Part 6

“For a kid, Asa’s pretty strong…” Percy said to Annabeth as he fiddled with the ship’s controls.

“I know.” Annabeth replied. “He’s dangerous. Son of a demigod and a goddess. I don’t think that’s ever happened before…”

“Which is another reason I don’t want to be on his bad side… An inch to the left and that barrel he threw would’ve killed me. There was a nail sticking out and it hit me in the chest.”

“I don’t know about him… He had a broken leg last night, right in his thigh, you could see the bone… Today he was perfectly fine. The thing is… no ambrosia. Just a splint.”

“…Maybe his mom was a healing goddess or something.”

“I don’t think so…”

“Maybe his grandfather was Apollo?”

“Maybe. We’ll ask him tomorrow.”

“I’m not asking him anything until he’s calmed down a bit.” Percy said putting his hands up in a defensive position.

“Maybe we could get Nico to ask him?”

“Yeah. He seems to trust Nico more...”

Annabeth gave a small nod of satisfaction. “Night Percy.” she said crawling into bed and pulling up the covers.

“Night.” he replied shutting off the light and crawling into bed himself.

_

The next morning Percy snuck down the hall and peeked in Nico’s room. He and Asa were both fast asleep. “Nico!” Percy whisper-yelled.

Asa grumbled in his sleep and rolled over.

Nico jumped and looked at Percy. “What?”

Percy waved his hand for Nico to come over.

Nico rolled his eyes and hopped down from the bed walking quietly to the door. “What is it?”

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Sure. What?”

“I need you to ask Asa about his godly relatives. Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

“But I want tacos tonight.” Nico said with a smirk closing the door in Percy’s face.

Percy sighed and went back to his room.

Nico walked back to the bed and started climbing the ladder to his bunk.

Asa jerked awake. “What’s happening? Is Kyle back?!”

“No. Nothing’s happening Asa.” Nico said climbing into his bed.

“What is it? I’m awake now so…”

“It’s nothing. We’re having tacos tonight.”

“Yum.” Asa climbed the ladder and sat down next to Nico.

“What’s up?”

“What was your mom like?”

Nico paused. “…I never knew my mom…”

“Oh… sorry… My mom’s been busy lately. She hasn’t visited in a while.”

“Your mom visits you?”

“Well… she used to. All the time, but she stopped once I got on Kyle’s boat. Maybe she will now. She’s nice to me and my friends, but Dad told me that she never used to be a nice goddess. That I was lucky.”

Nico nodded. “…Who is your mom Asa?”

“Hecate. But she doesn’t like me calling her that. If my friends ask she says to call her Elizabeth.”

“You must be pretty special.”

“I don’t know… My dad was a demigod too, but his dad sure wasn’t a minor god.” Asa said chuckling a little to himself.

Nico chuckled too. “Oh really? Who was your granddad?”

Asa shrugged. “Zeus.” he said sounding like it was no big deal.

Nico’s eyes widened. “Wow… That’s pretty cool…” he said forcing himself not to sound nervous.

“I’m related to a lot of gods. My grandmother was a daughter of Ares, her mom was a daughter of Hades… It’s weird.” he said smiling with another shrug.

Nico forced himself not to pass out. “You’re one of a kind aren’t you?”

Asa smiled wide. “I guess so!”

“So… Do you have powers from all of your godly relatives?”

“Up to my great great grandmother.”

“That’s pretty cool Asa… So how come you didn’t want to show me your powers when I asked you? They’re really cool.”

“Because I can only control them when I have enough adrenaline.”

Nico nodded. “So what you need is a teacher. Someone who can help you control them.”

“Kyle was trying to…”

“Kyle was trying to use you… If you’ll let me, I could help you. It’s dangerous for anyone with immortal blood who can’t control their powers.”

“I know…” Asa said with a frown.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. When I first tried to summon a ghost with a Happy Meal, it came and threw a burger in my face.” Nico said with a small smile.

“Happy Meal?”

Nico shrugged. “The dead enjoy McDonalds.”

Asa laughed.

Nico laughed as well. “So you wanna get started?”

“Sure!”

There was a knock on Nico’s door.

“Come in.” Nico said.

Annabeth opened the door. “Morning boys. Breakfast is ready. I need to talk to Nico for a sec.”

Nico nodded and hopped down. “I’ll meet you in the dining room alright Asa?”

Asa hopped down. “Okay!” he said running off to the dining room.

Nico smiled at Asa then turned to Annabeth. “What is it?” he asked.

“What did he say? I’m so curious it’s killing me!” she replied.

“His grandfather is Zeus, but that’s not all…”

“Oh? Who’s his mom?”

“Hecate, but she has him call her Elizabeth for some reason. And he has even more godly blood on his father’s side…”

Annabeth’s eyes widened. “W-what?”

“Up to his great great grandmother. He has relations with Hades and Ares along with Zeus and Hecate.”

“You mean… they just kept… demigods with gods?!”

Nico nodded. “Do you have any idea how much immortal blood is in that kid?!”

