from me to Jessy.
Jessy stood up, holding his hands in front of him to show he was unarmed. I had my bow in my hand, a nasty looking arrow ready to shoot.
“Look, Florian, I…” Jessy started, but he never finished his sentence. His voice faded, his eyes twisted and he fell to the ground.
“Oh, crap.” I sighed and went over to check if he was fine. Before I started my studies I worked for the Red Cross, and now I tried to remember what to do.
I checked his pulse, his breathing and his pupils. They didn’t narrowed when the sunlight hit them, and I was pretty sure that was bad.
“We need to get help.” I said to no one specific.
As if I called for it the sound of a car could be heard from the distance and approaching quickly. When it came in sight I saw that it was a 2009 Chevrolet Camaro, sea blue with a white wave pattern at the bottom of the chassis - short, my dream car. The door opened and out stepped… you could describe him as an old cali-surferdude. He looked around 50, with grey strays in his black hair, a black beard and green eyes. His Hawaii shirt had parrots and palms on it, his khaki shorts were bleached from the sun.
“Well, where is he?” the guy asked when he saw me.
“Sorry, who is where?” I asked confused.
“My son of course, Percy. Didn’t he kill the bull?”
It took me more than a second to figure out who this guy was, but when I did I quickly fell to my knees and said:
“Lord Poseidon, with all respect, Percy isn’t here, and he didn’t kill the bull. I did, in fact.”
The Lord of the Sea raised an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you the new favourite of Athena? I can sense her sign on you.”
I flinched and suddenly remembered all the stories about the clinch going on between those two gods.
Poseidon saw my face and laughed.
“Oh, don’t worry, since my son is dating her daughter we two get along much better. And congratulations on slaughtering that bull, you are just the second one to kill it.”
“Who was the first one?” – I just had to ask.
“Actually it was Theseus, so you obviously play on a high league. This must be rewarded. The jacket is nice, but, as you might say, I like to fish in other peoples pools.”
He laid his hand on my shoulder and I felt a burning.
“I hereby make you my ambassador, my voice among humans. May you serve me well.”
I was speechless. What on earth did just happen?
“I am honoured, Mylord.” I stammered. Poseidon winked. “I know you are friends with my son, and also with Annabeth, so why not make the count equal by making you my ambassador as well?”
I wanted to reply, but in that moment Johanna shouted: “Jessy! Don’t die!”
I ran over to them, seeing Jessy seizing and cramping.
“Mylord, could you help him?” I asked Poseidon desperately. Even though this bastard tried to kill me he could at least be so kind to die with my arrow in his head.
Poseidon went over to him and touched his head.
He immediately stopped seizing and started to breath normally again.
“I am not a healer, but he should survive. He must have been hit pretty badly, his brain started to swell, and that punch in the face didn’t help either.” He said when he stood up again.
“Thank you.” I said.
The god looked from Jessy to me, raising his eyebrow again.
“You know what, three is the golden number. My third favour I will do for you is giving you my car for a ride to Keystone. Don’t try to say no, just take the car and leave it on the parking lot at Mount Rushmore.”
He tossed me the keys and I caught them with a suspicious look.
Poseidon laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, I will come back to you whenever I need someone to mop something up or to play chess with. I love chess.”
And with that he vanished into a breeze that smelled like fish and sea salt.
“Oh, and greetings to Percy when you see him again.” A faint voice whispered before dying off.

It was more difficult to bring Jessy into the car than driving, since the car was the most awesome car I’ve ever seen. The black leather seats were comfy, the AC made the car smell like a beach, warm sand and salt, and the engine was definitely not a normal one since it was so silent you could barely hear it. When we took a potty break at a gas station I examined it and found out it was a hydrogen burning unit, highly experimental with the sign of Hephaestus on it. It ran with normal tap water, so no problem with gas, except maybe in the dessert.
When we reached Keystone it was already dark. The motel we decided to spend the night at was old but clean. We carried Jessy into our room and laid him in the lower bunk bed. He still was unconscious, but he seemed better. I laid into the upper bunk bed opposite of it, Johanna in the upper bed above Jessy.
We laid there silently in the dark, and after a while Johanna said:
“You’ve been awesome today” (Note: I always spoke German with her, so every conversation between me and her are translated here.)
I said nothing, trying not to think about the last time we were so close, that summer 5 Years ago, after we sat together till late in the night, drinking beer. (The legal drinking age in Austria is 16, so don’t worry)
Her brothers were with us, and after we watched a movie we fell asleep on the couch, Johanna leaning against my shoulder, smiling while we cuddled.
Those memories hurt, and with that others came up, one worse than the other. At some point I fell asleep, and that was when the real bad dreams started.

Notes

This is a shorter Chapter, and this time there is no cliffhanger, but I hope you keep on reading.
Enjoy ;)