They did. But my father never broke that pact. [ he says, realizing it's probably just easier to let her draw conclusions. also he is too mentally exhausted to play keepaway about the subject right now. ]
...my sister and I were born before the pact was made. Zeus wanted my father to send us to Camp so that we could start training, but my father knew there were ulterior motives to that. So he refused, and he kept us hidden. Zeus eventually found out and...[ ...anyway he skips part of the story. ]
Eventually, my sister and I were sent to live in a hotel in Las Vegas. The Lotus Hotel and Casino. But the thing is, time didn't really pass while we were in the hotel. We thought we had only been there for about a month, but by the time someone came to collect us to send us to a boarding school about seventy years had passed.
[ yeah he loves casinos. truly. no trauma there. ]
The other people in the building were in the same situation. When you're there, you don't think there's anything strange about it. You don't want to leave. Everyone who enters eventually falls under that spell unless someone brings them out, or they figure out something is wrong and break the spell themselves.
[ there's a pause because yeah he doesn't either. ]
We didn't remember anything before the hotel. Father had our memories erased so that we'd forget how we ended up there, so we thought it was just the two of us. We were told our parents were dead, and we had a lot of money in a trust for us. A lawyer would come check on us, but we were never allowed to leave until a different lawyer came to collect us. We were taken to Washington DC for school, but we didn't stay for long. Then we left there and started going to school in Maine. And we weren't there for long either before Grover found us, and Percy, Annabeth and Thalia came to get us to bring us to camp.
But… why? You said you were born before the pact was made, so it can’t have been because your dad wanted to hide breaking it.
And if this was some way of trying to protect you, then it was just leaving you wide open — you can’t just shuffle someone around their whole lives and hope for the best.
[ he hadn't really thought he'd be talking about this today of all days, especially since he just came back from a casino heist and he's still trying to sort through that. but it's weirder now to avoid it. ]
Probably because he loved my mother. [ idly. ] Despite everything, Zeus still felt my sister and I were a threat and tried to kill both of us. And when that failed because my father protected us, he sent the two of us away to have our memories erased so we wouldn't remember what really happened. [ he pauses as if trying to remember the correct order of events. ] We lived at a boarding school for a while. Then we were placed in the hotel because he thought one of us might become the child of the great prophecy someday. So after a while he had one of his furies pull us out in the hopes we'd start training and become powerful. I suppose.
The Great Prophecy about a child of the Big Three being the one to save or destroy Olympus. That was also a big mess at the time when my father thought I might be able to fulfill that prophecy but...[ he shakes his head. ] That was always going to be Percy.
[ ... ]
My father hasn't been the greatest parent. A lot of his decisions have, frankly, been terrible. But we're better. I understand a little more now than I did as a child.
Son of Poseidon, yeah. Percy's...[ he thinks of how he wants to describe percy. he has a very complicated relationship with percy jackson, admittedly, but they are friends. he does trust him. ] He has his flaws, but he's one of the best of us.
[ but there's that. ]
I'm still mad about things. All demigods have a fatal flaw, after all. [ he smiles a little, but it's not amused. sometimes you're a hades kid and your fatal flaw really is holding grudges. ] But there are things I've had to learn to let go if I wanted to be better. And help people. And prove things to my father.
[ an awkward, almost painful pause. and he sort of smiles but he doesn't comment on that. ]
He's done a lot for all of us. We've worked together a few times. And I mean, yeah. We're friends.
[ but moving on... ]
Supposedly it's a normal teenage thing to be mad at your parents. But I did just see him recently and we talked. It went much better than I anticipated.
[ let's not talk about the history with percy jackson, actually. ]
...yes? [ pensively. ] Hades hasn't been a great father but I do understand that he's trying. I have to acknowledge that, at least. And...things have improved. In a sense, I suppose you could say we're all we have left. So it's probably better this way.
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...the biggest and probably first you think of, yeah. [ that basically confirms it, huh. ]
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[ looks at the age lore and looks away. ]
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(jeopardy theme while she thinks about it. ]
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When were you born, exactly?
