Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔻inner and the Eiffel Tower

The surface streets were clogged with emergency vehicles and minor accidents, so they ended up taking the subway back.

Besides, the subway had rats. Without going into gruesome details, Nicki can vouch for the fact that George and Martha helped out with the vermin problem. As they travelled north, the two snakes curled around the caduceus and dozed contentedly with bulging bellies.

They met Hermes by the Atlas statue at Rockefeller Center. (The statue, by the way, looks nothing like the real Atlas, which Nicki loudly complained about to anyone who would listen.) "Thank the Fates!" Hermes cried. "I'd just about given up hope!" He took the caduceus and patted the heads of his sleepy snakes. "There, there, my friends. You're home now."

Zzzzz, said Martha.

Yummy, George murmured in his sleep.

Hermes sighed with relief. "Thank you, Phoenix." Percy cleared his throat. "Oh, yes," the god added, "and you, too, boy. I just have time to finish my deliveries! But what happened with Cacus?"

Nicki told him the story. "And then, after Perseus tried to drown us in sewer water, I used a crane to turn Cacus into a claw machine game. And then Martha and George zapped him with a laser beam. It was pretty badass of us."

"I am just glad you are alright." Hermes patted Nicki's shoulder as if he was trying to comfort himself.

"There is one thing, I think you should know." Percy began, his face grim.

"Yes?" Hermes turned his attention to Percy. His baby blue eyes scanned the boy's face. "What is it?"

"Cacus had said about someone else giving him the idea to steal the caduceus, and that the gods have other enemies and the fact we defeated Kronos is just delaying things. He wanted to stop the gods from being able to communicate with each other."

Hermes's face darkened. "Cacus wanted to cut the gods' communication lines, did he?" Hermes mused. "That's ironic, considering Zeus has been threatening..."

His voice trailed off. 

"What?" Nicki asked. "Zeus has been threatening what?"

"Nothing," Hermes said. It was obviously a lie.

Nicki scowled. "What is it, Gramps? Does it involve us?"

"I do not know, and if I did I could not tell you, my dear." Hermes looked panicked.

"Okay..." Percy said. "Any idea what Cacus meant about other enemies, or who would want him to steal your caduceus?"

Hermes fidgeted."Oh, could be any number of enemies. We gods do have many."

"Hard to believe," Percy said. Hermes nodded. Apparently, he didn't catch the sarcasm, or he had other things on his mind. Nicki got the feeling the giant's warnings would come back to haunt them sooner or later, but Hermes obviously wasn't going to enlighten them now.

The god managed a smile. "At any rate, well done, both of you! Now I must be going. So many stops—"

"There's the small matter of my reward," Percy reminded him.

Nicki frowned. "What reward?"

"It's our one-month anniversary," Percy said. "Surely you didn't forget."

She opened her mouth and closed it again. Then she opened it again, but no sound left her lips. Percy beamed at his girlfriend.

"Ah, yes, your reward." Hermes looked them up and down. "I think we'll have to start with new clothes. Manhattan sewage is not a look you can pull off. Then the rest should be easy. God of travel, at your service."