Soon we reached the train station. The train was already there but wouldn't leave for another half hour so we took our sweet time getting in and finding our sleep compartment. As soon as we entered Annabeth threw herself onto one of the two beds and fell asleep.
Grover and I remained awake, talking about different thing but eventually we came back to the stuff I said during the 2 truths and a lie game.
This time however I knew that he wasn't going to accept what I had said, since both of us knew that I was still keeping something from him and he wouldn't let it be until he knew why exactly I didn't say anything.
"So..." he began but I interrupted him before he could formulate any thing else.
"You know how I can manipulate my scent, right. But you also remember that the scent outside of Chirons office was most definitely a natural one, am I wrong?"
"Yeah, every monster has a unique scent, atleast one that helps determine their race. And the scent usually has a few markers that inform us satyrs if and who their divine parents are. This monster you claim to have made up should have smelled at least similar to you since it still "came" from you. But it didn't so sorry to say this, but there is no way the monster wasn't actually there."
It made sense what he had said, but Grover was missing one important key information. The fact that I had been manipulating my own scent from the day he met me. I knew it was time to tell Grover, atleast in some capacity, what I actually was. Because if I didn't do it now, I would likely lose his trust and friendship. Atleast Annabeth was fast asleep, so I didn't have to explain to her anything.
"So uh, here is the thing. You know of my father's titles, one of which is 'Father of Monsters', right? Do you really thing that a demigod of his wouldn't have atleast in some capacity features and powers that would reflect that title as well?"
For a moment he just listened, brows furrowed and then he sighned." But that still doesn't explain why you don't smell like one, Percy. There is not even a trace of the scent on you." and now comes the hard part, the one that would probably end this conversation for a few minutes.
"And what if I didn't want to smell like that, Grover. What if I didn't want to blow my cover as the child of Poseidon with a little bit more of one of his aspects than the others."
Grover stilled, thinking it through and I could practically hear what he was thinking, like if our friendship had been base on lies, if it was even real. But then Grover surprised me.
" Show me. Don't bother to hide it, I know it's you and I don't want my friends hiding something so important from me." but I had to stop him. The gods, especially my father, were currently watching and as much as I wanted to shed my human form, it got quite uncomfortable after some time, I wasn't willing to blow my cover like that.
" I can't Grover, but I can let go of my scent if you want. It would probably be strong enough to keep away any monsters and cover Annabeths as well."
"Sure thing, but Percy, one of these days you will show me. This is not something I want to be kept in the dark about."
A feeling of guilt slowly crept its way into my heart. Guilt from not telling anyone the actual prophecy and waiting for the inevitable to happen. I just hoped the fallout wouldn't be nuclear.
Wordlessly I unbound my scent Suppression, filling the compartment and part of the train with my scent, overwhelming the demigod and satyr scent with a mix of hot, molten metal, frozen and cold air, the scent of moss and a hint of something sweet and rotten.
Grovers face went green for a moment, clearly from nausea.
"What up with that scent, Percy? There isn't even a hint of the sea in it."
"Just wait a moment, it will come through after some time. It just takes a bit."
And as I had said, withing minutes the scent had changed, much like the seasons. Now there was the scent of sea air, wood and a slight hint of brimstone around us only to at the next second, violently change into reflections of my accessible domains, much like the scent from before. The scent of power, almost suffocating in nature, and undeniably monster like, filled the entire section of the train. Grover didn't notice much of the change since as of right now, he sat right inside of the equivalent of a hurricanes eye.
It wasn't violent or suffocating. There were no fluctuations either and yet the scent still remained, just of the level of a slightly scented candle. Grover seemed to relax slightly, maybe because I didn't see him as a threat or possible prey so the scent didn't issue any warnings in his head.
After a few minutes that it took for him to fully relax and grow used to it, Grover went to bed as well, as we had agreed that I would be their "nightguard".
While both of them slept, I began to fiddle with the stuff I had collected at the bus stop, deciding to make some potions and poisons for my encounter with Echidna. I will prepare something really nasty for her, just so that I can torment her.
I grabbed a used syringe, one that I knew a drug addict had used with a little bit of the substance still inside, then I found a cigarette, unused and finally I put a little bit of my own venom in a glass vial. Then I activated the skill Poison Creation.
All three ingredients floated in front of me, glowing slightly and then they began to melt, fragment and evaporate, all depending on which I wanted to do what. The syringe fragmented into fine dust, still with the substance on it. The cigarette began to melt, as if it had been made of ice and the Saliva began to evaporate before finally, the three ingredients flowed together, forming a new glass vial with a clear but bioluminescent glow. The skill gave me an insight on what it would do.
Laughter in a bottle:
This poison will cause it's victim to begin hallucinating while producing a lot of nicotine to make it first begin to grin and finally burst out in laughter. Meanwhile that is happening, the victims blood vessels will begin to rupture while the blood itself will begin to corrode organs.
The poison will work best on mortals, slightly less effective on Immortals but is incapable of affecting gods and divine beings.
Well, you can have everything in life. But who said I couldn't use a poison as and ingredient to make another poison? Because that was exactly what I was going to do.
I grabbed more ingredients, some of which may or may not originate from my inventory and made more poisons.
A mix of Demon blood (of which I had an endless supply of), fragments of Shriek metal and even a drop of sea snake venom (The demonic kind) made a poison that would slowly break the victims mind, feast on their soul and would slowly turn the body into energy, all of which would eventually, once the persons mind was broken and their soul gone, return to the person the poison was key to.
This poison had the same parameters as the first one since the ingredients weren't as highly concentrated and refined as they could have been. Still, I decided to use it and the first one to make a new poison. After I mixed the two with a third ingredient being my own blood, to savely key said poison to me, I had the final result but that one will remain a secret until we face her.
The next thing I did was trying out the Potion Creation.
It had about the same requirements as the other skill, but unlike the poison creation, this one was meant to derive and bring out the best possible effect of the ingredients.
As my first expiriment I used a feather of Onyx, you know the Nevermore I had hatched and bound to me as a familiar. The second ingredient was a liter of liquid shadow, a material I had acquired during my second Gacha, one I had now an endless supply of since it had been added to my Forge.
And the last ingredient was a bone, shed from Abraxas undead form. Yes, he sheds bones and yeah, I was just as confused as you are.
The Potion turned out somewhat useful but theoraticly speaking I could already do what this thing made possible.
Potion of the Dead Phoenix
This Potion will give the user the ability to turn into a gigantic undead and skeleton phoenix. You will be covered in thick, smoke like shadows. Abilities include shadow based immortality, Teleportation through shadows, black and cursed fire, a high aptitude for black and dark magic and the ability to summon armor made out of shadows.
Well, not everything could or should be used. Sure the Potion might help me in the future but I could already do all of that and with just three skills at that. Maybe it would find it's use somewhere else.