"Jon's alive."
Percy narrowed his eyes, "tell me he's alive in the last book."
Annabeth looked at her table, "sorry Percy got to run! Better finish my breakfast fast so that we can get to Ed's place early!"
"Annabeth!" Percy cried out after her, "tell me Jon Snow's alive in the last book! Tell me!"
"Percy sit down," Thalia grabbed him as he tried to chase after Annabeth, "and if you're that curious about the fifth book just read the damn thing."
Percy grumbled, "fine.....hey Thalia I was wondering-"
"-No, we are not going to name our firstborn son Robb. And no we cannot get an albino wolf and name it Ghost."
Percy puffed his cheeks, "fine.....spoil sport."
Thalia rolled her eyes as soon they began to eat their breakfast. Second breakfast in Percy's case, but considering he was going to be doing a lot of running today he figured he needed the extra energy.
When they were finished Thalia and Percy kissed each other goodbye as they went their separate ways. Thalia went to train with Mera again, which was happening more often these days. Percy figured it was just an excuse to beat each other up senselessly.
Percy now stood near the barrier tree as Annabeth walked up to him. "You ready?" Percy asked her.
"Yeah," Annabeth nodded, "I called Ed ahead and asked him to be ready for us. He said to come to his office, the place where you first meet."
Percy nodded, "I know the place," he reached into his inventory and pulled out his goggles, "let's go."
Annabeth nodded as Percy carried her and put her into his inventory. He closed it and then turned towards the main road. He slipped into an Time ID and once safely inside the empty world he took off at max speed.
Thalia was the one who actually suggested it when he told her about the time he trained in Tactile telekinesis. After she got over the fact that Percy was basically a psychic now, Thalia had the brilliant idea of traveling through ID's.
It would allow him to travel at his max speed without worrying about the damage he would casue to his surroundings. Plus if he used his time dilation ID he could cut down on his traveling time in the real world.
Percy tore through the streets as a sonic boom exploded outwards as he tore through the streets of NY. He then took Highway I-90 E and ran towards Boston, the first place he ever visited as a full fledge demigod on a quest.
Percy's max speed was 935 miles per hour, Boston was around 200 miles away. He reached the city in 15 minutes, and since he was in a time dilution ID that meant in the real world only 4 minutes had passed.
The moment Percy saw the city in the horizon he began to slow down. He learnt his lesson from last time, he eventually got used to stopping at his max speed, no more crashing into building for him!
Just then Percy tripped on a rock and fell down rolling head over heels down the road as he crashed through the front window of an IHOP. Percy groaned as he pulled himself out of the wreckage, maybe he needed to work on his landing a little bit more.
Percy quickly got back on his feet and ran into the city. He soon located Half-Blood Inc, the building hadn't changed one bit. He ran to an alley way and slipped out of the time dilation ID. The sky turned blue again as slowly the sound of cars and people surrounded Percy one more.
He opened his inventory and took Annabeth out placing the girl on the floor. "How long has it been?" she asked looking at her phone to adjust the clock.
"Four minutes, give or take," Percy replied as they walked to the building in question.
"Four minutes? Have you been working on your speed?"
"Something like that. Unfortunately I can only use it for travel, won't be useful at all for actual combat."
Annabeth nodded as she put away her phone looking at the building, It was build, shiny and had Half-Blood Inc. written on top of the entrance in bronze. They went inside and the lobby was filled with Greek paintings and sculptures.
"Ed is really pushing it with all the Greek stuff," Annabeth commented as she looked around.
Percy chuckled, "tell me about it. When Luke, Grover and I were first searching for him we weren't sure if this is the guy we were looking for. Sure Neak is a pretty unique last name but we could be mistaken. But the moment we stepped into the lobby we knew we had the right guy."
Annabeth nodded as they passed through security. Percy let them check him freely while Annabeth used the Mist to prevent them from opening her map case, she was very possessive of the thing.
Soon they were cleared and Percy took out his phone and called up Ed.
"We are here," Percy said the moment Ed picked up.
"Really? That was quick."
"I've been working on a new way to travel," Percy replied, "where do we have to go now?"
"Sit tight, I'll be down there in a sec."