Annabeth looked down and counted on her fingers. “…Holy shit…”

“What?”

Annabeth paled. “Asa is exactly 93.75% immortal…”

“Holy Hera…”

“And that means if it was in order of what you said… his powers are 50% Hecate, 25% Zeus, 12.5% Hades, and 6.25% Ares…”

Nico nodded. “So basically, the kid’s a ticking time bomb…”

Annabeth shrugged. “Maybe… I have to tell Percy…”

“He said he can’t control his powers…”

“We’ll teach him.”

Nico nodded and Annabeth ran off.

_

Annabeth ran straight into Percy’s room. “Um… Issue…”

Percy, who had been asleep in his chair, sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Um… Asa is exactly 93.75% immortal…”

Percy’s eyes widened as he fell from his chair unconscious.

“Percy!” Annabeth shouted as she caught him.

Percy groaned and opened his eyes again. “W-what did you just say?”

“93.75%.”

Percy sat back up straight in his chair, but didn’t say anything.

“That’s the percentage of how immortal Asa is…?”

Percy nodded. “I understand… I’m trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…”

“We’re going to train him.”

Percy nodded. “Okay…”

_

Nico walked into the dining room and grabbed a muffin as he sat down next to Asa who was already eating his breakfast. “Hey.”

Asa smiled. “Hey! What was Annabeth doing?”

“She just wanted to ask me what we were talking about.”

“Did you tell her? She should know.”

Nico nodded. “Yeah…”

“What did she say?”

“… She says you’re 93.75% immortal.”

Asa dropped his fork. “What?” he asked with wide eyes and a blank expression.

“You heard me.”

“But-how…that’s impossible…”

“Apparently not. You have powers from your other, Zeus, Hades, and Ares.”

“But… I’m just a kid…”

Nico put a hand on his shoulder. “Asa, it’s alright. There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“But-but-but-“

Nico lightly elbowed him. “Shut up and eat your breakfast.”

Asa nodded and continued eating what was on his plate.

Nico took another bite of his muffin.

“I never even considered that kind of thing…” Asa said.

Nico shrugged. “It just makes you really special, I guess.” he said with a small smile.

“Oh… Doesn’t it make me dangerous…?”

Nico thought for a moment. “Well, that depends. Do you plan on going on a rampage and destroying everything in your path?”

“No…”

“Then you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Asa nodded. “Good.”

Nico got up from his seat. “Come on. We should start your training.” he said walking toward the exit.

Asa nodded and followed him.

_

Nico led Asa out to the deck and started setting up a small table placing several items on it.

Asa watched him carefully. “What’s that?”

Nico finished setting it up and pulled up a chair to either side. “Training level one.” He sat in one chair and gestured for Asa to sit in the other one.

Asa sat down and looked at the items on the table.

Nico placed a marshmallow in front of him. “First, we’ll work on your telekinesis. Hit me with the marshmallow.”

Asa squinted his eyes in concentration and the marshmallow moved an inch.

Nico nodded and thought for a moment. “… Okay, close your eyes.”

Asa closed his eyes.

“Good. Now imagine I’m a giant hellhound. That marshmallow is your sword. I’ve got you pinned down and your sword clattered out of your hands and out of reach. The only way to stop me from killing you is to make the sword fly at my head.”

Asa concentrated and marshmallow flew across the deck and off of the ship. “Did I do it?”

Nico watched the marshmallow fly until it was out of sight. “Um… Just a little too much power on that one…”

“Oh…”

Nico placed a pillow on the table. “Let’s try this. The pillow is… a pizza box. The trash can is a few feet away…” Nico looked over his shoulder and saw Percy walking by. “Percy’s the trash can. Throw away the box.”

Asa smiled and the pillow went flying at Percy.

Percy screamed. “AH! PILLOW ASSAULT!”

Asa and Nico laughed.

“Very funny…” Percy said throwing the pillow at Nico and walking into his room.

Nico chuckled. “Good job.”

“Wanna see what else I can do?” Asa asked.

Nico nodded. “Go for it.”

“It’s kind of silly, but…” Asa took a few things and started scattering them on the table like a small forest. He hovered his hands over his creation and made a small cloud appear over it with crashing thunder and lightning as a thick purple fog rolled in. “I can make my own haunted forest!”

Nico nodded with a smile. “That’s pretty impressive Asa.”

Asa shrugged. “It’s just a party trick. It’s nothing.”

“I think it’s pretty cool.”

Asa shook his head. “Kyle told me it was useless.”

“Oh yeah?” Nico reached into the small forest and pulled out a miniature cyclops. “I bet you can make use of this little guy.” he said setting it down in front of Asa.

“I don’t know…”

“Just try.”

Asa thought for a moment and twirled his finger in the purple smoke. It started to surround the cyclops and it grew to about two feet tall. The smoke dissipated and Asa tapped the cyclops. It started dancing. “See? It’s a party trick.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “See if you can make him stop dancing.”

