ATLOP: Lessons in Water

by WardofWinters (QoLife)

Summary:

Percy survived his first year at Camp Half-Blood, and made many friends along the way, though one tried to kill him at the end of the summer.

Now he needs to brave the realities of undersea politics, handle a custody dispute, and deal with land school all at the same time. Camp's barriers weakening after the winter solstice and a new activities director being pulled in did not make his summer session any calmer.

Why can't he just have one normal year on land? Makes him wish for Kym's storm-making lessons.

SEQUEL TO: ATLOP: Trial by Fire (must read that first to have any idea what's going on)

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the second book! We'll be starting off at camp :D

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Chapter 1: To Sea the Lost

Notes:

And book two is here! Hope you enjoy :D

Edited: 3/29/21

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Dionysus POV

Well, this was just a lovely day.

The sun was shining, the strawberries were growing, and two of the kids vanished from the camp one after the other.

I loved that.

I sighed and took a gulp of my Diet Coke.

A messenger came earlier to tell me that the Jackson boy had been attacked by a Pit Scorpion. They didn’t know who did it, but I could make a wild guess based on the other missing kid.

I knew that the Luke kid was angry, he’d been angry for a while, but for him to try to kill a camper?

I didn’t see that coming.

“Mr. D your drink is on fire,” Khiron said helpfully.

I blinked, so it was.

I waved my hand, dismissing the drink.

“Um…” I sighed, turning to the door.

Annabeth Chase stood there, her jaw clenched and her eyes filled with worry.

“Where’s Percy?”

Oh boy.

“Ah, Annabeth-“ Khiron faltered at her look.

“I saw the guy that came from the sea, he went through Percy’s cabin. I can’t find Percy anywhere. Why was he here? Where’s Percy?”

I sipped my Diet Coke. I was just glad we didn’t have to tell her he was dead. I always hated informing the kids that one of their friends died.

“Annabeth,” Khiron started again.

“He’s in the ocean,” I drawled.

She frowned, “Why?”

I sighed, “He had an unfortunate meeting with a Pit Scorpion, almost died, used some emergency magic thing, and is now in the sea. Oh, and that Luka Campbell boy left the camp, probably after trying to kill the Jackson kid.”

The girl recoiled, “What!?”

Khiron sighed, “We don’t know that Luke did it. He left yes, but… he wouldn’t’ve… he would never hurt one of the campers.”

Annabeth nodded, a fiercely defensive look on her face, “Luke would never! He… he was angry yeah, but he wouldn’t hurt Percy. He wouldn’t betray me- the camp like that.”

I studied her. Honestly, I pitied her. She dearly loved that boy, he was her older brother, and she definitely had one of those little mortal crushes on him. His betrayal would hurt her greatly, once she accepted it.

“We’re waiting for confirmation when the Jackson boy wakes up,” I waved my hand, leaning back in my seat. “Your family is here though, so you’ll have to go. Unless you wish to stay to wait for news.”

She hesitated, “I… I want to know what happened. When will he wake up?”

Khiron winced, “Ah, Pit Scorpion venom… honestly it’s a miracle that he’s expected to survive at all. We have no way of knowing when he’ll wake.”

She bit her lip, “I’ll stay. I want to know what happened…”

I shrugged, the poor girl was in denial. “Do whatever.”

She huffed and left. Marching out with a determined stride.

“Mr. D, you need to be more gentle with them,” Khiron lectured.

I rolled my eyes, being gentle would get them killed.

“Besides,” he continued. “We don’t know that it was Luke. He would never do that!”

They were all in denial. Heroes changed sides all the time, and that boy had been angry for a long time. I wasn’t sure who he joined, but it wasn’t someone on our side.

I sighed, we’d just have to wait and see.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Annabeth POV

I moved away from the Big House, keeping my expression steady.

Luke wouldn’t, he couldn’t, he would never… I knew he’d been angry, but he wouldn’t betray us! He wouldn’t try to kill Percy!

I swallowed, he wouldn’t.

I’d Iris Message him now and prove it. He’d answer and explain where he went and what happened and it would all be fine.

I hurried to the prism’s hanging at the back of the big house, there for easy Iris Messages.

I took a breath and pulled out a drachma.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

I tossed a drachma in and waited expectantly.

The rainbow shimmered for a moment, then suddenly spat the drachma back out.

That person is not available, please try again later.

That- that must have been some sort of error. Luke was just slightly out of range maybe, or maybe Iris was just on break.

I threw the drachma in again.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

That person is not available, please try again later.

I gritted my teeth. No.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

That person is not available, please try again later.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

That person is not available, please try again later.

Why?!

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

That person is not available, please try again later.

I took a shaky breath, this couldn’t be happening.

Please.

“Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me Luke Castellan!”

That person is not available, please try again later.

I slowly sank down against the big house wall.

Luke wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do it. He would never hurt a camper. He would never leave me.

He promised.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

My dad reluctantly understood that I needed to stay. His wife wasn’t happy about coming all this way to be told I wasn’t leaving, but I didn’t care what she thought.

I only decided to try again because Percy said maybe my dad didn’t know. I was giving him a chance, not her.

But Percy and Luke were far more important than my dad and his wife. I wasn’t leaving till I knew what happened.

It resulted in a lot of pacing.

Malcolm told me at least a dozen times to sit down, but I just couldn’t.

I itched to do something, but there was nothing to do but wait and it was killing me. Was Percy okay? What happened with Luke? I just wanted answers.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

It was three days before someone came again. Another figure rising from the water, dressed similarly and wearing those same bands around his arms.

He swept through the camp, side-stepping anyone that tried to get in his way. He moved smoothly up the steps and entered the big house.

I straightened. I was going to find out what was happening.

It was time to practice a little spying.

I put my hat on and snuck to the big house.

I had to step carefully to keep the boards from creaking, but I managed to slip in and hide by the door.

The water guy settled into a seat across from Mr. D.

“Well?” Mr. D asked in his usual drawl. “Who tried to kill the little sea prince.”

The guy sighed, “It was a boy named Luke. He tried to get Percy-aia to join him and his Lord, though his Lord was not named Percy-aia believes it to be the Time Lord. Percy-aia refused and this Luke summoned a Pit Scorpion.”

I froze, no, he… Luke…

I swallowed and tried to focus on what they were saying.

“-he’ll be on bed rest for another day or two, he was unconscious for over a day, and will have to do some physical therapy to recover from the poison. Thankfully ert Aipri is rather skilled at purification magic and was able to fight off the venom long enough for Maiava-fu’tao to administer the antidote. Truly we were lucky she had some on hand or else he would not have survived regardless.”

Mr. D sighed, “So the Godling will be returning to camp? He hasn’t filled out his form, but I’ll make an exception this one time on account of him almost being murdered.”

I shifted, was Percy coming back?

“Percy-aia will not be returning at this time. Poseidon-ore has decreed that he will be staying in the sea until he has fully recovered. He may return to the camp next summer, but not sooner.”

Mr. D hummed, “Well, good to hear the brat will live. It’d be troublesome to fill out the paperwork for his death.”

My jaw clenched but I forced myself to breathe out. Percy would live, he’d be okay, that was what was important.

“Poseidon-ore has ordered that should this Luke Castellan be seen, he be handed over to Poseidon-ore. He will face the sea’s justice.”

“Hmm,” Dionysus took a long sip of his Diet Coke. “I almost feel bad for him. Old Seaweed does not take kindly to harming his kids, much less child ones. The sea’s punishment for harming a child on purpose is…”

He shrugged, “Well, I’m sure he’ll regret his actions.”

What was the sea’s justice? What was going to happen to Luke?

I swallowed hard.

Luke…

I couldn’t believe he…

I took a shaky breath.

He… he really betrayed us.

I didn’t…

“Annabell are you going to stand there forever?”

I jolted and realized that Khiron and the sea guy had left the room, Mr. D’s gaze was on me.

Wait, I was invisible right?

I patted my head. Yeah, my hat was on. How did he?

“You’re trying my patience.”

I took off my hat and Mr. D studied me silently.

“Eavesdropping isn’t polite Miss Cook.”

Could he never get my name right?

“I just-“ I faltered. I wanted to explain, but would that really be enough for a God?

He sighed, “Your little friend will be fine. Though I can’t say the same for that Luka boy.”

I swallowed, “He really… but why?”

I knew I sounded desperate, but why? Why would Luke do this?

Mr. D shook his head, “He’s angry. Angry teens do idiotic things.”

I looked away, “But he… he promised to stay…”

“Mortals have a bad habit of breaking promises,” he said softly. “Especially Half-Bloods.”

I shook my head, “I- he…”

A hand landed on my head. I flinched, looking up in surprise.

Mr. D patted my head, “He left, you’ll have to accept that. Don’t let him keep a hold on you, it’ll break you.”

I felt calmer, like my scattered thoughts had been pieced together. I blinked up at Mr. D in surprise.

“I-“ I swallowed. “Thank you.”

He nodded, casually summoning another Diet Coke as he walked away.

“Oh, and Annabell?”

“Yes, Mr. D?”

“Don’t let me catch you eavesdropping again. Next time you’ll have chores.”

I flushed, “Yes, Mr. D.”

He vanished.

Now how was I going to tell the camp?

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Mr. D announced at dinner that Luke had betrayed the camp and tried to kill Percy on his way out.

Everyone had questions, and the Hermes cabin tried to argue. Well, a lot of people tried to argue. The members still at camp from the Demeter and Aphrodite cabin looked horrified and worried.

“Shut up, brats,” Mr. D snapped.

Everyone shut up.

“No one is happy Luka betrayed the camp, and we’re even less happy he tried to kill a camper on his way out, but we have actual evidence of his actions.” His gaze was burning as it swept over all the campers. “Accept it or don’t, but Luke Castellan will not be allowed back inside the camp. If you see him you’re to inform me immediately. Understood?”

No one spoke for a long moment.

“I said, Understood?”

“Yes, Mr. D,” everyone mumbled.

“Good, now enjoy dinner, or whatever.”

“Um… Mr. D?”

He sighed, “Yes?”

“Where’s Percy?”

Everyone perked up as I winced.

“Yeah, why isn’t he at camp?”

“You said he almost died, how?”

“What happened?”

He took a long gulp of his Diet Coke, “Jackson is in the ocean, probably at his dad’s palace. He’s expected to make a full recovery from the Pit Scorpion that Luka set on him.”

The other campers murmured, Dylan frowned beside me.

“Wait, why does he get to see his parent?” He muttered.

I huffed, “He just does. His brother, Triton, saved his life.”

Dylan huffed, “We don’t get to see our mom? And anyways, are you sure Luke did this? That doesn’t sound like him.”

I shifted, “He did. I- I don’t like it either but… he betrayed the camp.”

I looked away, poking at my food.

Dylan didn’t look convinced though.

I glanced around and realized quite a few people seemed unconvinced. 

There were a few kids from the Hermes cabin talking about how this didn’t seem right, and frowns from the Apollo cabin. Only the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins seemed convinced, and even they looked hesitant.

I looked back at my food.

I didn’t think the camp was going to accept Luke’s betrayal.

I swallowed hard, stabbing at the chicken.

This didn’t seem good.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

What did you think of Dionysus' POV? What about the camp's reaction? What about Annabeth's reaction?

Halmaheran
ert Aipri=the prince

Suffixes
aia=prince
fu'tao=master healer

Terminology
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
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Chapter 2: Announcing a Royal

Summary:

We get an announcement about Percy :D

Notes:

Hello! I would say sorry for the week late chapter, but life happens sometimes.

Really struggled with this chapter, just didn't want to be written. On top of that, school is very hard right now, like specifically one part of school is hitting my mental health hard and I'm struggling a lot to do things when I keep having to do... that... The next chapter should hopefully be smoother! I've done a lot of plotting over the last week, even if I struggled with writing, so there's a lot planned :D

Thank you Fezzik for betaing <3

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I sat still as the hair stylist carefully brushed out my hair, mumbling about how it was at such an in-between length now.

“Please stay still, Perseus-aia. I cannot do your hair properly if you keep squirming.”

I forced myself to still again.

“You never can sit still, can you, Persi-aia?”

I huffed at Fetu’s comment. I would have turned to glare at him, but I didn’t think the hair stylist would be pleased.

“What’s this?” Lagi asked, continuing the exploration of my room that he’d been doing since he entered. The hair stylist mumbled something about them being horribly informal in how they spoke to me.

I tried to look over without moving my head and caught a glimpse of the black fabric that made up the veil Annabeth bought me.

“Oh, that’s a veil.”

He squinted at it and Fetu frowned, “Uh, that’s not a veil? It’s definitely not made of jellyfish at all.”

“Land dwellers don’t make veils from Jellyfish, they make them from cloth.”

“Why do they do that?” Fetu wondered. “Kelp cloth is super expensive.”

I blinked, oh yeah, the clothes under the sea were all made from kelp cloth (which was the softest thing ever). Kelp cloth was really hard to make and very expensive.

“Well,” I started. “On land they use animal fur like sheep, or a different plant material, like cotton. They don’t even know how to make kelp cloth I don’t think.”

They both looked baffled.

“They use animal fur?” Lagi asked

I nodded, trying to think back to that science class where we talked about it. “Yeah, the animals that they use the fur of usually need to be shaved because of health reasons, so it helps the animals to be shaved, and we use the fur for clothing.”

“How strange,” Fetu said, peering at the cloth Lagi was still holding.

“So this is made out of animal fur?” Lagi asked.

“Nope,” I said cheerfully. “That’s made from silk!”

“What’s silk?” Lagi said with a frown.

“Oh,” I thought, was it spiders? Yeah, I thought so. What else made silk? “They’re, I think, made of spider silk. So they collect a whole bunch and make it fabric.”

Fetu blinked slowly, “Spiders?”

“Those uh, eight legged… um… creepy crawling death bringers?” I faltered. “...that’s what Annabeth calls them.”

They both stared blankly, “Do you mean… Arachnids?”

“Yeah! That’s the… the… what’s the word… the official… book lookup term…”

Fetu and Lagi stared blankly.

“You know,” I frowned. “The… the term for… if you do things and it’s just doing things you have to write it down for it to be… Science!! It’s the scientific term!”

“Ooooh,” Lagi said. “Land dwellers are very strange.”

“Did you forget the word scientific ?” Fetu laughed.

“Oh, do be quiet,” I grumbled, face warm.

Lagi snickered, “The struggles of land dwellers, not using science enough for the word to be remembered.”

“I just forgot the word!”

“The book lookup term,” Fetu declared sagely. There was a beat of silence.

“Wait,” Lagi said slowly. “Did you say… they get the silk from arachnids ?”

“Arachnids don’t make silk?” Fetu said.

“They make thread,” I pointed out.

“No, arachnid crabs do,” Fetu insisted.

“Well… arachnids do on land.”

“Land is so strange,” Lagi mumbled. “What’s this?”

“Perseus-aia,” the hairdresser said smoothly. “I need you to stay very still for a moment.”

“Here,” Lagi flicked over to me, showing me a tooth in his hand.

I had to think for a moment, sitting still as the hairdresser twisted my hair around the hair piece.

That’s… oh, that disastrous field trip forever ago.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “That’s the tooth from the saber tooth tiger!”

“The what?” Lagi asked.

“It’s a land animal, a really big cat. It’s extinct now though.”

There was a brief pause.

“What’s a cat?”

“Furry four legged… thing.”

Lagi huffed, “You’ll need to show us one of these… cats.”

“Think octopus,” I suggested. “But furrier, and only has four legs.”

“That’s a weird animal,” Fetu mused. “How does it walk? It can’t swim in air can it?”

“No, that would be a bird,” I corrected.

“Ah, how strange. Then what does it do?”

“Just one foot…” Oh right, merfolk didn’t have feet. “They have legs and feet, like arms and hands but instead of tails or tentacles.”

They both stared blankly.

“I’ve never seen a land dweller or… cat… before,” Fetu said. “And I never want to now.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, “I’m not explaining right.”

“No no, you made them appropriately horrific,” drawled a voice from the doorway.

I turned slightly to see a human figure standing there. He wore black pants with grey and emerald green stitching that were held in place with gold clasps. He was shirtless, as was the custom for most everyone undersea, and his skin was a deep bronze.

His eyes caught mine as he studied me, one sharp gold, the other the same sea green as all the children of Poseidon. His black hair curled around him in the water as he opened his mouth.

“So, you’re the new kid? May I come in?”

"Er, yes."

He walked towards me, jarring in the out of place way that he moved. He was walking, in the sea…

Lagi swept between us, “Who are you?”

His voice echoed with his power, the feeling of slipping currents and the scent of my mother's perfume filling my senses.

“I’m Khrysaôr,” the man said. He blinked once, then suddenly his sword was at Fetu’s throat. “Don’t use your voice on me or you’ll lose it.”

The hairdresser interrupted, pulling their hands back.

“I am done Perseus-aia.”

I swept up quickly, hesitating to

“You are Khrysaôr?” Lagi asked. “Son of Poseidon-ore and Medusa-nio? Why would you be here?”

“And where is your tail?” Fetu added.

Khrysaôr’s eyes narrowed, blade not wavering, “I am also a prince of the sea, in case you forgot your lessons, turhora-ia. I do not have a tail. Now leave my brother’s room, it’s very inappropriate for you to be here without supervision.”

Lagi and Fetu bristled.

“We are not alone,” Fetu pointed out firmly. “Or is the hairdresser not mer enough for you?”

“A hairdresser is not an official chaperone,” Khrysaôr informed them matter-of-factly. “Besides, you are in his bedroom , so incredibly inappropriate. The bedroom is a safe, sacred space, you shouldn’t invade it with your… ranked selves.”

Fetu’s eyes narrowed as Khrysaôr looked him over pointedly, but with a sword at his throat he dared not move.

“And who are you to judge?” Fetu questioned coolly, his fingers twining with mine for a moment.

I flushed as Khrysaôr’s gaze locked onto the motion.

“His older brother,” he flashed a sharp smile. “So get out.”

Both hesitated another moment, glancing at me.

Well, he was my brother… Triton wouldn’t let someone in who was dangerous?

Plus… he was kinda right… them being in my room wasn’t super appropriate but I hadn’t seen them in ages and Triton allowed it…

I bit my lip.

“It’s fine,” I assured. “It was nice to talk again. Perhaps we can meet later?”

“Very well,” Lagi said.

They both twisted their hands in goodbye, Fetu squeezing my hand gently before letting go.

“Arhoa, hovi sa'opu em pota,” Fetu murmured as he swam away.

“Tal u maiv mahur,” Lagi added.

The twins swam out, shooting one more sharp look at Khrysaôr as they left.

He lowered his blade as they exited, the blade seeming to twist and vanish into curls of saltwater.

Woah.

The hairdresser quickly made a motion of respect and swept off themselves.

“So,” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “You’re the little brother.”

“I am,” I said politely. Medusa’s son, that’s what Lagi had said. The brother of Pegasus. “Nice to meet you.”

He hummed, “You don’t look like much.”

I watched him, fingering my bracelet that was missing the trident charm. “Looks can be deceiving.”

He shrugged, “Perhaps. I don’t understand why such a fuss is being made. There hasn’t been such a big deal made of a child since Pallas.”

I forced myself to smile, “They seem very excited.”

“Indeed,” he mused. “I suppose they would be, what with the rumors that Okeanus-”

“Oh,” grumbled a much more familiar voice. “It’s you.”

Khrysaôr’s gaze lit up.

“Triton-re'tai! My dearest older brother! How are you?” He spun to him, throwing his arms out grandly.

Triton glowered at him “You’re back. How delightful .”

“Did you miss me?”

“I could hardly sleep for missing you so,” Triton said with an eye roll. “Persi, are you alright?”

“Isn’t his name Perseus?” Khrysaôr pointed out.

“I’m fine,” I assured Triton. “The hairdresser said I was ready.”

Triton nodded, swimming over to me and ignoring Khrysaôr.

“Hmm, we’ll have to remove the necklace for now, the cord is too light, it’ll get in the way. We’ll buy a chain for it to weigh it down a bit.”

“You’d almost believe he was your child,” Khrysaôr mused.

Triton took a slow breath, “Are you all set? Your hair looks good, the shells twisted in right, and your tail is shining.”

He was looking me over, face tight.

“You seem all set,” he murmured.

He turned, eyeing Khrysaôr, “You’ll need to get to the Oftunep soon or you’ll be late.”

Khrysaôr hummed, “Of course, of course. Wouldn’t want to be late to the announcement.”

He turned to leave, pausing at the door.

“Oh,” he shot me a vicious grin. “Welcome to the family.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

Delphin swam around, keeping an eye on everyone and ensuring there were no issues. 

Putting Ryujin and Nāmaka in the same room was rather asking for conflict— those two were constantly fighting over the Hawaiian waters.

Ryujin just needed to let Nāmaka live in peace, She didn’t really try to branch out beyond Her islands.

I shook my head, now was not the time for politics. As long as I didn’t have to interfere because the two got into a fight it would be fine.

The room was looking good. My hetai vahivu did an excellent job ensuring that the sionav set everything up perfectly.

The Ofehare Imote did an excellent job setting up the table coral, they look very elegant and the actinia anemone decorating the centers were practically glowing.

Many different Tame were swimming around enjoying the various snacks.

There were also Tatea of many varying species, from hammerhead to great whites, and quite a few Marame, most of them were Delphin’s workers but a few were from further seas.

I forced a smile on my face as I swept to my throne where the rest of the family was already waiting. Only three people were missing. 

Just as I had that thought, Khrysaôr waltzed in.

I winced, I always forgot that that particular son of mine only had a human shape. I could already see the looks being shot his way.

He was my child though, and the child of Medusa… I would give him the same honor I gave all my children, even if he didn’t have tails (nor want them).

I focused back on task, now only Triton and Perseus were missing. 

Triton went to retrieve Perseus so they would both be here shortly. Once everyone had arrived we could begin the announcement.

“Khrysaôr,” I said with a nod. “Glad that you could join us.” 

“So happy to be here, Metua. Oh, hello Kymopoleia, make any storms lately?” 

I sighed as he swaggered over to Kym to start talking about the chaos they caused.

Those two got along way too well.

“Are you ready,” Amphitrite murmured beside me. 

“Of course, hereaen,” I soothed. “I am completely prepared. Okeanus will not steal my child from me. He’s failed before, and he’ll fail again.”

“Ah, my daughter, how are you?” Okeanus swept up before us.

Speak of Okeanus and he shall appear, areo .

“We are doing well,” Amphitrite responded. “And you?” 

“Quite well, looking forward to your little announcement.”

“I’m sure,” I murmured. “Everyone is very excited for the announcement of another prince of the sea.”

His eyes gleamed, “Well, he’ll be a prince regardless of the outcome of our, ah, arrangement.”

I smiled tightly as Tethys glided over as well.

Lovely, everyone was here again.

“Poseidon, Amphitrite,” she said smoothly. “How is Persi-tou?”

My eye twitched.

I still didn’t know how they met him but he’d clearly recognized them when they’d arrived.

“He is well, simply preparing for the announcement.”

“Yes,” she glanced at the coral table that held two elegant armbands. “And those are his armbands, then?”

“They are,” I said with a small twist of my hand in acknowledgement. 

She studied them, taking in the silver bands with the intricate kraken design on them— Triton had insisted. The kraken held a trident (which all my children’s bands hold) in its tentacles, and if you looked closely you would see the scale patterns in the background, as well as conch shells and corals hidden amongst the tentacles.

Maeki-sem worked through the tides’ changes to make them so quickly with such mastery. They truly were the greatest Fepasem in the sea.

“It looks lovely,” Tethys said. “I simply adore the little fork it’s holding.”

My eye twitched, “Yes, it’s a very lovely trident.”

“Ah yes, that,” she smiled brilliantly. “So when is Persi-tou arriving?”

“ Perseus will be here shortly.”

As I spoke the doors opened and allowed Triton to sweep in with his conch shell in hand.

He took a breath, then blew into the conch shell. 

It’s sound echoed through the room, catching everyone’s attention.

“Beings of the Sea, may I bring your attention to our newest arrival, announcing: Perseus Yakson, the Son of Poseidon, Prince of the Sea, Retriever of the Master Bolt, and Survivor of the Underworld.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

Listening to the rumors around the room was always rather entertaining. 

It’s been so long since a full court was called, not since that mess with Nodens and Lír happened. Nearly five hundred years, how the time passed.

Everyone had something to say, most of it very entertaining.

“I heard that the meeting is because his son started a war.”

“And here I’d thought it was because he ended a war.”

“No no, he fought the God of War! And ended him .”

“He killed the God of War?”

“Which one?” 

“The Greek one-”

“Of course it’s the Greek one-”

“Which Greek one-”

“Didn’t he fight the Khimaira?”

“I heard it killed him-”

“No he killed it-”

“He didn’t kill the God of War, he’s mortal!”

“But Ekhidna was off licking her wounds after their fight-”

“Oh I heard from Ranga-pe that he’s getting adopted-”

“He’s getting disowned you mean-”

“No he’s getting promoted-”

“Can we go back to him fighting the God of War?”

“That’s last week’s news, catch up.”

“Okeanus tailed over here real fast-”

“Did you see the way that He and Poseidon were talking?”

“I do hope they don’t start another war-”

“Did you hear that a war almost started-”

“That’s what I was just saying!”

“He got that Bolt thing, the one that that king in the Greek Pantheon uses.”

“You mean the one that is constantly fighting with Poseidon?”

“I like that guy-”

I shook my head as I swam towards Poseidon and Amphitrite. They were looking very confident that their scheme would work.

It was certainly a good way to make it difficult for me to adopt him. The sea would likely acknowledge Persi-tou as theirs if Poseidon managed this properly and interfering would only make me look bad.

I would simply have to hope he screwed this up.

Who am I kidding, of course he would.

I greeted my daughter, and held in my laugh at my love’s comment about the trident on the arm bands. 

They were rather well made, especially for being done on such short notice, but ours were better.

When we adopted Persi he’d have arm bands as our child, and they were far lovelier. 

I turned as the doors opened, right on cue.

Triton’s announcement was suitably grand, and it was rather impressive that Persi-tou already has two titles to his name (along with the one’s he was born with of course).

And then Persi entered.

His deep blue hair was pulled up and pinned into a small bun with coral pins. There were assorted shells threaded through his hair. His green and blue scales glittered in the light of the Manisi pearls, going up his sides some, though not nearly as far as those from deeper or more southern or northern waters.

He wore only his bracelet, the same one he’d had since we’d met him, and a shell necklace that I recognized as the kind Poseidon gifted to all his most treasured children. He wore no other jewelry or embellishment. 

He swam in, head held high, hands tucked behind him looking every inch the prince of the sea that he was.

We swept back, settling amongst the group as Triton and Persi-tou moved to the front. Triton passed by him to settle at his own throne, to the direct right of Poseidon’s.

Poseidon smiled faintly, before raising his hand to greet Persi-tou. Persi-tou raised his hands back.

“Perseus-aia,” Poseidon greeted.

“Poseidon-re’ore,” Persi-tou responded.

Poseidon turned his gaze to the crowd that I stood in.

"Welcome, Aritohav, Arinitav, and others. I thank each and every one of you for gathering here today for this special occasion.” His gaze swept across the crowd, lingering on me for just a moment. 

His expression didn’t falter as he continued, “Today, in this most prestigious of days, I am delighted to present a new member of the royal family of Atlantis.”

There were a few murmurs from the crowd now as rumors were proved and disproved in turn. 

“Thirteen years ago I had a son, but due to the restrictions of Olympus and Zues’ never ending wrath, I had to keep him my closest secret. Today that changes.”

He smiled, spreading his hands to bring attention to the child standing in front of him.

“My son has not only proven himself as a worthy child of the sea, but as a prince, a demigod, a hero, and a son. He found and returned Zeus’ Master Bolt, braved the dangers of the Underworld to speak to Hades and then sought out his missing Helm of Darkness. He faced the God of War in battle and emerged victorious.”

I frowned at the clear looks of approval from the crowd, they were pleased with this. Of course it was impressive, but the point was that he shouldn’t have had to do all that. 

“He has done all of this at a too young twelve veruo.”

The murmurs grew louder at that bit of news. Persi-tou was small for his age but they had likely assumed him older than that despite his size.

“May I present to you my youngest son, Perseus Bellerophon Yakson!"

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

Do you like Percy's middle name? I love it.

What did you think of the announcement? What about Okeanus? What did you think of Khrysaôr?

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
turhora-ia=Apprentice Song (a way of saying apprentice of the Siren's Song mages)
Arhoa, hovi sa'opu em pota=Farewell, See you in time
Tal u maiv mahur=Have a good day
Oftunep=Announcement room/Ball room/the name of the room where they hold grand announcements for many guests
hetai vahivu=Wife
Sionav=Servants
Ofehare Imote=Coral Shaper Mage
Tame=Merfolk
Tatea=Shark
Marame=Dolphins
hereaen=My Love
areo=fuck
Fepasem=Metal Smith
Manisi (Pearls)=Sun Pearls
Aritohav=Royals
Arinitav=Ambassadors
veruo=storm season

Suffixes
aia=Prince
ore=(current) king
nio=one of Poseidon's affairs (yes they have a term specifically for that)
re'tai=older brother
re'aia=High Prince/Crown Prince
tou=masc young one
sem=Smith (like metal smith)
re'ore=High King/Emperor (very official)
pe=Mx

Terminology
Spiders do not make silk it is actually made by silkworms, Percy is adorably wrong.
Arachnid crabs are a species of crab, I made some magic ones here
Delphin=God of Dolphins and a general of Poseidon
Ryujin=Japanese Dragon God of the Sea
Nāmaka=Hawaiian Goddess of the Sea
Table Coral=A type of coral that looks like a table
actinia anemone=an anemone is commonly found in the Atlantic ocean and surrounding waters
Rhodos=Goddess of the island Rhodes and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Helios
Kymopleia=Goddess of violent storms and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Briareos
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Herophile=Oracle of Apollo and daughter of Poseidon. Her name means friend of heroes.
Khrysaôr=Son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Pegasus
Nodens=Celtic God associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs
Lír=Irish sea God
Khimaira=phonetic spelling of Chimera
Ekhidna=phonetic spelling of Echidna

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 3: Kidnapping and Shopping

Summary:

family bonding <3

Notes:

Hope you enjoy!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Triton POV

I watched the procession, filled with pride as Metu slid the bands on Persi’s arms.

It’s been a very long time since an Apori of the sea was banded and Persi did it all properly. And it only took two dozen practices till Mevu was satisfied.

Now it was my turn.

I slid the trident charm out of the pouch at my side, tugging it lightly so that it transformed into a full-size trident. Persi’s new trident.

The celestial bronze shone as I held it by the kraken leather grip. I’d had it made specifically for Persi, every detail specified, down to the scale patterns down the shaft and the conch shell charm hanging just beneath the head.

When Metu flicked back I swept forward, expression solemn as I settled in front of Persi.

Persi twisted his hand respectfully, the fingers folded precisely. I copied the motion as I began speaking.

“"Persi Bellerphon Yakson, Son of Poseidon and Sally Yakson, today you have been recognized as Prince of Atlantis, Youngest Prince of Poseidon's Court, and Prince of the Oceans. Every Prince needs a proper weapon, and you are no exception. You are thirteen Veruov old and now of the age to receive your true weapon, to hold in hand through battle and peace.”

I studied Persi, he looked like he was trying very hard to look proper and princely while still eyeing the trident in excitement.

My lips twitched, hidden from the guests, “The greatest of the Royal forgers have come together to make a weapon suitable to your loyalty, grace, and strength. I am proud to present your weapon: The Trident of the Uteron Piviua. It holds the name Mairoik Upe, the Cleansing Red Tide.”

It had been forged in the toxic waters of the red algae, to bind the power of the blade and infuse it with the proper intent. In time Persi will be able to use it to augment certain skills of his.

“May it serve you with all the power you wield.”

I couldn’t help my smile as I held the trident out for him, allowing him to get a solid grip before letting go.

His eyes were sparkling, and he was clearly holding back a grin as he made the proper motion of gratitude with his free hand.

I watched proudly as he floated steadily in the water, looking every inch the prince he was.

“Thank you Triton-re’aia. I vow to use this weapon nobly, to keep the peace of the sea and ensure the safety of our subjects.”

I twisted my fingers into the motion of acceptance and then swished aside so that he could be seen by the many guests.

I took a breath, before announcing to the many beings watching, “Before you stands Persi Bellerophon Yakson, the youngest of Atlantis’ royals, second Prince of Atlantis. May he live with bright scales and swift currents.”

“May he bring clean waters and calm waves,” declared the guests, as is tradition.

Persi made a motion of respectful greeting, and the ceremony was complete.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Khrysaôr POV

That glàmon bdelyròs. He could es kòrakas with his snide comment saying Perseus was the second prince. I was the second prince, whether he liked it or not.

That pankataratos koprìas was gonna pay for that comment.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Percy POV

I was finally back in my room, my one in Atlantis that was. My bed was comfy and I really didn’t want to get up.

The ceremony had been so stressful. I was so scared of getting something wrong and making a fool of myself in front of everyone there.

I was honestly so thankful for the strict lessons Amphitrite-nai put me through over the last week. Plus, the few dozen practice rounds of the ceremony, that was scary.

And then having to interact with all the guests after? So stressful.

At least Triton was there. He made sure to support me and interrupted the few times I messed up a bit. Thankfully nothing too bad, but I’d never interacted in such a high class setting.

At least I got to spend some time with Fetu and Lagi, they introduced me to their parents. 

One was clearly from the Ive Mahuti Moare, Ryujin’s kingdom, with branched horns and scales with almost fur like fins reminding me of the draconic beings that lived there. His spouse was definitely from the Ive Pahuti Moare, Duberdicus’ territory. The scale patterns were very similar to the ones of the merfolk of Atlantis, the two nations had a lot of overlap.

They (the spouse) were a lot more colorful than my family though. I could see where Fetu and Lagi got the bright colors from. They seem to have inherited more of their parent’s coloring and appearance than their father’s, though the gold and red in his scales were fairly bright as well. 

I wondered how they would look with horns like him, and promptly blushed at the image of Fetu with curling branching horns.

I forced my thoughts away from that. Those meetings had gone well but then I’d had the stress of being introduced to the subjects of Atlantis from the balcony thing.

Everyone had stared at me.

They hadn’t seemed to dislike me though?

I didn’t know, the whole thing made my skin kind of raw. 

All the sensations were fairly similar, all reminded me of water in some way, but they had a lot of variety and I was very glad I didn't have to be in such a large group again for awhile.

It was over. I was introduced and banded and everything there was done.

Now I just needed to finish the main physical therapy and finish setting up the stuff for the school year and I’d be good!

I fingered my new trident charm for a moment before my stomach growling had me pushing out of the bed. My tails draped over the edge as I ran a hand through my hair.

Carl was asleep in his bubble of fresh water.

I should get cleaned up some… I was the Prince and Triton emphasized all the time how important it was to look neat and tidy and in control in front of others.

I groaned and flicked over to the table thing, kinda reminding me of a vanity. On it sat a few brushes, two for hair and a couple for tails plus a scrub for skin.

It was interesting to me how different it was undersea. There weren’t baths or showers, you were always in the water. Instead you had to use scrubs and brushes.

I scooped up one of the hair brushes, the bristles widely spaced, and took a moment to brush my hair then used my coral hair pin to pin it back.

I grabbed the scrub for my skin, rubbing it over my skin and removed algae, plankton, and other assorted specks that clung to it.

Finally, I used the scale brushes (they were almost like a cross between a brush and a scrub) to clean my tails, scrubbing at them until the scales shone and carefully using the gentler brush on the flowy fins and actual tail at the end.

I learned the hard way that you needed to be gentler with the fins, they were much more delicate.

I slid the bands on my arms distractedly (Triton said that I had to wear them whenever I was at the sea… and suggested I do so out as well). 

I put all the brushes back in place and picked up my camp necklace, a single bead hanging on it… or well, floating…

Triton mentioned getting a heavier chain for it, but I wasn’t sure where I’d do that…

“Hello, hetae tatu!”

I jolted, turning to find Kymopoleia floating in the doorway.

“Hello, Kymopoleia-vua,” I said carefully.

“Grab you things, we’re going shopping.”

I blinked, “What?”

She stayed at the door as she motioned to me, “Get ready to go. Triton’s busy today so you’re with me-“

“And me!” Herophile declared, head poking out from behind Kymopoleia.

“Yeah, you’re with us. We’re going shopping.”

I blinked, “Oh, um-“

I guess that worked? Could I buy a chain for the camp necklace while we were out?

“One sec-“

I swam to the drawer, pulling out one of the belt pouches.

Since wearing clothes in the sea was rather pointless for most mer, we used belt-like things. They had shaped pouches formed out of woven kelp and seagrass, sometimes with fish bones for shaping.

I connected a belt around my waist and slipped the camp necklace in it then swam over to Kymopoleia and Herophile. Kymopoleia looked smug and the Herophile looked delighted.

“Perfect, so we’re getting you some things to spruce up your room and of course a beauty treatment because those are so nice,” Kymopoleia started tugging me through the halls. “I was thinking we could go to the theatre, Momus and the Gods is happening today, and there’s also Uku’s Storm which always has the best effects, the imoteorav they hire are top notch for plays.”

“Can I buy a chain for my camp necklace?” I asked when she paused.

She blinked, “Oh, yeah sure. We can stop by a jewelry place. Hmm…”

She turned to study me, “I think silver would look best.”

“It would match the-” Herophile faltered “-five letters, starts with B, worn on arms-“

“Bands,” Kymopoleia said.

“Yeah! It would match the bands.”

“It doesn’t need to be too much,” I started to assure.

“Nonsense, silver, I’m not sure of the type of chain. We’ll need to see the necklace to figure that out. Did you bring it?”

I nodded, struggling to keep up as she tugged me along.

“Wonderful, we’ll see if anything else fits you. Oh, Triton mentioned something about you learning tahuhu, what kind did you learn?”

I considered. Tahuhu, Halmaheran for magic.

“Well,” I hesitated. “I mostly focused on purification magic, and Thermomancy. I’ve been learning some Siren’s Song though, I’m only a beginner there. And I want to learn more about healing because it would be super useful.”

Herophile beamed, “Have you considered learning- um-“ she hesitated “-eight letters, prediction of the future.”

“Prophecy,” Kym offered.

“Yeah! It’s a fun magic…”

I considered, “I mean, I have dreams sometime… They’re uh, they’re called Hee-oh-eep-hah-ee-oh?”

“Hee-oh-ee-pee-hah-ee-hoe,” Kymopoleia corrected. “Close though.”

“Hioipihaiho is one of the most common forms,” Herophile agreed. “It’s one of the easiest to control though! If you- uh- if you-it’s…”

“Try?” Kymopoleia suggested.

“No, hard work-“

“Attempt?”

“No no…”

“Train?”

“Starts with a P...” Herophile mumbled.

“Practice?” I offered.

“Yes! If you practice, then you’ll be able to control it in time. But it’s also da- it’s- it can be- uh…”

She wrinkled her nose, looking very frustrated.

“It can be bad for you.”

“Dangerous?” Kymopoleia asked.

“Yeah, dangerous. It is you, your personality and being. At least when doing hioipihaiho. If someone can trap it they can trap you, or hurt you, it’s bad.”

I nodded, “Is there a way to stop it? Or protect yourself?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but it takes lots of practice. You have to learn trenching and learn how to shield yourself from outside energies. It’s not something you learn fast.”

“Oh, okay,” I felt a bit disappointed, but I hadn’t had issues with my dreams yet so I was sure it would be fine.”

“I can teach you though!” Herophile said suddenly, looking at me with hopeful eyes. “I’ve been doing it forever!”

“Oh,” that would be nice. “If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t want to take away from your time-“

“No! I’d- I’d- I- ugh…” she frowned for a moment. “I’d really like it!”

“Cool,” said Kymopoleia. “So Herophile will teach you to control those dreams, I’m gonna teach you to raise storms!”

Her eyes were sparkling as she turned to face me as we left the castle.

“It’s going to be amazing! Just don’t tell Triton.”

I blinked, “Um, isn’t raising storms hard?”

“Well, big ones yeah,” she said with a shrug. “But we’ll start small. Then do big ones!”

“Oh,” I considered. “How do you start it?”

Kymopoleia grinned, “We’ll start it later. But it’s going to be the best thing you’ll ever learn.”

“Storms are cool,” Herophile agreed. “Kym is good at them.”

Kymopoleia nodded sagely, “I am.”

She paused in the water now.

“Anyways, the markets over there,” she pointed at an area filled with shining pearls and arching coral buildings. “That’s where we’re going first.”

“Over there is the- the-“ Herophile thought for a moment. “Play place.”

Kymopoleia laughed, “The park?”

“No!” Herophile pouted. “The… the play… the place where plays are.”

“Oh,” Kymopoleia nodded. “You mean the theater, yeah that’s there. We’re going there after shopping and a nice relaxing beauty treatment.”

“What’s a beauty treatment?” I asked.

Kymopoleia gasped, “You’ve never had a beauty treatment before? Oh that won’t do, I’ll have to fix that immediately!”

Herophile nodded, “They’re so nice! Relaxing! And you’re so shiny after.”

“They’re wonderful,” Kymopoleia insisted. “You’re going to love it.”

She snagged my hand, tugging me down to the market.

“But shopping first!”

Herophile swam right alongside us as we entered the market area.

It was multi-layered, with many colors of coral making up the buildings around us. The pinks and purples and blues made a striking backdrop of the buildings, with many different anemones clinging to the corals, some seemed to make gardens.

I looked around in awe at the many shops.

“That place has some great books,” Kymopoleia said. “And that’s one of the best ink-makers in the undersea, very expensive though.”

“Most inks are,” Herophile added.

“True,” Kymopoleia agreed. “Now then, jewelry, over there is a good one, lots of charms and the like…”

She paused, “What does your necklace look like?”

I pulled it out of my pouch, showing her the skillfully made clay bead.

“Oh, I like the trident,” she grinned. “Okay, I think that Tuki’s shop would be the best one for this.”

She led the way, slipping through the crowds easily. Herophile stuck by me as I slipped down and up and to the sides and all around. It’s not like land stores at all, you don’t just stay on one level. The market in Atlantis was for all levels, and everyone went up and down the same way you’d go right or left on land.

When we caught up to Kymopoleia she was drifting at an arched entrance to a store. The board on the coral said “Hena Potaeov”. Lovely Pearls, that sounded promising.

“There you are,” Kymopoleia said. “Come on.”

She led the way in, pushing the shell curtain aside and sweeping in.

Inside was lit softly with ponisi pearls, illuminating the many coral shelves, with careful nooks filled with glittering gems, sparkling metals, and many other creations.

The room itself made me rub my arms, twisting currents that almost seemed like a wall. I wasn’t sure what that feeling is.

“Ho ponuho, hamoto,” murmured a voice from the back.

I turned and noticed a merman working with a thin line of metal, shaping it carefully with deft twists of his hands.

Another sensation hovered in the air, fainter than the wall currents, something like a heartbeat thrumming against my skin.

I shook my head and focused as the mer finished his work.

“Ta, Kymopoleia-ava, eaye uk otiat, y Herophile-ava,” he smiled. “Noaye etav ta rav rao sa'opu ertma?”

Kym smiled at the greeting, responding in Halmaheran before switching to English. “Yeatula, maiv mafatu. We’re here for a chain for my soha tatuno necklace.”

His gaze switched to me when she mentioned her little brother, studying me intently.

“Ah yes, the sovuoti aipri,” he nodded. “Let me see the necklace.”

I pulled it out of my pouch again, handing it over to who I assumed was Tuki to look at.

He hummed, studying it for a moment.

“A cute charm, are you wanting a new charm? Or just a chain?”

“Just a chain,” I said quickly. “The charm is from camp.”

He cocked an eyebrow but nodded. “A snake chain would work best, I think. Perhaps…” he dug around for a moment. “Here we are.”

He pulled the bead from the leather cord, compared sizes, then reached for some… tweezers? They were made out of some sort of shell material it seemed.

A few moments of twisting the metal led to it shaping properly, then he slid the bead onto it.

Somehow it didn’t look that out of place, despite the high difference in quality.

“Hmm, perhaps adjust the bead, add some embellishment around the edges-“

“No,” I said. “It’s perfect as is.”

He looked a bit doubtful, “If you’re certain…”

“I am, havu,” I twisted my hand to support the thanks I offered.

He sighed, “Maiv, uafoto. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes,” Kymopoleia said. “My tatu has far too little jewelry, is there anything here that you think would fit him well?”

I faltered. Jewelry was an important show of status and basically the clothes of the undersea… I was just wearing the shell necklace from Metua, the bands, and my hair pin. But did I really need more jewelry?

The man studied me, “I have a few necklaces… have you considered earrings?”

I blinked, earrings?

Kymopoleia studied me, “Earrings… hmm… What kinds do you have today?”

Herophile looked excited, “Do you have blue ones?”

“A few, I’m sure I can find one that satisfies you.”

I glanced at one of the coral nooks, assorted hair pieces gleamed in it.

…

“Can I buy something for my mom?”

Herophile’s eyes lit up, “Oh that’s so sweet!”

Kymopoleia pulled out a collection of gold coins. 

I actually loved the undersea coins, they were shaped like scallop shells with a hole through the base and it made me feel like I was in a fantasy world to use them.

“Yeah sure, get her whatever you want. Metu is paying.”

I blinked, Metua was paying? Did He give permission? Should I not buy too much?

“You should get that one,” Herophile said, pointing at a really elegant pearl and deep blue coral hair piece.

Mom would love that.

“It’s perfect,” I said.

Herophile beamed.

“Okay, we want that,” Kymopoleia said. “And then we want Perseus’ ears pierced.”

I leaned over, curious about what earrings there were.

Sitting on the flat coral counter were assorted earrings ranging from simple pearls, to flattened pearls (both plain and with carved designs), to mother of pearl shaped earrings, to twisted corals shaped like a dozen different things, to even little gems (were those diamonds?) that glittered in the light of the ponisi. There were even some simple metal ones, gold, silver, bronze, and platinum.

“Wow,” I muttered.

Kymopoleia picked two simple pearl ones (one blue and one white), a mother of pearl set shaped like conch shells, three hooped earrings in gold, platinum, and coral, and two sparkling gems.

“Hmm,” she held them up to me with a thoughtful look. “Which of these are best…”

“I like the blue pearl,” I offered.

“They would be good starting earrings…”

“I could throw it in as a set,” Tuki suggested. “The three hoops in one, the two pearls in another.”

“We’re definitely getting the conch ones,” Kymopoleia said. “Might as well buy a few though, you can pick your favorites later.”

“Yeah! And you’ll look great with them,” Herophile said eagerly. “They’ll go great with the- the-“ she huffed. “They’ll match well in the future.”

I smiled, Herophile was really sweet.

Kymopoleia nodded slowly, “Okay, we’ll get them all.”

Tuki twisted his hand politely, “An excellent choice.”

He swept over, plucking the hair piece for my mom up and gathering up all the earrings.

“I will be but a moment,” he said. “Then I shall put the Aiprin earrings in.”

It was only a short delay before he returned, the jewelry wrapped up in kelp and seaweed packaging and traded for a couple silver shell coins. Kymopoleia tucked the jewelry away in her pouch.

“If you would come with me for a moment, Aipri.”

I glanced at Herophile who nodded eagerly before following him back.

He sat me on a kelp seat and scooped up a jar with a paste.

“This will numb the ear, so you don’t feel the needle,” he explained.

I nodded, sitting still as he spread the paste with a sponge brush.

After a moment I could definitely tell that my ears were numb, and he picked up one of the needles.

I didn’t even feel a prick as he threaded the first earring in, then the second.

He studied them for a moment before nodding.

“Just right,” he scooped up another jar. “Apply this around the ear once a day for a week and you’ll be done.”

“Havu,” I thanked him.

He nodded, “Of course, Aipri.”

I swam out to Herophile and Kymopoleia, flushing as Herophile squealed.

“Oh it looks- it looks- um…”

“Perfect,” Kymopoleia said with a smirk.

“Yes!”

“Okay,” Kymopoleia said. “We have just enough time to get to the beauty treatment. Let’s get going!”

She thanked Tuki and ushered us out.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Kymopoleia POV

Perseus did look great with the earrings, and also Triton was gonna murder us for them. That made it a win-win!

Earrings were completely normal, but Triton was gonna be angry we did it without getting his permission. He was playing such a big brother with this one.

What was more important right now though was the beauty treatment!

I was gonna be Perseus’ favorite, if only to make Triton jealous.

I led him (and Herophile who was absolutely delighted to be doing family bonding right now) into the beauty place.

They had some of the best treatment.

We started with the body scrubs. They were made with concentrated salts, enchanted to slow the time it took to dissolve. They cleaned you very well. Then we spent some time in the garra rufa room, the fish eating away at all the dead skin cells.

Perseus kept giggling as they worked though, apparently he was ticklish.

Next was a lovely seaweed wrap mixed with a lovely thin paste that rubbed in well. It made you feel nice and moisturized. They had a special paste for our fins that was simply divine.

And then of course, the best part of all this, the massages.

There was simply nothing like a good massage.

“I’ve never had a massage before,” Persi murmured.

I blinked, he what?

“Well,” I said, clearing my throat. “We’re going to fix that.”

Herophile gasped, “We can do this as a sibling thing! Go get massages and stuff. It would be so fun to do, like, every week.”

He blinked, “Um, every week?”

“Perhaps every other week,” I offered. “I’ll see about arranging it.”

No sibling of mine would be lacking in something as nice as a massage. Besides, I could just imagine the look on Metuno face when he found out. He wouldn’t even be able to say no! He was trying to look good right now.

I loved it every time there was a custody battle, we could get away with anything during that time.

“Are you sure? I mean… aren’t these expensive?”

I cooed, “Perseus, we’re royalty. We’re more than able to pay for it. And it’s good for our subjects to spend money on things for them. We’ll cycle, there are a lot of spas so we’ll try out a variety!”

He blinked, “This is a spa? I thought it was a beauty treatment place?”

“That’s what spas are,” Herophile chirped.

He blinked slowly, “Carl told me to avoid spas at all costs.”

“Well,” I said, pretending I had any idea who Carl was. “Nothing bad will happen to you with us here. So it’ll be fine. Just only go to spas with us.”

He considered seriously for a moment, “Well… I suppose.”

“Trust me,” I assured him. “I won’t let anything happen.”

He nodded, “Alright… I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

I beamed.

I was right of course, the massages were lovely. He fell asleep during his, he was so relaxed. I was going to introduce him to so many things, it was going to be so much fun.

I wondered if he’d like stream surfing?

…

Yeah, he needed to try that.

“Alright! How are you feeling?”

Perseus grinned, “That was really nice!”

I smirked, “Of course.”

“We should definitely do it again,” Herophile insisted. “Like next- ugh, four letters, starts with W…”

“Week?” Perseus y asked.

“Yes!”

I nodded, “I’ll see about setting it up. Now then, the play should be starting…”

I tilted my head, tracing the tides real quick, “In twenty ioma. We should go get our spots and snag some snacks.”

Perseus perked up, “What’s the play again?”

I led the way out, thanking the workers on the way, “Momus and the Gods is a story about Zeus, Athena, and Metu. They all make things in it, and then Momus is to judge it. Only Momus is a ufanto and hates all three of them so he’s super judgey about all their creations.”

“The moral of the story,” Herophile added. “Is that some people are just rude and nothing will ever be good enough for them. You shouldn’t listen to those that judge out of envy.”

Wow, that was the most she’d said all day.

“Yeah, basically.”

Perseus looked very curious, “That sounds cool. What about the other play you mentioned?”

“Ukun Storm,” I said. “It’s about Uku, a mer who had little power. It follows how he went from weak to strong, and then became just like those he’d hated all his life. He decided to create a massive storm to destroy everyone and everything.”

“This is Kym’s favorite,” Herophile giggled. “Because she’s in it.”

I sniffed, “According to the story, I was the one to end his storm and take his power from him, completing the cycle of his life.”

He looked awed, “Wow, did that really happen?”

I laughed, “Not as far as I remember. But it’s a fun tale.”

He nodded eagerly, “I can’t wait!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

The meetings today had run long. We had a lot of arranging to do so that everyone knew exactly who harmed my brother and how.

No one was impressed by this Luke’s actions. To attack a child like that, especially when said child was unarmed (well mostly) and not fighting was unforgivable.

I shook my head, better things to focus on. 

I was going to show Persi the royal library! It had many books on magic he’d shown an interest in, and some very interesting story books I thought he’d like.

Tomorrow he would get to see his friends, but today I thought we could spend some time together. It had been far too long since I got to just sit with my little brother.

I checked in his room for him, but he wasn’t there. Nor was he in the gardens. Or the dining room. Or any of the sitting rooms. Or the kitchens. Or the balconies. Or even the library.

I was only mildly panicking. There was no way he could come to harm here… right?

I swallowed, searching through the sitting rooms again before deciding to check the training fields. Maybe he went out a bit?

It was fine, he’s just exploring the palace.

It was totally fine.

He wouldn’t be someplace bleeding out. I wouldn’t find him pale and barely breathing-

He wasn’t at the training fields.

Okay, so I was panicking slightly more.

I tried to steady myself, not thinking about him lying in the healers room just a week ago.

It was fine, he was fine, he was just… somewhere I hadn’t checked yet.

Maybe he was visiting the healer!

I swept there as quickly as I could, only to be disappointed to see no sign of him.

This was fine.

“Oh, hello Triton, my favorite brother.”

My eye twitched, I was not in the mood to deal with Khrysaôr.

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I was just wondering what you were doing. You’re practically swimming in circles.”

“It’s nothing that concerns you,” I muttered.

“Oh,” he followed me as I started swimming away. “And here I thought you might be looking for Perseus.”

“ Persi ,” I snapped. “And yes, I was just going to get him.”

“Ah, good luck with that.”

The smugness in his tone made me pause.

I turned slowly to him, “You know where he is.”

“Do I?”

My eyes narrowed, “Khrysaôr so help me-“

“I’m being threatened!” He cried. “By my own brother! Oh how could you?”

I took a steadying breath and tried to resist the urge to punch him in the face.

“Where. Is. He.”

He grinned, “Oh, out and about.”

“Khrysaôr,” I snapped.

He just laughed. “Oh please, what do I get out of telling you? Nothing. If I don’t tell you I get all kinds of entertainment from you rushing around searching.”

My trident appeared in my hand, “Where is Persi.”

“Hmm,” He seemed warier now, good. “Well, maybe he’s in the library, maybe he’s at the market-“

I paled, “He left the palace!?”

Khrysaôr grinned, “Perhaps.”

He wouldn’t have done that without permission, did someone take him? Someone must have taken him.

“Who took him?”

His smile widened, “Oh, maybe someone you know, maybe someone you don’t, who’s to say.”

I snarled but spun away. A guard would likely have more information.

“I’ll be sure to inform Metu of your disinterest in your brother’s safety,” I snapped.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. He’s perfectly safe.”

He had no way of knowing that! Persi was out of the palace, anything could happen to him! 

It was only a week ago that he’d been-

I shook my head.

It was fine, he was fine, it wouldn’t be like before. It wouldn’t be like Pallas-

I swam to find one of the perimeter guards. Khrysaôr followed me and commenting on how nice the water was today, and how there was a really cool starfish on a wall, and did I hear about the new play coming out?

I was going to stab him.

I reached the perimeter and found a guard before I gave into the urge.

“Have you seen Persi?”

The guard twisted her hand in greeting, “Yes, Aipria. He came by a few hours ago, at the very beginning of my shift. He was with Kymopoleia-ava and Herophile-ava.”

My eye twitched, “Thank you.”

I flicked away, Khrysaôr still following with eyes still glinting in amusement.

As soon as I was certain none of our subjects were around to see I spun, slamming him into a wall in an instant.

“You couldn’t have informed me,” I hissed. “That our sister’s took him out?”

“But where’s the fun in that?” He asked sweetly. “I think it’s so touching how you worry for him, I was just gonna let you keep doing it.”

“You said earlier you found it entertaining,” I snarled.

“That too.”

I, once again, resisted the urge to stab him.

“ I am going to get him. You are going to stay here and not bother anyone.”

He rolled his eyes, “Those are very high expectations.”

“Then you’d best meet them,” I snapped.

I flicked my tails, shooting up and arcing out to the perimeter.

It wasn’t that long of a swim and I was able to track my sister’s easily enough. I found them leaving a shop.

“Persi,” I called, gliding to a stop in front of him. “There you are.”

I took in his appearance, no injuries, no bandages, he didn’t look distressed.

He’s okay.

Thank Pontus.

I noticed a glint on his ears and blinked, “Did you get your ears pierced!?”

“Oh,” Kym chirped. “Do you like them? I picked them!”

“Yeah,” Persi said eagerly. “They’re pretty. She also bought some others, oh and I got some stuff for my mom-“

“And we bought clothes!” Herophile chirped.

“And we went to a spa,” Persi continued. “Do you think I could bring my mom to it sometime? I think she’d really like it-“

“We also went to a play,” Herophile said. “It was great!”

“Two plays!” Persi added excitedly. “Kym was in one!”

“Look we bought him tail ornaments, since he doesn’t have any,” Kym was digging through the kelp pouches she was holding.

“I got my mom a cool anemone, Kymopoleia said she’d show me how to make a tank for it!”

“I told you, you can call me Kym,” Kym said, a smug smile on her face as she stared at me.

I resisted the urge to yell.

“This was incredibly dangerous,” I hissed. “You didn’t bring any guards-“

“Two Goddesses were here,” she pointed out. “What was gonna happen?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped. “Something could’ve! What if you’d lost him in the crowds-“

“But I didn’t.”

“Or there’d been an attack-“

“There hasn’t been one in literally hundreds of years.”

“Or he’d been tricked by someone and stolen away-“

“We wouldn’t have allowed that.”

“Or-“

“Triton, you’re overreacting.”

I took a deep breath, “He could’ve been hurt.”

“But he wasn’t! Do you have no faith in us? Honestly, he’s fine, we had fun.”

“Sorry,” Persi said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

His deep blue eyes (the same shade as his hair) peered up at me so sadly, filled with so much guilt, it was like a stab in the gut.

I swallowed, “It’s fine. You were having fun. As long as you’re safe it’s okay.”

He nodded, still looking guilty, “Okay.”

I brushed his hair back, “Well, let's get back to the castle.”

Maybe then I could calm down, just a bit. He’d be behind safe walls again.

I wrapped an arm around him and led him back to the castle.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

Dealing with everyone and ensuring they acknowledged Perseus as my son and Prince was very stressful.

I heard the whispers, the people wondering why my son, the youngest child of mine, was the one to end the war. They wondered why I allowed him to be put at such risk.

Some wondered why I said nothing until he’d gained titles.

I would have to show over the next few months that he was my son, and not just because he did some great feat.

I didn’t acknowledge him before because I needed him hidden, but now that he was known I could treat him as the prince he was.

Perhaps I could send one of my Kyklopes children to him for the school year… that would allow him to have a friend (and sibling) and would help keep him safe. Not many would challenge a Kyklopes.

But I have to make sure I can keep him first.

By Pontus, I was so sick of Okeanus trying to steal my kids.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

So, things weren’t going quite as I’d planned.

I hadn’t expected him to do so grand of an announcement, he hadn’t done one like that in a very long time. Only a handful of his previous demigod children got such a grand introduction. It did a lot for convincing most of his intent with his child.

And I had to leave tonight. I was ruler of my territory and I’d been away too long already. I had matters to attend to.

Of course, there was some hope. Many noticed how quickly Tethys and I arrived when he was injured, and quite a few were unimpressed with Persi having to do so much at such a young age.

It gave me a chance, if only a small one.

I’d take full advantage of it.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

Also, let's make this clear since we've. IzzyMRDB was a friend of mine and was writing a story that was inspired by this one. "I may be a Dumbass, but I'm not Stupid". Their work was inspired by mine and was marked as such. Definitely not me stealing.

What did you think of the undersea world? What did you think of Kym and Herophile? Do you like Percy's new earrings? What do you think Oceanus is going to do?

Halmaheran Words
Persi=Percy
Metu=Dad
Apori=Prince
Veruov=Storm Seasons
Uteron Piviua=the red algae tide
Mairoik Upe=Cleansing Red Tide
Ive Mahuti Moare=North Pacific Ocean (literally Up Hot Ocean)
Ive Pahuti Moare=North Atlantic Ocean (literally Up Cold Ocean)
hetae tatu=darling brother
imoteorav=mages
tahuhu=magic
Hioipihaiho=dream walking
Hena Potaeov=Lovely Pearls
Ponisi (Pearls)=Moon Pearls (source of light)
Ho ponuho, hamoto= one moment, please
Ta, Kymopoleia-ava, eaye uk otiat, y Herophile-ava=Ah, princess Kymopoleia, what an honor, and Princess Herophile
Noaye etav ta rav rao sa'opu ertma=What can I do for you today?
Yeatula, maiv mafatu=hello, good morning
soha tatun=little brother's
sovuoti aipri=young prince
havu=thank you
maiv=good
uafoto=you're welcome
Metua=Father
tatu=brother
Aiprin=Prince's
Aipri=Prince
Metuno=Dad's
Ioma=minutes
Ufanto=bastard
Mevu=Mom
Ukun=Uku's
Aipria=High Prince

Suffix's
nai=(current) queen
re'aia=crown prince
vua=sister
ava=princess

Terminology
glàmon bdelyròs=dirty bastard
es kòrakas=fuck off
pankataratos koprìas=thrice cursed dirty buffoon
Garra rufa=a species of fish
Ryujin=Japanese Dragon God of the Sea
Duberdicus=Lusitanian God of fountains, lakes, and oceans
Momus and the Gods=actual story, I highly recommend it. The lesson of the story is fabulous and words to live by.
Utun Storm=a story I made up myself, if there's interest I may end up actually writing it
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclops

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 4: Birthdays and Talks

Notes:

Wow, I was gonna be all set to post Monday but lmao, that did not happen. Mostly because of the wreck that is my school life and me realizing I have six papers due next week. Good news! Those are done! Along with all my projects except one. I should not have any other major interruptions in the form of school now. Just two more exams and I'm done :D (for the semester).

There's a lot of Halmaheran this chapter but like... we're in the sea, it should be expected at this point.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I set the rainbow stone out, fingering one of my aurova, a gold sea coin that was roughly equal to a drachma in value. The rainbow formed slowly.

“Who are you calling?” Carl asked from his bubble of fresh water.

“I’m calling mom,” I said. “I need to tell her what’s happened and when I’m coming back.”

Metua had just confirmed that I’d be going home in a week and told me I should call my mom about it. I hadn’t realized that no one had informed her about what happened to me. Things had been so busy here I hadn’t even thought about it.

“Oh,” Carl swam around. “Tell her I say hi.”

I grinned, “Will do, Carl.”

I flipped the coin into the rainbow, murmuring my request.

The image cleared, showing my mom sitting at a table with books around her. She looked tired, her eyes a dark blue and surrounded by dark circles.

“Hi, Mom,” I said.

She jolted up, knocking over a book as she stood, “Percy?”

She stared at me in surprise, and I flushed, fingering my bracelet.

“Hi Mom… Carl says hi…”

“Oh, Percy, are you okay? You never replied and I wasn’t sure-“

“I’m okay. I’m at Metuan palace.”

“Metuan?”

I blinked, “Oh, uh, Father’s, um, Poseidon’s… sorry.”

“No, it’s fine… why are you there?”

I blinked, did no one contact her? I guessed I’d have to explain it all.

And I did.

I told her about the rest of the summer and how it ended with Luke trying to kill me. I told her about using the pearl to escape and being healed in the sea. I talked about the almost week spent recovering and another week preparing for the announcement. I told her about the announcement and how I’d gotten the bands. Then she wanted to see them so I showed her them.

“Those are really lovely, Percy,” she murmured.

I grinned, “Yeah, I like them a lot.”

“Are you having fun in the sea?”

“Yeah, Triton is great, and I missed my friends. It’s really cool at the palace too, and Kymopoleia and Herophile took me out for a shopping trip and spa day-“

“Spa!?” Carl cried.

“-it was so cool. And the spa had all these fancy things they do, and uh, the pool thing was super nice, and they did massages! Oh! And Kymopoleia let me get my ears pierced, look!”

I brushed my hair back to show her my ears with the blue pearl earrings.

“They’re lovely Percy,” she said softly, her gaze sad. “I’m glad you like the sea.”

“Yeah, it’s really great here, but I’m glad I’m going home next week.”

She blinked, “Oh? You’re going back to Camp?”

I tilted my head, “No? I’m going home to you… unless you didn’t want me coming back-“

“No, no,” she said quickly, a smile stretching across her lips. “You’re of course welcome back. I’ll make the arrangements for school.”

I beamed, “Okay. Oh yeah, Triton said he needed to talk to you about lesson things, and Metua mentioned tutors… But they both said I didn’t need to worry about it.”

She frowned, studying me, “Of course, don’t worry, I’ll talk with them.”

I nodded, “I think you’d like the spa! I asked Triton if you could come next time-“

“You’re going back!?” Carl screeched.

I ignored him for the moment, “-and he said maybe!”

She smiled, “I’m glad you’re having fun. You’re coming back next week?”

“Yeah, Triton said that there was something today, but otherwise I don’t have anything to do officially, at least I don’t think so…”

Mom nodded, “Well, I’ll make sure I’m free…”

“Six days from now,” I said. “Er well… that’s six days undersea… but we go by a slightly different clock… it’s still roughly six days though… probably.”

“Alright, I’ll just clear six and seven days from now, so September second and third. Did you do anything for your birthday?”

I blinked, oh right, my birthday did happen… forgot about that. “No, I was still recovering then and wasn't allowed out of bed.”

She frowned, “Well, we’ll do something for your birthday, better late than never.”

I beamed, “Really?”

“Yeah, we’ll get some cake, have a nice dinner…”

“That sounds nice.”

“I’ll set it up,” she murmured, glancing down at her work.

“Oh, I guess you need to finish that,” I rubbed my neck. “I’ll see you in a week, mom.”

“See you in a week. Love you, Percy.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

The image dissolved and I tucked the rainbow stone away, only to wince as Carl swam in circles.

“You went to a spa!?” He snapped. “After all the times I warned you!?”

“Kymopoleia and Herophile were there,” I argued. “They wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

“Spas are dangerous! They’re traps. You’ll get taken in and given fancy drinks and then you’ll die! Or worse…”

I leaned against the dresser, crossing my arms and dropping my head on them.

“It’s fine, Carl. I wasn’t hurt at all, see?”

He swam agitated, “Fine, but when you get turned into a pig or killed, I warned you.”

I huffed, “I won’t go to any spas without Herophile or Kymopoleia, how about that?”

He stared at me, quiet for a long moment. “Sure, it’s your life.”

I frowned when he turned away, surely it wasn’t that bad? My sisters were with me, They were Goddesses after all…

“You’re not ready yet?”

I turned at the voice, finding Rhodos in my doorway, a frown on her face.

“The party is in less than 30 ioma!”

“Uh, party?”

“Yes, for your amawa,” she said, studying my room from the door.

“My birthday?” I asked. “There’s a party for it?”

“Yes, in less than thirty ioma, you need to get ready.”

I blinked, “Wait, how do I dress for that?”

“I told Metu to send a siona to help you,” she shook her head. “May I enter?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

She swept in, tails flicking as she moved to my drawers.

“Not that one, no not that one either, definitely not that,” she shifted through the assorted pieces in the drawer.

“Ah, these earrings,” she passed me the mother of pearl earrings shaped like conch shells. I moved to the mirror to try and change them out, I hadn’t done that before.

“Then let's see, oh yes, this aetapi,” she tossed me one of the two pairs of tail ornamentations that Herophile picked out. It was pretty silver and had carvings of shells on it.

“Oh um,” I finally got the first earring in and moved to the second. “Did Mevu’ta like the necklace I got her?”

I bought it as a whole… ‘sorry Metua cheated on you’ gift but was a bit too nervous to give it to her myself. Triton promised to pass it along.

“She thought it was lovely,” Rhodos mumbled. “Ah, this hair piece.”

She swam over, “I’m going to fix up your hair, get the aetapiv on.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling up one tail to fasten the first aetapi on my tail, right where the tail became fin.

She began twisting my hair into a few small braids, “Okeanus-ari and Tethys-ran left last pohur, very late. They offered apologies for being unable to see you before they left. They did leave gifts for your birthday. You’ll get them at the party.”

It was sad that they left already, I never even got to ask Tethys-ran about a way to handle the sensations.

At least they were easier to handle in the sea.

She twisted the braided and non-braided hair all into a bun, sliding the silver and pearl hair pin in. “There, that should hold.”

“Thank you,” I said softly, peering up at her nervously.

She studied me for a moment before nodding, “Of course. I would be remiss in my duties to not help. You are my soha tatu.”

I nodded, ducking my head.

“So, uh, where is this… party?”

“I’ll bring you.”

“Thank you, oh wait,” I swam over to Carl, who was pointedly facing the other way. “Do you wanna come?”

“No.”

I bit my lip. Yeah, he was mad.

“Okay, I’ll bring you back something to eat.”

He didn’t look at me.

“Ready?” Rhodos asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“The family will be joining in a bit, we thought we’d let you spend some time with your friends and acquaintances first.”

I nodded as I stared around the room in awe. 

It was one I hadn’t been to before so I wasn’t sure how it normally looked, but right then the modestly sized room was dotted with table coral and had a long table against one wall with assorted foods and taipanu. The walls shone with manisi pearls and glowing anemone were scattered across the floor like a carpet.

On the far side of the room was a table that held assorted items wrapped in seaweed.

But what caught my eye was not the decoration, but the merfolk in the room, a grin stretching across my lips.

“Samoa! Elei, Masina!” I swam over to them.

“Persi-aia,” Elei said with a nod. “How nice to see you again, I heard you had many a fight this summer.”

I twisted my hands in greeting, “I did, more than my fair share.”

Samoa twisted her hand, a far more respectful greeting than she’d given me before.

“We missed seeing you,” she said. “Fetu and Lagi told us some of you summer, but not much.”

“Oh,” Masina nudged the two mermaids. “We can talk about his summer later. It’s good to see you again, Persi-aia.”

“And you as well, Masina-ia’imora.”

“We did miss you,” Samoa said. “We’re very glad you’re safe.”

“I missed all of you as well,” I murmured as Fetu and Lagi swam over, Fetu flashing me a smile.

“Oati Amawa, Persi,” Fetu chirped.

“Yes,” Elei said. “That is the purpose of us all being gathered here. Your Amawa. May it be a happy one.”

I laughed, “My Amawa was nearly two mavuho ago. But thank you.”

“Oati hoviti amawa,” Samoa said.

The others mimicked her, wishing me a happy birthday even though it was two weeks late.

“Yes, oati amawa, Persi,” said another familiar voice as Rosa swam over.

“Havu,” I thanked them all with a bright smile.

“So, food,” Lagi said. “Come, there’s some fabulous tuna over there.”

I grinned and let Lagi tug me over, the others joining as we gathered some snacks and snagged a few taipanu.

“So, what’s the land camp like?” Elei asked. “What are their training procedures? Who was your supervisor on your quest? How did you get permission to go on a quest so young?”

I coughed, “Ah, well, um, you see…”

“If Aipri was there then it must’ve been the best camp,” said a vaguely familiar mer, who swam over to join us.

“Avl,” Elei nodded to Avl. “And of course, but I’ve never been to the land camp, and I’ve only heard rumors of it.”

She turned back to me, “So what’s it like.”

“Well… The training is done by cabin, and you're split into cabins based on your parent.”

“So, all the sea demigods are put together, that seems nice,” Samoa mused.

“That’s unfortunately not how it works… Only the twelve Olympians have cabins, all the other Gods children are in the Hermes cabin.”

They blinked, “But why don’t they have cabins? Why don’t they split you up based on skills like Camp Tetomoa?”

I shrugged, “They have the system they use. It’s annoying. Leilani was claimed the other day by Psamathe but she has to stay in the Hermes cabin.”

I frowned, “I meant to ask Metua about that.”

“You should, that system sounds frustrating.”

I nodded, “Extremely.”

“Okay, but what the quest, how did you get to go when you’re only twelve? Were the other two members older? Did you have a supervisor?”

“Well,” I sucked some tea from the taipanu. “Grover is technically twenty… something in satyr years, though he’s only twelve in mortal years…”

“Ah, so then the other one was the supervisor?”

“Er, Annabeth is also twelve.”

“Was she some immortal being?”

“She’s a daughter of Athena,” I offered.

They all made faces.

“I’m so sorry you got trapped on a quest with a child of Athena ,” Elei said.

I shifted, “Annabeth is pretty cool, I couldn’t have done the quest without her.”

“I’m sure she was useful,” Masina agreed. “But it’s a shame that you couldn’t have brought someone less…”

“Mocking to Triton-re'aia,” Rosa offered.

They murmured in agreement.

Of course, I knew some about it. 

Athena and Triton and their fight… and Pallas… I knew that Triton still had a problem with her, something that she was doing now.

I never really asked him, it felt personal for him. I didn’t want to upset him.

I coughed, “Yes… but she was a great help, and I count her as a friend.”

“Of course,” Fetu soothed. “I’m sure she was lovely. We can’t hold her Mevuan crimes against her.”

The others nodded.

“So, it was just the three of you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just us three.”

“They must’ve given you excellent supplies then!” said another mer.

I made a quick note that the other mers in the room had drifted over. I think the mer that spoke was named Coaxoch, her circling shark form was familiar.

“Well, they gave us a hundred mortal dollars and like ten drachmas.”

“How much is that in aipata?” Masona said with a frown as they tried to convert the money to the sea currency.

“Um, that would be…” I mentally calculated it, one aipata was about two dollars… roughly, so that would be about fifty-five aipata, or one silava and ten nohuva. “It would be about fifty-five aipata.”

“So they gave you a silava basically?” Elei asked in disbelief.

“Well we also got twenty drachmas,” I said, though I didn’t think very much of the money we’d been given either.

“Oh lovely, so twenty aurova, so total you got about three hundred fifty aipata to go on a quest across the land to stop a war,” Fetu said, his eye twitching.

“I thought that the land camp was supposed to be good,” muttered a girl, I thought I recognized her, but I’d never really interacted with her.

“Now, now,” Rosa said. “They must’ve given him some sort of supplies?”

I flicked my tail, studying the taipanu in my hand.

“We got a ride to a bus?”

“Your land camp is horrible,” Avl said. “Why did Poseidon-re’ore send you there?”

“It’s the laws of the land,” I said. “And closer to my mom.”

“Hmm, so how did the quest go?”

“Uh…” I thought back to the multiple near-death experiences on the first day alone. “It was fine.”

“Oh, what about your teacher?” another mer I only vaguely recognized asked. “Does she live on land?”

Why did Triton invite mers I didn’t know? I mean, I suppose I could recognize all of them from previous events, but I wasn’t close to them like with my six friends.

“Uh-“

“Is she even real?” Asked… I could not for the life of me remember them. A mer with dark orange hair and purple and orange scales was looking at me with a faint sneer.

“Of course she’s real,” chided Rosa. “He wouldn’t have been able to learn as much as he did without a teacher.”

“Katara is… real, but not alive.”

“She died!?” Rosa cried as Fetu took my hand with a worried look.

“No, no,” I reassured quickly. “She was just never alive. She’s a fictional character from a TV show.”

“Like HTV?” the one who’s name I couldn’t remember said.

I blinked, “The channel?”

“Hephaestus television,” Rosa said. “I assume the TV is just television for you?”

“Oh, yeah,” I nodded. “On land we just call it television, there is a channel called HGTV that had me confused for a moment. But yeah, like that. She’s not a living person, but she’s brilliant.”

“What is she from then?” Fetu asked.

“The show called Avatar! It’s so good, you should watch it… er… I guess you don’t get the channel on HTV.”

They shook their heads.

“Oh, well… it’s a good show.”

“So uh, Rosa,” I said, aiming to change the subject. “How have you been?”

