CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR

New Threads Fit for Demigods, Part 1

Thunder couldn’t ignore the calls of her fans though, and she gave them a wave—causing more gleeful screaming to rise from the street—before she shoved Sam into the safety of Mr. Moonday’s shop.

Mandy, the pumpkin-haired sales clerk who’d been extra-rude to Sam during his previous visits gave him the same surly greeting. “Oh, it’s you again… Thrift shop’s over on—”

“Hi, we’re here with an appointment,” Thunder piped up.

Mandy turned an annoyed glare at Thunder and then her face lit up like a bolt of lightning had zapped her.

“Oh—my—god!” she clapped excitedly. “It’s Thunder. Thunder’s in the store!”

Mandy took Thunder’s hand and shook it without any prompting. It was a complete one-eighty from how she treated Sam.

“I’m, like, your biggest fan,” she admitted with glittering eyes.

Thunder flashed Mandy a red-carpet smile, and the pumpkin-haired sales clerk looked like she was about to swoon.

“Can I get you refreshments?” Mandy asked. “Coffee, iced tea, soft drinks, my blood?”

Sam’s brow creased. “Why don’t you ever treat me this nicely when I’m here alone?”

Mandy glared at Sam for interrupting her meet and greet with Thunder.

“I’m allergic to losers,” she replied savagely.

“Um, he’s not a loser anymore, actually,” Thunder countered.

Thunder pulled out her smartphone and showed Mandy the screen which Sam saw was tuned in to a New York Post article that had the words HERCULEAN, NEW YORK’S NEWEST ALPHA scrawled at the top of the page. A photo of Sam from when he was climbing the steps of the Wardens Abbey was featured below the headline.

“No—freaking—way.” Mandy’s jaw dropped. “Uh-uh. No way. Him?!”

“Everyone’s a critic,” Sam sighed. Then he noticed Thunder’s smile. “Y-you knew already?”

She shrugged. “The results were kind of obvious even before you took the assessment, don’t you think?”

As a fellow Argonaut trainee, Thunder would have known that Sam couldn’t go lower than a gamma. Still, her belief in him getting the highest rating imaginable helped to drown out the chagrin of the pumpkin-haired sales clerk who was continuing to shake her head in disbelief.

“How can I guy with zero sense of style become a…” she mumbled. “No way… this has to be a mistake.”

Thankfully, a silver-haired, brown-skinned man in a three-piece silver suit appeared just in time to rescue Sam from Mandy’s accusing stare.

“Mandy, what did I say about being rude to customers?” Mr. Moonday prompted.

“I shouldn’t do it because they’ll stop”—she eyed Sam warily—“sorry… Your next appointment’s here, Mr. Moonday.”

“Indeed, they are.” Wrinkles formed around his eyes as Mr. Moonday smiled at Sam and Thunder. “Come, come. I’ve got your commissions prepared.”

He ushered the two heroes into the back elevator that carried them down into his underground workshop which doubled as a sprawling labyrinthian warehouse filled with row upon row of storage racks full to bursting with wooden crates and plastic containers and metal cases that held many of Mr. Moonday’s newly finished commissions and prototypes. The scent of lavender hung in the air to supposedly keep evil spirits and horrors away, but Sam guessed that the cannons mounted at intervals along the neat rows of racks were an even better deterrent against would-be thieves.

“It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a project that brought all my skills to bear,” Mr. Moonday admitted excitedly as he led them across the cement floor.

“You’ve finished them already?” Thunder asked. “It’s been less than three days since we gave you the commission though.”

“As I said, yours was an interesting challenge that was a delight to tackle,” Mr. Moonday replied pleasantly.

Once they arrived in front of the line of furnaces installed into the workshop’s back wall, Sam felt a heat that would put the Crucible’s volcanic crater to shame. The fires of the furnaces weren’t lit though. The heat permeating the air had come from a different source—the anvil that was the centerpiece of the clearing they walked into.

Situated at the top of a series of wide steps was a silver anvil that was almost glass-like in its sheen. A glowing eta—the ancient Greek letter H—was sprawled on the side of the anvil’s silver surface. Heat wafted out of the anvil and turned the surrounding air hazy.

“Material like the one you gave me required the use of Hephaestus’s Anvil to temper,” Mr. Moonday explained.

Sam wished he’d seen it; Mr. Moonday banging his hammer against the Nemean Lion’s fur as it lay across Hephaestus’s Anvil. That must have been quite the sight.

“This way, Mr. Shepard,” Mr. Moonday called.

He brought the heroes to a nearby metal table that had a conveyor belt installed behind it. They wouldn’t need the conveyor belt though because the items Mr. Moonday had prepared were already hanging from mannequins to show off the way they would look when worn.

“Holy…” Sam began, to which Thunder finished with, “…Zeus.”