Asa sighed and tapped the cyclops again, but that did nothing. “Stop dancing?” That didn’t work either. “…Attention!”

The cyclops stopped dancing and stood at attention.

Nico nodded. “Good. I think he’s ready for you to give him orders.”

“I think we should call him Urik. It sounds cool.”

Nico nodded. “Sounds good. See what you can get Urik to do.”

Asa nodded. “Urik speak!” he ordered.

“Potato.” Urik responded.

Nico chuckled a little. “Maybe be a little more specific?”

“…Urik, what is the product of 78 times 91?”

“7,098.” Urik replied.

Nico nodded.

“Thank you Urik.” Asa said. Urik shrank back down to his normal size and Asa put him in his pocket. “Now what?”

“Well, now we can work on your other powers.” Nico said. “Since I’m a son of Hades how about we work on those powers first?”

“Oh, I don’t know… I don’t have a lot of Hades power…”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t use them. You just might not have them as powerful as a direct descendant.”

“Okay…”

“Alright. We’ll start with shadow travel. Concentrate on where you want to be and just imagine yourself being in that spot. Start off with just to this side of the table.”

Asa closed his eyes and concentrated, but nothing happened.

“You can do it.” Nico said with confidence.

Asa still didn’t move an inch.

Nico waited another moment then sighed. “You might just be tired. We’ll work on it later.”

Asa nodded. “…Can I try summoning?”

Nico nodded. “Sure. Just tell Percy he has to stop at McDonalds.”

_

Asa took Urik out of his pocket and brought him back to two feet tall. “Urik, please go find Captain Percy and tell him to stop at McDonalds.”

Urik nodded and ran to Percy’s room where Percy lay sleeping at his desk. “WAKE UP!” Urik yelled.

“AHH!” Percy screamed. “WHAT IS IT NOW?”

“Master says to stop at McDonalds.”

“McDonalds?”

Urik shrugged and waddled back out to the deck.

Percy watched him leave confused. “…I’m not even going to ask anymore…” he mumbled to himself setting the ship’s course for the nearest McDonalds.

When they got there Asa and Nico climbed off of the ship. Nico handed Asa a ten dollar bill. “Go get your Happy Meal.”

Asa ran inside and came back out with the fast food a few minutes later.

Nico nodded. “Good. Now come on. We can’t do it here. Don’t wanna freak out the mortals.”

Asa nodded. “True.”

Nico took Asa’s hand and shadow traveled them about two miles away.

_

“First, you have to dig a hole.” Nico said when they reached a big empty field.

Asa took Urik from his pocket and made him really big. He made a shovel as well and handed it to him. “Urik, dig!”

Urik nodded and dug a deep hole climbing out and shrinking back to normal size when he finished.

“Good.” Nico said. “Now empty the food and drink into the hole.”

Asa did as he said. “What now?”

Nico wrote down the ritual words on a piece of paper and handed it to Asa. “Say this.”

“Just say it?”

“Yep.”

Asa started reading the words and ghosts started popping up all around them. He finished and looked up at Nico. “Did it work?” he asked completely oblivious to the ghosts behind him.

“You tell me.” Nico replied gesturing around them.

Asa turned around and yelped. “Wow I- …Dad…?”

The ghost he was staring at walked up to the hole and bent down to drink turning to flesh and blood as he stood. “Hi son.” he said with a smile.

Asa started to cry. “Daddy why did you have to go?”

His father hugged him. “It’s okay Asa… We all have to go sometime… My time just came earlier than most people.”

“You didn’t deserve it…” Asa said sobbing into his shirt.

“Nobody deserves it son… But just because you can’t always see me doesn’t mean I’m not there. I’ve been watching over you and I couldn’t be more proud.”

“Please don’t leave me again…” Asa said clutching his dad’s shirt tightly.

“Asa, I can’t stay forever…”

“Why not?” Asa said quietly.

“You know just as well as I do that nothing lasts forever…”

“I know… I haven’t seen you in two years…”

“I know son and I’ve missed you more than you’ll ever know.” Henry’s form started to shimmer. “I have to go back now.” he said kissing Asa’s forehead and hugging him tight. “I love you son.”

“No, no, no! Come back, please!” Asa said grabbing desperately onto his father. “I can’t do this without you!”

Henry sighed and knelt down next to Asa. His form was now see-through. “Yes you can Asa. You’re strong and brave and you can do amazing things. I believe in you.”

“No I can’t. I feel so alone Dad. Mom’s not here anymore. I want you to come back.”

“But you’re not alone Asa. I’ll always be with you as long as you remember me. You’ve got good friends and your mother is watching over you too.”

Asa started to break down.

Henry started flickering between transparent and invisible. “I can’t hold on much longer. Please don’t cry son… You have to let me go…”

“No. I won’t ever let you go Daddy. I’ll see you soon, I promise.”

Henry’s expression turned concerned. “No Asa! It’s not your time yet.”

Asa shook his head. “Bye Dad…”

Henry reached his hand out. “Asa!” he shouted as he faded away.