She lit up, beginning to talk excitedly about xer lessons and how she’d gained an apprenticeship at Camp Tetomoa (in Atlantis) for xer prophecy.

I smiled and asked questions, leading the conversation away from me to catch up with the mers. Hopefully they didn't bring up the quest again.

Eventually someone used the one mers name, the sneering one I didn’t know, when Tutaki (the mer) was debating whether he was better at the Siren’s Song than Fetu or not.

He was really not, Fetu was amazing at it.

I hid a grin when Fetu politely told them to go swim in a halocline.

I relaxed, happy to be spending time with my friends for the first time in ages. Samoa was acting a bit strange though, keeping quieter than usual and being very respectful.

“Are you feeling alright, Samoa?” I asked when we’d drifted apart from the others for a moment.

I peered at her worriedly, was she feeling sick?

“Yes, Persi-aia, you need not worry.”

“Are you-“

“Persi-aia,” said a mer from before that I didn’t know, swimming over. “I was wondering if you’d seen the new aipone released on the purification sequences? They’re really interesting-“

“They’re nonsense, Avl,” Samoa said. “They messed up the sequence for stabilizing a damaged sand dollar.”

“No, it looks right,” the mer named Avl countered with a frown. “But it’s okay, I know it would be a bit of struggle for one such as you to understand. You weren’t able to buy a copy after all.”

My gaze flicked between them, a frown on my face.

“I don’t need to buy one, I looked at it at Burl’s shop. It’s wrong, they messed up the ivuis, got the lines entirely wrong, and managed to-“

“Look, I’m the one in line for the apprenticeship with Tuluvas-fu’vak. I know what I’m talking about, petulu.”

Samoa’s cheeks flushed, and my eyes narrowed at the insult.

“Samoa is more than capable of getting an internship with Tuluvas-fu’vak,” I said fiercely. I recognized the name of course, Tuluvas was the author of multiple books on purification and recognized as one of the best in the Pahuti Moare, if not the entire Moare.

“Persi-aia,” Avl said sweetly. “I know that she’s a dear friend of yours but-“

I scowled, “She’s remarkably skilled and has helped me improve my own skills quite a bit. Do not use such… words for her.”

Avl faltered, “Of course, Persi-aia.”

She raised her chin, swimming away.

“What’s this aipone that was released?” I asked Samoa.

She blinked, her white hair flowing around her like a veil as she stared at me. “Avl does have better chances of getting the apprenticeship… Her family has connections.”

“And you’ll get it without needing those... is that why you’ve been acting strange?”

She looked away, “You’re the prince. I’m nowhere near the ranking of the rest of them, I’ve only been allowed at the oftmapa because I’m skilled in purification, and Avl is just as skilled as me.”

I blinked, struggling for a moment to understand. My rank was what had her worried?

“Samoa, you’re one of my friends. I’m not going to abandon you just because I’m a prince…”

Did she really think me so shallow?

“I know, of course, but you’re far above me,” she chewed her lip. “It isn’t proper for me to speak to you casually.”

I huffed, I knew all the manners but… “You’re my friend. Fetu and Lagi speak to me casually-“

“They’re the highest ranked mers here besides you,” she pointed out.

Okay, that was fair.

“Samoa, you’re an amazing Vakasta, and an amazing friend. You don’t need to be proper with me, unless it’s some big event. This is just my amawa.”

She studied me for a long moment, her pale eyes intense, before relaxing, “If you say so, Persi-ai-“

I shot her a sour look and she laughed.

“If you say so, Persi.”

“I do,” I said with a nod.

“So,” she trailed off for a moment.

“The aipone?”

She grinned and began tearing apart the apparently horrifically done aipone. She went into detail explaining all the issues it had, and how the one sequence would ruin the sand dollar it was trying to fix, and how another was clearly transcribed wrong because two of the ivuis were the wrong shapes.

I relaxed as she talked, her face brighter than it’d been all night.

Glad that was handled.

Samoa talked at length about the aipone, then we started talking about the apprenticeship. Apparently Avl and her had been competing for it for some time, along with some others but the others weren’t as worrisome for Samoa.

Avl had the family connections to aid her that Samoa lacked.

“Why did she try to interrupt us?” I wondered. I wasn’t close with Avl at all, and certainly wouldn’t help her get the apprenticeship, so what was up with that?

“Probably because she was worried I would try to get you to help me,” Samoa said.

I blinked, oh. I hadn’t even thought of that. I was the prince, I could help Samoa.

“I don’t want your help though,” Samoa declared. “If I get the apprenticeship then I did it under my own skill, and even though it will be harder… if you helped me I’d be all but guaranteed it, regardless of my skill. I want to know that I am worthy of it.”

I smiled, “Of course.”

“Persi,” Lagi said as we rejoined the group. “You were talking about wanting to learn healing before, yes?”

I nodded, “Yeah. I can heal myself, but it would’ve been a big help to know more than the basics when we were on the quest.”

Lagi’s eyes gleamed, “What do you know already?”

Fetu snickered, shooting me a grin as I faltered.

“Um…”

“Right, so you need to know the basics before you can begin lessons, I can give you some tips but there’s a lot to know. You’ll need to learn all the bones, and the differences in structure amongst mer, and of course since you’re planning on healing humans you’ll need to know that as well, plus satyrs as you mentioned one-“

Lagi began rambling on about everything I needed to learn and went into detail about the mer body in ways that made my head spin.

Oh dear, this did not seem as easy as purification. I couldn’t just copy Katara?

Lagi’s lecture lasted forever and Fetu leaned against me and chimed in on occasion with more “fun facts”.

Elei finally cleared her throat, interrupting Lagi as he began to go on another rant about different types of seaweed and their uses in bandages.

“Will you be attending one of the camps?” She asked politely.

“Metua and Triton have been talking about it,” I said, relieved for the break from the head spinning medical facts. “But they haven’t decided on the details yet.”

“You’ll have to train with me,” Elei said. “You mustn’t get complacent.”

“Oh!” Fetu brightened suddenly. “How has your Siren’s Song been going? Can you coax some plants into growing?”

“Yeah,” I said eagerly. “I even managed to put the Kerberos to sleep with a song and talked Medusa out of killing us-“

“Sorry,” he pulled away to look at me. “ Talked ?”

I coughed, “It was an accident.”

He stared at me for a long moment, “We’ll be going over safety procedures for Siren’s Song later.”

I nodded, ducking my head and trying to push down the embarrassed flush.  

We talked for a while longer before a hand landed on my shoulder.

I jolted and looked up to see Triton there.

“It’s time for the ofupanemit,” Triton said fondly.

The what?

“This is the first time you’ve celebrated your birthday undersea,” Triton mused. “So I’m not sure if you’ve had one before. Ofupanemit is similar to the cakes you have on land, but better.”

I nodded, letting him lead me over to one of the table corals, the largest in the room. In the center was something that did kinda remind me of a cake. It looked like some sort of Jell-O and berry mixture, but it didn’t look quite like Jell-O.

The ofupanemit held a thin coral branch with bioluminescent algae twisted around it.

Triton nudged me to the front and I realized the other members of the family were here as well, Metua and Mevu'ta, and Benthesikymê, Rhodos, Herophile, Kymopoleia, and even Khrysaôr.

“Now then,” Metua said. “It’s time to sing the amawa himne.”

The mers circled around me and the table and began to sing.

“Muhopuk tiun ert poresoniv

Are ert haumuk ri ert movae

Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu

Ika ert wasare parutupina sa'opu fare

 

Topta meye muvup, topta meye muhop

Ri era otima mana

Uti tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu

Ert moare emuk muhop pora hatevna

 

Amana porano ert pavu

La maru tamapu av ert wasare

Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu

Eaye em y eaye meye ela

 

Ro y mir elipo ika ert pyev

Ert mavuotiv meye muhop y muvaku

Uti tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu

Y hovi naeye opu meye ivuso

 

La Muhopuk tiun ert poresoniv

Are ert haumuk ri ert movae

Tatifa ert opepav muhomu uohatu

Ert wasare emuk parutup sa'opu fare”

I sniffed, grinning at them as they finished. That was such a pretty birthday song! The one on land was so boring in comparison.

Metua cut the ofupanemit, handing out slices to everyone (with all the other mers thanking him a lot and doing a lot of motions of respect).

I took a bite, brightening at the sweetness. The only really sweet thing (like land sweet) that I’d had in the sea was tea and some of the berries, but the ofupanemit was very sweet.

I happily took another bite, trying to figure out the texture. It was like really dense Jell-O, but like, almost like… some sort of light cake at the same time? But no bread texture. It was hard to describe, but surprisingly not bad. The berry pieces added some extra flavor too.

“Ofupanemit are pretty good,” Triton said with a smirk. “It’s been a long time since I had one…”

He got a far away look for a moment, before he blinked and smiled back at me.

I grinned, “Yeah, it’s really tasty.”

“Now of course,” Kymopoleia draped an arm around my shoulders, her tails stretched out behind her. “It’s time for the best part of any amawa.”

“Presents!” Herophile cheered.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

What did you think of his talk with his mom? What about Carl? What did you think of his birthday so far?

Also, please appreciate the three sentences on the money system, I spent three hours doing research and setting that up. If you wanna know how metals react to water and what metals are found in the sea and in what amounts, boy do I have the info for you!

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
Aurova=golden sea coin-worth $26.55
Metua=Father
Metuan=Father's
Ioma=sea version of minutes
Amawa=birthday
Metu=Dad
Siona=servant
Aetapi=tail ornamentation
Mevu'ta=Step-Mom
Aetapiv=Tail ornamentations
Pohur=night (as the sea categorizes it)
Soha tatu=little brother
Taipanu=the sea sponge cups
Manisi (pearls)=sun pearls
Oati Amawa= Happy Birthday
Mavuho=sea weeks
Oati Hoviti Amawa=Happy Late Birthday
Hovu=Thank you
Aipri=Prince
Mevuan=Mother's
Aipata=undersea currency
Silava=Silver coins (45 aipata)-worth $79.65
nohuva= Nickel sea coins (1 aipata)-worth $1.77
Aurova=golden sea coin (15 aipata)-worth $26.55
Aipone=thin sheets of stone used for longlasting works that are not valuable enough for the ink and paper
Ivuis=sea runes
Pahuti Moare=Cold Sea
Moare=Sea
Petulu=Land locked idiot (basically)
oftmapa= The name of the events that Percy had been going to with Triton
Vakasta= Purifier
ofupanemit=undersea version of cake
Amawa Himne=birthday song

Suffixes
ari=old king
ran=old queen
aia=prince
ia'imora=apprentice mage
re'aia=crown prince
re'ore=high king
fu'vak=master purifier mage

Terminology
Camp Tetomoa=The undersea camp in Atlantis
Psamathe=Goddess Nereid of the Sandy Beaches
Pallas=Triton's daughter, dead
halocline=dangerous undersea rivers comprised of rock and mud that can move at hundreds of miles an hour
Kerberos=phonetic spelling of Cerberus
Rhodos=Goddess of the island Rhodes and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Helios
Kymopleia=Goddess of violent storms and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Briareos
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Herophile=Oracle of Apollo and daughter of Poseidon. Her name means friend of heroes.
Khrysaôr=Son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Pegasus

Now, I spent an hour and a half translating the english version of this song to Halmaheran, it was hard, please be in awe of the work. Also, a special thanks to Maedhbh-tiu on the server for writing the english version.
The Song Translation
Coming from the darkest depths
Or the riding on the foam
Let the currents circle round
As the sea calls you home

All will gather, all will come
Upon this special day
So let the currents circle round
The ocean’s come to play

Born unto the water
Oh sweet child of the sea
Let the currents circle round
What is and what will be

In and out just as the tides
The years will come and go
So let the currents circle round
And see how you will grow

Oh, coming from the darkest depths
Or the riding on the foam
Let the currents circle round
The sea has called you home

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 5: Gifting Foals

Summary:

Presents! And some other important scenes :D

Notes:

Honestly, so so excited for this scene. Like, I've been so excited for one of these scenes forever, it's been written since July (though edited to fit the stuff that's been written since).

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

“Now,” Triton said. “I’m certain that all these are wonderful presents, but I thought perhaps it would be best to receive mine first, seeing how it’s not wrapped.”

I perked up, “Not wrapped?”

“Well,” he smirked. “It’s a bit hard to wrap.”

He made a motion to someone behind me and one of the guards swam forward, something cradled in their hands.

My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

“An octopus!”

“A coconut octopus, to be precise,” Triton said.

I cooed at the reddish-brown octopus that curled in the guards hands. It’s little tentacles poked out as it seemed to look around.

“She isn’t named yet,” Triton said. “What would you like to name her?”

I gently scooped her out of the guards hand, they slipped back to one of the walls.

“She’s so pretty,” I murmured as her tentacles curled around my fingers tightly. She was easily small enough to fit in my hands, and so cute too, but her tentacles were strong. “Maybe… Hippolyta?”

“Like the amazon?” Triton mused. “That sounds good.”

I beamed, gently petting her head. “Nice to meet you Hippolyta.”

“Oh, she’s adorable. I want an octopus,” Samoa said. “But my parents are shark people.”

“Ouch,” Rosa said. “Everyone knows Octopi are the best.”

I laughed as it started a debate, Two mer were very insistent that sharks are better but Rosa and Samoa were standing strong on octopi being the best.

I rolled my eyes as Fetu passed me a present, Hippolyta being moved to my shoulder for the moment.

“Here,” he said. “Open this one.”

I almost cried when I opened what was labeled as from Lagi to realize that it was a bunch of books.

Books on mer biology, individual ones on bones, nervous system, circulatory system, and scale and fins. Plus, a side one on how undersea magic interacts with those systems based on how it’s drawn forth. And then the books on undersea treatment, one for both fauna and flora and their properties and uses in medicine, plus a book on undersea medicine, and a book on magical treatments in a basic manner.

Oh no.

“Oh,” Lagi beamed. “I see you’ve opened mine.”

Triton was snickering, traitor.

“Now you’ll be able to begin studying medicine like you said you wanted.”

He looked very pleased with himself for his gift, I didn’t have the heart to tell him it made me wanna cry.

“Havu,” I said, glad that I was underwater to lighten the weight of the books. Hippolyta tried to poke at one of the books with a tentacle. “I’ll make sure to read through them.”

“Oh, there’s also another gift beneath the books.”

I shuffled them around, noticing a small stone.

“It will give a boost in healing done when the person being healed is holding it. Stimulates recovery, increases speed of skin growth, that sort of thing. It’s re-chargeable in terms of power as well, but takes a lot so be careful if you decide to try.”

I nodded, studying the stone curiously. It had a few ivuisav carved on it that felt curling and warm. I suppose that they were what gave it the power.

“Havu, Lagi.”

He twisted his hand in acknowledgement.

Hippolyta tugged on the stone with her little tentacles, having curled down my arm. I let her take it, she moved back up to sit on my shoulder, hugging her new stone.

With the debate on octopi versus sharks over, I was able to open a few presents from the mer I didn’t know that well.

I received a very pretty journal from the mer that was rude to Samoa, a platinum and blue, purple, and pink coral necklace from a mer named Lorenzo, a fresh young blue and silver coral from a mer named Tutaki, a book on the history of the deeps from a mer named Atl, and an (currently dulled) knife in a really cool sheath with a kraken wrapped around a ship on it.

Hippolyta reached for the seaweed that had wrapped the presents, so I passed her a strip. Her little tentacles clung to the stone and seaweed.

“Havu,” I said politely to the four, even the rude one.

I hesitated, did I just keep putting the unwrapped gifts back on the table? I didn’t really have another place for them.

“Perhaps mine next, taeae soha tatu,” Khrysaôr said with a bright smile.

I nodded and let him pass me a present wrapped in sparkling seaweed.

It was two presents, one long and thin, the other short and boxed.

I opened the long and thin one first and found a spear. It was a nice spear? But I didn’t need another weapon… and I didn’t use a spear anyways. Did Khrysaôr use a spear?

I stiffened as the waters shifted and pressed down heavy on me. I heard Triton snarl.

“Khrysaôr-“

“It’s designed off of the Goddess of War’s!” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “It’s very well made too.” 

He looked very pleased with himself as he hid behind Metua.

Triton looked ready to stab him with his trident.

“It’s also poisoned!” Khrysaôr added with a big grin.

“Perhaps we should hold off on that for Persi,” Poseidon said delicately. “He’s a tad young for a poisoned spear.”

“Yeah,” Triton snapped. “Maybe when he’s six-hundred.”

“Oh fine,” Khrysaôr said. “But I got him two things.”

He smirked at me, “Open the second.”

I let Triton take the spear and make it vanish before unwrapping the second box.

I studied the wood container, a bottle visible through the glass front. It was shaped interestingly, with a thick base that narrowed then got larger again. The bottle was filled with some red liquid.

“What’s,” I squinted to read the cursive styled writing. “Ass-om-bro-so-Reserve-ah Del Poor-toe?”

“AsomBroso Reserva Del Porto,” Khrysaôr chirped as Hippolyta slipped down my arm to poke at it. “It’s the best tasting tequila around.”

“Oh,” I considered for a moment. Did the sea have underage drinking laws? Was this a normal gift?

“NO!” Triton cried, diving for it. “You are far too young for this!”

“Oh, let the kid live,” Khrysaôr cooed. “He deserves a break, a nice drink, some relaxation. It’s good for him.”

“Go rot in Tartarus you petulu.”

“Ouch,” Khrysaôr placed a hand to his chest as Poseidon groaned. “That hurts.”

“Children-“ Metua started.

“Do you have no sense!? He’s thirteen!”

“And that’s the right age to begin drinking! Honestly, it’s a shame he hasn’t had a drink yet.”

“You-“

“Enough!” Poseidon cried. “Khrysaôr, get your brother an age appropriate in the modern day gift. Triton, put the trident away.”

“Wow,” a mer muttered. “That’s… something.”

“Persi,” Poseidon held out a hand. “I’ll take the…”

“AsomBroso Reserva Del Porto,” Khrysaôr said helpfully.

“Yes… that.”

I handed it over, not willing to fight about it. Hippolyta tried to cling to it as Metua took it away though so I had to coax her back.

“Now then,” Poseidon said. “How about you open another present.”

“Mine is nothing inappropriate,” Masina said primely, offering another seaweed wrapped box.

I accepted it and carefully peeled away the yellow shaded seaweed to reveal some carefully rolled pipone and a current board. I unrolled the ocean paper and revealed detailed maps.

“They’re maps of the currents,” Masina said. “The most detailed out at the moment. They’re also updated and show the current speeds and danger levels and which ones are best for quick travel along with markings for best exits.”

“Wow,” I said. “This is very interesting. Havu.”

“I think you know what a current board is,” they teased. “I thought I could teach you.”

Triton’s eye was twitching and Khrysaôr gave me a thumbs up.

“That sounds great,” I chirped, ignoring both of them as I studied the large shell board.

Masina looked pleased.

I carefully set the presents aside to reach for the next one.

This one was a teal shade, and the name on it marked it as from Mavu’ta. Amphitrite-nai got me something?

I carefully peeled the wrapping off and found arm braces. They were intricately made, with mini krakens patterned on each of them. They felt light as a feather despite their weight.

“They’re enchanted to be light and to be gentle on your arms,” Amphitrite said politely. “To ensure comfort while keeping your arms protected.”

“Havua,” I murmured.

She flicked her fingers in acknowledgement.

“Do mine next!” Herophile said, drifting forward. “It’s great.”

“Sure,” I agreed, reaching for the one she pointed to.

I carefully unwrapped the pretty blue seaweed, revealing an interesting circle… thing.

I had multiple parts decorated with lines, and they shifted when I picked it up.

I hummed and twisted one, noticing the lines on it shifted as well.

“Oh,” I mumbled. “It’s a puzzle.”

“Yes!” Herophile cheered. “It’s the- the-“ she frowned “-four letters, starts with b, greatest-“

“Best?” Kymopoleia asked.

“Yes!” Herophile beamed. “It’s the best puzzle ever.”

I tried to make the lines match up but frowned when they wouldn’t.

“That’s the first step, it has a lot of parts as you work your way through. In the very center is a prize!”

I studied it with a frown, “This is hard.”

“Yep, but you’ll get it.”

I wanted to spend my time on the puzzle, but I reluctantly put it with the rest of the gifts to reach for another present. I needed to get through them so everyone stopped staring at me. 

I gently pulled Hippolyta away from the puzzle as I put it up, then reached for the next present.

This one was once more in two pieces, the red seaweed listed it as from Elei.

I peeled back the wrapping on the first and grinned as I recognized the style of the armor pieces inside. They were like my chest plate that I wore for capture the flag. These were different though, smaller and much more flexible.

“They’re for your tail, on the joint,” Elei explained. “To keep it shielded from attacks.”

“Oh, havu. This will be useful.”

She smirked, “You’ll need them in sparring.”

I grinned back, she was gonna make me suffer, then opening the second piece. 

This one held a box, much like the one from Lorenzo. Opening the box revealed a small silver and pearl comb. It had multiple slightly wavy teeth that connected to a shining silver crescent moon, the ‘horns’ of the moon faced down, leaving the curve as the top of the comb.

“It’s sharpened at the top,” Elei said. “So it can be used as a weapon if needed.”

“Oh!” I grinned. “Like Drew’s!”

“Drew?”

“She’s a daughter of Aphrodite and she has a comb like this. Havu, I really like it.”

Elei twisted her hand, “Of course.”

I put the hair comb with the armor, and reached for another present as I noticed Hippolyta curling in the armor piece with her stone and seaweed piece. She’d collected more seaweed pieces as well.

That was so cute.

The next present I grabbed was from Rosa.

I unwrapped the gold seaweed, revealing a stone box. I opened that to reveal a set of brushes and coral markers and ink sponges and even some small bowls.

“It’s a full calligraphy set,” xey said. “I’m sure that you can get your own, but this set also includes the mixer bowls, which I don’t see often. If you ever get interested in customizing some inks, those are a huge help.”

“Havu,” I said politely. This did seem cool, I’d never thought about customizing inks before. Maybe I could learn something about that. Could xey teach me?

I closed the lid once more and set it with the rest of the gifts, then grabbed another present.

This one said it was from Rhodos and was also a nice gold shaded seaweed. 

I unwrapped it and revealed an amazing statue. It was carved from some sort of blue stone (or multiple?) and looked like a wave right before it would crash down but seemed to shine like the sun was behind it. In the wave were a pair of dolphins mid jump.

“Wow,” I murmured. “Havu.”

“Uafoto,” she replied.

I opened the next, listed as from Kymopoleia. Inside was a small kelp net, and held in the net was a small… spinning top?

“Oh no,” Triton muttered.

“And that, darling Perseus,” Kymopoleia said brightly. “Is the tool you’ll need for learning how to make storms.”

“Kym-“

“It’s going to be wonderful,” She said happily. “I’ll teach you how it works later.”

I nodded, curious despite myself. “Alright, that sounds interesting.”

Triton groaned, Metua sighed.

“Open the next present,” Herophile chirped.

I dipped my head, reaching for another present and grinning when I saw it was from Fetu. This one had two parts like some previous ones.

I peeled back the silvery green seaweed on the first one to reveal a book. I perked up, it was about the Siren’s Song!

“You said you’d improved,” Fetu said. “So, I thought I’d give you the info on the next step.”

“Havu!” I cheered, flipping it open.

Triton laughed, “Read it later, finish opening the presents now.”

I sighed but nodded and placed the book down to open the second part. There was a small stone box inside of it that I opened to reveal a pair of silver crescent moon earrings.

“Oh wow,” I murmured.

“They’ve got the ivuis for good luck engraved as well,” Fetu said. “Hopefully they help you avoid trouble.”

I grinned at him, “Havu, re’havua. They’re amazing.”

I carefully closed the box and decided to switch them out after the party.

Hippolyta curled around the box, a piece of colored seaweed clutched in her tentacles.

I gently scooped her up again and set her on my shoulder as I reached for the next present.

It was wrapped in blue and green seaweed and held Okeanus-ari’s name on it.

I carefully unwrapped it, rather flattered that He got me anything at all. I wasn’t His kid after all, there wasn’t a need for him to get me anything.

There wasn’t really a need for anyone to get me a present, but I loved that they did. I’d never gotten more than two or three presents for a holiday or birthday before.

I opened the box and gasped when something shot out.

It took a moment to see because it was zipping around me so quickly, but it finally stopped in front of my eyes.

It was like a mini sea serpent, but… make of sea glass.

“Oh, wow,” I whispered, reaching out to touch it.

It nuzzled my finger, it’s scales (despite being glass) smooth and sturdy.

“Hello pretty one,” I murmured.

It made a trilling sound, curling over my hand and winding around my wrist.

I laughed, carefully petting it with my other hand.

“Oh,” Fetu said. “Those are hard to make.”

“It’s sentient,” Lagi mused, leaning forward. “Those are very hard to make.”

Metua was glaring at it.

“It’s very pretty,” Samoa said. “I love the way it’s scales look.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “They’re so detailed.”

It hummed, vibrating lightly on my wrist as it did so. 

“Well,” Metua said. “You still have a few presents to go.”

I nodded, carefully nudging the sea serpent until it swept up and curled on my shoulder, a low vibration coming from it still.

Hippolyta moved across my shoulder to poke at it and pulled back in shock when it moved. I grinned as the two got to know each other.

I reached for the next gift and saw it was from Samoa.

It was wrapped in simple seaweed, which I pulled away to reveal a pearl necklace.

“That looks like the kind land-dwellers make,” Avl said with a faint sneer on her lips.

“I got it at the downed ship, the one to the tiafal,” Samoa said stiffly. “It was well made.”

“How… quaint,” Avl said mildly.

I hummed, putting the pearl necklace on, “I like it. Havu, Samoa.”

She brightened, “Uafoto, Persi.”

There was only one more present on the table, which was apparently labeled as from Tethys-ran. It also had a note attached.

I tucked the note away for now, I’d look at it later away from all the guests. 

Inside the wrapping was a necklace.

The necklace was made of interlocking scales, deep blue-green and shimmering in the manisi pearls light. They were connected with what looked platinum, and while thin, clearly meant to be a choker.

“Oh,” Mevu’ta murmured. “That’s a velaru.”

What was a velaru?

“Oh my,” Samoa murmured. “Have you improved so much that you’ve earned a necklace?”

“Those are used for quelling the senses,” Triton explained. “It’s used as both a marker of an experienced Vakasta Imote and for helping non-sensor’s handle the sensory aspect.”

“Oh!” I grinned. “Okeanus-ari said he would speak with her about it.”

“He said what,” Metua muttered.

I carefully clipped the necklace around my neck and almost slumped at the immediate relief.

I’d started getting used to the constant sensory overload and at least in the sea most of the sensations are similar so it was a bit easier to ignore. But now… I could breathe without feeling the pressure of the water around me, the rubbing salt of Metua, the coiling currents of Mevu’ta… I let out a breath in relief.

Thank Pontus.

“Well,” Metua said. “Now that the rest of the presents are out of the way, I believe it is time for me to give you mine.”

He made a motion to someone behind me as I blinked in surprise. I thought the birthday party would be His present. What else was He giving me?

“My gift was waiting outside,” He said with a smile. “But, ah, there he is.”

I turned around, my eyes widening as the gift was brought in.

A guard was leading a hippocampus in, a foal. He was a lovely creature, with glittering rainbow scales making up his tail and shining hooves for his front half. His fur was a pale white, and his mane tied in neat braids to keep it organized.

“Oh,” I whispered. “Wow.”

“He is yet unnamed,” Metua said. “But he is yours.”

I swam over, holding out a hand to him.

“Hello,” I whispered.

The hippocampus nickered, nuzzling my hand.

Hello, princeling.

I grinned.

“You’ll learn from the stable hand how to care for him,” Metua said. “Do you have a name idea for him?”

I considered him for a moment, petting his soft white fur as I thought.

There was only one real name I could give to a magic steed.

“Appa,” I said. “His name is Appa.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

It turned out that Benthesikyme’s gift was connected to Metuan and Triton’s. She got me a complete set of care tools for both Hippolyta and Appa, including food and books on how to properly care for them. 

She also said that she’d be adding a tank to the Poseidon cabin and to my room back at mom’s apartment so that I could bring Hippolyta with me.

I thanked her profusely of course, Hippolyta was a sweetheart, and Appa was so lovely. Honestly, all the presents were wonderful.

I was back in my room now though. 

Appa was settled on a soft patch of kelp that was added just for this purpose (the manisi pearls apparently supplied it with the needed sunlight), Hippolyta was making a comfortable spot amongst some shiny bits that she pulled from the cabinets. The gift from Okeanus, the small glass sea serpent, settled on my kelp pillows.

I finally had the time and privacy to open the letter from Tethys-ran.

Persi-tou,

We are very sorry that we were forced to leave before your birthday, unfortunately our duties wait for nothing. We wish you both a wonderful thirteenth birthday, even if a bit late.

We hope that you like the gifts we have given you. Okeanus wished to give you a real sea serpent, but we weren’t sure you would have a place to keep them, thus we settled for a smaller, more portable one. Fear not, it is able to swim in air as easily as water, so you may bring it with you on land. Just make sure to let it stay in water for at least an hour a day. It also has no need for food so worry not about that.

The necklace that I have given you is called a velaru, it is used in the same way that veils are for land mages. Our magic has different sources and thus must be protected against in different ways. Okeanus spoke to me about your struggles, and I gathered the pieces of this velaru myself. The scales are from fídi, Okeanus’ snake messenger. They are well suited for guarding you against the sensations of those around you. 

Velaru are also used to mark Vakasta Imote. Unlike most Imoteorav, Vapalivav do not have bands denoting status. A Vakasta Imote must have their velaru given to them by another purifier that is made with freely given materials. They can gather it themself as well, but usually by the point they have earned it they are an apprentice of some sort.

I hope that the velaru aids you and soothes your senses. Please send me a message if there is anything else I can do to aid you.

May the currents guide you,

Tethys-ran y Okeanus-ari

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I winced as the tovhu had me do the finger lifts. I had to hold my hands flat on the table coral and lift the fingers one at a time as far as I could without pain.

It’s only three more days before I went home, but in the meantime, I still had to finish physical therapy for my hand. It was not fun.

Next exercise up was the grip one, with a sponge ball of some sort. I had to grip and release it, lengthening the time each time and increasing my strength each time. It was miserable and my hand always ached by the end of it. I never realized squeezing a ball could hurt your hand so much, but physical therapy proved it to me.

I sighed as I moved on to the next exercise. That one required a small thin band wrapped around my hand. I had to move my thumb out which stretched the band, then I had to hold it for a few seconds. I had to repeat it twenty times.

Thankfully I was almost done with physical therapy for the day, only two more exercises before the tovhu releases me, which meant that I can finally make those Iris calls I’d been meaning to make.

I quickly moved through the last two exercises, wrist ones that made me flex my wrist up and down with a clenched fist and then side to side with my hand flat.

Now I had to get back to my room to call my friends. I really should’ve done that sooner but I didn’t think about it till the tovhu asked me about camp on land and my friends there.

I waved goodbye and swam out. It was time for calls!

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

I stood in front of the three best, and most discreet, warriors of Camp Tetomoa and studied them intently.

“This mission is of the greatest importance,” I said solemnly.

They nodded, “Yes, Triton-re’aia.”

“You cannot slip up, no one may know you’re there.”

“We will not fail you,” Klara said firmly.

They were all sixteen, all passed the strict tests that the camp put in place. All would be fully equipped for this quest, this mission.

“You will infiltrate the school and you will have to blend in with the mortals.”

“We’ll ensure his safety without being found out,” Acantha confirmed.

Kai flicked his tail, “We’ll keep him from harm.”

I pursed my lips.

“You’ll have two weeks to prepare and adjust to the mortal world. Learning to walk on land isn’t easy, legs are nothing like tails. Antonio will be your teacher and supervisor for this.”

Antonio fingers twisted into the proper motion of respect, “I will make sure they succeed.”

I let out a breath. They were younger than most, but they were the only ones that could pass for thirteen or fourteen. They were also unknown to their target, which was another necessity.

“I am putting my faith in you, don’t let me down.”

“We won’t, Triton-re’aia.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

“What do you want, little brother?” I asked to the pit, interrupting the voice.

The area shifted, shadows reaching from the gaping pit before me. He called me to speak to him, but so far had only been swimming ‘round the kelp field.

“I want to request your aid.”

I frowned, he did not request anything last time, not after…

“Request my aid?”

“There is a war coming, you can tell as well.”

“Of course I can, but it will be a war of your own making. Why should I aid you in it?”

“You cannot be pleased with how the world has been polluted? The oceans filled with trash? The rivers clogged? The forests destroyed?”

I frowned as he continued to speak. 

“Surely you have seen how the children are treated now? The blatant favoritism? The way the Half-Bloods are treated? The world is in a far worse place then it was under our rule.”

“Are you truly one to speak after what you did?”

I heard him sigh.

“I regret my actions toward my children greatly. Not only because of what it cost me in the end.”

He sounded regretful.

“I know now, why I acted the way I did, the madness that took me... I understand why you stepped away in the last war, and I thank you for not aiding me in my madness. But I plead with you now, don’t allow my children to continue their crimes. The world cannot last under their rule, and you know it as well.”

“It is good you regret eating your children,” I said coolly. “But that was not what I was referring to at this moment.”

There was a stir from the depths, “Then what other crime did I commit that angers you so?”

My eyes narrowed, “Your minion set a pit scorpion on Persi Jackson, a child.”

There was a beat of silence, “Oh? Did he now? How… interesting…”

I frowned, “You speak as if you weren’t aware?”

“His orders were to attempt to recruit the child, and to accept his answer as it was. I have plenty of time to turn him to my side, I need not have his aid immediately. I can’t imagine why Luke would decide to kill him.”

I pursed my lips. My brother seemed to speak the truth, and yet…

“You wish for me to aid you in a war? And yet you cannot even keep one of your minions from trying to kill children? What guarantee could you give me that more children would not be harmed?”

He sighed, “I cannot give you a true guarantee. We both know my foolish children will send their own children to fight, they have no care for the lives lost. And despite my goal to capture rather than kill, there will be inevitable death.”

I raised an eyebrow, “This is not very convincing.”

“With your aid the war would end faster, it would be less deadly-“

“And what would happen to the losers? You plan to gain the pit beings’ aid do you not? What will you do about them wanting to feed on the demigods?”

“I wish to leave the children out as much as possible,” he insisted. “My goal is to take the camp first, quickly and painlessly. An overwhelming force that they couldn’t hope to fight.”

“The barriers would prevent that,” I countered.

“The barriers will fall soon, you can be assured of that.”

I frowned.

“I wish for the forces to enter by the sea, your aid would be invaluable.”

I mused over this. Kronos was very good at creating situations where the enemy had no option but surrender. He could very well succeed in forcing them to surrender quickly and painlessly if he succeeded in this plan.

He did defeat father after all. Even when father was in the depths of his own madness my brother was able to match and defeat him.

Was it fated for every ruler to fall to madness?

I shook my head, would the camp truly surrender? And if they didn’t… at the sea… Persi-tou would be front and center.

“You cannot truly guarantee anything,” I said.

“Is this about young Percy?” He questioned. “You seem attached, and I have sensed your power on him. Do you favor the child?”

His tone was almost sly, my eyes narrowed. “If you would target him to try and gain my allegiance-“

“I would not,” he promised. “I will be speaking with Luke on why he attempted to kill Percy. He would be extremely useful in my plans, and they would require him to be alive. I have no wish to harm my grandson.”

“Children are not tools,” I murmured.

“No, they are not. But, I must take their powers and skills into consideration. If it would aid in your consideration, I would guarantee his survival.”

I frowned, it would actually. I was not trying to get custody of him for nothing, he should not go through more suffering because of my brother’s plans.

And besides, my brother was sounding… far more sensible than he did at the end. Had he finally regained his sanity?

“All the children should be safe… though I will admit, I do favor that one.”

“Trying to steal another child, brother?” He was definitely teasing me now.

I rolled my eyes, “It is not stealing if I ask first.”

“Well, technically it is if they don’t say yes.”

I waved my hand dismissively, not that he could see.

“This minion of yours, Luke, he will not be welcome in the ocean. Ever.”

Kronos sighed, “Of course. I will keep him from the water.”

“You will ensure he is punished,” I insisted, feeling my anger grow once more. He harmed Persi, almost killed him, a child. He didn’t even do it on orders, the only thing that could’ve lessened our rage. I would not let him escape some sort of punishment.

“He will be punished. Even putting aside that he targeted a child, he directly disobeyed my orders and almost killed someone vital to my plans.”

I nodded. If the boy dared to come near my waters, or any river… or any lake… or really any body of water, he would not live to regret his actions.

“Will you consider my proposition?” Kronos asked.

I sighed, “I will consider. But I make no promises.”

“That is all I ask.”

His presence retreated, and I considered his words.

Putting aside my feelings in regard to the children, my brother was correct, the gods had been failing greatly.

I had not been certain they would be a greater ruler before, in the last war, but I had thought that they couldn’t be worse than my brother had become. In the beginning he ruled fairly, the world was peaceful. It was not called the golden age for nothing.

But at the end, that last small period of time, something changed.

I stared out at the wamaresia. He went from fair to cruel, eating his own children in fear of what they could become.

It made no sense, he had been delighted at the thought of children before. It was half the reason he married Rhea. But the change had happened so suddenly at Hestia’s naming ceremony, and I would not aid him in that war with how he had become.

But he seemed remorseful, he seemed far saner. He was even agreeing to compromises without any prodding. He would never have done that during the last war. It was his way or the gyres.

I had stood aside twice before in conflicts of the family, could I do it once more? Could the sea survive me standing aside once more?

Could Persi?

I sighed, the Gods had been failing, the world was polluted, the waters especially, and they’d done little to nothing to stop it. 

They threw tantrums every five minutes and had caused many wars due to their childishness. 

They abandoned their children to suffer and didn’t even hold the most basic of protections on them. 

They certainly didn’t give their children a way to learn their powers. Persi was one of the few to have any idea of how his powers work and he was almost certainly the only one with actual teaching from his family who knows their powers. 

The Gods were no good as rulers, and if I could guarantee that at least the children had a chance…

Well, Kronos’ war could actually guarantee their survival better than no war at all… But it would also threaten them…

I didn’t want war, I certainly didn’t want war in my land. Children were always the first to suffer in war and even if it may better their lives I still worried.

But… if it would lead to better times, if Kronos was actually saner, if he could keep his oath…

He’d already brought harm to Persi, but it seemed to have been against his will… perhaps… perhaps I could work with him.

I turned to leave, grimacing at the shadows that seemed to be spreading.

I called the wamaresia closer with a scowl to drive the shadows back before I swam away.

I sent the anglerfish back to keep Erebus at bay in my absence once more. Just because Pontus was sleeping and I was distracted did not mean Erebus could spread freely.

I focused back on the matter at hand. 

This war would cause trouble regardless. Me taking a side could decide it. I did not wish to pick a side that would endanger Persi or any other children, but I had to consider the sea as a whole.

I needed to speak with Tethys, this was not a decision to make lightly. She deserved a say in it. Regardless of if I picked a side, or took neither side, I could not decide without her input.

And then… then I needed to decide how to keep the children safe, regardless of the side I chose.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Luke POV

I stretched, exhausted from the sparring. Lord Kronos was certainly good at setting up training regimes that pushed me.

I hadn’t been this tired in ages.

I wandered back towards the scattered remains of Mt. Othrys, towards one of the huts that had been built up. I’d grab a drink then do some climbing. Lord Kronos said that this was rest and training time before I would be needed.

I grinned, maybe I’d go down to the beach today. I was right next to it but hadn’t had a chance to check it out yet…

“Castellan,” Theia, the Titaness of jewels called. “Kronos wishes to speak to you.”

Theia, of the Titan’s aiding Kronos, only Her and Phoebe were free right now, or at least free and here to aid us.

“Lord Kronos?” I asked. “What does He need?”

“You’ll see,” She said, motioning to the much nicer looking hut where Lord Kronos’ casket lay.

I hurried to it, murmuring a thank you as I passed Her. What could He need?

I pushed open the door, stepping into the hut. The inside smelled of fresh grains and the gold casket drew my eye immediately.

I kneeled, “My Lord.”

Luke Castellan.

His voice echoed in my head.

“How may I serve?”

You may start by explaining why you attempted to kill Percy Jackson.

I frowned, “You ordered me too.”

I ordered you to attempt to recruit him, and to accept his answer as is.

Well yes, but I could catch the meaning. Accept it and tie up the loose ends if he said no.

“I… yes… and he said no. So I sought to get rid of a future threat-“

I am the one who decides what threats need removal.

“My Lord-“

He is necessary for my plans, and his death would cause many problems. You are not to go near him again.

“I understand,” I murmured.

I didn’t understand, he was clearly a threat to Lord Kronos! He foiled one plan already and I couldn’t risk him doing it again!

You will also stay away from all water sources, be they river, lake, sea, or ocean.

I blinked, “What?”

You have succeeded in angering not just Poseidon, but also Okeanus, Tethys, and every other major deity of the sea.

I gaped, “What!?”

This is what happens when you don’t follow my orders.

I winced, Lord Kronos was very displeased. But still, Percy was definitely a threat. If he wasn’t on our side he needed to be disposed of.

“I apologize. I will do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

You will stay in your room and wait.

“But what about the mission you had for me?” I asked desperately.

I couldn’t fail him now!

It will be handled.

I bit my tongue and bowed my head, “Yes, My Lord.”

This was all Jackson’s fault, if he’d died (like he obviously failed to do) then I wouldn’t have had this problem. I wasn’t sure what’s up with him and Lord Kronos’ plans, but I thought it was far safer to just be rid of the kid.

Lord Kronos mentioned the sea deities… had Percy gotten Okeanus to fight against Kronos?

See! That was what I was talking about. Percy was far too connected to the ocean and his powers were too advanced. As an enemy he was too powerful, too dangerous. He was young now, weaker, but if he had time to train…

He could be a devastating opponent. 

I couldn’t allow that.

Lord Kronos didn’t seem ready to deal with him, he said there was some plan but…

I didn’t really think there was. Lord Kronos trusted me implicitly but he hadn’t mentioned any such plan to me.

I knew all our future plans and not one included Jackson.

I nodded. If Lord Kronos couldn’t handle Jackson for fear of angering his siblings, then I’d do it myself for him.

Lord Kronos would likely be pleased of me taking the initiative to handle such a dangerous threat, though he might end up having to punish me to keep up the charade.

It would be worth it to aid Lord Kronos.

Some of the Presents Percy Gets

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

What did you think of the presents? Hippolyta and Appa? What did you think of Oceanus? What about Kronos? How well do you know the myths to know what's going on?

And most importantly, are you an octopus or a shark person?

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
Havu=thank you
Ivuisav=runes
Taea soha tatu=dear little brother
petulu=land locked idiot
Metua=Father
pipone=kelp/seaweed blended paper
Mevu'ta=step mother
Havua=Thank you greatly
Uafoto=you're welcome
ivuis=rune
Re'Havua=Thank you so much
tiafal=north
manisi=sun
velaru=purification aid necklace
Vakasta Imote=Purifier mage
Metuan=Father's
Imoteorav=Mages
Vapalivav=Purifiers
Tethys-ran y Okeanus-ari=Queen Tethys and King Okeanus
tovhu=doctor
wamaresia=undersea fish lights

Suffixes
ari=old king
ran=old queen
tou=little one
re'aia=high prince

Terminology
Hippolyta=A previous Queen of the Amazons, role model for people. She's featured in the myth of Theseus which is how Percy would know her
AsomBroso Reserva Del Porto=one of the most expensive bottles of tequila you can buy (at least a specific brand of it). It has a very interesting looking bottle
Gyres=like a whirlpool, but bigger, very strong circling currents
Pontus=Primordial of the Sea
Erebus=Primordial of Shadows
Rhodos=Goddess of the island Rhodes and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Helios
Kymopleia=Goddess of violent storms and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Briareos
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Herophile=Oracle of Apollo and daughter of Poseidon. Her name means friend of heroes.
Khrysaôr=Son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Pegasus

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 6: Calls and Decisions

Summary:

Percy talks to his friends <3 Oceanus and Tethys have a chat about where to go from here

Notes:

I'm done with school! Freedom! For the next month at least. So much writing to be done in that time.

Also! Me, Teags, and Angie (plus Pax there cheering us on :D) are now recreating Greek Fire which was a real thing and if you want more info follow our youtube :). please expect a big report on it in 4/5 years while you follow our progress.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I settled onto my bed with the rainbow stone out once more.

First, I was gonna message the Aphrodite cabin, I did promise to get in contact with them… Probably should’ve done that sooner.

I flicked an aurova at the rainbow, “Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please show me the Aphrodite cabin.”

The rainbow cleared to show Silena doing her makeup at one of the vanities.

“Silena,” I called.

She jolted, spinning around to see me. Her lipstick had smeared when I’d called out for her, but she didn’t seem concerned.

“Percy!”

“What?” called a voice from the side.

“Did you say Percy,” asked another.

“Hi,” I said with a wave, nervously fingering my necklace with my other hand.

“You’re alive!” Lapis said as she leaned into the view of the Iris Message.

“Yeah, I’m alive-“

“Where are you?” Lapis asked urgently.

“Are you really under the sea?” asked another as they shoved their way into view.

“Did Luke actually-“

“Are you hurt-“

“-attack you and-“

“-badly?” Valentina asked.

“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Silena questioned.

“-try to kill you?” Mitchell asked

“What’s your dad-“

“Those are cool arm bands.” Lapis added.

“-like?” the other asked.

I leaned back as they all talked over each other, “Hang on- give me a sec.”

They went silent, watching me expectantly.

I took a moment to try and parse out what they all said. “So uh, Luke…”

“Yeah,” Silena asked with a worried look. “Did he actually- Did he-“

I nodded, rubbing my palm where the scar remained.

“Yeah… he… he did.”

“What happened?” one if them asked gently.

I took a breath, wrapping my arms around my tails.

“Wait—woah,” Silena leaned forward. “Are those tails?”

I blinked, “Huh? Oh- yeah.”

“That’s so cool,” Mitchell mumbled.

Valentina’s eyes were sparkling, “Is it because you’re a child of Poseidon? Can anyone turn into something like their parents!?”

“Uh- no I don’t think so? I mean… maybe? I’ve never tried-“

“I’m going to become a dove,” Lapis swore.

I couldn’t help but grin, “Go for it. But yeah, I have a special charm that lets me have tails. Triton gave it to me.”

“That’s amazing,” Silena declared before shaking her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt, please continue.”

I nodded, “Luke brought me out to the woods, said he wanted help retrieving Alabaster’s cards that he borrowed… Then he had us stop in a clearing and-“

I bit my lip and remembered the way he’d spoken, the way he’d claimed to be saving everyone while he’d also been planning to hurt them, to let them be hurt. He hadn’t asked any of them what they wanted, he was deciding for them. And then he’d sicced the pit scorpion on me and…

“Are you okay?” one of them asked softly.

“Yeah… I’m okay… he told me his Lord was offering me a place with them and revealed that he was the one to steal the lightning bolt.”

Silena gasped.

“I refused to leave, and he summoned a pit scorpion.”

“What’s a pit scorpion?” Valentina whispered.

“It’s from Tartarus,” I murmured, feeling the way the air seemed to twist at that. “It can kill mortals in sixty seconds and make immortals very ill for a few days at least. Its antidote takes two hours to prepare, it’s extinct on the surface and can only summoned through a specific ritual. Luke would’ve had to have completed the ritual before summoning it to kill me or have someone else do it for him.”

“How did you survive if it kills in sixty seconds?”

“I had a poturu from Triton, it brings the user straight to Him. I used it and well… the taohu had been teaching their apprentice how to make the antidote just the day before… I got lucky.”

Silena sniffed, clutching her charm bracelet. “I’m so sorry Percy.”

“It’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “Luke is the one at fault, he’s the one who betrayed us and…”

“Are you coming back to camp?” Valentina asked as another kid hugged Silena.

“Not till summer. Triton isn’t happy with the camp for letting me get hurt but I managed to convince Metua to let me return.”

“That’s good,” Mitchell said. “But we’re still good for Iris Messaging?”

I grinned, “Yep! I’ll be heading back to my moms home for the year, attending school and all.”

“That’s near Drew, right?” Valentina said with a frown.

“Yeah, I’ll call her after we’re done.”

“Maybe we can meet up for the Autumn equinox,” Lapis said with a grin. “You could come to camp, or we could go to you for the other holidays.”

“Other holidays?” I wondered.

“You haven’t celebrated these?” Valentina asked. “Well there are a lot of holidays we could meet up for, like Proerosia or Oskhophoria, and of course the Autumn Equinox… Well, the rest of the holidays aren’t really meet up ones… there aren’t as many in the fall.”

“Proerosia? Oskhophoria?”

“Proerosia is devoted to Demeter, we honor Her for the harvest and stuff, leave out some offerings for Her,” Valentina said. “It’s something that’s mainly the Demeter cabin, but the rest of the camp still leaves something out. There’s also a focus on Apollo and His oracles that day, so the Apollo cabin makes an offering to Him as well.”

“Oh, cool,” I hadn’t heard of that holiday before.

“Yeah, we’re able to go out for it if we want, we get the day off. And some people come to camp for the day to celebrate.” Mitchell said helpfully.

I nodded, “That sounds fun.”

“It is!”

“And of course,” Silena added. “Oskhophoria is a holiday for Mr. D, and sorta Athena as well. We have a big meal that night with lots of grapes, and everyone gets watered down wine, and we all add an offering for Mr. D. It’s about thanking Him for the grape harvest in the old days but uh, we don't grow grapes but also He can’t have wine now so…”

“We’re pretty sure he just really misses wine, so everyone gets some so they can offer it to him,” Lapis giggled.

I couldn't help the small laugh even as I realized that it probably wasn't fun for him. Being cut off from the thing you ruled didn’t sound fun, but it was kinda funny to imagine him making sure the whole camp celebrated the holiday to get around his restrictions. 

I couldn’t imagine being away from water for a long time, it sounded miserable.

“Maybe I can come for that,” I mused.

“It would be cool,” another kid agreed. “We mainly thank him for the strawberry harvest nowadays, since he’s the reason it’s so good.”

“Makes sense, what do you do on the Autumn Equinox?”

“A big feast!” Lapis beamed.

“Mr. D arranges cooking areas for all of us, beyond the tiny ones that the bigger cabins have, and we all get to plan foods to make,” Silena said with a grin. “The Harpies still make some of the big stuff, but we make a bunch of the side stuff.”

“And then we all get together,” Lapis said with a grin. “And we don’t have to sit at our cabin tables, and after the normal offerings we eat!”

“And we light candles on our windows,” Mitchell added. “Because it’s the time when the nights become longer than the days.”

“Are the candles for Apollo then?” I wondered.

“Yep. Because He’s the one moving the sun, so we honor Him as the days grow shorter, though I think they used to honor Helios more for it?” Mitchell frowned for a minute. “But He’s not been seen in ages so... Plus, some offerings to Demeter as the harvest draws to a close, and as thanks for the feast too.”

“Don’t forget the honoring of Phthinophoron, the Horae of Autumn,” Halia added.

“Yeah,” Silena agreed. “We have a lot to do on the Equinox.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “I did some research when I was younger but only really knew about the food aspect.”

“Well,” Mitchell paused. “A lot of this is more… custom? Like, a lot of people have their own practices for honoring the Gods. At camp we just have a system in place, with our style of doing it. Some campers also do extra stuff, some cabins too. But the camp as a whole has holidays it celebrates and has for a long time, so it’s pretty well set up.”

“Oh cool,” I paused remembering something I’d read one time. “Wait do we celebrate Samhain?”

Silena shook her head. “No, that's a Celtic holiday originally, and then the Wiccans picked it up and changed it some. But it’s not Greek. The closest we have to that in Greek holidays would be Genesios, which was actually like… a week or so after you left.”

“How do you celebrate that?” I asked.

“Oh, it was lovely,” Mitchell said. “I’d never been to one before, but we had this large meal and barely cakes. We made some offerings to Ares for those that passed in battle, and Hades for those in His kingdom. And then we all gathered around and traded stories of those that have passed.”

“It’s a very sweet holiday,” Lapis agreed. “I really enjoyed it too.”

“Wow, that sounds nice,” I murmured.

“It is,” Valentina agreed. “But anyways, we can try to meet up for one of the holidays, that would be really fun.”

I grinned, “For sure.”

“Now then!” the other kid chirped. “We have to get to dinner, and you have to call Drew and tell her how you’re doing. We’ll IM all the other cabin members and let them know.”

I relaxed, “Yeah, thanks. Talk to you guys later.”

“Bye!”

“See ya.”

“Stay safe.”

“Goodbye!”

“Of course,” Silena gained a wicked smile. “Anything for our dear nephew. Bye Bye!”

I groaned as the Iris Message faded away, their laughter lingering in the air.

“They’re never gonna let that go,” I grumbled as I flicked another Aurova into the rainbow to call Drew.

The image cleared after a minute, to show a pretty bedroom with glittering pink walls a big white bed with dark pink bedding. Drew was laying on the bed with a school book and a notebook open in front of her.

“Hi,” I called.

Her head shot up, hand drawing a dagger from under her pillow before she saw me.

“Percy!? Oh, my Hades you’re okay!”

I waved awkwardly. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“We were all so worried when you vanished before the going away lunch. And then most of us had to leave anyway and the cabin IMed me and said that Luke had almost killed you and you were in the ocean and- are those tails?“

I laughed, pulling one of my tails up. “Yep.”

“That’s so cool, by my mother. I want a tail, actually I want wings, can you imagine having wings?”

“I think Zeus would kill me so I’m good.”

She laughed, “Fair… but really, you’re okay?”

“Yeah,” I relaxed. “I’m okay now, Triton made sure of it.”

“That’s good.” She studied me for a moment. “So you’re at your dad’s palace?”

“Yeah, Atlantis.”

“What’s it like?”

I hummed and considered the question. 

“I like it. The city around the palace is really pretty, and most of my family is really nice. I’m not sure about Khrysaôr… Triton seems ready to strangle him every five minutes.”

She laughed, “Do the Gods fight a lot?”

“Only really Khrysaôr and Triton, and well, Triton and Kymopoleia too. Kymopoleia took me to a spa though!” I faltered. “… Carl is mad at me for going to a spa.”

She snorted, “He really doesn’t like them, does he? I remember the time over the summer that he almost jumped out of the tank when I said I’d take you to a spa.”

I nodded, “He has some trauma with spas. Says they’re evil and stuff… he won’t tell me what happened though.”

“Strange, maybe you can take him with you to one? Like exposure therapy?”

I tried to think for a minute on how that would work and had an image of him completely flipping out.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s the way to do this…”

She shrugged, “Hopefully he gets past his fear of spas at some point.” Her eyes lit up, “There’s this really nice one near me, they have the best massages, and oh their facials are perfect. I love their hot stone massages, you’ll have to come with me sometime.”

I grinned, “That sounds fun!”

“It is, it’s absolutely lovely- are those earrings!?”

I flushed, touching me ear where the silver crescent moon earrings from Fetu were. “Um, yeah, I got my ears pierced when I was out with Kymopoleia.”

She grinned, her eyes sparkling as she bounced in her seat. “That’s awesome! What kinds of earrings do you have?”

“I have these, I got them from Fetu. And I have a few pearl ones, and some silver ones I think.”

“Ooh I’ll get you more fun ones some time. We can go shopping together!”

I grinned, “Yeah, that would be fun.”

I still had money saved so I could buy a few small things.

“Anyways,” Drew said with a shake of her head. “What else have you done?”

I chewed my lip as I tried to think of anything else interesting, “I had a birthday party.”

Her eyes widened, “Wait when was your birthday?”

“Er, August eighteenth…”

“Why didn’t you tell me!? Now I need to get you a birthday present, what do you like? Wait I know what you like. Okay, books, and you know what…”

She studied me for a moment, “You have the family eyes so matching the color would be hard for fabric…”

“What about fabric?”

“Nothing, nothing, are you coming back on land? We’ll need to meet up.”

I blinked, “Oh, uh, in a few more days, four or five.”

“You’ll have to visit me, when does your school start?”

“I’m not sure, mom didn’t say. I’ll have to ask.”

“Most schools start in just over a week, I’m finishing my summer homework now.”

I nodded, “I’ll be back in time if my school does that too.”

“We should meet up before school, grab ice cream and stuff.”

I brightened, I’d never had a land friend to do that with!

“That sounds great! We’ll have to set it up when I’m back on land.”

She stiffened as a knocking noise rang out.

“Drew, honey, you are working on your summer homework, aren’t you?”

“Gotta go,” she whispered. “I’ll call you later, so we can plan our meetup. Happy late birthday.”

“Bye,” I whispered back.

She turned to the side, “Yes mom, I’m working on it now.” She swiped her hand through the rainbow a moment later.

“Well why don’t we go over what you have so far-“ the voices faded away with the image.

I shook my head, reaching for another aurova. Only two more calls to make, thank Pontus Triton gave me more than enough aurova to call everyone. What was I gonna do with the other forty?

I paused as I realized that the Aphrodite cabin was at dinner so that meant everyone at camp was.

Ugh, I’d need to wait to call them…

I jumped when I felt something moving on my tail and looked down to find Hippolyta there.

I laughed, “Hey Lyta, how are you today?”

The faint hum from her was soothing. 

She was too young to give proper words and the like so I mostly got impressions of emotions and flashes of images. Triton said a lot of older octopi did that on purpose, preferring to be unknown rather than speaking clearly.

I liked it though, she was really sweet.

I bent down to scoop her up, her deep red tentacles curling over my fingers.

“Having fun?” I asked as I poked one of her tentacles.

I blinked at the flash of her little nest, a very comfy area in the corner of the room where some sea grass was. She’d snuck quite a few shiny bits from around my room into it, I’d have to retrieve that necklace.

“Do you wanna play?” I asked gently

She pushed up, her tentacles pushing out as she latched onto the ceiling.

I grinned and flicked up to catch her only for her to shoot off the ceiling and right into Appa.

I yelped and threw my hands up to avoid hitting the ceiling.

Appa flicked up, Lyta attached to his face.

“Lyta you can’t hit Appa, he’s not as strong as you.”

I grinned at the smugness that she radiated as Appa drew himself up.

I’m very strong princeling!

I laughed, “Of course, Appa. But Lyta is the fastest octopi ever so-”

His tail flicked sharply as determination radiated from him.

I can swim faster, watch.

With a nicker he shot off… and promptly crashed into me. I yelped as we tumbled into my bed.

“Appa!” I cried.

Oops.

He looked at Hippolyta, who was curled around the mirror on the vanity.

“Don’t look away,” I grumbled, but couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice. “Come on, let's get up. Do you wanna go for a swim?”

He pulled himself off with his hooves, head perked up and his fish tail flicking.

A swim!

“I guess that’s a yes. Do you wanna come, Lyta?”

Hippolyta seemed to consider, tentacles curling and uncurling from the mirror, but she came down after a moment and settled on my shoulder.

“Awesome, let’s go then!”

I led them out and wandered through the halls until I reached the outside, where I turned to the livery.

“Do you wanna practice me riding?” I asked Appa. “Or just wanna swim free?”

Appa twisted, head turning towards me, before he flicked away from the livery.

“Okay, free swim it is,” I grinned as Appa swam towards the paddock.

The paddock was formed of super large curling kelp that had braided entrances all up and down and around the area. It was a large area with plenty of swimming space for the Hippocampi.

It was where Metuano Hippocampi trained, plus the other ones that worked at the palace. The manège was where I worked with Appa, but for free swims the paddock was fine.

With Lyta on my shoulder Appa and I swam in. Appa immediately took off like a swordfish to my amusement. I swam around to find one of the floating benches to settle on.

Lyta quickly started exploring the area around me.

I relaxed watching Appa explore the paddock, swimming up and down to look at the kelp walls.

It was really interesting how they grew, there must’ve been magic involved in it. Maybe I could ask Triton about it later.

I grinned as Hippolyta got stuck in the kelp, squeezing through small openings to get to a more comfortable spot.

Appa started swimming patterns in the water. He looked very graceful out there.

This was nice, relaxing. I was glad I got to come down here and would get to come back. It was very… comfortable. It felt like home.

But I still missed mom. 

I was excited to go back to her, to have blue cookies and a hug and best of all, no Smelly Gabe.

I closed my eyes and leaned back.

I’d never had a year without Smelly Gabe. It would be nice… I thought so at least… well it certainly couldn’t be worse than when he was around.

And mom would be happy.

I jolted at the sudden push that nearly shoved me off the bench.

Appa peered up at me, big brown eyes staring.

“Sorry,” I scratched at the base of his mane. “I was thinking.”

He nuzzled my arm, nickering softly. His curiosity and worry clear as wamaresia.

“I’m fine, just missing home.”

He settled against me, Hippolyta drifting over as well to settle in my hair. I huffed as she got comfy and messed up my hair but continued to pet to Appa.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stretched before grabbing another aurova. The break was nice, and very relaxing, but it was time to get back to calling my friends.

I flipped the aurova back into the rainbow, “Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me the Demeter cabin.

The rainbow cleared after a moment showing Suki stretching out her legs with a grimace as she hooked her cane on the bunk bed.

“Hey Suki,” I called.

She jolted, wincing as she faced me.

“Percy? Oh, my stars you’re okay! Silena said you were but-“ she paused studying me. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

I nodded, “Yeah, Triton made sure I was okay. How are you?”

“Mostly okay, there’s a storm coming outside of the barrier and it’s causing a flare up, but the Apollo cabin gave me some ambrosia to help so I’m good.”

I nodded, those days always sucked for her. Some days she could move around just fine, without her cane and sometimes even without her brace. Other days, not so much. Today seemed to be a bad one.

“How’s Katie?”

Suki smiled, “She’s fine. Right now, she’s dealing with the Stoll brothers. They tried to steal the Athena cabins books from the Apollo cabin and now both cabins are trying to kill them.”

I laughed, “They made a mistake getting in-between the Athena and Apollo cabins’ rivalry for books.”

“Oh yeah, the Apollo cabin is trying to shoot them and they’re cowering in some trees.”

“Poor them, at least the dryads are keeping them alive.”

“How else are the dryads going to get their supply of dr pepper?” she said with a grin.

I snickered, “They must protect their supplier.”

“Well, enough about them. What are you- is that an octopus?”

I blinked, noticing Lyta was curling around my shoulder again. I’d gotten used to her doing that so hadn’t noticed.

“Oh yeah, this is Hippolyta. Triton gave her to me for my birthday.”

“That is absolutely the cutest thing ever,” she declared. “You are absolutely bringing her by sometime.”

I grinned, “Absolutely. Lyta is the best.”

There was a crashing noise.

“I’m sure that’s fine,” she said mildly. “So anyways, did you get anything cool for your birthday, other than Hippolyta?”

I brightened, “Yeah, I got these cool earrings-“ I leaned over to show her them “-and I got this necklace-“ I pointed at the necklace from Tethys-ran that gleamed in the light as it did it’s job of keeping the sensations out “-and I got this cool- Ran come over here.”

I held out a hand for the little glass sea serpent to land on, holding it up to the rainbow.

“Oh, that’s so pretty!”

“Their name is Ran, they were a birthday present too.”

“Amazing,” she murmured. “I’ll have to make sure to grab you something for a birthday present. Anything you really want?”

“Um… I’m not sure. Maybe a pretty plant? We just got a new apartment, so it would be nice to add some plants.”

“Sure! I’ll find something nice.”

“Suki, I grabbed your shot from the Apollo cabin, and two ice packs.”

Katie came into the picture, waving vaguely at me without looking, “Hi sorry, it’s Suki’s shot day so we’ve gotta go.”

“See you, Percy,” Suki said with a wave. “I half-hoped you’d forget, Katie.”

Katie jolted, “Percy!? Okay I’m definitely calling later but Suki’s treatment comes first. And Suki I know for a fact that you have an alarm set and have it marked on your calendar.”

“Yeah, but the shot huuuurrrrtttsss.”

Katie sighed, “I know.”

Suki smiled at her, grabbing a pillow to hold under her arm. “Thanks for helping me Katie, and happy late birthday Percy!”

“Bye!” I called as I waved my hand through the Iris Message.

“Where do you want it this time-“

I sighed, plucking up the last aurova set aside for this. Hopefully Suki got lots of rest.

Now then, it was time to call Annabeth.

I flipped the aurova into the rainbow once more, saying the words to call her.

The image cleared after a moment to show a dining room. Annabeth was sitting at the table, her gaze on her food and a frown on her face. There was a man I assumed was her dad, a woman, and two young boys also sitting there.

“MOM!” One of the boys yelled staring at me. “There’s a boy in a rainbow!”

Annabeth’s head snapped up, “Percy!?”

Were they all gonna react in complete shock?

“He’s a mermaid!?” One of the boys cried.

“No, shut up,” Annabeth snapped. “Percy are you still at your dad’s palace? Are you okay? Did Luke actually-“ she faltered there, biting her lip.

“Annabeth don’t snap at your brothers,” the woman chided.

“His skin is green !” the other boy said loudly.

“Only a little,” the first boy argued. “It’s more brown than green.”

“I’m still in Atlantis, yeah,” I said, deciding to ignore the boys. “And I’m fully healed up. Just have to do a bit more physical therapy and I’ll be going home.”

“To camp?” she asked.

“Why is he wearing earrings?” The first boy asked. “Those are for girls.”

“Cause he’s a mermaid,” the second boy declared. “So he’s a girl.”

“Girls are she’s, not he’s.”

“Well then she’s a girl.”

“Will you both shut up?” Annabeth snapped. “And girls can use he if they want to.”

“Annabeth,” the woman chided again.

“Are you really a mermaid?” the man (her dad?) asked. “How fascinating.”

“Uh, in the ocean the term would be mer, or mernix for genderneutral. Or tame if you want to go by the word in Halmaheran…”

The man’s eyes lit up.

“Okay,” Annabeth said. “Me and Percy need to talk so you guys can leave now.”

“But I wanna talk to the mermaid.”

“Merman,” Annabeth snapped. “He’s a boy .”

“But she’s wearing earrings!”

“Boys can wear earrings too!”

“Earrings are really common for Mer’s to wear in the ocean,” I added helpfully. “Jewelry as a whole is in fact. It’s a status symbol, and kinda replaces clothes, we don’t need those underwater.”

“But jewelry is for girls ,” one of them insisted.

“No, boys,” the man said. “Anyone can wear jewelry if they want, it’s just that a lot of people think it should only be for girls. Really anyone can wear it though.”

The woman pursed her lips.

“Can you bring your… friend… to another room? Rather than us leaving mid-meal?”

Annabeth huffed but stood, shoving her chair out with a screech.

“Sure.” She left the room, the Iris Message followed her to a living room where she angrily pushed toys off the couch so she could sit.

“So, you’re back home,” I noted.

She sighed, “Yeah… I thought I’d try it again, see if I could spend time with my dad…”

“How’s he doing?”

She chewed her lip. “He doesn’t necessarily side with her… but he also doesn’t really tell her to stop. And I don’t really like his wife. She’s… judgy of things. She won’t let me veil in the house, or out of the house, and I wasn’t able to celebrate the New Moon properly.”

“Oh?” I frowned. It was such a strange contrast between land and sea really. It confused me when the camp was celebrating it. “What didn’t she let you do?”

“I couldn’t leave out the offerings on Hekate’s Deiopnon, though she did let me clean. And on Noumenia she threw out the flowers I set around the house and wouldn’t let me make the honey cakes and wouldn’t let me make a Kadiskos to honor the Gods. And she definitely didn’t let me pour anything out for the household spirit on Agathos Daimon.”

I scowled, “But that’s our Gods! Your mom!”

“I know,” she huffed. “I’ll do my best to do it discreetly, but…”

“Are you gonna go back to camp?”

She bit her lip, “I don’t know… I don’t… Camp is… it’s filled with memories and after Luke-“

I nodded, “After he betrayed the Camp…”

“I tried to call him,” she murmured. “But it wouldn’t go through. I don’t- that wouldn’t happen if he was innocent. It’s just… it hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. He made his choice, he left us, not the other way around.” Her jaw clenched, “If he hates us that much then that’s his choice. I won’t-“ she sniffed “-I won’t stand by him when he’s just gonna drop us like this.”

I wished I was there so I could hug her. I just wasn’t sure what to say to comfort her.

“I’m sorry, Annabeth. I… I wish I could do something to help.”

She rubbed her eyes with a scowl. “It’s fine, I’m fine, I just… I need to be away from Camp for a bit. Maybe I’ll go back for the Heliogenna Festival on the Winter Solstice and just stay for the rest of the year. School here looks boring anyways, this is stuff I learned when I was eight.”

I grinned, “Well then at least you’ll have lots of free time.”

She huffed, a small smile tilting her lips. “Yeah, lots of free time. But what about you? What are you doing for the year?”

I hummed, “I’m going back to moms, gonna spend the school year at the new school.”

“That sounds nice,” Annabeth murmured. “So what-

“Persi,” called a familiar voice. “I need to talk to you about the full moon-“

Triton faltered as he saw the Iris Message, with Annabeth staring back at him.

“Ah, sorry, I guess you need to go,” Annabeth said.

“Yeah, talk to you later!”

“Bye,” she waved before swiping her hand through the IM.

“Who was that?” Triton asked.

“Annabeth,” I said. “She’s the person that went on the quest with me.”

“Is she…” He paused staring at the blank rainbow. His face was a light green, paler than his normal shade. “Is she a daughter of Athena .”

“Yeah…” I mumbled, shifting.

“You should avoid her,” He said firmly. “Children of Athena are all the same. None of them can let go of their pride, and all of them take after their mother in harming those that they claim to love.”

“Annabeth wouldn’t,” I said quickly. “She’s great, I like her a lot. She’s a good friend.”

He stared at me, his gaze intent. “Pallas loved Athena and that didn’t stop Athena from running her through in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match.”

I swallowed, “Annabeth wouldn’t-“

“Athena always swore she wouldn’t either. But she went to attack Pallas with deadly force when they were supposed to be showcasing their sparring skills. Despite Pallas’ distraction, Athena did not halt her strike. The fact that the force had the potential to be deadly at all, and was aimed at Pallas’ one-“

He took a breath, his hands shaking. “She aimed right at Pallas’ weak spot, knowing it was her weak point. Athena knew and she aimed there and Pallas died.”

I clutched at the pillow on the bed.

“Triton- I- Annabeth wouldn’t-“

He swallowed, “Athena even now mocks Pallas’ death, every child she has is a mockery of it. All of them look so similar to Pallas-“

I blinked, “What?”

His tails lashed, “Pallas had golden hair, it shone even in the darkest water. Her skin was like burnished bronze, and her eyes a stormy green. Athena practically models her children after Pallas, except the eyes. It’s a mockery, she killed Pallas and acts as if she can do anything in Pallas’ memory.”

My eyes widened, I hadn’t known that.

“Athena’s crimes can’t be held against her children though,” I whispered. “Annabeth hasn’t done anything to hurt me, and I don’t believe she would.”

He scoffed, “Not yet she hasn’t, but I don’t want you to find out what she would do. I don’t want you getting hurt. Athena’s children have a history of causing harm, just look at Daedalus who killed his own nephew for the secret of immortality.”

He shook his head, his power clear to me even with the necklace muting it.

“Or how about Sarah-Mae Williams, a serial killer who started with her own husband. She was the cause of dozens of demigods deaths before she was stopped. And Diokre Athenide, a pirate in the Aegean Sea who challenged Khrysaôr over and over and sacrificed her crew to escape him. Or the Ancient Ptolemic con man, Joshua, who led many families to bankruptcy with his plated gold bars, and then blamed his family for it. Even now, Thomas Streak has bankrupted thousands to fill his own pockets and he still hasn’t been caught by mortal authorities.”

“Triton- those aren’t, sure there are bad ones, but-“ I clutched my tails, a twisty achy feeling in my gut. I didn’t like this. “Not all are bad,” I whispered.

Triton’s gaze softened slightly, “I don’t mean to upset you, Persi, but Athena and her children… Even if this Annabeth doesn’t hurt you, Athena has a history of targeting children of Poseidon who get close to her children. Not to mention that she tends to ensure that her children don’t like those of the sea. It’s… I don’t want you getting hurt.”

I stared at the bed, “I know, I just… Annabeth is a friend, I wouldn’t have managed the quest without her… I just… I can’t hold her parentage against her any more than she did mine.”

He pursed his lips but nodded, “I won’t stop you from… interacting with her. It is your choice. But… be careful. Don’t follow blindly and…” he shook his head. “I’m sorry for upsetting you, I just worry.”

I pushed off the bed, throwing my arms around him.

“I know,” I mumbled. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

He hugged me tightly, “Of course.”

We paused for a moment, before he pulled back.

“Now then, we need to go over what we do for the full moon tomorrow.”

“It’s a blue moon on the land calendar,” I said helpfully, fiddling with my bracelet.

He smiled, “The land calendar isn’t accurate, the sea calendar is the proper one for the moons. Blue moons happen once in a century practically, not every year or two like on land.”

I nodded, “Right, they’re a big deal.”

“Exactly. But this one is a normal full moon,” he straightened. “Your first in the sea. So now we’ll be going over how full moons work in the sea.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I swam to Metuano office. He’d sent for me after Triton left. Triton seemed tense still when he’d left, did he tell Metua about Annabeth? Was this about Annabeth as well?

“You wanted to see me, Metua?”

“Yes,” Metua smiled at me. “Sit down, please.”

I settled on one of the cushions as Metua finished setting aside some aipone and airomo and focused on me.

“So, I talked to your mom.”

I straightened, “You did?”

He nodded, “Yes, we needed to plan your tutoring for the year and you coming to the ocean.”

“Oh,” I fiddled with my bracelet. “So it’s been decided then?”

He pulled one of the aipone out, the thin stone slab covered in notes.

“You’ll be spending the first and third weekend of every month at Camp Tetomoa, and the fourth weekend of every month… the land months I mean, not the undersea ones.”

I nodded, “Right.”

“Right, well, the fourth weekend of every month here. The second weekend is for time on land of course, along with the weekdays,” he paused to mark something on the aipone. “On the Autumn Equinox, the Day of Passing, the New Year, Moon Fall, and the Spring Equinox you’ll be here as well. You may choose if you want to come for other holidays and the full moons.”

“Okay, that makes sense. So, is the tutoring being done over the weekends?”

He shook his head, “No, you’ll have a tutor living near you. They’ll teach you on Mondays, Wednesdays, and if you have no other plans Fridays, but that will be up to you.”

I nodded again.

“Do you have any questions?”

“Who’s my tutor?”

“Her name is Euphemia. She’s an expert in the history of the sea and cultures, highly accredited. She’s younger than a lot of teachers, but her teacher was equally skilled and knowledgeable. She should do well in teaching you your history and the culture of the sea, and possibly some other things.”

I nodded, thinking about any other questions I might have… oh.

“How will I be getting to Atlantis and Camp Tetomoa?”

“A Hippocampi will be waiting for you at the river. They can bend space around them as they swim, or well, the older ones can. It’s a learned magic of theirs. They’ll get you to the Camp or here within twenty minutes.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I paused again. “Oh yeah. One of the kids at camp, Leilani, got claimed by Psamathe, you know, the Goddess or uh, Nereid I mean, but yeah, the Nereid of the Sand Beaches.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said with a nod. “It’s been awhile since Psamathe had a child.”

I chewed my lip, “I was wondering if Leilani could stay in the Poseidon cabin.”

Metua blinked, staring at me in confusion for a second. “You want… another deities child to stay in my cabin?”

“Well she’s in the Hermes cabin right now,” I said. “And that’s not fair to her cause it’s packed full of all the children of Gods that don’t have cabins. She’s a child of the sea though, so it would make sense for her to stay in your cabin because you’re the God of the Sea…”

He considered me for a moment, “You really want her there?”

I ducked my head, “I think she should be in a cabin for the sea, and then she won’t be so cramped in there. Plus… it would be nice to have a roommate beyond Carl…”

He hummed, “Yes you don’t have any siblings to share a cabin with right now.”

