Thank The Way Too Many Gods for Falafel

"So my story has to do with my mother's side of the family"

"Is it connected to the fact she was never in the picture? Which is weird in itself now that I think of it. How did that come to be?"

Annabeth let out a hollow laugh.

"Well, I was mostly a brain child…"

She gave me a significant look that made me think I was supposed to get something now, but I came up empty. Which apparently lead to Annabeth asking me weird questions.

"How well can you read Ancient Greek?"

Color me confused now, what did that have to do with anything?

"Er, not at all?"

"What about Latin then?"

"No, listen, Annabeth, you do realize that I dropped out of High School when I ran away, don't you? How do you expect me to know either language?"

Another strange laugh.

"Well, this is going to be even weirder than I thought. Magnus, my mother is Athena."

"The Greek goddess…"

"… of wisdom and warfare, yeah, the one and only"

"So that would make you a demi-god, right?"

That apparently caught my cousin by surprise, judging from the odd look on her face.

"Hu, how do you know about demi-gods?"

"Well, join the club I could say, but seeing as you're older, I guess it's really the other way around…"

I shrugged, but Annabeth wasn't quite happy with my blasé answer.

"How can that be when your father is neither a Greek nor a Roman god?"

"How do you… Ah, the languages, right?"

A nod was all confirmation I needed.

"Well, dear cousin, I may not speak either language, but Runes, now those I can rock!"

"So your father would be…?"

"Frey, Norse god of summer, fertility and stuff"

"So, counting the Romans separately, that makes at least four sets of gods interfering in our world. No wonder it's always at the brink of ending…"

"Wait, Four? And what do you mean, always, I just stopped Ragnarok yesterday!"

I wasn't that confident anymore of my chances of winning that bet. But at least there would be falafel to soften the blow.

"Yeah, four. As far as I know there aren't any Egyptian demi-gods, but their gods do meddle, not to mention those stubborn ancient magicians…"

"Ancient magicians? Never mind, I am sure I don't want to know. Back to the world ending…"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who stopped Doom's Day recently"

"How did you stop it, then?"

"Which time?"

"You did it more than once? How old where you when you started?"

I got a feeling I was definitely going to lose that bet. But Annabeth shrugged and started to tell her tale.

"Well, I was seven when I ran away from home to get away from the monsters…"

I shuddered thinking of The Squirrel and Otis the talking goat chasing Annabeth, although the goat technically wasn't a monster. I couldn't imagine a seven-year old dealing with things like that.

"… but it wasn't until Percy came to Camp when we were twelve that things got really dire for the world."

"Percy? Camp?"

"Percy Jackson, my boyfriend and a son of Poseidon. And Camp Half Blood is about the only place where it is safe for demi-gods like us. Anyway, that business of Zeus' stolen Lightning Bolt wouldn't exactly have ended the world, but it sure had the potential of wrecking a lot of havoc. So Percy, Grover and I set out on a quest to retrieve it."

I was reminded of Thor and his Hammer. What was it with gods and sending people on quests because they couldn't keep track of their weapons? But I had to follow Annabeth's story, so I asked the more important question.

"Grover?"

"A satyr, a being that is half man and half goat. And a good friend of ours."

I imagined making friends with Otis, only to have to kill him when I was too hungry, which would really suck... So I gestured to Annabeth to continue.

"Anyway, we obviously succeeded in finding and returning the Lightning Bolt and the world was spared from Zeus' Wrath. I guess that was my first time. I wish it would have ended there, but shortly thereafter was that ugly business with Kronos and he would definitely have destroyed the world! And don't even get me started on Gaia and her Giants!"

The Greek had destructive Giants too? I wondered if there was a connection with the ones from Jotunheim. Annabeth had me beat on this saving-the-world thing, so if I was to save face on this bet thing, I had to play my trump card.

"So, you saved the world a few times more than me, but have you died and come back from the dead like me?"

Annabeth's lips quirked upwards, so I figured she was about to one-up me after all.

"Nope, but I did fall in the Tartarus and beat down the Doors of Dead to get back in the game."

"Okay, that's it, you win! I hope you don't mind slightly burned falafel, 'cause being an Einherjar doesn't exactly pay well. And it isn't like I can get a regular Summer job, being dead and all…"

Annabeth laughed a genuine laugh this time.