Chapter 54: Thou shall feed thy cat fish

' Percy '

...

So when I passed out I decided to take some time to rest, Haha! Of course not.

Instead, I was back at the burning fire engine, or at least the partial burning fire engine because there was a hole in the middle.

Yeah, my fault.

In front of the burning fire engine stood my lovely sister and lycaon.

Despina glared angrily at Lycaon.

"You fled in the middle of the battle!" Despina yelled.

Lycaon growled, "Don't you dare to speak to me like that winter goddess."

Despina snorted, "I talk to you like I want, and right now you are a coward."

"I did not flee." Lycaon said.

"You and your stupid dogs ran away, that's what they call flee!" Despina said with anger in her eyes.

Lycaon took out something from his, pocket?, it was a silver device, not larger than a tv remote and with a shock I realized what it was.

A detonator, it was the same type Nero had when he tried to blow my friends up.

Despina's eyes widened, "You didn't."

Lycaon grimaced, "Flee? It was a distraction, one of my werewolves placed a bomb under the van."

Despina struck so fast I could barely see it, she raised her hand and her sword ice solidified and pierced the detonator, still in Lycaon's hand, and completely destroyed it.

Lycaon stepped back in shock, "What?"

Despina stepped closer and began to form around her, "Your plan was to blow them up!" she yelled.

Lycaon growled, "you imbecile!"

Despina laughed, "So it's true, when the gods turned you into a wolf they took your balls."

Lycaon's face turned red, "Watch your words! You ruined my plan!"

"Backstabbing? Blowing up things like a coward?" she stepped closer and I noticed the sky began to darken, "You are a coward, from now on we'll do it my way."

Lycaon stepped closer to Despina so now they stood face to face, "You don't command me." he sneered.

Despina laughed.

"It's my pack." Lycaon said, "I am the wolf king, I am in control."

Despina placed her hand on Lycaon's shoulder, ice began to crawl up his skin and I wondered why did not step back until Despina said, "Feel that you stupid dog? That's your blood freezing."

Lycaon growled but there was fear in his eyes.

"So," Despina smirked, "Do you feel in control?"

Lycaon stayed silent.

Despina released Lycaon from her grip and Lycaon sighed in relief, she turned around to face the fire engine, "From now on I decide the rules and rule number one. I am the only one who is allowed to touch and kill my brother."

Lycaon opened his mouth to protest but Despina cut him of, "Go fetch the other dogs, we are going to Washington."

Then my dream shifted.

Now I was standing in front of a throne.

Commodus sat on the throne and smiling, "Send the around 40 Blemmyae to New York and 12 to Cloudcroft the rest must stay inactive."

I could not see who he was speaking too but it must have been someone important.

He then looked straight at me, "Don't worry about the hunter, I'll send the birds."

Before I could wonder what the birds meant, or who the hunter was, I woke up.

Thalia was shaking me and I tried to tell her that I was already awake.

"Oh, fine you are still alive." she said.

"Where are we?" I asked still dazed.

She smirked, "Washington, we are at the National Air and Space Museum."

I got up and noticed we were still in the van, "Done sleeping?" Zoë asked.

I nodded, "Yup, let's watch some rockets!"

Zoë had parked the van a street away from the museum, we crossed the road and made our way over to the front of the museum.

Like we practiced Nyx suddenly said, "Oh, I need to go."

She stepped into my shadow and disappeared.

"Where did she go?" Zoë asked.

I shrugged, "She needs to go to the toilet." I lied.

'You are a terrible liar.' Hemera said.

'You know a better lie?' I asked and Hemera silent.

Zoë shrugged and we entered the museum.

The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights.

There were just a few people here, though I noticed one glanced suspiciously at us and immediately left the building.

"So what's here?" Zoë asked.

I shrugged, "All the arrow said was go to the museum."

"How reliable is your arrow?" Bianca said.

"On a scale one to ten? Totally not." I answered.

We took a stroll through the museum, when we reached the top level Nyx stepped out of the shadow from the Apollo space shuttle.

She looked worried and threw her arms up, "Oh no!"