Right now?

“I’ll allow it. I’ll send Dionysus a notice about it.”

I beamed, “Thank you!”

He nodded, “I’ll speak to Psamathe about sending a gift, is she thirteen yet? If so she’ll need a weapon…”

RIPTIDE! I couldn’t believe I forgot about the sword again, ugh. But oh yeah, her age.

“Uh, she’s eleven I think.”

He nodded, making a note.

“Was there anything else?”

“Yeah, I just remembered, Khiron gave me a pen sword thing, it’s a uh… it’s a beings power? It’s called Anaklusmos.”

“Ah, yes that sword. It belonged to a nymph, one of the Hesperides. She was wiped from history around the time Herakles went through, and I haven’t heard of what became of her. Anaklusmos was found washed up on the shore a few years later. Without Anaklusmos, the blade forged of her immortal power, she would not have survived long though. The blade is now for those of the sea to use to protect themselves, so use it as you have need.”

“What was her name?” I asked, thinking back to the blade.

How had she lost it? What happened to her? Why was she wiped from history?

“Zoë,” he murmured.

I nodded, I’d remember her.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

I settled next to Tethys on the bed. She was twisting her hair into a long braid,

“Taeae,” I murmured.

“Are you ready to discuss what you did at the Tapohu?” she asked as she grabbed one of the coral hoops to thread her hair through.

I hummed, “Yes, thank you for your patience.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, waiting expectantly.

“Kronos spoke with me.”

“How is he doing?”

“Our little brother is… much more like himself.”

She finished her hair and turned to face me, “And?”

“He is planning to start a war, but wishes for it to be quick.”

“What would it mean for us?”

“He asks for us to guard his ships. He plans to attack Camp Half-Blood by sea and take it quickly with minimal losses.”

She smoothed out the sheets, a frown on her face. “Is he certain of his victory?”

I sighed, “He believes that he’ll succeed regardless of our age and well, he no longer seems mad. It’s like his mind has been cleared once more.”

She shook her head, “I am glad to hear that, but… war? We have always strived to stay out of the wars. Even against our father-“

“I know,” I sighed. “Even when our father went mad we stayed out. But this time… this time it does not seem like either side is mad. Zeus is as stubborn as ever, and he seems…. Not quite as he was at the beginning… but he isn’t mad… neither is Kronos.”

“You think this is a war where we could actually pick a side?”

I studied her grimly, “I don’t think that we have a choice. The sea is getting worse every year, the wild as a whole is. Something needs to change, we can’t keep going on like this. I think it’s time for our neutrality to come to an end.”

She sighed, “And what do you believe is best for the ocean?”

I let my gaze drift to the glowing ponisi on the wall for a long moment before I told her my decision.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of his conversations? Got any thoughts on Pallas? What do you think Oceanus is gonna do?

Halmaheran
Aurova=gold sea coins
poturu=pearl shield
Taohu=healer
Metua=Father
Metuano=Father's
wamaresia=undersea fish lights
aipone=braided kelp
airomo=thin rock slaps that are used for papers
Taeae=dear
Tapohu=pit of deep shadows (Tartarus)
Ponisi=moon

Terminology
Proerosia=an Ancient Greek holiday dedicated to Demeter and Apollo. It honors the harvest and prophecy
Oskhophoria=an Ancient Greek holiday dedicated to Dionysus and Athena. It honors the harvest.
Phthinophoron=the Horae (spirit God) of Autumn
Samhain=A holiday originally Celtic (a loose phrase) that was appropriated by Wiccan's and changed into a new holiday by splitting it into two parts
Wiccan=a "modern" pagan religion that takes pieces from multiple pagan religions to create something new. It was likely created in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Genesios=a day of remembrance for the dead in Ancient Greece and also a title of Poseidon, possibly meaning this day was sacred to Him as well. It could be viewed as a day honoring the Earth and the Sea
Hekate's Deiopnon=The night of the new moon which honors Hekate. It is a day to clean the house and prepare for the next month as the Ancient Greeks used a lunar calendar (amongst others).
Noumenia=the day after the new moon which is used to honor the household Gods (Hestia, Zeus (Ktesios), Hermes, Hekate, Apollon Agyieus, ancestors). You would decorate the home with fresh flowers, have a big dinner and commonly make special honey Cakes at dinner. Then you would replace the Kadiskos.
Kadiskos=a sealed jar used to hold a portion of your family's food wealth in offering to Zeus Ktesios. It would also hold oil and water. It's replaced each Noumenia and kept in the family food pantry.
Agathos Daimon=the day after Noumenia where you honor the household spirits and pour out wine (or a substitute) for them. Commonly allowed children to have watered down wine on this day.
Heliogenna Festival=a more modern festival used a placeholder for an unknown festival that the Ancient Greeks would've celebrated at that time but records of it were lost. It has a focus on Helios and the chthonic Gods
The story of Pallas' death from Triton's POV. The actual myth has more information that I will explain in the story in time.
Sarah-Mae Williams=an OC child of Athena I made up for Triton to use to prove his point
Diokre Athenide=an OC child of Athena I made up for Triton to use to prove his point
Joshua=an OC child of Athena I made up for Triton to use to prove his point, though based on an actual person in ancient times
Thomas Streak=an OC child of Athena I made up for Triton to use to prove his point
Camp Tetomoa=the Atlantis camp
Psamathe=Nereid Goddess of the Sandy Beaches
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 7: Blue Homes

Summary:

Moon ceremony!

Notes:

Hope you all enjoy the chapter :D We're finally reaching school stuff... sorta.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I studied the silver mirror in my hand while I waited for Triton. 

It was very shiny and perfectly round and smooth. It was used to symbolize the moon and would be brought up to the surface so that the full moon could shine on it and power it until the next full moon.

There were a lot of moon Gods. I’d known that of course, there are a lot of pantheons around the world but… getting the full lecture really put it into perspective.

Most in the sea honored the local moon God, or whichever one they were raised honoring. In Atlantis it was most common to honor Selene as the Greek Moon Goddess (well, Titaness). She hadn’t been seen in a long time, but it was still proper because She was the Moon. Since Artemis drove the moon chariot She was also honored and respected.

Triton said they would be leaving out a table setting for Artemis at dinner tonight alongside the always open seat for Selene that hadn’t been filled in a long time.

Most in the sea left a table setting for a Moon God on the full moon. It was meant to recognize the Moon Gods as equals with great importance to the sea, but also Gods didn’t worship other Gods. The normal mer in the sea might do more to honor them, but the Sea Gods didn’t do much beyond it.

Well, they would also make the ponofa that mers would bring to the surface. I had some of the cakes (strange pressed fish and anemone and seaweed cake cookie things that look surprisingly good) to share when I went to the surface with Triton.

I was looking forward to going to the surface, it’d been weeks and I did kinda miss the sun and moon.

“Are you ready to go, Percy?”

I perked up, flicking around to face Triton who was swimming towards me with two hippocampi.

“Yeah!” I grinned at him as he handed me the reins to one of them.

“This is Chelsea, she’s very sweet and easy to ride.”

I nodded, I’d only ridden a hippocampus two times, both brief and just for practice. Hopefully this went okay.

“I’ll be on Belle and following behind you,” Triton said as he settled on Belle, his hippocampus. “Chelsea knows the way so don’t worry about getting lost.”

I nodded, settling on Chelsea.

“Hi,” I murmured.

Chelsea nickered, tossing their head as I held the reins.

“Hello Prince , ” Chelsea replied. “Are you settled?”

I nodded, curling my tails tightly around their sides. “Yeah, all set.”

The hippocampi took off and immediately proved why they were the favored steeds of the mid seas by gaining speed rapidly until the ocean was a blur around me.

My breath caught and I couldn’t help the grin stretching across my face.

Oh wow, this was amazing.

The world was a blur, the water rushing past me, I was being pushed back some by the force of the water as Chelsea moved.

Magic thrummed beneath my hands as Chelsea’s inherent magic, the reason Hippocampi were such good steeds, made us move even faster. Their power bent the ocean around us so that we could reach the surface even faster.

Chelsea rapidly slowed until they were just moving at a steady swim, and I leaned forward as I caught my breath.

That was amazing.

Triton laughed, “Enjoy the ride?”

“That was…”

“Belle is my favorite method of travel,” Triton agreed. “I could just go where I need to, but it’s so much more enjoyable to ride there.”

Belle nickered, tossing her head.

I grinned, looking around where we were now, then gasping as I looked up.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Come on,” Triton said, grabbing my hand to pull me to the surface.

In the sky were more stars than I’d ever seen. Millions, billions, maybe even trillions sparkled brilliantly above. I’d never seen so many, nor seen them so clearly.

“The view is best from the sea,” Triton murmured. “Where pollution hasn’t yet touched the sky.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is.”

We drifted for a time, just staring up at the stars. I tried to find the constellations I’d learned, but there were too many stars for me to pick them out right then.

“Perseus-aia,” said a familiar voice.

I turned to see Lorenzo (who was at my party) and his parents swimming over.

We ducked back under water.

“Triton-re’aia,” murmured Lorenzo’s mom.

“Camila-nee,” He responded, flicking his fingers in greeting as she twisted her hand.

“It has been some time since we saw you on the surface for the Full Moon,” Lorenzo’s father mused.

“I normally sit at the dinner for it,” Triton agreed. “But as this is Persi’s first Full Moon, the first proper one that is, I am with him to guide him.”

“Of course,” Camila said with a smile.

“The moon is still fairly low,” Lorenzo murmured, staring up. “It’ll reach its peak within the next hour.”

“Yes,” Triton said, turning to us. “And when it reaches the peak you’ll pull out your mirror and say the prayer.”

I nodded, remembering from what he told me last night. And until the moon reached its peak (around midnight) we’d interact with each other and share the ponofa.

I brightened, fingering the pouch at my side. Maybe I could share some with Lorenzo?

“Lorenzo?” I asked. “Did you bring ponofa?”

He nodded, “I did, Perseus-aia. Would you like some?”

I nodded, “I have some as well, if you would like to share.”

His lips curled up as he agreed, and we traded ponofa cakes. The ones he had were very sweet, they seemed to have some berries mixed in too! I didn’t know they could be made like that. Maybe next time I could make the cakes.

I smiled politely and asked him about Camp Tetomoa, and we spent the time before Moon Peak discussing the programs the camp had.

At some point a few others joined the conversation, some I knew, many I didn’t, and the water grew more crowded as more mers arrived for the full moon.

Triton brought me to this spot because it was a popular one, but not so popular that the water would be filled.

It did mean I got to meet a lot of people, their eyes all but glowing in the faint light as we spoke and traded ponofa cakes. I got to meet quite a few that would be at Camp Tetomoa, and more that lived around the castle. A few others also rode on Hippocampi, and a few on other sea creatures, but just as many swam on their own.

The conversations trailed off as the moon neared its zenith. I glanced over to Triton who was settled with the Hippocampi, suddenly worried.

He explained how to do it and made sure I knew the prayer (it was short so not that hard to memorize) but still, what if I messed it up? We came all the way out here and everyone here did this all the time and they were all important and if I messed up it would be so bad-

“The moon’s almost there,” Lorenzo murmured as he reached into his pouch to draw out his mirror.

I glanced around and noticed others beginning to do so as well, adults and children alike. Some of the younger ones were handed their mirrors by their parents.

I bit my lip and drew my mirror out of my pouch.

This would be fine, it was just my first time celebrating the Full Moon.

I glanced back at Triton, to see him watching me.

He smiled, giving me a nod.

Yeah, okay.

I focused on what he told me for this. I just needed to do my thing, not everyone else’s.

I held out the mirror as others did, letting the light of the Full Moon shine on it, and recited the prayer to Selene.

“Selene ert Ponisi, teye tivena pora eretamu ert pyev y haho ert moareno horenu.”

“Topsana Selene, ponirahiv sanamak ivemu ert mireona wasare, tav havu rao sa'opuno tenuk.”

“Matpe av ert pohur, Selene av ert Ponisi, erta pohur tav hinru rao sa'opuno hamuso pora ela pahiti y pora patua sa'opu ro ert muro.”

“Maotiman opu ela tie tav tufe ert po, amavhova ro topta poniov.”

I paused for breath, basking in the power that seemed to hum in the air. Everyone was reciting prayers to different Moon Gods, and the water was practically radiating Their presence.

I licked my lips and recited the prayer to Artemis as well.

“Artemis ert hauvuatono, teye eretamuna ert hauvuat av Selene, tav havu ri era pohur.”

“Artemis ert kaluha-ve, teye tahouna sa'opuno ponio rao ert ponisino hamuso, tav hinup sa'opu maiv kaluha.”

“Artemis av Delos, maotiman sa'opuno hamuso ela wasai y opuno pohur waoituk uti erva sa'opu maotiman teuhamu ary apima.”

The mirror shone brilliantly by the end of the prayers. The silver metal reflected the moonlight and seemed to glow all on its own. The water wasn’t much different, glowing faintly with the light of the moon.

“Wow,” I whispered as everyone’s prayers finished off.

Lorenzo grinned, “It’s a lovely ceremony isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said with a grin of my own. “It’s really nice.”

We didn’t talk much, just drifted and basked in the moonlight.

It was lovely.

As the moon slowly began to set once more, we tucked our mirrors away again and traded a few last ponofa.

“Did you enjoy it?” Triton asked as I swam over.

I nodded, “Yeah! I wish I’d been able to do it before.”

Triton pursed his lips as he nudged Chelsea and Belle from where they were curled.

“You may have missed it before, but you won’t have to miss any more Full Moon celebrations. And for any you can’t come to the sea for, we’ll make sure you also have a mirror for land.”

I brightened, “Really?”

He nodded, “You’ll just need the mirror, and really you can do it without it. Just the prayer honors the Moon Gods, but the mirror is for continuing the honor through the month. There are substitutes of course, but the mirrors work the best.”

I nodded, settling on Chelsea.

“I have a lot to learn about our traditions.”

“You do,” Triton agreed. “But we’re here to teach you. You won’t be alone.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stood outside the new apartment, biting my lip as I hesitated.

It’d been forever since I saw mom, and I missed her loads, and she was right inside that door, but…

I took a deep breath, shouldering my backpack and clutching the travel bag at my side. This was fine. I was gonna go in, I was gonna hug her, I was not gonna cry or anything cause it’s all good.

I reached up and knocked, rocking back on my heels.

I heard footsteps, and then the door swung open, revealing my mom.

“Oh, Percy,” she beamed and reached out.

I dropped my bag and lunged forward to hug her.

“Hi, mom,” I whispered.

“Oh, my baby,” she whispered. “I missed you.”

She pulled back, studying me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

She let out a breath, “Alright, come in, honey. I made cookies, oh let me show you your room. We’ll need to get stuff for your room too. Oh, and school stuff.”

She ushered me inside, taking my bag as she led the way to my room.

The apartment was much nicer than the previous one. The door opened straight into the kitchen and living room space, and I could see a breakfast nook in the corner by the window on the living room side.

The area smelled of cookies, and the kitchen had new appliances. The couch was even leather, and had soft blankets laying on it.

Mom led me past an open door that held what I guessed was a guest room, another open door with an office inside, and then stopped at a closed door.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do anything special for your room, so I just painted it and put the basics in. We’ll go shopping for stuff in it later today.”

I opened the door and stepped in.

The walls were a cobalt blue, with a bed in the right corner and a bookshelf of cubby holes at the base of it. To the right were two dressers and against the right wall was a desk with bookshelves beside it. The floor was covered in a carpet that actually looked comfy.

It was mostly empty, with the bags we’d left at the beach sitting on the desk and my old books on the bookshelf.

“The bathroom is across the hall, and my room is the last door at the end of the hall.”

I nodded, moving over to drop my bag on the bed. 

“It’s awesome mom.” I turned to grin at her. “Thanks.”

I studied the cubby hole bookshelf thing at the base of the bed.

“I thought that would be good for anything you wanted by the bed,” mom said. “Or for books, or just nicknacks… I had the Lotus card and grabbed a lot of things that I just thought would be nice.”

I laughed, “No it’s fine, and… I think this would be good for making altars…”

I looked at her a bit nervously, Annabeth’s experience with her step-mom and how she treated her religion was still stuck in my mind.

“Oh that’s a lovely idea, Percy,” she murmured as she came over to me, laying the bag she was holding on the bed. “Yes absolutely, we can buy some things for altars in your room today. And we’ll set up one in the living room as well, as a family one.”

I couldn’t help but grin, “Yeah, that would be great.”

She ran a hand through my hair, a smile on her face.

“Why don’t you put your stuff down and get ready and we can go shopping?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be ready in a sec.”

She left my room and closed the door softly behind her. I dropped my backpack on the bed.

My room really did look nice. It would be fun to put everything up and decorate.

I grinned at the thought of making altars, I was gonna make a bunch of mini ones! The cubby holes were perfectly sized for small altars so I could make one for Artemis, and Selene, and Triton, and Metua, and maybe just a general one for my family in the sea… plus Okeanus and Tethys… yeah, that would probably be smartest. But I could make one for Lord D too. And Hestia, She needed one.

I chewed my lip, I should probably grab stuff for all of Them, cause there were also the holidays. Even if I wasn’t  at camp I wanted to celebrate them all.

This was gonna be fun though. That card was definitely my best grab on the quest.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Mom and I walked to the nearby department store, a list in her hand for the main things for my room, and a list I’d made for things on an altar.

I didn’t actually know what exactly you needed on an altar. I’d seen the ones in the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins, so I have an idea of what went on them but I didn’t know what you did for setting it up and stuff. 

There was the one in my room in the sea that Triton arranged with me, but it was very simple with just the silver mirror that I keep in the sea and a carved out space for offerings. 

But that was different than on land.

I was pretty sure I needed an altar cloth, and something for the offerings. And candles, a lot of candles. Candles were important for land offerings from what I saw. And then just things to decorate?

I didn’t know for sure, but I was gonna try to get things that matched right.

First was my bedroom stuff though.

First stop was bedding. I found a really cool one that had waves and seashells on it, so mom got that. She just asked them to deliver it to the apartment, with the Lotus card we could do that and it was really cool. 

I wondered if they’d ever notice us using it.

Then we got stuff for my desk, paper, pencils, pens, notebooks, notecards, mom added some art supplies to the pile, and highlighters and rulers, and a pencil sharpener (mechanical), and a charging extension cord, and a little caddy to hold the stuff on my desk.

After that was the bookstore, mom said we should grab my school books and any other interesting ones. She also promised me audio books and let me pick out different books on the myths. There were some interesting ones, I hadn’t read the Song of Achilles yet.

After that mom just led the way around, checking out different stores. We grabbed stuff for the bathroom, some extra socks and underwear, a small fan for my room, a planner, some snacks.

Then we found a store with pretty cloths, and I grinned as I stared around at all of them.

Ooh, there was a really nice blue and green patterned cloth that would be perfect for the altar for Poseidon and Triton and Okeanus and Tethys the rest of my sea family. And oh! There was a silver one with little stars on it! And that one was a really deep red, almost purple, maroon? It looked like wine.

I paused when I found some head scarves, remembering what I’d learned about veiling. 

Well… it wouldn’t hurt to have a few, and I did use magic and those that used magic tended to veil…

And I kinda liked it...

“Did you find something Percy?” Mom asked as she came over, more cloths in her arms.

“Um, some headscarves… I was just thinking about veiling. Annabeth showed me how.”

“Oh,” she hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know much about it, would you like some?”

I peered at her shyly, “Yeah… I think I would.”

She smiled, “Then pick a few out. Maybe you can teach me about veiling.”

“Yeah, sure!”

I grinned as I looked through the scarves. 

I found a deep blue one that was obviously the best there, it was blue after all. I grabbed two white ones, one of them with lace edging it (mom would like that I). Ooh, there was an avatar one! With water tribe symbols on it.

I stuck that in the basket, it was second only to the blue one.

There was a soft yellow one with orange sun patterns that I liked, mom grabbed a matching one (but white with gold suns). Mom also snagged two green ones, one with flower embroidery the other with vine embroidery while I eyed a sparkly rainbow one.

“Oh look,” mom said holding up a scarf. “It’s the hunger games.”

I laughed, I’d listened to the audio books before and enjoyed the books. I didn’t expect a scarf though.

Mom put it in the basket with a grin.

“I think these are good,” I said. “I know a few styles that Annabeth taught me, so I can show you them.”

“That would be wonderful, Percy,” mom said with a fond smile.

I felt warm. Mom wasn’t anything like Annabeth’s step-mom, mom wanted to learn about the Greek culture, not dismiss it.

“Well, anything else we need from here?”

I considered for a moment, “No, I don’t think there’s anything else here.”

“Alright, let's check out then go find another store with more supplies.”

Mom checked us out, then led the way back around the department store (which was really multiple stores put together).

We wandered a little while but only managed to find glasses for libations, and a bunch of candles in every color we could find (both the tall ones and those tea-lights). Oh, and a wax melter plus some wax, mom thought that would smell nice.

Mom hummed, and led the way out again, “We’ll have to find a thrift shop, or an antiques store, I think. Those will have the kinds of nick-nacks that would work best for an altar.”

I nodded, struggling with the bags. I wished I was back underwater where everything was lighter. It was hard to do things on land again.

Plus, walking was annoying. After weeks with tails using legs again felt wrong and it was difficult to move right.

We brought everything in the bags home first so that we could drop them off.

Mom helped me make my bed and put the desk stuff where it went. We put the new books on the shelves then moved back out to put up the food she’d bought. The scarves and other stuff for the altars were left in the living room for the moment.

“Alright,” she said cheerfully as she put her phone up. “I found an antique shop nearby, and there’s a thrift shop not too far from it. Are you all set to go?”

“Yep!”

“Then let’s head out again.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

It took three antique shops and two thrift shops before me and mom were satisfied.

I got a really cool shell bowl for the sea altar, and a fancy like… tiered thing? It was made out of silver and patterned like waves. Oh, and jewelry, mom let me buy a few fancy jewelries for the altar.

We even found a pretty water display thing, a mini fountain. It would be easy to decorate it with small shells and I could put a candle on the part that was above the water.

Mom found a great candle stick too, to match the candle holder, it was made up of a bunch of fake shells and had a small spot in the center for the tall candles, with a bigger flat area around it for the bigger ones. And I found a bag of assorted shells, and a few fancy candle holders that were blue and gold and made me think of the sea on the beach.

Then of course was the moon candle holder that I was putting on the altar to Artemis and Selene. It had three crescent moons with the curved parts all facing the center that was shaped to hold a tea-light.

And mom found a little silver stag that was just perfect, plus fake amaranth flowers (they looked like the little red flowers outside of the Artemis cabin that I’d never really given much thought to).

And I managed to find a collection of moonstones that should be great, and a like… mini cake plate, with stars on it, that would be good for an offering place. Mom also found something for an offering bowl and decided to get both.

Getting stuff for Hestia wasn’t too hard. I found a few stones that looked nice, and some fancy looking candles, round and red and orange. I found a mini bonfire thing, with a set up that looked like a bonfire and a spot in the middle for a tea-light.

I also found a statue of a fire and an old cookbook.

I thought these would work well for Her, She seemed to like cooking during the times I talked with Her at camp.

Finding stuff for Lord D was actually the easiest. There was a lot of grape themed stuff, I wasn’t sure why though. Did people just like grapes?

I got a tiered thing with grape patterns all over it, and an offering plate with pinecones on it, and a jug thing that mom said was for alcohol along with a fancy looking cup, also with grapes on it.

Why did adults like grapes so much?

Anyways, that covered the main altars I wanted.

Mom also found some other stuff, incense and incense holders, statues, vases and jugs, other pretty stones, more fancy candles, a few assorted animal figurines, some assorted jewelry, and a lot of fake flowers.

I studied it all, “Do we need so much?”

She hummed, “Well, we can get it thanks to the Lotus card, and I thought we might want to be able to adjust the altar to the seasons… plus well, I’m not entirely sure what goes on them so I’m getting a little bit of everything.”

I grinned, that was fair, I also didn’t know what was supposed to go on them.

We were heading back to the house when we passed a skateboard shop and I paused.

Skate boarding was kinda like land current surfing wasn’t it? Could that help me get good at it?

I hesitated, staring into the shop.

“Did you want something?” Mom asked.

I bit my lip, “I kinda want… I mean… it looks fun?”

She smiled, “Why don’t you get one, and safety gear.”

I nodded slowly, pushing into the store.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

We got home with a bunch more bags, and a bunch of stuff to put up.

While most of what we’d gotten was for the altars on this trip out, I’d also grabbed some things that just looked cool, and mom had too. Plus of course, the skateboard.

First thing I did was put the skateboard in the corner of my room, along with all the safety stuff. I’d try it out later.

Mom grabbed me cleaning supplies so I could wipe down the cubbies I was gonna use for the altars and then left me to set it up.

I first cleaned the altars so they’d be nice and neat. Once they were clean I laid out the cloths for them.

I was setting up four, one for Lord D, one for Hestia, one for Selene and Artemis, and one for all the assorted sea deities. There were too many for separate altars.

I wanted to honor Lord D and Hestia because I actually knew Them, and They were nice to me. The sea deities and Selene and Artemis were just natural for me to honor.

Setting up Lord D’s was quick, I put the tiered thing in the center middle with a candle holder on each side. In front of those I put the altar plate with pinecones on it, and then behind them I put the cup and the jug for alcohol.

Hestia’s I set up to remind me of the campfire at camp. I put the bonfire candle holder in the center, with the stones around it. The different rounded candles I placed around it, one in each corner with the stone fire statue in the back (centered). The cookbook I leaned against the right side of the cubby.

Artemis and Selene’s I put the candle holder in the center (it just felt right for the candles to be centered). I decorated the area on both sides and behind with the fake amaranth flowers and moon stones. The silver stag I arranged on one side, amongst some moonstones, and then I put the offering plate in the front center. The silver mirror I brought up from the sea I put on the top of the cubby, so that the mirror was looking down at the altar. Command strips were the best.

The sea altar was definitely my favorite, though I was probably biased.

The mini fountain water thing was put in the center and I put a small blue tea-light on the top of it.

I put the candle holders on either side and just in front of it, five of them, and put a candle in each of them. Then I decorated the whole area around it with shells, and put some in the fountain thing, then filled it with water.

In the front center went the shell bowl I was using for an offering plate.

It looked very nice if I did say so myself.

I stepped away when I finished and turned to throw the trash away only to do a double take.

In the right corner of my room, opposite where I’d put the skateboard, stood a long table with a large fish tank on it.

It was filled and had a rocky/sandy bottom and assorted coral creations. Inside was a familiar figure.

“Hippolyta!”

She curled around one of the corals, tilting her head as excitement radiated from her.

I grinned, now my room was perfect.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Antonio POV

I watched the three kids stumble over themselves as they tried to set up our base of operations while we guarded Perseus-aia.

None of them had done much moving on land, and the difference in weight and gravity is a struggle. Even those used to going between sea and land struggled for at least a little while when moving back to land.

“Wait where’s my dagger?” Klara called as she tripped over a box of supplies.

“Don’t break my storm bottles!” Acantha cried as she scrambled over to Klara to check the box. “Oh good, my babies are okay.”

“My dagger though?”

“I dunno, ask Kai.”

I sighed as Kai looked up from their book on algebra (some human name for a specific branch of math).

“What?”

“My dagger! I found my trident, and my spear, and both of my swords, plus my different knives, and my net, but I can’t find my bigger dagger, I had four and found three of them.”

“Why didn’t you just put them all in the same package?” Kai wondered.

“I’ll shove them all in you if you don’t help me find them,” she hissed.

“Tamapuv,” I chided. “Kai keep reading, Klara please don’t threaten your teammates, Acantha the storm bottles are double, and triple, wrapped, they’re safe, help Klara find her missing dagger.”

“Yes, Antonio-fu’oro,” the three grumbled.

Kai looked back at his book, their eyebrows furrowed as they tried to understand it.

Better him than me.

“Antonio-fu’oro,” Acantha said after a moment. “When does this class start, the one where we guard Perseus-aia?”

“In a few days, on the fifth of the land month…” I paused, trying to remember what the land month was… or at least the American land month… were there different land months?

“September,” Kai muttered. “Land month of September. Don’t forget about parent-teacher conferences.”

I sighed, “Right. You should also make sure you know the land calendars, and their time system.”

“They use those minutes and hours, right?” Klara asked as she dug through a box. “It’s so weird.”

“I guess they don’t have the tide inland, though I can’t imagine not having the tides.”

“They go by the sun,” Kai said. “Or they originally did. They did their hours by how the sun made shadows, now it works a bit different but still on the same idea.”

“Found it!” Klara called, pushing out from a box with her dagger clutched in hand.

“Excellent, are your bags for school packed?”

“But that’s not for a few more days!” Klara cried.

“Mine is,” Kai mumbled.

“I have my stuff in one place?” Acantha offered.

I sighed, “Right, well, get it all together. We need to scout out the area for good paths to guard Perseus-aia on his way to school. And make sure we know any threats nearby.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Klara said.

I moved over to grab a box and cursed quietly as my foot caught on the ground and I toppled over.

“I hate land,” Acantha said.

I sighed, this was going to be a long mission.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the Full Moon ceremony? And Percy going home? What about his altars? How do you think his guards will do?

Halmaheran
Ponofa=moon cakes
Tamapuv=children

Suffixes
aia=prince
re'aia=crown prince
nee=general
fu'oro=master teacher (basically commander)

Terminology
Camp Tetomoa=Atlantis Camp
The altars were designed after my own altars/the altars I wish I could make
The prayers were my own creation based on how prayers would be done in Ancient Times but with a bit of ocean flare

OC's
Antonio= the leader of Percy's guards, the only adult
Klara= girl, likes weapons, one of Percy's guards
Acantha=girl, likes her storm bottles, one of Percy's guards
Kai=demi-boy, he/they, likes books, one of Percy's guards

 

Prayers
1.
Selene the Moon, who rises to guide the tides and pull the oceans deep.
All-shining Selene, moonbeams gleaming over the salty sea, we thank you for your presence.
Eye of the night, Selene of the Moon, tonight we pray for your passage to be safe and to greet you in the next.
May you be with us even when all is dark, radiant in all times.

2.
Artemis the charioteer, who guides the chariot of Selene, we thank you on this night.
Artemis the huntress, who gives your time for the moons passage, we wish you good hunt.
Artemis of Delos, may your passage be calm and your night peaceful so that you may journey again anew.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 8: Schools of Thought

Summary:

Cyclops meetings and Family bonding

Notes:

I hope you enjoy the chapter. Some things happened in it that weren't planned at all so I've had to split up the outline for this chapter, we got through a grand total of 3 scenes for this chapter that were on my 15 scene outline for it alkdsnfa. It was getting too long.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I hummed around the ice cream, “This is good.”

“It’s the best ice cream joint in the city,” Drew said with a smirk. “Has the best flavors.”

“They have cool flavors,” I added, licking my mermaid ice cream. It tasted like key lime pie and was delicious.

“Big Gay Ice Cream is fabulous,” she agreed. “I love the Rufus, but the short berry straw cake is great too.”

“The Rufus kinda looks like a sundae,” I said, grinning a bit at the name of the ice cream place we were at.

“It basically is, but it’s fancier, and delicious.”

I laughed, “I’ve only had McDonalds ice cream before, and that machine is broken half the time.”

She looked horrified, “Oh honey, no. Absolutely not. That machine ice cream is so bad, they almost never clean it and-“ she shudders “-I’m taking you to all the ice cream places, you will have good food.”

I flushed, “That isn’t necessary-“

“It’ll be fun. You can judge them too!”

I smiled nervously, chewing on the plastic spoon.

“Well anyways, now that we’ve got the ice cream,” she grinned. “Present time!”

“Presents?” I said in confusion, vaguely remembering her mentioning them before she’d signed off our call in the sea. “But I thought that the ice cream was the present?”

“Nope!”

She grabbed the bag by her side and started digging through it. I just thought she’d been going to a friend’s house after and had stuff in the bag, but apparently not.

“Okay, so mine first of course.”

I blinked at the slightly smushed present bag set in front of me and quickly balanced the ice cream in the bowl I was given.

“Um, okay.”

I dug through the tissue paper and pulled out the box on the top.

It was… a fancy bag/box. Blue with sea shells on it. I opened the top and did a double take at the layered sections for makeup.

“Oh,” I said as I picked up the foundation.

“I told you I was buying you makeup,” she said primly. “I’ll show you how to use it later.”

I nodded, it was a full thing… I thought at  least. I didn’t know much about makeup beyond what I learned from the rants at the Aphrodite cabin.

“Cool,” I said. “Think I can pull off the blue eye shadow?”

She snorted, grinning at me, “Let’s start with natural looks. There’s more in the bag.”

I hummed and shut the makeup kit, setting it to the side as I dug through the bag and pulled out a book.

“On the Festivals of Dionysus, by Pherecydes of Leros. I’ve never heard of this?”

She nodded, “Yeah, it’s from Khiron’s private collection. You have to be sixteen, a counselor, and have another counselor vouching for you to get access. It’s one of the lost works, he transcribed them into books and preserved them. The Athena and Apollo cabins constantly try to break in.”

I blinked, staring at the apparently lost book, “Then how did you gift me a copy?” because that was… crazy.

“Oh, I asked Castor and Pollux to ask Mr. D for a copy for your birthday. It was in my room the next morning.”

I gaped, “Oh…” I didn’t realize that they liked me enough for that.

“Anyways,” she grinned. “There’s one more thing in there.”

I huffed, grinning at her, “You didn’t have to get me all of this.”

“I wanted to, so get the last thing so I can shove the rest of the presents on you.”

I dug through the bag again and felt something soft at the bottom. I pulled it out and gasped at the pretty fabric.

It was a veil, a shimmery deep turquoise with curling deeper green wave patterns on it.

“Oh wow,” I whispered.

She beamed, “I’m glad you like it. Ava from the Athena cabin made it at my request.”

“It’s amazing,” I said earnestly. “Havu- er, thank you.”

“You can open the rest later,” she said cheerfully. “But I wanted to see you open mine.”

I nodded, accepting the bag when she passed it over. “Thank you, I really love them.”

“Oh yeah, Giovanni wants you to IM him later for his present for you. Fair warning, he always goes overboard. He’s done incredibly ridiculous gifts for every single Aphrodite kid so don’t be surprised if he like… buys you a car or something.”

I did a double take, “A car!?”

“He did that once.”

“Oh dear.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Triton came with to see me off to school!

It had been less than a week, but I already missed him, I got too used to seeing him every day when I was in the sea.

 “I managed to trick the others into thinking I was off for Godly stuff,” Triton muttered. “Otherwise they would’ve followed me.”

I blinked, “Why?”

He snorted, “They adore you. Or they want to annoy me. It’s a mix, don’t go with Khrysaôr anywhere, he will likely take you either someplace horribly dangerous, or someplace you’re far too young for.”

I nodded solemnly.

“Your school looks… interesting,” Triton said as we arrived.

I nodded, staring up at it, Meriwether College Prep School.

The school was a large brick building with big red doors. I wasn’t sure why they were bright red like that.

“Why are the doors red though?” Triton asked, echoing my thoughts.

I giggled, “They like Ares a bunch?”

He snorted, “That’s not a good sign for a school, you’re supposed to be at peace there.”

“Have you ever been to a school?” I asked. Everyone knew that schools are not peaceful.

He looked worried, “No… I had tutors… Persi-“

I hugged him, then mom, “Love you guys bye!”

“Wait, Persi what does that mean? Are schools not peaceful?”

“Love you!”

“Persi!”

I heard mom laughing behind me as I hurried into the school.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

School was interesting, kinda fun. We found our homerooms, got our schedules, and were left to chat alone for a bit.

I studied the students for a minute. There were a lot of them, talking over each other as they introduced themselves.

The ones on my right had turned to talk to the kid on… her? His? Their? Right, while the ones in front of me were all leaning together.

The kid on my left was big, easily taller than me (though every kid in the room was , why was I doomed to be short) by like three heads.

Not that he had three heads mind you.

“Hi,” I said.

He turned to me, and I did a double take, he only had one eye. Kyklopes.

“Hi,” he mumbled.

Well, he didn’t seem murderous. I could work with this until I saw Triton again.

“I’m Percy, what’s your name?”

He peered at me, his one eye big and sad and scared. “I’m Tyson.”

He was afraid and adorable. I was keeping him.

“Nice to meet you!” I beamed at him.

He blinked, “Nice to meet you too.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The school day went well in my opinion. 

We went through all of our classes, I shared four of my seven classes with Tyson, though we didn’t sit next to each other in all of them. There were a few other students I got to know too.

Klara was nice, really bubbly and fun to talk to. I was in History with her.

My group in Portuguese was a lot of fun, though I wasn’t with Tyson. Kai seemed smart and had a nice accent that reminded me of Fetu, Zoey offered us bubblegum and informed me my blue hair was “amazing and who did it? I want that shade of blue”, and Nikola looked ready to fall asleep but said hi and he liked my necklaces.

In science we were in groups of two and I was with Tyson again, but Klara (from history!) was at the table behind me with some kid named Matt. He wasn’t very nice, apparently wearing pretty jewelry and having blue hair made someone gay.

In band we were put in groups based on our instrument, the band instructor was interested in my ocarina, but it also meant I was alone. He told me he’d put me with the wind instruments later.

English was a small class with the seats put along the walls. I had Kai right in front of me with a girl on one side and a boy to the other. The teacher had us go through the syllabus and reminded us to get it signed (which made me realize I probably needed to get the others signed) then started a lesson on symbolism in stories.

Math was painful, but I shared the class with Tyson, even if we were on opposite sides of the room. I was in the back, and beside me was Acantha, she was fun but was confused on what “Algebra” was. Apparently, she just moved here and they didn’t have Algebra where she was from. I couldn’t decide if that was lucky or unlucky for her.

PE was my least favorite class though.

We had an “baseline physical exam” which I thought I’d be good for. I spent all summer training after all.

I was not good for it.

I also hated being on land.

I tripped a dozen times doing the running portion, falling on my face half the time, dropped three of the weights, and accidentally punched one kid (Derek I learned when his friend panicked) in the nose when I lost grip on the band. I could do the chin lift though.

Acantha and Kai were doing nearly as bad as me though. I wasn’t sure why they were doing so badly, did their old school not have physical education? Whatever the reason it was a wreck for them as well.

At least the day was over so I could go home and rest.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“How was your day at school, Perseus?”

I blinked at Kymopoleia, who was standing in my living room (looking mostly human) with a grin. Her long blue hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and I realized underneath it was red.

Wait that was super cool I wanted dual toned hair.

“Um… good? I… wasn’t expecting you…”

“I thought I’d pop in! Triton tried to sneak away this morning but anyone with sense knew that he was visiting you.”

“Oh… well uh, it’s nice to see you again, Kymopoleia.”

“Always a pleasure, tiny brother of mine. What was your day at mortal school like?”

“Oh,” I sat where she motioned. “We had syllabuses today, and a few small lessons.”

She snapped her fingers and snacks appeared on the low table as she dropped dramatically onto the other couch.

“What’s a syllabus?”

I peaked at her, then took one of the snacks when she motioned towards them with a grin.

“It’s like an outline of the semester, what we’ll do and the rules of the classroom.”

“Sounds boring,” she drawled as she popped a piece of fish in her mouth.

I shrugged, “I have to get mom to sign it, so I can turn it in.”

She frowned, “You turn in your guidelines and rules?”

“Yeah,” I said as I munched on some crab leg.

“That’s so weird. What lessons did you guys have today?”

I paused, trying to remember. We uh… did syllabuses and… something in English? Oh yeah!

“We started on symbolism in English, in, like, books and stuff. Everyone will be turning in their summer work tomorrow, but since I transferred I don’t have to.”

“Huh, sounds incredibly boring,” she said with a nod. “Do you guys just sit in a classroom all day?”

“No,” I shifted as I realized I was bouncing my leg. “We also have PE and band.”

“What’s PE?” She wondered as she snagged some berries.

“Physical Education, it was horrible. I’m not used to moving on land again yet.”

“Well,” she swallowed. “The ocean is far superior to the sea anyways so moving on land isn’t super important.”

I smiled, “Yeah, but I need to work on that since I live on land.”

“You wouldn’t need to if you moved to the sea.”

I squinted at her, but she just smiled.

“Anyways,” I said. “I don’t have any homework besides the syllabus today.”

“Awesome! Then I’ll take you someplace cool.”

I blinked, “What?”

“What’s it you call it on land? Plain Trip? Well, Plain Trip time!”

“Field Trip-“ I was cut off as I yelped when, with a coiling spiral, we were someplace else.

What.

“Time for your first storm making lesson!” Kymopoleia chirped

Oh.

Oh. Wait, that was cool.

“Really!”

“Yep! I grabbed your storm guide for you already.”

She passed me the spinning top thing she gave me for my birthday (apparently called a storm guide).

“So, let’s get to work on your storms.”

She held out her hand and almost instantly a spiral of wind and water curled until she was holding a mini storm cloud, lightning crackled through it and rain fell. Just… mini.

“Oh Pontus,” I whispered. “How-“

I leaned closer staring in awe at the tiny storm.

She preened as I poked it, watching me with a wicked grin.

“You’ll start with trying to make the clouds, then move on to rain, then friction, then lightning. If you seem to lean towards a specific kind of storm, we’ll work on those first.”

She paused here, studying me with a gleam in her eye. “Triton did mention you were good with ice, which is odd seeing how that isn’t really something Metu specializes in, nor any of us.”

I shrugged, I didn’t know why it was so easy for me.

“Well, it might mean you can make hail storms which are usually harder for me to make, so we’ll see. Anyways!”

She motioned towards me, dispersing her storm.

“What do I do first?” I asked excitedly as I clutched my storm guide.

“We’ll start by having you make mini storms first. They’ll be small, fitting in the palm of your hand.”

I stared down at my hands. I was gonna make a small storm like the one she did? That was so cool.

“Once you’ve got that down we’ll slowly make them larger, over both hands, then large enough to hold, eventually we’ll get you up to small personal storms. One day you might be able to make one’s big enough to cover a city!”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Your storm guide will help you at the beginning, it gathers the wind for you since most in the sea have very minimal control of winds, mostly revolving around storms. But that takes training.”

It was like air bending, but limited.

I held the storm guide curiously, “What do I do with it?”

She pulled a second one out and held it in the palm of her hand.

“First you spin it,” she said as she spun the storm guide. “It’s got ivuisav on it that gather wind and channel it.”

Runes, sea runes. Okay, that was cool. They were hard to learn and I still only knew a few.

“Is it hard to learn those ivuisav?” I wanted to know how to make something that could control winds like Aang. Maybe I could make his glider!

She paused, tilting her head.

“Are you trying to add ivuisav to your list of magics?”

“I know a few,” I said earnestly.

She laughed, “Most of us know a few, but being skilled with them is something else entirely, and I don’t think that’ll be something that you’re naturally good at.”

I frowned, staring down at the storm guide in my hand. “Why not?”

She stopped her guide, letting the winds calm.

Something seemed to change in her attitude, her gaze intent as she studied me.

“Hmm, that’s right, you didn’t have tutors. I’m sure your tutor will cover this at some point now that you have one-“

“Please tell me now?” I pleaded with wide eyes. “I want to know why I’m good at some magics and not others. And why I wouldn’t be good at ivuisav.”

She leaned back, “Oh you’ve got amazing baby seal eyes. Do you use those on Triton? Use those on Triton.”

I blinked in confusion.

She groaned, “Oh fine. Okay so basically, you’re best at Thermomancy, it’s your niche. Most people of the sea have something they just… fit with. That doesn’t mean they’re going to be great at it, but it will come easier than other things.”

I nodded, Triton told me about that.

“And then you’re also good at Purification, very good at it even. That doesn’t always… hmm, match. Yeah, it doesn’t always match with Thermomancy. Skilled Thermomancers have no need for pure water as they can just manipulate it anyways. So really it’s not super common for skilled Thermomancers to also be good at Purification, usually they work in teams.”

I frowned, I didn’t realize that. It wasn’t much harder for me to control the polluted water than it was the clean water.

“It’s not like, never happening,” she added. “Just not common. Several of Okeanus and Tethys’ kids have that skill, and a variety from many other seas. It’s just a bit strange with a child of Poseidon.”

I nodded. So not super rare, just odd. I was fine with that. Katara was also super good at a lot of areas and that didn’t seem common.

“Then you also have a bit of a knack for the Siren’s Song. All those of the Greek bloodline tend to have some skill with it, in some fashion, and many of other bloodlines have skills in it or something similar.”

What did the other seas do with it? That was really interesting, I’d have to see if I couldn’t learn about that.

“You’ve been doing really well at it though, and that’s surprising. Benthesikyme is probably the best amongst us at Siren’s Song, and Triton and Herophile behind her, but it isn’t very common for Poseidon kids.”

“It isn’t?”

“Nope. Most of his kids are best at Paipave, Yavailu, like me, Onaipep, Vapaloa, or Halaineo. 

I didn’t recognize two of those terms.

“Paipave is hydromancy, Vapaloa is purification, and Halaineo is prophecy but what are the other terms?”

She blinked, “Oh right. Uh, Yavailu is cyclomancy, or calling storms. Onaipep is geomancy which is controlling the earth.”

“Like Lara!”

She stared at me, “How do you know about her? She died… forever ago, and isn’t even on the list of Metuno kids that people know about.”

“I… had a dream…”

She hummed, “Now that’s fun. Please bring her up to Metu sometime, I wanna see his face.”

Her gaze dropped to my neck, “Though I see you’re wearing the necklace he gives to his kids.”

I touched the necklace, just like Lara’s, “Yeah… Though it keeps getting tangled with my camp one. Wearing multiple necklaces is hard.”

“Remind me to show you some tricks when we’re done with the storms,” she said with a wink. “Anyways, back on topic.”

“What was the topic again?” I asked as I tried to remember what we were talking about last.

“Uh…”

We both stood silently for a moment.

“Siren’s Song!” She nodded. “That was it.”

“Oh yeah,” I mumbled. “Then we started talking about the other stuff Poseidon kids are good at…”

“Yep, well anyways. It’s a bit surprising that you’re good at all three, while they all require strong will, concentration, and instincts, they’re otherwise not commonly matched up… or well, Thermomancy and Purification or Siren’s Song aren’t, Siren’s Song and Purification aren’t that uncommon to be paired.”

“Yeah, I know a few mers are learning the Song to support their Purification.”

“Yep, those who weaponize the Song alone are few and far between.”

“Fetu is gonna do that,” I mused.

“Fetu is going to be a force of nature and you did well to befriend him now,” Kymopoleia said firmly. “Also, you two are adorable together and it makes Triton have an aneurysm.”

I blinked in confusion.

“Anyways, your combo of skills are all very omteot based. Ivuisav are very much not, they’re all about small details, lots of studying, and an instinctive knowledge of the language, at least for true masters. It’s things that you don’t have a natural leaning towards.”

“Oh,” I frowned.

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn it,” she added. “Plenty do learn things they’re not naturals at. But it’s usually better to work towards what you’re good at, and it will take you a lot more work to master ivuisav then it would any of the skills you’ve been working on so far. And those skills would likely suffer for it as you wouldn’t have the time to devote to them.”

“Oh… that makes sense… I just-“ I bit my lip. “I want to learn everything I can…”

She hummed, a gleam in her eye, “Well, you can certainly study ivuisav, I know some fun ones.”

She grinned, sharp teeth flashing.

“We’ll talk about that another time. For now, you’re gonna get your top working.”

I grinned, “You just spin it?”

“Nope, try it.”

I studied the top in my hand but shrugged and spun it.

It did maybe one turn before flopping.

“What-“

“The top requires your power still,” she said. “Now try to channel your power in it.”

I nodded, focusing on the top as I tried to push my power into it like with the water.

It flopped again.

I glared at it.

This was gonna take a while.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Mom and I were making dinner and preparing dessert.

I spent two whole hours trying to make the top spin earlier and Kymopoleia didn’t give me much more advice than what she said at the beginning.

Maybe I was putting my power in it wrong? Maybe I could ask her to show me again without my necklace on, so I could sense what she did.

I carefully didn’t touch my necklaces, my hands were covered in the whip cream from making the trifle (a new desert mom wanted to try out, we were making a chocolate version). Mom already had the cakes done for it by the time Kymopoleia and I got back.

Kymopoleia stayed long enough to help me move the bead from the camp necklace to the shell necklace Metua gave me, making it only two necklaces now (and it was cool).

The unevenness bugged me a bit, but Kymopoleia said she’d fix it.

She was a lot of fun, even if she was mean and wouldn’t explain how to make the top work right.

She refused to stay for dinner though, just ruffled my hair and told me to not create any cool storms without her.

“Percy, did you finish putting the trifles together?”

I studied the treat in the dish in front of me. The chocolate sauce and whip cream layers alternated, with layers of chocolate pieces breaking it up.

“I think so?”

Mom leaned over my shoulder, “Those look good. Let's stick them in fridge and we’ll have them after dinner.”

Mom set the table nicely, with the lamb she’d cooked in the center and mac-n-cheese in a dish to the side.

She poured me some sparkling grape juice to have with it.

“Alright, let’s have dinner.”

I swung my legs and happily got a lot of the mac-n-cheese while mom cut a slice of lamb for me.

“The Lotus card really is wonderful,” mom said. “I’m seeing about pulling cash out with it, since we’re not sure if it’ll be cancelled at some point.”

I nodded, that sounded smart.

Oh the lamb was really good!

“I was wondering if you wanted an allowance?”

I blinked, “Allowance?”

Like, get money… without doing things?

“You’re going to be working a lot this year, between school, and the undersea camp, and your tutor… If you keep up with all your work, I’ll do an allowance.”

I brightened, that would be nice.

“Really?”

“Yep. If you manage to get all your grades as C’s or above this semester we’ll do something extra, maybe a small vacation.”

I beamed, “I can do that!”

Maybe, possibly… I could at least try.

She smiled, “I know you can. How was your first day of school?”

I hummed, swinging my legs as I considered it.

“It wasn’t bad. There are some nice people in my class… oh yeah! I forgot to tell Kymopoleia. One of my classmates is a Cyclops, his name is Tyson and he’s really nice.”

She pursed her lips, “He doesn’t seem dangerous?”

“No, but I can go to school without my necklace tomorrow if you want… to check and all…”

“No, no, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

I nodded, chewing my lip.

“If he seems safe then maybe you can make friends with him.”

“I hope so,” I mumbled. “He seemed scared.”

She smiled, “Well, you’ll make sure he’s safe, won’t you?”

I nodded, smiling brightly.

“Yeah, we’ll be great friends.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I didn’t have any tutoring sessions for a week. They said they wanted me to have time to adjust to land school before adding on more work.

It was interesting. Some classes were fun, especially Portuguese. I struggled to pronounce some words right but it was interesting to learn. I hated the word homem with a burning passion though, it took me forever to pronounce it right.

Kai was great at helping with that. His pronunciation was perfect every time.

Zoey had taken to braiding my hair in class while we did the beginners exercises, she found it fun. Kai always twitched when she did though, which was strange.

I thought it was relaxing. Between the braiding, Kai’s helpful explanations, and Nikola’s constant sarcastic quips, the class was a lot of fun.

PE continued to be miserable though, it was only one week but I still hadn’t adjusted to land right, at least not when running.

I could do the push-ups, and pull ups, and all the exercises that didn’t require… moving my feet… but running? Jumping jacks? Lunges? Ugh.

Kai was equally hateful of them, and Acantha had started listing the reasons for why the class was utterly unnecessary.

Of course, everyone knew we sucked in that class at this point, especially Matt (who I had the misfortune of sharing the class with) so they took great delight in teasing us over it.

There were only so many times one could fall on their face trying to run across a flat surface before they hated the ground.

I was definitely gonna need to get better on land though, I lived on land, I couldn’t be so bad at moving around!

It was horribly embarrassing.

Band was enjoyable though which was great because I loved playing the ocarina.

At the moment we were all being placed in terms of experience and the songs we knew. Some of the kids were actually amazing, a good amount were mediocre, and like half were straight up beginners.

I was put with the mediocre group and given some songs to learn while she tried to get the beginners up to par.

Africa by Toto was a fun tune, but it was hard to translate to ocarina without sheet notes. Ms. Bell (the director) said that she was trying to find good music for me.

Math was boring, and English a struggle, Science was mostly going over the basics.

It was a chemistry class, so we were covering the periodic table and stuff.

It would be boring except Matt kept trying to start fights. Klara did not like him at all, which was fair ‘cause he keeps saying stuff to her that was… less than nice. And he kept trying to yank my hair! Just ‘cause it was loose did not mean he could just yank it.

Anyways, I was very glad that the first week was done. Tyson and I were going to hang out this weekend!

How did one tell their friend that they knew the friend is a Cyclops without scaring the already nervous friend?

Was it really necessary? Could I just go along with it without saying anything?

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

I am not open for ship requests, you can tell me what you're enjoying but not requesting specific things. I am also not here to listen to you guys say you don't like the ships I have. Or for you to go "I'd rather it be gay". He's bi. Bi people do not need to get with the same gender to be bi. That sounds biphobic and incredibly sexualizing to say.

What did you think of his school? His classmates? What did you think of his impromptu lesson with Kymopoleia?

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
Havu=thank you
Metu=Dad
Metua=Father
Metuno=Father's
ivuisav=runes
Paipave=hydromancy (water control)
Yavailu=cyclomancy (storm control)
Onaipep=geomancy (earth control)
Vapaloa=purification
Halaineo=Prophecy
omteot=will/intent/wish/power (a vague term describing this vague type of magical control)

Terminology
Big Gay Ice Cream=an actual ice cream joint that was open at the time. I did research because I have no self control. The ice creams mentioned are on their current day menu. Feel free to check them out
On the Festivals of Dionysus, by Pherecydes of Leros=A lost work and oh I would love to have a copy but unfortunately they don't exist any more
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Homem=Portuguese for man and it sucks to pronounce my girlfriend spent awhile teaching me how to say it right

Veiling is a tradition in Ancient Greece for women, magic users, and healers (primarily but not exclusively). It has different purposes for the different people but the main purpose is keeping out miasma, which naturally gathers around everyone but especially women. More feminine men may also wear it, or just because they want to, and more masculine women might not (Athena is markedly never shown wearing a veil while Apollo markedly is shown wearing a veil).
For magic users the purpose is more to protect them from outside influences, the veil shields them. For healers, again miasma. They're healing people so being covered in miasma is bad. There are also ways of cleansing miasma which would be done before conversing with the Gods so that you wouldn't bring uncleanliness before Them.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 9: History in the Making

Summary:

Do you guys wanna learn a bunch about Greek myths? Or Hellenistic worship? Well boy is this the chapter for you.

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I yelped as I jumped off the skateboard then winced when it crashed into the wall… again.

“Are you okay, Percy?” Tyson cried as he hurried over.

I huffed, glaring at the skateboard. This was hard.

“I’m fine, just can’t get the stupid skateboard to work.”

“That is a rude skateboard,” Tyson agreed.

“Let’s try over there,” I said, pointing closer to the river. “Maybe that’ll be a better spot.”

“The river is closer there,” he said as we walked over.

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it fun.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Are you okay, Percy?” Tyson asked as he helped me out of the river.

I glowered at the skateboard, how did you turn the stupid thing?

“I’m okay,” I grumbled.

“You are dry now,” Tyson said helpfully.

I relaxed, “Yeah, at least I’m dry.”

Being a son of Poseidon was definitely helpful there.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

After a dozen more crashes into buildings, letting Tyson practice on it (and also crash into things, at least it’s not just me), nearly flying over a guardrail, and running into three people, me and Tyson decided to take a break.

At least I learned how to turn it.

We sat in Washington Square Park and relaxed eating icies we bought from the vendor.

“Well at least we didn’t fall into anymore rivers,” I said.

Tyson nodded, sucking on his icie. “Yes, it was fun.”

He peered at me shyly, “Thank you for being my friend.”

I grinned, “Of course, thanks for being mine!”

Tyson studied the ground, my legs swinging on the bench.

“I will try and learn to skateboard, like you, so that we can skateboard together.”

I laughed, “I’m not a good skateboarder, but that sounds like fun. Maybe we can go to a skate park sometime.”

Tyson brightened, “I would like that.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Mom and I spent a while learning new veiling techniques, it was nice to spend time together.

She helped me tie my hair up and tuck the veils tails up so that they didn’t hang. And I showed her this really complicated veiling style that Annabeth showed me. It took two veils and looked like a braid hanging over your shoulder when you were done.

It took a lot of tries to get right but it looked really pretty on mom.

I really liked the veil Drew got me, it was nice and I loved the colors. Silena also got me a veil, it was in the bag of presents Drew gave me. The veil was one I’d seen the other Aphrodite kids wear.

It was white with elegant twisty gold patterns. The more I studied them the more I found hidden in them, hearts and doves and other patterns.

Drew said that it was a cabin tradition and everyone in the cabin had one. She wasn’t sure when the tradition started, but it was before Silena.

I loved it, Silena was calling me family by giving it to me and I was going to treasure it.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I bounced beside mom holding the box of cookies we just made.

The family altar sat in the living room, by the entrance to the hallway where there was a spot for the breakfast table. We had to move the couch over a little, to make sure there was room to walk, but the long lower table was set up as a proper altar.

Along the back and curving down the sides like an arch were the statues of the Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hermes, Hades on the left and Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Hestia down the right.

In front of each of them was a small candle, colored based on their associated colors. In the back corners were bundles of silk flowers (the fake kind). In the center was a pretty blue round offering dish. It had gold patterns on the edge.

On the right of the offering dish was a cauldron, black metal with a flame pattern hammered onto the side. Inside of it was the flame for Hestia, since we didn’t have a fireplace this was our hearth flame.

In the bottom right corner was the khernips bowl, for making sacred water to cleanse ourselves of miasma (I didn’t know about that part, but mom had been doing a lot of research). Miasma was also why people veiled, well a lot of people.

Since I was a magic user, and I wanted to learn healing, I veiled both to protect myself from outside influences (though my necklace from Tethys did that technically) and to keep miasma off so it didn’t interfere with healing. Generally girls did it because women were more susceptible to miasma, so the veils helped keep it away.

In the bottom left corner of the altar was the libation bowl and the cup.

Mom and I read through the stuff on libations together, on top of what I learned at camp with Annabeth.

You do libations with wine or other drinks or honey. You poured it out of the cup into the bowl, and then later would pour from the bowl onto the Earth or into a fire (if you could) .

We didn’t drink wine often, so the libations that go with wine wouldn’t be done as often, but mom said we’d do a milk one in the mornings.

We’d just finished setting up the family altar, so we were doing our first offering. I was very excited.

Mom finished lighting the candles (there were so many, but they were small ones) and I hopped forward to lay seven cookies on the offering plate, the tails of my veil swinging as I did.

We made a bunch of different colored cookies this time, red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple and pink.

Mom poured the first libation, and I carefully said the prayer we’d come up with.

“Thank you for our good fortune in these difficult times, and for our new home from which we may honor you,” I licked my lips before continuing. “We ask for your blessings, Zeus Agathos Deos, Hera Hyperkhei’ria, so that our home may be guarded and be a place of safety and sanctuary. We ask for your blessings, Hestia Potheinotáti, that our home may be warm with a strong hearth. We ask for your blessings, Demeter Sitô, that our home may have food and our pantries filled. We pray to you, in thanks and in love, that you may accept our offerings and that our home may be yours.”

I managed to only stumble over the epithets of the Gods a little, perfect.

Zeus the Good God, of the home, Hera the one who holds her protecting hand over the thing, Hestia the beloved, and Demeter the provider of food.

Mom and I spent forever doing research, but it was interesting. The Gods had so many titles I would never be able to keep them straight.

Mom beamed at me as she laid out a mug of tea in front of Hestia’s hearth, then murmured a thank you.

Then we went to have dinner.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I hummed as I picked up the things on the floor in my room. The top drawer had the assorted veils that I bought and was gifted, the makeup kit from Drew and some trinkets I’d been gifted by people in the Aphrodite cabin. 

Nail polish, veil pins, some assorted jewelry, and a soft blue scarf from Marinette. 

I had a new mirror and de-tangling brush too. Plus some nice perfume and hair oils.

On the left corner of the dresser stood Carl’s tank, he was still not that happy with me because of the spa incident, but at least he was talking to me again.

“You missed the hair pins on the desk,” Carl called.

I blinked and turned to check my desk. The hair pins were indeed there.

“Thanks,” I called as I hurried over to grab them to add to my top drawer. They had seashells on them.

I grabbed the camp photo album that Silena had added to her gifts (it was open on my desk) and put it on the bookshelf next to the other hand made books (I only had a few from the sea and one on doing hair).

I shrugged, checking that everything was picked up. My tutor is coming tomorrow, and I need my room to be perfectly neat. I need to make a good first impression.

“How’s it look, Carl?”

“You should put that book on plants on the shelf too, instead of on your desk.”

I blinked, noticing it, and scooped it up, slipping it onto the bookshelf as well. It was from Miranda, a comprehensive guide on American Flora. The Demeter cabin apparently found out about my birthday too, and sent stuff along with the Aphrodite cabin.

I got a few plants: succulents, gingko, echinacea, and fairy foxglove, plus some tea. 

I studied the room, trying to see if there was anything else out of place.

My medical kit was tucked under my bed, weapons either under my pillow or on my wrist (thank you magic trident). Riptide was in my desk drawer and my sharp hair comb in my dresser.

Okay, everything looked neat.

My glass sea serpent peered up at me from where it was wrapped around the wave statue I got for my birthday in the sea.

“Hey, Ran,” I murmured. “You comfy?”

They cooed, the glass shining as they curled tighter.

I laughed and turned to check the other occupant of my room. Hippolyta was arranging the shiny stones in her tank in a nest like situation.

“How’s your nest coming, Lyta?”

I got the impression of comfort and safety, a flash of a completed nest shining a thousand different colors.

“Sounds good,” I said. “Let me know if I can get you anything to help it.”

I blinked at the sudden image of me in the tank.

“Lyta,” I laughed. “I can’t sit in the tank, it’s not like the sea.”

Lyta was not pleased with this info.

“I can practice moving water with you in it?” I offered. “So you don’t risk drying out.”

The grudging agreement made me smile, “Awesome. Finish up your nest first.”

I’d need to research how long octopi could stay out of the water safely.

“Percy,” Mom called. “Dinner’s ready.”

“I’ll be back in a bit,” I promised my friends as I hurried out.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Zoey hummed as she went over the words today. “Okay, so how do you say “stove” in Portuguese?”

“Fo-gao,” I said.

“Fu-gão,” Kai corrected.

“Fo-gon?”

“Fu-gão.”

“Fo-gou?”

“Fu-gão,” Kai insisted, speaking slower so I could hear it more clearly.

“Fu-“ I said slowly.

Kai nodded.

“-gao,” I finished.

He dropped his head.

Zoey giggled as she watched us.

“Say it softer,” Nikola offered with a yawn. “Like, it’s not an a, it’s a… under-a.”

“That’s not a thing,” Zoey laughed.

“Well you say it,” Nikola grumbled.

“Fu-gao!”

“No.”

Her face fell.

It was another like thirty tries before we managed to get fogão right. I was mumbling it under my breath for the rest of class while we did our written translations.

Kai was amazing in this class, it was really impressive. And Nikola was effortlessly good, and half asleep most of the class.

Zoey and I shared solidarity in sucking at pronunciation, but Zoey was good at the grammar while I struggled there.

Oh well, at least I was good at word meanings.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I rocked on my heels, tugging at my bracelet as I peered at my tutor.

Euphemia was a black-haired, dark-skinned woman, or well, mer in human form. She looked to be in her twenties but looks could be deceiving with mer who often aged slower or stopped aging physically at certain ages.

She had a tank top on, with arm bands denoting her status as a teacher and master historian.

“Maie em maiv houp opu, Euphemia-fu’oro,” I said, twisting my hand clockwise with the three middle fingers up.

She responded by rotating her hand so that the palm faced the ground, the ring and pinky fingers pointed down and the middle and pointer fingers pointed out.

“Y sa'opu ro ika omasa, Perseus-aia,” she said firmly. “Shall we begin?”

I nodded, glancing at my mom who watched the greeting.

“You can work in Percy’s room if you’d like, Ms. Euphemia,” she said. “If that doesn’t work I can clean out the office for the tutoring sessions.”

Euphemia nodded, “That is appreciated, Sally-nio. We will use Perseus-aiano room for now.”

Mom nodded, looking curious at the suffix.

Oh right, I forgot to inform her of suffixes in Halmaheran.

Oops.

I led Euphemia to my room and sat at the desk nervously.

Ran slipped over, curling around my wrist as Euphemia paused at the door.

“Oh, you can come in,” I said.

She entered now that she’d been given the proper permission, gazing around curiously. Her gaze lingered on my altars (candles burning low since I lit them when I got home from school) before shifting to Lyta’s tank.

“This will do.”

She unhooked the pouch at her side and sat in the second chair I brought in for the tutoring lesson.

“As you know, I am Euphemia, and I will be your tutor in all matters of the sea while you are on land.”

I nodded, “Thank you for tutoring me.”

She hummed, “The ones I spoke to spoke highly of you, even Okeanus. I saw no reason to refuse Poseidon-oreno request.”

I flushed, I didn’t realize Okeanus thought highly of me. I’d have to thank Him if I saw Him again sometime.

“Now then,” Euphemia pulled out a few objects from her bag. “Today we will start with the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

She nodded, “The beginning of all, the beginning of the sea, and what led to today’s ruler, Poseidon-ore. What do you know of it?”

I chewed my lip, “Well, Khaos was the beginning, and from Khaos came Gaea, Nyx, and the others. Pontus came from Gaea… I don’t know much more, I didn’t really study the beginning.”

She nodded, “Most do not. But we need to know the beginning to understand what came after.”

She settled in her seat, holding an aipone and ofivi in her hands.

“In the beginning, there was nothing but Khaos. But then Khaos gathered the Darkness that existed in the Void and shaped it, giving form to Nyx, She who is the Night. Nyx and Khaos worked together to gather the Shadows that existed alongside the Darkness, and They formed Erebus, Shadows that followed all and held all secrets, and held the Underworld.”

She sketched out Their names as she spoke and wrote what They ruled beneath the names.

I scrambled for a notebook, and quickly started to take notes in Halmaheran as she spoke.

“Erebus then took Nyx as His wife and the two gave birth to Aether and Hemera. Hemera is Day, as Nyx is Night and Aether is Light as Erebus is Shadows. Khaos then brought forth another from the void, shaping Gaea from the Shadow and Darkness, and also from the Light and Day, giving form to Earth. Gaea is Earth as the others are Them.”

She drew a small Earth. And I scribbled out little doodles to match the realms.

“Now, at this time Khaos saw that the Shadows held the Underworld, which existed beneath the Earth, and beneath that was an empty space. Khaos gathered the Shadows once more, reaching for Light and Earth as well and gave form to Tartaros, He who acts as the Shield between Earth and Khaos and is the Eternal Prison who guards and watches over those within His realm and rules over those who reject Passivity.”

She drew a chart showing the different Deities and Their realms in comparison to each other.

Erebus and Nyx were connected and matched with Tartarus, Gaea was above that, Hemera and Aether were above Her. Khaos surrounded all but was really concentrated beneath Tartarus, Nyx, and Erebus.

I copied it as best as I could.

“The Earth, Gaea, was empty though. Thus She brought forth three children, with no other parent. There was first Uranus, who is the sky. With Him came the clouds and the wind.

I drew a star next to His name, He was important.

“Then came Ourea, the Mountains. They brought new levels to Gaea. There is not one, though They may be portrayed as one by some. There are ten Ourea, the first mountains. Tmolus is the King Oread and the one that is most commonly seen in a form mortals can comprehend.”

I nodded as she sketched mountains onto the Earth, making a note of the Ourea and Their ruler Tmolus while she did so.

“Finally, Pontus was formed, He who is the Sea. With Him came the waters of the Earth. He is the most important of the primordials.”

I drew a big circle around His name. It was obvious He was the most important, He was the Ocean after all. 

No we weren’t biased.

“Khaos then saw the Love that Gaea had for Her children, and gathered it together, along with the Shadows that reveal all secrets, and thus Eros was formed, the last of Khaos’ children. He is Love and Physical Desire.”

She flipped the board and wrote Pontus at the top while I tried not to flush remembering the Eros I met. He’s a primordial!?

“Pontus and Gaea were struck by Eros who saw their desires, and together they had five children: Nereus, the old man of the sea, Thaumas, the wonder of the sea, Phorcys, father of sea monsters, Keto, the dangers of the sea, and Eurybia, the mastery of the sea.”

I blinked when a chart appeared in front of me showing the family tree.

Oh, thank Pontus, I was scrambling to write it all down.

“Gaea turned from Pontus, who remained in the waters that cradle the Earth, and turned to Uranus.”

I nodded, “And they had the Titans.”

She smiled, “Yes, but before we cover the Titan’s, there is another that must be mentioned.”

She wrote down Hemera and Aether.

“These two married, and together they had Thalassa, the Seas. Where Pontus is all the Ocean, Thalassa composed the many Seas.”

“Oh, right.”

I made a note of that.

“Now then, Thalassa was close with Pontus, the two working together in handling the waters of the world. They were also close with Uranus, who drew the waters up and rained it down once more, both emptying and filling the Ocean.”

“They were close… Pontus was upset when Uranus was… defeated, wasn’t He?”

She nodded solemnly, “He was. It is a common problem for those of the Sea to cling to those they are loyal to, and Pontus was no different.”

I frowned, how could it be a problem to protect those you cared for?

“The Ocean encircles all, and takes all into its waters, and yet Pontus could not save Uranus. Not from Himself, and not from His children.”

“Himself?” I asked.

“Uranus was changing, though none could discover why. It started not with the birth of Okeanus, nor His naming ceremony, nor Tethys’, but with Hyperion’s. With His naming ceremony Uranus began to shift, and only grew worse through time.”

I frowned. “What happened?”

“Uranus did not desire more children, but Gaea did. Uranus was unwilling to split from Her, for He loved Her dearly, but He did not love the children. It is written as odd, in the records we hold, as Uranus had been eager for more children, such as what Pontus had. He had loved Okeanus and Tethys and cared for Them as Their father.”

I frowned, that was really weird.

“With the naming ceremony of Hyperion, Uranus began to shift. He was less and less kind to His children, less Himself. He began to torment Them, as each one was born. He sent storms down when They did the slightest thing to displease Him, hounding Them when They stood on Gaea’s land until They hid within Her.”

I listened wide eyed, watching as she sketched out the images.

“Gaea sought to improve things. He had once been excited for children, She hoped that more children may aid in this, bring Him back to Himself. She slept with Him once more, entreating Eros to aid Them in having children.”

I didn’t think it worked, I vaguely remembered that myth. The Kyklopes did not help at all.

“They had three children next, the elder Kyklopes. They were named Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. But they were ugly, and not lovely as the Titan’s were. Uranus, who was already hateful of His lovely children, was disgusted by these and took hold of them, banishing them to Tartarus, He who holds all prisoners.”

“That’s terrible,” I whispered.

She gave a grim smile, “From there Gaea desperately attempted just one last time. Eros once again aided Her but warned Her that the results may not be better. Uranus held a Shadow over His heart and He could no longer Love as He had. Gaea attempted anyway and gave birth to three more children, the Hekatoncheries. They were named Cottus, Briareos, and Gyges.”

I blinked, how did you spell Hekatoncheries? He-ka-to-care-ees?

“Uranus was equally disgusted by these children, if not more so. They held fifty heads and one-hundred arms, making them grotesque and a shame to Uranus. He once again grabbed hold of Her children and banished them to Tartarus.”

I swallowed, that wasn’t good.

“Gaea considered this the last straw and She ceased attempting to gain Uranus’ love once more. Now She plotted revenge.”

“That’s when She got Kronos to help Her?”

“The Story as Okeanus spoke it is that She came to Them one day, one of the rare days They were on land as Uranus worked elsewhere. She ordered Them to aid Her, to free Her children and destroy Her husband. Okeanus remembered a time before though, when Uranus was a father and He cared for Them. Okeanus was also aware that should They fail, Uranus’ wrath would be unmatched. Kronos stepped forward though, when Their mother’s wrath was threatened upon Them and defended His brothers.”

I blinked, “The camp calls Him evil.”

“Many would believe that, and yet… the full story is not yet revealed.”

“So what happened? I mean, after Kronos sent Okeanus aware to protect Him and took the scythe.”

She eyed me curiously, “That is what happened next. Okeanus does not know the specifics, not beyond what He has been told. But what we do know is that the other brothers: Hyperion, Koios, Krios, and Iapetus held Uranus down and Kronos castrated Him. He then chopped Uranus into small pieces and scattered those pieces in the Sea.”

I swallowed, “Right, and then Aphrodite was born from the sea foam mixing with His pieces where He was tossed to the Ocean.”

“Indeed, Aphrodite is a child of the Sea and the Sky, considered Thalassa’s child as much as Uranus’.”

She drew another chart showing the family relationship.

“Then from Gaea and Uranus’ blood came more children. There were the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, and the Meliads, the Nymphs of the Ash Trees. Some will also say the Gigantes came from this, yet we are aware that they came from Tartarus and Gaea. After this time, all was well. Gaea rested, recovering from Her time before and allowing Her children to rule. The Titan’s freed the Kyklopes and Hekatoncheries.”

“But then Kronos ate His kids,” I said. "And weren't they locked back up?"

“He did lock them up once more, and even ate His children, but not before the land prospered. Kronos took Rhea as His wife, They loved each other dearly. Indeed, Kronos was said to be delighted by His upcoming children as He ensured the land was healthy and the people happy.”

“Then why did He eat His kids?”

“No one knows. He doted on Hestia when She was born, delighted by His first child, His daughter. But then, once more, on the day of Her naming ceremony that was held seven days after Her birth as is tradition, He changed.”

I frowned, “But why?”

“We don’t know, we only know that He suddenly took His child and devoured Her whole.”

That didn’t make any sense? Something had to have happened.

“And of course, the story after is well known.”

“Yeah… why was this our first lesson?”

“To know what comes after you must know the beginning. The beginning leads all things, and nothing would have happened without it.”

I nodded reluctantly and wondered what it all meant. 

Why was the beginning important? Obviously it was really weird that both Uranus and Kronos went crazy during naming ceremonies, but Uranus did it during the third one and Kronos the first. Did it matter that it was Hyperion and Hestia?

Both their names started with H’s but did they share much beyond that?

I mean… I supposed they shared light and fire but otherwise…

I frowned, I didn’t understand why that happened. 

“Do you have any questions?” Euphemia asked.

I considered for a moment.

“What happened to Pontus?”

She smiled, “He slipped away, falling into a deep sleep. None are certain of why, but He is asleep and likely will be until something wakes Him.”

“Why don’t the land myths speak of it like this? I’ve read some of Metani being a good king before His kids but…”

“You must always remember, Perseus-aia, history is written by the victors. It matters little what good you do in life, if you end it with evil. History obliterates every picture it paints, and it paints you in all your mistakes. Kronos was once a good king, but few remember that in light of what He did. Look to your myths and learn, not everything is as it seems.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I yelped as the dodgeball almost hit me in the side.

Apparently the first week was a fluke, because our teacher just assigned us dodgeball and told us to make teams.

The teams did not go well.

I winced as Kai tripped right in front of the dodgeball flying at him and got nailed in the face.

Ouch.

I groaned as I was promptly slammed in the stomach by a dodgeball. I picked myself up from the ground with a wince.

This game was not fun.

It didn’t help that I was still distracted by my lesson with Euphemia.

Next time we’d be going over Okeanus and Tethys and Their history, plus how the two of Them divorced because Their love caused tsunamis and stuff. It sounded really interesting, though I knew a little from my reading.

But our first lesson… I still wasn’t sure what to think about it.

It reminded me of what I saw, what Metani showed me in that dream… where Lara-

My foot caught on the gym floor as I walked to the wall for the people that were out and I stumbled.

