Chapter 35: What Do You Want from Me

August

"What is this place?" I asked, as we had arrived in front of a small bar with a sign that read "The Work Horse."

"It's a place to talk." He answered.

"How old are you?" I was skeptical we would even be allowed inside.

"I'm 17. But don't worry, they know me here." He promised as he led me to the door and walked inside.

"Newman stay." I commanded as I followed Colin inside.

"Who's she? She's a little young don't you think Junior?" The bartender asked as we sat down at a table.

"Don't worry, Phil, she's one of us. Actually, heh, more closely related to your bunch Phil. Two meads. Augustine, what are you having?" Colin asked, as Phil looked me up and down.

"Something not awful." I shrugged, looking around. The bar was all wood insides with a fire roaring in the corner. It didn't seem to fit the building it was located in either aesthetics or dimension, but I didn't bother to ask questions. Odds are I wouldn't understand the schematics anyways.

"Figures." Phil grumbled as he poured an old fashion bottle of cream soda and topped it off with a jigger of something brown from a square bottle. "Drink."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's amaretto." He answered, which meant nothing to me but I drank it anyways. The drink tasted like peanut butter and honey. I drank the rest.

"What happened to you, Philoctetes? You shouldn't be serving minors in a bar." I prodded as it hit me who he was. I had seen his face in books, but never assumed I would meet the man. Then again, I was hanging out with tall leprechaun in a bar while stoned off my ass after previously being in a Las Vegas casino with the god of the underworld. Anything could happen.

"The gods punished me for doing my job. I receive eternal life as a heroic figure in the Greek pantheon, but I can't work for Half-Blood because of my supposed treason against Apollo for training someone who killed his son." He grunted angrily and poured me another drink before continuing. "Well the old version of me did. The new version gets turned into a Disney character. So I bought this place and made it a point to serve the people in power even if that means actually serving people in power. Hence, the bar next to the white house that only appears to those of whom are demigods and the legacies of gods. Also my bar doesn't technically exist in the physical realm of mortals, so legally I can serve you whatever I want. I haven't been found out yet by the pantheon, and I doubt they even care that much. This place has gone unchanged for over a century."

"So back to the lion. Who gave him to ya?" Colin asked, as he took a sip from his pint glass.

"Uh he's a Namean lion that Hyperion cursed to torment me. I saved him and we've been together ever since." I explained, petting Newman's mane.

"Well you're wrong." Colin said with a curt laugh.

"What?" I asked, irked at the rude accusation.

"That's not a Namean lion. That lion is an English lion of the Arthurian court; a direct descendant of knight Ywain's lion that he rescued from a serpent. They're fierce, loyal creatures that typically find companions in knights they deemed worthy. Whoever gave him to Hyperion wasn't Greek." Colin explained.

"How do you know this?" I asked, even perplexed.

"Because I've lived in the UK and they guard the Royal Palace. Also, have you seen a Nemean lion? They're hideous brutes with dark fur and misshapen heads. That guy waiting outside is pure gold and follows you around like a puppy." He took another sip as we looked outside. Newman was licking the glass window.

"Why would anyone give Hyperion an English lion?" I mumbled through my drink.

"Probably for the same reason anyone does anything. The reward was greater than the punishment." He explained

"That's a long way to go for a lion." I mused.

"If you're transporting an illegal beast across international waters, you're either about to make bank or you're trying not to get your head cut off. Either way, that's not a person you want to be associating with." Phil mentioned as he quietly rearranged his bottles.

"Augustine," Colin dragged out impatiently, "you having an English lion means that someone from England, probably some scorned pagan deity or some angry ass knight who's pissed he was forgotten by time, decided it was a good idea to team up with some old Greek bastard to make sure you were dead. That's not good. It means you've already made enemies in places you haven't even been to."

"Why?" I halfway gasped.

Colin sighed and ran his hand through his beard before answering.

"We are ripe for another civil war. They tried it in the early two thousands when the American Odin attempted to wrangle up the old gods to push out the newer ones like Money and Media. It didn't work."

"Why didn't it?" I asked, now thoroughly curious.

"Because America is a bad place for gods, Augustine. Odin wasn't strong enough to win, and his own son sold him out in favor of keeping the peace. Most old gods moved on from America after that shit show, but for some reason, our love of the Greek pantheon remains rather strong. Those are the guys vying for power." Colin explained as he flipped a gold coin in the air.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked, once against regaining enough of my senses to feel apprehension towards this new information.