I was praying she had not forgotten her text.

"What's wrong?" Thalia asked.

"I went to the Natural Museum and saw Dr John." Nyx said faking exhaustion.

'Doctor Thorn.' I corrected her.

"I mean Doctor Thorn, I saw him with Spartus he had 12 of those skelly warriors."

She looked at the smug writing on her hand and I had the urge to shout at her, "And I saw someone named the General. He's on our way."

At this point Nyx's voice was not filled with fear but more with boredom.

Luckily Nyx's randomness helped this time, No one was bothered to ask questions.

We ran down the ramp to the first floor.

Then we heard a few kids under us shout in excitement, "Kitty."

The Nemean lion I thought, then an idea popped up.

'Hey Chaos, can I tame the lion? I don't feel like killing one today.'

'Hey that's a cool idea, of course you could tame a lion.' Chaos immediately replied.

'You want to tame the lion?' Nyx asked.

'How can I tame it?' I asked.

'How much is your hand worth?' Chaos asked.

'Haha.'

Then I remembered something, Thou shalt feed thy cat! , the arrow of Dodona had said.

The arrow had oracle powers, albeit a bit weird and useless.

You shall feed your cat.

Nemean lion?

There was no more time for thinking, in front of us stood the Nemean lion.

He was the size of a pick up truck, had golden fur and silver claws that made scratch marks in the ramp.

"Animals were not allowed in the museum," Nyx pouted, "why is he allowed to break the rules?"

The Nemean lion did not like that, He roared and it was so loud it parted my hair.

"The Nemean lion!" Thalia said.

"Separate on my mark." Zoë said but I was focusing on something else.

How can I tame a wild lion.

Thou shalt feed thy cat!

Give it food, but what?

One word popped up; fish.

I closed my eyes and tried to summon food. According to Hestia I could summon home made food, did that include fish? I decided that Hestia's power alone was not enough.

Poseidon was the lord of the sea and all the inhabitants, but I could not summon fish.

'Combine them.' Chaos said, following my train of thought.

I opened my hand and imagine food, but not just food. Fish.

Simultaneously I let the power of the sea flow through me and though I was not even close to the coast I could feel the sea lurking inside me.

"Percy?" Bianca asked.

I opened my eyes and in front of me lay a dead shark.

"Is that an-" Zoë began.

I finished her sentence, "A white shark."

The Nemean lion meowed confused.

I stared at the lion's golden eyes.

"Want it?" I asked with fake confidence.

The Nemean lion stared back.

Somewhere in my head I realized it could also attack us and take the dead shark later.

The lion opened his mouth and stared at the dead shark. Like it was saying, I am hungry.

"Percy…" Zoë muttered but I kept staring at the lion.

"If you want the shark you have to sit." I said.

'Sitting is a dog thing.' Hemera said.

For a few seconds nothing happened, and a question I should've asked earlier popped up in my mind.

Does it understand english?

The lion lay down and put its head between his front claws and

"No way." Thalia said with awe.

The Nemean lion meowed and opened his mouth and I had the idea he meant, give me the shark now.

I kicked the shark and it rolled down the ramp towards the lion.

The lion jumped up and bit of the head of the shark within a second, next second the shark was gone.

"Where's the shark?" I asked confused.

The shark could've not fitted inside the lion's belly, it was to big. Yet the lion had aten the entire shark.

On the other side, it also had a inpentrable fur so he was already used to ignoring the laws of nature.

The Nemean lion gave me a begging look.

Then underneath us a dozen gray men in gray camouflage outfits began running through the main hall their gaze aimed at Nyx.

"The Spartus." Zoë said and in her hand appeared a silver bow.

I turned towards the Nemean lion, "If you get rid of those guys you get a whale."

The Nemean lion roared.

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So Percy tamed the Nemean Lion, something I foreshadowed in chapter 10. That was so long ago. So now I need a name for the lion but I can't come up with one.

So if you know a good name for the Nemean Lion drop it in the comments , also outside battle the Nemean Lion will look like a regular cat thanks to the mist.

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