I wanted to learn more, but I wasn’t sure how. Maybe Euphemia would teach me more about it? But did she know it all… She must’ve had a very smart teacher.

“Hey, Jackson. Have you figured out how to walk without falling on your face yet? Or do you need some help?”

I ignored them and sunk down against the wall. I didn’t have the energy to deal with them today.

I winced when Acantha not only tripped over her own feet, but also knocked down two classmates and punched another in the face with her flailing. Tyson moved to help her up.

“The only one worse than you in here,” muttered one of the boys. “Is her.”

I sighed as she got hit in the back of the head with a dodgeball. That was gonna hurt.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I grinned when the shell flicked high, arcing slowly as it slipped back down.

“Nice one,” Samoa cheered.

I grinned, “Thanks.”

We were playing shell toss while we waited for Masina and Rosa to arrive. Elei was at camp and couldn’t come.

“So, how have your studies on healing been going?” Lagi asked.

I hid a wince at that, I hadn’t even opened the books, they were intimidating.

“I’ve been distracted adjusting back to land school,” I offered. “But I’ll be starting on them next week.”

“Oh, that’s good, I’ve spoken to my teacher and they said that when you finish those books you can join in on a lesson. He also recommended finding ones like them for humans and land animals, since they’re different.”

I nodded solemnly while making a note to check out the books at some point in the next week… probably.

Why did healing require so much anatomy and memorization?

“How is human school?” Fetu asked, thankfully changing the subject.

“It’s nice, I’ve got some fun classmates.”

“What subjects do you learn?” Samoa asked curiously.

“We have seven classes, PE- er… physical education. Then Algebra two-“

“What’s Algebra two?” Lagi questioned as he flicked his shell, sending it arcing into Samoa’s hair.

“Hey!”

“It’s a name for a type of math. And then we have History, um, World History this year, we’re talking about Rome right now.”

“Rome was boring and rude,” Fetu muttered. “I heard Mevu talking to Metu about it one time.”

“They didn’t like the sea very much,” I agreed. “But at least it’s better than English, we’re on ‘Language Arts’ and it’s a lot of writing and reading.”

“The English language is dumb,” Lagi said firmly.

“We’re speaking it right now?” I said in amusement.

Fetu laughed, “Well yes, but that’s just cause it’s the local language. We were raised to learn it along with Halmaheran and Portuguese. Halmaheran makes so much more sense, so does Portuguese.”

I stared at him wide eyed, “You speak Portuguese? Please help I’m taking it in school.”

He brightened, “Oh it’s easy, eu ia ser feliz te ajudar.”

I blinked, and slowly ran that through my head, “Uh… eu is I… feliz is happy… te is you…”

“I would be happy to help you,” Fetu said with a fond smile.

“Oh! Thanks!”

“Anytime, minha pérola.”

“Minha is my?”

“It means my pearl,” Lagi said with a sly smile.

“Oh, that’s fun! I could give you a nickname in Greek!”

Samoa nearly fell over giggling while Lagi groaned.

Fetu’s lips twitched, “I would be honored.”

I studied him, his nickname was super sweet so I needed a good one too…

I tried to think, but was distracted by the sparkles of his tails. They always looked like shining stars, shining in the dark of the ocean…

Oh!

“Asteri mou,” I said proudly. “It fits you perfectly.”

Fetu blushed, his light blue skin darkening.

Lagi burst into giggles, “Oh yes, it’s perfect, I love it.”

Samoa was beaming, “That’s so cute! 'My star', that’s the sweetest. I wish I had someone giving me nicknames like that.”

I blinked at them, “Did you want a nickname?”

Lagi shot her a look, and she shook her head.

“No, Persi, but that’s very sweet of you.”

I shrugged. They were all so strange sometimes, but they were great friends.

“You guys are already having fun,” a voice said.

“They don’t love us anymore,” Rosa said dramatically, draping xer hand over her head.

Masina laughed, their eyes gleaming.

“You guys made it!” I said happily.

“What’s got Fetu all blue?” Masina asked curiously.

Lagi grinned, “Percy called him asteri mou.”

“You guys are adorable,” Rosa said with a laugh.

“We’re good friends!” I said cheerfully.

Samoa giggled.

“Well, good friends,” Masina said cheerfully. “Shall we head off to the tahuhu pye?”

“Yeah!” I grinned as I swam over. “I can’t wait to see the magic displays!”

“Let’s get going then, we don’t want to be late.”

“We were waiting for you,” Samoa pointed out softly, slipping up next to me.

“And now we’re waiting for Fetu to cool off,” Rosa drawled as xey grabbed my hand.

“Hush you,” Fetu grumbled.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Is that an altar?” Zoey asked, staring at the family altar from where she stood in the living room.

I faltered in gathering the cookies, “Uh… yeah…”

Zoey turned to me with wide eyes while Tyson stood awkwardly behind us.

“Are you pagan?”

I bit my lip, “I am.”

She was practically vibrating, “What Pantheon do you worship? Or do you worship multiple? OMS is your mom pagan? Do you have any specific Gods you worship? Are you also a witch? Do you give offerings to Them?”

I blinked, “Oh uh, I worship the Greek Gods-“

“Me too!” She cheered. “That’s amazing, I’ve never met another Hellenic Pagan! I worship Apollo primarily, and Hypnos cause insomnia hits hard sometimes and He helps a lot. What about you?”

I rocked on my heels, grinning a little, “I worship Triton and Artemis and Selene the most, and Dionysus. Plus of course, Hestia.”

“Oh, Dionysus is cool! I’ve been thinking about reaching out to Him too. I’ve never heard of worshipping Triton, is He nice?”

I beamed, “Triton is the best! I talk with him all the time.”

“That’s amazing, stars I’m so excited right now.”

I was bouncing, I knew, sorta, that mortals still worshipped the Gods. But it was another thing to meet one.

“Yeah! It’s really cool.”

“Oh,” she turned to Tyson, suddenly nervous. “Sorry, I know you’re probably not pagan-“

I bit back a laugh, should I tell her he was a Kyklopes?

“I know the Gods,” Tyson said with a nod. “They are strong.”

She brightened, “Wait, you’re a pagan too? There’s two others at school? That’s so cool! Imagine if Kai and Nikola were pagans too.”

I laughed, what were the chances they believed in the Gods too? Many mortals didn’t anymore.

“Anyways, we should probably start studying,” I held up the cookies. “We can chat while we study?”

She beamed, “That sounds brilliant!”

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

What did you think of his first lesson? How about his time with Tyson? His friends? Anything you're interested in seeing while he's on land?

Also! I know the Portuguese used was informal/not "proper". It's okay! That's just how the sea speaks it. It's a more informal version, like hick Portuguese. Additionally, the sea version of Portuguese was drawn from sailors + their own adjustments so they're just wrong sometimes lol. But thank you for the suggestions.

I try to use actual locations in Manhattan (and around the country), either exactly or as inspiration (Percy's school look was taken from a school in Manhattan).

Big Gay Ice Cream is indeed an actual shop that was open in Manhattan in 2012 and is owned by a gay couple. They were in the top ranked ice cream shops even then! Mermaid ice cream is also an actual flavor of theirs, though I was unable to find a menu from 2012 it is one of the current menu.

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
Maie em maiv houp opu=It’s nice to meet you
Y sa'opu ro ika omasa=And you in return
aipone=thin stone tablet that functions similarly to a whiteboard
ofivi=coral pen that works similarly to a dry erase marker
Metani=Grandfather
Mevu=Mom
Metu=Dad
tahuhu pye=Magical showcase (direct translation=magic tide)

Suffixes
fu'oro=master teacher
aia=prince
nio=one who was with Poseidon
aiano=Prince's
oreno=King's
ore=King

Terminology
khernips=a specific type of water that is used for cleansing and purification. It is used for purifying oneself of miasma to communicate with the Gods. The use of it varies from pagan to pagan with some seeing it as vital and others not viewing it as necessary at all. It consists of water and a piece of burned herb or wood.
libation=pouring out a drink/liquid for the Gods
Zeus Agathos Deos=epithet of Zeus meaning "Zeus the Good God"
Hera Hyperkhei’ria=epithet of Hera meaning "Hera the one who holds her protecting hand over the thing"
Hestia Potheinotáti=epithet of Hestia meaning "Hestia the beloved"
Demeter Sitô=epithet of Demeter meaning "Demeter the provider of food"
succulents=plants that generally require little water, similar to cacti
ginko=medicinal herb used to treat altitude sickness (prevention), cerebral vascular insufficiency, cognitive disorders, dizziness/vertigo, and more.
echinacea=medicinal plant used to shorten the duration of the common cold and flu, and reduce symptoms, such as sore throat (pharyngitis), cough, and fever. It can also boost the immune system.
Fairy foxglove=an easy to grow carpeting flower plant that spreads out and makes a carpet of flowers
fogão=stove in Portuguese
Erinyes=the Greek name of the Furies (and the original)
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
eu ia ser feliz te ajudar=Portuguese for I would be happy to help you (tho not the formal way of saying it, this is on purpose)
Minha pérola=Portuguese for my pearl
Asteri mou=Greek for my star
The mythology used in this story to explain the beginning of the Gods is based on one particular branch of the myth but I also added my own twists to explain gaps in the myths and also to clarify information. These facts that I added in to fill in the gaps are based partially in my UPG (unverified personal gnosis) which means my interpretation of the Gods. Not everything has proper basis in the myths but it is also not disproved by the myths.

OC's
Zoey=pagan friend of Percy, member of his group in Portuguese class
Nikola=member of Percy's group in Portuguese class
Klara=guard of Percy
Kai=guard of Percy
Acantha=guard of Percy

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 10: To Celebrate the Future's You Learn

Summary:

hey I'm back

Notes:

WARNING: Slurs used by a character

Well I'm late lol, by a lot. School has started up again and physics is hard, plus learning two langauges, and taking two big writing classes, and of course the history class. It's a mess lol.

But I'm back, and things are more settled so I should be good for writing once more! Honestly the last few chapters and this one, and the next few, were all meant to be two chapters. This chapter is over 7k. There's a reason I split it up lmao.

Hope you enjoy :D

WARNING: There are slurs used in this chapter by an asshole character

 

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I let out a slow breath as my teacher instructed. She stood beside me as I did the breathing exercises.

“Alright,” she murmured. “Let’s try singing now.”

I nodded. She had me pick an easy familiar land tune for now and said we’d do sea ones later. The sea tunes were meant for guiding the ocean, so it would react to those quicker. Using familiar tunes was a good way to start off because they were easier for the singer.

“Remember to make your intent clear, you just want the coral to grow.”

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky, twinkle twinkle- little star, how I… how I wonder what you are-“

I gulped, struggling for air but delighted as the coral visibly stretched up, reacting to my song.

“When the blazing sun is- is gone, when he nothing-“ I took a deep breath, “when he nothing shines upon-“ I struggled to breathe more, trying to draw in more water and oxygen. “Then you- then you show your… your little light…”

“Enough.”

I blinked, “But- But I wasn’t…. I wasn’t even through,” I coughed, struggling to speak right. “The second verse…”

“And yet you are struggling so.”

She flicked over, holding a twisted piece of coral.

“Breathe in through this,” she said as she placed the opening on the coral piece at my mouth.

I took it and did as she said, pulling it away to cough, before I managed to breathe in.

The water tasted different. Like… plants?

“It’s a hotivim, helps with the breathing issues caused by the Siren’s Song, or lung problems. The treatment is similar. Breathe in four times with it then rest for a little bit. We’ll go through how to control the power in your voice now that I’ve heard you.”

I nodded, breathing in slowly, then I broke down into a coughing fit.

She rubbed my back and drifted beside me while I recovered.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sat down and turned to Tyson who was getting out his lunch.

As usual he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I’d never seen him with anything else.

“Do you want some chips,” I asked. “I have two bags today.”

Tyson perked up, “Chips?”

“Uh yeah,” I dug out my lunch. “Doritos and Frittos.”

“Doritos?” Tyson asked wide eyed.

“What are Doritos?” Kai asked.

Zoey gaped, “You- you don’t know what Doritos are!?”

Nikola set his lunch tray next to Acantha, “Doritos are a type of chip, which is a snack. The kind Percy has are nacho cheese Doritos, they’re cheesy.”

Kai had a notebook out, “Can I try one?”

“Yes,” Tyson said. “Here.”

Acantha leaned over, “I want one!”

“Are you guys leaving me out?” Klara demanded. “I want to try one.”

I watched baffled, how had they never had Doritos?

“Percy,” Zoey hissed. “They’ve never had Doritos. Are there other things they’ve never had?”

“We need to show them around,” I declared. “And show them all the foods.”

“Do you guys know what Gucci is?” Zoey asked.

Kai looked up from the notebook he was scribbling in with a Dorito in his mouth.

Acantha flicked her hands in a question gesture I recognized from Triton’s lessons.

“They’re a designer clothes and bag brand,” I said.

“Was that sign language?” Zoey asked with sparkling eyes.

Acantha faltered, “Oh uh, yeah… it was.”

“Yeah, it was basically saying ‘no what is it’… roughly,” I explained.

“You know sign language?” Zoey asked eagerly.

“Er,” I faltered. “Only a little… and it’s not American Sign Language, there are differences.”

I paused, wait… how did Acantha know the sign language of Atlantis?

“Yeah, this one is…” Acantha faltered. “It’s the Portuguese sign language.”

“Oh, are you from Portugal?” Zoey asked.

“No.”

Zoey blinked.

I hummed, was there an overlap in the sign languages? I’d ask Triton later. It would make sense. Fetu told me Portuguese became popular in the sea from sailors, so maybe the sign language got introduced the same way.

“Can you show me a sign?” Zoey asked eagerly.

I faltered, well, “This is hello-“ I tapped my forehead with my palm flat and held facing the ground, then flicked it away. “This is goodbye-“ I held my hand out and folded my fingers down.

“Ooh, what’s your name in sign?”

“That varies,” Klara said. “Like, not to a person, but like, as a sign. They’re customized? Or you can finger spell but that’s the long way.”

“Oh? How would you finger spell ‘Percy’?”

Klara held out her left hand and signed, her fingers flicking slowly through ‘P’ ‘E’ ‘R’ ‘C’ ‘Y’.

“What are you doing?” sneered a voice behind me. “Trying to do a Jutsu? Weeb.”

I turned in confusion, “What’s a jutsu?”

“Is that a type of sign language?” Kai asked, holding his notebook up.

“Looks like you’re the real weeb,” Nikola mused. “You like watching Naruto?”

“What’s Naruto?” I asked. “Is it bad?”

Matt flushed at that, glaring at us. His gaze focused on me with a sneer on his lips.

“Look here faggot, just because you don’t know the anime doesn’t mean you’re special-"

"He wasn't saying he was special," Nikola said in a bored tone. "You're the one who brought it up."

"Why don't you meet me out back after school and we can see how smart you are then,” Matt snarled to Nikola.

Kai went still, Acantha stiffened.

Klara tilted her head, “Okay. I’ll meet you out back after school.”

She smiled sweetly, and Matt did a double take.

“I wasn’t talking to you, retar-”

Nikola yawned, “Slurs aren’t attractive.”

“No one asked you,” Matt snapped. “So why don’t you-“

“What’s going on here?” Asked Mrs. Jefferson, coming over.

“Nothing,” Matt said. “Just saying hi.”

She studied us closely. Zoey looked about ready to jump Matt, Acantha was glaring daggers, Kai was gripping his notepad and pen like they were weapons, Tyson had shrunk down, and Nikola looked ready to nap but his eyes were like ice.

“Well,” she said slowly. “Why don’t you move along.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Matt turned to leave, shooting us one last glare as he walked away.

“He’s a complete-“ Zoey snarled. “Such a-“

“He’s a vlua petulu,” I agreed fiercely. “Are you okay Tyson?”

Tyson nodded, “Yes. I am fine. He was… not scary. Percy could beat him.”

I flushed, “Ah, thanks.”

“Let’s finish lunch,” Nikola said. “I want a nap.”

I nodded, eager to change the subject.

“Sounds good, oh yeah, Zoey?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you doing anything for the Autumn Equinox?”

She brightened, “Oh we’re going to an Apple grove and helping gather apples! It’s going to be so fun!”

“Ooh, that does sound fun.”

“What about you?”

“I’m visiting my Metuano place,” I said. “We’re going berry picking!”

“That sounds nice…” Zoey chirped. “What’s Metuano?”

“Oh, it means Father’s, I’m going to my Father’s place.”

“Oh, yeah that makes sense.”

“Are you doing anything Tyson?” I asked.

Tyson shook his head, “I am going to sleep. I do not have berries to pick, or groves to go to.”

Zoey frowned, “Well, I think it’s too late to ask my parents to bring you along this year. But next year you can come with me!”

Tyson blinked, “Really?”

“Yep!” Zoey grinned. “It’ll be fun. We can save some apples for Percy too.”

Nikola hummed, “Sounds nice. We’re going hunting for the equinox. It’ll be funsies.”

“Ooh,” I grinned. “Some of the older people at Metua’s place go hunting I think, but you have to be a certain age to join in on that.”

“Will you guys be doing anything?” Zoey asked. “Oh wait, sorry… wait, Nikola are you pagan?”

“Yeah,” he yawned.

Zoey lit up, “Oh my stars this is brilliant! Wait, Kai, Kai are you pagan?”

Kai blinked, “Um, well, yes? Sort of. Pagan means worshiping non-Abrahamic Gods right?”

“Er… I think so?” Zoey asked. “I mean, I think that covers all of it.”

“Then yes, I am pagan.”

“So are we,” Acantha said. “Everyone where we come from is pagan.”

“That’s so cool,” Zoey whispered. “All of our group is pagan! We should do a festival together sometime!”

“What kind of pagan are you?” Nikola asked dryly. “I worship the Norse Gods.”

“Oh that’s cool,” Zoey said. “But I don’t think we can do a festival together then… Me and Percy and Tyson are Hellenic Pagans, we worship the Greek Gods.”

“We…” Kai shared a look with the others. “Are also Hellenic Pagans.”

“We can probably do something together anyways,” Nikola mused. “Just respectfully.”

Zoey nodded, “Yeah, that would be cool. Antheresteria is a great holiday for doing things with friends, honoring Dionysus and having a big meal with friends. Oh, and of course Dionysia. We could all go watch a play or even put one on!”

“We have some time to plan,” I pointed out. “Both of those aren’t for a while.”

“Yeah, I’m just so excited,” she said.

I grinned, it was exciting. Everyone here was a pagan, and even if only me and Tyson actually… saw Them in person, there were still others that knew Them, and worshiped Them. It was… nice.

“Well,” Nikola drawled. “This was informative, but class starts again soon, and I want a nap first. So see you later.”

“Bye,” Zoey chirped.

“Bye,” I called.

The other’s chimed in as Nikola walked away.

“This is going to be an amazing school year,” Zoey declared.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Saturday I Iris messaged Giovanni like his note told me too.

“Ah, hello Percy,” Giovanni said. “Happy late birthday.”

It seemed to be later in the day where he was.

“Thanks,” I said with a grin. “What time is it there?”

“Oh, six pm,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Now then, we need to discuss your birthday present.”

“Ah yeah. It doesn’t need to be anything special-”

“Nonsense. Clearly you haven’t had anyone with any… style around you before our cabin. This is of course, an absolute crime. Therefore, I will be arranging for you to have an entirely new wardrobe.”

I blinked, “Wha-“

He quirked an eyebrow, “You did not think we would let you wander around in t-shirts and jeans, forever did you? No, you are a part of our cabin and thus must have a proper wardrobe.”

“But… I have clothes from the sea?”

“Yes,” he said patiently. “But you only wear them occasionally, and they’re very nice. You need some slightly more casual styled clothes, and of course more big event clothes. And better everything really, your wardrobe is limited.”

“I do?” I said baffled. “But… I have a uniform at school this year?”

He made a face, mumbling under his breath, “Disgustoso, le uniforme sono cosi poci lusinghieri.”

Shaking his head he continued louder, “That just makes it more important that you have good clothes when not in school! My personal tailor will be in America soon and will be arranging your wardrobe.”

“What-“

“He was already going for a fashion event, so I requested he extend his stay a dash for your birthday present.”

“That’s really not necessary,” I said quickly. “Clothes are expensive-“

“It’s no worry,” Giovanni said firmly.

I blinked as a cat creeped into view of the Iris Message.

“I am more than able to afford it, and you are in desperate need of a new wardrobe. He’s a demigod as well, or well, a descendant of one. His grandmother was a daughter of Aphrodite. I told him about the clothes from the sea, he’s willing to try and match the style as best as he can so your wardrobe matches.”

I flushed, “I mean… I guess?”

The cat was crouched, tail wiggling.

“Excellent,” Giovanni said. “Do you have a phone?”

“No?”

“Well, that’s disappointing. We’ll have to fix that at some point.” He frowned. “Regardless, I’ll IM you with a few times and days that work for him for you to choose from.”

“Okay,” I said, my brain still registering the present. Drew said he went overboard and she meant it. “Uh, thank you. That’s really nice of you…”

He waved his hand, “No issue, I’m happy to-“

The cat pounced, latching onto his pants and trying to climb him.

“Duke Fluffington!” He cried. “Stop that!”

I giggled as he struggled with his cat for a minute before he managed to corral it into his arms.

The cat looked decidedly smug.

“Well, as I was saying,” he grumbled petting his cat.

“Duke Fluffington is very cute,” I said.

His lips twitched, “He’s a little shit, but an adorable one.”

“Percy!” Mom called from the kitchen. “Lunch is ready!”

“I have to go,” I said. “Thank you again, it really is super nice.”

“Of course,” he said. “You’re family.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sat in the river once more, already having spent a few hours cleaning it up.

“So how’ve things been while I was gone?” I asked Eli the Eel while I manipulated a particularly buried piece of trash out of the muddy river bottom.

“The catfish tried to stage a rebellion,” Eli said. “Apparently they didn’t like the muskellunge bossing them all around.”

“Did the muskellunge do something?” I wondered. The large fish weren’t usually very bossy from the few times I spoke to them.

“Not really, just started trying to make the fish clean some while you were gone. The catfish didn’t want to, the muskellunge wanted them too.”

Eli did a little twist, helping me disrupt the mud and pull the piece of trash up. Ugh, a big water container. Why did people toss these into the river?

“Wow, it would be nice to have some help with the river, but the muskellunge don’t need to have a war over it.”

Eli giggled, “They’re having fun I think. The salmon have been watching from the sidelines.”

I shook my head, tugging another large piece of trash up to guide out of the river.

“I hope they don’t fight too much. Do you think I should step in?”

Eli hummed, “No, I think they’re good for now. Besides, it’s fun to watch.”

I laughed, “Eli I’m supposed to stop fights, not watch them with popcorn.”

“A little murder never hurt anyone,” Eli declared sagely.

“Eli!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The Autumn Equinox started out wonderfully.

We got up early and had a lovely breakfast, seaweed wrapped fruits and fish. It was kinda like sushi, but more like… burritos? Mini ones? It was good.

Then I got to join Fetu and Masina berry picking!

Lagi was off helping gather medicinal plants with his teacher, so couldn’t join. The others were doing their activities at the camps.

“How’s land school going?” Fetu wondered as he carefully slipped through the low plants to find sea berries.

Manisi pearls made it a lot easier to have plants in the deep sea, supplying the sunlight most needed to live.

“It’s going okay, all the time in the sea makes it a bit hard to readjust to land though. I keep trying to swim instead of walk and it’s so confusing when it doesn’t work.”

“Sounds like a struggle,” Masina agreed. “I know the campers spend a few months practicing walking on land, it’s a big field trip for the fifteen-veruo-olds.”

“Really?” I asked. “It’s weird for me, cause I’ve walked my whole life. I’ve been struggling in PE, but at least I no longer fall over every five seconds, now it’s every ten haha. It’s been a slow improvement. Oh! And I made friends with a Kyklopes!”

“Oh?” Fetu said.

“His name is Tyson and he’s very sweet.”

Masina handed me some Posidonia berries to add to my pouch.

“That’s great, minha pérola,” Fetu said fondly. “I’m glad you’re making friends, even if walking on land is difficult.”

“Thanks, asteri mou” I said, my face warming slightly. “School really is fun, I’m enjoying it. I even made some friends that are pagans!”

“Pagans?” Asked another familiar voice.

“Oh,” I turned. “Hi, Rosa. And yeah, pagans. They’re people that worship Gods other than the- um, the Christian and- what was the term… the one for… the angel Gods… the the-“

“I dunno,” Rosa said. “Do you mean those monotheistic ones?”

“Yeah, the three big ones, with the like, Abraham guy.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” xey said. “So you made friends that don’t worship the Monotheistic ones?”

“Yep! They’re Hellenic, well, one is Norse, but the rest worship the Greek Gods!”

“That’s cool,” Rosa said cheerfully. “But don’t most people?”

“No,” Fetu said. “A lot on land worship the monotheistic ones and consider the specific one they worship the only one. There were wars and stuff. But there are still people who worship the polytheistic pantheons.”

Rosa looked confused, “But… what?”

Percy shrugged, “Land dwellers are weird.”

“Very,” xey agreed.

“So are you gathering any specific berries?” I asked as I dove down to tug out some more posidonia berries.

“Nah, just gathering some seaweed.”

“Have you gathered enough?” Fetu asked, leaning over to help me twist one of the berries off.

“Yep,” Rosa said cheerfully. “I’ve got all I need.”

“Wonderful,” Masina said as they twisted the currents to guide us up. “I’m finished as well. What about you guys?”

“My bag is full now,” I agreed.

“Likewise,” Fetu murmured.

“Wonderful,” Masina chirped. “Then I suppose we should head back to the castle to deposit our findings.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said cheerfully.

Fetu nudged me lightly, sending me a grin, “Race you?”

My eyes narrowed, “You’re on.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The dinner at the end of the day was amazing. There was a huge feast, with lots of different berries and seaweed blends and rolls and wraps and fish and crab and other assorted meats.

I idly wondered if it was bad to be eating fish, but then decided I was not having the moral debate.

I got to sit next to Herophile, who was next to Benthesikyme, who was next to Triton on Metuano right. To His left was Mevu’ta, then Kymopoleia and Rhodos, and across from me, Khrysaôr.

Apparently he wasn’t expected, and nor was the small sea serpent he’d brought to contribute to the Autumn Equinox festivities.

“But why shouldn’t I return to visit my family,” He’d asked innocently.

“First time you’ve cared in two thousand year,” Triton had snipped back.

“Well,” Khrysaôr’s lips curled. “Things are interesting here.”

Triton didn’t punch him, but it looked close.

The food at dinner was good, I hadn’t had half of the stuff before and tried as much as I could. Herophile pointed out Her favorite foods and showed me some good sauces.

“If you mix it with this it’s super- five letter word, you can’t beat-!”

“Sweet?” I asked.

She beamed at me.

It was super sweet, I liked it.

The conversations were interesting too, until Herophile mentioned prophecy, then Khrysaôr opened his mouth.

“Makes sense you’d be interested in prophecy, what with the one about you,” he mused.

“Khrysaôr,” Triton snarled.

I blinked, “What?”

Herophile studied the food on Her plate.

“Oh, haven’t you heard?” Khrysaôr said cheerfully. “The great prophecy! About a child of the Big Three. You’re the only living child of the Big Three, so it’s probably about you.”

“Unless of course,” Delphin (my Metua’s general) interrupted. “You were made immortal before it came to pass. So you really don’t need to worry.”

“Or if you died,” Khrysaôr chirped.

“Enough,” Metua snapped. “This is not a conversation for the dinner table. We will discuss it later.”

The people at the table sat quietly for a moment, until Metua started a conversation with Asoau (one of his generals) about the castle guards training.

And dinner continued normally after that, but my mind was caught on the prophecy.

Khrysaôr shot me a sharp grin while popping a piece of salmon in his mouth.

A glance at Triton calmed me, he would tell me what’s up.

He always did.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Khrysaôr,” Metua snapped the moment the family was alone. “What were you thinking?”

“What?” Khrysaôr said innocently. “I thought he already knew.”

“He’s thirteen!” Metua cried. “A child!”

“A child whom you’ve already sent out on a quest,” He pointed out. “And has gained a title down here. Most don’t consider that a child anymore.”

“He’s still a child,” Triton snapped. “Practically an infant.”

I wasn’t sure if I should take offense to that.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I can know whatever it is.”

Metua pursed his lips, “I was hoping to wait until at least after your fourteenth veruo. You’re too young for this responsibility.”

“It may not even be you,” Amphitrite soothed the room. “As my husband said, you are but a child. There is plenty of opportunity for someone else to fit the role.”

Herophile hummed, “Opportunity, yep.”

Metua eyed her, His brows furrowing. But then He sighed.

“I would protect you from this if I could,” He murmured.

I shifted, “is it bad?”

“It’s why there was nearly a war,” Benthesikyme said softly. “Amongst other things of course. Tension between Metu and Zeus did not grow in a day. But this prophecy… it is why Zeus was so ready to kill you, and so ready to wage war with Metu.”

I swallowed, “Oh.”

“The prophecy…” Metua sighed. “It was stated after the end of a war that ended in 1943.”

“Was that the one, the one that happened with the mortal world war?”

“Yes,” Rhodos said, settling into a seat. “It ended before the mortal one, though the prophecy came to be announced after the mortal one ended. So it was actually stated in 1945 of the land common calendar.”

“The Gregorian one I think,” Benthesikyme said.

“It was announced the day after Zeus’ youngest child turned sixteen,” Poseidon explained. “Hades held two children as well, but Zeus had them killed to get rid of the threat.”

“But doesn’t avoiding prophecies just make them more likely to happen?” I asked.

Herophile smiled, “Yep! But everyone- seven letter word, can’t remember.”

“Forgets?” Kymopoleia asked from where she was sitting in Metua’s seat.

“Yeah!”

“Right,” Metua said with a sigh. “I would rather you not have to know it, if it does end up not applying to you then it would be needless stress.”

“Do you think it won’t?” I asked slowly.

Metua hesitated, “It is difficult to say but... As far as I’m aware you’re the only child of the Big Three alive. It… limits the possibilities that it’s someone else.”

I chewed my lip.

“You don’t have to know,” Triton said. “We’ll tell you when you’re older if you’d rather hold off.”

I flicked my tail, wishing I could pace or talk to Carl or Lyta about this. But I just had my family here, so I needed to think.

The prophecy could be about me. It was why Zeus wanted me dead. It might be why others were interested in me. And maybe why Kiron was acting like that with me too.

It might’ve been why I was in danger… and… and I hated prophecies but avoiding them usually made them happen.

Knowing would at least let me know what to expect, sorta.

“I think… I think I want to know.”

Metua nodded, “If that is your choice.”

Rhodos leaned forward, “This prophecy is called the Great Prophecy. I am no expert on prophecy but this is not the first Great Prophecy, and it is likely not the last either. A Great Prophecy declared the War over sixty years ago, and this one declares another war. Many of the Great Prophecies have declared War. All have brought about a large change, this one… heralds a very large change indeed.”

I blinked, that sounded really important.

“What is it?”

Metua took a deep breath before reciting it.

“A half-blood of the eldest Gods

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

Opposing armies answer the calls

Family speaks and a King falls

Vows spoken force Olympus to amend

With death an age comes to an end”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I laughed as Zoey tried to step on the skateboard and nearly fell over.

“You push off with one foot, don’t put both on to start,” I giggled.

Tyson was slowly pushing back and forth on his skateboard, but Zoey was trying out mine.

“I’ve got it,” she mumbled. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry I’ve- ahh!”

She tumbled over, the skateboard going flying.

Tyson blinked, “You do not got it.”

She groaned, “You can have your skateboard back, Percy.”

I coughed, hiding my smile, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I brought my sketchbook. I don’t think skating is for me.”

She stood up, brushing off her pants, and went to claim a seat off to the side, out of the way.

“Don’t mind me!” she waved with a grin. “Have fun skating!”

I shrugged and snagged my skateboard to return to trying to do an ollie without falling.

“How was your trip?” Tyson asked.

“It was…” I hesitated, thinking about what I learned. The prophecy was…

The first two lines were self-explanatory. A half-blood (which was half human half God apparently) of the Eldest Gods (which was apparently just the Big Three? I thought it was broader but they declared it was the big three so…).

Then apparently armies would come and opposing meant they would be fighting… probably.

Family could be almost anyone, and there are multiple Kings so… I had no idea what was up there.

Vows spoken, would that be Olympus amending something? Or someone else amending what Olympus did? Did someone take a vow to make Olympus do something? Was Olympus fallen there? Was it going to fall? Did it win? I didn’t understand…

And then of course, With death an age comes to an end.

Metua said that line (and the one about a King falling) worried the Gods the most. There hadn’t been a new age since They took over. Which meant…

I shook my head.

“It was informative,” I said.

Tyson nodded, “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, I got to talk to my family and hang out with some friends. I haven’t seen some of them in a little bit, though I’ve seen some other friends.”

Tyson smiled, “That’s good!”

“It is,” I said with a fond smile.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I got to visit camp for Proerosia, which was super fun.

Walking back into the camp was almost nostalgic, though I was here not that long ago. This time there was no electricity sparking over my skin, but I could still faintly feel the spark in the air.

I tugged at the end of the veil I’d put on, the one Silena gave me. The white and gold veil was comforting.

“Percy!” Katie called as she hugged me. “We missed you!”

“Hey Katie!” I grinned. “Hey Suki. I missed you guys too.”

Suki waved from behind Katie, “How are you doing?”

“Good, how about you?”

“I’m doing alright,” Katie chirped. “We’ve been preparing for Proerosia, which means lots of extra work in the fields so that the harvest is good.”

“The offerings are at noon, right?”

“Yeah!” Suki said. “We do it all before lunch, then spend the afternoon making the honey cakes to set out at sunset.”

“We’re just making some berry cakes to set out for Mom as a bonus,” Katie added.

I nodded, “That makes sense. Do you want me to go to the Aphrodite cabin?”

“You can hang out with us if you want,” Suki said. “But we’ll be finishing up cooking so…”

I nodded, “I’ll go say hi to Silena and the others and meet you for lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Katie said before hesitating. “Actually, I’ll walk you there.”

I blinked, but shrugged, “Okay.”

Suki headed back to the Demeter cabin as the two of us headed over to Aphrodite.

I waved to Hestia as we walked past, very happy for the necklace that cut off the uncomfortable sensations that had driven me nuts before.

“So, your school year is going good?” Katie asked.

“Yeah,” I tugged at my bracelet. “What about yours?”

“Yep, it’s going well. I’m almost completed with all the required classes, so I’ll get to do things more for fun starting next year.”

“That’s great,” I said with a grin. “Do you know what you’ll be taking?”

“I was thinking about some extra Gymnastics, and Hiking. Plus Psychology, that one would be helpful. And I was thinking about taking Leather Working, that seems like it might be fun.”

I nodded, “Yeah, you could make some cool stuff that way.”

“There are a lot of levels of it so I could just run through that,” she said with a laugh. “Otherwise I’ll probably see if I can start applying for the internships with the Godly programs. There’s one in New York city for a cooking school that I’m interested in, at least right now.”

“Wow really?”

“Yeah, it’s run by one of my older siblings, he helps mom out there.”

“It’s so weird to think that there are more demigods all over the world,” I murmured. “There’s not very many here.”

Katie nodded. “Yeah, but that is how we work. We’re all connected but spread out. The older ones making a life for themselves in the world and balancing between mortal and immortal. A lot of their businesses have two sides to things.”

“Wow,” that sounded so cool. “Why don’t they come here?”

“If we really needed the help we could call on people from other places, and they’d be up for helping out. But they made their own lives beyond the camp.” She smiled at me, “We’ve got a support system.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that, “That sounds nice. I wish I knew where the places were. It could’ve been helpful on my quest.”

She winced, “That’s a fair point. I think the Athena cabin has a chart of locations, I’ll ask Malcolm to share. There are also signs, I’ll see if I can’t grab you a copy of the list. Anyways, we’re here so I’m heading off!”

I waved, “Bye!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The Aphrodite cabin was just like I remembered it and I was immediately wrapped in a hug by Silena.

“Welcome back, Percy,” she said fondly. “You’re wearing the veil.”

I nodded shyly, “Yeah, thank you for it.”

“Of course,” she said. “You’re family.”

I beamed.

“You missed the harvest itself, but that can’t be helped,” said one kid said as they came over. “You look great in the veil.”

I grinned, noting that they were wearing the same one, “Thanks!”

“Anyways,” Silena said. “Lunch is soon so we’re putting together the berries from our harvest for it. Come help!”

I went with them to the kitchen, oohing at all the fruits.

“This is more than just strawberries,” I said impressed.

“Yeah,” Valentina grinned. “The strawberries are definitely our biggest thing but there is the tree grove in the forest, plus the Demeter cabin grows other plants as they feel the desire.”

I nodded, that made sense. I hadn’t been to the tree grove, but it was supposed to have a lot of fruit trees.

“We’re just cutting everything up and cleaning it all,” Lapis chirped. “We need to find the best ones for the offering.”

“Awesome, what can I do to help?”

Mitchell dragged me to the sink, “Help me wash them.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Lunch went wonderfully.

We gathered all of our offerings and placed them on the altars at the end of the mess hall.

One altar was for Demeter, to thank Her for the harvest. Katie and Suki had also added little berry cakes for Her to go with the fruits.

The other altar was for Apollo, to thank Him for His Oracle (the Oracle of Delphi) and for His prophecies. The Apollo cabin in particular made apple pie for Him.

The Apollo cabin had the biggest focus on prophecy (of course), but anyone could try to learn some of the prophecy arts if they wanted to.

Afterwards we had a delicious lunch (though I had to sit alone).

I tried to ignore the stares, not all of them were nice.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

After lunch the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins and I got together to make the honey cakes.

They required a lot of honey.

It was fun, and familiar. They were friends and family, and it showed.

Silena took over stirring when Suki got tired, and an Aphrodite kid named Halia showed me how to mix the cakes. Another named Valentina put the cupcake holders together so that we could pour in the cakes and Mitchell and Lapis took over cleaning the dishes. Katie was running around with the ingredients and making sure the recipes were right.

I was grinning when the cakes were ready and we carefully set aside the six mini cakes for Demeter and Apollo before splitting up the cupcake sized ones amongst us.

“Honey cake is really good,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve never had it before.”

“We make it for all the festivals,” Valentina said. “They’re great.”

“I’ll have to make them for Oskhophoria, that’s tomorrow…”

“Yeah,” Mitchell frowned. “A shame you can’t stay for tomorrow too.”

I nodded, “My mom wants me to be home.”

“We’ll give you some of the harvest,” Silena said. “So you can offer it to Mr. D tomorrow.”

I grinned, “Thanks! My mom already bought candles, a purple one for Lord D and ones for Apollo and Demeter too, a gold yellow and green.”

“That sounds cool,” Lapis chirped. “It’s so nice to have family that celebrates with you.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I really like it.”

I couldn’t help but wonder about Annabeth, was her family still being difficult? Would she be able to celebrate Proerosia or Oskhophoria? I hoped so.

I’d have to call her later.

The conch horn rang out, making us all falter.

“Looks like it’s time to light the candles and set out the honey cakes,” Silena said.

“You have to leave after, right?” Katie said with a pout.

“Yeah, but I’ll be back eventually!”

“Yeah, you’re not getting away from us that easily,” Suki teased.

Lapis snorted, “Drew would drag him back.”

“Rightfully so,” Katie said with a sage nod.

“Lets go guys,” Halia said with a laugh. “We need to get to the mess hall for the offerings.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mitchell said.

Silena, Katie, and I grabbed the mini cakes to bring up to the mess hall and the group of us headed out.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Placing the cakes and murmuring a prayer was quick, what was less quick was heading out of the camp.

“Heading out then, Jackson?” Ella (the replacement to Luke as the cabin head) asked.

She was standing with a kid I didn’t know, Connor, and Travis. None of them looked happy to see me.

Katie dropped a hand on my shoulder, “He has to get home.”

“How nice that he gets to go home,” Connor muttered.

Katie stiffened, “Yes well, he’s actually loyal to his family so...”

I blinked, slow understanding dawning.

“So he says,” the unknown grumbled. “Running off to his Dad and saying our brother tried to attack him.”

“Enough,” Silena said firmly. Her voice chimed in a way that was familiar. “Leave us alone.”

The Hermes kids walked away without saying anything else.

“Let’s get up to the hill,” Silena said with a frown. “So, you can get to the car.”

“They’re angry about Luke?” I asked as we walked to the hill.

“They’re bitter that he’s gone, he is- was… really loved.”

I frowned, “But he betrayed them.”

How could they want him when he betrayed them? When he was planning things that would hurt him?

I didn’t understand.

“They just… they don’t believe it,” Katie shrugged. “But we know you wouldn’t lie, and neither would the Gods.”

I blinked, “Oh… thank you.”

We didn’t talk anymore as we reached the top of the hill.

“Have a safe drive home,” Katie said, tugging me into a hug.

“Have fun in school,” Silena agreed.

“Bye guys,” I said. “You stay safe too.”

I headed down the hill, turning to wave before I got into the car.

“How was camp?” Mom asked as I buckled in.

I looked out the window up the hill and saw my friends waving.

Despite the stuff at the end…

“It was good.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Oskhophoria started bright and early with me and mom pouring out wine for Lord D.

Then we made phallus pancakes! They were really good, with chocolate chips and blue whipped cream.

Mom and I made a big honey cake and cut a slice for each of us. The rest we put on the family altar (and I put a small piece on the altar for Lord D in my room).

We had a really nice lunch too and lit candles for Lord D during it.

It was a really nice first Oskhophoria.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Drew hummed, looking over my math work.

“That’s not bad, you forgot the negative sign though.”

I groaned, “Thanks. I keep forgetting them.”

“Try circling them really big, it’s what I do.”

I nodded and made a note to do that.

“So, how’s Lacy?” I asked. They were going to the same school.

“We’ve ended up in different friend groups,” Drew said. “She’s got some rich red head in her friend group that’s rather snarky.”

“Really? She must’ve been interesting to catch your eye.”

“I mean I guess she’s kinda cool, but she’s Lacy’s friend. She's pretty passive aggressive to people she doesn’t like and it's very fun to watch.”

I grinned, “Nice.”

“They don’t know we’re related, so it’s kinda fun interacting around them.”

“You don’t really look alike, even your eyes are darker than hers.”

“Yeah,” Drew brushed her hair back. “My eyes are always dark, even with all the shifting.”

“They’re pretty,” I said.

She grinned, “Thank you. Yours are nice too, they tend to lean towards darker shades I think.”

I shrugged, “I only notice them changing when other people point them out.”

She laughed, “Yeah, I guessed. How are your friends at school? You’ve made friends right?”

“Yeah! Tyson and Zoey are my closest friends, then Nikola hangs out with us sometimes and Kai, Acantha, and Klara tend to follow us around.”

She snickered, “You have a fan club?”

I flushed, “No! They just… don’t seem to have many friends… and they’re nice and it’s fun to hang out.”

Drew hummed, “Well they have you as a friend, so that’s something.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I like this school, even if Matt is a ufanto.”

“Who’s Matt?”

“He’s some guy that thinks he’s great, keeps bothering me and my friends. Well… he hasn’t done much lately, and he seems scared of Klara…”

“Huh,” she hummed. “Wonder what happened there.”

“I dunno, he was out for a few days and came back terrified of Klara.”

She blinked, “Did Klara beat him up?”

“She couldn’t’ve,” I said. “She’s cool but she trips over her own feet ninety percent of the time.”

“Strange,” Drew mused. “Oh, that should be two x squared plus three x.”

I frowned down at the page, “I thought it was four x squared plus three x…”

“If you do four x squared then you’ll get the wrong thing for the next part,” she leaned over to write on my page. “See, like this.”

I settled into the familiar work with Drew, listening as she explained the math problem to me.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I drifted nervously in the training room waiting for the trainer to finish looking me over. I’d just finished the basic stretches and exercises ze directed me through.

“Okay, we’ll have to do some swimming drills. You did pretty good with the flexibility but the speed and direction changing could be better. Now lets see how you are with a knife.”

I was handed a practice knife, the same weight and shape of my own.

“Now attack me,” Uku said.

I flicked my tails and lunged.

Uku blocked, twisting my knife with zer own and sending it spinning through the water.

“Again,” ze said.

I pulled the knife back to me with the water and attacked again.

And again.

And again.

Uku blocked every single one easily.

“Your form is horrid, you're acting like you can only attack from in front of behind. You are in the ocean, utilize it.”

I blinked, oh right… I could go up.

I attacked again, flipping up and over zer head and jabbing at it, only for zer to block smoothly and flip, zer tails knocking me back with an oof.

“Ow,” I muttered.

“Again,” ze said.

I attacked again.

And again.

And again.

For another twenty minutes Uku had me attack, slowly adjusting my form with each attack. Finally I managed to not lose my life in the first attack, and Uku called it quits.

“That’s enough with your knife. We’ll come back to it later, for now let’s see you with your trident.”

I nodded, breathing hard. That was exhausting work.

I put the knife off to the side, and tugged on my trident charm, letting it extend into my full sized bronze trident.

“Attack me,” Uku said.

So, I did.

This time I actually managed to hold my own a little. I didn’t hit zer at all mind you, but I didn’t lose my trident nearly as fast either. I could actually attack and trade blows.

When ze beat me, Uku told me to attack again. And we continued to trade blows.

After a few rounds Uku nodded, “You’re much better at fighting with a trident. We’ll work on it more, against different weapons as well.”

I nodded.

“Now then, lets see how you do with a sword.”

I bit back a groan and accepted the blade handed to me.

Zoë’s blade wasn’t for something as basic as training. Riptide would only be used for real battles, when I needed it the most.

The sparring began anew.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

I hummed as my spies slipped out, their orders clear.

People weren’t talking about Poseidon’s failings nearly as much as I needed. Only a few truly recognized that he’d thrown a child into danger, and likely would continue to.

I would make sure they all knew about it.

Poseidon would not win, and the sea would see his failings.

I carefully didn’t think of the decision that was made, that would be dealt with later.

After the solstice.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Bonus Klara POV

I glared at the petulu that had dared to speak to the prince in such a way. He wanted a fight? I’d show him a fight.

“You sure you wanna do this?” The boy sneered. “I wouldn’t wanna punch a girl.”

I steadied myself, remembering my training for fighting on land.

“And I wouldn’t want to fight a seamu areto yet here we are,” I snapped.

He scowled, “Start speaking English, honestly what the hell is wrong with you.”

“I speak a language far more refined than your ufanto language,” I scoffed. “And it isn’t my fault you’re too seamu to understand it.”

“You bit-“

I lunged and punched him in the neck.

He choked, staggering back.

I kicked up, aiming for the land dweller male weak point, then smirked at his squeaking cry of pain.

He fell to his knees, struggling to gasp for breath.

I leaned over and grabbed his shirt to yank him up.

“Don’t ever speak to Perseus-aia like that again,” I snarled. “Because if you do…”

I drew a knife out, “You will not live to see the next tide.”

He gaped at the knife, eyes flicking between me and the knife.

“Understand?”

“Yes-“ he squeaked out. “Yes ma’am.”

I dropped him, and turned to walk away.

That ought to teach him to show some manners to Perseus-aia.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Thank you to the commenters trying to help with my Portuguese or talking about it with me, I love hearing from those who are native speakers.

I love chatting with people about the books or life or stories and stuff. I promise you're not bothering me aslkdna.

What did you think of his lessons? How about the holidays? Did you like the Great Prophecy :D?

The Sign Language that they use in the beginning is heavily based off of ASL because that's what I'm learning and what I have the most resources for. It has some differences cause it is a different language, and it has a variety of styles (like land sign languages) with ways to do it with fins, tentacles, and other body parts.

Matt really sucks btw, I'm basing his characterization off of boys I knew at school in middle school. Sorry for the slurs but kids at that age throw them around a lot and it really fit the scenario. I know multiple now that do it and I knew people doing it at that age too.

Halmaheran
Hotivim=inhaler basically
Metua=Father
vlua petulu=Dumbass land dweller (roughly)
Metuano=Father's
Manisi Pearls= Sun pearls
veruo=storm season
Mevu’ta=step mom
ufanto=bastard
petulu=land dweller
seamu areto= stupid fucker
seamu=stupid

Suffix
aia=prince

Terminology
Fun fact, twinkle twinkle little star actually has five verses, Percy reached verse two in his singing
Disgustoso, le uniforme sono cosi poci lusinghieri=Disgusting, uniforms are so unflattering
minha pérola=My pearl
asteri mou=my star
Antheresteria=a holiday honoring Dionysus, best celebrated by spending time with friends.
Dionysia=a holiday honoring Dionysus, best celebrated by spending time with friends and putting on plays.
Posidonia berries=a type of water berry
Rhodos=Goddess of the island Rhodes and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Helios
Kymopleia=Goddess of violent storms and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Briareos
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Herophile=Oracle of Apollo and daughter of Poseidon. Her name means friend of heroes.
Khrysaôr=Son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Pegasus
Proerosia=an Ancient Greek holiday dedicated to Demeter and Apollo. It honors the harvest and prophecy
Oskhophoria=an Ancient Greek holiday dedicated to Dionysus and Athena. It honors the harvest.

OC's
Zoey=Hellenistic Pagan, in Percy's Portuguese group
Nikola=Norse Pagan, in Percy's Portuguese group
Kai=one of Percy's Guards, studious
Acantha=one of Percy's guards
Klara=one of Percy's guards, likes weapons
Giovanni=Aphrodite kid, Italian, supre fucking extra
Suki=has RA, Demeter child
Lapis=Aphrodite child, good at hair, doesn't like to fight
Ella=current head of the Hermes cabin
Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 11: What's in a Name?

Summary:

You may have noticed the story name changed, I also changed book one's name. I just wasn't vibing with the previous one, but it's still got it noted in the summary.

Notes:

Hmm, I think... I think I'll be moving to every other week for a bit. Physics is a pain in the ass and takes up a lot of time so I'm struggling to keep to my weekly schedule (as you may have noticed).

Anyways, this is the last chapter before the solstice! The custody battle will be ending next chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I drifted, flitting from dream to dream through the nights.

Rarely was it something I knew or could remember.

Fragments of shadows and sky, conflict rising, a figure holding up something great and powerful, gold eyes, bird cries, the land asleep.

One night I dreamed of a woman cradling a child who had eyes like hot coals, hair like obsidian, golden-tan skin.

The woman reminded me strikingly of Zeus for some reason.

She smiled at the child and smiled again when the gold-eyed Titan (Kronos-tito, my grandfather) leaned over, smiling down at the child.

Was that Hestia? She looked similar even now.

I blinked, and another night saw a figure of dripping shadows, winged darkness tucked close with shining light and rising sun drifting near.

Words that I didn’t understand, spoken in tongues older than the sun, and dripping shadows curled around the light.

It didn’t snuff them out, simply cradled.

Another night I stared as oceans raged and lashed out and crashed and I was swept away by the currents.

A presence so old and deep and aching.

Subtle creeping drifted through it, something older, quieter, ancient and deep and powerful and angry .

I gasped awake and feared the comfortable currents that had always guarded me.

The dreams kept on, curling through my mind as I slept.

I stood in a group of beings, old, powerful, glowing, immense in all ways.

My necklace guarded me in part, but it was barely a blanket in a snowstorm. The thinnest of barriers.

Gold eyes looked out, landing on me as if He could see through the thousands of years that separated us.

The child was cradled in the woman’s arms, small and delicate and treasured.

Dripping shadows leaned to shifting sands and brilliant light greeted the child, Hestia, warmth and home and light.

I was dazed and awed and surrounded by power .

I looked back to gold-eyes, Kronos, shifting sands and blinked as the shifting shifted.

Brilliant light stood by Him, speaking as His sands shifted more and more.

His gaze tightened, His eyes drifting away, landing on the child and He tensed.

The sky crashed, light flashed, the child was introduced, and He acknowledged Her.

Hestia, named on the seventh day of Her birth.

Hestia, smiling up at Her father who had smiled down at Her moments before.

Hestia, whose light was devoured by the shifting sands that shifted wrong.

I stared as the shifting sands shifted wrong and Tethys reached for Him.

Help Him.

He left Them.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I carefully set up the Bunsen burner and the beaker before I sat back and watched Tyson who was placing the other ingredients together.

I made notes on what we were doing as Tyson added the liquids.

“Did you guys at 2ml or 2.5ml?” Klara whispered from behind us.

“Uh, of the red one?” I asked.

Tyson squinted at the label on the bottle, too complicated.

“Yeah.”

“2.5ml,” I said. “And then 5 ml of the blue one.”

“How’d you get that measurement?” She wondered while studying the instructions.

“We used the equation on the board,” I said. “To get the minimum that we needed. You add the-”

“Oooh, so you had to add that… oops… I subtracted.”

I laughed, “Good thing you caught it-“

A boom made me jump out of my seat, and I spun around to find the Beaker shattered and… the bench was on fire.

“Avero!” I cursed, reaching for my shimmery white water bottle from the Lotus Hotel.

 A light twist of my fingers and the water covered the fire.

And didn’t help at all.

Areo, it was an oil fire.

“Stay calm!” The teacher called rushing over. “No need to panic!”

She dropped the fire blanket on top of the fire and ushered us back.

“What did you do?” She asked with a frown.

“Er… followed the instructions?” I offered.

She stared, glancing back at the remains of the beaker.

“Riigghhhtt…”

“Wow,” Klara said. “Maybe I should double check your math.”

I flushed as she giggled.

Matt sat dead quiet next to her (he’d been strangely quiet for the last few weeks).

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sat with Kymopoleia on the little island in the middle of the ocean. I didn’t know where exactly we were but it was nice.

Kymopoleia has taken to bringing me here to practice with the storm guide to try and twist the winds.

I hadn’t had much luck yet. It’d been months since she started teaching me and I still wasn’t twisting the winds right for the storm.

“Are you sure that this is something I can do?” I asked with a frown.

She took a bite of her banana, “Well sure it is. Or weren’t you the one insisting you wanted to learn all the sea magics? And anyways, this is the hardest step, even I took a bit to get it down. The average is about two months to begin to see progress, but it’s not unusual for it to take longer.”

I chewed my lip, it had been about two months… so maybe I wasn’t doing that bad?

I took a deep breath and focused on the top again. It had only done four turns at most so far, only barely starting a curl of wind.

I could do this.

I spun the top and pushed my power into the top, then scowled when it only did three turns.

“Why can’t I get it to work? I’m putting my power in it like you said, and spinning it, so why-“

She hummed, leaning over, “Everyone has a different way of doing it, how you guide your power-“

I blinked slowly, guide… storm guide…

“Wait-“

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“It’s more than just putting your power into the top?”

She blinked, once, twice, and she laughed.

“Oh, oh Pontus, that’s the problem! I should’ve guessed, I suppose I wasn’t very descriptive. Yeah, Perseus, you gotta guide the power to make the top spin. Everyone does it differently, but just shoving raw power in isn’t enough.”

Oh.

Oops.

I stared at the top in my hand with a frown.

“The biggest problem with this part is finding the way of guiding the storm that works for you,” Kymopoleia said. “It takes work to find out how to guide your power.”

I nodded distractedly while thinking hard. I tried to ignore the twist in my stomach.

I’d been so dumb for two months, wasted her time and looked like an idiot.

I needed to focus on this.

Controlling a storm required wind and water, but lightning was more fire and air and friction…

So, air, water, and fire were needed for a storm.

I needed to control multiple things simultaneously, like when I guided my ice attacks.

I chewed my lip, it didn’t just need to spin, it needed to gather, and mix, and build up.

I slowly fed my power into the top and focused on spinning, building up, pulling in.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the image of Kymopoleia’s storm, that she’d shown me. And then I spun the top.

I opened my eyes, and gasped in delight as it spun, once, twice, three, four- eight! Eight times! But then it flopped once more, the small amount of wind and water dissipating.

“Yeah, now you’re on the right track!” Kymopoleia cheered. “You have to make the wind and water mix though, not just both be pulled in.”

I beamed, “I think I get it now, I just gotta figure out how to do it…”

She grinned, “You’ll get it, just keep working at it.”

I nodded, focusing back on the storm guide and carefully feeding my power into it, imagining it more like… threading out. Focusing it in a way that spreads and latches and whips it up while spinning. Like octopus legs!

I bit my lip as I focused on the image and rocked back on my heels. Then I spun the top.

I watched as it spun, silently counting the spins and barely daring to twitch as the top spun and spun and spun, 9 spins, 9 spins and wind and water blended into a mist.

It all dissipated as the top stopped though.

“Oh, whatever you did there is an excellent start,” Kymopoleia said cheerfully. “You just gotta get better at that method I think.”

I nodded, intently studying the top. Why did it stop spinning?

I needed to figure out what was wrong to fix it.

“I’ll figure it out,” I mumbled. “Not gonna waste another two months.”

“You didn’t waste two months,” Kymopoleia chided. “You might not have figured out the way to guide your power, but you did learn how to keep a steady flow and continuously feed your power into the storm guide.”

I peered up at her curiously, I guess I did learn that…

“It’s definitely connected to you now, which means it’ll work easier for you as time goes on.”

I nodded slowly. I was definitely having an easier time feeding my power into it as time went on.

“Learning to make a steady flow and to keep going when low on energy takes a while usually,” she grinned. “All of that is something that most figure out while figuring out the way to guide their power… you just split it into two steps is all.”

“Oh… that makes sense I guess…”

“I’d give you a few weeks to figure this part out now, since you have the other parts down pretty well.”

I straightened, a few weeks. I could do that.

I would do that.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I swept the water in an arc, letting it flow over me and over the land before wringing all the pollution out of it.

I was getting better at this, bigger movements and fine control.

The water splashed back into the river and I paused to study what all had fallen out (now completely dry because I didn’t want gross wet stuff). It was a large pile, I’d been working for a few hours to empty stuff from the river.

There were a few dollars there that I pocketed and ooh a watch.

It looked nice, did it work?

I poked it and decided it might work, at the least it looked high quality so maybe I could sell it.

Or maybe use it as a gift for one of my camp friends.

I grinned, it was so nice having camp friends, but now I had to keep up with birthdays.

They all got me nice stuff for mine, so I asked Drew to remind me of theirs. I now had the dates all marked on my calendar, and circled, with reminders for a week before.

There were a lot of birthdays in December for some reason, at least amongst the Aphrodite kids.

I decided to ask Drew if any of them would like a new watch, I only really knew a few of them well enough to guess.

I hummed and dug through the stuff some more, finding two wallets with almost six hundred dollars between them.

That was a lot of money!

There were also a few bracelets, the metal was all corroded though so I couldn’t tell whether they were worth anything. I’d have to clean them.

A few sparkling stones caught my eye and I ended up collecting assorted rings too.

I added my spoils to my backpack and then sighed.

The hardest part was and always would be moving the trash someplace to dispose of it. Otherwise it would just sit on the banks and no one would move it and it would smell awful (not that the river didn’t already).

I raised the water once more to gather all the trash up. I froze the water around it, my eyes narrowed as I used my hands to guide it to slide up the hill and out from under the cover of the underpass.

I dropped it casually in the same spot as usual, right by those big trash things that the big companies use.

Okay, that should be enough cleaning for the day.

I blinked when I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye, growth and warmth brushing plants, the first sensation I’d gotten out of camp or the sea since I’d received the necklace.

The woman, with dark brown skin and kinky black hair that was piled up into a puff, wore a deep green dress.

Her eyes were focused on me, dark and intense, before she was gone in a shimmer.

I blinked, who-

That had to have been an immortal…

Her presence… It reminded me of the Demeter cabin.

Was that-

But what did I do to grab Her attention?

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Euphemia waited patiently as I finished scribbling down the notes on the different lunar dates of importance.

The full moon, with the celebrations I’d already done before, the blue moons, a much bigger celebration, and then the new moon, which was not a good date to do stuff.

“Now then, let's move on to the major holidays of the sea. All the different kingdoms have local holidays, but we’ll only be focusing on the ocean wide holidays. First, Moon Fall.”

“Moon Fall?” I wondered.

She nodded, “Moon Fall is immediately between the winter solstice, and the spring equinox. It is about honoring the long nights of the moon that passed and mourning the short passes of the moon to come.”

“That’s interesting,” I mused. “On land they would celebrate the longer days.”

“The moon is far more important than the sun,” Euphemia said firmly. “But the land will speak of the sun all tide long. We honor the moon, for it is the guide of the sea, the sun simply warms the ocean waters.”

I nodded, I understood that. For the ocean, the moon was vital. The sun was just extra, and a risk as it could dry mers out if they were on the surface too long.

“For Moon Fall we set out the ponisi pearls and the silver moon mirrors, and we lay out offerings for the moon during the time that the nights are short and the moon is less visible. This is also a time when many honor spirits, for the brighter days mean that the spirits are easier to limit.”

I scribbled notes down. That was interesting, I wondered if there were other things to do with spirits.

“Next up is of course the spring equinox, when the moon and the sun are equal. This isn’t of much importance in the sea beyond it being a time when the divine and the mortal are able to interact the easiest, but we still honor it by aiding coral growth and taking care of the plants and animals. There is usually a private family meal as well.”

I hummed, that made sense. Meals were a big part of holidays in the ocean, almost all of the holidays I knew of had them. It was the same for holidays on land in a way.

“Next is Tempest Eve, when we begin to prepare for the storm season to come. Those in the shallower waters usually migrate to avoid any dangers, and many prepare foods in case the storms are extra rough. It is a time of preparation, and those that aid in making and soothing storms are working extra hard to prepare.”

“So mers in the sea help make the storms?”

She nodded, “On occasion. Either to punish land-dwellers causing trouble in the sea, or to aid in the passage of animals. Sometimes even to keep massive storms from forming later, by interrupting the sequences needed for them to form.”

“And then the ones who sooth the storms are lessening their effect?”

She smiled, “Indeed. If there are wars occurring in this time, though it has been many years since the last one, then the storm season would be the opening of the most devastating warfare.”

I nodded, shifting at that. Storms could cause a lot of problems if unexpected, but those in the sea were usually good at predicting them. At the least there were specialists who could sense the storms. Kymopoleia was telling me about it.

“Now then, next up is the summer solstice.”

“We do sun catchers and sundials at camp, along with flower gathering and stuff.”

She nodded, “That is the tradition on land. In the sea we set out monisi pearls, and likewise set out sun catchers. Many use sea glass or assorted jewels or metals to make them. We also tend to have a meal. It isn’t a major holiday, beyond the same divine and mortal balance and the meeting the Olympians have, but it is also treasured as the days begin to shorten and the moon gets more visibility once more.”

I scribbled down those notes, doodling a little sun as she waited for me to finish. So there was the moon, the spring, the storms, then the summer. If the moon was when the moon was being less visible... then now the moon would be more visible so...

“Then what? Another one to do with the moon?”

Euphemia smiled, “It is indeed another one to do with the moon. Moon Rise, is a day honoring the lengthening of the night and thus the extended time that the moon is visible to shine on ocean waters.  We have feasts and celebrate. Small gifts are commonly exchanged, and it is viewed as a time of strength and growth.”

That was cool, I wish I got to celebrate Moon Rise with them.

"When is Moon Rise?"

"It is in Kalmav," she said. "You arrived in the sea from your camp in Mairomav, the next month."

I nodded as she continued.

“Next up is the Fall Equinox, which you celebrated with us already so I won’t go into detail there. You know of the harvest and hunt, and the feast we have.”

“Yeah, it was really nice.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” she murmured. “After that, between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, is the Day of Passing. It is a day to be on guard, and a day of remembrance. The barriers between the living and the dead are weaker on this day, especially in the sea. It is a delicate balance between balance and the darkest night.”

“I know the land-dwellers have a similar holiday,” I said hesitantly. “I didn’t realize that was in the sea too.”

She nodded, “Yes, it is an important day. I call it a holiday, but it is more a time of vigil. Especially in the deep sea, where there are, on occasion, cracks that open to the darkest parts of the underworld, Tapohu grows strong on this day. Those of the deep guard the rest of the ocean from those that would seek to slip through those cracks.”

I swallowed. Tapohu, the deep pit of the Undersea that went straight to the deepest most dangerous parts of the underworld, “Oh.”

“But despite this threat,” she continued. “It is also a day of remembrance. Many do family meals, and set aside a portion for any that have passed that drift on that day.”

“Do they try to speak to them?”

“Not on that day,” she said firmly. “You do not contact them then. You should only contact the dead if you must, or on days to celebrate with them. The dead will seek access to the world, but to greet them on the night when they have the most freedom… it is to open yourself to them and put you at risk of losing yourself.”

I nodded quickly, “So don’t contact the dead. Got it.”

“They can be contacted,” she corrected. “But it must be done carefully, and with planning. On the Day of Passing we guard our homes from them. Many kingdoms also have a day of honoring the dead and welcoming them to the world of the living, with limits of course.”

I nodded, scribbling that down.

“Now then, there are only two more holidays left. The Winter Solstice, which is a time to eat with your family and celebrate the long night where the moon shines bright. It is for peace and comfort.”

“On land we do Heliogenna as well, or at least that’s what I learned at camp. It's a newer holiday apparently but the Khiron thinks it's best to adapt with the times and Lord D seems to like it."

"The Greeks have always shifted with the time periods, making new rituals and holidays isn't at all unusual. As long as the Gods are satisfied all is well."

I nodded, "For  the solstice itself though... I’ve just been giving Triton gifts… was that bad?”

“Not at all,” she assured. “Many families have their own traditions, and giving gifts isn’t an uncommon one. It is the darkest night of the year, and thus celebrated by the sea.”

I relaxed, “Oh, that’s good. And I guess that makes sense.”

She smiled before continuing to the last holiday, “Finally, there is the End of the Year. This celebration is three days long, the last three days of the year. It’s time off from work for everyone, well, except the rulers. We clean everything during this time.”

“Like spring cleaning on land?”

“I suppose,” she agreed. “Cleaning, removing old things that will no longer be used, making donations, and reorganizing gardens is common at this time. Many grow more coral or add to their gardens. Quite a few travel to family.”

I scribbled notes down, “That all makes sense.”

“Additionally, these are the days that all are equal. From the highest king to the lowest shellfish. You grant aid to all that need it, and to be cruel or unreasonable during the days of the End of Year is looked down on. These days are for peace, to the point that feuds are set aside, and temporary peace will show even in the harshest of wars.”

“Wait, the wars have a cease fire?”

Her lips twitched, “They do indeed. Many of the largest treaties were arranged during the End of Year. This time is for peace amongst all. To break that peace is a large taboo that thus far few have dared.”

I nodded solemnly, “That’s really cool. I wish we had that on land.”

“Land-dwellers work differently,” Euphemia said drily. “We cannot hope to understand them.”

“So then what about the specific kingdom holidays?” I asked, flipping pages.

“We will start with the Atlantean holidays,” she declared.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I gasped for breath as the obnoxious beep went off again.

I hated the pacer test. So much.

I stumbled to a stop on the other side of the line, struggling to breathe.

Zoey was bent over beside me, struggling to draw air, and Acantha and Kai were already out. Klara was in by sheer force of will.

Nikola was doing really well though, calm deep breaths and standing straight.

It was unfair.

Beep

I groaned and took off once more, I would do at least sixty before giving in.

Tyson ran alongside me, not even looking winded.

That was Kyklopes genetics for you, amazing.

At least nowadays I wasn’t tripping every five seconds, I’d only stumbled a few times during the test.

It was a huge improvement on the beginning of the year (though every time I returned from the sea I was clumsy for a few days).

I paused for breath once more, sharing a miserable look with Zoey. We were on number forty-eight.

Ugh.

Beep

I started running again.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The full moon ceremony this time was much like the last time, though this time Triton had other responsibilities, so Herophile came with Fetu, Lagi, and I.

It was a lot of fun, we played word games and tried to sing the waves into shapes (or well, Fetu did, I just gave shape suggestions and hummed along).

Lagi quizzed me on anatomy and I failed horribly because I still had not read the books. I told him I was reading the land ones first, but I’d switch to the sea ones since that was where I’d be learning.

I had not read any land ones either.

There was a decent group of mer at the spot we’d gotten to this time, so there was a lot of trading our ponofa. I even got to meet some new mers who were happy to talk about Thermomancy.

All in all, it was a fun time, even if Triton wasn’t there.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I finally got around to reading the healing books and Pontus were they dry.

They had a lot of charts though, so at least there was that.

I learned a lot about the bones in the mer body, and how they were built. They weren’t made of calcium apparently, unlike the human body.

And there are a lot of different kind of mer, some had different bone structures and their bones could be made differently. You had to be able to identify that information for intense treatment.

I frowned, mer bones were interesting, able to handle a lot more pressure than human bones. And mer muscles and lungs could handle larger rapid changes in pressure too.

Some didn’t do well in deep water regardless, and some didn’t do well in shallow water. Some did badly in light, some in dark. Some did well with rapid changes in pressure, to the point they could dive to the bottom of the ocean and come back up, and some couldn’t even handle a hundred feet of sudden change.

It was all very interesting, I couldn’t help but wonder where exactly I fell on that scale.

I didn’t seem to have trouble with rapid changes in pressure…

Oh well, I’ll ask Lagi some time.

Back to studying, ugh.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Herophile studied the stuffed octopus on my bed (Lyta was adoring it and thought it was made in her likeness).

“What is that?” Herophile asked curiously.

I blinked, “An octopus?”

“No no, the- four letters, plushy-“

I thought for a second, “Soft?”

“Yes! Anyways, the soft thing… it looks kinda like an octopus? I guess? But what is it?”

“Oh, it’s a stuffed animal.”

She blinked at me, “You… stuff animals?”

“They’re made out of cloth, and filled with cotton, they’re soft. I got it from the aquarium when Zoey, Tyson, Nikola, and me went last weekend. It was for Nikola’s birthday.”

She nodded slowly, “Huh, I’ve never seen that before.”

I watched her nudge the soft stuffed animal, a look of delighted curiosity on her face.

“One sec,” I said as I hurried out of the room to dig through the hall closet.

I didn’t have many stuffed animals as a kid, Gabe said they were childish and tended to get rid of them, but I did have one big lion plushy I’d gotten at a fair mom took me to. I yanked it out of the back of the closet and grinned.

“Herophile,” I called coming back into my room. “Here you go.”

Her eyes widened as she took the stuffed lion, “For me?”

I nodded, “It’s a stuffed lion. I won it at the fair a few years ago.”

I jolted when she wrapped her arms around me, and then relaxed.

“I love it!” she said, pulling back with a beaming smile. “Thank you, Perseus.”

I grinned, “You’re welcome.”

“Why don’t you have more of these?” She asked as she hugged the lion.

“They can be expensive,” I said, shuffling. “And my old stepdad… well he didn’t like them.”

“I see,” she said with a frown before she smiled at me brilliantly. “Well I like them.”

I brightened, “I’m glad!”

“It’s a shame we don’t have something like this in the ocean… I should- three letters for make better-”

“Fix?”

“yeah, fix that… stuffed animals…”

She stared at the stuffed lion in her arms, a gleam in her eyes.

“Well, anyways, can you teach me to make those blue- blue- um… treat, seven letters-”

I paused to mentally count the letters, “The blue cookies I brought?”

“Yeah! The blue cookies.”

I blinked, “You wanna learn how to make cookies?”

She nodded, “We don’t make cookies in the ocean, but those were really good. I’d like to learn.”

“I don’t mind teaching you,” I said, bouncing on my toes. “They’re really fun to make! Mom taught me.”

“Wonderful!” Herophile said cheerfully. “Let’s bake cookies!”

I let her tug me to the kitchen with a smile.

Spending time with my immortal family was really nice. Kymopoleia was a lot of fun and taught me loads about storms. Triton was of course the best big brother ever. And Herophile was just super sweet and really nice to be around.

“You need to grab the flour,” I said. “It’s in the pantry there.”

Herophile darted over, staring into the pantry.

I pulled out milk and eggs then grabbed the food dye and chocolate chips from the cabinet.

Grabbing the last few ingredients I turned around and blinked at Herophile still staring into the pantry.

“Did you find the flour?”

“I do not see any flowers,” Herophile said primely.

I snickered, “Not flowers, flour, here.”

I moved over to pull out the large tupperware container of flour, they were easier to use than bags so mom always dumped the flour in them.

“That’s weird.”

“Land-dwellers are weird in general,” I said with a laugh. “But flour is important for a lot of foods.”

“So what do we do next?”

I pulled out the bowls and spoons and whisk.

“We mix the ingredients!”

What followed next was a fabulous sequence of disasters, from the flour spilling everywhere to all the chocolate chips being dumped in the batter to accidentally making three times the amount we intended.

By the end we had flour everywhere, water all over the counter, and chocolate chips in our hair.

The cookies turned out fabulous though, even if they had far too many chocolate chips in them.

“We should make cookies again!” Herophile cheered as she ate three of them.

I snorted as I bit into a cookie but couldn’t keep the smile from stretching across my lips, “Yeah, this was fun. We should do it again some time.”

She beamed, “Can I take some cookies to the ocean to share?”

“Yeah, take like… most of them.”

I gathered up a bunch of the cookies, “We made a few extra.”

She snapped her fingers and the cookies vanished.

“I should get going, but today was a lot of fun, Perseus. I’ll visit again!”

She hugged me, then scooped up her new stuffed lion and disappeared in a swirl of sunlight and sea-mist.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I grinned as I admired Zoey’s costume, “You look like an amazing, the best Katara I’ve seen.”

Zoey posed, dressed up in Katara’s dress with little blue streamers on her hands.

“Thank you, and I must say you’re a stunning boy-Katara.”

I grinned, “Why thank you.”

Katara was the best character after all. I saw this really cool art of her as a guy, so now I was boy-Katara. The art called it genderbending.

“Percy!” Tyson called.

He was dressed up as a ghost, with a bloody sheet covering him.

…

I hoped that was fake blood.

“You both look very water-tribey,” drawled the familiar voice of Nikola.

I turned around and laughed at the sight of him.

“That’s an amazing Triton costume,” Zoey snickered.

“Thank you,” Nikola said. “Just a shame I can’t actually control water, and there’s no Ursula for me to fight.”

I had to stifle a laugh at his costume, it looked very much like the Triton from the Little Mermaid movie.

“I think it’s amazing,” I said cheerfully.

“Are you supposed to be a merman?” Acantha wondered as she came over.

“I’m Triton.”

Acantha stared blankly.

She was dressed up like a witch, one of the classic store-bought witch costumes.

Kai walked over, dressed like a zombie, “Did you say Triton?”

“The King of the Sea,” Nikola said straight faced.

Kai stared blankly.

Zoey and I giggled off to the side as Klara joined the group.

“Nice merman costume,” she said cheerfully, looking like a very impressive sea dragon.

“Thanks, I’m Triton.”

She stared blankly.

Zoey started cackling, leaning against me.

“Have you- have you- you never seen the- the Little Mermaid?” she managed to get out between giggles.

“The what?” Klara asked.

“We need a movie night,” Nikola said with a shake of his head. “This is a travesty.”

“The worst,” I agreed. “Next thing you’re gonna say you haven’t seen Avatar.”

All three stared at me.

“Oh my Pontus, you haven’t seen Avatar.”

“Er…” Klara hesitated.

“We must fix that.”

The bell rang, making all of us jump.

“Ah, after class,” Zoey giggled. “We’ll have a movie night later.”

“Definitely,” I agreed, walking with Tyson and Klara to Science.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Kai POV

I sighed as I watched Klara turn the harpies to dust.

There hadn’t been many monster attacks, below average by my estimate, but that was likely influenced by both our presence and also the Kyklopes’.

I hummed, making a note about the threat level of the harpies, not high, and a reminder to add it to our next report to Triton.

“Kai, did you finish our homework?” Klara called as she finished off the last harpy.

“Almost,” I said distractedly. “The science is, as usual, strange.”

She dropped next to me, her sword shrinking into a coral hair pin that she tucked into her hair as she watched Acantha check for spoils. Feathers were always useful for spells, and harpy feathers could help with enchanting winds.

“Land-dwellers have the weirdest science,” she grumbled. “They don’t even have magic.”