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The 1930s. [ he figures saying it this way is the same effect. ]
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...
Looking very youthful for a 90 year old.
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That would be because I'm still almost sixteen? [ ... ] But I suppose technically yes that would be an age.
[ help. ]
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You're almost sixteen, but your birth day was in the 1930s.
[ nicomerica, explain. ]
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...my sister and I were born before the pact was made. Zeus wanted my father to send us to Camp so that we could start training, but my father knew there were ulterior motives to that. So he refused, and he kept us hidden. Zeus eventually found out and...[ ...anyway he skips part of the story. ]
Eventually, my sister and I were sent to live in a hotel in Las Vegas. The Lotus Hotel and Casino. But the thing is, time didn't really pass while we were in the hotel. We thought we had only been there for about a month, but by the time someone came to collect us to send us to a boarding school about seventy years had passed.
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Like a ... time anomaly? But surely other people were using the building as well...
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The other people in the building were in the same situation. When you're there, you don't think there's anything strange about it. You don't want to leave. Everyone who enters eventually falls under that spell unless someone brings them out, or they figure out something is wrong and break the spell themselves.
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[ she genuinely just... pulls a face at that. ]
Not sure I like the sound of that.
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We didn't remember anything before the hotel. Father had our memories erased so that we'd forget how we ended up there, so we thought it was just the two of us. We were told our parents were dead, and we had a lot of money in a trust for us. A lawyer would come check on us, but we were never allowed to leave until a different lawyer came to collect us. We were taken to Washington DC for school, but we didn't stay for long. Then we left there and started going to school in Maine. And we weren't there for long either before Grover found us, and Percy, Annabeth and Thalia came to get us to bring us to camp.
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And if this was some way of trying to protect you, then it was just leaving you wide open — you can’t just shuffle someone around their whole lives and hope for the best.
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Probably because he loved my mother. [ idly. ] Despite everything, Zeus still felt my sister and I were a threat and tried to kill both of us. And when that failed because my father protected us, he sent the two of us away to have our memories erased so we wouldn't remember what really happened. [ he pauses as if trying to remember the correct order of events. ] We lived at a boarding school for a while. Then we were placed in the hotel because he thought one of us might become the child of the great prophecy someday. So after a while he had one of his furies pull us out in the hopes we'd start training and become powerful. I suppose.
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…
I remember stories of the Greek gods made it sound like every aspect of their familial lives was messy. Sounds like there’s some truth to that.
[ yeesh. ]
Great prophecy? Memory erasure? You don’t dump your kids and call it protection.
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The Great Prophecy about a child of the Big Three being the one to save or destroy Olympus. That was also a big mess at the time when my father thought I might be able to fulfill that prophecy but...[ he shakes his head. ] That was always going to be Percy.
[ ... ]
My father hasn't been the greatest parent. A lot of his decisions have, frankly, been terrible. But we're better. I understand a little more now than I did as a child.
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… That was…. I think I’ve heard you mention him before. [ another of the big three’s kids. wao. ]
Better than being mad forever. Still, it’s not a choice I’m sure I could understand.
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[ but there's that. ]
I'm still mad about things. All demigods have a fatal flaw, after all. [ he smiles a little, but it's not amused. sometimes you're a hades kid and your fatal flaw really is holding grudges. ] But there are things I've had to learn to let go if I wanted to be better. And help people. And prove things to my father.
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[ pats percy. ]
I mean-- if I had a dad and he'd ditched me and messed with my memories and called it protection, I'd be pretty pissed too.
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He's done a lot for all of us. We've worked together a few times. And I mean, yeah. We're friends.
[ but moving on... ]
Supposedly it's a normal teenage thing to be mad at your parents. But I did just see him recently and we talked. It went much better than I anticipated.
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It's definitely a normal teenage thing. I guess even for gods and their children...
[ wild. ]
... Are you happy you're understanding him better now?
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...yes? [ pensively. ] Hades hasn't been a great father but I do understand that he's trying. I have to acknowledge that, at least. And...things have improved. In a sense, I suppose you could say we're all we have left. So it's probably better this way.
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