"Well you coulda asked your friend Nico. Kid has traveled everywhere, met almost every god in America. Native gods, old world gods, new age gods, white Jesus, computers, hell he even had a stint with Anubis and Bast." Colin answered with a laugh. "And you know what, so have I."

"You know Nico?" I asked, perplexed. Colin's face went a little sour.

"I met him through me cousins when I was visiting Half-Blood. They figured we might hit it off. We did, but it didn't last. Nico and I toured the mainland US for a summer before he returned to half-blood and started dating that Goth chick." Colin said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"They're not together anymore. He's dating my brother, Will, now." I said.

"Yeah, he never could commit to one thing or another. He's funny like that. Heh, guess we have that in common." He shrugged and finished the second mead.

"Is that all you took me hear to say? There are old gods that hate the new gods and the Greek gods want the new gods gone? Where do I play into this? Why did Hyperion team up with other legends to torment me?" My voice cracked as I asked, indicating that I was indeed drunk.

"Calm down, Augustine. I took you here because I know the gods don't want me to tell you these things. The other day I got an arrow shot through me shoulder with a note saying not to keep pokin' around in the god's business." He growled, seeming a little angry. I couldn't blame him. Must've hurt.

"Why were you looking into this?" I asked, nervous about being tailed for now knowing too much. I shifted nervously in my seat.

"Because I was approached by a man named Shadow while in Chicago. He knew me fadder and wanted me to join him in stopping the Greek pantheon from wiping out the rest of the new gods from the face of the earth." Colin ran a nervous hand through his hair as he sighed. I got the sense he had been on the run for some time now.

"What do I do now?" My voice came out shaky with worry.

"I need you to go find the man named Shadow. He lives in a small Illinois town called Lakeside. Go to that town; ask around for him, they all know him. He can tell you a lot more than I can, and he may have some ideas for you. As for right now, you're a little drunk and I need to get you home before anyone catches on to this convo." Colin said as he materialized a handful of gold coins and threw them onto the table. We waved to Phil before he took me by the hand and led me out into the cold, and I turned around to see an empty storefront with boarded up windows.

"We're going back now?" Newman asked as I rubbed my eyes to see a little straighter.

"Yeah buddy." I said as he knelt down to let me on.

"I'll take you home." Colin chuckled as he mounted Newman and positioned himself behind me so I wouldn't fall.

Newman made short work of the trip, and the cold air felt great on my face as it began to heat up from the weed and booze. It was dumb of me to take off in the middle of the night to get loaded with a leprechaun, but I had a napkin in hand with an address to find this Shadow person, so maybe Ariadne wouldn't get so mad and would listen. Then again that sounded much stupider when I actually thought about it. We arrived at the house and Colin helped me down.

"I leave you here, August." Colin said as he helped me off Newman.

"We should hang again sometime, this was fun." I mumbled through a yawn.

"Absolutely. I left me number on the napkin. Gimme a holler when you're free and we can do whatever. Get some sleep, Augustine." He said as he shook my hand and turned to walk off into the night. I yawned again and when I opened my eyes, he was gone. I wondered if the encounter had even happened, but the napkin wrapped around a gold coin sat heavy in my pocket.

"Newman, you can sleep in the garage. It's heated." I said, patting him on the side. He licked my face and walked around back, and I quietly opened the front door to a pair of steely grey eyes and a dark, furrowed set of eyebrows.

"You went out to smoke weed didn't you?" Ariadne growled, displeased. She never liked the stuff and didn't like me sneaking off to smoke at odd hours.

"I uh…" I trailed off, trying to see straight enough to fake being sober. I failed and just opted to lean in the doorway like that was somehow better. "No."

"Oh and you reek of booze too. Great. Get inside." She huffed as she grabbed my collar and dragged me in.

"A leprechaun texted me to tell me some stuff." I mumbled.

"Oh I'm sure they did." Ariadne deadpanned unhappily.

"No no, I'm serious." I took out the coin and napkin from my pocket. "He told me I'm supposed to talk to a guy in a town near Chicago."

Ariadne turned and looked at the bundle in my hand, gingerly taking it from me. "August this is a real solid gold coin…" She trailed off, looking a little stunned as she turned it over in her hand. It certainly didn't feel as ethereal as a drachma. The metal was solid and heavy, like a real coin.

"He took me to this bar run by Philoctetes to tell me that there are a lot of gods that live in America that came here with immigrants. They don't all get along. He told me a man named Shadow knows more about it. He can help us." I tried to explain as coherently as I could.