I snapped my notebook shut, sliding it away.

“Actually, I’ve done some research and found some magical communities. They call it witchcraft on land and there are a lot of different branches.”

She blinked, “Oh, really?”

“Most mortals don’t believe in it,” I said with a shrug. “But it seems fairly accurate. The mortals usually use it in conjuncture with acting on their own, more using it to improve their luck, or protect themselves, or other similar magics. Nothing flashy.”

“Huh, nice,” she mused.

“They have still continued divination though,” I said. “They use things called tarot cards for the most part. Rune stones, usually Norse, fire scrying, and other methods are also used, with Rune stones and tarot being the next most common.”

She nodded, looking thoughtful.

“Well that’s better than I thought.”

Acantha joined us, “I found a good number of feathers and some claws! Harpy claws usually have lots of disease, right?”

I nodded, “Very unsanitary in general.”

“Awesome! I’ll sell them when we get back to the ocean.”

“Normal split?” Klara asked.

“Yep!” Acantha said.

“Well, we’ve done good today. One more threat removed from Perseus-aia.”

I nodded, smiling faintly.

We got very lucky being assigned such a high ranking mission. I was glad that we can protect the young prince. Triton-re’aia would hopefully be pleased.

After all, there was very little that Klara couldn’t handle, and Klara and Acantha together were all but unstoppable.

Nothing would go wrong with us here to guard the prince.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of his lessons? Did his dreams mean anything to you? Did you enjoy the view from Kai?

Halmaheran Words
Avero=shi
Areo=fuck
Monisi (pearls)=Sun pearls
Kalmav=one of the undersea months- going from 22 of July to the 20 of August
Mairomav=one of the undersea months- going from the 20 of August to the 18 of September
Tapohu=Deep Dark Pit-Tartarus
Ponofa=cakes for full moons

Suffixes
tito=grandfather
aia=prince
re'aia=high prince

Terminology
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron
Heliogenna=a more modern festival used a placeholder for an unknown festival that the Ancient Greeks would've celebrated at that time but records of it were lost. It has a focus on Helios and the chthonic Gods
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Pacer Test=trauma from school days
Gender-bending=Percy is finding out about fandom
Tarot cards=a fairly modern day method of divination used mainly for larger events and overall views
Rune stones=norse runes put on stones used for more direct and specific divination
Fire scrying=a form of divination requiring fire

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 12: Who's the Father?

Summary:

The long awaited end to the custody battle!

Notes:

Hope you enjoy it <3

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

The water was a rich blue and the ponisi lit it up with a faint glow. Fish were swimming by as Amphitrite and Triton swam into the throne room.

I followed Them. They didn’t seem to notice me which was odd as in the other dreams I’d had the immortals could see me.

I blinked at the loud arguing happening in the room they were entering.

What?

“He’s my son!”

“Clearly you don’t care for him nearly enough if you couldn’t keep an eye on him.”

“I keep a close eye on him-“

“Then why was he in my kingdom?

“I don’t know. We only-“

“It clearly means that I should be the one caring for him-“

“No you shouldn’t! He’s my son.”

I swam in and saw Okeanus and Poseidon fighting.

“Not for long,” Okeanus said with a smirk.

Poseidon glared at Okeanus. “This is not up for debate. Triton is my son.”

I shook my head as the dream faded away.

I’d heard of the custody battle that Okeanus and Poseidon had over Triton, I hadn’t realized they’d fought so much over it.

Of course, there were like a dozen attempts by Okeanus to get custody of Triton…

I shrugged, I was just glad that wasn’t happening to me.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Reading the book on the human body was so boring. How was it important to know where every bone was, what their names were, and what muscles and nerves connected to them?

And why did I need to know where all the veins started and ended? Plus, how the blood pumped and why. And of course, all the internal organs purpose and placement and name.

It was horribly boring, I was only ever able to get through a little at a time.

Annabeth was some help when we IMed. She had some study strategies that she used but it always made it easier for me to work when I could talk with someone else. And since she was always stern about getting the work done it meant we didn’t get so distracted.

But when I had to work on my own…

Well, I found medical stuff boring to learn about.

Why couldn’t I just wave my hands over the body like Katara did?

I turned back to one of the books on curse removal theory instead. That was an interesting read, and useful.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Tyson was taking careful notes while me and another girl from our Math class worked on gathering the questions for the poll.

We had to practice graphing analysis. So, we’d be making polls then putting the info into graphs then analyzing them. Our teacher set us up in groups to make it easier to gather all the info.

Tyson was the one noting down what we said, and our other group member was making the graphs. I was in charge of getting the questions and passing the info to Tyson, then passing his charts to our other group member.

I didn’t know her name and it was a bit late to ask.

It was a lot of tedious work, but it was nice to work with Tyson since we weren’t normally paired up in this class.

“What’s the info for uh… question four?”

I took the sheet from Tyson and read off the numbers slowly.

“Wait, forty-two? The numbers are supposed to be out of twenty-four?”

I blinked, reread that, and flushed.

“Er… yeah, it was twenty-four. Sorry, mixed them up.”

She sighed, “Double check everything to make sure you didn’t mix any others up.”

I did so.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

My tail flicked in excitement and I paused to drift back down.

Masina was taking me current surfing!

Kymopoleia told us to try sneaking out too, to get some stealth training in too before the current surfing.

It was fun! We got out of the castle and met up with a few of Masina's camp friends then went to a current to surf.

I had my current board she got me for my birthday and they were now teaching me how to ride it.

It was kinda like the… the… the mini boards on land. Buggy boards! It was like how you got on your stomach and rode the waves to shore on those. You did that with the current boards in the sea, and then used your tails to guide it.

Masina demonstrated a few times, only falling off once. It was really cool!

We were at a gentle current for my first time, just to be safe.

“Okay, so when you ride the current… well I’m not actually sure with two tails but with one tail you have to flick it like when you’re drifting.”

“Triton taught me how to with two tails,” I assured them.

“Right, so you do that. Except you can’t bend your body to control the flow too, only your tails. That’s the tricky part. You need to stay on one current or the board will catch it and you’ll go wild.”

I nodded solemnly, my gaze drifting to one of their friends who’d already dived into the current.

It looked so fun.

“Now then!” Masina chirped. “Let’s get started!”

They showed me how to hold the board and then motioned for me to dive in.

I took a deep breath and dove.

Then promptly tumbled fin over head and Masina had to spin the currents to catch me and pull me out.

“Oops?” I offered between giggles.

They laughed, “That was a disaster!”

“Can I try again?”

They grinned and motioned again to the current in front of us.

A dozen attempts later that all ended in me tumbling over finally resulted in one where I managed to balance for a minute.

I grinned as the current pulled me along, then moved my tail wrong and tumbled off again.

“Hey that one was better!”

I nodded as I pulled up. “Yeah! I actually balanced for a bit.”

“Okay, so do what you did in the beginning and at the start just hold steady with your tails. It’s hard cause moving them is way more natural-“

“Yeah cause balance in the water.”

“Exactly. But when current surfing you gotta ride the current, so you can’t move the tail too much. It’s like those moaneliv, with their… uh… what’s the word… ert mosai… opu sairali sa’maiv…”

“A wheel?”

“No… it’s the thing the wheel moves.”

I considered, “A rudder?”

“I think so? So anyways, your tail works like the ‘rutter’ on moaneliv.”

I nodded, “That makes sense. So I need to keep my tails stiffer?”

“Yep!”

I turned back to the current to try again.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Where have you been?” Triton cried in a panic as he swept over to me. “I’ve been searching all over.”

I blinked, “Um, I was with Masina-“

“Masina? Why were you with them? Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going-“

“Triton, Triton, Triton,” Khrysaôr said as he draped an arm over Triton’s shoulders. “Let the kid live.”

Triton’s eye twitched.

“Yeah,” Kymopoleia said. “I knew where he was-“

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Triton snapped as he spun on her. “I’ve been searching for the last hour.”

“I thought it was funny,” Khrysaôr chirped.

“Yeah,” Kymopoleia said. “Also, you need to relax with Perseus. He’s a kid yeah, but he was well protected and Benthesikyme agreed to watch him while he was there.”

“I didn’t know she was there,” I mumbled.

Kymopoleia winked at me, “Yeah, we just wanted you to have fun. She stayed out of the way.”

Triton took a slow breath and let it out.

“I appreciate your concern but Persi is my brother-“

“He’s our brother too,” Khrysaôr cooed. “We just want to look out for him.”

“You-“

“Okay,” Rhodos interrupted. “I understand that you were worried, Triton, and I would’ve appreciated being informed of Perseus’ location as well-“

“But you would’ve told Triton,” Kymopoleia pointed out.

Rhodos leveled a look at her.

“Yes, I would’ve. No matter your reason you unnecessarily made Triton panic and I’m certain that you didn’t tell Perseus that you were going to do that.”

They all looked at me and I flicked my tails nervously.

“Um… no…”

Benthesikyme swept in just then.

“Benny,” Rhodos said smoothly. “Did you know Khrysaôr and Kym weren’t planning on telling Triton where Perseus was?”

She blinked, “I was not aware. I just assumed they’d inform him- I see where I went wrong.”

Kymopoleia looked a bit sheepish at that point, but Khrysaôr was still smiling.

Rhodos turned to them.

“Triton has understandable reasons to be worried for Perseus, not even getting into history. While he is perfectly safe, it does not mean we shouldn’t exercise caution and be careful. He is a child and the sea can be dangerous.”

Kymopoleia flicked her tails with a mulish expression.

“If I’d known that you were doing it to mess with Triton then I wouldn’t have agreed to watch Perseus,” Benthesikyme chided. “You shouldn’t torment him like that, especially not by using Perseus.”

I shifted awkwardly. It felt like there was something bigger going on that no one had informed me of.

Khrysaôr waved his hand, “We’re just trying to help Triton relax. We wouldn’t want the second prince to drive him to early gray hair.”

“What are you even going on about?” Triton hissed.

Benthesikyme very slowly pulled me back.

“Nothing,” Khrysaôr insisted. “I’m just trying to look out for your health.”

Triton bristled, “You said-“

“Enough!” Rhodos snapped. “Khrysaôr stop trying to push Triton’s buttons. Triton calm down and stop letting him get to you. You’re all upsetting Perseus.”

Triton’s tail flicked harshly.

“Right,” he turned away. “Come along, Persi. You can tell me what you did while you were out.”

I let Triton guide me away, sending a worried look over my shoulder to see Rhodos rounding on Khrysaôr.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Okay,” Klara said as she sat next to us at the mall. “Does anyone want to tell me what’s up with the creepy old guys in suits that are asking for our money?”

I blinked, looking over at Salvation Army Santa asking for donations.

“Oh, they’re dressed up like Santa.”

“Why?” Kai asked, his notebook out once more. “And who’s Santa?”

“You don’t know Santa-“ Zoey shook her head. “Remind us to get you guys some culture. Santa is… he gives presents on Christmas. I think he was a Saint once? Or based off one.”

“They’re asking for donations,” Nikola said with a shrug. “For Salvation Army.”

“What’s Salvation Army?” Kai asked. “And what’s Christmas?”

“Christmas is that holiday for Christians,” Klara interrupted. “Remember? Antonio-fu’o- Antonio was talking about it yesterday.”

“I was… out yesterday.”

“Oh yeah…”

“Salvation Army is a charity group, they’re Christian based I think.”

“They suck,” Nikola drawled. “Either you convert, or you don’t get help, and if you’re not straight then you also don’t get help and they’ll actively campaign against you.”

“What’s straight?” Acantha asked.

“Like… only liking the opposite gender.”

“Opposite gender?” She said in confusion. “But… gender isn’t- how does that matter- What even is opposite?“

“Like… a girl and a guy?” Nikola said.

“What about someone who’s not a girl or a guy?” Kai asked in confusion.

“Oh, don’t you know?” Nikola drawled. “According to the government that doesn’t exist.”

Kai blinked slowly.

“But… I’m sitting right here.”

Nikola blinked, “Oh dear… I never asked your pronouns. What are they?”

“He and they,” Kai said. “Is that not normal on land?”

“Oh, it definitely exists,” Zoey said. “But the government says it doesn’t.”

“That’s so weird.”

I nodded, “Yeah. But I think I heard my mom talking about how they took donations that were meant for others too.”

Klara gaped, “That’s horrible.”

“Why are those men working for them then?” Acantha asked as she turned to glare at the Santa guy.

“Like half of them are homeless,” Nikola said with a shrug. “They don’t have a choice.”

“Ugh,” Klara said. “The la- America is so bad sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Zoey said with a sigh. “But on the bright side, we do have cookies.”

I laughed, “We haven’t bought them yet.”

“But they exist, and are there, and they will be in our hand soon therefore-“

I rolled my eyes, “We still need to wait for Tyson.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said with a grin. “Though we could also buy him cookies too, and get an extra one for him to make up for not waiting.”

“Only if you buy,” Nikola said.

“Deal,” she cheered.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I shifted uncomfortably as the stylist Giovanni sent finished pinning a shirt.

“I need you to stay still,” he chided.

“Sorry.”

“What do you think of the sketches I showed you?”

“They’re really nice,” I said hesitantly. “Are you sure it’s okay for you to make clothes like that for me? Clothes are expensive.”

“Of course, Giovanni adores buying gifts for his family. This isn’t even in the top ten.”

I blinked.

“Drew said he bought someone a car once…”

“Oh yes, it was a fairly nice one too. I believe an Audi A8…”

I blinked slowly, “Uh… we don’t even own a car and he can just buy them as gifts?”

The stylist laughed, “Do you want a car?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I’m just… shocked.”

“He doesn’t skimp on gifts,” said the stylist with a fond smile. “Keeps a good number of people in business.”

I nodded, “Yeah… I can see.”

“Now then, lets get you into my first design. It’ll be a little bit large on you, I over estimated your size.”

I sighed as I accepted the shirt.

“Yeah, people don’t expect me to be so short but everyone else is just freakishly tall.”

He chuckled, “Of course.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Herophile tugged me along the cool cave path.

There were all kinds of crystals gleaming in the walls. It was really bright.

“This is the center,” she chirped as she flicked to a stop.

I gasped as I drew level with her and was able to view the cave.

We were near the surface and the top of the cave was a massive clear gem that allowed us to see through to the sky.

The cave itself was filled with thousands of crystals with a massive sea-green one in the center that reached almost all the way up to the top. It glittered a thousand shades and almost seemed to radiate power.

“Wow,” I breathed.

The cave was alight with color from thousands of crystals reflecting light. I waved my hand and watched the light dance on it.

“It’s said to be the- the-“ she frowned. “Pumps blood-“

“Heart?”

“Yes! Heart of Pontus. It’s a really interesting story.”

I stared at the crystal in the center. With the power the cave radiated I could almost believe it was His heart.

“Is that story true?” I asked.

She opened her mouth but faltered, seemingly unwilling to speak. She settled for a shrug and motioned for us to look around.

The crystals were beautiful and I enjoyed having her guide me to the best spots.

It was a fun trip despite the silence that covered the end half. And I was allowed to take a small broken shard of a crystal with me.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I clutched my books and tried to absorb final facts as I waited with Lagi for his healing teacher.

I hadn’t studied nearly as hard as I should’ve, and I didn’t know the stuff nearly as well as I’d claimed.

“Are you ready?” Lagi asked with a grin.

I smiled nervously and nodded.

“Ah, good, you’re both here.”

I straightened and shoved the books into my pouch.

“Now then, let’s begin.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The healing lesson was a disaster. I didn’t know where half the body parts were, I didn’t know how to fix half the stuff, and I could at most fix a small scratch.

The healer didn’t look very impressed with me, but at least I’d remembered the make up of bones and muscles along with how they functioned in pressure (that part had been interesting).

He told me to study more before returning for another lesson.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I shook my head to get the snow off as we entered the coffee shop.

“It’s cold out,” Drew said with a huff.

“Well that is when you go ice skating,” Lacy’s red-head friend pointed out.

Drew rolled her eyes. “Well yes, but it doesn’t need to be that cold.”

“If you want good ice skating it does,” she said firmly.

Lacy shook her head, “Hush for five minutes so we can get hot chocolate.”

“You mean coffee?”

“Coffee actually.”

Drew and the red-head shared a look.

I rolled my eyes fondly as they jumped into a conversation on the best coffees as I got in line with Lacy.

“Do they do that all the time?” I wondered. They’d been at it since we met up to go ice skating.

Lacy laughed, “Any time they’re together they start poking at each other. Rachel is very passive aggressive and snarky, and Drew is always snarky, so they get along like a house on fire.”

Right, Rachel was the red-heads name. She was Lacy’s friend supposedly, but her and Drew seemed close.

“So, how’s your year been going?” Lacy asked as the line slowly moved forward.

“It’s been good,” I said cheerfully. “I’ve learned a lot from the tutor Metua sends for me and I’ve gotten to know Kymopoleia and Herophile a lot.”

“That’s great!” Lacy said. “I’m really glad your dad takes such good care of you. I’m a bit jealous, but like… it’s nice to see someone getting that kind of attention. I wish our mom did something like that.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I wish you guys got more attention too.”

“Do you have plans for the solstice?” She asked, changing the subject.

“I’m going down to Metuano palace. Khrysaôr implied there was something important going on but um… he likes angering Triton, so I have no idea what it might be.”

She blinked, “Do they fight a lot?”

“All the time.”

“Wow, that must be frustrating.”

“It’s more scary? Triton cares for me a lot but he doesn’t like Khrysaôr, and Khrysaôr seems to love using me to upset Triton and most the time I don’t know he’s doing it.”

She winced, “Getting between fighting Gods isn’t fun at all.”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

“What can I get you?” The barista asked at the front.

We both straightened and hurried to order our hot chocolates.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The solstice celebration was a lot of fun.

It wasn’t like what I’d been told of the land camp celebration that focused on the sun. I’d been following the land traditions to the best of my ability from home and mom would be finishing the stuff today. In the sea the focus was on the moon and on honoring the chthonic Gods.

Well, I supposed that Drew mentioned that there was a focus on the chthonic Gods at Camp Half-Blood, but only for part of it.

In the sea the chthonic Gods were a major part of it.

We set out offerings, did prayers, and told stories. We set up ponisi in front of bowls that people left gold Aurova in to help pay for passage of those unable to.

Fetu went with me to buy the locks we were using for an offering too. We locked them on an intricate coral fence in one of the temples dedicated to the chthonic deities. We kept the keys with us.

Apparently, it was meant to allow us to unlock our connection to the past if we needed to, but the locks would keep the souls in the underworld where they were safe.

Fetu said the locks would sometimes disappear, others would return each year and unlock the previous years lock to replace it with a new one.

It was nice, felt intimate. Fetu said at home he had a second lock, a smaller one that he used to lock a box filled with memories. Each year he would open it and look through the memories, then lock it again.

I thought that was really sweet. Maybe I’d do that if I had time when I got back to the apartment.

Triton and I ended up doing our normal gifts after I did the stuff with Fetu.

Triton gave me another charm for my bracelet. This one was shaped like an octopus.

“It’s enchanted,” he said cheerfully. “It’ll work on land for Hippolyta, allowing her to have bubbles of cycling water around her gills. Octopi can only go about 20 minutes on land, but only comfortably a few minutes so this will let her move around with you when on land.”

I lit up, “That’s great! I love it, Triton.”

He smiled fondly, “I’m glad.”

I nervously handed off my gift.

It was a prayer I’d written for him that was carved into a stone panel. My tutor helped me make it.

Triton av ert moare vavav,

Tamatu av Poseipon y Amphitrite,

Tatu av Persi.

Ta hinru sa’opu tal anan hamuso y wasai pavuv,

Ta hinru fiemo em shomio y waoit ivoni hopuok,

Ta hinru sa’opu mu pahiti y auhefar,

Ta hinru sa’opu mu rovia sa’tan tatu,

Ika sa’opu mu sa’tan.

Triton ran his fingers over the inscribed prayer as I watched nervously.

“Did you make it yourself?” He murmured.

I nodded, “Yeah… do you like it?”

He blinked quickly, “Yes. I- I quite like it. Thank you.”

I beamed.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I blinked in confusion as I swam into the throne room with Triton.

It was a strikingly familiar scene, reminding me of a dream I’d had.

Okeanus and Poseidon were arguing.

“Clearly I won this battle-“

“You did no such thing. I got the acknowledgement, I even got it in writing-“

“You’re missing two.”

“They never reply to anyone that doesn’t mean-“

“The deal was all the sea must acknowledge your claim, not ‘every ruler but those two must' acknowledge your claim.”

I drifted wide eyed as the two bickered.

“Hello, Persi-tou,” Tethys said smoothly.

The two kings went silent.

“Um… hi… did we interrupt something?”

“They’re just finishing the custody battle,” Khrysaôr said.

How was he eating popcorn in the ocean?

I blinked slowly, “Custody… battle?”

“We’re deciding if Poseidon or Okeanus gets custody of you,” Tethys said.

I tilted my head, “But why wouldn’t my Metua have custody of me?”

There was a moment of silence before Okeanus cleared His throat.

“As Poseidon did not raise you properly nor keep you safe as he was obliged too I challenged him for custody. That would mean you would become my child, instead of his.”

I frowned and considered it.

“I-“ I paused.

Poseidon had protected me or tried to. Yeah, I wasn’t given the lessons I should’ve had and wished I had… Poseidon tried to explain sorta what was going on.

He stayed away because of the prophecy, because of the oath. He didn’t want to endanger me.

It kinda backfired...

My hand drifted to my necklace.

The shell just like the one Lara had.

He’d tried to protect her too and it didn’t work either.

“I appreciate that you’re looking out for me,” I said slowly. “I really do. It’s… it’s really flattering to know you care for me like that when I’m not even your child.”

Okeanus shot Poseidon a smug look.

“But-“

I paused again.

Despite everything… Poseidon had tried. And more importantly… Triton was my brother.

No matter anything else I wasn’t willing to give that up.

“But I’m happy with my family. Metua might not have been around, and I might not have had tutors or lessons or protection… but he was trying to protect me. And… I did have Triton.”

Poseidon straightened with a small smile.

“I really appreciate it, I promise… but… I’ve just gotten to know Herophile and Kymopoleia. I’m just starting to get to know Khrysaôr and Benthesikyme and Rhodos and Amphitrite-nai. I-“

I bit my lip.

“I’d like to stay with my brother… with my family… sorry.”

Okeanus studied me for a long moment.

“Is this truly how you feel?”

I nodded, “It is.”

He sighed and shot Poseidon a look.

“It appears you win this round Poseidon.”

Poseidon shot me the proudest look I’d ever received, his eyes sparkling brightly.

“Perseus is my son, I’ve told you time and time again. There isn’t anyone else I’d want more as a child.”

“Ouch,” Khrysaôr muttered.

“Don’t get too smug. Maybe I’ll just steal all your kids at once.”

Poseidon glared as Okeanus smirked.

“Blessed Winter Solstice, Persi-tou.”

“Blessed Winter Solstice to you too, Okeanus-ari, Tethys-ran.”

They both flicked their fingers in acknowledgement before giving their goodbyes to the rest.

“Aww,” Khrysaôr whined. “There weren’t any fights.”

“Hush,” Rhodos said with a smile. “This is a happy moment.”

I flushed as Poseidon hugged me.

“Thank you, Perseus.”

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

*waves* hope you all didn't miss me too much. I finally have the next chapter up and I had fun with it. There's only one or two more chapters till we reach Book 2's canon timeline.

What did you all think of his friends? What about his family? Did you like how the custody battle came to a close?

I thought it made the most sense and fit the best for Percy to be the one to get the final say. It's his life being decided here after all :)

Halmaheran
Persi=Percy
Ponisi=moon (pearls)
Moaneliv=boats
ert mosai=the rudder
opu sairali sa'maiv=you steer it
rutter=rudder (attempt at saying it as Halmaheran struggles with D and B since they don't exist in the language)
Metua=Father
Metuano=Father's
Aurova=Gold Coins of the Ocean

Suffixes
fu'oro=master teacher
tou=masc little one
nai=queen (current)
ari=king (old)
ran=queen (old)

Terminology
The comment about the second son is based on Triton's speech with Percy. He called Percy the second Prince of the sea, except Khrysaôr is by rights the second prince. So that was a major public slight on him.
The Salvation Army actually has the policies I mentioned and they have been widely criticized for it.
Kai is a demiboy
Audi A8=a fairly nice car brand in 2009/2010 when it was purchased in the story.
Giovanni is extra as fuck and is based off of multiple people, some real life.
Chthonic=Gods of the underworld or underground, by some definitions includes the Gods of the Earth

The Prayer
Triton of the ocean waves,
Son of Poseidon and Amphitrite,
Brother of Persi.
I pray you have easy passage and calm waters,
I pray conflict is brief and peace long lasting,
I pray you are safe and beloved,
I pray you are eternally my brother,
As you are mine.

OC's
(reminder as it's been awhile)
Masina=mernix friend of Percy who's skilled at controlling the currents
Zoey=Hellenic pagan land friend of Percy's (Portuguese group)
Nikola=Norse pagan land friend of Percy's (Portuguese group)
Klara=One of Percy's guards-weapon girl
Acantha=One of Percy's guards-storm bottle girl
Kai=One of Percy's guards-book demiboy
Giovanni=Aphrodite child, very extra and wealthy

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 13: The Color of the Waves

Summary:

*waves* hello!

Notes:

So uh, I hit super major writers block and suffered a bit of burn out and the last three months have been a struggle. I ended up cutting like 4/5 pages of writing from this chapter that I had written (they're in the discord as deleted scenes) and spent a good while debating on everything but I got a comment saying they loved the story today and just got hit with writing inspo at long last...

I spent a good 5/6 hours doing research for this chapter so hope you enjoy mythos facts! The research was actually not for the mythos facts cause I already did that research before but-

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I cradled the cloud that spun in my hand.

It was a medium shade of gray and spiraled in a way reminiscent of hurricanes. Little sprinkles of water wet my hand as I held it steady. The storm guide was spinning continuously (if unsteady) and aiding the cloud in spinning.

I was all but vibrating as I strained to focus on the proper movement of the mini-cloud and rain and the storm guide. It was an exercise in multiple points of focus and made my head hurt but it was so satisfying.

The cloud was raining.

I’d made a little storm.

A grin stretched across my lips as my chest lightened.

I could make a storm!

“Excellent! That’s exactly how it should start.”

I beamed up at Kymopoleia as she leaned over me to study the cloud.

“Good job, Perseus.”

“Havu! I was beginning to worry I couldn’t do it at all but I got it to work!”

She laughed, “Storms aren’t easy to make but you did well. We’ll get to making more complicated ones and larger ones soon but for now I say we celebrate!”

The storm guide fell over and the cloud dissipated as my attention was drawn away, so I reluctantly put it away.

“Celebrate? What are we gonna do?”

She hummed, tapping her chin.

“What are things land dwellers do to celebrate?”

I faltered, “Uh… well mom would normally take me to get some fast food… some go to fancier places? I know kids at school have parties at places like Monkey Joes or Chuck E Cheese…”

“Monkey Joes? Chuck E Cheese?”

“They’re play places! Monkey Joes is a bouncy place I think, and Chuck E Cheese has a lot of fun games and prizes… we’ve never really had a chance to go to them, but I’ve heard of them.”

Kymopoleia considered for a moment, “Well, if we’re gonna celebrate the land way then we should go to a land place. Chuck E Cheese it is!”

“Really!?” I asked, all but vibrating.

“Yep, it’s important to have the full land dweller experience. Do they have food?”

I nodded quickly, “On the ads on TV they do.”

“Perfect,” She grinned at me. “Then let’s get going.”

Between one breath and the next we changed locations. The beach was replaced with a parking lot and a large building with a humanized mouse on the front.

“Let’s get to celebrating!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Chuck E Cheese was a lot of fun. I’d never gotten to play most of the games before and Kymopoleia bought hundreds of coins, so I got to play everything!

The game where you had to move your finger really quickly to get through the maze was probably the best there because of how many tickets you could get if you managed it.

Kymopoleia and me were sitting and eating pizza and wings while going over the prizes. She was treating the prizes with the utmost seriousness.

I sipped my sprite and studied the prizes hanging on the wall.

“I like the fish,” I said. “It’s blue and red like your hair.”

I tugged at my own blue hair with a frown. “I wish I had multi-colored hair like you.”

She preened, “Aw, I like the blue… but multi-colored hair is superior. Why don’t you just dye it?”

I sulked, “I need someone else to help, and Samoa has declared that she won’t help again cause my mom wasn’t happy I did it last time.”

“Hmm… well you know… it’s always better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

I blinked, “But then don’t you get in trouble?”

She shook her head with a grin, “Nope! They didn’t say you couldn’t do it so therefore it’s perfectly fine.”

I considered, “Okay but I still need someone to help me dye it so…”

She pat my head, “Don’t worry soha tatu, I’m here to help.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“And… There!” she chirped as she finished scrubbing the excess dye out.

Unlike land dye, the sea dye strengthens its color in water, so I had to keep my hair underwater the whole time. Kymopoleia had to scrub all the excess dye out once it had been absorbed into my hair.

“I think going for three colors was definitely the best plan. The green and purple with the blue look amazing.”

“Thanks,” I said as I pulled my hair out of the water and dried it with a thought.

Kymopoleia put a mirror in front of me and I couldn’t help but brighten at my reflection.

Dark purple faded to cobalt blue which faded to seafoam green. It looked perfect.

“I love it! And it blends so smoothly…“

“I am the best you know.”

I beamed up at her, “Thank you for helping me dye my hair.”

“Anytime, now let’s get you home before someone notices you’re gone.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Percy…” my mom sighed. “You dyed your hair… again.”

I nodded, feeling sheepish when faced with the frown on her face.

“Yeah… Kymopoleia helped me dye it. Now it’s multiple colors, like hers!”

“Percy, I don’t mind you dying your hair… but please… Tell me before you do it.”

I blinked and ducked my head, “Oh… sorry mom…”

She ruffled my hair, “It’s okay. Just don’t do it again sweetie.”

I nodded, “Yes mom… do you like it?”

“It’s lovely. I like the shade of green you picked.”

“Thanks!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Oh my stars, you re-dyed your hair,” Zoey squealed. “And it’s mermaid hair!”

“Mermaid hair?” I wondered.

“That’s what that color combo is called, the purple and blue and green. It looks so pretty, I’m jealous.”

I flushed. “Thank you.”

I didn’t realize it was called mermaid hair, but it was rather fitting. Triton would probably find it hilarious.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I swished my tails as I sat next to Rhodos. She was showing me how to make suncatchers that worked in the sea.

I’d mentioned to Triton that I wanted to make some for the next summer solstice and he’d sent me to Rhodos to learn how to make proper sea ones. It was actually really relaxing. She reminded me of my mom a bit.

Making sun catchers on land was simple enough. You could add little glittering bits almost randomly. But in the ocean, you had to work harder to catch the sun rays that filtered down. It meant that I needed to know how to position the different glass shards and other glittering bits to maximize the light caught.

Plus, apparently the ocean used them for magical and worship purposes, and I was very interested in learning about that.

“Once you finish threading the string through the center you’ll need to slip these shards on like this-“ she demonstrated the method of sliding the glass shard on.

“Wow, you know a lot about making suncatchers. I don’t really see a lot of them in the ocean.”

She smiled softly, “I’m married to Helios, so I should hope I know how to make suncatchers.”

I perked up, “I’d read about that! But Helios went missing, didn’t He?”

There was a long moment of silence as she organized the glass shards and string, her gaze distant.

“Helios… both he and his sister went missing a long time ago, during the rule of Rome. They’re sleeping you see.”

I nodded, “And now Apollo and Artemis handle the chariots?”

“They do an excellent job of it as well.”

“What’s he like? Helios, I mean.”

She smiled softly down at the suncatcher.

“He’s stern and strong, but very loving, especially to his family. He was always kind to me and we used to do a lot of outings together. My island always got special attention from his sun chariot.”

I studied her as she slipped the next shard on and showed me how to wrap the string.

“Do you miss him?”

“… I do,” She sighed. “But he’ll wake one day, and I’ll be able to see him again.”

I hummed and tried to copy her motion with the string.

“I’m sorry that he fell asleep,” I said. “I hope he wakes up soon and you can see him again.”

Her gaze lingered on me, “Thank you, Perseus.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Alright!” Zoey cheered. “Time for us to binge watch all of Avatar the Last Airbender to prepare for Legend of Korra coming out!”

I laughed, laying comfortably on the couch.

“I don’t think we can get through it all at once,” Nikola drawled. “It might take a few days.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zoey said. “We’re not leaving till the show is over.”

Kai slowly raised his hand, “What about food?”

“We have plenty!”

Zoey looked very determined with her hands on her hips and fierce smirk on her face.

“Now then, are you ready to start the marathon?”

Acantha and Klara nodded, and Tyson cheered.

I laughed as my friends settled into their seats. Tyson was a comforting presence beside me as the others started chatting and the show began.

I’d never had friends like this, ones I could just sit with and relax while watching a show. Maybe in the ocean I’d be able to if I spent more time there, but I lived on land and my friends were of land too.

It was nice.

“Wait he was just sealed in an ice berg? How is he alive?”

“Magic”

“HoW dOeS tHaT wOrK?”

I focused on the show and leaned against Tyson and smiled.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I nibbled on the cheez-its as I flipped through the mythology book. Ran, my lovely glass sleep serpent, was sitting on my head, a small weight settled in my hair.

It was one on the beginning of things, by Hesiod. Well, beginning of things as in it talked about Kronos. Technically it talked about a lot of things, but I was focusing on the Kronos bits.

I knew what the camp said about him.

He was irredeemably evil.

He killed without hesitation.

He would eat humans just as readily as his own kids.

Now though, now I was learning what the myths said about him.

Hesiod wasn’t the only one to talk about him, but he had the most information I could find in one place, which was what I needed to actually start figuring things out.

It was really interesting to read, if really dense.

Hesiod’s discussion of their birth and the fall of Ouranos was interesting. It was definitely Gaea that had them do it.

The lines were strange and didn’t match up exactly to the dream I’d had, but the spirit was similar.

Gaea angry and protective, threatening her children to act to stop Ouranos. Okeanus refusing. Kronos protecting him.

The myths only spoke of the conversation briefly, which I supposed made sense since they wouldn’t have been there.

And she [Gaea] spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart

I chewed on the cheeze-its as I considered. Did her being vexed in her heart mean mean she was upset with the Titans? Or just with Ouranos? Or both? A lot of the lines could mean several things and I wasn’t sure how to understand them.

And of course, the parts about him eating his kids… those were interesting. Hesiod said he learned from Gaea and Ouranos that his son would overcome him.

I already knew about him eating his kids, that was a constant in the myths… but some of the stuff was newer.

I’d been vaguely aware that Rhea had sought out Gaea for aid, but apparently, she’d also asked Ouranos for aid and then received it.

Though the myth didn’t say what Ouranos may have done, Gaea did a lot to help get Zeus away.

I frowned as I studied the lines, trying to pick apart any second meaning. The line about Zeus freeing the Hekatonkheires and the Kyklopes was interesting… it said Kronos had bound them. That meant Kronos had freed them at some point because earlier that was listed as the reason Gaea betrayed Ouranos.

I wondered on that, when did he re-imprison his siblings? Why did he do that? It even called it foolish!

And he [Zeus] set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Ouranos [the Hekatonkheires and Kyklopes] whom his father in his foolishness had bound.

Even the myths said Kronos was acting dumb, so why would he do it?

My tutor said he lost himself…

It reminded me of the strange dream I’d had awhile ago. Kronos was there, so was Hestia… I thought… something had changed. Something… shifted.

What happened to him?

I shook my head and flipped through to find the next mention of Kronos.

His time ruling…

It did match what I’d learned from my tutor, about the golden age. Also sounded really cool.

And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils.

That sounded like a decent life. Why did the camp say Kronos ate humans? This didn’t sound like eating humans.

It was so confusing.

Everyone seemed to be saying different things, from the camp to my tutor to my dreams to the actual myths… nothing lined up right.

What was the truth?

I chewed on my snack as I reread the lines.

A few things did seem to line up at least.

Kronos went crazy and ate his kids, everyone said that.

He imprisoned his siblings, the Hekatonkheires and the Kyklopes. That implied that he freed them at some point.

The camp didn’t actually say anything about the Hekatonkheires but they did say that the Gods freed the Kyklopes from Kronos’ imprisonment, which kinda meant that Kronos had to have freed them to imprison them… probably.

So he probably spent at least some time sane.

The myths and my tutor both said that he was actually good for a while, it was known as the Golden Age for a reason.

But the why of him going crazy… I mean other than the prophecy obviously. But he just changed in the dream, like someone flipped a switch. What was that?

What could change a Titan in an instant like that?

I was confused. Things didn’t line up and the myths didn’t clarify nearly as much as I’d hoped.

I groaned and dropped my head against the book.

Why were the myths so complicated? I just wanted to know what to think of my Metani.

This would take more research.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

My tutor’s lesson on curses was fascinating. I’d been asking for curse lessons for awhile at this point, to help figure out how to break Carl’s.

While my tutor wasn’t a curse breaker, she was well informed on the history of… basically everything, and that included curses. So she was more than able to tell me about curse breaking and how it’d grown over the years.

Curses were fundamentally different from enchantments or other spells. It was why Alabaster had been talking about turning normal spells into curses to make them harder to break.

Spells could latch onto things, they could impress on something and effect it. There were spells that changed the nature of an object, but it was fine cause it went along with it.

Spells didn’t necessarily go against the will of whatever the target was, it worked with their will. It was harder to cast spells on unwilling targets, if they resisted the spell could easily shatter.

But curses were meant to put your own will on top of the target.

This could be done through the four main methods I’d learned about in my reading, woven, layered, twisted, and overwhelming. All had different advantages and disadvantages.

Unlike with spells, which could be thrown off if you knew about the spell and how to resist, curses required skill to counter. And taking them off required knowing how the curse was laid.

It was complicated and took a lot of careful work.

My tutor did explain that they could be countered when being laid though. In fact, if possible that was the best time to do so. Once a curse was settled on it’s target it was a lot harder to remove, especially if placed on yourself.

She’d given me a book explaining different methods of countering curses being placed on you and said that if I understood the theory then she’d talk to my Metua about getting practice in on that.

It was pretty cool to learn though. Curses evolved a lot of the years. Originally, they were all just raw power forcing the target to bend to the will of the caster, but eventually they grew to delicate weaves and twisting threads and layered power. They grew difficult and complex and dangerous for more than just those with a lot of raw power.

Enchantments grew out of curses too. They were similar in the ways they could be laid, except they worked on objects without their own will exclusively.

Blessings were always an anti-thesis to curses though. They worked best when the target was willing and they worked with the targets will. It was a very clearly defined difference and made blessings infinitely more difficult to remove than curses.

The one cursed rarely wants it there and therefore will work with a curse breaker even if only subconsciously. Someone blessed though, that was a whole different matter. The blessing went with them, with their will. Removing it meant challenging both the original casters spell work and intent, but also the will of the one holding the blessing.

It was very hard to remove a blessing.

Blessings were also less common, at least long-lasting ones. The only one known in the human myths was the Alkyonides. Amphitrite blessed them with the form of kingfishers when they’d thrown themselves from a cliff in grief. They were apparently still alive.

There were a lot more curses known though one stood out to me the most.

Skylla, one of the two sea terrors of the Odyssey.

Of course, it wasn’t the Greek Skylla that was cursed, that one was naturally born as a terror just as Khyrbdis was. But the Roman Skylla… well she was cursed.

Kirke, a very dangerous sea witch, cursed her into the being she is now.

It was difficult to keep track of the differences and how they overlap but my tutor insisted that it was important to know the differences between Greek and Roman. She gave me a whole lecture on it even.

The Gods and monsters were intertwined and connected, but equally were not the same things. The monsters tended to split or merge as beliefs shifted. The two Skyllas now one, but the Medusa’s and gorgons split.

I was pretty sure the Medusa I met was the Roman one, cause she didn’t like Athena or Poseidon and the Greek one would have no reason to hate either.

I studied my notes thoughtfully. Kirke was extremely dangerous apparently, excelled at transformation curses in both the Roman and the Greek history.

Transformation curses like the one Carl suffered from.

He’d been awfully quiet that whole lesson…

I never did learn how he got cursed, though I was pretty sure it had something to do with spas, maps, and coins.

But the myths don’t say anything about a spa for Kirke, and certainly has nothing with maps or coins.

Plus, Kirke turned men into pigs, not guinea pigs.

I shook my head, Carl would tell me one day how he got cursed. It was probably very traumatic.

OO OO OO OO OO

I was playing with Hippolyta and Carl in my room while I waited for my friends to arrive. We were gonna be celebrating Dionysia! But they weren’t arriving for awhile yet so I was having fun.

Carl was swimming in the trails of water I was holding in place. He didn’t particularly like being moved around but humored me making him paths since it helped with fine control.

Lyta was moving around thanks to the charm Triton got me though. It was really cool for her to be able to wander around as long as I had the charm active.

Lyta curled against my neck, her favorite resting place, with a thrum of satisfaction.

I was just designing a waterslide for Carl when I heard my mom answering the door.

“Percy, your friends are here.”

A flick of my wrist had the water back where it should be and Carl safely deposited in his tank.

I gently scooped up Lyta and dipped her back into her tank, despite her annoyance at that. She wanted to play more.

My door opened barely a second later to let Zoey bounce in.

“Percy! Happy Dionysia!”

That was close.

“Happy Dionysia, Zoey.”

“It’s so nice to celebrate with others-“ she cut herself off staring wide eyed to my left. “Is that an octopus!?”

I faltered, “Er… that’s Hippolyta.”

“Oh my stars you have an octopus- Nikola! Nikola look he has an octopus!”

Nikola leaned in and blinked.

“Huh… that he does.”

“It is a pretty octopus,” Tyson chimed in.

I fiddled with my bracelet, “Ah, thanks. My brother got her for me for my birthday.”

“That’s so unfair,” Zoey whined. “I can’t even convince my mom to get me a goldfish, much less an octopus.”

I very carefully did not point out Carl.

“Okay,” Nikola started. “Octopus aside-“

“Is she as smart as they say octopus are?”

“Yeah, most octopi are pretty smart and she’s a coconut octopus which are considered very intelligent.”

“That’s so cool.”

Nikola shook his head with a small smile, “We need to get going if we’re gonna make it to the poetry slam.”

Zoey tore her gaze away from Hippolyta reluctantly. “Oh alright. But can we play with Hippolyta later?”

Tyson and Zoey both turned pleading looks on me and I caved.

“As long as you’re careful. She can’t stay out of the water, but she has some games she likes to play so I’ll show you them.”

Zoey beamed, and Tyson cheered.

Nikola snickered. “Ready then?”

“Time for poetry,” Zoey chirped. “Then dinner and libations and then musical binge watching!”

“I have never seen a musical,” Tyson mumbled. “I am excited.”

“This is gonna be a blast!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“And then I managed to convince my dad to watch a musical with me! It was really fun, even if his wife wouldn’t let me cook the food I wanted to offer.”

“That sucks,” I said as I scribbled out the answer Annabeth had explained to me a minute ago. “But at least you got to watch a musical for Dionysia, that’s better than nothing. Which one did you watch?”

“The sound of music, and I did manage to buy some stuff to offer discreetly though I had to share it with them. I don’t really like sharing the food with Them for offerings, I mean that’s perfectly fine to do but I just feel more connected when doing a separate offering? But with my dad’s wife won’t let me do that.”

I winced, “Your dad’s wife doesn’t seem to be doing any better. How about your dad?”

She paused in her own homework.

“He’s… alright. Not like his wife, he doesn’t mind me using the kitchen when she’s gone. But… he’s at work a lot and when he’s home she always talks him around to her decisions. Says I can celebrate my ‘pagan stuff’ at camp but at home we’re Christian.”

I winced, “That’s no fun.”

“Yeah… dad doesn’t stop me from doing things, but he doesn’t help me either. He just tends to go along with his wife on all that.”

“Will you be staying the rest of the year?”

She chewed her lip. “I don’t know. I’ve been… I’ve been having strange dreams.”

I blinked, “Dreams?”

“Something about camp. It’s hard to figure out but I don’t know. I’m a bit worried.”

“Have you IMed camp?”

She shook her head, “I don’t want to worry my siblings. I know Malcolm has a plan to kidnap me if I’m uncomfortable.”

“Would that be so bad?” I wondered.

She looked away, “I… I want to give my dad a chance and… I dunno, I need space from camp for a bit.”

I nodded, “Okay. Well if you leave early you can stay at my apartment until things calm down.”

She brightened, “Really?”

I nodded and smiled at her happy look.

She’s been having a rough time of it and I didn’t like it. Hopefully I could offer some comfort with our convos.

But back onto the point of the call…

“So When did the Siege of Vicksburg end again?”

“It ended on the Fourth of July,” Annabeth shook her head with a teasing smile. “Honestly that’s the easiest of the dates.”

I pouted, “I’m bad with dates.”

“Mood.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover POV

I crept slowly through the underbrush, watching the building that the puppy was leading me too.

There’d been rumors amongst a lot of animals in the area of an animal trafficking group here and I’d promised to try to help.

I studied the building. It didn’t seem all that secure. I mean, there were locks but I knew how to pick locks thanks to my time with Luke.

I checked the position of the moon (a thin crescent) and decided if I was gonna break the animals out, now was the time.

I pulled out my pipes and started playing.

OO OO OO OO

There was a lot of screaming and screeching and snarls and barking as I fled with a herd of assorted animals.

The building behind me was on fire and the animals were in a bit of chaos, but they were free from the poachers which was a vast improvement. Now I just needed to get them organized and to a safer location and everything would be fixed!

OO OO OO OO

By Khaos that was… chaos. Took forever to sort them all out but the animals were safe and in new homes. I’d added a blessing to all of them as well, which took even longer and exhausted me.

Hopefully they’d all stay safe, but now it was time to get back to finding Pan!

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I leaned over the library computer with my lotus hotel card in hand.

I’d heard about a protest to save water from being pulled out by big companies (which were causing all kinds of issues with it!). A bunch of people were buying up the right to pump a bunch of water, and then not actually pumping it. They just used it to stop others from pumping it and hurting the environment.

I could get behind that.

And I had the funds to get behind that.

I grinned as I filled out my sixth application under a new identity.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Here’s some more soap,” said another volunteer cheerfully.

I nodded in thanks as I started cleaning another oil covered bird.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was still being cleaned up, but things were much better than before. That wasn’t saying much though.

Lots of animals were still sick and dirty and oil covered and I was volunteering to help clean them up.

I wondered if Percy had done anything like this, but from the ocean side. What was the ocean doing to clean this up? Were they the reason some things were being cleaned faster than predicted? What about that new algae eating the oil?

There was so much else in the Godly world I’d never known about despite living in it. I wanted to know what the merfolk did to protect the ocean too. Maybe Percy would tell me about it if I asked.

“Hey, we have a difficult one over here, could you take him?”

I perked up, “Yeah no prob!”

I needed to save thoughts on ocean preservation for when I wasn’t working with animals haha.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I frowned at the cave entrance in the forest.

It felt kinda naturey… but there was no way that Pan would be underground. Satyrs hate the underground.

There would be no sun or plants! He couldn’t live down there.

I shook my head. Pan is near, I can feel it, but he’s not there. That wouldn’t fit with anything we know about him.

If he were underground surely someone would’ve noticed. Plenty of nature spirits have power underground. He’d be found then.

I moved on, searching for the cause of the overwhelming nature feel.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

I had to be dreaming.

Woolly mammoth’s were extinct.

What was one doing in Florida?

Was it- was it a sign from Pan?

I stared at the woolly mammoth. It was only a bit over two feet tall and very fluffy. I slowly moved closer.

It peered at me before making a small yowling noise that sounded almost like a groan before trodding closer and nudging my hand.

I melted.

It was so cute, so precious. It was so small. I had to take care of it. It was a sign from Pan, a blessing.

I would protect it.

But first… it… I studied it… he needed a name.

Hmm, what kind of name was good for a being that would get massive when it grew up.

My mind drifted to different things before falling onto Percy’s favorite show.

That had a flying bison, which wasn’t at all the same as a woolly mammoth, but it was a supposedly extinct creature and very large…

What was it’s name again?

Ugh, I couldn’t remember. There was Aang, Sokka, Katara… the flying bison… it was white a flew-

My face lit up.

Momo!

OO OO OO OO

Percy's Hair <3

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

The Kronos mythos stuff is in fact true, there are many references about him. I'm here trying to shove some accurate mythos into you guys so Rick Riordan's bs doesn't keep a hold on you. Hope you enjoy it! And the confusion Percy suffers from. The quotes used are from Hesiod's Theogany.

What did you think of Percy's lessons? How about Annabeth's family? Or Grover's Searcher's work? Do you like Momo ;)?

Halmaheran
Havu=thanks
soha tatu=little brother
Metani=grandfather
Metua=father

Terminology
Monkey Joes= a place with a bunch of inflatable play areas
Chuck E Cheese= game place
Mermaid Hair=yes the hair color combo is called mermaid hair, I thought it was very funny when the server suggested those colors unknowingly
Suncatchers=pieces of reflective stones and glass strung up in a shape to hang to reflect the light
Dionysia=Holiday celebrating Dionysus
Deepwater Horizon Oil spill= an actual event that happened, took years to clean up
Ran=his glass sea serpent
Hekatonkheires=Phonetic spelling, the hundred handed ones
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Kirke=phonetic spelling of Circe
Skylla=phonetic spelling of Scylla
Khyrbdis=phonetic spelling of Charybdis
Kymopoleia=Goddess of violent storms and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Briareos
Rhodos=Goddess of the island Rhodes and a daughter of Poseidon. She was married to Helios
Helios=Greek Titan of the Sun
Ouranos=Primordial of the Sky
Gaea=Primordial of the Earth

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 14: I see stuff (that's not helpful)

Summary:

<3 Trying to get back in the swing of weekly updates on mondays. They'll probably be roughly around Monday's for a bit.

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter. This is the last one before canon stuff starts up so yay!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I frowned as I stared at the water.

It was hard keeping my mind clear, but I needed to to scry properly.

Wait no that was thinking, stop that.

Blank mind. Blank mind. Blank mind. Blank mind- wait oh no that was more thinking.

Just stare at the water and think of nothing… nothing at all… I am not thinking-

I sighed.

Not thinking was hard.

Zoey could do it, sorta. She said it took her awhile, but she managed to do it. I’d already been trying for several weeks and all I got was a headache.

Why couldn’t I scry? I was getting all those dreams that I could almost never figure out. But I couldn’t scry at all!

This was water, it should be easy to scry on. I was the son of the sea God for Pontus’ sake. Ugh, this was so frustrating.

I stared at the water again and tried to clear my mind and just think of nothing at all.

Nothing to think about.

Clear mind.

Nothing happening here.

All was fine.

Head empty.

No thoughts.

None.

…

…

…

Dang it.

I gave up… again.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

My dreams were filled with fire.

I stared at the burning fields, the temple standing stark.

A statue towered over me, massive and regal.

It radiated power.

It seemed familiar.

Fire burned and the statue vanished.

The world went dark.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Euphemia had a chart sitting on the desk for me to look over.

“And as you can see here, sensors are always part of the first wave of forces.”

“Because they can sense the different threats ahead?”

She nodded, “Of course it’s best to have a team of different kinds of sensors, list the kinds.”

I paused to gather my memory.

“There are the kinds like me, Purifying sensors, er sorry, Vakasta Itenahe. We can sense magic, power, spells, and the like…”

She smiled and made a motion for me to continue.

“Um, there are also the uh, the ones trained in storms… Uatevi Itenahe? They can sense airflow, though that’s only really good for sensing incoming storms.”

“Very useful for any battles near the surface,” she confirmed. “But not much for deeper warfare.”

“Earate Itenahe can sense the flow of water and currents and all that, which is good for sensing any changes or disruptions.”

“Extremely useful for that,” she agreed. “And any large force or creature disrupting those currents would be noted.”

“Really skilled healers can also sense life forms and state of health and all as well I think.”

“That’s correct, Tafahu Itenahe can sense life forms, health, and even specific illness if they’re skilled enough. Of course, they’re rarely sent out on the front lines. Only battlefield healers are permitted on the front lines alone, and those are rare.”

I nodded. Pomaik Totov were mentioned in one of my healer texts. Healers that were also skilled in some other form of battle enough to protect themselves and their patients while they worked.

It wasn’t very common because a true healer spent years mastering healing so dedicating time to train to fight was difficult.

“There are occasions of other kinds of sensors, but those four are the main ones and the ones you’ll need to keep in mind. We’ll go over their symbols later. Now then, what kind of sensors would be best to send in the case of this map?”

I studied it carefully. Based on the coral reefs and the kelp fields this was closer to the surface. It had a lot of hiding places as well.

“Earate and Uatevi Itenahe.”

“Why?”

“Because… because Earate Itenahe will be able to sense the different movements of the water and there are a lot of places for them. Other than Itenahe most of the front line isn’t usually powerful in magic so their presence for a purifier wouldn’t be much. And since they’re close to the surface there’s a chance of the enemy using storms to fight as well.”

She nodded, her lips quirked up.

“All good points. You should also keep in mind that Uatevi Itenahe are useful for noting any large populations of birds in the air, they’re commonly used as messengers and for spies. And of course, Earate Itenahe will be at a disadvantage due to the many animals common in reefs. What would you do to help the current sensor?”

I frowned, “Maybe… um…”

What would help them? A tovhu couldn’t be sent in most cases because healers were prime targets, so I probably shouldn’t say that…

“I don’t know.”

“That’s alright,” Euphemia assured. “You should also send a local expert on the animal life there so that they can help identify what should and shouldn’t be there. You don’t only need magic to fight, you know.”

I nodded, quickly making a note of it.

“Like Rosa! She’s an animal expert, or well… her parents are.”

“Precisely. Now then, lets talk about how you would send out forces for this encounter.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sighed as the teacher kept talking about the Odyssey.

I’d already read it in the original Greek with Annabeth over the summer and we’d talked about all the themes and stuff cause it was considered important so this was really boring.

“And of course, Polyphemus is called a cannibal in the story, therefore he is actually human.”

I focused again.

What.

“He must’ve simply been a very strong human and-“

My hand shot up.

The teacher paused and leveled a look at me.

“Yes, Percy?”

“Um actually the cannibal term is the closest English word for it but it’s not actually what the Ancient Greek says. The word used in the original Odyssey, in Ancient Greek, is Ἀνδροφάγοι, Androphagi. It roughly translates to man-eater, not eating of the same species. So actually Polyphemus isn’t a cannibal as in someone who eats his own species but as in one who eats man so-“

“I hardly see how you be able to know this Percy, seeing how you don’t speak Ancient Greek.”

I faltered, “Er… my dad is Greek…”

“The translation is not faulty-“ The teachers eye twitched when Kai raised his hand. “What Kai?”

“Well actually cannibal doesn’t only mean one who eats the same species but can also mean simply man-eater as well, therefore the cannibal word fits for the translation-“

“That’s enough,” The teacher snapped. “Detention, both of you, for disrupting class.”

I scowled, “But-“

“Be quiet or it’ll be two detentions.”

I sulked in my seat.

I hated English class.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I studied the different necklace and arm bands carefully drawn on the tuiu.

I was assigned to learn how to recognize the symbols of different mages and their specialties.

Most wouldn’t wear them at all times, there were different bands for different purposes after all. Some positions did warrant constant wear though.

Purifying sensors wore the necklace, and though the scales that made it up may differ the form it took was the same.

Of course, during battle they don’t wear it. Their senses were the difference between life and death in those cases, so they opened themselves to it.

I wasn’t nearly a skilled enough sensor for it to matter that much… also I just really liked not sensing every single thing around me with the slightest bit of power.

Arm bands were the usual symbol of position, and also relationships. As a prince I was expected to always wear the royal ones, but otherwise I didn’t have any other to wear. I wasn’t officially apprenticed to anyone, nor had I taken any of the exams, so I didn’t have any mark of authority as a mage.

My necklace was something normally done alongside the exams, but I needed it to counter the sensory overload from the sensory skills I’d gained so…

I was kinda sad I hadn’t done the exams, I wondered if I was skilled enough to pass them.

Maybe I’d ask Triton about it later.

I shook my head and went back to studying the symbols on the different bands. Would I get to have one as a Vakasta Imote one day? Or maybe as an Eatuvi Imote?

I kinda wanted that. The bands as a prince made me feel a bit awkward, though I was adjusting to them more the more I was in the ocean, but I thought I wouldn’t feel the same about ones showing my status as a Purifier or Waterbender (Thermomancy, whatever). I would’ve earned those.

I ran my finger over the Eatuvi Imote band picture.

Yeah, I wanted that.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I grinned as Tyson managed the heelflip.

“Nice.”

He stumbled on the landing but grinned, “I did it!”

“Yep!”

Zoey looked up from her sketchbook, her gaze intent as she studied Tyson, then she went back to her sketching.

“She drew you,” Nikola drawled from where he was lounged next to her. He didn’t like skating.

Tyson flushed, “She did?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled distractedly. “Doing the trick. Nice job… stupid sun.”

I snickered.

“Will you also try, Percy?” Tyson asked.

I nodded as I got into position.

“Yep!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stared in confusion at the site of Grover sitting with a woolly mammoth and braiding it’s fur.

What kinda dream-

Where would he even get a woolly mammoth?

He hummed and threaded some flowers into the braid.

So weird. There was no possible way for Grover to have a woolly mammoth.

My dreams really needed to chill.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sat nervously with my Mevua’ta and Benthesikyme. Today I was learning from them how to behave during the upcoming Tempest Eve.

It was a big event, preparing for the upcoming storm season and all. There weren’t many other’s coming for it, but I still needed to know how to behave with the nobles of Poseidon’s court. Duberdicus apparently didn’t often send representatives.

“Repeat the hand motions to me,” Mevua’ta said.

I carefully repeated the four new hand motions I’d learned to Amphitrite.

Technically most only needed to know a handful of the motions, but since I was dealing with the higher ranked stuff I needed to know lots of more obscure ones rather than just the basic greeting, goodbye, general respect, high respect, and thanks motions.

It was hard to remember them all, but Mevua’ta wouldn’t let me go until I could do them in my sleep.

My tails flicked as she nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“Now, lets go over titles,” Benthesikyme said. “How should you refer to any ambassadors you speak to?”

“Ta, I should call them whatever their name is then ‘arinit’.”

She nodded, “And the generals?”

“Their name and ‘nee’.”

“Good,” she said with a small smile. “What about the mer from the court?”

“They’d be ‘ove’, ‘ope’, or ‘ote’, depending on the mer…”

“A safe bet it to stick with ‘ope’ unless they indicate otherwise or you know for sure what to call them.”

I nodded.

“Alright, you seem to have the titles, down. We’ve already gone over the higher titles…”

“Do you know how to get ready?” Mevua’ta asked.

“Oh, an excellent point, Mevu.”

I faltered, “La… I mean… I need to make sure my scales are clean and wear my bands?”

“You should also do your hair and of course tail ornaments… hmm… we’ll have to go over the appropriate wear for the event… Mevu do you have- ah thank you.”

Mevua’ta had pulled out a tuiu for Benthesikyme to look over.

“Hmm, gold is the usual color for the event, so we’ll need to stick with that, though you’d look better with silver… Well, you’ll need some new jewelry. I doubt Kym or Triton thought about what was suitable for Tempest Eve.”

Mevua’ta hummed and studied me, “You’ll need to learn how to do your hair. It’s not issue for a siona to do it for now but in the long run it would be good for you to know how to do it just in case.”

I nodded. The Aphrodite kids would no doubt love to help me. I could talk to Drew about it.

“Well, let’s go over the basic adornment expectations.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Zoey straightened from where she was staring at the water. I’d given up scrying the water a good twenty minutes earlier.

She quickly grabbed her notebook and started scribbling her observations down.

“How’d it go?”

She paused, “Uh, it was fine. Still a bit vague in shapes and stuff but it gets more clear every time.”

I nodded.

“How about you?”

“Er…”

She winced, “Still no luck?”

I huffed, “I don’t get it! I can’t figure out the scrying no matter what I do.”

She hummed, rubbing her eyes as she put her pen down.

“Maybe you should try a different scrying technique? There’s also fire and smoke and sky and all.”

I considered, “Yeah, maybe that would work.”

She beamed.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“And since you’ve finally been cleared for the most basic of Siren Song work,” he paused to give me a look. “And only the most basic.”

I nodded, bouncing lightly on my feet.

“I can now teach you how to use it to call for you hippocampi from a distance.”

“So, Siren’s Song is a part of it?”

“In a way.”

He pulled out three whistles. They were made of gleaming silver and each had a small rainbow scale hanging from braided thread.

“These are Hippocampi whistles.”

I leaned forward. “They’re pretty.”

“They are,” he agreed. “And these are connected to Appa and Belle.”

Belle, Triton’s personal Hippocampus.

“Why are there three?”

He held two out to me. “Appa is too young to ride right now, so I’m giving you a whistle for Belle as well, for emergencies.”

I perked up, that was so nice of Triton! I couldn’t imagine sharing Appa with anyone.

“Now, like with your ocarina you can channel the song through the whistle, which greatly increases the strength. Honestly as long as you’re in the Atlantic the whistle should work.”

I nodded, “So channel song like with my ocarina and stay in the Atlantic.”

He studied me, “Yes. Please stay in the Atlantic. There shouldn’t really be a reason for you to be anywhere else.”

“Got it! Can I try now?”

He smiled and motioned for me to do so.

I took a deep breath and focused on Appa and then channeled the Song through the whistle.

It didn’t make any sound that I could hear.

Kinda like Appa’s whistle in Avatar! That was so cool, I had my very own Appa whistle.

It only took a minute or two before Appa’s head popped out of the waves.

“Appa!” I moved over to pet him.

“There you go, now you know how to call your Hippocampi if you need aid. Belle’s works the same way.”

“For emergencies,” I confirmed.

He nodded, “Exactly. But there really shouldn’t be anything to worry about. While in school you’re safe and camp should be safe after all.”

“Yep! Thanks Triton.”

He ruffled my hair, “Of course,

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I settled on the couch with Drew, all but vibrating.

“It starts in three minutes,” I chirped.

“In three minutes the glory of Korra shall be on the screen,” Drew said gleefully. “A shame we couldn’t all meet up for it.”

“Yeah but we can do reactions after. Do you need anything else before it starts?”

She shook her head, holding her bowl of snacks.

We both watched the screen, waiting for the commercials to end.

And then the opening credits began to run as the show started.

OO

“Wait she can control water, fire, and earth at the start? I thought the avatar was never even informed before they were like sixteen?”

“That’s so weird- also where’s air?”

OO

“Why did they lock her up there? And oh hey Aang’s kids!”

“KATARA!”

“The old men are weird.”

OO

“So, they made a city out of Fire Nation conquered land? That’s got bad vibes.”

“Yeah that’s strange.”

“I’m crying did she just- she just smashed like two buildings-“

“But she has a polar bear dog.”

“Naga has my heart for sure.”

OO

“Ooh, waterbending!”

“Dork.”

“It’s cool!”

“Wait look at the metal bending.”

“It’s so normalized.”

“Toph being amazing and making a whole new type of bending-“

“Wait Sokka is dead?”

“What about Suki!?”

OO

“Where are Katara’s other kids? Are any waterbenders?”

“Why isn’t Katara shown doing waterbending?”

“Katara simp.”

“Master Katara is the coolest, why isn’t she shown doing amazing things?”

OO

“Tenzin is kinda cool, like Triton.”

Drew laughed.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Zoey swung her legs as she studied her notes, “So what are your summer plans?”

“I’m going to visit family,” Nikola murmured.

“We’re going to a summer camp,” Kai said, motioning to Klara and Acantha.

“I do not know what I am doing,” Tyson mumbled.

“I’m also going to a summer camp,” I chirped, but glanced at Tyson with concern.

A Kyklopes didn’t really have a home to go to. I should probably talk to Triton about making sure Tyson had a place to go for the summer.

“That sounds fun, have you guys been to the summer camps before?”

Klara nodded, “Yeah we’ve gone for several years.”

“I’ve only gone once to mine, but it was fun.”

Except for the whole murder attempt thing.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my friends again.”

“Nice,” Zoey said.

“What are you doing?”

“Just hanging out in the city,” she said with a shrug. “Might be doing a family trip down to Florida.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.”

“Yeah maybe.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Annabeth POV

I packed my bag with a scowl.

The dreams had only gotten worse and my dad’s wife too. I needed to get out of here and back to camp.

Percy did say I could go to him if I wanted to. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind me staying the night when I reached him. I was out of drachmas and couldn’t call him to let him know.

I just… couldn’t handle this anymore.

I couldn't handle her constantly scowling at me. Or her kids being brats and breaking things and barely being chided while I couldn't even read a book without being chided. Or her insisting that I had to go to Church because it was "a family event". Or the way that she kept trying to make me dress "like a lady". Or the way that she looked at me when I dealt with monsters. Or the way that my dad just never seemed to see any of it.

I couldn't... I couldn't handle it anymore.

My dad alone was fine. I could work with him. I enjoyed being around him.

But I couldn't... not when his wife was around.

He was always so agreeable to her.

Even when she wasn't around her rules were still in place.

I was done with this.

But it wasn’t like I needed my dad or his wife. I’d survived before and I’d do it again.

Running away was nothing new for me.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of Percy's lessons? His friends? His dreams?

Halmaheran
Vakasta Itenahe=Purifying Sensor
Uatevi Itenahe=Storm Sensor
Earate Itenahe=Current Sensor
Tafahu Itenahe=Healer Sensor
Pomaik Totov=Battlefield Healer
Itenahe=sensors
Tovhu=healer
Tuiu=undersea paper
Vakasta Imote=Purifying Mage
Eatuvi Imote=Thermomancy Mage
Mevua'ta=Step-Mother
Mevu=Mom
Ta=Halmaheran Place holder (such as Ah, Um, Er)
La=Halmaheran Place holder (such as Ah, Um, Er)
Siona=Servant

Suffixes
Arinit=ambassador
Ove=Lady
Ope=Liege
Ote=Lord

Terminology
Scrying=a form of divination that can be done many ways with many forms.
Ἀνδροφάγοι=(Androphagi) means man-eater in Ancient Greek. I could not grab an actual ancient Greek copy of the Odyssey so this may not be the word used there, but it is the word that seems most likely.
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 15: What's worse? Wedding dress shopping or Cannibalistic dodgeball?

Summary:

Woohoo! Canon!

Notes:

I hope you all enjoy <3

Thank you @Aqullya, @Astrael, @Maedhbh, and @Hatima for looking over the fight scene for me!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Tempest Eve had been really cool though I was glad it was over.

All the lessons from Mevua’ta and Benthesikyme on how to act were put to use, and I’d even been allowed to pick out the jewelry for it.

It was a bit awkward talking to so many mer I didn’t know but Triton helped, and Fetu was by my side for a lot of it so that was nice.

And I got to see Okeanus-ari and Tethys-ran! It was nice to see them again since I hadn’t really dreamed of them in a while.

The conversation was reassuring, they were the same as before. Gentle and curious and checking how I was doing. I was glad they didn’t hold my choice on the solstice against me. I was still incredibly flattered that they’d wanted to adopt me, but I really did want to stay with my family and get to know them more.

And I definitely didn’t want to leave Triton.

They’d left early though. Apparently, they had a lot of work to do preparing for this year’s storm season. It was weird, normally they didn’t have much to do with it as they were in the deep water.

I wondered what they needed to do this storm season.

But the event was cool, I even got to watch the Uatevi Imote prepare and see Triton give the declaration of peace.

Tempest Eve was a popular day to start wars in the sea, it heralded in the storms; so, wars often start with a large storm then. But whenever there isn’t war, the declaration of peace was given.

It was cool to watch Triton do it.

Overall, Tempest Eve went well, and I didn’t make a fool of myself. It was very peaceful and honestly, I was kinda excited for the next one.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Okay so my dreams were weird, I knew that. Like theoretically they were prophetic sorta? Like dream swimming and all.

But sometimes they were clearly just dreams.

I mean the woolly mammoth one was clearly just a dream but this one? This one took the cake.

I was standing on a deserted street in a little beach town. Florida. I’d never been to Florida but as usual my senses in water came to my rescue. It was weird though, I hadn’t had that instinct in dreams before, even my dream swimming.

It was storming horribly, wind and rain ripping at the palm trees along the sidewalk. I knew there was a storm in Florida right then, a tropical storm, it was Veruo after all. Apparently, my dream had picked it up.

I was staring into the clouds when I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and found my friend Grover running for his life… with a woolly mammoth beside him.

What?

Why?

I sighed. My dreams were so weird.

He was carrying his human shoes in his hands and moving fast. His hooves loud even with the storm raging around us. My dream self was tugged along after him and the woolly mammoth.

He looked like a wreck. His fur coated in sand and wet, his hair a tangled disaster, and his shirt torn and stained. He was on the run from… something.

The wind bent the trees nearly to the ground as a bone-rattling growl cut through the storm.

I spun to get a look at the source, a shadowy figure I couldn’t see clearly through the storm. A lamp burst into a shower of sparks as it swatted it aside.

“Have to get away,” gasped as he ran. “I have to warn them!”

Warn them? Who? Of what?

I heard cursing behind me as the ground shook. Grover dashed around a street corner and froze.

A dead end.

There was no time to go back and whatever was following him was getting closer. The woolly mammoth at his side tugged him towards an open door.

ST AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE

He dashed inside with the woolly mammoth, diving into a display of wedding dresses.

What kind of dream- I gagged at the smell of the creature chasing him. Wet sheep, rotten meat, and a very sour body odor. Was he being chased by a terror?

Grover trembled as the woolly mammoth tugged a veil over his head. The terror’s shadow moved past.

There was a long moment where the only thing audible was the rain. And then-

Lightning flashed, a boom sounded, and the front of the store exploded.

“MIIIIIINE!”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I shook off the lingering fear from the dream. It was just a dream, not dream swimming.

Just a nightmare.

A very strange nightmare.

Grover was fine, and not traveling with a woolly mammoth. Honestly, why was that stuck in my head? That was the third dream to include the woolly mammoth.

I ran a hand through my hair and basked for a moment in the morning sun. A shadow briefly covered it.

“Percy, you’re going to be late,” mom called through the door with a knock.

I shook my head, “Coming!”

I quickly changed, idly double checking my moon earrings to make sure they were in right, before feeding Carl and Hippolyta. Ran curled over my wrist while I did, purring softly. I smiled, gently running my finger over his glass scales, before coaxing him to lay on my pillow.

Morning stuff done, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door.

My thoughts drifted back to the dream as I moved to the kitchen to grab breakfast.

It had felt so real but really, a woolly mammoth? I’ve seen some crazy things in dreams and in person, but woolly mammoths were long extinct. How could Grover find one? If not for that… well that was just silly.

What would be chasing Grover like that anyways? He was a seeker and that was dangerous but surely, he wouldn’t be on the run in Florida in a wedding boutique with a woolly mammoth in a hurricane.

That was ridiculous.

Must’ve just been a dream.

“It’s your last day, Percy,” Mom said as she put my plate in front of me. “Are you excited?”

I smiled, digging into my breakfast.

“Yeah, me and my friends are gonna grab ice cream after. And of course, I’m going back to camp tomorrow. I’m really excited to see everyone again.”

Her smile faltered slightly, “Ah yeah. About that…”

“What?”

She wrung the dishcloth in her hand, studying my breakfast of blue waffles and blue eggs.

“Khiron called me last night and well…”

My heart sank as I put down my fork, “Did something happen?”

He wouldn’t have contacted us if it wasn’t important. He hadn’t contacted us all year after all.

“He thinks that… well, it might not be safe at camp right now. We may have to postpone.”

I stared for a moment, completely baffled. “How could camp half-blood not be safe? It has a barrier and everything? Did something happen? Have you told Triton?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. They’ve been having some problems at camp and…”

The clock chimed the half-hour.

My mom shook her head, “We can talk about it this afternoon, okay?”

I reluctantly nodded but my mind was racing. What was going on at camp? Did Triton hear about it yet? What was so worrisome for mom?

I’d just have to wait till that afternoon.

“Have fun at school,” Mom said, kissing my forehead. “We’ll do an offering of thanks to Apollo and Athena tonight okay?”

“Okay,” I gave her a quick hug. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

I grabbed my bag and headed out. I wanted to stay and find out more, but I needed to meet up with Tyson.

My thoughts drifted to my dream again. Could these problems be related? But no. It was just a dream. Wasn’t it?

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

English was, as usual, a pain. We were reading Lord of the Flies which was… interesting.

Annabeth mentioned that it was based entirely on rich upper-class white boys, and that any other group wouldn’t do anything even remotely similar.

She was correct of course. It was entirely the rich upper-class white boys in the class that made us pass the final by acting exactly like the book describes.

I wasn’t sure why our final exam comprised of us being put in the yard for an hour without adult supervision but… it ended in a massive wedgie contest between the boys of the different classes, two pebble fights, a full-tackle basketball game (don’t ask), and my friends and me hiding on the climbing area.

Unsurprisingly it was Matt Sloan leading most of the activities. For once he also wasn’t shooting Klara wary looks. It was probably because of the extra half a dozen, very big, students with him. I didn’t recognize them, but I knew the school did programs for students in need (like the one Tyson was in on) so maybe they were with that?

He still avoided us mind you, but that was fine with me. I didn’t want to be near him anyways.

“Why do they pull up underwear?” Tyson wondered.

“They’re loud idiots,” Nikola muttered, laying as comfortably as he could on the edge of the climbing area.

“They like feeling strong?” Klara offered.

“I’ve been studying their behavior all year and I think it’s because they think beating people up makes them cool,” Kai said with a nod.

Acantha laughed.

Tyson nodded solemnly, “They are strange.”

“Extremely,” I agreed.

By the time class was over we’d discussed plans for meeting up next year even if we didn’t all attend the same school (Nikola was probably transferring, we weren’t sure where Tyson would be, and Klara, Acantha, and Kai weren’t sure about their next year) and had determined that at the very least we could keep in contact via letters.

I’d talk to mom about getting Tyson a PO box with our Lotus card if I couldn’t get Metua to do something for him.

Our English teacher, Mr. de Milo, came out to inspect the class and determined that we all understood Lord of the Flies perfectly. We had all passed his course with flying colors and would never ever grow up to be violent people.

Zoey and I shared a look and held back laughs.

Our next exam was science. Mrs. Tesla told us we had to mix chemicals until something exploded and well… my partner was Tyson.

We made things explode without even trying.

Suffice to say it took us less than thirty seconds to cause an explosion. And a suspicious orange mushroom cloud in the trash. And got the entire room evacuated.

We got an A though, and special commendation for being the quickest to ever pass her exam. The hazardous waste removal squad coming in gave her the side eye.

I settled into my Social Studies classroom next.

The messes of morning exams were very helpful for taking my mind off of the stuff from the morning. But my mind still drifted to my conversation with my mom.

Camp was having trouble.

None of my friends had told me about problems at camp. I knew that some people were mad about the stuff with Luke… was that what it was? Where campers mad about the Luke situation and Chiron didn’t think it was safe for me to return?

I shook my head, pushing those concerns away. That wouldn’t help right now I should focus on something else.

I dug out my mythology notebook while I waited for the teacher to be ready for the exam. I ran my finger over my notebook inner cover where I had pictures of my friends there, smiling out at me. Annabeth at the Washington monument, Acantha, Kai, and Klara eating ice cream for the first time (their old home didn’t even have ice cream??), Nikola draping an arm over Zoey while she held up a sketch of him napping, Tyson skateboarding.

It was reassuring to see.

I’d never many (any really) friends before and now I had lots. It was nice.

I closed it after a moment and pulled out my pencil and ruler for the map drawing.

My gaze drifted around the room while I waited, landing briefly on Klara who was doing a last minute look over her notes.

Probably smart, this wasn’t exactly my best class. But I’d already spent ages studying and didn’t feel like looking at it again right now.