The man soon arrived in the lobby wearing a lab coat over a grey shirt and a very big pair of jeans that was being held up by a very tightly wound belt.
"What's with the lab coat?" Percy asked the man as the gave each other a hug.
"No reason, just like it is all," Ed replied as he took them to the elevator. Once inside he pressed the button for the 32nd floor closing the lift before anyone else could get in.
"So your looking nice," Percy told him.
Ed nodded, "yeah, finally got some rest and relaxation. By the way Percy ah, did your mom mention me at all?"
Percy blinked, "ah, no, she didn't. Why?"
"Nothing!" Edward snapped, "no reason at all."
Percy frowned in confusion while Annabeth just rolled her eyes. Soon they reached the 32nd floor and Ed lead them down a long white corridor with white doors lining the wall.
"This place reminds me of that scene in the Matrix where they are looking for the Architect and go down that corridor with no windows or exits, only doors," Percy commented.
"Thank you," Edward smirked, "that was exactly what I was going for. Kind of a Matrix/crazy scientist vibe."
Percy nodded as they walked to the end of the corridor where a single white door was waiting for them. Edward took out his keychain and used it to unlock the door. 'Huh, so it also functions as a real keychain. Wonder of Riptide or Waverider can work as a real pen?'
Ed lead them into a room which was basically like a mad scientist's panic room. There were several drawing on the floor with the work table that was pressed up against the wall littered with gadgets and other items that Percy couldn't identify immediately.
In the center of the room was a big white table that Ed walked towards. He pressed a button on the side causing the table surface to light up revealing a large screen.
"So that's your computer?" Annabeth asked as she took off her map case and opened it up taking out the map.
"Yeah, I like it this way," Edward pressed several buttons on the screen causing the table surface to turn into a google map image of Gardiner's island, "so this is the island you bought."
Percy nodded, "yeah.....I still can't believe that I own this massive thing."
Edward nodded, "agreed. It's 13 square kilometers of pure unused land. 7 Km across and 3 Km wide. You definitely can build a lot here. Maybe not a city, but enough for demigods."
Percy nodded as Annabeth unwrapped the map she and Percy designed and put it on the table. Edward shrinked the google map on his screen and compared the images side by side.
On Percy's map was the location and basic structure of where and what they wanted the Haven to look like.
The Haven would be built in the heart of the island. The only standing major structure on Gardiner's island was the old mansion currently abandoned. The mansion however was located a bit towards the south west, the rest of the island wasn't even touched.
Percy wanted the Haven to be located near a small lake called Willow Brook that drained into the Tobacco Lot pond. The flora over there was practically non existent, it would be easy to make a settlement there.
Plus it was a great defensive position. The Northern edge of the island had a large and steep cliff side while West was covered with a dense forest. If anyone was to attack the Haven they could only come from the South or the East.
"So what do you want to put in it?" Edward asked as he marked the location of the Haven site on his own map.
"Well we kind of have a list," Annabeth admitted as she pulled out another map, this one featured a beautifully done sketch of a settlement.
"This is amazing," Edward said as he took up the drawing, "did you do this?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah. With a few suggestions from Percy."
Edward laid out the sketch on the table as Percy leaned over. He pointed to the center of the Haven sketch, "this is going to be out meeting place come gathering hall. I call it 'The Hearth'. In ancient Greece they had a place like this where the leaders of the country would discuss about the future. This will be like that, but bigger. I want to follow the Roman way of involving everyone possible. So we make this a public place of sorts."
"It's going to be circular," Annabeth took over, "with a transparent dome on top, or maybe just a giant hole to let out the fumes of the fire. It won't have any walls, just giant white pillars. The entire building will be raised up a few feet, and the inside will be similar to an Amphitheatre with seats carved into the stone slowly going towards. We might have to dig into the Earth or something, but it should work. In the center will be the hearth, Percy insisted. Around the hearth will be a platform for people to stand and talk on."
Edward nodded, "okay, and this?" He pointed to a building north of The Hearth. It was a simple square shaped building standing three floors up. The ground floor had wide open doors but the top had only a few small windows.