"The Work Horse? But… that's kind of an urban legend amongst some of the older campers… I can't believe it exists." She shook her head with a huff. "Let's get upstairs and get you cleaned up. You look like you've been drinking with a leprechaun as much as you smell like it."

"I'm sorry." I half whispered as we marched upstairs. Something wet hit my jacket, and I realized it was coming from my face. I was crying.

"August, what's wrong?" Ariadne asked as she turned to face me. "Did I hurt your feelings?"

"Am I degenerate?" I asked, suddenly overcome with self-doubt and self-consciousness.

"August no, no of course not." She hugged me and I buried my face into her shoulder.

"I'm a bad girlfriend." I sobbed. I had no idea what had come over me, but I felt terrible and inconsolably shitty.

"No, you're weepy because you're drunk… and you're dripping melting snow all over the carpet. Please let me get you into a hot bath." Ariadne giggled as she swept me off of my feet and carried me into her room.

"You can lift me?!" I barked, startled.

"You're may be taller than me, but you're a broom with hair." She laughed as she carried me in. She gently sat me down on the bathroom floor and started the tub.

"Alright I'm afraid you won't remember anything that happened tonight in the morning, so tell me what you remember." She asked as she scooped a mound of Epson salt into the bathwater.

"I met a boy named Colin. Colin… sib…sibuyay… sibnue…uh…" I couldn't get the name right for the life of me.

"What about him?" Ariadne prompted as she helped get my shoe off as I worked on the other.

"He says his dad is a leprechaun and that his cousins are the Stole twins." I continued. I almost jumped as I felt a cold hand hit my side.

"Shirt off please." Ariadne asked. I looked at her through bleary eyes, slightly nervous. I hadn't ever undressed myself in front of her before. "August you can't get into the bath with your clothes on."

"You've never seen me naked." I said as I cleared my throat uneasily. Ariadne rolled her eyes and turned slightly pink.

"That's not entirely true, we've gone skinny dipping together." She reminded me. I relented and pulled my shirt off in one easy movement.

"Yeah but it was dark." I said as I undid my belt.

"You want me to leave and we can talk after?" She suggested. Something had clicked and I realized it didn't matter if she saw my naked. It wasn't inherently sexual, and she would see me naked plenty of times later on down the road. It was weird that there were so many stigmas around being naked. Maybe I was also drunk.

"No no, it's fine. Not like you're never going to see me naked again." I said as I slipped my pants and undergarments off. She turned away to let me get into the tub.

"Then what happened?" She asked as I clumsily sank into the tub.

"Then we had some drinks." I mumbled.

"Ha, some." She teased.

"Hush, I'm a lightweight. You know I don't drink." I grumbled. "Anyways, he told me there are gods that exist that haven't existed before. Like money and media." I explained as I sighed, the hot water feeling nice. I slipped down below the surface and felt an arm pull me back up.

"No, please don't fall asleep in the tub." Ariadne giggled as she pulled me to the surface.

"I haven't drowned yet." I reminded her, splashing some water her direction.

"Hey, no fair. You haven't finished your story. So there are new gods?" She implored as she swirled the murky water with her fingers. The salt and essential oils clouded it enough to wear I felt a little better about being naked.

"Well yeah, there are new gods. And apparently some old gods tried to get rid of them a while ago, but it didn't work. So now the Greek pantheon is getting involved." I could feel myself begin to sober up. I always suspected my healing powers may have something to do with my unusually fast metabolism, and coupled with sweating in hot bath, I was beginning to feel clearer headed.

"Old gods? Like the Odin?" Ariadne asked as she got a towel ready.

"He's apparently dead. I'm not sure… I think I need to ask Shadow." I cleared my throat as she handed me a towel.

"Shadow?" Ariadne clarified. "What do we know about him?"

"Not much other than he can help." I said as I rinsed off the last of the dirt from under my fingernails.

"Ok well we have to meet with my grandma and my father first." Ariadne reminded me as she handed me towel.

"Fair enough. Uh…" I trailed off into an awkward silence.

"Oh you want me to leave?" Ariadne teased, as I turned slightly pink.

"For a second…" I answered sheepishly.

"Fine, don't be long." She urged as she closed the bathroom door behind her. I could feel that the downers had moved themselves out rather quickly, leaving me exhausted but rather sober. I slipped my pajamas back on and slunk into bed next to Ariadne and looked at the clock. 2 am. I felt as though it should be a lot later than that. My eyelids felt heavy and I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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