Sloan was goofing off with the unknown kids. They were definitely visiting, maybe joining next year, because they had those HI! MY NAME IS: name tags. I couldn’t see the names from where I was though.

Sloan saw me looking and shot me a nasty smile, his friends following his gaze to grin dangerously at me.

I frowned and looking back at the front just in time to see the teacher standing up.

He moved to the front and called the class to order (or as close as the class would get) and handed out the exam.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I thought I heard someone call my name as I left class, but when I looked around no one was looking at me. Before I could double check the crowd rushed by and I went along to P.E. Last class before lunch, then I had my Portuguese exam.

I was actually looking forward to that exam. I’d been studying a lot with Fetu in the ocean (even though the teacher insisted that that wasn’t proper Portuguese grammar and stuff… It was still fun) and with Kai, Nikola, and Zoey on land. It was fun to try and figure out how to say everything with them.

But first, P.E.

All my friends but Klara had P.E. with me, which was nice but also sad because she was great at physical stuff apparently and we mainly did team activities. And also, I enjoyed chatting with her.

I reached the locker room and quickly got changed, ignoring the malicious grin Matt was sending the group of us. He looked excited.

The gym uniform was sky-blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts, which looked ridiculous on most everyone. It clashed with my hair too (or at least Zoey said it did).

Once I finished Tyson shyly looked at me.

“Um, Percy… will you… uh…”

He was standing by the weight-room door, clutching his clothes.

I nodded quickly, “Yeah sure, no problem.”

He slipped in to change.

He never liked changing around others, which was understandable. He had a lot of big scars and I got questions about the dark one on my palm from the pit scorpion. I couldn’t imagine he’d enjoy getting all the questions with his being so much worse.

Nikola and Kai waited with me until Tyson was ready and then we headed out.

When we got into gym the coach, Coach Nunley, was sitting at his little desk reading Sports Illustrated. He was very old, shriveled, and moved less than the Oracle at Camp. I wasn’t sure why he was in charge of gym.

Zoey and Acantha joined us just as Matt moved over to the coach.

“Hey Coach,” Matt said boldly. “Can I be captain?”

“Eh?” Coach Nunley looked up for a moment. “Yeah… mm-hmm.”

Matt grinned and, unfortunately, took charge of things.

I was made the other teams captain, which was weird he hadn’t targeted me in ages.

It didn’t really matter that I was captain ‘cause everyone picked their sides quickly, and I’d long earned a reputation as a disaster in gym (though I did improve through the year a lot!). Most of the jocks, popular kids, and anyone that wanted to win went over to Matt’s side, plus the visiting students.

The six of them were as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, which didn’t bode well for my side.

I had my friend group, but Nikola never tried, and Zoey wasn’t good at throwing the dodge balls. Acantha, Kai, and Tyson were good at this, and I was alright, but with the six visitors? We were outnumbered.

The rest of my side was made up of the ‘nerd’ students and those that just didn’t care.

I winced as Matt spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of gym and two students whimpered and fled. It appeared no one on my side wanted to face Matt’s team.

“Scared,” Tyson mumbled. “Smells funny.”

“It’s okay!” Zoey chirped, slowly sliding behind Tyson. “We’ll kick their butt.”

I blinked, “What smells funny?”

“Them,” Tyson said pointing at Matt’s new buddies. “Smell funny.”

I stared at Tyson for a moment, before my gaze snapped to the visitors. Tyson was a Kyklopes. Kyklopes could smell demigods and… and-

Matt blew the coach’s whistle and the game started.

The other team ran for the center line while on my side another kid bolted from the room and one hid behind the wall mat to hide.

“Tyson,” I said. “What do-“

A ball slammed into my gut with all the force of a hippocampi kick. I sat down hard on the floor, wheezing. I coughed hard, blinking back tears.

Oh dear.

“Percy!” Acantha cried.

“Percy duck!” Tyson yelled.

I rolled to the side and another dodgeball whistled past my ear.

Whoom!

It hit the wall mat and the kid hiding there yelped.

Smells funny. No human could throw that hard with a dodge ball. My ribs were hurting.

Smells funny. They weren’t human. They were-

Areo.

“Hey!” Zoey yelled. “You could hurt someone with those throws-“ she yelped as Tyson knocked a dodgeball away from her.

The visitors laughed, “I hope so.”

They were no longer looking so human.

Avero, I’d gotten so used to my senses over the last few years- but my necklace cut them off. I’d missed the signs.

The visitors were grinning at me with sharp yellowed teeth. They were over two meters with bulky muscles and tattooed arms.

They were terrors.

Matt dropped his ball. “Whoa! You’re not from Detroit! Who…”

Zoey rubbed her eyes and Nikola made a strangled noise.

“Uh… what’s up with them?” she asked weakly.

I faltered, they couldn’t see through the mist. I had no idea what the mist was showing them.

“Monsters,” Kai muttered. “Laistrygones.”

I jerked to stare at him in surprise. “What?”

The other kids started screaming around us, trying to flee. But the newly determined Laistrygones didn’t allow that, sending a ball streaking to the door with deadly accuracy. The door slammed shut like magic (it probably was).

The kids screamed and banged on the doors, but they didn’t budge.

I snatched at my trident charm, stepping forward.

“Let them go!”

Zoey hissed at me to get back and Nikola made another strangled noise.

One of the Laistrygones leered at me, “And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We aren’t just playing for your death today, we want lunch!”

He waved his hand and summoned a new batch of dodgeballs on the center line. These were not red rubber balls though, they were bronze, the size of cannon balls, and had holes like whiffle balls but with bubbling fire.

“Son of the Sea God?” Zoey muttered in confusion.

Nikola turned baffled eyes to me.

“Get out of here,” I told them, ignoring the knot of anxiety in my stomach.

I didn’t want them learning about my Godly heritage like this. Or at all really. But right now I had to focus.

The other students were staring at the Laistrygones in terror and frankly I was really wondering what they were seeing through the mist, but now wasn’t the time.

“Run, get out through the other exit!”

Most of the class ran for the locker room but Nikola and Zoey hesitated. Acantha and Kai didn’t even pretend to go that way.

One of the giants waved his hand and the locker room doors slammed shut, sealing us in with a sense of finality.

“No one leaves unless you’re out!” He roared. “And you’re not out until we eat you!”

Kai was looking around with a frown and Acantha was studying the water fountain. Their lack of real concern for the situation made my mind drift back to all the strange things about them.

I pushed my questions for them to the side for now (my necklace felt heavier than normal around my neck in the wake of these realizations). We had threats to handle.

My trident was in my hand and Zoey was staring at my hand in complete confusion and wariness that ached just a little. I steadied into a fighting stance I remembered learning at camp. It felt weird after fighting so long in the ocean, my legs felt awkward and tense and my trident heavier than in the ocean. I had a bad feeling that I should’ve practiced more on land. 

Another giant launched a fireball at the class, causing my teammates to scatter as it blasted a crater in the gym floor. My ears rang from the explosions.

“What in the name of Athena is going on?” Zoey cried as she pulled Nikola (still making strange noises) away. Good, they were going to be alright.

I tried to dart forward but had to dive to the side as another fire ball came right at me. The explosion scorched my shirt. 

“Flesh!” Roared one giant.

“Hero flesh for lunch!” grinned the other.

They both took aim at me as I scrambled to move.

“Percy!” Tyson cried as he jumped in front of me and planted his feet.

Water exploded from the water fountain and Tyson caught the fireballs.

“Tyson!” I called, pushing up.

The heat scorched my skin from being so close to them. Tyson was Kyklopes, he was fire resistant, but I still worried.

Acantha threw her hands towards another giant and Tyson threw the balls back at the ones who threw them.

He was fine.

The water surged to surround a giant’s head.

I was back on my feet as the two giants Tyson hit with the bronze fire balls exploded into twin columns of flame and the watery one fell to his knees, clawing at his throathisthroat.

I snatched at the water still spewing from the water fountain with my power and readied myself to shield us from the fireballs.

“My brothers!” One of the cannibals wailed. He flexed his muscles with a snarl, fireball in hand. “You will pay for their destruction!”

He wound back his arm and threw with a roar. 

I lashed out with a shield of water, hardening it to ice just as the fireball reached it, but it shattered immediately. 

I stumbled back even as Tyson swatted the fireball aside, it landed in the stands just behind Coach Nunley with a huge KA-BOOM!

They shattered my shield like it wasn’t even there-

“Look out,” Kai called as he tugged me out of the way of another ball.

Tyson caught another fireball, the other two giants hefting their balls.

The one Acantha had been drowning finally crumbled to dust.

I sent a surge of water towards one of the giants, copying Acantha’s move. Tyson sent the ball back at it’s owner, making another fiery column appear, scattering dust once more. I wrapped the water around the fifth giant’s head, forcing it down his throat and ignored his thrashing.

Kai dodged a fireball himself, shoving Zoey and Nikola back further.

Tyson charged towards the last one.

An explosion rocked the floor as the final one threw at Tyson and missed.

My eyes narrowed as Tyson punched him in the face.

The one I was drowning staggered, trying to grab another fireball to throw and I struggled to pull his head away.

Tyson smashed his opponent's face into the ground and gained another dust pile.

I startled as the one I was drowning suddenly went rigid, his expression shifting to pained surprise.

Right where his belly button would’ve been, his T-shirt ripped open and something came out.

The tip of a blade.

He gurgled in the water and then exploded into flame, leaving behind a final dust pile.

Standing in the dust was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched and she had the bag we got on our quest slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were wild as she looked me over.

Matt Sloan, who’d barely moved since the start and somehow wasn’t dead, gaped.

I finally looked around, taking in the scene.

The gym was in flames with craters all over. Zoey and Nikola were still gaping at me (and at Kai, Acantha, Tyson, and Annabeth). Kids were running around screaming and tugging at the doors. Sirens were wailing in the background and the intercom could be heard making noise above.

Through the glass window of the exit doors I could see a crowd of teachers, with the headmaster at the front tugging at the doors.

Well I knew that wasn’t active shooter protocol.

“Hey, Percy,” Annabeth said stopping in front of me.

I blinked, “Annabeth… how long have you been following me?”

She coughed, “Pretty much all morning. I was trying to find a good time to talk to you…”

“There!” A woman screamed, and the doors burst open.

“Meet me outside,” Annabeth said. “And I guess bring him.”

She shot Tyson a look of distaste that made me stiffen. Yeah, he was a Kyklopes but that was no reason to be mean.

She shoved her hat on her head and vanished.

“Persi-aia,” Kai started.

I shook my head, looking around the burning gymnasium. Oh, how fun there was a big hole in the wall. Must’ve been blasted out by one of the fireballs.

“Zoey Arrow,” Mr. Bonsai started. “What… how…”

Zoey and Nikola blinked owlishly, and Mr. Bonsai turned to me.

“Percy Jackson-“

Tyson stumbled over to my side.

“It was Percy!” Matt cried to the teachers baffled looks. “Percy blew up the gym! Set the building on fire and everything!”

“What- that’s preposterous-“

“Just ask Coach Nunley,” Matt insisted.

“Now hang on,” I said. “I didn’t-“

“He had nothing to do with this,” Kai said firmly.

“Back off Matt,” Acantha snapped.

“Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm,” Coach Nunley said.

The other adults looked around, but I could see their looks, and the way they eyed the hand holding my trident.

They wouldn’t believe me about this, they never did. Plus, I had no idea what my trident was looking like, and Coach Nunley was no help.

“Go,” Kai muttered. “We’ll handle this.”

I stared at him for just a moment before nodding.

They were from the ocean, called me Persi-aia. They were probably here to keep me safe or something. They could probably handle this.

I shrunk my trident and grabbed Tyson.

“Come on,” I said, leading the way as I jumped out the gaping hole in the side of the building.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment, they feed my soul.

What did you think of his dreams? His school? How about the dodgeball? What do you think his guards are gonna do now?

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

The commentary on Percy's Portuguese teacher is a reference to how the sea tends to pick up rougher versions of it. More from sailors and the like, so the grammar and format isn't exactly proper.

Halmaheran
Mevua'ta=step-mother
Uatevi Imote=Storm Mages
Veruo=storm season
Metua=Father
Areo=fuck
Avero=shit

Suffixes
ari=old king
ran=old queen
aia=prince

Terminology
Benthesikyme=African sea-nymph and Goddess of the waves. A daughter of Poseidon who was married to Enalos, king of Ethiopia.
Tempest Eve=Ocean holiday recognizing the start of the storm season and the beginning of preparations for it
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Laistrygones=cannibalistic (as in man-eating) giants

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 16: We Hail the Taxi of Strange Numbers

Summary:

I'm back!

Notes:

Thanks for your patience on the update! I've been very sick the last few weeks and am feeling a bit more healthy today (tho very sore). So finally got to write the update! Next chapter is already started and will hopefully be posted on the actual schedule <3

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Annabeth was waiting for us in the alley down Church Street. She pulled us both off the sidewalk just as a fire truck went past, siren wailing.

“Where’d you find him?” she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

I blinked, I would normally be delighted to see her. Really, she was a good friend of mine and I’d been worried about her being at home. But I was just attacked, found out some of my friends were guards for me (and oh didn’t I feel dumb for missing the signs), and now she was glaring at Tyson, my friend. I never had gotten around to telling her I had a Kyklopes friend but really-

“He’s my friend,” I said firmly.

“Is he homeless?”

I took a deep breath, “Yes he is. And he can hear you. Why don’t you ask him?”

She scowled, “Talk to him? He can talk?”

“I talk,” Tyson assured her. “You are pretty.”

“Ah! Gross!” She stepped away with her nose scrunched up in disgust.

I scowled, “What’s your problem with him? He’s my friend. And he helped fight the Laist-rie-gons.”

“Laistryonians, and I’m surprised they had the guts to attack you with him there. Doesn’t change what he is though.”

Tyson tried to reach out and touch Annabeth’s blonde hair, his eyes wide, but she smacked his hand away.

I gently tugged him back while shooting her a frown.

“Annabeth, leave him alone. He hasn’t done anything wrong and just because he’s a Kyklopes-“

“You know that he’s a Kyklopes and still hang out with him,” she asked with a sour look.

“Yeah?” I said in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I? He hasn’t hurt anyone.”

She shook her head, “We need to get out of here.”

I frowned at the abrupt change of topic but allowed it for the moment. Tyson didn’t need to hear her insults.

“Why? I mean other than the cops coming after me… again.”

“I told you about my dreams of camp, right?”

I nodded.

“They’ve gotten worse. There’s big trouble there.”

I frowned, “What kind of trouble?”

“I’m not sure yet, but monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia. Have you had a lot of attacks?”

I shook my head, “This was the first one all year… though…”

“Though what?”

“Just… I’m pretty sure a few of my classmates are supposed to be guarding me.”

She blinked. “Oh… well-“

Tyson raised his hand, “Giants in the gym called Percy… Son of the Sea God?”

“Er… yeah. I’m the son of Poseidon.”

He frowned, looking confused. “But then…”

A siren wailed as a police car raced past our alley.

“We don’t have time for this,” Annabeth interrupted. “Percy, do you have a drachma?”

“Not with me? I have some in my apartment though.”

“You don’t carry them?”

I shrugged, “I normally do but mine are currently in the locker room with my bag from Triton so…”

She winced but nodded, “Yeah, alright. A quick stop at your apartment.”

“So why do we need a drachma anyways?” I asked.

 “I need it to pay for the taxi, but I’m out now.”

“That is bad,” Tyson said.

She ignored him and nodded to me, “Lead the way.”

I sighed but did so. What taxi took drachmas though?

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Stopping at my apartment went fairly quick.

My mom wasn’t there when we arrived, so I quickly changed then grabbed another backpack.

I shoved some clothes, my armor pieces, some accessories, my knife, Ran, and a few other things into my bag, plus of course the drachmas. I moved Carl to his special bowl for transport (which didn’t fit in the full bag so I grabbed a duffle) then made one for Hippolyta too.

And, of course, my water skin.

“That’s an octopus,” Annabeth muttered.

“This is Hippolyta,” I said. “Tyson can you grab the food- thanks.”

He handed it to me and smiled at ‘Lyta. “Hello, pretty octopus.”

She preened at the praise.

“We need to get going,” Annabeth said with a frown.

“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything I need.”

I paused in the kitchen to write a quick note for my mom, telling her where I went, then let Annabeth lead the way.

As we walked I noticed that she was looking a lot worse than I’d realized. Her chin had a nasty cut on it and her hair was tangled with grass and twigs. Her shirt had several stains, and one sleeve was torn off, while her pant hems had some suspicious claw marks in them, with the knees worn down in a way that was not meant to be stylish.

She stopped us at the corner of Thomas and Trimble.

“Drachma,” Annabeth demanded, holding out a hand.

I handed her one.

“παύω,” she declared fiercely. “O ἅρμα Γραια.”

Chariot of the Graiai? I knew about the Graiai… where had I heard that…

She threw the coin to the ground, but instead of hitting the ground it sunk in.

There was a brief pause.

“What does that-“

The tarmac darkening interrupted Tyson. It melted into a rectangular pool of bubbling red liquid, about the size of a parking space. Then in a blink a car erupted up.

Somehow the liquid didn’t spray everywhere, simply seemed to part for the car.

The car was clearly a taxi, just not like one I’d ever seen. It was a misty white color, literally. It reminded me of a seafoam spray at the beach.

The door had Γραια written on it in a dark grey. Graiai, Grey Ones.

The passenger window seemed to vanish in a mist and an old woman stuck her head out. She had short grey hair that was messy, fluffed out everywhere like a disheveled bird.

“Passage?” She said in a raspy voice, like an echo of waves on the shore.

“Three for Camp Half-Blood,” Annabeth declared, opening the door and motioning me in.

The women squinted at Annabeth, “That’ll be extra, we don’t take Athena’s.”

Annabeth blinked, “What-“

It suddenly clicked where I’d heard of them, “Oh, you’re the Gray Sisters!”

Her head swung towards me and I noticed she didn’t have an eye.

“Give me the eye Deinô, I smell the sea on this one.”

I waved hesitantly as there was a brief scuffle, then another woman stuck her head out.

“Oh!” she cried. “Poseidon kid!”

“So?” Annabeth grumbled. “Why won’t you let me in? Antonio didn’t mention this.”

“Bah, Athena causes us problems.”

“Sends kids for info.”

“Steals our stuff.”

“Triton hates her.”

“No Athena kids,” all three finished.

Annabeth scowled, “What if we pay extra?”

“We can triple the payment,” I offered.

There was a brief scuffle and I heard them whispering in Halmaheran, “Poseidon kid- with her though? Well- but if- for triple pay though-“

The first woman stuck her head out again, “Triple pay, get in.”

Annabeth nudged us in, Tyson in-between the two of us with our bags on our laps, my duffle with Hippolyta and Carl at my feet.

The interior was slightly damp, like it was actually made of sea foam. The seats had an almost green tinge, and the seat belts were made of what looked like seaweed.

“Long Island!” the first declared. “Let’s get started.”

“How come it’s so… ocean themed?” Annabeth wondered as the driver hit the gas.

A recording started playing on the sea foam rainbow of the seats in front of us, a figure speaking.

“Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer of Zeus. When I’m out buying wine for the King of Olympus, I always make sure to buckle up!”

I turned to Annabeth. “Well, the Graiai are children of Phorkys and Keto, sea Gods. I learned some about them in my lessons.”

“Huh, I’ve only heard about them with the story of Perseus, I didn’t realize they were from the ocean.”

The cab whipped around the corner of West Broadway as the gray lady in the middle (Deinô) screeched “Go left!”

“Yeah!” I grinned, clutching the door. “They’re pretty good at divination.”

“That we are! We always know the info our riders need to know.”

Annabeth blinked, “What do we need to know?”

“None of your business.”

She winced.

“Red light, Persis!” cried Deinô.

The car accelerated through the light.

I leaned forward, “Could you tell us what we need to know?”

“Not a chance, we don’t share.”

I hummed, digging through my bag for my money pouch. “What about for a few Silava?”

There was a beat of silence.

“We can’t be bribed!” Cried the third one.

“Not feeling so good,” Tyson muttered as the car whipped around another corner at Deinô’s command.

“Hang in there,” I muttered before turning back to the front. “What about a sand dollar?”

“A sand dollar?” The middle one asked, whipping around. She had the eye, Deinô.

I held up one of my sand dollars, it’d been in the box of accessories ‘cause I’d been trying to make a necklace with it.

“It’s a functioning sand dollar? Let me see!”

I held it back, “Nearly fully functioning, made by myself. It’s been charging for a few weeks, give it another year or two and it’ll be great.”

“Twenty-one Silava and three sand dollars and you have a deal.”

“Enyô,” hissed Deinô.

“Sand dollars, I’m not missing a chance for those.”

I only had the one sand dollar with me, I’d left the box in my room.

“One sand-dollar now, and two more if the info turns out to be accurate.”

“Of course it is!”

“Pay attention to the road!” Enyô shrieked.

Deinô spun around and screeched, “That’s your turn!”

“One sand dollar now, two later, and twenty-one Silava now.”

“Percy, don’t feel good,” Tyson mumbled, face green.

I rubbed his back with a frown, “Well?”

Annabeth was watching with bated breath.

“Deal!” Enyô cried.

“Fine!” Persis grumbled.

“Sand dollar!” Deinô cheered.

“So, what do we need to know?”

“Twenty-eight, eighteen, thirty-three, seventy, fifty, fifty-six.”

I blinked in confusion.

“What?”

“We’re here!” Deinô chirped and Enyô slammed on the breaks.

“Sand dollar!” Persis snapped.

“Oh, bull,” Deinô muttered.

“Percy we gotta go!”

Annabeth slammed the door open, hurrying out and up the hill to-

I shoved the sand dollar into Enyô’s grasping hand and dumped Silava into her hand before leaping out, Tyson stumbling out behind me.

The Taxi’s wheels squealed as Enyô hit the gas again and they were gone.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Antonio POV

I helped Klara pack her weapons with a sigh.

We’d done our job of keeping the Aipri safe during the school year, but what a mess of a last day. He’d gone with the Athena kid and the other guards had only caught up as the Grey Ones taxi drove off.

That hopefully meant he was reaching camp safely, and thus our jobs were done.

“What should I do with Persi’s bag?” Acantha wondered.

“We’ll drop it off with Triton-re’aia,” I assured. “Put it in the other box.”

Kai was carefully packing his notes in the appropriate sealants, to keep them from being damaged in the water when we returned to the sea.

“Do you think we’ll be back next school year?” Klara asked.

“It’s possible, but that will depend on Triton-re’aia.” I tucked her knives into their sheathes and slipped them into the box. “You three did a good job keeping him safe this year, I’m very pleased.”

They preened.

“And we made sure that he wasn’t in trouble at the school,” Kai added. “That was tough, but he’ll be able to return next year.”

I nodded, “And that was wonderfully done. You’ve really improved on your aihemne, Acantha.”

She flushed, “It was barely enough, I’m just glad it worked. I’m still no good at the himne.”

“Well, perhaps you can improve over the summer,” I mused. “It’s a very useful, if difficult to master, skill to have. Even if it only works on the mortals with no magic of their own at your level, that’s still enough to do well on this mission.”

“Antonio-fu’oro, have you seen my math book? I have to complete it over the summer if we are going back-“

I smiled and turned to help Acantha find her book.

They did well, they’d earned a nice long rest for the summer.

Hopefully Triton-re’aia didn’t need us for anything else this summer.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the Gray Sisters? About Percy's reactions to things? And Annabeth?

Oh, and a quick note! Constructive criticism means grammar, spelling, plot issues, or rep issues. Please be polite, this is a story I share for free, I'm not open to people insulting my story :). If you have to start a comment with something like "This is probably unwelcome" then just don't make the comment.

Oh, and Rick got so much wrong about the Gray Sister's scenes- like I don't even know why he made it a smoky car?? And their names Ouch. And did you know they're actually of the sea? And like- Rick- he got so much of the ancient Greek wrong- I spent almost an hour checking and double checking the translations to get something that seemed fairly close to accurate.

Persi is being used instead of Percy because in Halmaheran there is no Letter 'C'. So for those in the sea they refer to him as Persi. There is also no letter 'J' so Percy Jackson will become Persi Yakson.

Halmaheran
Silava=silver coins, worth 79.65 USD a piece
21 Silava= 1,672.65 USD (expensive)
Aipri=Prince
Persi=Spelling of Percy in the sea

Suffixes
re'aia=high prince
aihemne=siren's song
himne=song
fu'oro=master teacher (basically commander)

Terminology
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Laistryonians=cannibalistic giants from the sea of monsters
παύω, o ἅρμα Γραια=Pauō, o harma Graiai=Ancient Greek for stop/to make cease/abate, chariot of gray ones/old women
Graiai=old women/gray ones (not gray sisters Rick
Deinô=One of the Gray Ones, means Terrible
Persis=One of the Gray Ones, means Destroyer
Enyô=One of the Gray Ones, means Warlike
Ganymede=cup bearer of Zeus
Phorkys=Old Sea God, God of the dangers of the sea
Keto=Old Sea Goddess, Goddess of dangers of the sea, specifically sea monsters

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Chapter 17: There’s More Tatov-Avero Going On

Summary:

There are bulls loose on the hill

Notes:

I am back to consistent updates! Yes! Next chapter is partially written too! I'm so glad to be back at this, I've missed my update schedule.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Now, you may be wondering. What does Tatov-Avero mean? It’s not actually accurate to the situation you see, because tatov means whale, not bull. But the word for bull in Halmaheran, Pelio, is shared with the word for Minotaur and sacrifice, so it’s a bit weird to put with avero. Plus, we don’t really have to worry about bulls in the ocean. So, whale make more sense.

Why was this relevant? Because I was not dealing with whales at the camp boarder, I was dealing with two life-sized, celestial bronze bulls. That breathed fire.

“This isn’t good,” Annabeth said as we paused to watch the battle raging on the hill.

The bulls were raging over the hill, breathing fire on the campers in full battle armor defending it. The campers were clearly losing, and were in desperate need of help, but I still faltered.

Annabeth was clearly noticing the same thing as me based on her expression.

“The bulls-“ I hesitated.

“They’re going through the barrier,” Annabeth agreed grimly.

And they were, even as we watched one charged over the top of the hill to attack one of the campers.

That shouldn’t have been possible. Even before Thalia’s death there were magical protections on the camp that made it harder for them to enter, with Thalia’s death it was all but impossible. So how were the bulls crossing the border?

“Boarder patrol to me!” shouted a familiar gruff voice.

What boarder patrol?

“Clarisse,” Annabeth said. “Come on, we have to help.”

I nodded. Though I wasn’t really a fan of Clarisse, I wasn’t about to let her get flambeed by the bulls.

I flicked the lid off my water skin and dropped my bags by Tyson.

“Stay here,” I told him. “We can handle this.”

“No!” Annabeth cried. “We need his help.”

“He’s just a kid Kyklopes!?”

“He’s fire-proof. Percy do you know what those are up there?”

“Big metal bulls?”

She huffed, “I forget sometimes you know all kinds of things about the sea and basically nothing about land. Those are the Kolkhis bulls, made by Hephaestus Himself. We can’t fight them without serious fire protection.”

“Okay, but we don’t have that so-“

“If I had Medea’s Sunscreen SPF 50,000 we’d be fine, but since I don’t we need the Kyklopes.”

“His name is Tyson,” I snapped.

“Fine, whatever, but we need his help.”

I glanced at him, then back at the bulls. Tyson may have been fire-proof but he was a young Kyklopes. Could I really send him into battle?

“I can help,” Tyson assured me.

I bit my lip, “Fine. But don’t take any chances Tyson.”

I pulled my charm and let my trident grow into my hand. “Let’s go.”

Annabeth led the way up the hill, me and Tyson behind her.

As we neared them I could see Clarisse getting her patrol into phalanx formation. It was a good idea… for flesh and bone beings. Against the bronze bull I wasn’t sure the spears would do much.

Plus, there were only six campers in it, including Clarisse. The rest were either on the ground or on fire. That did not make a strong phalanx.

Annabeth split off, charging towards the closer bull that was aiming for a downed camper.

“Hey, air conditioner,” she called. “Did you get that fire from Khione?”

The bull wheeled around to face her, pawed the ground, then charged. Flames blazing from it’s mouth.

Well that was one way to do it.

Annabeth put on her hat as it got close and vanished. I hoped she got out of the way of the fire in time.

The bull stumbled around in confusion.

While that was going on, the campers above us got in a solid formation and the other bull was charging the line. It’s speed was ridiculous considering it’s size.

I flicked my wrist, summoning water from the water skin, and began to build it up. I couldn’t really see the bull past the phalanx, but the white-hot flames were very visible.

“Hold the line!” Clarisse ordered.

The other bull started to wheel around to charge at Clarisse from behind, so I veered off my charge and lashed out.

The water I’d been building up swept out, curling around the mouth of the boar. And promptly turned to vapor.

Okay those were hot.

The bull faltered, turning to face me as I sent a disc of water over it, freezing it and dropping it.

It snorted and breathed fire, only for the ice to melt and splash down onto the bull.

It didn’t seem to do much, steam coming off the bull, but the bull seemed angry about it anyways. It shook it’s head before charging at me.

Oops.

“Percy!” Tyson yelled, jumping in front of me and catching the bull as it ran into him.

He clutched it with a grunt, then raised his fist and punched it in the face.

“Bad cow!”

The bull stumbled with a grunt, flames spewing from it. I spun more ice out, draping it over the bull as quickly as I could.

It bellowed as the ice melted, drenching it in water. It staggered a few steps, trying to turn away from us, but Tyson punched it in the side and it hit the ground hard. There was a faint groaning noise as it’s feet scrambled for purchase.

Tyson slammed into it once more and it went still.

I took a deep breath, curling the remaining water around me and pulling out more as I turned to the phalanx above.

It was broken, with several more campers on the ground and Clarisse using a new spear (probably from a fallen camper) and charging the bull.

I nodded to Tyson, “If you can knock that bull over, do it.”

He nodded, “Okay, Percy.”

We both started back up the hill as Clarisse thrust the spear into the chest of the bull.

It bellowed and lashed out with it’s hooves, sending Clarisse flying. She hit the ground hard and didn’t move.

The bull pawed the ground and started charging for her (slower than before) and I lashed out with the water, forming a thin barrier of ice.

I saw Annabeth heading towards Clarisse from the corner of my eye.

The bull swerved, snorting in confusion, and then I reached the top of the hill.

The bull swung to face face me, and I didn't have time to wonder at Tyson no longer being with me. I thrust forward with my trident, catching it in the neck, and it shook it’s head, making me pull back.

I steadied, then pushed up, ready to flip over it’s head and stab down. Only instead I tumbled to the ground.

Ow, what-

Oh.

I was on land, not in the water.

It snorted and opened it’s mouth as I scrambled to my feet.

Annabeth shouted from somewhere behind me, “Tyson, help him!”

I raised water in a shield.

“Can’t—get—through!”

Flames started to spew from it’s chest, where Clarisse’s spear was, before the bulls mouth start glowing.

“I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!”

I threw myself back, the shield in place, as thunder shook the hillside.

“Percy needs help!”

Tyson was in front of me again as the flames finally roared. It was a swirling red, white, and blue tornado of flames, swirling around him till all I could see was his silhouette.

It was uncomfortably hot, and I stumbled back.

Even as a Kyklopes, I had a hard time believing anyone could survive that.

Then the flames faded, and Tyson stood there, completely unharmed.

The bull stopped, tilting it’s head with a confused snort.

“Bad cow!” Tyson balled up his fists and punched it in the face.

There was only a crater where it’s snout was before, more flames spouting from it’s ears. Tyson punched it again, crumpling the face entirely.

“Down!” he yelled while slamming his hands down on it’s head.

The bull crashed to the ground, the legs splayed out around it. It made one last groan before it’s head hit the ground and it went still.

Annabeth ran over to me with ambrosia in hand. Clarisse slowly following her. Annabeth must’ve been checking on her.

“Are you alright, Percy?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

Tyson hovered next to me nervously, looking between us.

“I could’ve handled that,” Clarisse grumbled, but she was holding her chest gingerly.

I slumped, the adrenaline fading away. “Yeah, well, I thought I’d lend a hand anyways. You slowed it down for sure.”

She scowled but reached over and wrenched her spears out of the bull.

“Stupid bulls, stupid barrier, stupid fire. Prissy, put out the fire on the hill. Might as well be good for something.”

I let out a sigh but nodded, “Sure, Clarisse.”

“Clarisse,” Annabeth said. “You’ve got wounded campers.”

Clarisse paused in her glare to glance at the other campers.

Annabeth seemed to have been helping them out of the way of the fight, so no one was really worse off than from when we arrived, but they were still injured.

“I’ll be back,” she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

“Are you sure you’re alright Percy?” Annabeth said, turning to me. “You aren’t even scorched- how?”

I shrugged, checking myself over. I was warm from the heat of the fire, but apparently uninjured.

“He did not get burned,” Tyson said with a nod. “I caught the fire.”

I shot him a grin, “Thanks Tyson.”

He beamed.

“Still- that close to that level of fire? You should be at least a little scorched. That’s…” she shook her head. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright. Let’s put out these fires. We need to take- take Tyson down to Khiron.”

I frowned at that but pulled more water out to put out the fires. We moved slowly over the hill, starting on the outside and moving in. We were at the top of the hill again when Clarisse returned.

“Jackson, are you done yet? We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House and let Tantalus know what’s happened.”

I blinked, “Tantalus?”

“The activities director.”

I stared baffled, “Khiron is the activities director. And Argus is head of security- where is he?”

Clarisse made a sour face. “Argus got fired and Khiron… well…”

“He’s been here for thousands of years!?” I said in disbelief. I didn’t like the guy but- “He can’t just be gone. What happened?”

“That happened,” Clarisse snapped.

She pointed to Thalia’s tree.

Everyone knew the story behind the tree, Thalia’s sacrifice and how she’d given her life for her friends to make it to the camp safely. Her death and Zeus’ actions led to her spirit strengthening the boarders of the camp so that no monster could enter if not invited.

The oak tree had stood there since, strong and tall and healthy.

But my heart sank as I studied it now. The once green leaves were yellow and there was a pile of dead ones surrounding the base of the tree.

In the center of the trunk, a meter from the ground, was a small round puncture mark, oozing green sap.

I understood now why the boarders were failing, how the bulls had pushed through. Thalia’s tree was dying.

It had been poisoned.

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

I added some fun mythos facts in the Terminology section if you're curious (which also generally have info on the myth stuff mentioned in the chapter every chapter).

What did you think of the fight? Did you know I wanted to strangle Rick reading the fight scene because the views don't line up with what happens? Are you excited to see the camp?

Halmaheran
Tatov-Avero=Whale-shit
Pelio=bull/minotaur/sacrifice

Terminology
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Kolkhis bull=known as the Tauroi Khalkeoi they were bronze, fire-breathing bulls that guarded the Golden Fleece that Medea helped Jason succeed against in the challenge King Aeetes gave him
Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000=based on the mythological drug that Medea gave Jason that he rubbed on his body, allowing him to survive the bulls fire
Khione=A Goddess of snow
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron

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Chapter 18: I Get a New Cabinmate

Summary:

(or two)

Notes:

And he's arrived at camp <3

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Returning to camp was more different than I expected it to be, especially since I had been here just a few months ago.

Oh, sure the overall place was the same. The cabins still shone, the Big House was still there with his big porch, the strawberry fields still had a fragrant scent. The buildings around the Camp were the same and the fire pit still burned.

But there were differences.

People were tenser.

They weren’t playing volleyball in the sandpit, they were checking weapons. More campers could be seen in the arena, archery field, and drifting into the forest than normal. The tool shed was overflowing, and the forge’s flames were visible despite the distance.

The forest itself was looking sickly too, the meadow grasses a pale yellow, and even though the strawberry fields were blooming, they seemed… thinner than usual.

The camp seemed ready for war.

We made our way to the Big House slowly, taking in the camp as we walked.

I recognized several campers, nodding to Katie as she hurried past, and looking away from Connor and Travis as they shot me scowls.

No one stopped to talk, everyone had something to do this time. Some had messages, some were carrying dulled swords, and some seemed to be patrolling.

It felt like a military school, and I would know. I’d been kicked out of one or two.

Tyson didn’t seem to notice anything wrong though. He kept pointing at things and asking what they were.

“What’s that?” he gasped, pointing.

“The stables for the pegasi,” I said. “They’re winged horses.”

“Wow… what’s that?”

“The general bathrooms.”

“What’s that?”

“The cabins for the campers. We’re put in the cabin of our Olympian parent, or if it’s unknown, in the Hermes cabin—the brown one—until they know who it is.”

Tyson was fascinated by that, “You have a cabin?”

“Yep, number three.” I pointed to the low grey building.

Tyson stared at it in awe.

“You live with friends in the cabin?”

“Not last summer—” I paused, remembering my conversation with my dad “—but I should be doing that this summer. Leilani was given permission to stay in the Poseidon cabin because her mom is a sea goddess.”

“Ooh.”

I answered several more questions from Tyson on the way to the Big House, only stopping when we reached the porch.

Annabeth led the way through the house, moving with the confidence of someone who had taken the route many times before.

As we walked up to an open door I could hear Khiron’s favorite 1960s lounge music playing.

Annabeth hurried in, us right behind her, to find Khiron packing his saddlebags.

Tyson froze when he saw Khiron.

“Pony!” he cried in awe.

Khiron turned, his brow furrowed in offense.

“I beg your pardon?”

Annabeth ignored the interaction and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

“Khiron, what’s happening?” She asked frantically. “You’re not- you’re not… leaving?”

She was shaking, staring up at him. While I didn’t like Khiron, he was practically a father to her. He’d been a parental figure since she arrived at camp six years ago. It wasn’t a surprise that she was shaken by him leaving.

Khiron gently ruffled her hair and pulled back slightly.

“Hello, child. And you as well Percy. You’re both grown so much this year, my goodness. How was home, Annabeth?”

She shook her head, ignoring his question. “Clarisse said you were… you were…”

“Fired,” Khiron confirmed with a wry grin. “Someone had to take the blame, you see. Lord Zeus was- is extremely upset at what happened. The tree he’d created from the spirit of his daughter to guard the camp and his daughter’s loved ones, poisoned!”

“How did it happen?” I asked.

Khiron shrugged, “No one knows. But several campers are missing now…”

Annabeth took a step back, “Did they-“

“We just don’t know,” Khiron sighed. “But someone had to take the blame, or someone’s. Argus is already gone, as head of security he received the blame for failing to stop it. Mr. D has received an extension on his punishment and his authority has been limited. And I, as you can see, am also fired.”

I scowled, none of them would’ve done anything to the tree, that didn’t make any sense.

Annabeth clearly agreed.

“This is crazy!” she cried. “You couldn’t have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia’s tree. And- and why would they blame the others too? Who’s going to take your place? Who’s going to be in charge if even Mr. D doesn’t have authority now? And what about security? How will that be handled?”

“I know, child. But, some in Olympus don’t trust me right now,” he grimaced. “And Lord Zeus has seen fit to send… some others to- to handle the camp now.”

“Who?” I asked with a frown.

Tyson inched forward, looking fascinated as he whispered “Pony.”

Khiron sighed, “Tantalus is now the activities director, getting a chance to prove he’s improved after his time in punishment. And well, Minos is now the head of security. I’m sure you’ll see him when you’re getting assigned to patrols.”

I blinked, “Minos? The king who angered my Metua with the bull thing and caused the Minotaur? Which Theseus slew?”

Khiron nodded, “Yes, that Minos.”

Annabeth stared, “What.”

“Uh…” I frowned.

“He killed kids! Athenian kids!”

“Well,” Khiron said shifting. “Technically he only ordered their sacrifice… and he was a just king… for awhile…”

I stared blankly.

“And he’s a judge of the dead? Who’s doing that now?”

“I’m sure Lord Hades has arranged it,” Khiron coughed. “But, unfortunately, I did not have a say in this. Lord Zeus has made his decision and I am to be gone by sunset. Given the circumstances… well, I am considered a suspect and deemed unsafe to have around children.”

“More unsafe than the guy who fed his kid to the Gods?” Annabeth asked in bafflement.

“What circumstances?” I wondered.

Khiron’s face darkened at my question and he stuffed a really old looking book into his saddlebag.

Tyson leaned over me, with a nervous noise. “Can I pet the pony, Percy?”

Khiron sniffed, “My dear young Kyklopes, I am a kentaur, not a pony.”

“Khiron,” I said, patting Tyson’s arm. “Why are you considered a suspect? What happened to the tree?”

“The tree- well, the poison used is something I have never seen. Likely a venom from a monster from the depths of Tartarus.”

I frowned, “Did- did Metani do it? Or order someone too? Luke could’ve snuck back to poison the tree-“

“Metani- my dear boy do not call the Titan king grandfather.”

I tilted my head, “But what else do I call him?”

“He is the grandfather,” Tyson agreed.

“Anything but that.”

Annabeth interrupted, “But who poisoned the tree? And why do they think it’s you? I mean, the Titan King was the cause of last summer’s mess so- would Luke-“

Khiron placed a hand on her head, “Child, I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and cannot cure it. And… well, nevermind. The tree is slowly dying and has been for a few months. It only has a few weeks left now unless… well, it would take a miracle.”

“Is there something we can do?” Annabeth pleaded.

Khiron shook his head, “Not unless you have medical skills beyond myself.”

“But if the barrier falls then- then the camp-“

“There is hope,” Khiron soothed. “The tree’s barrier is not the only one on the camp. The reason Thalia was coming to camp was because of its barriers. And while they were weaker than they were with the tree, they were still able to keep monsters out.”

“But the monsters are able to get in right now,” I pointed out.

Khiron winced, “Yes… it is possible that the tree’s power not only added to the barriers but wove into them, anchoring them in a way. And in doing so made the entirety of the camp’s protection rely on the tree’s health.”

“So then there isn’t hope?” Annabeth asked, horrified. “If the tree dies the barriers fall and the camp falls?”

Khiron grimaced, “That is… unfortunately likely, but not a guarantee. And besides that, I’ll be searching for an antidote while away. Though there is something that could cure the tree, even without a proper antidote, but it was lost centuries ago.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Annabeth leaned forward, “We can find it, and heal the tree. Then you can stay!”

Khiron closed his saddlebags and swung them onto his back. He pressed the stop button on his boom box and his hand lingered on it for a moment. Then he let out a great sigh and turned back to us, pausing to look us both in the eyes.

“Percy, Annabeth, you must promise me you will not act rashly. I told your mother, Percy, that I did not want you here at all this summer due to the danger. But you are here now, so stay. Both of you should train and learn as much as you can. And most importantly, do not leave.”

“Why?” I asked in frustration. “This is our camp, and we can’t just do nothing. If the boarders fall and they are interconnected then- the camp would be overrun.”

Annabeth nodded, “We can’t do nothing, this is my home-“ she faltered. “You can’t ask me to do nothing Khiron.”

“I understand, but you must not act rashly. This could be a trap. Remember last summer? You nearly lost your life, Percy. And both of you were in grave danger during the quest.”

I bit my tongue to keep from protesting.

I didn’t think Kronos had ordered my death, but I could hardly explain the dreams with him trying to recruit me. But would he resort to poisoning Thalia’s tree? I didn’t want to think he would, but it was possible.

He was waging war, and war was rarely fought fairly.

Annabeth was trying hard not to cry, I could hear her sniffle.

“I- what are we supposed to do then?”

“Stay with Percy, child,” he told her as he wiped a tear from her cheek. “Keep him safe. Remember the prophecy.”

Annabeth nodded shakily, “I will.”

“Prophecy?” Tyson mumbled.

I blinked, “Uh… what does this event have to do with the Great Prophecy?”

The both stilled.

“Where did you learn about that?” Khiron asked sharply.

“From my Metua.”

He stared, “He- we are forbidden from telling you the words so-”

“I already know the words.”

Annabeth blinked at me in surprise.

“What?” I grumbled. “It might be about me, why shouldn’t I know it?”

Khiron shook his head, “Then you know you must be careful. Do not take unnecessary risks.”

I decided that Khiron was not a good judge of necessary risks and thus I would do what I wanted.

“Right.”

“But Khiron,” Annabeth started. “You- you told me that- you said the Gods… they only made you immortal so long as- as you were needed to train heroes. If you’re not teaching heroes-“

“Swear you will protect Percy,” Khiron interrupted her. “That you will do your best to keep him from danger. Swear it on the River Styx.”

“Woah,” I said quickly. “Do not do that.”

Annabeth blinked at me.

Tyson made a sound of confusion.

“Just make a normal promise, not one like that. That’s way too big to use for something like that.”

Khiron frowned, “I- very well. I will accept a general promise.”

Annabeth nodded, wrapping her arms around Khiron again. “I’ll do my best to keep him safe.”

Khiron patted her shoulder as her body shook again, suppressing a sob.

“There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D, Tantalus, and Minos now. We must have hope-“ he shook his head “-I’m sure the camp will survive. And perhaps my name will be cleared, and I may return.

“But-“ I started.

A conch horn blew across the valley, interrupting the conversation. I hadn’t realized the time, but it was time for dinner.

“Go,” Khiron said. “You’ll meet the new workers at the pavilion. I shall inform both your parents that you're safe. I have no doubt they’re worried by now. And remember my warning, you especially Percy. You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment the Titan Lord has forgotten you!”

And with that ominous statement that was rather useless due to my dream conversations with Metani, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall.

Tyson stumbled after him with a panicked call, “Pony! Don’t go!”

I wondered if I should’ve brought up my dream of Grover, then dismissed it. It was still a ridiculous dream, and Khiron wasn’t exactly one to answer questions anyways.

Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth, devastated by the “pony” leaving. Annabeth was sitting on the bed and had buried her face in her hands.

I managed to calm Tyson by promising him other ponies to see later, but Annabeth took longer to gather herself.

I wasn’t surprised.

The person who raised her for years had been kicked out of her only home, the tree holding the spirit of her dead friend was dying, possibly poisoned by her older brother figure, and we could all follow soon if the barriers fell.

I kinda felt like crying with them.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion, lighting it up gold and white, as the campers came up from their cabins.

Annabeth, Tyson, and I stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in.

Annabeth’s eyes were still red and a bit swollen, and she was still shaky, but she promised to talk to me later.

She went to join her siblings from the Athena cabin as they came up, taking the lead of the line to bring them to their table.

The rest of the cabins filed in as well, the Ares behind Athena.

Clarisse had one arm in a sling and a nasty gash on her cheek but otherwise seemed alright.

Behind her was Hephaestus, with Beckendorf leading the way. The was a tall, very handsome, sixteen year-old flashed me a smile as he passed. I flushed.

I smiled at the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins, and nodded to the Dionysus twins. Some of the kids didn’t notice me, some did and nodded, and others did and shot me glares. It seemed some were still upset about the Luke matter.

The Hermes cabin walked past and I blinked as I realized Ella, the replacement cabin head for Luke, was gone and Travis and Connor were leading the cabin. Where did she go? In fact… there seemed to be less Hermes campers than last year, though I did recognize Leilani. Was Alabaster gone too?

Naiads started coming up from the canoe lake, while Dryads melted out of the trees. Satyrs came over from various areas as well.

The last few cabin stragglers rushed into the pavilion and once it seemed everyone was there I stepped towards the head table with Tyson.

Conversations faltered, and heads turned.

“Who invited that?” muttered a voice.

I shot a glare in the direction it came from but couldn’t see who spoke.

Lord D blinked at me, “Ah, Johnson, a pleasure. It seems you’ve brought a… guest.”

He was wearing a leopard-pattern button-up with dark purple pants. A satyr was standing behind him peeling grapes and handing them to him one at a time, shooting nervous looks to the two beside him.

“Hello, Lord D.”

“Oh?” mused one, studying me intently. He had a strange gleam in his eyes. “So, this is Percy Jackson. And you’ve brought your very own monster, how nice.”

The man looked regal, wearing a button up and slacks with shining dress shoes. His hair was shoulder length and neatly pulled out of his face. It was a sharp contrast to the other person beside Lord D.

That one was wearing a ratty t-shirt and sweatpants, his hair looked unwashed and messy and he squinted at me.

I straightened and put all my princely training to use.

“Hello,” I chirped. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Percy Jackson, though you clearly knew that already. This is Tyson, my friend. He helped save the camp from the Bulls earlier.”

The regal one raised an eyebrow, “I am King Minos, the new head of security.”

I made a motion of acknowledgement.

“I do hope you’ll refrain from causing any trouble. As I understand it you have a bit of a habit of it. That won’t be allowed this year.”

I forced myself to not react, despite the snickers from some behind me.

“I’m always on my best behavior, I assure you, Your Majesty.”

“And that’s why you brought that monster in here?” sneered the ratty looking guy. “I suppose we’ll have to figure out what to do with it.”

“He can stay with me, I assure you he’ll be no trouble. He was really a great help earlier.”

“Yes, yes,” Lord D said. “Wonderful job keeping the camp safe. Truly appreciated.”

He made a motion to a satyr and they came forward to put food in front of the three of them.

The ratty one licked his lips, staring at the plate.

“Yes, we’re delighted by that,” drawled Minos. “But why did you bring the monster in with you? Into this camp which is supposed to be a safe space from monsters?”

The ratty one looked at the empty goblet and said, “Root beer, Barq’s special stock. 1967.”

The glass filled itself with foamy soda and he stretched his hand out hesitantly, as if he were afraid the goblet was hot.

“Go on, then, old fellow,” Lord D said with a malicious gleam in his eyes. “Perhaps now it will work.”

Minos smirked and glanced over.

“Tyson is just a child Kyklopes,” I started, faltering as the glass scooted away from the ratty one, spilling a few drops.

He quickly tried to dab the drops up with his fingers but they rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and picked up a fork.

“So?” Minos asked. “What does it being a child have to do with anything?”

I flashed a brilliant smile, “I couldn’t in good conscience leave my friend, nor a child, alone out there.”

Ratty one stabbed at a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.

“Blast!” he snarled.

“Ah well,” Lord D said, his voice dripping with false sympathy. “Perhaps a few more days, Tantalus. I’m sure your old curse will fade eventually.”

Minos sighed, “Yes, conscious, how nice.”

“Eventually,” ratty one- Tantalus muttered. “Do you have any idea how dry one’s throat gets after three thousand years?”

I wondered how a ghost could have a dry throat.

Tyson hid behind me as best as a six foot tall Kyklopes could hide behind a five foot child.

“I was wondering if you had a policy for when non-demigods were in the camp,” I said politely. “Or if Tyson should just sit with me and Leilani.”

“Leilani?” asked Tantalus with a frown. “There’s only one Poseidon child.”

I nodded politely, “Yes, but my Metua said that Leilani was allowed to stay in the Poseidon cabin, as she is a child of the sea. He said He'd mention it to Lord D?”

Tantalus bristled and opened his mouth, but Lord D cut in, “Yes I did get that notice, Lanah move to the Poseidon table.”

There was a brief shuffle behind me, but I didn’t look back.

“The monster will stay up here,” Tantalus snapped. “Until we decide what to do with it.”

“So, then there isn’t a current policy for non-demigods in camp?” I asked.

“No,” Lord D drawled. “We’ll decide. Take a seat, Jackson.”

I didn’t want to leave Tyson there, but I had to have faith that Lord D would take care of it.

I turned to Tyson who was looking at me with fear in his big eye.

“I’ll be right over there, big guy,” I soothed. “Don’t worry, worst comes to worst you can stay in my cabin tonight.”

Tyson nodded, “I believe you. You are my friend. Thank you, Percy.”

I slipped over to the Poseidon table and sat on the bench across from Leilani, who looked nervous. I shot her a quick smile as a wood nymph brought me a plate of Olympian olive-and-pepperoni pizza.

I stood back up and moved to the fire to offer a part into the flames.

Lord D, I thought, Thanks and please make sure Tyson is alright.

The smell of fresh grapes wafted up.

I idly added a bit more for my normal offerings, to Poseidon, Okeanus, Tethys, my siblings, and Artemis.

I sat back down to the smell of sea breeze and woodsmoke, smiling at Leilani who gave me a nervous smile of her own.

Before we could talk though, Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to get our attention for announcements.

“Yes, well,” Tantalus started once the talking had died down. “Another fine meal! Or so I am told.”

He slowly inched his hand towards his refilled dinner plate, as if the food wouldn’t notice what he was doing. Unfortunately for him it did, shooting down the table as soon as he got within a foot of it.

Lord D hid a smirk in his diet coke and Minos’ eyes gleamed.

“And here on my first day of authority,” Tantalus continued. “I’d like to say what a pleasant form of redemption it is to be here! Over the course of the summer I hope to tormen- er, interact with each and every one of you children. My, you all look almost good enough to eat.”

Minos coughed pointedly.

Tyson tried to scoot out of the front, but Tantalus pulled him back.

“And now for some changes!” Tantalus offered a crooked smile. “First off, we’re re-instituting the chariot races! Can’t imagine why they were ever cancelled, I mean my son Pelops was an excellent charioteer.”

Murmuring broke out at all the tables and me and Leilani shared a look.

An Apollo camper raised a hand, “They were cancelled due to three deaths and twenty-six mutilations… in one race.”

“Yes, yes,” Tantalus dismissed. “But I know you will all join me in welcoming back this wonderful tradition. And the winning charioteers will win Golden laurels and be released from chores for the month they’re the winners.”

He smirked at the excited chatter.

“We’ll release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses.”

Then Clarisse hot up.

“But sir! What about patrol duty? I mean if we drop everything to read our chariots—”

“Ah, the hero of the day,” Tantalus exclaimed. “Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls.”

Seeing how it was me and Tyson (especially Tyson) that finished them off, though Clarisse certainly helped, I did not appreciate that comment.

Clarisse blinked and blushed, “Um, I didn’t—”

“And oh so modest,” Tantalus cooed. “Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?”

“But the tree—”

“And now,” Tantalus said, raising his voice and steamrolling over Clarisse. Her siblings pulled her down though no one seemed happy. “Before we finish dinner so we can proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here.”

Tantalus waved his hand towards Tyson.

Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers and many sent me sideways looks.

I wondered if you could kill a ghost.

Leilani bit her lip nervously.

“Now, of course,” Tantalus continued, “Kyklopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity and a nasty habit of getting their parents involved in their fights. Under normal circumstances I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks-“

I tensed, and Tyson paled. I glanced at Lord D, but He seemed unconcerned, idly tilting His head.

“-But who knows? Perhaps this Kyklopes is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it. I’ve thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes’ cabin possibly?”

The Hermes table was dead silent. Travis and Connor Stoll developed an intense interest in the tablecloth.

I opened my mouth to interrupt when everyone gasped.

Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise, and some wariness. I stared in shock at the brilliant green light—a dazzling holographic image that had appeared above Tyson’s head.

I remembered my lessons, and the information on the oldest Kyklopes. Nowadays they were commonly just born of other Kyklopes, but some-

Some were like the older Kyklopes, not the original three but- but others.

Swirling above Tyson’s head was confirmation he was one of those few. A glowing green trident spun slowly above his head.

There was a moment of awed and horrified silence.

Being claimed was rare, I had only witnessed one claiming other than my own last summer, Leilani’s. Some campers would wait in vain their whole lives. When I’d been claimed last summer, everyone had reverently knelt. But that wasn’t what happened this time.

Tantalus roared with laughter, many tables following his lead. Leilani looked worried and the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins shot me concerned looks, but I kept my eyes on Tyson.

“Well I think we know where to put the beast now. By the Gods, I can see the family resemblance.”

I noted that Lord D didn’t seem surprised, and Minos wasn’t laughing, he grimaced instead.

Tyson didn’t seem to notice any of this though, he was too distracted by the glowing trident now fading over his head. He was too young and innocent to really understand what was going on with them, how cruel they were being.

But I understood.

I now had a full cabin. Leilani, daughter of Psamathe. And Tyson, son of Poseidon.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Did you enjoy the interaction with Khiron and Annabeth? How about Tyson and Leilani? What did you think of Minos being there?

Rick had two people fired in canon, but only one replacement, and no punishment for Dionysus. I feel like my Zeus would absolutely take advantage of the gap in management to put some people loyal to him in (both his kids), and he would absolutely tighten Lord D's punishment in the process.

Also here Annabeth does not make an oath on the Styx cause that oath is a big deal.

Halmaherna
Metua=Father
Metani=Granddad

Terminology
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Kentaur=phonetic spelling of Centaur
Minos' mythology is wild cause half of it has him as an amazing king and that's why he's a judge, and the other half is written by Athens which he conquered and has him being horrid. Some historians think Minos was a title, not a name, and it was referring to two kings with the different myths. I think Athens was angry about being conquered and probably had something with him taking kids from them so did some propaganda (which many myths were). I'm trying to balance the different views on him in ways that I think work so uh... hope you enjoy lol.
Pelops=One of three children of Minos, happens to be an amazing Charioteer... also is the one Tantalus fed to the Gods.

OC's
Leilani=Daughter of Psamathe, given permission to stay in Percy's cabin

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 19: Reasons to Pay Attention in School

Summary:

:) I'm not sorry

Notes:

So I had a bad pain flare up the other day and started another rewrite, only it's focused on Percy if he had Rheumatoid Arthritis. It'll have a lot of attention to how it would impact him in a more canon-esque style re-write (like not fixing the myths so much stuff). So if you guys are interested that one will also be updating weekly-ish (that's the goal rn).

Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter! I show some fun stuff :D

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I dropped my bags on my bed, a bit uncomfortable with having others in my cabin.

I’d gotten used to be alone in here last year, but now I had two more cabin members.

I turned to see Leilani and Tyson standing by the entrance.

“So, uh, you can take either of the other two beds.”

Leilani nodded, looking around nervously. She had her bag clutched in her hand.

“Can I sleep there?” Tyson asked, pointing to the bed next to me.

“Yeah, no problem. I guess that means Leilani gets the other one?”

She nodded, “Right, thank you.”

Tyson and she moved to their beds. Tyson didn’t have any bags, he’d need to buy new clothes later, but Leilani dropped her bag on the bed.

“Ta, the curtain closest to you leads to the bathroom, Leilani. The other one, next to the one we entered through, leads to a sitting room. The dressers are kinda obvious, walls opposite the beds, and there a lot of cubby holes around the room otherwise… uh, the big tank against the wall next to you is new…”

“Okay. Where’s your altar?”

I blinked, “Altar?”

“Your cabin one…” she trailed off. “Do you not have one?”

I bit my lip, “I uh, I didn’t know that was a thing in the cabins…”

“Oh… um, we can make one then? Someplace… uh…”

“I guess in the morning?” I offered. “After you’re both settled in.”

“Sure, that works… thank you.”

“It’s fine, no problem. I like the idea of having an altar here too! I have one in my room back home but didn’t think of having one here too-“

“Not-“ she tugged some clothes out of her bag. “Not for the altar but… thank you for letting me stay in your cabin… and asking Lord Poseidon to let me… I uh, I appreciate it.”

“Percy is nice,” Tyson said, standing awkwardly by his bed.

“Oh uh,” I fingered the zipper of Carl and Hippolyta’s bag. “You’re welcome. It really wasn’t a problem. I didn’t think- well, you know, that it was fair. The Hermes cabin is so crowded, and I have space, and this is the Poseidon cabin, He’s King of the Sea, and you’re of the sea, so I just- it seemed only right…”

I busied myself with pulling out Carl’s and Hippolyta’s bowls. I felt so awkward, I’d asked her to be allowed because she was of the sea, but I hadn’t really thought about what it meant, living with someone I’d barely interacted with.

“Is that- is that an octopus?”

I blinked, holding Hippolyta’s bowl. “Yeah, this is Hippolyta. The goldfish is Carl, you might remember him from last year.”

“Yeah… where did you get an octopus?”

“Triton gave her to me, for my birthday. She’s a sweetheart.”

Hippolyta waved one tentacle from her bowl and Tyson gasped softly, waving back.

Leilani stared wide eyed. “Wow.”

“So yeah, I’m gonna, put her and Carl in the tank there. Carl-“ I turned a stern look to him “-don’t bother Hippolyta. And Hippolyta-“ I turned to look at her “-remember, Carl isn’t food.”

She flipped a tentacle dismissively.

“Hey! What could I do to her?” Carl asked with a pout.

I rolled my eyes and moved past Tyson and Leilani to put the two in the tank. Hippolyta immediately got to exploring while Carl moved to a nook and relaxed.

Leilani hesitantly stood next me. “They’re pretty.”

“Yeah, Hippolyta is a darling and Carl is snarky…” I paused at a thought. “Can you understand them?”

She shook her head, “No? Can you?”

I nodded.

“Wow,” she smiled a bit. “I’m jealous.”

“What is this?” Tyson called, making us turn.

The curtain to the sitting area was pulled aside and Tyson was peering through it.

“It’s the sitting room,” I said. “Where we can sit to relax or spend time with friends.”

“But what is on the table?”

I frowned, “What?”

Leilani and I moved over, peeking around Tyson. There were two boxes on the table, and there was a small fountain in the back-right corner that wasn’t there last year.

I squeezed past Tyson and picked up the first box.

“It’s got your name on it,” I told Leilani. “Both of them do actually.”

“For me?” She moved over in confusion. “But why?”

I shrugged.

She opened the first box and pulled out a jar shaped like a shell. It was a pretty clear glass the seemed to glitter with the multi-colored sand inside.

“That is pretty,” Tyson said.

“There’s also a note,” Leilani murmured. “Do I-“

She looked rather lost and I was suddenly reminded that she was the same age as I was last year.

“You can open it privately if you want, it’s for you after all.”

She nodded, holding it tightly as she opened the next box. This one was smaller than the first.

She frowned as she looked inside.

“Why did I get a sand dollar?”

My eyes widened, “Really? Those are valuable.”

She blinked, “Huh?”

“In the sea sand dollars are really valuable, ‘cause they purify things. You should hold onto that.”

She nodded, carefully picking it up, along with a second letter.

“I’ll um, put these up.”

“Yeah, let’s-“ I yawned “-finish putting things up, then get some sleep.”

“I do not have anything to put up,” Tyson informed me.

I pat his arm, “That’s okay, we’ll get you some extra clothes tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Percy. You are a good friend.”

I smiled brightly, “So are you!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover’s voice whispered in my dreams.

“So that was the cause of the presence-“

OO

I was standing in the dark. Metani was there, gold eyes gleaming. He stood with His brothers, except Okeanus.

“What is going on with Mother?” one asked angrily. “She’s being-“

“She’s scared,” Said the silver one, all pinpricks on my fingertips. “She’s desperate.”

“She’s not the only one afraid,” muttered the one wearing a horned helmet.

“After everything Father has done…” Metani pursed his lips. “She’s trying to save us, but She’s desperate and trying to move quickly. She’s not thinking straight.”

“She threatened us,” hissed glowing light, Hyperion I thought. “She- She almost sent Okeanus to-“

“But She didn’t,” Kronos said. “I won’t allow you to be harmed, not by Her or Father.”

“Are you actually going to go through with it?” silver pinpricks asked.

Metani straightened, “Yes. She may be acting rashly but She’s right, Father has gone too far. He’s been going too far all my life. We can’t let this continue on, we can’t let Him throw children into the pit nor continue to torment us…”

“Mother is being rash,” agreed the first one to speak. “I suppose you’re right though. She has been kind other than in the recent times. Perhaps if we handle Father, who has been hurting all of us, then…”

“Then it will get better,” finished Hyperion.

“We can only hope,” Kronos murmured. “I do not wish to lose Mother, She has always been on our side.”

“Then let us deal with Father. He has done too much to all of us, He’s driven Mother to this point.”

“So, you will help?” Metani asked.

The siblings shared looks.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“So then you can use this sink and me and Tyson can share this one,” I said.

Leilani put her toiletries at the sink.

“I can’t believe we have a bath.”

“And a waterfall,” Tyson said solemnly.

Leilani nodded, shooting him a slightly nervous look.

“I guess we’ll need to decide who gets the bath when,” Leilani mused.

I blinked, “Why?”

“… you’re a guy and I’m a girl.”

“Yeeeess…”

We stared at each other.

“That matters… why?”

“Girls and guys aren’t supposed to bathe together.”

I stared blankly.

“But we- wait- avero… sorry,” I flushed. “I forgot that… on land… gender stuff is more important.”

She blinked, “That’s not a thing in the sea?”

“They don’t wear clothes in the sea,” I informed her.

“What… but what about the girls chests? Don’t they get in the way?”

I paused, trying to think of if I’d seen anyone with chests like women on land.

“They don’t have them.”

“Don’t have what?”

“Boobs.”

“What!?”

I shrugged, “I’m not sure what they’re for, but they don’t have them in the sea.”

And they didn’t, I couldn’t recall seeing those on anyone in the sea.

“But why- what??”

“I can check one of my medical books if you want? It might explain it.”

“Yes, I need to know this now.”

Leilani and I went back to the sleeping area and I dug one of my medical books out. I’d only brought one with me to camp, so hopefully it had the answer.

“Do you know what they’re used for in humans?” I asked.

She shrugged, “I’m not sure.”

I shrugged and started going through the index looking for anything that seemed like it would talk about boobs.

None of them stood out to me.

“Is this for humans?”

“No,” I said distractedly. “It’s a book on mer biology. I’m supposed to know all this for my healing lessons.”

“Oh? Well, other than not having… chests like human girls… what else is different?”

I perked up, “Oh lots of stuff! For one they have gills and the ability to breathe air, which is rare in sea creatures. And their bones are made of stuff other than calcium- hang on let me show you.”

I pulled up the chart of bones. This part was interesting, the names of stuff not so much but what they’re made of?

“I can’t read this,” Leilani said.

“Oh right, sorry it’s in Halmaheran. I’ll try to teach you it, it’s the language of the sea. But yeah so this—” I pointed at a line “—is talking about the bone makeup.”

“So what’s it say?”

“Right, so you know how human bones are calcium and stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“So they can’t work like that.”

“Why not?” Tyson asked.

“Because the pressure changes and stuff would break them. So instead of calcium they’re made of strontium, will, with the other stuff, uh, collagen, which is in human bones I think.”

“Wow,” Leilani mumbled. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah! There’s also little bits of silica aerogel, which helps with insulation and makes the bones uh—” I paused to reread that line “—makes the bones more flexible.”

“The bones are more flexible?”

“Yeah, a bit more, lets them take more strain without breaking.”

“Woah.”

“That is cool.”

I reread the line, “Oh, and that’s something that merfolk share with Kyklopes, so that’s how your bones are, Tyson.”

His eyes widened, “Oooh.”

“The teeth are a bit different though, they’re made from something called uh,” I frowned and dug through my bag for the Halmaheran to English dictionary, medical edition. “It’s the- um, hang on. Iv… Ivpo… Ivpoma- there it is.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t know the English word for ivpoma. It’s Stronalsite.”

“I have no idea what that is,” she said.

Tyson stared blankly.

“Well it’s, a uh, it’s a ivpoi- uh strontium based material. It’s pretty strong too… uh… more durable than calcium based teeth with the enamel.”

“Wait- so merfolk don’t have to brush their teeth? That’s so unfair.”

“No, you still gotta clean them! Just like, they’re more able to bite through things human teeth can’t… I’m not sure what that is though. I mean human teeth can bite through a lot.”

She squinted at me “So, are you a merfolk?”

“No, I’m a demigod, except when I’m a merfolk, well I’m a demigod then too-“

“But you’re a child of Poseidon. So, is your biology like- like this?”

“No- well,” I considered. “Maybe?”

She leaned forward, “What else is different? We need to see.”

“Right um,” I flipped the page to another page, then flipped through the dictionary. “So the blood has- copper, yeah, a copper base… I don’t think humans do cause our skin isn’t green.”

“Oooh, so is your skin green instead of brown as a mer?”

“It’s kinda green tinted?”

“That’s super cool.”

Tyson poked his arm, “Is that my blood too?”

“Uh…” I read through the passage. “Kyklopes also have copper based blood but there are other components that change its appearance so it doesn’t appear like mer blood and works a bit differently.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I flipped to the next page, which had a chart of a single tail mer’s bone structure.

“What- what is that.”

“Oh, mer bone structure.”

“That is so weird- but cool- but weird.”

I grinned, “That’s just a one-tailed mer though, I’m a two tailed so—” I flipped a few pages “—this is what my bone structure as a mer is.”

“Ooh.”

Leilani and Tyson studied it.

“Why isn’t the skull connected?”

“Oh, I remember learning this. It’s ‘cause pressure would cause the skull to be crushed if it were connected like humans, so it’s not.”

“Oh, scary… so when you become a mer it changes your bone structure? Wait, it changes it to uh, strotim too so… wow… does that hurt?”

I blinked, “Well, no… it’s kinda bubbly?”

“Huh… cool.”

“So then here’s the muscle structure-“

“Ooh, that’s cool. Wait, where are the organs?”

“Oh well that’s a different char—” I flipped through to the organ chart “—here you go.”

“Huh, that’s really cool. What chart has the gills?”

“Oh that’s closer to the front—” I flipped through to show it “—here you go.”

“Wait, is that a girl or boy?”

“Uh…” I checked the label. “It’s a Vomhi, which is like… kinda the equivalent of a girl?”

“They really don’t have anything on their chests…”

“I told you!”

“They don’t even have nipples though.”

“Oh yeah,” I squinted at the picture. “I guess not.”

“Are those the gills there?” she pointed at the sides.

“Yeah, and there are also some on the neck—” I pointed to them “—which are good if the side ones get covered with armor.”

“Wow, okay so what about-“

There was a knock on our door.

“I’ll get it,” I said standing. I let Leilani take the book and headed to the door.

“Percy!” Drew cried when I opened the door.  She wrapped me in a hug. “My favorite nephew, it’s so good to see you.”

I snorted, “Hey, Drew. How are you?”

“I’m good—”

“Hello, Percy,” Giovanni said behind her. “We thought we’d check on you.”

“Yeah,” Drew pulled back. “Because you missed breakfast.”

Oh… I hadn’t realized we’d been so distracted with the medical book. “Oops?”

“Oops? You need to get three square meals a day! And-“

“Ah, Jackson, there you are.”

We all turned to see Tantalus striding forward.

“You missed breakfast, which isn’t allowed.”

“Well,” Giovanni interrupted smoothly. “The cabin just gained two new members, it’s understandable that they need some time to move everyone in.”

Tantalus shot him a sneer, “I wasn’t speaking to you.”

Drew bristled, and when she spoke her voice had a strange, but familiar, quality to it.

“We can check on him, unless there’s something you needed then you should go back to your other duties.”

Tantalus blinked, his gaze turning somewhat dazed.

“He needs to change his schedule; some cabins have refused to be at that time with him.”

“We’ll help him do it,” Drew said. “So, go away.”

Tantalus turned and walked away.

“Wow,” I said. “That was really good. Do you have Siren’s Song?”

Drew blinked, “Huh? That was Charmspeak?”

“Charmspeak?”

“Yeah, it’s an Aphrodite power.”

I considered for a moment, “So can you use it to get people to do things?”

“Yep!”

“That’s Siren’s Song.”

“No, it’s Charmspeak.”

“Perhaps,” Giovanni interrupted. “It’s both. Our mother was born of the sea as well, so it’s possible the Aphrodite child gift of Charmspeak comes from that.”

Drew made a face, “Maybe. Anyways, I guess you need to redo your schedule some.”

I frowned, “Yeah… I guess so. I should include Leilani and Tyson in that though. And we need to get food.”

“I’ll go get something,” Giovanni said. “Set up your schedule.”

I waved as he walked away then turned to Drew, “So uh, schedules… right- come in.”

I stepped aside to lead her to the sitting area.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“I can’t believe he has it here, Momo,” Grover’s voice whispered in my dream. “Such a powerful symbol just sitting in his fields.”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Leilani and I were working in the fields and chatting. Normally we’d be with the Demeter cabin, but they were using that time to work on their chariot for the race, so it was just us and Tyson (who was handling watering the plants).

“And then Masina did this cool flip and the board went in this spin and she slid right out of the current without any trouble! It was really cool. I’d try to show you, but I can’t do that yet haha.”

She grinned, “That sounds so cool! I wish I could go there and try it.”

“Maybe you can. I’ll ask Triton about it.”

Her eyes widened, “Really? You’d- wow. Thank you.”

I quickly pulled a few more berries, “Yeah of course. I’m happy to help. And it’s your heritage too, you know? I mean, you’re of the sea too.”

“Yeah,” she gave me a brilliant smile. “But still, thank you.”

“Having fun?” sneered someone.

We jolted around to see Connor and Travis there.

“Having fun with your new cabin member?” Travis (I thought) asked.

“Yes,” Leilani said slowly. “I’m enjoying being in this cabin.”

“Be careful he doesn’t accuse you of trying to poison him,” Connor muttered.

I stiffened, and Leilani scowled.

“You know as well as I do that Percy would not make a false accusation and even if he did the Gods would know it was false so-“

“Luke would never attack a member of the camp—” Connor started.

“Sorry,” I snipped. “I guess this scar on my hand from the scorpion is fake.”

“Look here—” Travis snapped.

“And here I thought you were supposed to be picking strawberries,” interrupted a cool voice.

We all stopped, turning to see Minos sneering at all of us.

“Go do some chores, Hermes campers. Leave the Poseidon cabin to… garden.”

The two shuffled and moved off, shooting us one last glare.

Leilani and I turned back to the strawberries quickly.

“Do keep from starting fights,” Minos told us. “It’s an annoyance to deal with.”

“Yes, King Minos.”

He nodded and swept off.

“Jerk,” Leilani mumbled.

I snorted.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Can you hear me?” There was a long beat of silence. “Not yet I guess. I need you to hear me, he- he really likes fresh meat.”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I nibbled on the tuna Lady Hestia gave me as I sat with her. It was nice, relaxing. She was more than happy to let me ramble to her about my last few days.

It’d mostly been good. The Aphrodite cabin was a bit tense with Tyson, so was the Demeter, but they weren’t being rude like other cabins. And Leilani had started to get comfortable with him too.

Annabeth and I had talked briefly a few times, but not about much more than activities and a brief fight about Tyson when she’d asked if I wanted to do the chariot race with her.

She didn’t want Tyson along, I refused to leave him (or Leilani, but Annabeth didn’t mind her) off of it.

Hestia was very nice, she offered me advice and assured me that Annabeth would adjust. A lot of demigods had trauma related to monsters, and Annabeth has a bit more than many. I would just have to give her time.

I didn’t want to wait, I wanted them to get along now, but I did my best to be patient with her.

I was glad Hestia was still welcoming to me, I was feeling a bit ostracized by the camp. The Hermes cabin especially was not taking the news that Luke is a traitor well, and the Apollo cabin was generally siding with them. The Demeter and Aphrodite cabins were on my side, Athena and Hephaestus was torn, and Ares just wasn’t taking a side.

So, I was glad for the bubble of peace that came with Hestia. Even though I didn’t need her to help soothe the many sensations of the camp this year thanks to my necklace, she still helped soothe my emotions.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“He likes sheep, guess that explains why he keeps it.”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Tyson spread out a blueprint for us to see.

“This is going to look amazing,” Leilani mumbled.

“Ooh, that part looks like a beach,” I said.

“Yes,” Tyson said proudly. “I made it beach and waves, for you two. And there is weapon spot.”

“Nice,” I mumbled. “So, now we just need to build it.”

“We’ve checked out everything we need right?”

“Everything that was on Tyson’s list.”

“Is there anything else, Tyson?”

“No,” he said. “I can build it. Do not worry. I know how to build chariot, I was taught in the forge!”

I grinned, “Awesome. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“Yeah, I can do a lot with sand.”

“I will tell you if you are needed,” Tyson assured us as he started studying different pieces of wood.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“I hope this works at some point, I really need help.”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Okay,” I said with Hippolyta curled around my wrist. “So we know you can’t understand sea creatures, but you do have an easier time learning Halmaheran.”

“Tata,” she agreed.

I snickered, “We should just speak in Halmaheran around others.”

Her eyes lit up, “That would be fun! A secret language… that most of the sea knows… but not people on land. And it would help me get better.”