"That's the war building. We'll use it as a war room/ armoury," Annabeth explained. "We'll have all our weapons inside, it'll be the first place we go to when we are under attack, hence it also functions as a war council of sorts. The building may be three floors tall, we won't have that many floors inside. There will just be platforms and skeleton walkways leading up to the windows, but that's just if we need to defend the place from attackers. Kind of like a last resort escape point."
Edward nodded, "and this is obviously a hospital," he pointed to the building on the right of The Hearth. Percy and Annabeth nodded and offered no additional input. Ed then looked to the empty plot of land on the left, "and what's this for?"
Percy shrugged, "honestly we didn't know what to put there. Plus it's kind of like insurance policy, incase we need to put something up there in the future."
Ed nodded and turned to the last building in the center of the Haven, "and this is what?"
Percy looked at what Ed was pointing at. It was an old style Greek looking building. Annabeth copied its design off of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. It had a triangular roof and thick walls with pillars supporting its sides.
"It's the museum," Percy responded. Ed raised an eyebrow, "well you see I figured we needed to showcase our victories and accomplishments. Everything a camper in camp half-blood does is put inside the attic of the Big House and forgotten. It's like, 'wow, you defeated a monster when you were 12? Awsome! Now give me that spoils of war you got and let me just throw it into the attic along with all the other junk.'"
Annabeth smiled, "honestly it never even occurred to me. I always just thought of the stuff up there as junk, but Percy is right, they are trophies from previous quests completed and deserve to be treated with respect."
Ed nodded, "well I like it kid. Nice idea. Now let's move on to the others."
Surrounding the four buildings were 12 temples, each 50 meters wide featuring a symbol.
"These are the temples of the Gods," Percy grumbled, "figured if we don't add them they might curse the place out of spit or something."
Ed chuckled, "good call."
"Thanks," Annabeth replied, "anyway we figured we would make each building about 50 meters wide. Probably just go for a simplistic approach here. Maybe just a single structure with a giant statue of the God in the center."
Ed nodded, "yeah...that could work. Have them on a raised platform with a circular dome over their temples. We'll have pillars around to support the domes and maybe a wall or something in the back where we inscribe a chant or a blessing or even a story about the God. Then the statue and of course a platform for offerings and other items."
Annabeth nodded, "great. Then all that's left is the houses."
"Ah, no, not just yet," Edward stopped Annabeth, "what about the minor Gods?"
Annabeth shrugged, "what about them?"
"We need to build temples for them as well you know," Ed said, "they may be minor Gods, but they are still important."
"We can't build temples for them," Annabeth stated with a sigh.
"And why not?"
"Because the Olympians will not like them getting the same treatment as they are," Percy supplied, "maybe we can build them shrines instead. Put them all over the place you know, like polka dots on a sundress."
Ed and Annabeth nodded, "sounds good. They get their shrines and the Olympians keep their ego intact. Everyone wins."
Annabeth smiled, "now as I was saying, for the haven I was thinking we given each person their own home. Like a real city. Being forced to have roommates isn't something you want for the rest of your life. So maybe we have apartments instead of cabins. We'll have one behind each temple, and each district will be known as that God's district. Like the apartment building and all the other buildings behind the Poseidon temple will be known as the Poseidon district. Like that, but for every single temple."
Ed nodded, "great. So after the apartment complexes you guys have just given a large amount of free space, any reason for that?"
"We don't really know what to do with it all," Annabeth admitted, "we could have made the settlement smaller, true, but it just felt like we needed more, you know?"
Ed nodded, "yeah, I get it. Maybe we can think of something up."
"Right," Annabeth smiled, "and then after all of that we have the 5 meter thick walls surrounded this entire structure. Along with a few more added protections here and there."
Ed nodded, "nice."
"Just like a pizza slice," Percy supplied with a smile. Annabeth and Edward gave him a strange look, " what? Look the Haven is going to be circular in shape, so imagine that each piece of it is going to be divided up like a slice of pizza. So we have the temple of an Olympian on the very tip of the pizza slice. The large slices of pepperoni will be the apartment complexes and the small black olives sprinkled around will be the shrines to the minor Gods. And the thick crust at the very end is like the wall surrounding the Heaven."