The female mannequin wore Thunder’s new suit which looked quite different from the one she’d been wearing in the last adventure. The new armor retained her colors of white and gold, but the one-piece skintight suit had been replaced by a white leather bodice topped by a shiny white breastplate with a high collar. Jagged bands of gold shaped to resemble twin lightning bolts fell across the bodice to pierce the tip of the golden belt around the waist.

“It’s got a skirt now,” Sam noticed.

“I had a warrior’s skirt in my first suit. I kind of missed that look,” Thunder admitted.

Her fingers grasped the hem of the short white leather skirt that had been shaped like an M to cover the groin area while allowing the legs free movement. Underneath the skirt was skintight white pants made of the same white leather as the bodice.

“I like it,” Thunder whistled appreciatively. “The leather… it’s so supple. And the patterns, they’re beautiful.”

Layered over the leather were swirling patterns indicative of Olympian hereditary design, giving the new armor texture and character one didn’t often see on hero suits.

“The Nemean Lion’s leather was excellent material for your armor. As light as a feather but as hard as dragon scales,” Mr. Moonday said proudly.

In addition to its main piece, Thunder’s new suit also included golden armbands that resembled the shape of lightning bolts, a pair of sturdy-looking golden bracelets, and a matching pair of white boots with adjustable golden greaves.

“I’ll say it if you won’t… I’m going to miss the sandals,” Sam teased.

Thunder resisted the urge to smile. “It looks good though, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but how’s it looking stat-wise?” Sam wondered.

He made a showing of tapping the side of his mask, but what Sam did was call on Triple-A’s inspection feature to give him insight on Thunder’s new threads. Its response was surprising, to say the least.

ALERT! Unable to determine the status of [Bright Armor of the Lioness], [Thunderous Armbands], [Bracelets of Adamant], [Greaves of the Lightning Lady], and [Belt of Olympian Strength]. Mr. Moonday has placed a high-level concealment charm on them so that only the user may be aware of their capabilities.

That paranoid old goat. Chiron sounded impressed. To which Sam added, “I can’t inspect it…”

A light chuckle escaped Mr. Moonday’s lips. “I wondered if my charms would work against your… little friend.”

Who’re you calling ‘little,’ wise guy? Chiron complained.

Sam always assumed Mr. Moonday knew the truth about Triple-A, and now he was sure of it. Chiron was quick to remind Sam not to admit to anything though. Don’t confirm anything, kid, or I’ll never live it down if he catches wind of my tactics…

“Yours looks pretty cool too,” Thunder said, drawing Sam’s attention to the male mannequin to the left of the female one. After seeing Thunder’s suit, Sam was afraid he would find his to be underwhelming, but he needn’t have worried. “Holy Zeus… this looks…”

“Badass?” Thunder supplied.

Sam nodded. “And it’s so—”

“Not like you?” Thunder teased. “True.”

Sam glanced to his right and found Thunder smirking at him. “How about you focus on your suit and not channel Ashley and ruin my moment here.”

“Hey, someone has to bust your chops once in a while. Wouldn’t want New York’s newest alpha to get a big head, you know,” Thunder teased again.

“I don’t have a big head…” he sighed.

The new version retained Herculean’s colors of blue and bronze, but the suit was a much darker shade of blue now. It even looked black when seen from an angle with low lighting.

“I thought you might appreciate stealth more than something flashy like Thunder’s outfit,” Mr. Moonday explained.

The suit’s main piece, its cuirass, kept the ancient Greek aesthetic of resembling an ideal male form. There were new shiny bronze plates over the chest area though, and the cuirass’s high collar was now lined with black fur.

Sam’s fingers brushed against the fur lining which he noticed was soft to the touch. “Is this from the Nemean Lion’s mane?”

“I assumed you would prefer your Mask of the Argonaut over a lion’s head helm, so I gave the mane a new utility.” Mr. Moonday brushed his fingers against the black fur collar. “This will protect your neck better than an adamantine gorget could.”

“Imagine if you had this on when Mr. Crimson bit you,” Thunder commented, causing Sam to blush furiously from the memory of that mistake. “I like it. It’s a more fashionable look compared to the museum display you used to wear.”

“It’s like Ashley’s possessing you right now,” Sam sighed.

Thunder leaned over to inspect the armor’s plates. “Hey, look, you’ve finally got a crest of your own.”

It had been expertly plaited into the bronze plates that Sam thought Mr. Moonday was merely giving texture to the chest part of the cuirass. But now that Thunder pointed it out, he could see the lion’s face over the bronze, and it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. Besides Thunder at full power, that is.

“Hephaestus’s flaming beard,” Sam breathed.

“I thought it was time for you to have a crest. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve taken liberties on the design,” Mr. Moonday chimed in.

Sam shook his head. “I don’t mind at all… Not one bit.”

GUESS WHAT...

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