“Yes, okay but other than languages… we know you can control sand, can you do anything with water? Or maybe animals that are commonly on the beach? Or shells? Or anything like that?”

She shrugged.

“We should test that.”

“Are those common abilities in the sea?” she asked curiously.

I hummed, “Kinda? But also, no? Some don’t have any skill with magical stuff, others are really good at it. I’m learning how to make storms right now, and theoretically healing. I’ve been training my waterbending- er, Thermomancy-“

“What’s the word for that in Halmaheran?”

“Tevemoa.”

She made a note.

“So yeah, I’ve been training that and my purification skills for years, so I’m pretty good at that.”

She nodded, “So I’ve just gotta practice and I might be good at that stuff? What does my sand control fall under?”

I considered, “Geomancy? That’s Onaipep in Halmaheran.”

She nodded, “Do you think I can do more than just sand?”

“Maybe, but you’ll need to practice. It took me months to be able to make even the tiny little storm I can hold in my hand.”

“Oh wow, yeah… I guess I’ll just focus on my sand for now. I mean, I can’t really control it you know? Just… it’s easy to get it to do what I want?”

I nodded, “Yeah. Maybe with practice you can actually control it.”

“That would be… really cool.”

I grinned, “You know what that means?”

“Practice.”

“What? Well yeah, but I was gonna say beach day.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I caught a glimpse of a dark cave, a figure in a white wedding dress bent over a loom.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I sighed as Minos went down the list of patrol times for the campers. I had the three-AM patrol… which was a horrible time to patrol.

“That sucks,” Clarisse drawled. “Be careful then, we get the most monsters in the early morning. You might get eaten.”

“Thank you for the concern,” I said flatly. “I’ll be extra careful.”

She sneered at me, “Don’t trip on your trident.”

“I won’t. I take good care of my weapons, wouldn’t want them to break.”

She scowled at my sweet smile.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“I wonder if I’m strong enough to make the connection. I mean, I’m not exactly the best at this sort of thing, but he has a strong presence so maybe…”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Valentina sighed beside me. “I hate three-AM patrol. It’s so dark, I can’t see anything.”

I blinked, “I can see fine? I mean it’s a bit dark but not that dark.”

She turned to me and shrieked.

I jumped, spinning around, but there was nothing there.

“What?”

“Your eyes- they were doing that- the thing cats do in the dark.”

I blinked up at her.

“Stop that, you look like a cat.”

“I’m not a cat!”

“You sound like Marinette. Doing the same innocent blink and same defense haha.”

“Oh yeah, where is Marinette?”

We started moving again, watching the hill.

“She… we’re not sure. She hasn’t been in contact for about a month. We’re hoping she just ran out of drachmas…”

“But can’t you message her via Iris Message yourself?”

She winced, “It won’t go through. But she’s in France, and sometimes Iris Messages act wonky in Europe so maybe it’s just that.”

“Maybe,” I murmured.

That was concerning. Marinette was sweet. She made me that scarf for my birthday and was really nice to talk to. I hoped she was okay.

“So, can you actually see?”

I nodded, “Yeah. I mean it’s kinda dark, but the stars give enough light.”

“They do not.”

“Yeah they do!”

“You just have really good night vision and cat eyes.”

I pouted at her, not that she could see. “I do not.”

“You’re a cat.”

“I’m not!”

“Mkay… cat.”

“I hate you.”

“Aww, it’s okay, I have some catnip-“

“I’ll bite you.”

“Kitties got fangs.”

“Shut up.”

She laughed.

Despite the tension of the patrol, it was nice spending time with Valentina.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“I wonder how many he’s eaten… it’s gotta be a lot. What do you think, Momo?”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“So uh,” I hesitated as Leilani looked at me. “I was… do you know why there are less campers in the cabins this year?”

Leilani winced.

“I mean, it’s not a hugely less number but I noticed like, Alabaster isn’t here, and the Ares kid seems to be missing at least two people… the scary one with the sword?”

“I think her name was Eboni, and she never returned. Another one was found dead I heard…” she poked at the bed. “They did a shroud burning for him before the summer session started I heard.”

“Oh…”

She nodded, “Yeah, and there was also an Athena kid… Daniel maybe?”

“Dylan?” I asked. “I know a Dylan talked to me some last year.”

“Yeah him. He got in a big fight with… Matthew?”

“I dunno, I don’t think there’s a Matthew?”

“It starts with an M… well he got in a big fight there and said he wasn’t coming back to camp. He didn’t return so… yeah. And the Apollo cabin has like five missing campers. But three of them are from Europe, two British and one German, so they might just be dealing with interference that happens sometimes… hopefully.”

“That’s what someone mentioned for Marinette too… is that kind of thing common?”

She shrugged, “I’m not sure. I’ve only been at camp for a year longer than you.”

I nodded with a frown.

“Then I know Hephaestus is missing one kid… there’s been a lot of disappearances overall. I know one or two not coming back isn’t unusual, and some age out like a few did this year… but it’s a lot of campers this summer.”

“Yeah, I think one of the Aphrodite campers did… they’re not here this year either.”

She shrugged, “Maybe. Then the Hermes cabin… well we- they have six people missing, not counting Luke.”

“Six?” I asked in shock.

“Yep. There’s Alabaster, as you said, and then Chris, Eliza, she was the leader for a bit I heard, Hari, though some think he’s just not returned cause it’s a big trip but he’s not available on IM so… yeah. And then Alexander and Josefina as well.”

“Oh wow.”

I didn't know half

of those names but that was a lot...

“Mhm, and Alexander we know is missing because Sofia, uh Sofia Kuznetsova that is, they travel together to camp every year since they realized they lived within the same area of Russia. At least, that’s what Jada said.”

“Oh… That’s not good.”

She nodded. “So yeah, the camp is missing a few members… but I the Hermes cabin did get two new members! I don’t remember their names but they’re like thirteen and fifteen ish?”

“That’s good! Are they claimed?”

“No,” she said with a grimace. “Hopefully they’ll be claimed soon though.”

I nodded, “Yeah. Thanks for explaining. I hope everyone is okay.”

“Same… I’m worried about them.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stood in the dark cave again, the figure before the loom unwinding it rapidly.

“Come on,” they whispered. “I don’t have much time.”

There was a loud grinding sound, like stone against stone.

“No,” the figure whispered, raising their head.

Grover’s eyes caught mine.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I opened the door to my cabin and blinked.

“Uh, hello, Annabeth.”

She looked nervous, tense.

“Percy… okay, I know we’ve not been getting along with- with the Kyklopes thing-“

“Tyson,” I corrected.

She swallowed, “Right, yeah… so I- but… okay. I’m… Khiron mentioned before he left having better healing skills than him and I was thinking- just like, it occurred to me- well that he doesn’t have magic for healing. He just… has other talents with it. But not magic. And well, you do have magic healing. Like, you’ve, you know, talked about it.”

I nodded slowly, “I have been learning healing yeah.”

“Yeah, and so, I was thinking, and maybe healing along couldn’t fix the tree, even magic, or Mr. D would’ve done it. But you, you’ve also got that purification thing, right? So maybe… you can do that, and the healing… and then… then you could fix- you could fix Thalia’s tree.”

She had a fragile sort of energy to her. Almost vibrating as she looked anywhere but at me.

There were bags under her eyes I realized. She looked exhausted and wrung out and I felt a surge of guilt.

Sure, to me the tree was Thalia, but it was only sorta. I didn’t know Thalia, so it’s really just a tree that was once Thalia to me.

But for Annabeth… that tree was her best friend, and it was dying. Of course she was struggling right now.

“I can try,” I said. “But I’m not very good at healing.”

“But you- you might be able to do something. Even slow it down… right?”

I swallowed, I didn’t want to burst her bubble. “I’m not sure, maybe.”

“Great, then uh, get what you need.”

I nodded and slipped back inside, nodding to Tyson. Leilani was taking a bath, so I left her be.

I snagged the healing stone that I got for my birthday, from Lagi, and my medical kit, then followed Annabeth out. Tyson followed behind us but left some space between Annabeth and him.

He’d learned that she was uncomfortable with him around.

We reached the tree too quickly.

I wasn’t sure what exactly to do. I knew how to purify things, and I had sand dollars, but… how did that translate to the tree?

I started by trying to feel out the water there. The tree was still absorbing water but… there wasn’t as much as there should’ve been. Maybe that was an effect of the poison? I wasn’t sure.

I tried to prob at it, reaching deep for the water like I’d done in Central Park ages ago. It slowly seemed to move, sluggish and… something else mixed in.

I couldn’t reach for it like I could other plants, even with focus.

I bit my lip.

“What are you doing?” Annabeth asked. “Have you started?”

“I’m uh, just getting a feel right now.”

She nodded, bouncing in place.

Right, I had to do this, for Annabeth.

I pulled out the healing stone and set it next to the tree, hopefully to speed up healing. Then pulled out the medical kit.

I carefully picked out a healing potion and a unicorn draught from the hotel to use. Those could help.

I bit my lip and pulled on the knowledge from my single healing lesson and years of watching and re-watching avatar (and some of the new Legend of Korra).

I coated my hands in water from my oceanskin, then used on hand to dump the healing potion onto them.

Maybe this would work… I hoped so.

I reached out to the spot of the tree where the poison had been put in and focused. The water and potion went through the hole, absorbing some of the weeping sap and I grimaced, pulling it out and wringing out the sap.

I repeated the action several times, slowly removing more and more of the poison laced sap. Finally, I had the space to thread the water into the plant, trying to spread the healing potion through it.

I drew more water out of the oceanskin to continue and faltered when I noticed something off.

The water was being absorbed a bit, but it wasn’t helping the plant?

It…

I pulled the water out quickly, but I’d already soaked the inside of the plant in it.

Uh oh.

I’d kind of forgotten… salt and plants don’t mix well.

My waterskin pulled from the ocean. It was salt water.

“What’s the matter?” Annabeth asked. “Why did you stop?”

I swallowed, already noting how the tree seemed to be doing worse through my senses.

“Uh… I think… I think I made it worse.”

She recoiled. “What? What do you mean? What’s the matter with Thalia- I mean her tree?”

“It… well…. Plants they- they don’t do well with salt… and my waterskin draws water from the ocean so… I accidentally got some salt water in there.”

I looked down, feeling frustrated. I hadn’t helped. I’d- I’d screwed up. I didn’t mean to but-

“What!? You-“ Annabeth turned away, her eyes red.

“Percy tried to help,” Tyson said, patting her arm. “He will do better next time.”

“Just- just shut up. I don’t want you near me, I don’t want you talking to me, I certainly don’t want you touching me!”

“Hey!” I cried. “I know I messed up but don’t take that out on Tyson.”

She spun around, “And you! You- you made her worse. She’s- And you just don’t get it! Kyklopes are monsters and you bring one around and show him off and act like he’s anything but a monster. You just- You don’t understand. You can’t. Because you have a mom that loves you and a Godly parent that spends time with you. So you don’t understand what it’s like- what it’s like to lose everyone who actually cares for you.”

I flinched back, my stomach twisting. Tears were sliding down her face but she just angrily wiped them away.

“You-“ I started, having no idea what to say. There was nothing to say, nothing that could be said in the face of her rage. But it hurt, my stomach twisted into a knot and tears stinging my eyes.

I just wanted to help, but…

“I don’t want- I don’t want to hear it from you, Jackson.”

She spun around and stormed off.

Tyson and I watched her go, standing next to the tree I’d helped along to its death bed.

As she left, I couldn’t help but remember what Triton told me about Athena and her children.

They’ll always find a way to hurt you.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

I smiled as the guards handed me Persi’s backpack and finished giving their report.

It seemed they’d done an excellent job keeping Persi safe. Only having some trouble on the last day, and even that was handled with no injuries to Persi.

“You did wonderful, thank you for keeping Persi safe.”

They motioned in respect.

“Will we be needed next year, Triton-re’aia?”

“I’m not certain as of yet. I’ll need more info on his schooling, I shall let you know soon. For now, enjoy a well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you, Triton-re’aia,” Antonio said.

They made another motion of respect before swimming out.

I smiled. Persi was safe and at camp. And while I didn’t like camp, I was sure that he’d be kept safe there this year. Surely, they would’ve learned not to be flippant with his care after last summer.

I could return his bag to him before the next school year. Maybe with another gift too… yes, I liked that idea.

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Did you guys like him bonding with Leilani? What did you think of his time at camp? What about his attempt at healing the tree?

So many of you brought up Percy healing the tree or at least helping it, and I had to exercise so much control to not tell you that Percy has not been doing too well at his healing lessons :). Poor kid. He's not having a good time with the tree. And RIP Annabeth, lots of unresolved trauma there. Oh well, we get to work on both of this this book!

I spent hours on the biology of mer to make it relatively reasonable. There is so much more to it. I hope you like the biology lesson. Shout out to 'Splodey for helping me out with it. That was hours of work and research lol.

Halmaheran
Ta=Filler word, like um or uh
Metani=Grandfather
Avero=shit
Ivpoma=stronalsite
ivpoi=strontium
Vomhi=girl
Tata=Yeah
Tevemoa=Thermomancy
Onaipep=Geomancy

Suffixes
re'aia=high prince

Terminology
Calcium=a vital part of life for humans and most land and even many sea creatures. Binding and support material in bones and teeth.
Strontium=not in the normal living person, but is a part of mer biology and vital to their makeup. It's denser than Calcium, adding some strength, and absorbed into the body in a similar manner to calcium. There is a little bit of inherent magic in mer that makes this work when it wouldn't in humans.
Collagen=In a huge amount of your body, makes up like a third of your proteins. Important for elasticity and the like.
silica aerogel=an excellent insulator but man made. In the sea the merfolk naturally make it as a part of their internal working as it's insulating properties are important to surviving the cold depths. It's also very light and flexible, contrasting with the heavier strontium.
Stronalsite=a strontium based material that has a hardness of 6.5. As Strontium is part of their makeup, as is Silicon, Aluminum, Oxygen, and Sodium, their teeth are formed of this material (made from the above). It is stronger than many metals, and would allow them to bite through metal.
Copper based blood= is actually a thing in some species and would allow tinted skin of the merfolk, along with other materials added in would account for the varied colors merfolk have. It allows easier flow in colder temperatures.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 20: It's free to say "it be like that"

Summary:

:D

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter <3 Next chapter we start having more fun.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I swung my legs and watched as Leilani heated the glass in the forge again.

Leilani had been learning how to make stuff out of glass last year, so today’s forge was dedicated to her continuing that, while Tyson worked with Beckendorf. Next one would be focused on our cabin sun dial again.

“Percy,” Silena said.

I focused back on her, “Sorry, what did you say?”

She studied me, “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what happened with you and Annabeth?”

I tugged at my veil, gaze drawn back to the molten glass on the end of the pole.

“Percy?”

“It’s fine,” I told her. “Just… you know, she doesn’t like Tyson.”

My stomach twisted uncomfortably as I remembered her words and expression. I really messed up, but I didn’t know how to fix it.

And I really didn’t want to talk about it.

Silena sighed.

“Percy… you know we’re here for you, right?”

I nodded, swallowing. “Yeah, thank you.”

“Well… let me know if you want to talk. Or if there’s anything I can do to help…”

“I will,” I mumbled.

Leilani drew the pole out of the fire and grabbed the tongs to pull at it. I wasn’t sure what she was making but it was blue (she’d asked me for a color) so it would probably be cool regardless.

I wondered if she was good at it because glass was made of sand. Could she learn to control glass? Could normal earth benders learn to control glass? That would be cool. Or maybe it was a fire and earth bender thing.

Maybe Annabeth would know-

I swallowed and shook the thought away.

Maybe I could check on the tree later, see if the unicorn draught had improved anything. If so I could use more of it.

I only had a few bottles but if it saved the tree and undid my mess up-

“Percy,” Silena said softly. “You do know that you aren’t at fault for the tree, right?”

I looked away. Annabeth had told someone what happened, probably someone from her cabin. They likely were worried when she returned crying… And well… the whole camp was aware of my screw up now.

It didn’t help with the inter-cabin relationships.

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I’m fine.”

I jolted at the light touch on my shoulder.

“Can I hug you?”

I blinked at her, swallowing hard.

“Yeah,” I croaked. “If you want-“

She tugged me into a tight hug.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay to not be okay right now though.”

I sniffed and leaned into her hug. Her charm bracelet clinked as she ran her hand through my hair.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stood in the dark cave again, the figure once more undoing the weaving.

The figure, Grover if my last dream were telling the truth, didn’t look up.

The wedding dress really didn’t fit him well though. The dress was tattered and caked in mud, the veil wispy and barely holding together. The neckline was drooping, and one sleeve slipped down on his shoulder.

The cave was lit only by torches, flickering light making the view a bit uneaven.

I could see a cot in the corner opposite of Grover though.

“Percy?”

I turned back to Grover, to find him looking right at me.

“Oh thank the Gods-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I idly guided the water around the canoe to bring it to a soft stop by the dock and let Tyson clamber out.

I started tying the rope to the dock only to pause.

“You know, it used to be when people suspected someone was a witch, they threw them into lakes with rocks tied to them and if they drowned they were innocent. I wonder if anyone ever tried testing if someone was a proper monster that way?”

I stilled.

“I do not know,” Tyson said. “You could ask the owl cabin?”

“Maybe we could test it ourselves.”

I strode over beside Tyson, “Maybe you could go back to your cabin before you find out what happens when attack a child of Poseidon by a lake.”

There was a brief pause as the two campers (one was an Athena kid, the other was… maybe Hermes?) stared me down.

“Oh sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt your relaxation time,” cooed the Athena kid. “You didn’t add any salt to this lake, right? It’s fresh water is pretty important to the plants.”

I stiffened, “No. The lake is perfectly fresh water. But that certainly doesn’t inhibit my ability to manipulate it.”

“Shame you didn’t remember that sooner,” muttered the Hermes kid.

My stomach twisted painfully but I simply glared at them. Triton trained me to handle insults and I wouldn’t let them know they were hurting me.

“Well, we’re just gonna continue our patrol. You know, guarding the camp from monsters coming through the weakened barrier,” snipped the Athena camper with a sharp smile. “Stay safe you two.”

I took a slow breath as they left.

“Percy?” Tyson said hesitantly. “The lake is shaking.”

I unclenched my fists and shook my head, forcing myself to keep a calm expression.

“Sorry.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover was slowly working on the loom again. A figure was leaning over him.

“How much longer my lovely wife?”

“Just another few weeks, sweetums,” Grover said in a strange high-pitched voice.

I blinked, what-

“But you said that… forever ago!”

“I said it only a few days ago, snookums. I want this to be perfect for our wedding,” he turned his head up to the massive figure.

I craned my head up to try and get a better look at it but the uneven lighting and the size of the figure made it all but impossible.

“Well, perfect is good…”

“Exactly dearest,” Grover simpered in that weird voice. “Only the best for you.”

The figure grunted and straightened, turning away.

“I will return to work and get good meat for the wedding,” His voice turned sickly sweet towards the end. “Finish quickly, honeypie, I can not wait to see under that veil, hehehe.”

Grover waved, “Take care, pumpkin.”

“Pumpkin?” I asked once the figure left.

Grover snapped around.

“Percy! Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, what- is that a woolly mammoth?” I gaped at the woolly mammoth that shuffled out of the corner.

“Yeah.”

“Oh… then those other dreams where you had a woolly mammoth-“

“Yes, I found a woolly mammoth, a blessing from Pan I’m sure. But that’s not the point right now. Percy you have to help me. I’m trapped in this cave, on an island in the middle of the ocean.”

“How did you get there?”

“I got to Florida and turned left-“

“What?”

“Look, it’s a trap. It’s the reason that no satyr has ever returned from the quest-“

“What? Did you find a second Medusa?”

“No! Okay most satyrs- but the point is that he has an object-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I wanted to talk to Annabeth about the dream, to see if she knew what was up, but she was avoiding me.

And I wasn’t able to get through the Athena kids protection of her.

I just wanted to talk, but it… didn’t go well.

I tried to take a calming breath and work past their words.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Leilani was picking berries next to me as I tried to show Tyson how to pull the strawberries without pulling up the whole plant.

“So, you have to grab it right here, to keep the roots and all in. Otherwise the berries won’t grow back.”

Tyson nodded and grabbed onto the berry, squishing it.

“Oh… sorry.”

“Just- just grab it like this,” I said, showing him.

We’d been trying to show him how to pick berries for almost twenty minutes and I was nearing the end of my rope.

Tyson tried again and tore the plant.

“Just grab the stem right above the berry, don’t tear it-“ I let out a frustrated sound.

Tyson shrunk down, “Sorry.”

“Just- just try again, without crushing the berry or messing up the plant this time.”

Tyson nodded quickly and reached for another berry, only to lean on top of another plant and crush it.

I threw my hands up, “I give up. I can’t-“

“Here,” Miranda said leaning over. “Come here Per- Percy, help me ov-ov-over here with your ocarina. Darius will help Tyson.”

She led me to a spot no one else was at and sat us down.

“I think you need some time to de-st-st-de-st-str-stress, you’ve been deal-dealing with a lot lately.”

I bit my lip, trying to keep the ball of frustration and anger from bursting out.

“Sorry, I’m just-“

She nodded, “I know. Things have been really te-tense and you’ve been the focus of a lot of it.”

I looked down at the plants.

“I just- I’m frustrated.”

“I know. It’s under-underst-st-standable. Can we help?”

I shrugged a shoulder, “I don’t know. I… I’m mad and sad and… I want to scream but I-“

She slowly placed a hand on my shoulder, “Take s-some time here to jus-just play your feeling-feel-feelings out for a bit. You can come to our cabin and make some cookies with us ton-ni-night if you want?”

I nodded, “Yeah… that sounds nice. Thank you.”

She smiled and started reaching out to the plants to coax them to grow riper and left me to my ocarina.

I didn’t really want to play any of the calm songs I normally did while out here. But she said I could play what I wanted….

I put the ocarina to my lips and focused on the fast-paced song we’d learned this year in music.

The notes were complicated and it was hard to do, requiring a lot of focus, but maybe it’d help. I didn’t have my note sheet either but-

I started playing, only to miss a note. I frowned and tried again.

And again.

And again.

No matter how many times I restarted I just couldn’t get the song to sound right. I scowled after the dozenth time and dropped it, letting the string catch it while I glared at the plants.

Miranda shot me a worried look, which only made me more frustrated.

I knew they were worried for me, I knew they cared, but I was just- They couldn’t fix it.

Everyone hated Tyson for being Kyklopes (which was so dumb) and they hated me for being his brother and they hated me for messing up with the tree and making it worse.

There was nothing I could do to fix things no matter how much I wanted to and nothing they could do either.

I was so-

So frustrated. Angry. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t.

I wanted to be back in the sea where I was with people who cared.

You don’t understand what it’s like- what it’s like to lose everyone who actually cares for you

I wrung my hands, trying to get the feelings out. They hurt but- I was so-

Annabeth was right that I hadn’t lost any of them. But I shouldn’t feel guilty for being happy with my family-

I-

I did care for her though. She hadn’t-

I just-

I didn’t know what to do. It was so frustrating.

“Why don’t we head back early?” Katie said, interrupting my thoughts.

Miranda nodded beside me, “Yeah, let’s make cookies.”

I let them guide me up and lead me away, feeling even worse than earlier.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Imani braided my hair slowly, doing a bunch of little small braids. She hummed as she worked, occasionally adding a small ribbon in with the braid.

Katie was finishing up cookies (she made them blue even) and some sweet tea (apparently the only proper way to drink tea) in the kitchen area.

Why didn’t my cabin have a kitchen? I would have to bring that up with Triton. I would love to cook some stuff, or bake cookies, or cake, or brownies- my mom had the best brownie recipe.

“And there. How do you like them?”

Imani handed me a mirror.

I smiled at the braids with little blue ribbons scattered through them. There were over a dozen that swung when I shook my head.

“I like them,” I said, touching one of them.

“I’m glad!” Imani beamed at me. “My hands hurt, haha. I’ve never done that many alone. Normally my mom would do them.”

“They look cute! I love the little ribbons,” Katie chirped as she came over.

“Thank you! I only spent like five hours doing his hair, so I’m glad they look nice.”

I fingered the braids, “Thank you.”

Miranda leaned over, “You didn’t add beads?”

“Nah, they’d take about the same amount of time, but they make it hard to be stealthy. All the beads click when you move. Also, I don’t have any here, I haven’t done mine with beads in… years.”

“Well, thank you,” I said. “I really like them… and thank you for letting me stay here.”

“Of course! You’re always welcome to hang out with us, Percy. You seemed like you really needed an excuse to have space so…”

“I… I did.”

I tugged at one of the braids.

I felt a lot calmer after so long letting Imani do my hair. They had music playing and plants scattered around and the smell of cookies in the air and-

It just felt… comfortable. It wasn’t like home for me, but it was safe. Soothing.

I still had that uncomfortable knot in my stomach, still felt worried about it all, but- but I finally felt like I could breathe.

And also didn’t feel like yelling at the next thing to upset me.

That was definitely a big improvement. I’d… been snappy with Tyson earlier. I felt bad.

“Well, I hope you’re feeling a bit better now.”

I nodded, “Yeah, thank you. I- I definitely needed this. It helped.”

She flashed a grin at me and held up the cookies, “Now time for snacks!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Why can’t I get it working again? Come on, Percy, come back.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Leilani sat tense on the edge of the ice floe.

“It’s so weird that you can freeze salt water. Like, isn’t that supposed to be really hard to freeze?”

I shrugged, “It just has a lower freezing point, like twenty eight ish degrees? The saltier the water the colder it needs to be though. And the deeper in the ocean too. Also! Did you know the salt won’t freeze? When I freeze the water I basically like… push the salt out.”

“Wait really?”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

“Wow, that’s cool.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Of course, it takes a lot more work to freeze the water in the middle of summer.”

She looked up at the sun, “Yeah, that makes sense. It is pretty hot today, but the ice is good at fixing that.”

I grinned, then perked up when I noticed the fish swimming over.

“Okay, so Leilani, this is Mappa, she’s a bluefish.”

Leilani blinked, “Is she?”

I snickered, “That’s what her species is.”

“She’s not very blue.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure why the species is called that. But it is. She’s a migratory fish, so swims all over. Last summer she had cool stories.”

“Thank you, Aipri,” Mappa said. “I come bearing more stories.”

“That’d be amazing!”

“I can’t understand her,” Leilani said.

I nodded, “And we’re gonna see if you can after a bunch of stuff. So first test-“ I grabbed her hand “-can you understand her now?”

“When I swam down south to the warmer water’s I found fish of spectacular colors-“

“If she’s speaking no.”

“Hmm, okay, test number two-“

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover was once more in the cave, alone this time.

“Hi,” I said.

“Percy!” he looked relieved to see me again. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, sorry for waking up before.”

He shook his head, “It’s fine. But now, okay, listen closely. This island, the Kyklopes that rules it he’s- he’s been luring satyrs here.”

I frowned, “How? Why? Are you okay?”

“He likes how they taste. I’m only alive because of this disguise,” he motioned towards his wedding dress. “I’ve kept him off my back by insisting I need the perfect bridal train, it’s the most modern style of marriage of course, but I can’t do it forever.”

“How did you- no, you got caught in the bridal boutique right?”

He nodded, “Got all the way to St. Augustine. I hadn’t been trying for an empathy link then though… how did you know?”

I shrugged, “My normal dreams I guess.”

“Right well-“

“Oh, Honeypie!” Sang the voice of the figure from last time. The Kyklopes I assumed. “I’m back.”

“No,” Grover hissed. “Not again. Okay, Percy, just remember, he’s luring satyrs with-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Pollux walked with me on patrol. Minos had assigned us to do another three-AM patrol… which was getting ridiculous. I kept getting the worst patrol times and I was pretty sure Minos had a grudge against me.

He insisted I had great recommendations from other campers though. It might have been the rest of the camp with the grudge against me.

(They definitely didn’t seem to like me so that made sense too)

“It’s very annoying how many monster attacks have been happening,” Pollux grumbled. “Like really, can’t they attack one of the other demigod hot spots?”

“Are there many around here?”

He hummed, “Well, not really in New York. I think there’s a study area for Demigods and Clear Sighted mortals in one of the State Parks but otherwise no… but there are several locations with demigods in several other nearby states so it’s unfair we’re dealing with these attacks.”

“Really? How come they don’t have to deal with them?”

“They have their own barriers. None are actually as strong as the camps is- was… they’re more what the camp’s barrier was before Thalia.”

He kicked at the ground.

“I wish we could call for help. I don’t know why we don’t…”

I considered, “That’s a good point. I remember last year someone said that there were people we could call to support us?”

He nodded, turning to look at me, then jolted.

“Uh- do your eyes always do that?”

I blinked, “Do wha- oh… yeah apparently. I’d never noticed before.”

“Huh… cool… well uh, the other places- not all Demigods come to camp. So not all are trained to fight and stuff. So those that are, a lot of them aren’t nearby anymore. They might be having trouble getting time off of jobs… or we haven’t called them. I think Tantalus doesn’t want anyone to get in the way of his authority.”

I grimaced, “That sucks. Can we call for them behind his-”

There was a faint growl and red eyes caught my eye. It was my only warning before a hellhound attacked.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Come on, just a little more-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO

I wanted to try to heal the tree some more, desperately even, but I didn’t trust my skill enough for it.

The most I was willing to do was sit under the tree and play my ocarina while on tree guard duty.

I wasn’t put on that job often, but when I was I sat there and played music.

I didn’t know if Thalia was still there, still listening, but if she was I hoped she liked the music.

“Can’t believe they put you on tree duty today,” muttered a Hermes camper as he walked by in his armor.

Patrol duty for him it seemed.

“I mean really, between your monster brother and your horrible healing skills who would put you in charge of this?”

I scowled at him, doing my best to ignore the pang at his comment about my healing.

I hadn’t put enough work into it, it wasn’t interesting, and now I was paying the price.

“I’m just doing my job,” I said coolly. “Maybe you should continue with your patrol. It would be very unfortunate if you missed a terror because you were insulting my brother.”

“No wonder you call the monsters terrors, you have one as a brother. Honestly, it’s like you don’t even respect your heritage.”

My jaw clenched, “You’re the one forgetting your heritage. Or did you forget that the Gods’ greatest weapons were made by Kyklopes?”

“Yeah, and many demigods were eaten by Kyklopes. Just cause your brother is a young one doesn’t make him any less of a monster.”

“Now see here-“ I started, only for him to roll his eyes and walk away to continue his patrol.

“Slacking on guard, Jackson?” drawled an unfortunately familiar voice.

I turned quickly to face Minos.

“No, your majesty, I was simply comparing notes on the patrol with my fellow guard.”

He studied me for a long minute, “Well, see that you keep up the guard. It would be unfortunate for something else to happen to the tree while under your watch.”

I held still by force of will.

“As you were,” he murmured as he swept past.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“It’s like there’s something interfering. I got it working once already-“

I tried to reach out.

“Ugh, I wish I knew more about empathy links,” Grover muttered. “Only real thing that could interfere when it’s already made is emotional turmoil-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“So then trident, sword, and knives… maybe a catapult? Hey, Tyson?” Leilani called.

“Yes?”

“Can you add a catapult?”

Tyson paused in his construction work.

“A small one?”

“Yeah.”

“I will try.”

She beamed, “Awesome. So, a catapult. Anything else we need?”

I poked at our plans and shrugged, “That looks good to me. We seem well prepared. Don’t forget a shield though.”

She nodded quickly, “Right. We’re going to do amazing at this chariot race.”

I grinned, “Best team for sure.”

“Future winners!”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Grover was visible for just a minute, just long enough to see the Kyklopes sitting next to him petting a sheep.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I worked slowly in the field, watching as Castor and Pollux worked a bit farther away.

I appreciated them, they didn’t really blame me or treat Tyson badly. Castor just told me that I’d tried to help and that was more than most campers could even begin to do.

Lord D was sitting in the field too, though he couldn’t do the same story telling he used to do. Tantalus loved to get in the way whenever Lord D looked like he was going to tell stories. It was not fun to do gardening with Tantalus hanging over our shoulders.

At least Minos was too busy handling the patrol’s and checking the barrier strength to bother the campers off guard duty most of the time. He wasn’t nice but at least he wasn’t actively malicious to people… mostly.

Point being, Lord D wasn’t doing much more than sitting near us and nibbling on strawberries these days. He didn’t seem happy either.

“Jackson,” Lord D drawled.

I straightened, “Yes, Lord D?”

“You’ve been watering the same plant for five minutes.”

I pulled the watering can back. Oops.

“Sorry.”

He sighed, studying me.

“What are you doing, Jackson?”

I blinked, “Um… gardening?”

“Not that. You’ve been distracted all week. Talk.”

I looked down, biting my lip. I didn’t really wanna talk about my failings but I could hardly ignore a direct order from a God.

Well, I could. But it probably wouldn’t end well.

“I- well… I tried to heal the tree…”

“I heard.”

“Yeah… I just- I should be able to. I learned about healing, I was supposed to have lessons this year but I just- it’s so boring for me and I didn’t do much for it and only had one lesson- and even then I should’ve- well I have purification and that’s a big part of healing poisons so-“

Once I started speaking I couldn’t stop.

“I messed up healing the tree, but I should be able to. If I’d just put more work into healing lessons I might be able to and it feels like my fault and it is my fault the tree is worse now because I messed up and I just… I’m really frustrated.”

He popped a strawberry in his mouth, “Sometimes people just don’t have a knack for something.”

I blinked at him in confusion.

“You could put a lot of focus into healing, but you aren’t really a healer.”

“I can heal myself though!”

He shrugged, “You can’t do everything. And people shouldn’t expect you to be a master of everything. You’re not a healer, you knew you weren't and tried anyways. You just don’t have a knack for it and if you did put focus into it then your other skills would suffer. Do what you want, focus on your strengths. The camp has healers that have also tried to heal the tree and failed. It’s not your responsibility alone.”

“But- but my power could heal it if I’d worked harder…”

“Do you think your power is more than mine?”

I shook my head quickly at his dry question.

“I’ve already worked on the tree some. The poison used is old, and powerful. Khiron tried to heal it and failed. I tried to heal it and failed. You can hardly be expected to do more than us.”

I nodded slowly, “I guess… I just… I wish that I could do something.”

“Unless you get a prophecy that guides you, just focus on training and staying safe.”

He leaned back, nibbling on a strawberry.

“And don’t die, that causes me extra paperwork.”

I snorted, “I’ll do my best, Lord D.”

I went back to watering the plants when he said nothing more.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I slept, my mind swept aware by the current of dreams once more. Shifting sands drifted.

Poison dripped from a vial, slowly pouring into a tree.

A cloaked figure slunk away, disappearing in a flash of a tossed card.

Voices spoke, shifting sands curled over me.

“Very few things could counteract the poison. I had it made specifically to lead to one solution.”

“Only a specific combination of Godly power-“

“Why do we bother with this elaborate plot?”

“The only thing in reach for them is in an area we dare not enter.”

“But the ruler of it-“

A scroll painted gold, a ram with two figures on it’s back.

“You know the issues retrieving it, unless you wish to incite His wrath-“

“We’ll just have to wait.”

“The camp will need it to survive.”

Gold gleamed, sand curled.

I was swept through a gold current to tumble into a familiar cave.

“Grover,” I called the moment he was clear.

He straightened, “Percy!”

“Where are you?” I asked, determined to get the big info out of the way first this time.

“I’m in the Sea of Monsters of course!”

“Grover- how did you get there?”

“I don’t know!” He cried. “But I just- I’m here on this big island- the Kyklopes island. It’s only got the one Kyklopes on it but I know mythologically there were more and-“

“Grover, hold on a sec, who’s the Kyklopes? Wait- there’s only one major one in Greek mythology in the Sea of Monsters-“

Grover nodded miserably, “Polyphemus. Thankfully he’s still got bad eye-sight from Nobody poking his eye last time.”

I stared in shock, “But then-“

I felt the dream cracking at the seams.

“Grover, listen, I’m leaving again but I need you to hang on, okay? I’ll rescue you, I pro-“

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I kicked at the ground as Annabeth brushed past me without speaking. It was frustrating. I just- I wanted to talk to her. I didn’t know what I’d say but I wanted to try and apologize.

And of course, I needed to talk to her about my dreams. Both Grover and the one about Metani.

This was important!

The shifting sands were what Metani felt like- was it a message from him? Was he trying to help me save Grover and letting me know what might save the camp?

Was it a manipulation?

Was he the one who poisoned the camp?

Regardless, it was possible there was a cure for the tree… I just had to find out what it was. And I also needed to save Grover.

I could swear I knew a myth with a golden ram, but Annabeth wasn’t talking to me and I didn’t know where to start looking.

I tugged Tyson away from the glaring the Athena campers, my mind focused on a golden ram and Kyklopes that liked sheep.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

“Percy?” Tyson said hesitantly as we lay in bed, Leilani finishing up her shower.

“Yeah?”

“Do you wish I wasn’t here?”

I sat up, staring at him in surprise.

“Of course not!”

“People are mean to you… because of me.”

“No, it’s not- well some are yeah but… even without you being my brother, you’re my friend Tyson. I wouldn’t abandon you just because of some biased jerks.”

“I am a monster though… monsters hurt you.”

“You don’t hurt me,” I said firmly. “You’re my friend and brother, I’m happy to have you here. I wouldn’t want to be here without you... and I'm sorry that I've gotten short with you. You didn't deserve that.”

He stared at me with his one big eye.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I love you, brother.”

“I love you too.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Luke POV

I sighed as I watched the team get ready, Alabaster and some newbie named Ethan leading the demigod group. I wanted to be there too, but Lord Kronos decreed I was to stay here. I wished I could do something more than just handle our spies.

Sure, we had several in the camp now. And I knew it was important to coordinate with them and collect their intel, but I wanted to do more.

Alabaster was practically the second in command now, being the one to poison the tree got him some attention.

Ethan was new, just recently picked up. I wasn’t sure what to think of him yet, but he seemed very dedicated to “making a difference” and “changing things for the better”. I didn’t think he’d ever been at camp, so I wasn’t sure what was up with that.

Maybe he knew someone at camp?

Regardless, his dedication to aiding Lord Kronos had definitely caught attention. Lord Kronos had started giving him and Alabaster some of the jobs meant for me originally.

I didn’t like either of them.

If only I hadn’t failed to kill Percy, then maybe Lord Kronos would see I have what it takes to be his right hand.

I refused to be replaced by those two just because I couldn’t be active right now.

Hmm, maybe I needed to start looking for something else to aid Lord Kronos. Percy was out of reach… but... there were other things I could do without telling Lord Kronos. I knew of some other important plans.

All I had to do was handle them for Lord Kronos.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What do you think of Percy dealing with his mess up? His family bonding? The camp and his friends reactions?

Halmaheran
Aipri=prince
Metani=Grandfather

Terminology
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Bluefish=type of fish

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 21: Birds do NOT like Heavy Metal

Summary:

*waves*

Notes:

A week late but a day early? Hi again lol. Got sick... again... so chapter got delayed. But it is here! And posted early cause tomorrow I'm gonna be buried in classwork.

Hope you enjoy!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I leaned back, the wind ruffling my hair as the Pegasus I was riding flew through the air.

Leilani was flying near me, her tanned skin shining in the afternoon sunlight.

Silena waved to me, motioning down. Her veil was pinned up, sparkling with the sparkles that covered it.

I sighed, but reluctantly tapped the reins.

“Could you take me down?”

“Yes, my Prince,” the Pegasus nickered.

The sky was a bit scary, knowing Zeus would not be pleased with me in his area (especially since my existence could mean the downfall of Olympus and he was kinda obligated to try and get rid of such a threat) meant that normally I wouldn’t do so.

But Pegasus were different.

Riding a Pegasus didn’t come with any tension or nervousness. It was comfortable and safe. Pegasus were descendants of Poseidon but were of the sky. They were a safe place.

I would never be afraid while on a Pegasus.

OO OO OO OO

“You know, I think the thing I’m most jealous about is just that you get to see your dad.”

I looked up from my curse theory book, my stomach twisting.

“What?”

“Like,” Leilani paused. “I haven’t gotten to see my mom at all, that I know of, and I’m kinda jealous that you get to see your dad. That he’s present enough in your life you get to see him.”

I shuffled, “Sorry?”

Was she mad about it? Like Annabeth was- well she wasn’t mad about this but she did bring it up…

She waved her hands quickly, “Wait no- don’t be sorry- that’s not- sorry I didn’t mean it in a bad way just… I’ve been thinking lately and I’ve realized that, a lot of the stuff you’ve mentioned, the subtle things with Triton giving gifts, and the way the fish seem to know you, and some of the stories and stuff… well it made me realize that my mom did some of that too.”

I blinked, “She did?”

“Yeah! Like, I’ve heard some Hermes kids talk about how their dad does little things for them. Gifts appearing, money appearing, warmth and comfort when upset. Even the floor of the cabin was always strangely soft to sleep on.”

I nodded, I remembered that. It wasn’t really uncomfortable there.

“Alabaster- well he talked about it some too with his mom. So did Aponi. Just how some supplies appeared for them, how they could just get some stuff with their magic, like someone was whispering guidance. Stuff like that.”

“Wow, that’s cool.”

“Yeah… and well, I’ve kinda realized that I have some stuff like that. I just never realized before cause I wasn’t thinking of it. Just like… it was really hard for us for a while. My dad did his best, and he’s wonderful but… things are really hard in Hawaii. Everything is pretty expensive and native Hawaiians… well… things aren’t great. And we were really struggling for a big part of my childhood.”

I listened wide eyed, “I’m sorry.”

She waved her hand, “It’s okay, well it’s not but yeah… but we had just… really good luck with certain things? Like on the beaches useful stuff tended to wash up. And three years ago, my dad got a really lucky break with a job that paid really well. It just came out of nowhere and the person said my dad was recommended but they never explained who did it.”

I started to understand what she was talking about.

“And just… my dad… I remember him being so relieved. He was doing a lot to take care of me alone. And just- I wonder now how much my mom was helping us. How much was luck and how much was my mom offering us bits of aid.”

I nodded, “I’m sure she helped some… but I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

She shrugged, “It’s just, you know- I get those experiences. The little things our parents may do for us without our notice, and I think maybe more than you cause you don’t talk about it as much…”

“My Metua… well, he told me he avoided me completely to keep anyone from finding out about me. And now I can visit him so I guess it’s not as important?”

She nodded, waving her hand, “Yeah, so… I got these signs that I just never realized were her that even though… my mom wasn’t physically present but she was, and is, there. And I just never realized but now I do and well… I guess it’s just I wish I could see her and I’m really happy you get to see your dad—I really am!”

I smiled at her earnest expression, “I get it.”

She relaxed, “But I just- I’m also jealous I guess? Cause you do get to see your dad. But also, it’s like- I’m not as jealous as I was at the start because I’ve realized it’s not that my mom doesn’t care it’s that I didn’t notice her care.”

“That’s a good point… that sounds cool though. You’ve like- you’ve got your mom watching over you constantly. And I’m glad that she seems to.”

“Mhm! It’s nice to realize. I- I dunno… I was bitter before? Like I do understand, she’s a Goddess, she’s busy. She can’t raise a kid, especially not a mortal kid. And I’ve always had my dad, even with all the stuff we went through he was always there. So, I just- I was bitter that she left. That she seemed to have decided that it was too much work or money or something. And now I’ve just- I mean I’m still a bit upset?”

“That’s understandable.”

She nodded, “But yeah, I’m just- no longer so bitter? It’s just- she was there, I just didn’t know how to see it then. I’m glad I realized.”

She wrung her hands in her skirt nervously.

“It’s just… nice to know she’s there. That if I pray to her I’ll probably be able to feel her presence. I- I dunno. It’s relieving.”

I related her some. Not on her struggles really, though we’ve been tight for money till recently. I understood her feelings for her mom too, and how they were complicated.

 “I… I kinda get that. When I was claimed it-“ I chewed my lip. “It was reassuring? Like I was actually really upset at first. Triton complains about Poseidon a lot.”

She giggled, her brown eyes lightening, “He’s aiming to be a proper brother, complaining about his dad all the time?”

I snickered, “I guess so. But it did mean I just… wasn’t the biggest fan of Poseidon? And was kinda upset cause also- Metua hadn’t been around at all but I had met Okeanus who I thought was my Metua-“

She did a double take, “Okeanus?”

“Hush,” I grumbled, flushing. “I know, I was dumb. I mixed up a bunch of signs as being him instead. I didn’t know about the oath though.”

She nodded quickly, a smile spreading, “Got it, understood.”

“But yeah, so I was kinda upset… but now I’m really glad. Like- maybe he’s not the greatest parent but he definitely cares. Okeanus and him had some kind of fight over me-“

“Wait, wait, wait,” she held up a hand. “You thought Okeanus was your dad and then Okeanus started fighting Poseidon over you?”

I coughed, “Yes.”

“That’s hilarious.”

“Shut up,” I said with a pout.

She laughed, “Sorry, sorry, continue.”

I was glad she was smiling again.

“But yeah he’s just- I’ve realized he actually is kinda good? He listens to me and does listen to what I want. He, or maybe Triton, sent people to guard me, and got me a tutor, and makes sure I’m taught and stuff.”

I smiled at the thought of it all.

“Plus, I’ve got siblings, and while Khrysaôr and Triton don’t get along… Kymopoleia, Herophile, and even Benthesikyme and Rhodos to an extent are great. I spend a lot of time with Kymopoleia and Herophile especially, but Benthesikyme is a really… motherly? Figure, and Rhodos taught me about sun catchers and tells me stories about Helios. I just- I’m really glad I got to meet them and that they’re my family.”

Leilani nodded, “They sounds really nice, I hope I can meet them someday.”

I hummed in agreement. I was definitely going to introduce Leilani to my siblings. I loved them loads, and Leilani was great. They needed to be introduced.

“Anyways, sorry this got so serious,” Leilani shook her head and flashed me a smile. “Just- it came to mind and you know… spoke without thinking.”

“Yeah, I understand, you’re fine.”

OO OO OO OO

“Percy? Percy can you hear me?”

I tried to reach for Grover, following a thread that seemed to lead to him.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO

I was nibbling on my lunch dinner with Leilani and Tyson by me when the fight broke out.

“The patrol is useless at this point!” Tantalus yelled. “Just let them focus on the camp activities-“

“The protection of the camp is a high priority,” Minos countered calmly in a voice that would’ve been inaudible if everyone hadn’t gone quiet at Tantalus’ outburst. “Not that I would expect you to understand why protecting children might be important-“

“I need more of the brats to work on the chariot racing field, the races are in two days how do you expect it to get done-“

“The chariot race is ridiculous,” Minos said dismissively, his gaze turning away from Tantalus. “back in my time we rode bulls-“

“Oh you and your damn bulls, well that’s bullshi-“

“There are children here!”

I took a sip of my drink, eyes wide as Minos started chiding Tantalus for his language, seeming to have noticed we were listening in, while Tantalus yelled at him to make a better patrol schedule, so we could do more work.

“I will not change the patrol schedules other than to rotate times and that is final. Now then, since you clearly aren't seeing reason, I will be returning to my room.”

Minos swept up (as put together as always) while Tantalus fumed behind him.

All of us quickly turned back to our food as Tantalus glared out at us.

“Jackson,” Minos said as he paused by our table.

“Yes, your majesty?”

“You have patrol tonight, two A.M.”

“Yes, your majesty,” I said graciously while biting back a groan. “Thank you for informing me.”

He nodded and glided away.

Ugh, another two A.M. patrol. Those sucked.

OO OO OO OO

I was standing at the pit.

“Hello, little Percy.”

I frowned, “Metani.”

“How nice of you to visit, it’s been some time.”

I chewed my lip, “Well, I’ve had school.”

“Indeed, and how has school been going?”

I frowned at the pit. Did he really want to know or was he distracting me?

“It was fine, except for how I was attacked by terrors on the last day then went to camp and found the tree poisoned by some ancient poison.”

“How unfortunate,” Metani drawled.

I heard a snort.

“You wouldn’t happen to know about the poison?” I asked mildly.

“Hmm, a poison used on the tree guarding your camp?”

“Yes.”

“Well…” he hummed for a moment. “I may have heard a rumor or two.”

I straightened, he almost definitely did not but if he knew anything-

“What’s the poison?”

“It’s hardly an ancient poison, little Percy. Akhlys is in here as well after all, she’s more than capable of making new poisons.”

I frowned, “I see… so… what is the poison?”

“Oh, a very fascinating one, countering all the things a plant needs… almost functions like salt. In order to counter it one would need a divine artifact connected to the ocean, the sun, and the earth. There are very few that do all the above.”

I frowned at the pit, “Why are you telling me? Didn’t you poison the tree?”

“Well, the tree was poisoned. By someone who I know. Potentially they were informed to do so.”

I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

“I hardly want you all to die though. You’re just children, you don't deserve to suffer for the crimes of your parents. I simply want you put to the side, you need not be harmed, Percy.”

“We’re not gonna just step aside,” I snapped.

“No,” he agreed. “You won’t. But alas, without the one artifact that could counter the poison…”

I glared, “What is the artifact?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, little Percy. I wish you luck.”

Curls of shifting sands swept around me.

“No! Answer me-“

And I stood in front of Grover.

“Percy! Thank the Gods you’re back.”

Right, Grover. Avero, I needed to know what could cure the tree but… at least I knew more now.

Why would he tell me how to cure it though? That didn’t make sense. What kind of plan did he have? And why was he still saying he didn’t want us hurt if he was weakening the camp boarders?

I focused on Grover for now and waved, “Hey buddy. Are you okay?”

Grover winced, “I don’t have much time. He’ll be back soon. Just- okay I should probably explain how we’re talking.”

I nodded, though I hadn’t really thought of it much. I just thought it was my normal dreams.

“It’s called an empathy link. It’s like… it connects our emotions and all and lets us communicate some. Through dreams is the easiest… well actually I wasn’t sure if it would allow communication in dreams, that wasn’t written down in the books… anyways it’s just- it connects us. I figured I could use it to ask for help…”

He looked at me pleadingly, “I mean I know it’s dangerous but-“

“I’m not leaving you here,” I assured him quickly. “You uh… you mentioned before something luring the satyrs here?”

He nodded, moving away from his worries.

“Yeah, it’s- well it’s not particularly powerful but also it is… it’s not directly connected to nature but it’s powerful and it’s from several Gods- but basically it’s got a lot of potential power and has some nature feel and it’s just… strong… so it smells kinda like you would imagine Pan would.”

He looked down.

“The Kyklopes of the island- he uses it to lure satyrs. It’s horrible.”

An artifact connected to several Gods.

An artifact that’s powerful and reminded Grover of Pan.

What were the chances it was what we needed?

…

That was insane. It couldn’t be- surely- but Metani seemed so amused…

“What is it?” I asked slowly.

Grover’s eyes rose.

“The Golden Fleece.”

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO

“Annabeth,” I called.

She stiffened by her chariot, which she was preparing for the race. For once she was alone when I came to her.

“What,” she asked, looking weary.

I chewed my lip, wringing my fingers. We hadn’t spoken since the tree incident and I knew she was upset still but- We needed to talk.

“Okay so- I know I screwed up with the tree, I’m sorry, I really am. I shouldn’t have attempted to heal it when I’m not good at healing no matter what you asked. I’m really sorry but- But I think I know how to heal it.”

She froze.

“What? What do you mean you know how to heal it? How?”

“I had a dream- you know how my dreams are- and I know what the poison does and what we need to counter it… and Grover happens to have found what we need.”

“What is it?” she asked. She grabbed my shoulders, her eyes wide and too bright. “Percy what can heal Thal- the tree?”

I gently grabbed her hands.

“The Golden Fleece.”

Her face fell.

“Percy- Percy that’s not a healing artifact it-“

“I know, I know it’s not-“

“It’s just a symbol of status. It may have saved Phrixos and Helle but it’s never healed-“

“I know!” I insisted. “But the poison the tree has- it basically… it’s like the salt. That’s why it seemed to get worse the same way I think. I mean, it like- it just seemed to wilt a bit. That’s- it’s cutting off it’s ability to get nutrients and stuff. The Golden Fleece has a lot of divine power and I looked it up this morning and-“

“What nutrients?”

“Uh, sun, and water, and uh… idk the stuff in dirt?”

She seemed to be thinking hard. “That would- well the fleece- the ram it came from is the child of Poseidon and Theophane… and Theophane is the daughter of Bisaltes who’s the son of Helios and Gaea so-“

“So, it could work?”

She licked her lips, her eyes bright.

“It- I mean… I’m not sure but-“

“It’s more than we’ve had to go on so far.”

“Where is it?”

“With Grover,” I said. “On Polyphemus’ island.”

She flinched at the mention of Polyphemus, her expression tightening.

“It’s always a Kyklopes isn’t it,” she muttered.

“We need to get a quest,” I insisted.

She nodded slowly, “Tantalus will never allow it.”

“Minos might.”

She was silent for a long moment.

“We can save both Grover and the tree,” I said. “If it’s really the cure-“

“And if it’s not?” she snapped.

“Then we have nothing left to lose.”

She took a shaky breath.

“Okay. Okay. We’ll- we’ll talk about this after the race. I doubt Tantalus will listen to us now.”

I nodded, “Right… Annabeth?”

She blinked at me.

“I am sorry about the tree.”

Her shoulders slumped, her eyes on the ground.

“I- No… I asked you to… I’m sorry for yelling at you, and saying all that stuff… You didn’t deserve that. I just- It’s not just a tree-”

Her breath caught.

“I know it’s a tree to everyone here but it’s-“

“It’s Thalia to you.”

She wiped her eyes, her voice a bare whisper.

“Yeah.”

“It’s- it’s okay.”

“I- I am sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have I’ve just been-“

She looked away.

I reached out, then pulled my hands back.

“Can I hug you?”

She peered up at me, her eyes shining with tears. She gave a small nod.

I wrapped my arms around her, letting her lean into me.

“It’s okay, we’ll save her.”

She sniffed, “Sorry… thanks…”

I swallowed, “It’s okay. Thanks for apologizing.”

She nodded against me, then pulled back and wiped her eyes.

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

I smiled at her, “Yeah, see you after we beat you.”

She snorted, letting out a weak laugh, “In your dreams.”

OO OO OO OO

Tyson looked up when I returned, Leilani finishing with the weapons.

“You talk to Annabeth?” Tyson asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, we’re gonna talk more after the race.”

“Is she less…” Leilani paused, twisting a strand of her hair that escaped the bun. “Snappy?”

“Yeah… she apologized for our fight.”

“That’s good,” Leilani said. “I guess she’s dealing with a lot, but it still wasn’t nice of her.”

I nodded, “Yeah, but it’s okay… she really has a lot going on and she apologized.”

I rubbed my forehead; the humidity wasn’t bad for me, but the heat combined with it was annoying.

“We all set for the race?”

Leilani nodded, “Yeah, the chariot is all set and Tyson has gone over all the defenses.”

I grinned, “Thanks, Tyson.”

He beamed.

I looked at the race track, several other’s preparing their chariots around us.

The racetrack was built in the grassy field between the archery range and the woods. There were trees all over one side of it, filled with large grey-and-white pigeons. Lots of them actually.

I didn’t realize we had so many pigeons.

There were rows of stone steps for spectators, Tantalus, some dryads, all campers not racing, and of course Minos.

Minos did not look amused by it.

But then, he’d been muttering about how none of us were trained charioteers and this was going to be a disaster all week so that wasn’t too surprising.

“Right,” Tantalus declared. His hand slowly reached for a pastry on a platter nearby.

The chocolate eclair was not amused.

“You all know the rules. It’s a quarter-mile track. First one twice around wins. Two horses, a driver, and a fighter for each chariot. Weapons are naturally allowed, and dirty tricks expected. But do try not to kill anyone!” Tantalus gave us a mischievous smile. “Any killing will result in harsh punishment, no s’mores at the campfire for a week!”

Minos shot him a withering glare.

“Now… ready your chariots!”

Beckendorf lead the way onto the track, the Hephaestus team chariot made entirely of bronze and iron, even the horses. They were probably filled with all kinds of traps, they usually were.

The Ares chariot was blood-red and pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. I wasn’t sure where they got them, we definitely didn’t have them in camp normally. Could Ares kids summon skeletons? I wondered if I could speak to them or not. Clarisse climbed aboard with an armory worth of weapons.

The Apollo chariot was a sharp contrast. All smooth lines and elegance. It was a shining gold and pulled by two lovely palominos. Their fighter had a bow, though I’d heard he didn’t have any pointed arrows for shooting.

There were two Hermes chariots.

The first was green and made of wood. It was smooth and looked well used. With the Stoll brothers driving it I had no doubt it was filled with nasty tricks.

The other chariot was a light blue, with all symbols patterned all over it. It was manned by Aponi and a boy Leilani told me was named Toshiro. He was great in snow-ball fights. Aponi was pretty good with magic though, which meant we’d have to watch out. Those symbols probably had a purpose.

Then there was Annabeth’s chariot. Her’s was a sleek wooden one with metal support and covering. It had a shield design on the front that reminded me of Medusa. She and her partner (Yewande, someone I’d only spoken to a few times before) were standing ready with their weapons.

Then there was our chariot.

It was a deep blue with a sandy shaded bottom. The pegasi pulling it were ones I’d spoken to a lot and I trusted them to carry us safely to the end. We had a few tricks of our own, from the catapult to the javelins tucked to the side to my own skills with water.

Even if we didn’t win I had confidence we’d get to show off our skills a bit.

The conch horn rang out.

“Charioteers!” Tantalus called. “To your mark!”

I frowned at the screeching in the trees. I hadn’t noticed earlier, we’d been a bit farther away, but they were loud.

No one else seemed too concerned, though in the stands Minos was frowning up at them. Something about them pinged my senses though.

“Hey, Leilani, do you recognize the pigeons?”

She glanced up, “No, that’s… a lot of them.”

I nodded, eyeing their gleaming beaks.

“Get ready!” cried an Athena kid.

We focused back on the course.

The chariot wasn’t very comfortable, but it was built for speed not comfort. Leilani would be driving, and I would be handling other chariots… and doing a shield.

I checked the containers of water on the chariot and smiled.

We were gonna run a clean race, but I was absolutely putting my skills to use.

“You will win!” Tyson beamed. “Good luck!”

I flashed him a grin, “And it’ll be thanks to your amazing building skills.”

He bounced, his one big eye sparkling.

“We’re gonna- umm,” Leilani furrowed her brow. “hamu ortipeo?”

I snorted, clutching the side of the chariot as I held back my laughter.

“That’s-“ I snickered “-that’s one way of saying it.”

Leilani pouted, “Did I get it wrong?”

I snickered, “I think you mean leke faipe.”

She frowned, “Ugh, I wasn’t even close.”

“Well sorta-“

“Attend your mark!”

Tantalus was sure taking his sweet time-

Oh, that explained it.

I watched him lunge for the éclair only for Minos to snatch it up and take a bite.

Tantalus glared.

“Begin!” He shouted angrily, his hand dropping.

Hooves thudded against the dirt and the chariots took off.

I raised my hands, not bothering to pull out one of my weapons, and pulled for the water.

I glanced back at a loud crash, seeing the Apollo chariot flipped over and the Hermes chariot shoving past, with Conner and Travis cackling. Apparently they’d rammed into it-

CRASH

 And the Apollo horses crashed into theirs… oh well.

That chariot flipped over, leaving a pile of broken wood and gold and stumbling horses.

Two chariots were down in the first six meters.

I turned my attention back to the front, flicking my wrists so that the water encircled our chariot. We were just pulling ahead of Ares now, and I quickly lashed out at them.

Clarisse swung her sword at my water, but it passed through harmlessly, letting me wrap it around her sword and yank it away.

She shouted something lost in the sound of horses and birds and grabbed her spear.

Electricity sparked over it, only for the Hephaestus cabin to ram into us, sending us sliding into the Ares chariot.

Their driver managed to pull ahead just before they could tumble over, and I spun around to raise a water shield against another strike.

“Sorry Percy!” Beckendorf yelled. He pressed a button on the side of his chariot and three sets of balls and chains shot straight towards our wheels.

I swept the shield lower, hardening it to ice and flicking. It deflected the attack into the ground and then shattered into a dozen large chunks, catching in the Hephaestus chariots wheels.

“Shit!” cried the driver as the wheel shattered. She yanked at the reins, but the horses couldn't steady them. Her veiled head vanished as it crashed.

I pulled the water back as we pulled ahead.

“Getting there!” Leilani called.

I nodded, though she couldn’t see, and looked around the course.

“Just keep on the-“

I gaped.

The birds had taken off from the trees and were circling above, like a huge tornado.

They’re just pigeons-

Oh when has anything in my life been just anything?

“Speed up!” I yelled. “And watch out for the birds.”

We made the turn, only a few meters behind the Athena chariot. If we could get a little closer I could use the water I had to pull them back.

Yewande readied her javelin, her blonde braids swinging with the chariots movement.

She drew back to throw and then missed horribly as the screaming started.

I whipped around, finding the cause.

The pigeons were swarming.

There were thousands of them, dive-bombing the spectators, attacking the other chariots, and headed towards us.

Minos was yelling but I couldn’t hear him.

Beckendorf and his fighter were trying to bat them away but they were stranded.

The Ares chariot threw on a camouflage cover and kept moving, catching up on us. Clarisse was gritting her teeth but kept on driving. Her horses were immune to the distraction, being skeletons and all.

The birds were attacking every inch of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. Several were swinging swords, and the Apollo cabin shooting arrows, but they were too spread out.

Those weren’t just pigeons.

Several swept up to us but I lashed out with the water and knocked them from the air, pulling more from the container on the chariot to bulk up the shield.

Up close I could see the birds had bronze beaks, that seemed to be razor sharp.

“Stymphalian birds!” Annabeth yelled as her chariot fell in beside ours. “They’ll strip everyone to the bones if we don’t drive them away.”

Of course they would.

“Leilani!” I called.

She just nodded, “Turning around!”

I summoned more water, flicking open my water skin, and readied myself.

We did a tight turn, barely avoiding flipping over.

The birds grew denser as we rode closer and I spread the water into a large ball, lashing it out and knocking several birds out of the air at once.

I flicked my rest, spreading my hands as I flattened the water sphere. I swept it up, then slammed it down quickly.

Several dozen birds crashed to the ground.

Annabeth swung with her sword, swiping a handful out.

I repeated my actions, swiping large swaths out together as I swept the water through the air.

I winced as several birds got past, pecking at my arms and back.

“Avero,” I hissed.

“It’s not enough,” Annabeth shouted.

“How do we get rid of them?” I called back.

She stabbed a pigeon with her knife in one hand and a sword in her other.

“Herakles used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible sound he could-“ her eyes grew wide. “Percy… Khiron’s collection!”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out she meant Khiron’s horrid music collection.

“You think it’ll work?” I called back.

“It’s our only chance.”

I bit back a scream when she leapt from her chariot to ours.”

“Areo,” Leilani swore. “Watch it!”

“To the Big House!”

We swung the chariot to the side, and I reluctantly pulled the water into a shield around us.

Clarisse had just pulled across the finish line, completely unopposed, and finally noticed the situation. She scowled at us when she saw us driving away, “You’re running? The enemy is here, cowards!”

We ignored her as she drew her sword and charged for the stands.

Our horses surging into a gallop, their wings flapping to get us over bigger bumps.

We went through the strawberry fields and across the volleyball pit before we lurched to a halt in front of the Big House.

Lord D yawned, blinking at us as we bolted inside.

“Wha-“

We slammed the door open to Khiron’s apartment and grabbed his boom box and his favorite CDs.

Annabeth lugged the boom box out and we raced back towards the track.

“What-“ Lord D said again as we raced past him once more.

The track was a disaster. Chariots on fire, wounded campers running in every direction, and birds screeching as they dive-bombed everyone.

I swept another wave of water up, giving a moment’s respite, and we ignored Tantalus yelling “Everything’s under control! Not to worry!”

Minos managed to get a small group together in a defensive position but it wasn’t going well.

His eyes landed on us as we set up the boom box, a flash of confusion on his face.

Birds dived towards us and I swept the water back up in a shield.

Annabeth hit PLAY and Khiron’s favorite CD started—Greatest Hits of Judas Priest. Suddenly the air was filled with drums and fast guitar playing and some sort of techno addition. It was weird, and more importantly the demon pigeons hated it.

They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. After a minute they abandoned the track altogether and flew skywards in a huge dark wave.

“Archers!” Minos yelled.

With clear targets, Apollo’s archers had flawless aim. Most of them could nock several arrows at once (which was insane) and within minutes the ground was littered with bronze-beaked pigeons.

I slowly relaxed as the remaining pigeons flew away, a dark cloud in the distance.

The camp was saved, though not without damage. Most everyone was wounded and nearly all the chariots were destroyed. Several kids were crying and clutching their heads. Veils were scattered on the ground from where the birds had ripped them off.

“Bravo!” Tantalus said, stopping whatever Minos was about to say. “We have our first winner!”

He walked to the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse.

Then her turned and smiled at us.

“And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted the race.”

I gaped.

Annabeth gaped.

Even Minos gaped.

“What?”

OO OO OO OO

Zoey POV

I swung my legs, sitting at the booth with Nikola.

“Okay, so we’re in agreement?”

“That the school did not have a freak gas explosion and there was something really weird going on?” He drawled. “Yes.”

“They just- okay… so we know that Percy… and Kai and Acantha and probably Klara too, all had something going on.”

“Plus, Tyson.”

“Right.”

I rubbed my head.

“I just- what?”

“Well they’ve all vanished.”

“Did you go talk to Ms. Jackson too?”

He nodded, “She said he’s at summer camp.”

I groaned, “Same answer I got.”

“Well we don’t have his phone number-“

“He doesn’t have a cell phone,” I added helpfully.

“And we don’t know where this camp is.”

“And I’m going on vacation literally tomorrow.”

Nikola groaned.

“Right, you’re going to Florida. By Odin there’s way too much going on. I’m not awake enough for this.”

I chewed my lip, “Well, if we ask him do you think he’ll tell us?”

Nikola sighed, “I would hope so but… we don’t know what’s up and… it could be dangerous.”

I frowned, “Like-“

“Maybe he’s involved with the mafia? I mean I looked him up and there was a big scandal with his step-dad and Percy got kidnapped last summer so-“

“Maybe his step-father was involved with the mafia?” I mused.

“Maybe,” he muttered. “He did disappear…”

We both stared at the table.

“Okay, so, before the next school year starts we’ll talk to Percy.”

Nikola nodded.

“And we’ll make him tell us what’s up.”

“Wait-“

“I don’t care if it’s dangerous,” I insisted. “He’s our friend! I’m not gonna let some- some mafia losers get in our way.”

Nikola sighed, “Why am I friends with you again?”

I beamed, “I didn’t give you a choice!”

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Btw, what Annabeth said about the fleece not being a healing artifact... that is true. It is a symbol of status at best (more info in the Terminology section of the notes). Do you have any idea the amount of finagling it took to make the fleece a viable solution to the tree poisoning?? I spent ages deciding the particulars of it.

Oh! And in canon Rick got the people named in the myth wrong too <3. It's Phrixos and Helle, Rick fight me.

Also, the music Chiron listened to in canon... is literally not bad at all. Also it's not in Italian... Why

And also- I have a lot of complaints this chapter if you haven't noticed- Rick how the fuck did Annabeth come to conclude the Golden Fleece from what little info Percy had??

And a side note- okay I'm just ranting rn but anyways- Rick did a horrible job showing how the Gods help in subtle ways. And it's not like the kids often ask for help or do offerings or prayers and literally every example in the books of them doing so... they actually get help so like- are the Gods really not helping or are the demigods mad they're not getting bonus stuff??

Anyways-

What did you think of the dreams? Annabeth and Percy's conversation? Nikola and Zoey?

Halmaheran
Metua=Father
Metani=Grandfather
Avero=shit
Areo=fuck
Hamu ortipeo= Push backfin
Leke faipe= Beat fin (basically "kick butt")

Terminology
Akhlys=Primordial Goddess of Poison
Kyklopes=phonetic spelling of Cyclopes
Khiron=phonetic spelling of Chiron
Phrixos and Helle=the siblings, where Phrixos was nearly sacrificed to Zeus to stop death but their mother Nephele saved them and Hermes sent them the Golden ram to save them.
The Golden Fleece=Has no technical power of it's own, but it is a symbol of status and it's changing of hands partially symbolized a new age of rulership ;)

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 22: Well You Definitely Need a Hug

Summary:

:P

Notes:

A week off but alas, I am sick once more and had a shit ton of exams. Next chapter is nearly done so my big essay won't prevent next weeks posting yay!

Hope you enjoy :)

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

“The troublemakers who disrupted the race are dead,” Minos snapped. “And should be cleaned up before we move on.”

“I don’t mean the birds,” Tantalus said dismissively. “They weren’t bothering anyone until those kids-“ he pointed at me and Annabeth “-disrupted them with their bad chariot driving!”

Minos’ eye twitched.

“Pardon are you saying the two who were nearly the winners are the one’s who disrupted the Stymphalian Birds and not the ones that crashed in the first five minutes?”

“Absolutely!”

Minos’ eye twitched again. He took a slow steady breath.

“Why don’t we move to the big house to continue this conversation,” he said with a tight smile.

“After I punish the troublemakers!”

“What in the name of my father is going on here,” Dionysus interrupted.

His gaze swept over the mess of birds, the music player still playing horrid heavy metal, and the two kings facing off.

“Those two were such bad drivers—"

“The Stymphalian Birds got through the—"

“—and they disrupted the poor pigeons—"

“—attacked the campers and—”

“—obviously they must be punished—"

“—thankfully the music upset them and—"

“—so they will have dish duty tonight!”

“—so none of them should be punished.”

Dionysus stared, “You know, I cancelled the chariot races when I was first assigned to this miserable camp just to keep the chaos down. I did warn you when you decided to reinstate them that you’d reap what you sowed… in other news it’s time for lunch and I’m hungry. Move along children.”

“You can’t just—”

“We’ll need someone to clean up the birds,” Minos interrupted, raising his voice. “I believe whatever teams crashed within the first ten seconds should do so.”

“Just get the harpies to,” Lord D said dismissively, shooting a look at all of us. “Well? Why are you still standing there?”

I glanced at Annabeth and Leilani then scrambled to move towards the dining pavilion, the rest of the campers doing the same.

“Jackson, Casey,” Lord D called.

We both froze, turning to look at him.

“Put the music up first.”

“Yes, Lord D.”

“Sorry, Mr. D.”

We scooped it up and hurried back to the big house.

“Why does he call you by your name?” Annabeth muttered. “He never uses my name.”

I shrugged, “Not sure. He’s always used mine that I can remember.”

“Weird.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO

Lunch was an awkward affair.

Tantalus was glaring at us, Minos, and Lord D for most of the time, and according to Leilani he and Minos had had a screaming fight (or well, Tantalus was screaming, no one heard Minos though) while me and Annabeth were returning the music stuff. Lord D had reportedly been the one to interrupt it and forced them both to the dining pavilion.

Thanks to Tantalus screaming when interrupted, everyone was now aware that Lord D was on thin ice with Zeus because Thalia’s tree was poisoned while under his care.

Even Minos had been scandalized by Tantalus doing so.

Lord D seemed to be determined to ignore the awkward air and did some announcements, including reminding everyone that the sundials and sun catchers and all other preparations needed to be ready soon since the summer solstice was just under two weeks away.

I was looking forward to it. Despite everything going on at camp, the solstice was supposed to be fun. I wanted it to be fun.

I wanted to have some fun.

Lunch was terribly tense and very much not fun.

OO OO OO OO

The one good thing to come out of having Minos around was that he was very firm on upholding their duty there, which meant that Annabeth and I didn’t get punished.

Well, arguably.

Tantalus declared that we could have the “honor” of helping the harpies prepare the birds because “learning to cook is important for young minds”.

Minos had promptly declared that was a great idea, and thus suggested all the campers help with dinner at some point.

No one else thought it was a great idea.

Tantalus clearly was sick of dealing with Minos cause he agreed and ordered a random Athena kid to set up a schedule.

Annabeth and I got some annoyed looks at that.

OO OO OO OO

Thankfully the Harpies had already done most of the preparation, so we only needed to help cut the meat then put it off to the side for the harpies.

I was glad, the area was rather bloody. And the meat was too. Weren’t terrors supposed to turn to dust when killed? Why didn’t these? Were the bodies the spoil of war or something?

Annabeth said she didn’t know when I asked.

We worked as carefully as we could, cutting the meat lengthwise and then cutting it in half before placing it on the boards as told.

Cut long wise, open, cut in half, place on the board. Cut long wise, open, cut in half, place on the board. Cut long wise, open, cut in half, place on the board. Cut long wise, open, cut in half, place on the board. Cut long wise, open, cut in half, place on the board.

It was relaxing in it’s receptiveness. The Harpies were doing other things with the meat, but we had just the one job.

“So,” Annabeth said. “The golden fleece.”

My knife stilled for a moment before I went back to cutting.

“Yeah.”

“What exactly did your dream tell you about it?”

I bit my lip, taking a moment to pull everything together.

“Okay so- so I dreamed of Metani again-“

Annabeth snorted, “You really heard Khiron say not to call Him that and said no.”

My face warmed, “Well what am I supposed to call Him? I can’t use His name so-“

She waved her hand, “No, no, you have a point. Most call him the Time Lord or the Titan King.”

“Too long.”

“Of course,” she said with an eye roll. “Regardless, you were saying?”

“Uh…” I tried to remember. “Oh right. So I dreamed of Metani again, it’s been awhile, but He told me about the poison.”

Annabeth stopped, turning to me, “What? But- did He not poison the tree?”

“No, He said He did. But for some reason… He said He didn’t want us dead, just out of the way. I don’t understand it.”

She mulled over it, “Kronos is… well he’s known as a clever Deity from what I know. I’ve read a few works on him and Plato in particular mentioned him being intelligent. There may be another plan we can’t see.”

“Well it’s not like the Fleece can do much outside of this specific situation. So why would it matter?”

“I’m not sure.”

Annabeth fingered the knife in her hand as she thought.

“It might be the poison is more than they said. Or maybe they want the fleece for some reason?”

“But what reason?”

“Maybe…” she frowned. “Maybe it’s like why he wanted Zeus’ Bolt? We still don’t know what use that would have other than starting the war between the Gods so…”

I hummed, carefully cutting another piece of terror pigeon breast.

“Maybe… I wish we knew more.”

“You know-“ she bit her lip.

“What?”

“You aren’t considering joining him are you?”

I jerked, “What?”

“Well… it’s just… Dylan, one of my siblings, he apparently left camp and said that… that he was joining Luke.”

My eyes widened.

“I knew a sibling of yours was missing-“

She nodded, “Yeah… we… we didn’t expect it. I just- I know the Titans make some points but we can’t trust that. They- they’re good now but what about later? What about when they no longer need to recruit us? It’s like- it’s like election time, right?”

I opened my mouth, but she kept talking.

“It seems great right now, but we have no way of knowing if they’re actually keeping to the good because they care or because they want to manipulate us and maybe they do care but if they don’t and you switch sides then you’re just doomed and anyways it’s not like- it’s not like the Gods are bad you know? They have some bad stuff going on but that's not all of who they are. I mean they answer our prayers and they guide most of us to some kind of safety and- well you know… they try to take care of us...”

I made a noise of agreement as she continued on.

“And the Time Lord is clearly trying to get you on his side, maybe because you’re the prophecy kid, but it’s just- if they really cared they wouldn’t- they wouldn’t do this to the camp. Luke wouldn’t have- have poisoned Thalia and so- it’s just- you need to remember that they’re just trying to manipulate you and-“

“Annabeth,” I interrupted.

She snapped her mouth shut, taking a shaky breath.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s- I know what you’re saying. But it really doesn’t matter what he wants. I’d never betray Triton.”

She rolled her shoulders, nodding quickly “Right.”

“I… well… I’m sorry.”

Annabeth tilted her head, her brows furrowed in confusion, “Why?”

“Because Luke…”

How could I say what he told me. How he was just going to stay back and let her be let down- that he expected her to be hurt and planned to wait till after to help her.

“He… I’m just sorry that he did this to you, to Thalia. I can’t understand why he would.”

She stared down at the meat in front of her.

“It’s not your fault. I… I shouldn’t take this out on you, I’m sorry, I’m just-“

She gazed at the meat for a long moment, her eyes far away. She looked so tired and alone. She looked afraid.

“I’m just frustrated.”

I watched her with a frown.

“Do you want a hug?”

She blinked at me.

“Our hands are covered in blood.”

She was smiling slightly so I considered it a win.

“So? We’re gonna need to wash these anyways.”

Her shoulders slumped, “Yeah… I would like a hug.”

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders as best I could considering she was taller than me and she relaxed slightly.

“I am- I am sorry,” she mumbled, sounding almost embarrassed. “I shouldn’t have gotten so mad at you.”

“It’s okay,” I assured. “You’ve had a bad year.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Hey!” squawked a Harpy. “No PDA in front of the dinner!”

We pulled apart quickly, my face warm.

“Sorry.”

We worked in silence for awhile longer before Annabeth spoke again.

“So we need to reach Grover and the Golden Fleece.”

I nodded, “Yeah. The Fleece has to be the solution. There’s nothing else I can think of…”

“Me neither,” she said grudgingly. “At least it has a chance… Only problem is how to get there. Tantalus would never approve a quest.”

I smiled, remembering my lessons with Triton and Benthesikyme.

“He wouldn’t have a choice if we announce it in front of the whole camp.”

Annabeth stilled, “At dinner or campfire?”

“Dinner would have Lord D and Minos there, and they might support us.”

“Neither of them seem to get along with Tantalus,” she murmured. “And Minos does take his job of protecting the camp seriously…”

“Exactly.”

“So, dinner then?”

“Dinner.”

Annabeth smiled, a bright thing filled with hope. “Then we’d best finish preparing the meat.”

OO OO OO OO

Dinner was actually delicious. I didn’t expect the terror pigeon breasts to taste so good, but they were prepared several ways and all of them were amazing. The harpies really were great cooks.

As dinner wound down Tantalus stood.

“Well then! This has been a wonderful day.”

He casually went to pick up a strip of meat, only for it to slide off the plate and then skid right off the table when he lunged for it.

He straightened and continued, “It’s about time for campfire so-“

“Sir,” I interrupted as I stood, Annabeth quickly following from her table.

Tantalus’ eye twitched. “Yes? Did our new cooks need something?”

Several campers snickered.

I glanced at Annabeth and she nodded, “We have a plan to save the camp.”

Dead silence.

Lord D straightened and Minos leaned forward.

“Well I certainly hope it’s not like your chariot plan-“

“The Golden Fleece,” I said. “It can heal the tree and we know where it is.”

Minos frowned, “The Golden Fleece is not a healing artifact.”

“Indeed, so moving on-“

“But it can heal the tree. I had a dream-“

“Oh goodie,” Tantalus snorted.

“I had a dream,” I repeated, ignoring him. “Where I learned about the poison. It’s meant to block the nutrients the tree can get, and only something of divine nature would have the strength to counter it. The Golden Fleece is uniquely suited to do so. I met Grover in another dream and he told me where it is-”

“That’s preposterous-“

“He’s right,” Annabeth insisted. “The Golden Fleece comes from a ram born of Poseidon and Theophane. So, there’s the water. And Theophane is the daughter of Bisaltes, who’s the son of Helios and Gaea, bringing the sun and earth into it as well.”

“It has all the things the tree needs, all of it divine.”

“Well-“

“No, no,” Lord D interrupted Tantalus. “They are correct. If the poison truly does focus on the nutrients the Golden Fleece would be perfect for solving the issue.”

“That may work,” mused Minos.

“The Golden Fleece can save Thalia’s tree,” Annabeth insisted. “It can save the camp.”

“Nonsense!” Tantalus snapped. “We don’t need saving.”

Everyone, including Lord D and Minos, stared at him. He shifted.

“Where is it?” Minos asked.

“The Sea of Monsters,” I said, raising my chin. “On Polyphemus’ island.”

“That Kyklopes!” Tantalus cried. “Don’t be preposterous. Besides, the entrance to the sea of monsters is nearly impossible to find these days. You don’t have all the information you need.”

The information we needed… that… that reminded me of something…

“We always know the info our riders need to know.”

The Gray Ones.

“Yes, we do,” I said. “We have all the information we need.”

Annabeth shot me a confused look as I spoke.

“Twenty-eight, eighteen, thirty-three, seventy, fifty, fifty-six.”

“Ooo-kay,” Tantalus said slowly. “Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers.”

I sighed, “They’re sailing coordinates, in degrees, minutes, seconds. Twenty-eight degrees, eighteen minutes, thirty-three seconds north, seventy degrees, fifty minutes, fifty-six seconds west.”

“Oh!” Annabeth said, a grin on her face. “The numbers from the Gray Sisters. That would be somewhere in the Atlantic, off of Florida. That’s the entrance to the sea of monsters.”

“We need a quest,” I said firmly. “We know where to go and what to get. We need to send a quest.”

“Wait a minute-“

“We need a quest!” Annabeth repeated.

“We do no-“

But the campers were having none of it from Tantalus. Their eyes were bright with hope and they picked up where Annabeth left off.

“We need a quest! We need a quest!”

“It’s isn’t necessary!”

“WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!”

Minos was smirking, Lord D was leaning back with a drink in his hand, his eyes gleaming. Tantalus looked furious.

Fine!” He shouted, his eyes blazing. “You brats want a quest?”

“YES!”

“Very well, then I shall assign a quest. A champion of my choosing. One to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying.”

I shared a look with Annabeth. We’d succeeded. There would be a quest! We could get the fleece and save Grover.

“I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!” He announced. “And choose two companions for the journey. I think the choice of champion is obvious.”

Tantalus swept his gaze over the campers, lingering on Annabeth and me with hate burning in his eyes.

“The champion should be one who has the camps respect, who has proven resourceful and courageous in the defense of the camp. And so the leader of this quest shall be… Clarisse!”

The Ares cabin cheered, stomping their feet.

“CLARISSE! CLARISSE!”

She stumbled to her feet, eyes wide. She swallowed hard, raising her chin as a proud grin spread across her lips.

“I accept the quest!”

I faltered, shooting Annabeth a look. She frowned as well.  

“Hang on,” she said. “We’re- Percy is the one who got the information.”

Sherman Yang scoffed, “You had your chance last year!”

“It’s a trip in the ocean,” I cried. “I’m literally the son of Poseidon.”

“Shove it!”

“Yeah!”

"We don't need you to handle traveling!"

Yewande (from the Athena cabin) leapt to her feet, “It was Annabeth and Percy to share the information! They should go as well!”

“After his last attempt at helping the tree!?”

“He only did that because I asked,” Annabeth interrupted. “It’s as much my fault as his. But he is the perfect member of the quest.”

“You just want the glory again.”

“Why should we trust him after his lies about Luke?”

“He didn’t-“

“You shove it!” Katie snapped. “He didn’t lie!”

“You don’t get to go on this quest too!”

I opened my mouth to speak, Annabeth trying as well, but fighting was breaking out. The Athena cabin members were yelling at the Ares cabin members. Leilani grabbed my hand, shooting me a worried look. Tyson shrunk down in his seat.

Tantalus was watching with an amused grin as the fighting got worse.

“Don’t talk about Percy like that!” Drew snapped. “Even the Athena cabin agrees-“

“They’re biased cause Annabeth is there!”

I was worried it would come to blows when Lord D interrupted.

“Enough.”

He didn’t shout, but everyone went silent anyways. The smell of grapes filled the air as Lord D’s eyes glowed.

My breath caught.

He swept His eyes over the campers slowly, everyone quiet.

“The leader of the quest has been decided,” He said firmly. “There will be at least two others on the quest with her. That is final. Now shut up and go to campfire. Clair, you can speak with the oracle after the campfire.”

We all hovered silently.

“Well? Go to campfire.”

We rushed away.

OO OO OO OO

I didn’t know what to do that night. Tyson and Leilani watched me twist water into complex shapes as I thought.

“You will go anyways?” Tyson asked.

Leilani frowned, “That would be hard.”

“Really hard,” I agreed.

“I will help.”

“I can’t ask that of you,” I said softly. “If I got caught I would be in a lot of trouble.”

He stared at the pieces of metal in his lap—springs and gears and tiny wires that Beckendorf had given him. His skills with them was very impressive.

“Annabeth doesn’t like Kyklopes,” he muttered. “You… don’t want me along?”

“Oh, no that’s not- Annabeth she- well I don’t know the full story but it’s not you, Tyson. She- she just is upset and lashing out. She shouldn’t be doing it to you, you don’t deserve it, but it’s not you that she doesn’t like.”

Tyson folded up his project in an oilcloth. He lay down on the bed and hugged his bundle to his chest.

“Daddy always cared for m-me,” he sniffled. “Now… I think he was mean to have a Kyklopes boy. I should not have been born.”

“Tyson-“ I swallowed hard.

“That’s not true!” Leilani insisted. “Everyone knows that Poseidon values every one of His kids. If you prayed to Him, he would grant whatever aid He could to you. There are loads of stories about demigods harming His Kyklopes or Nymph children and Him avenging them. It… it might not be great now but…”

She looked to me helplessly.

“Camp was rough for me too at the start,” I offered. “It… it didn’t feel at all like home. Even when I was claimed everyone mostly avoided me. The Demeter and Aphrodite cabins didn’t but…”

Tyson looked at us, his big eye watery.

“It gets better,” I assured him.

“But they are mean to you too.”

Leilani winced.

“There’s… stuff has happened and… People really liked someone who did a bad thing to Percy. But he did it to Percy when they were alone so no one saw and well… people don’t believe he did it.”

I winced, “It’s just… complicated… but I still have friends here who care for me. And maybe some parts aren’t great but… I like spending time with my friends. They’re important to me. So are you.”

Tyson nodded slowly, “I love you too, brother, cousin.”

Leilani blinked, shooting me a confused look. “Cousin?”

He yawned, “Sea child, family.”

She sniffed, “You’re literally a sweet heart.”

He didn’t reply, and a moment later he started snoring softly.

“I guess we should sleep too,” Leilani murmured, yawning.

“Yeah, it’s getting late.”

Leilani seemed to drift off pretty quick, but my brain wouldn’t shut up.

I lay staring at the ceiling, studying the stars projected from my starglobe.

Would it be okay? Clarisse was good, she’d been training as long as me and at camp much longer but…

I wasn’t sure. Something told me it wasn’t enough.

I wanted to sleep, to maybe dream more answers, but I also didn’t want to. I didn’t want to sleep. I didn’t want to fall asleep and not be here.

I wanted to go on the quest. I wanted to help Grover. I wanted to help on the quest.

I rolled over.

Clarisse was going into the ocean… without a sea kid who was right there. It didn’t seem smart to me.

Maybe I hadn’t practiced anything related to ships, but I was sure I could still help. I knew Khrysaôr had a ship, maybe I could ask him for help?

…

Well he probably wouldn’t help but it was an idea.

I groaned and rolled out of bed. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep yet. Might as well do something else.

OO OO OO OO

Dionysus POV

“So, have you picked your companions?” I asked.

Clarisse had already found her ride, thanks to her father answering a prayer, and had her prophecy. Now all she needed were her quest members.

Tantalus had gone to bed, and Minos was leaning against the wall.

“I was thinking of bringing Beckendorf and Silena,” she said. “They’re both skilled, and Silena has charmspeak so-“

“Beckendorf is the most skilled of the Hephaestus kids,” Minos said with a frown. “We need his skills to continue repairing weapons and tools.”

She grimaced, “Well-“

“And is Silena willing to go on such a long trip? It won’t be a short journey to the Sea of Monsters.”

“At least a few days just to reach the entrance,” I agreed.

She frowned.

In reality the girl would probably be willing to go, but she wasn’t the most willing to fight. She was one of the gentlest campers actually. It would be better to bring others with skills that would help more.

Like someone knowledgeable in the beings you would find there.

Or one who could navigate the sea easily.

Someone few in the sea would dare harm.

“If you can’t pick yourself,” I started, “then I can pick for you.”

She blinked, “Really?”

I nodded.

Tantalus would no doubt interfere if I announced the picks I had, and even Minos wouldn’t be happy about it. While he didn’t dislike either of them, he certainly wasn’t their biggest fans.

I would be best to have them meet up along the quest.

I smiled, “I’ll have the companions I choose for you meet you at the North Carolina Port. You can refuel there.”

“Thank you,” she said.

I hummed, leaning back in my chair.

The quest was all set up and Clarisse would be off in the morning. Now all I had to do was call Hermes.

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

You know I spent four hours planning out the timeline of the quest for this book? Like calculating distance traveled, how long that would take on average, how fast I figured Percy could make the boats go without affecting the ships stability, what routes they'd travel, etc. I learned way too much about how fast different kinds of ships can go and did way too much math.

The coordinates I gave are actually around the edge of the Bermuda triangle, I checked.

Also how they prepared the Stymphalian bird breasts is indeed how to prepare pigeon breasts. While I've never caught pigeon before, I did watch a few videos for accuracy sake.

What do you think of their conversation? How about Tantalus? Or the campers reaction to the quest?

Halmaheran
Metani=grandfather

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 23: Into The Unknown (yes like the song)

Summary:

*waves*

Notes:

Guess what? I'm sick again! Yay!
Spent most of the day napping. I'm not feeling good lmao. Thankfully this chapter was already written so I can update still.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I spread my blanket on the beach and popped open a Coke can.

Caffeine and sugar always calmed me down. Annabeth told me during the school year that it was a symptom of ADHD and sugar and caffeine were used to self-medicate for a lot of people. Especially if they couldn’t afford the meds (like me).

Regardless of the reason, I liked it.

I stared out at the water as I sipped my Coke.

Could I just pray to Triton? Would he help me? Did he even know what was going on?

I stared up at the stars. I knew a lot of the constellations. Annabeth and Triton liked to teach them to me.

There was Cygnus, and to the right was Delphinus and Aquila. And if I looked further up I could see Draco and Herakles.  

They were particularly visible because it was a new moon. The stars shining brightly.

I wished the moon was full, I could’ve used some advice or reassurance. I wasn’t sure what to do I just-

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

I choked on my soda.

Standing next to me was a man in a deep red tank top and dark blue running shorts. He wore silver shoes, with wing patterns on the sides. He looked fit, lean muscles visible with the short sleeves and shorts. His hair was a sandy blonde and his eyes bright blue.

He offered me a sly smile, something about it familiar.

I would’ve just figured he was a normal mortal but… something about him…

“May I join you?” He asked. “I haven’t sat down in ages.”

I probably should’ve said no, but the ocean was right there, I would probably be fine even if he turned out to be a terror or something.

Besides, the lessons Benthesikyme and Mevu’ta gave me sprang to mind. Always offer hospitality to a guest. I mean, he wasn’t quite a guest, but something told me to treat him as one.

“You may,” I said, motioning to the blanket.

“Your hospitality does you credit,” he said with a smile. Then his eyes landed on the Coke cans next to me. “Ooh, Coca-Cola! May I?”

I nodded, and he scooped one up, popped it open, and took a drink.

“Ah… that’s lovely. Peace and quiet at-“

A cell phone went off in his pocket.

He sighed, shooting me an apologetic look as he pulled out the phone. “I’m terribly sorry, I need to take this—” he glanced at the screen and winced “—it’s important.”

I stared at glowing blue phone with snakes curling around it.

“You’re fine,” I mumbled.

“Hello?” he said. “Yes—okay I know—no I’m doing a delivery right now I can’t—I understand she’s mad it’s delayed but—Give her a silver drachmae discount and if she complains more redirect her to customer service—alright thank you.”

He hung up with a sigh.

“Terribly sorry, always have something to do, you know?”

I nodded slowly, “Of course, things are busy… say are you aware you have snakes on your phone?”

He blinked, “Well of course I am. Say hello, George and Martha.”

Hello, George and Martha, a raspy deep voice said inside my head.

Don’t be sarcastic, chided a second, more feminine, voice.

Why not? George demanded. We’ve been working non-stop.

“Hush now,” the man said rolling his eyes as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Now then, we were having peace and quiet.”

I settled back nervously as he relaxed, crossing his ankles and staring up at the stars.

“You know, it’s been a long time since I got to relax. Always so busy but with the increased communication in humanity… well it’s been all work and little play. Enough about work for now though.”

He shook his head with a grin.

“Do you have a favorite constellation? Mine is Gemini. It looks just like this butte in Wyoming known as Devils Tower, though the Lakota tribe know it as Mato tipi la paha, or the Hill of the Bear’s Lodge. I’m not entirely sure why though, I should look into that.”

He hummed, his brow furrowed thoughtfully.

“Ta, that’s really interesting. I didn’t know that. My favorite constellation is probably Pegasus, but maybe Delphinus.”

“Oh? How come?”

I chewed my lip, “Well I’ve met Delphinus once or twice and he was pretty cool and well… I just think it’s really cool to see a constellation for someone you know. And Pegasus… well I really like the Pegasi at camp and I think it’s nice that Pegasus was honored with a constellation.”

The man smiled, “Those are good reasons, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Though I suppose I know several of the constellations sources so perhaps it’s a thing with mortals.”

I shrugged awkwardly.

“You’re rather interesting,” he mused. “Ah well, I suppose I should get back to work.”

He dug through his bag and then held out a letter to me.

I blinked, “What?”

“I’m delivering a message,” he said in amusement.

I took the letter and, after glancing at him again, opened it.

Inside was a heavy sheet of paper with neat writing on it.

Percy Jackson,

Due to the fact that Candace has not gained any other questing companions, and this quest is in dire need of some assistance, I’ve decided you and Annabell with be going with. Also bring the Kyklopes, Teagan, he probably won’t survive camp without you here and I am not dealing with your dad's anger. If you don’t want to go (which I highly doubt) feel free to just show up to breakfast.

Meet Charlotte at the North Carolina port (it’s in North Carolina) by noon on June 10. I’ve left the details up to Hermes.

Also, don’t die, that would be a pain to deal with.

Dionysus

 I blinked once, twice, “Wait I get to go on the quest?”

“And Annabeth, and apparently the Kyklopes, Teagan?”

“Tyson.”

“Right. Well, I assume by your reaction you would like to go?”

I chewed my lip, I did want to go. But could I leave Leilani with no warning?

“What about Leilani?”

“Hmm, that’s the daughter of Psamathe that’s in your cabin?”

I nodded.

“She really shouldn’t come. Like she could but the sea deities are still ticked off about your quest last summer so… they wouldn’t be happy about a second sea kid being sent off.”

That made sense. I really shouldn’t bring her anyways. That wouldn’t be a good princely thing to do.

“Can I leave her a note?”

“Well it is my job to deliver messages,” the man (Hermes) said with a laugh. “Speaking of, I should take that as a definite yes for you going?”

I nodded.

“I need to go. I don’t know about Annabeth but-“

“Oh, I’ve already called for them, they’ll be here soon.”

I nodded, wondering how He'd called them.

“Now then, here’s some paper and a pen, I’m assuming you don’t have them yourself right now, and now for the gifts!”

“Gifts?” I asked in confusion as I faltered in writing the letter.

“Well yes, Dionysus told me to make sure you’re all set for the quest, consider it a little Godly bonus since you’re leaving with no warning.”

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

“I’m a rather generous God. Now then—” He pulled His phone out again and it went from a phone to a caduceus, George and Martha still curled around it “—the first gift if you will, Martha.”

Martha opened her mouth… and then kept opening it until it could swallow my arm whole. She finally dropped out a stainless-steel canister—like an old-fashioned lunch box flask with a black metal top. The sides of the flask were enameled with red and yellow Ancient Greek scenes. I studied the image of Herakles killing the Nemean Lion and lifting up Kerberos.

“That’s Herakles,” I said. “What is it?”

“A collector’s item from Herakles Busts Heads. First season.”

“Is that a show on HTV?”

“Yeah,” he sighed wistfully. “Back before it was all reality programming.”

“And you’re giving me this?”

“I am indeed, go ahead and pick it up.”

I picked it up, then almost dropped it again in surprise. One side was ice cold and the other burning hot. It made my hands feel really weird with the different temperatures. I turned it to try and find a better hold but the side facing the ocean—north—remained cold regardless.

“Oh, it’s a compass.”

Hermes tilted his head, “Well, yes I suppose. That’s clever, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s actual use is a bit more dramatic though. It’s collected winds from the four corners of the Earth and will speed you on your way rather quickly if you open it. Do be careful with it, the winds can be rather abrupt. Only open it a little at a time.”

I nodded, holding the flask carefully.

“Now then, my second gift. George?”

Martha is touching me, he complained as he and Martha slithered around the pole.

“She’s always touching you. You both curl around my caduceus. Now then, the gift?”

The snakes stilled, and George did as Martha had, depositing a little glass bottle filled with chewable vitamins.

“They considered changing to plastic bottles, but Demeter put a stop to that real quick. Even though we could make them biodegradable, the glass works better and is recyclable. Gotta take care of the environment as best we can!”

He flashed me a grin as I picked them up.

“Are these Minotaur-shaped?”

He leaned forward, “Hmm, yes the lemon ones. The grape one’s are the Erinyes, I believe. Or maybe hydras… They’re from Hekate’s line, she’s very good with them. She and Demeter worked on them together.”

“What are they?”

“Oh vitamins. They’ve got Nine essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, a dash of ambrosia, and whatever else Hekate put in them. Only take them if you really need them though. They can substitute for a meal or two, but you shouldn’t make a habit of it. And I’m not sure how well they’ll work for you if you need to do your sea magic stuff, might be best to hold off then.”

The must’ve had something to do with magic then, I wasn’t sure what though.

“How will I know when I need them?”

“You’ll know,” he said. “Or Annabeth will. One of you will figure it out. Anyways, I think that covers the gifts. Just need…”

He frowned, clearly thinking.

“Um,” I said after a moment. “Thank you for the gifts, Lord Hermes. But… why?”

His lips twisted into a sad smile. His gaze gentle as he studied me.

“I don’t want anyone else to suffer like my son did.”

My brow furrowed, “Luke?”

He nodded, elaborating.

“I did my best with him but…” he sighed. “It wasn’t enough. I’d hoped the quest- well, it didn’t work out. He doesn’t view me as a father, has turned to someone else-“

He shook his head, “I don’t want you kids to suffer for my mistakes with him. And besides, my kids haven’t been the nicest to you about Luke. The least I can do is offer a little bit of aid.”

I shifted, “It’s okay.”

“It’s not really, but there isn’t much we can do about it. Dionysus has already informed them of the truth, they simply don’t wish to see it yet. People tend to prefer pretty lies over painful truths.”

I nodded, “Thank you for the help.”

“Of course. Now then- oh yes! You need adult supervision. Can’t send a sea kid off without a supervisor. I’ve heard about Triton’s reaction to the last quest haha.”

I winced, yeah Triton was not happy about that.

“Martha will be going with you. She’s more than old enough, and the more responsible one. Gotta make sure to follow those sea traditions.”

I gaped, “Isn’t she a like… all powerful snake?”

“It’s fine, she won’t directly interfere or anything. But she will give advice and keep an eye on you. She’s also immortal so you don’t need to worry about her.”

“I—okay…”

Martha unwound from the caduceus and curled over Hermes’ arm before he held it out to me.

I slowly accepted her onto my arm. She shrunk to a more manageable size and curled around my bicep.

Don’t mind me, she assured. I’ll just watch out for you.

“Oh!” Hermes shook his head. “I can’t believe I almost forgot. Sorry, things have been very busy lately, my thoughts are all over the place.”

He snapped his fingers and three bags appeared, each with a different symbol on them.

“The one with the conch shell is yours, for Triton and all, and the Trident is Tyson’s and the Owl, Annabeth’s. They’re all packed for you already.”

Oh wow.

“Now then, see that boat out there?” He pointed out into the water.

I scanned the water briefly before noticing the boat way far out there.

“Yeah?”

“It’s heading in the right direction for you. Should dock in North Carolina Bay, early too. So just hop on that and you’ll be good.”

I perked up, “Oh that’s great! Thank you.”

“Will you need a ride?”

“I don’t think so,” I said studying the water. “I can handle it.”

He nodded, straightening and stretching.

“Well, this has been a nice break, but alas, the job never stops. Take care, Percy, and… if you happen to see Luke at any time…”

“I’ll let him know you’re worried?” I offered reluctantly.

He smiled, “I would… appreciate that.”

He gently brushed a finger over Martha, who hissed and nudged his finger. Then he accepted the letter I’d managed to write.

“Well, good luck, Percy Jackson. Opu meye’v tel hamapep y wasahu.”

I perked up at the traditional Halmaheran send off. What was the right one for a messenger? Something about a light load… maybe-

“Opuno kameo meye’v mu mumali y opuno pavu ponova.”

He winked at me, “Your friends should be arriving in just a minute. Goodbye, cousin.”

And with that he turned and jogged away, disappearing in a shimmer only a dozen paces away.

OO OO OO OO

“Percy?” Annabeth came over the crest of the hill. “What’s going on? Are you okay? I heard you calling for help?”

“Brother! Where are the bad things attacking?”

“Hey,” I said. “So, la, looks like we’re going on the quest anyways. Uh, nothing was attacking…”

“What?” Annabeth asked.

“Dionysus decided we were going and told Hermes to tell me so…”

I continued on to explain the instructions Hermes gave me and showed Annabeth the letter from Lord D.

“So, it looks like we’re going? If you want.”

“We have to do the quest,” Annabeth declared. “For Thalia—and the rest of the camp.”

I nodded.

“Tyson can explain to everyone-“

“I want to go.”

“No!” Annabeth said, her eyes wide and face pale. “It- well you know that’s not a good idea right now. Quests are supposed to have three members.”

I studied her with a frown. We’d never gotten to talk about her issue with Kyklopes, but she seemed… afraid.

“Lord D said to bring him with. He doesn’t think… that it’s a good idea for Tyson to stay here without me.”

Annabeth grimaced, Tyson shuffled.

“But we’re going to Polyphemus’ island,” Annabeth insisted. “He’s a K-i-k… K-e-y-e….” she stamped her food. “Oh, you know what I mean!”

Dyslexia sucked, but I did know what she meant. It didn't matter though.

“Tyson can come,” I said. “He’s my brother and my friend. It’ll be fine. So, if he wants to he’s welcome.”

Tyson clapped his hands, his big eye bright. “Want to!”

Annabeth crossed her arms, her whole-body tense, but didn’t try to argue anymore.

“So how are we getting to the boat?” she asked.

I turned back to the boat, a frown on my face. “I figured I could make an ice boat for us.”

She blinked, “Can you?”

“Yeah, I do it with Leilani. I’ll just need to make it stronger for the three of us.”

“Well,” she motioned to the waves. “The ship isn’t getting any closer.”

I turned back to the water, spreading my hands and concentrating.

I needed to push the salt out of the water, lower the temperature, and shape it. It needed careful control.

Slowly the ice crept over the water, the section I picked stilling and shaping to have sides so the others wouldn’t fall too easily. I thickened it bit by bit, my eyes drifting to the boat out in the water every now and then to gauge the distance.

Slowly the boat took shape and thickened until I was fairly confident it wouldn’t break on us. I focused on keeping it cold and steady then let out a breath.

“Okay,” I murmured. “It’s ready.”

Annabeth leaned over, “Wow, that’s pretty good. Takes a while to make though.”

Very well done, Martha agreed, making Annabeth jump as she spoke for the first time.

“It’s… hard to freeze so much seawater," I said.

Annabeth nodded, grabbing the bags and the gifts from Hermes as she studied Martha.

“Shall we then?”

Tyson climbed in first, then Annabeth, then me. I carefully split my focus and twisted the water around the boat.

It was hard to keep the focus on the ice and the movement, but I’d been doing something similar with my ice fish for years, so it wasn’t too new.

A moment later the boat started moving towards the ship in the distance.

OO OO OO OO

Being back in the ocean, even if on a boat, was nice. I missed the ocean water. I breathed in and kept moving the ship.

“Co-cold,” Annabeth muttered.

I flicked my gaze to her and saw her shivering, arms covered in goosebumps. She was in pajamas still (so was I) so the shorts weren’t doing much to protect her legs from the ice either.

They were getting red with cold.

I frowned and sped the ice boat up more.

It was another ten minutes before we reached the ship and by that point Annabeth looked positively frozen.

“That might not be the best method of transport in the future,” I said reluctantly as Annabeth stood, wincing as she did so.

“Ye-yeah ma-ma-maybe s-s-s-so.”

Her teeth were chattering.

I looked up at the cruise ship (which was massive, positively huge, seriously looked like a building in the middle of a city) and tried to find a good place to climb on. There should’ve been some sort of entrance…

The ship’s name caught my eye, lit with a spotlight and a nice black on white (and easy to read font!).

PRINCESS ANDROMEDA

Attached to the bow was a huge masthead—at least three stories tall kind huge. It was a woman wearing a white Greek khiton that was sculpted to look chained to the ship. She was young, and had pretty flowing black hair to go with the pretty khiton. But her face was twisted into an expression of fear.

I supposed that was referencing the myth of Andromeda and Perseus? Still kinda weird to have a screaming lady on the front of the ship but to each their own.

“Ho-h-h-how d-d-d-do we ge-ge-get abo-board?” Annabeth stuttered out, shivering.

“There!” I pointed to a service ladder.

“Wh-wh-what?” Annabeth squinted in that direction. “Ca-can you s-see?”

I blinked, “Yeah?”

She turned to me then jerked, “Your- your ey-eyes.”

It is normal for sea children, Martha hissed from my arm.

I pouted, “Yeah they do that, I’ve been told. It’s a service ladder.”

She blinked, “Your ey-eyes?”

“No,” I motioned to the ladder. “The way on.”

She flushed, “Ri-right.”

I guided the boat to it, then used a lash of water to hold the boat in place.

“Okay, all aboard?”

Annabeth couldn’t get off the ice boat fast enough. I shooed Tyson up next, then finally released by focus on the boat as I climbed up.

I glanced up at the sky once more as I climbed, my eyes lingering on the stars, bright in the absence of even moonlight. I really wished the quest wasn’t starting on the night of a new moon. It hadn't mattered before, but starting a quest then wasn't good luck in ocean tradition.

Hopefully things would go well anyways.

OO OO OO OO

The ladder apparently led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There were a set of locked double doors as well, but me and Annabeth got them open with some experimenting with water. Martha hissed advice on how to pick locks the whole time.

The boat was big, so I figured they’d have people wandering around, but it was pretty empty. Or well, maybe not empty but there was no one walking around the halls.

Weren’t ships supposed to have people around constantly?

The doors had those little “swipe your card” things to get in, like the kind I’d used at the Empire State Building to get access to the 500^th floor.

We must’ve walked half the ship but still hadn’t seen any people. Though there were hundreds of what I assumed were bed rooms, dozens of shops, several food places, and a ball room. But despite all that we didn’t hear a single noise.

Was everyone asleep? Didn’t people stay up late sometimes? Weren’t there any adult events?

Maybe they were in a different section of the boat?

“It’s a ghost ship,” I finally said as we reached the outdoor pool area.

The rows of empty deckchairs were lit up by lights ringing the area.

“No,” Tyson corrected as he fiddled with his duffel bag. “Bad smell.”

“What smell? I don’t smell anything?”

“It’s like satyrs,” I said. “Kyklopes have an enhanced sense of smell that can pick up terrors and demigods and stuff. Right, Tyson?”

He nodded nervously, his one big eye flicking around.

“Okay,” Annabeth said carefully. “What is it then?”

“Something bad.”

“Great, that’s helpful.”

“Well he’s only a young Kyklopes,” I said carefully. “He probably doesn’t have a lot of experience smelling different things.”

She huffed but nodded, “Makes sense.”

"It certainly has the smell of many creatures", Martha hissed. "Be careful where you wander."

"Right," Annabeth muttered. "So keep sneaking?"

I nodded and Tyson followed behind us as we walked across the swim deck, back inside, and found a sports area. There was a climbing wall (without lava), a mini-golf course, and a basketball court.

“We need some place to sleep,” I finally said. “We can’t just wander around all night.”

“Right,” Annabeth agreed. “Sleep sounds lovely.”

We continued up the ship, walking past halls of closed doors.

Annabeth paused glancing down one corridor.

“Hey, some of these are open.”

We finally found some signs of life… but it was weird. The cleaning supplies was just sitting around in a few rooms. And blankets were half pulled up with folded towels half way to being hung up.

It was like cleaning people had been working just a second ago but disappeared.

“That’s… weird,” Annabeth muttered.

“Smells like storm,” Tyson mumbled.

"Perhaps they have a magic cleaning crew."

Very weird.

I ran my fingers over my necklace from Tethys. Should I have removed it? My senses could’ve been a help… but I didn’t want to get overwhelmed by them again.

If we saw anything else, I’d remove it. That would be fine.

We claimed a room without the strange cleaning supplies scattered around. Annabeth considered it thoughtfully.

It had a chocolate basket on the dresser against the wall, pieces of chocolate on the pillows, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice in an ice bucket with three glasses out.

Annabeth chewed her lip, “I don’t think we should split up, even to another room.”

“Probably not,” I agreed with a sigh. “This room does have two beds.”

“Three," Martha corrected, uncoiling from my arm some.

“What?” I looked around but didn’t see another bed.

“There,” she jabbed her head to point above the thinner of the two beds, resting against the wall. “See the line in the wall? And the handle? Next to those indentions in the wall?”

I nodded. “The ones that look like a weird ladder?”

“Oh yeah," Annabeth said. "I think that pulls out.”

I shrugged and moved over. I was too short, and so was Annabeth, but Tyson managed to grab it and pull it down. And indeed, there was another bed, slightly thinner than the one beneath it.

“Well that’s helpful.”

“Mhm.”

We claimed the big bed for the moment, dropping the duffels on it.

“We should check inventory,” Annabeth said.

She seemed to want to keep moving, her eyes away from Tyson.

I nodded, determined to act like everything was normal while Tyson was there.

We opened up the duffel bags.

Each of us had three pairs of extra clothes, plus a camp shirt on top of that. Toiletries (even a few fun hair ties for me and Annabeth), rations (both camp and the lunch box Annabeth kept… mine was in my bag from Triton), an airtight bag full of cash (at least a few hundred dollars each), and a leather pouch full of golden drachmas each.

Each of our bags also had some personal items in them.

Annabeth’s also had her cap of invisibility, a few armor pieces, her knife, a watertight pouch with a book on architecture in it, and some knitting supplies as well.

Tyson’s had his oilcloth with his tools and metal bits wrapped in it.

Mine had my full-moon mirror, my oceanskin, my armor, my knife, my med kit, and a book on curse breaking.

I was very glad for my oceanskin in particular. I did not want to go on a quest without that, even if the quest was on the water.

Martha hissed explanations for them as we pulled them out. Weapons, magical artifacts, and of course items for entertainment. There'd be a lot of travel for this quest so Hermes apparently thought to pack us stuff to do while we had free time.

The two gifts from Hermes, the thermos and the vitamins, went in Tyson's bag for the moment.

Hermes really did pack everything we could’ve needed.

“Well, good thing we have the lunchbox and the rations,” Annabeth mused. “I mean… having the water bottle would be better-“

“It’s still in my school bag.”

“Yeah… but worst comes to worst we’ll have food and some water from it too.”

“I can probably remove the salt from the sea water if we really need some,” I said. “I’ve just not really done it when not freezing the water.”

“Last resort then,” she determined. “Let’s get some sleep. And um… just to be safe, don’t eat or drink anything here.”

We both nodded.

"It would be best to be wary of anything," Martha hissed. "But you can ask me if you need to know if something is dangerous."

"Thank you," I murmured.

"We appreciate the help," Annabeth agreed. "Though... I don't quite understand why we have you with us. I've never gotten that on a quest before."

"It is due to the policy of oceanic quests," Martha explained. "Percy is a child of the sea, and has already done one quest much younger than the norm. Those of the sea were not happy that it was without supervision, and thus this time you have me as a supervisor."

Annabeth frowned, "I don't understand."

"It's like-" I hesitated "-the sea values children a lot. So they don't send children on quests unless there's no choice. And in those cases they'd have a supervisor."

"Even young adult mer get a supervisor," Martha confirmed. "Most quests have a more experienced quester as the leader."

"I see..." Annabeth frowned. "Well, I guess that's helpful for us. Thank you for coming with us."

"Of course," Martha hissed, preening. "It is my pleasure."

With that Martha shooed us off to bed, insisting we needed sleep. She promised to keep watch for us.

I took the top bunk and Tyson the bottom. Annabeth got the bigger bed so she’d have some space from the two of us.

Despite my exhaustion, I was unable to fall asleep easily. I could’ve sworn I heard voices in the hall, perhaps the missing cleaners?

Finally, my eyes slipped shut and I drifted off, back into the currents of dreams.

OO OO OO OO

Leilani POV

I woke to an empty cabin.

Okay, that was weird.

The alarm was blaring but Percy wasn’t there to turn it off or to grumble about it being too early. And there was no Tyson crashing out of bed trying to get ready.

I stared around the room in confusion. Their beds were neatly made, but Percy’s knife that he tended to keep on the bedside cubbies was gone.

I checked the bathroom, finding it empty of their toiletries, and then the sitting room, where I found the mirror he used for worship was gone.

What did all that mean? Where were they?

I faltered as I returned to my bed and found a letter sitting on my pillow.

That wasn’t there earlier.

…

I picked it up and opened it.

Leilani,

Really sorry about disappearing. Sent on quest with Clarisse by Lord D, said you couldn’t come cause mom would be mad. Will be back soon. Take care. Xoxo

Percy

Oh.

Lord D sent them off? Why in the middle of the night?

At least Percy sent a note.

But it was a new moon last night, we’d done the khernips before dinner and everything. Percy had said new moon was considered a bad night to do things by merfolk. And well, the quest was going on water, right?

The quest as a whole was going to be dangerous, was them leaving on a bad night a good idea?

I chewed my lip.

They’d be okay. I was sure Percy could handle it. It was probably nothing. There wasn’t a solid reason for it other than no Moon to watch over you.

I’d just need to take care of the cabin while they were gone.

They’d probably want it to be clean and stuff when they got back. Normally it was Percy cleaning so I’d need to step up.

I'd take care of things until they got back.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

I did actually reference what would be visible where Percy was at the time he'd be looking at the stars, and checked a moon calendar for the date lmao. Also, as to the opening of their convo- Hospitality is a big thing in Ancient Greek culture which is why it was noted by Hermes.

What did you think of Percy and Hermes talking? Martha coming along? The ship?

Halmaherhan
Mevu'ta=Step-mom
Opu meye’v tel hamapep y wasahu= May you have swift currents and calm waves.
Opuno kameo meye’v mu mumali y opuno pavu ponova= May your load be light and your water moon-bright.

Terminology
Silver drachmae=a half silver drachma
The info on Mato Tipila is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I referenced a site connected to the Lakota tribe for into on it.
khiton=phonetic spelling of chiton, yes it should be a hard k sound

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 24: Thanks, But I Already Have Parents

Summary:

:P

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter <3. I got it done between homework and exams lmao. Wish me luck on the exam this week (and the two essays I need to do).

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I stood at the Pit once more.

“Already off on another quest, little Percy,” mused the familiar voice of Kronos. “No rest for the demigod?”

I took a deep breath, “Why do you want the Fleece?”

He chuckled, “There are many uses to powerful artifacts, no matter if those uses are their original purpose.”

“The Fleece doesn’t heal though. It’s just… uniquely suited for this.”

“By design,” he agreed.

“Then why?”

He hummed, not seeming too interested in explaining.

“There are many options here. You simply don’t have the perspective to see them. Wait and see, Percy. The answer will be revealed in time.”

The pit shook, and I yelped as I tumbled, groaning as I pushed up.

The scene had changed.

Grover was sitting at the loom, frantically unravelling the threads of his unfinished bridal train.

“Honeypie!” the voice of the Kyklopes shouted.

Grover stiffened, shooting a wary look that way as he started weaving the threads back together.

The Kyklopes that walked into the room was as massive as ever, at least 15 feet tall.

“What are you doing?” the terror demanded as it stepped closer.

“Nothing!” Grover squeaked in a weird high-pitched voice. “Just weaving my bridal train, as you can see.”

I winced at the phrasing. The Kyklopes’ single eye was scarred and webbed with cataracts. I doubted he could see much at all.

The Kyklopes, as if acting to prove my thoughts, stuck one hand into the room and groped around until he found the loom. He pawed at the cloth.

“It’s not any longer!”

“Uh- yes, it definitely has dearest. See? I added at least three centimeters!”

The monster grumbled.

“It is too slow!”

“Oh,” Grover forced a weak giggle. “I, ah, also wish we could marry now, de-dearest, but you know the traditions! I must finish the bridal train and it must look per-perfect. It wouldn’t be right to have the wedding with-without that.”

He sniffed in annoyance, then sniffed again in interest.

“Mmm, you smell good, like goats. I just want to eat you up!”

Grover shifted, “D-do you li-like it? It’s this-this lovely new perfume, Eau de Chévre. I wore it just for you.”

“Good,” The Kyklopes growled with a sharp toothed grin. “Good enough to eat.”

Grover let out a high-pitched giggle that sounded more like he was crying, “You’re such a flirt, dearie.”

“The wedding will be tomorrow!”

“Oh but dear, I need more time. Ten more days.”

“Three!”

“Oh well, eight then.”

“Five!”

“How about seven? Seven is a good number.”

The Kyklopes considered for a moment.

“Not long?”

“Just one week,” Grover soothed with a shaky voice. “And then the best wedding ever shall occur. Have you made the plans for the venue?”

The Kyklopes hesitated.

“Venue?”

“Oh well, a home wedding is fine. But you have sent out the invitations, right?”

“… invitations?”

“What about picking the flowers?”

“… I must go. Much work to do.”

The Kyklopes turned and left quickly, mumbling something about invitations as he rolled the rock back in place.

Grover let out a slow breath, his gaze turning back to his Woolly Mammoth.

“I hope Percy gets here soon, Momo. I don’t know how much longer I can delay.”

The Woolly Mammoth, apparently named Momo, ambled over, patting his head with its long snout.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO

There was a shrill whistling noise that made me groan and pull the blanket over my head. A voice crackled on the intercom—some guy with an Australian accent.

“Gooooood Morning , passengers! We will be arriving at the North Carolina Port in five hours for a short refueling and tourist time. In the meantime! We have excellent pool weather today, and you should certainly not forget the hundred-drachma bingo in the Kraken lounge at one o’clock.”

“Drachma?” Annabeth muttered, moving around in bed.

“And for those looking for some more excitement today, disemboweling practice is on the Promenade at three o’clock—”

Tyson groaned, and I heard him roll out of bed.

“Bowling practice?” he mumbled with a furrowed brow.

“Disemboweling practice?” Annabeth hissed. “Percy are you awake?”

I grumbled but pulled the blanket off my face.

“Why are they bowling?”

“Disemboweling,” Annabeth corrected. “Like cutting people open and removing their internal organs.”

“Maybe we misheard?”

Annabeth didn’t seem so sure.

“—and thank you for joining us on the Princess Andromeda Cruise! The Legendary Cruise for the Legends.”

“What?” I muttered, parsing through what else was said while we got up. “The guy didn’t say sword fighting, did he?”

Annabeth frowned, strapping her knife to her side.

Martha hissed, winding around my arm as I landed on the floor.

“Perhapsss we are on a ssship for demigodsss?”

“Those exist?” I asked curiously.

“There are ssseveral.”

“Maybe,” Annabeth murmured. “I’ve heard of them of course. They’re cruises, trains, the like, used for vacations for demigods so that they don’t have to hide what they are. But… the Aphrodite cabin likes to talk about them when they happen, and I’ve never heard of the Princess Andromeda in their talks.”

“Maybe we should look around? We have some time before the next stop.”

Martha hissed softly on my arm.

“Let’s stick together,” Annabeth decided. “We might be okay, but if this is something suspicious…”

“Safety first,” I agreed.

“We only need to stay on for five more hours anyways, we can manage.”

OO OO OO OO

We wandered out of our room and did a double take at the people. There were several wandering around, wearing swimsuits and summer clothes.

I saw a family wander past, chatting cheerfully.

“You know,” I muttered as we walked through the halls, “I never really thought about what it would be like to have a family as a demigod.”

“I have some siblings that call,” Annabeth whispered back. “It requires some care for how their powers can combine at times, but overall it’s… normal.”

I imagined it helped to have parents protecting them properly. Children of demigods wouldn’t be in as much danger as demigods would be, with only one parent and the Godly parent unable to offer proper protection.

Two girls walked past us, giggling about something.

“I think we should find some food,” I said slowly. “Then maybe check where we should sneak out.”

We were doing fine till we reached the cafeteria.

There was a hellhound there—it resembled a black mastiff, but bigger, and furrier. It’s front paws were up on the buffet counter and its muzzle was buried in the scrambled eggs.

It was only the size of a grizzly bear, so smaller than most, but it still made me freeze.

Annabeth froze as well.

“Dylan?” she whispered.

I blinked, pulling my gaze from the dog terror and followed her gaze, finding the boy who’d questioned me last summer sitting at a table with some other boys.

I remembered what Annabeth had told me, a brother of her’s leaving to join… uh oh.

Annabeth yanked me back, tugging me towards the bathroom. I waved Tyson along.

She tore open the door to the gender-neutral bathroom and snapped it shut just after Tyson slipped in.

“We’re on a ship for the Titan King’s people,” she hissed.

Martha hissed, “Yesss, it ssseemsss thisss isss not a ssssafe boat.”

All three of us looked at Martha.

“What do we do?”

“Shh,” Annabeth hissed before Martha could speak. She pressed against the door.

I quickly copied her, Tyson next to us.

“Several more to pick up at the port.”

“Yesss, the aid we’ve gained has been invaluable.”

“But of coursssse, our King has many alliessss.”

“Ssssoon we sssshall be ssstrong.”

Annabeth was pale.

The hissing voices were like Martha’s, but… deeper?

“We need to get out of here. This ship is the Titan King’s, which means Luke might here. We can’t- we can’t get caught.”

I nodded quickly, a shiver running down my spine at the thought of facing Luke again. My fingers curled over my palm, rubbing the scar there.

“Yeah, bad idea to stay here.”

“Who is Luke?”

Martha hissed, a tone that sounded almost mournful.

“He’s a traitor,” Annabeth declared fiercely.

“He… hurt me,” I muttered.

Tyson frowned, “Are you okay?”

“Fine… just… just fine…”

“We must leave,” Tyson declared. “The ship is bad, with bad people.”

We were about to push the door open when a new voice became audible.

“—only a little bit more. They’ll take the bait, so stop being pushy about it.”

My breath caught. It was one of the missing kids, one I actually knew.

Alabaster.

“I’m just stating facts,” growled another, unfamiliar, voice. “If this doesn’t pay off—”

“I did as our Lord said, have faith. He has yet to lead us wrong. Let’s go report to our dear admiral.”

Tyson whimpered, sinking back. “Leave now?”

I swallowed, exchanging a look with Annabeth. We came to a silent agreement.

“We can’t,” I told Tyson.

“We have to find out what they’re doing,” Annabeth agreed. “And… depending on who’s here…”

“If it issss Luke?” Martha asked.

“Yeah… if—if Luke is here… if it’s Luke then we need to capture him and bring him to Mount Olympus.”

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth originally offered to go alone, since she had the invisibility cap.

As much as I would’ve loved to leave it to her, to let her face Luke without me, I couldn’t let her.

No matter the way it made my hand prickle and my breath catch, we needed to face him. We needed to get more information on our enemy.

Metani had given me some information, but we still didn’t know the why behind their actions.

Triton said that why someone did something was often just as important as what they did.

Tyson was advocating for none of us to go. He didn’t want us going after someone dangerous.

Martha said it was our choice, she thought it would be safer to stay hidden and escape… but sometimes risks were necessary to help everyone. And Hermes sent us here for a reason.

That decided, we slipped back to our room and grabbed out things.

I slid my knife onto my belt and hooked my waterskin around my shoulder. Annabeth shoved her hat into her pocket. Tyson offered to carry everything.

With everything ready, we snuck out.

They were headed to the admiral they said, so we needed to reach the admiralty suite. The ship’s YOU ARE HERE signs were a big help as we slipped through the ship, dodging everyone on board as best we could.

Annabeth would slip ahead with her cap on, scouting ahead so we could hide when needed.

It was strange. Many of the people were young, but there were lots of fully-grown adults. Martha occasionally murmured their names as they passed us by.

Amy.

Katie.

Mark.

Absalom.

Oliver.

Joshua.

Brooke.

Zachary.

Sophia.

She knew quite a few, knew them from their parents, from jobs checking in on them, from passing messages, from them being Hermes’ children.

She knew them a thousand different ways, each whisper mournful, pained, wistful.

With every whisper of how she knew them it became more and more obvious just how much the Gods watched over us, watched without interacting, watched and helped in small ways.

I wondered, for just a moment, how I hadn’t noticed before.

We’d hidden once more, nearly at the admiralty suite on deck thirteen, when Annabeth reacted to another voice.

“You see the Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?” one said.

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” said another with a laugh.

I thought I recognized the voice, but Martha and Annabeth definitely did, both (in)visibly reacted, squeezing my arms.

“There’s two more coming soon,” continued the first voice.

Annabeth leaned in, “That’s Chris Rodriguez.”

Martha hissed softly, “One of Lord Hermessss’ children.”

I couldn’t quite place the name to a face.

“If this keeps up it’ll be no contest. Everything will be handled by Kronia.”

The voices drifted off.

“Chris?” I wondered.

“He was unclaimed,” Annabeth whispered. “Disappeared over the school year.”

Martha tightened more, “He arrived at camp lasssst year. Lord Hermessss wassss too busy to give him a proper claiming due to the upcoming war.”

I let out a breath. How many campers were unclaimed because of that war making all the Gods busy?

“So, there’s at least two from camp here,” I muttered.

“We need to find out what’s going on.”

We slipped out of our hiding space and continued onward.

The corridor was long and lined with shops. I glanced in a few as we walked, curious about their contents.

“Percy,” Annabeth called softly. “Look.”

It seemed to be a window down into a training room.

Inside there was a crowd of terrors, those Laistrygonian giants, two hellhounds, and even more variety.

“Drakaina Skythia,” Annabeth whispered, pointing to some humanoid women with twin serpent tails instead of legs. “Dragon women. They were in Herakles myth but- but their home is in the desert why are they here?”

“More importantly,” hissed Martha. “What isss in the crowd?”

In the middle of the crowd were two people, wearing armor and holding swords. Blades clashed in time with the crowd cheers.

Annabeth stepped away.

“They’re training.”

“Why?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

“Something that will end on Kronia… that’s a holiday in July. We usually celebrate it on the twenty-fourth.”

I frowned, “What are they attacking?”

Martha hissed, twining up my arm to poke her head up.

“The camp issss weak right now, the barrier weakening more every day. If ever there wassss a time to target the camp… it would be now.”

Annabeth’s face went ashen, “Then-“

“We need to get the Fleece,” I murmured.

She swallowed, “Right, we- we need to get the Fleece. Maybe they’ll talk more about their plans with the admiral?”

“Right.”

We steadied ourselves, then continued on.

At the end of the hallway were double oak doors, carved with sea serpents and crashing waves. The handles were matching gold triangles.

“Voices inside,” Tyson mumbled, stopping ten meters away from the doors.

“You can hear that?” I whispered.

Tyson closed his eye, brow furrowed.

“—handle things. The alliance is in place and with it our guarantee.”

His voice had changed, a woman’s voice coming out. It held a strange note to it, powerful.

Before I could react to it his voice had changed again. A familiar voice this time, Alabaster.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t handle this ourselves. What’s the point in letting the camp know a solution?”

“A mercy,” chided the woman’s voice. “And a necessity. For all the alliance is in place, it is still out of our reach.”

Annabeth shivered, “Tyson, stop that! How do you do that? It’s creepy.”

Tyson opened his eye and looked puzzled. “Just listening.”

I nudged them both, “Keep going. What else are they saying?”

Tyson closed his eye again.

He hissed in a gruff man’s voice, “Quiet.”

“Are you sure?” murmured the woman.

“Yes,” said the gruff man. “Right outside.”

Too late we realized what they were saying.

“Run-“

The doors burst open.

It wasn’t Luke, and I didn’t seem him with them. Instead Alabaster stood there, cards in hand. On either side of him was a hairy giant armed with javelins.

“Percy, Annabeth,” he paused, studying us. “Why don’t you join us?”

OO OO OO OO

The stateroom was beautiful.

There were huge windows curving along the back wall, showcasing the green sea and blue sky that stretched for miles. A Persian rug covered the floor, intricate patterns displaying shining stars and constellations that seemed to be from another time. Two plus sofas occupied the middle of the room, in a tasteful blue, while a canopied bed sat in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other.

The table was covered in food and drink, all manner of it. From pizza’s and sodas to gyros and something labeled Ouzo.

On a velvet dais at the back of the room was a shining throne. It seemed to be formed of light and mist.

Sitting upon that throne was a woman, a Goddess (for She could be nothing else). Her hair was a shimmery Gold and her eyes a startling Bronze. She was dressed in a flowy shirt, swirling blues and blacks dancing across the fabric, and a long black skirt dusted in stars.

She held no weapon, but She had no need for one.

She smiled, “Welcome, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.”

“Who are you?” Annabeth blurted out.

The Goddess rose, Her throne vanishing as she did so.

“I am Phoibe, wife of Koios.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened, “The Titaness of Oracular Intellect?”

Phoibe smiled, “Indeed. Welcome to our ship.”

The two giants kept their javelins pointed at us as Alabaster, and a boy I didn’t know, moved to stand next to Phoibe.

“Oh, where are my manners,” She murmured. “Please, children, take a seat.”

She waved Her hand and chairs from the table swept behind us.

None of us sat.

Martha twined tighter on my arm, hissing at the giant men.

“Agrius, Oreius,” She chided. “Put the javelins down, they’re family.”

Annabeth and I shared a look.

“Ah, and I nearly forgot. You already know Alabaster-“

Alabaster nodded to us.

“But this is Ethan Nakamura. He’s an up and coming star in our forces.”

Ethan nodded to us, his gaze serious.

“And of course, there’s Agrius and Oreius behind you.”

I glanced behind us at them.

“Why is a Titaness here? You- you were neutral previously weren’t you?”

Phoibe leveled a sympathetic look at Annabeth.

“Oh child, this war is not like the last. The previous war was a war against the injustice of my King. Now the injustice is in the God’s actions. We were neutral before because I could not bear to fight my husband, nor my brothers, no matter what we thought of the actions taken. Now? Now that my King is free of His madness? How could I do anything except side by Him?”

“Alabaster was the one to poison the tree,” I declared. “How can you say doing that is anything just?”

“It’s a necessary evil,” Alabaster said firmly. “You’ll understand, when it’s all over.”

“How dare you,” Annabeth hissed. “How dare you ever call yourself one of us when you’d do this-“

Her voice shook, and she blinked rapidly.

I took her hand, trying to offer what comfort I could.

“How did you know he poisoned the tree?” Ethan asked with a frown.

“He dreamed it,” Phoibe murmured. “You have a gift for Prophetic dreaming, I can sense it on you.”

I shifted uncomfortably.

Phoibe smiled gently, “I apologize, this is hardly a comfortable place to meet for the first time. It is a pleasure to meet you both, and the young Kyklopes.”

Tyson shifted, tense.

“I can’t say the same,” Annabeth muttered.

“I understand,” Phoibe huffed. “We are on opposite sides of this conflict, you could do naught but defend your side. They are your parents after all, you love them dearly. Though I dearly wish you would recognize their crimes, recognize the wrongs they’ve committed…”

We shared a look as Phoibe sighed.

“It is the nature of the sea to stand by their friends and family,” She continued. “And all of you have the sea in your natures.”

“I’m a child of Athena,” Annabeth corrected.

“And Athena is a Rakil Avimilo, is She not?”

I shifted, remembering one of my lessons from Euphemia, “Her title was stripped from Her.”

Phoibe shrugged lightly, “She is still an Avimilo, no matter anything else.”

Annabeth shot me a confused look. Tyson tilted his head.

“My point being, I can hardly expect you to side against them. We may be your family, but you do not know. It’s alright, we understand.” She gave us a gentle look. “We would never hold your loyalty to yours against you.”

“Great, then we’ll be going—”

“Now, now,” Phoibe chided. “There’s no need to go. We understand your loyalty, but we cannot let you ruin our plans. There’s so much to be done, children. You may stay here, and when it all ends you’ll be welcome into our family.”

“Thanks, but I already have parents,” I said. “I don’t need new ones.”

Annabeth snorted, her lips twitching.

Phoibe sighed, “Do you understand what is to come? Family will be the center of everything. It is a kindness for us to remove you from the war, from the fate you hold.”

“I know the prophecy,” I snapped. “I don’t care what it may mean, I’m just gonna do my best for my friends and family.”

She looked surprised, “I hadn’t expected them to announce it, they’ve kept it so close so far…”

“It was my choice to hear it. I wanted to, and I have. Fighting prophecies never do anything, so I’ll just let it play out. I certainly won’t let you save me from it, if it’s my fate then that’s that.”

Phoibe studied me.

“You have an excellent understanding of prophecies, it is commendable to take such a stance. Nonetheless, we cannot let you interfere. If you do not wish to join us, or even stand aside, then we will handle this the only way we can.”

She motioned to, the giant men, “Agrius and Oreius will take you to the below decks. You’ll be kept there, safe and sound, until things are over.”

“Tell Luke his father misses him,” I said as Agrius and Oreius raised their javelins once more. My heart was pounding as I stared at her.

My mind was moving rapidly through what we’d been told.

She seemed nice, but she was a Titaness connected to intellect, and no doubt every word she said was carefully measured.

I still didn’t understand the stance the Titans were taking. A stance where the Gods had committed injustice. How could the Gods be blamed for all the bad in the world? There was so much there, so many factors. Unless they wanted to directly interfere in the Fates of humans they couldn’t do much to stop everything, only aid in countering it.

And her statements about family-

What did they want? What did she know about the prophecy?

Family speaks and a King falls

Was she trying to control the family there? Declaring us family?

Well that could work both ways.

“Lord Hermes misses Luke and wishes he’d return home, to his family.”

Phoibe smiled, “I imagine he does. It tis a shame his realization has come too late. Family is more than blood after all. It is everything one does for those they love, and he has done too little-“

“You dare?” Martha hissed. “Lord Hermesss hassss done everything for hisss family. Everything he could do hasss been done. He ssssought every opportunity to protect them! To guide them! To aid them! You have no demigod children, what do you know of the grief it involvesss?”

Phoibe sighed, “You are correct I have no demigod children… but I would never stand aside as the Gods do for them. I know the laws and their origins, at the time it was understandable, commendable… now it is clear it does more harm than good.”

Martha writhered, rising up on my arm, seeming heavier than a moment ago.

And larger.

“That is enough,” Phoibe murmured. “This is farewell, for now. Agrius, Oreius, no eating them.”

The two grumbled but nudged us towards the door.

Annabeth and I shared a look, hurrying forward with Tyson beside us.

I cradled Martha close, she seemed spitting mad.

“You will regret ssssuch a ssstatement to my Lord!”

“Perhaps,” Phoibe agreed. “Or perhaps you Lord will learn far too late a valuable lesson about treasuring his family.”

The doors shut behind us.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth shared a look with me as we walked, glancing at Tyson, then my waterskin. She tilted her head towards the giant men pointing their javelins at us.

I realized what she wanted.

Tyson would probably not be able to handle both… but if I could hold one and Tyson handled the other we could probably manage.

I took a breath and carefully unhooked my waterskin. A javelin poked my back.

We exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats.

If ever there was a time to act, it was now.

I looked at Tyson.

“Now.”

Thank the Gods, he understood immediately.

He turned and smacked one of the giant men (Oreius) ten meters backwards into the swimming pool.

Shouts from inside it announced the chaos as I lashed out with a whip of water from my waterskin, binding the other giant man (Agrius) in place.

“What the-“

I reached for the water in the pool as Annabeth bolted for the lifeboats.

I curled the water around Oreius in the pool, swirling the sides to make it harder to escape. Agrius struggled against the water as I kept the current strong, so he couldn’t break free.

I bit my lip, feeling the strain of two people fighting against the water.

Tyson grabbed a deck chair and whacked Agrius with it.

“What in the name of my mother-“

“What are they doing-“

“Kids!”

“Percy, let’s go!”

Annabeth had a life boat over the side.

An alarm started ringing.

“Tyson!”

I bolted for the life boat, Tyson right behind me.

“No!” Shouted someone.

Several terrors charged towards the life boat.

“How do you launch this thing?” Annabeth screamed.

A man in Greek armor drew his sword and charged forward.

Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

“Get in!”

I raised a shield of water, sweeping it and the arrows coming down on us aside then shoving it forward, knocking the boy down.

Water swirled, the deck rocked, Annabeth and Tyson were in the boat.

The release pulley wouldn’t release. The terrors were gaining. More fighters were coming towards us.

A glint of metal, swords raised as the fighters charged.

Terrors snarled and lunged.

Phoibe, shining bright, came into view.

I leapt, water spiraling around me, a whip sharpening.

I landed, the sharpened current cutting through the air with a whistle.

“Hold on!”

The ropes snapped in an instant.

A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell towards the ocean.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the boat? The surprise Phoibe? The small differences?

Halmaheran
Rakil Avimilo=Lady who was raised in the sea
Avimilo=one who was raised in the sea

Terminology
Phoibe=One of the first 12 Titans, sibling of Kronos. She is a Titaness with a very vague realm descriptor, and thus I have chosen a realm that covers the three things connected to her that are commonly prescribed to her. She is connected to the moon, intelligence, and prophecy, along with being called golden crowned (hence gold hair). Oracular Intelligence is therefore the realm I give her, with the Oracle part connecting both prophecy and the moon (which is connected to the sea). Her prophecy is notably connected to the Earth as well.
Koios=One of the first 12 Titans, sibling of Kronos. He is the Titan of Intellect and the heavenly axis (which all the constellations circled around) and was also a Titan connected to heavenly prophecies.
More information on Athena's history has been shared now :) She was raised in the sea for those that don't know, by Triton. She was raised alongside Pallas.
Agrius and Oreius' myth will be talked about next chapter, just know that Luke/Rick messed with it to frame the Gods in the worst light possible.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 25: Bonding Over Trauma

Summary:

Ah, trauma, did you miss her? Not like I've let you go long without her lmao.

Notes:

A bonus chapter especially for my dear friend Aqullya. I hope things are improving for you today dear <3

Enjoy the chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

We dropped towards the ocean like a strangely shaped stone. Wind whipped past us. Arrows flew over us.

Annabeth’s hair was in my face.

I scrambled for the bags. I fell.

“The flask!” I screamed.

The water was right below.

Annabeth clung to the boat.

“What!?”

Tyson yanked out the flask, thrusting it towards me.

“Hold on!”

“I am!”

“Tighter!”

I hooked my feet under the boat’s inflatable bench. Tyson grabbed Annabeth and me, clinging tight.

I gave the Flask cap a quarter turn.

Wind whipped out. My breath was knocked from me.

A sheet of wind so strong it was visible shot from the flask, propelling us sideways so our downward plummet changed into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

The boat creaked dangerously as the wind shot us forward.

I wrapped it in my power, desperately holding it together.

We hit the waves with a boom, water spraying around us, on us, soaking us through.

The wind seemed to laugh as it rushed out. The sound almost drowning out the shouting from the Princess Andromeda.

And then we were away.

A risky glance back revealed the ship small as a toy and growing smaller with every breath.

Annabeth slumped, relief on her face.

“We made it.”

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth suggested trying to contact Chiron, but I didn’t think he’d be much help. In the end we decided against it.

I spent my time focusing on keeping the boat from falling apart from the force of the wind and water, and Annabeth spent the time muttering about how to reach our destination.

“Where even are we?” she wondered.

“Thirty-six degrees, fifty-four minutes, and twenty-nine seconds North, seventy-five degrees, fifty-six minutes, and three seconds West.”

Annabeth turned slowly to stare at me.

“What?”

“Er…” I faltered. “That’s uh.. where we are…”

“How do you know that?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

“Mossst children of the sssea have a good ssssenssse of locatttttion in the sssea.”

“Yeah… I guess it’s that. I’ve always known where I was in the sea so-“

“Wow… that’s- wait…“ Annabeth’s gaze was drawn to the side suddenly. “Is that Virginia Beach?”

I peered where she was looking, then winced as the flask was put off location.

We zipped by a coastguard boat.

“Avero,” I muttered, straightening us out.

“The cruise ship made good time, didn’t it?” Annabeth wondered. “If we’re at Virginia beach… head into the bay there, Chesapeake Bay. I know a place to go.”

“Mosssst cruisssse sssshipsss of that make would not quite be able to travel that dissstanccce,” Martha said helpfully. “It wassss above average, for it’s make. But not imposssssible conssssidering if it wasss more dessssigned for ssspeed.”

I listened curiously as Martha proceeded to give a lecture on the way cruise ships worked and their nornmal speeds (the average large cruise ship traveled at a speed of twenty-one to twenty-four knots [nautical miles per hour], while one built for speed could travel over thirty knots).

We whizzed under a bridge, another ahead of us.

“There is a boat following us,” Tyson declared, interrupting Martha’s speech on how much speed our little boat should be able to handle (three to four knots, maybe seven at most… we were going twenty-three knots).

Annabeth turned to look, “It’s the coastguard.”

“We can’t let them catch us,” I muttered. “They’ll ask too many questions.”

I opened the lid slightly more, the blast of wind rocketing us ahead.

“Go under that bridge and then see that opening? There, with the land on both sides?”

If I squinted I could see what she was talking about.

“Yeah?”

“Go there.”

We passed under the bridge, the opening ahead of us.

The boat was left behind.

I felt the moment we started leaving the salt water. I felt more tired, my exhaustion from holding everything together growing rapidly. I reluctantly tightened the lid once more, letting the wind stop pushing us as I took direct control of the water around us, guiding us forward still.

Annabeth kept directing us, “Past that sandbar.”

“Where are we?” Tyson wondered.

“Chucktauk Creek,” she said. “Stop at the Cypress tree.”

I beached the lifeboat at the foot of the giant cypress, surrounded by marshy grass.

“Why are we here?” I asked, slumping in my seat as I clung to the last bits of my energy to hold the boat together.

“Come on, we can stay here.”

I idly tugged my braids, smoothing them out from the tangled mess they’d become in the wind. They probably needed to be redone but I didn’t really have the time for it.

“Hop on out,” I said.

Annabeth jumped out, her feet sinking into the mud. Tyson followed, carrying our bags. I got out last, letting go of my support as I did.

The boat creaked dangerously as the boards weakened rapidly. Water was bubbling into the boat.

“Wow,” Annabeth muttered. “It was really strained.”

Martha hissed in agreement. “Thissss isss where one of your ssssafe-housssesss isss?”

Annabeth jolted, “It- yeah… how did you-“

“We have alwayssss watched, hiding the ssssancturariesss from threatsss. Guiding you in your travelssss.”

She let out a slow breath.

“Oh.”

Annabeth shook her head and grabbed some branches.

“We need to hide the boat. It’ll draw attention.”

After burying the lifeboat with branches, Tyson and I followed Annabeth along the shore. I stumbled as we walked, my eyes heavy. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep.

Annabeth led the way. Her feet squelching in the mud or crunching in the leaves and branches. Mosquito’s swarmed us, and Annabeth mumbled a prayer to Zeus Apomuios to drive away the bugs.

“Apomuios?” I asked.

She jolted, “Oh uh, yeah it’s one of his epithets.”

She pushed aside the branches, leading us a bit farther in.

“It’s technically referring to him as driving away the flies, Herakles was the first to mention it I believe. The Eleans sacrificed to Zeus under the name.”

“Huh… cool… you really do know your myths.”

Annabeth huffed, “Yeah… I spend a lot of time researching them.”

“So… do you know the myth of the two from the boat? Agrius and Oreius?”

She hummed, “Yeah, I know the myth. It’s uh… not the nicest of myths but I read it a few years ago.”

“A few years ago?” I asked. “And you remember it just off the top of your head?”

“Well yeah?” she shot me a look of confusion. “Don’t you?”

“Only stuff that really interests me…”

I could barely remember what I ate for breakfast (nothing today), much less a random myth read years ago. If it wasn’t something interesting it didn’t stick.

“You have a good memory,” Tyson said with a solemn nod.

“Children of Athena have very good memoriessss,” Martha hissed. “You will find that ssshe remembersss much that ssssshe hassss experiencccced.”

“Oh… wow…”

“We’re here,” Annabeth said.

She pushed aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and revealed the shelter behind them.

“Oooh,” Tyson said.

Inside was everything you could want for a campout—sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions too—a quiver full of arrows, a handful of drachmaes, and a box of ambrosia.

“The arrows weren’t much use to us,” Annabeth said, noticing me studying them. “Thalia was alright with a bow, but it was too unwieldy to carry with us everywhere. We didn’t find many other weapons either… a few other knifes, a sword once… Well- celestial bronze weapons are rare.”

“Indeed,” Martha agreed. “I know the arrowsss were a gift from Artemisss. I recognize Her touch on them.”

She blinked, “Oh… I didn’t know that… do you think the other weapons were gifts too?”

Martha hissed, “Your knife came from a child of Apollo I know, gifted to Luke. Lord Hermesss guided them towardsss ssssome other weaponssss assss well.”

“The more you talk the more I realize the Gods helped us more than we knew,” she muttered.

Martha hissed, rising up from her coil on my arm.

“You are Their children, of coursssse They watch over you. Jussst becaussse you don’t ssssee Them doessssn’t mean They aren’t there.”

I let out a breath. It was… comforting to have confirmation of something I’d believed ever since talking with Leilani. I knew Triton watched over me, but knowing others likely did, or do now, or maybe they didn’t before when I was hidden, or perhaps they did for my mom’s prayers- whatever they did… it was comforting to know.

“So, uh, you made this place?” I asked Annabeth.

She looked up, her gaze focused once more, “Thalia and I… and Luke.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “You don’t think they’ll look for us or anything?”

She sighed, flopping down onto the blankets. That looked way too comfortable considering the ground outside was muddy and stick covered. I wanted to flop down next to her.

“Even if Luke did tell them about the safe houses, we made dozens of them all up and down land. I doubt they’d be able to find it.”

She was staring at the wall of the shelter, her brow furrowed and her eyes distant.

I gently coaxed Martha off my arm. I couldn’t sleep yet.

“Hey, do you think you two could go look for a Convenience store or something?”

“Convenience store?” Tyson wondered.

“Yeah, for snacks. We need some food… like Powdered doughnuts or something… probably some water too. I mean we have the one lunch box, but more never hurts.”

Tyson nodded solemnly, accepting Martha from me.

“Powdered doughnuts,” Tyson agreed, bright and eager to do as requested. “I will look for powdered doughnuts in the wilderness.”

He headed outside and started calling, “Here, doughnuts! Come here doughnuts!”

I sat down across from Annabeth, forcing myself to sit straight instead of curling up to sleep. I got comfy as I debated how to start a talk.

Her shoulders loosened as we heard Tyson move away.

I decided to continue our previous point.

“So, uh, the myth of Agrius and Oreius?”

Annabeth blinked, looking over at me.

“Oh, right… okay so uh…” she took a deep breath and turned to face me more, her gaze determined, like she was focusing entirely on the story she was about to tell. “The story starts with their mom, Polyphonte.”

“Polyphonte?”

“She was the daughter of Hipponous and Thrassa, with Ares being her grandfather through Thrassa and a river God, Strymon, being her great-grandfather.”

“Oooh,” I said. “A river God.”

She cracked a smile.

“She was a fierce woman, a fighter, her very name meant Slayer-of-Many.”

“Very nice,” I nodded, settling more into the blankets and holding back a yawn.

“Unfortunately, she did not take care how she honored the Gods.”

“Oh no.”

“While she honored many, including her grandfather Ares, she scorned Aphrodite. She gave her a great insult in not honoring her as she did others, and outright dismissed the realms that Aphrodite rules over. She had no desire for love, and even less care for beauty, and made it known.”

Annabeth grimaced as she said it.

“Aphrodite was angry, but even angrier when Polyphonte went and joined Artemis’ hunt, gaining the shelter of another Goddess while continuing to refuse any honor to Aphrodite.”

“That’s not good.” I mumbled, my eyes drifting shut as her voice washed over me.

“No, it’s not,” Annabeth smiled grimly. “Due to the insult given to her, Aphrodite punished Polyphonte. She cursed her to fall in love with a bear and drove her mad.”

“Yikes,” I muttered, cracking an eye open to see her nod.

“Yep. Artemis found her as she made love to the bear and was disgusted.”

“Didn’t she know she had been cursed?”

“She may have,” Annabeth said. “Or may have not. The myth doesn’t say. We just know that she broke her vows and the action itself was immoral and Artemis punished her for it.”

“Her vows?” I asked, pushing up and trying to get less comfy before I fell asleep.

“When one joins Artemis’ hunt, they vow to abstain from relationships. There are exceptions, you can always talk to Artemis about them,” Annabeth paused, deep in thought. “And I think there are groups not technically of the hunt but still… connected? That you can join that have less strict rules… but for the most part you must abstain from relationships to join the hunt.”

“So her getting in the relationship with… the bear-“

“Broke the vows yes.”

I nodded thoughtfully, covering my mouth as I yawned.

“The point being, Artemis turned all the beasts of the world against her as punishment for breaking her vows and the… action of being with the bear.”

I grimaced.

“Polyphonte fled back to her father’s house and had two children, Agrius and Oreius.”

“The twins we saw there?” I asked, leaning back.

“Yep,” Annabeth flashed me a smile before her expression grew pensive. “But uh… they were the nicest of people…”

“What did they do?”

“They were, are, huge and have a lot of strength.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, thinking back to the large javelins they’d held. “I noticed.”

She laughed, “Yeah… but so uh, they were also majorly disrespectful to the Gods as a whole and hated men-“

“Isn’t that what got their mom in trouble?” I wondered as I let my eyes slip shut again.

“Yeah,” she snorted. “But on top of that they were cannibals. They’d find strangers and bring them home to eat.”

I blinked slowly, opening my eyes to look at her. “They what.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Zeus hated their actions, both the disrespect and the eating of humans, so he sent Hermes down to punish them.”

“Oh wow.”

“Hermes cut off their hands and feet, but then Ares intervened. Since Polyphonte was his descendent he saved her children from their fate, and worked with Hermes to turn them, Polyphonte, and their slave servant to birds.”

“Their… slave servant?” I asked slowly.

“Most translations will call her a woman servant, but that’s a nice way of saying slave.”

“Oh… yikes…”

She winced, “Yeah… slavery was a thing back then. But uh… yeah so Polyphonte became an owl that became a symbol of war. Oreius became an eagle owl, which is an omen of ill times, and Agrius became a culture, detested by Gods and men who would eat flesh and blood of humans.”

“That’s… lovely,” I mumbled, dropping my head against the wall of the shelter.

“Their slave, unnamed in the myths, prayed to the Gods to not become an evil bird, and Hermes and Ares heard her. They decided that since she had only done what her masters ordered that she would be granted mercy. She was turned into a woodpecker, which is a good omen for those going hunting or to feasts.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s a myth alright…”

My brain was moving slowly in my exhaustion, but a thought slowly formed. I propped myself up to look at Annabeth again. “How come they’re here now if they were changed to birds?”

She shrugged, “I imagine they did… something to change back. The Gods have, at times, removed curses if they felt the subject learned their lesson. Or the birds they were died and they reformed in their original form in Tartarus.”

I nodded thoughtfully. That explained why they were against the Gods then, they’d always done so.

I sunk down into the blankets, the softness lulling me to rest. Mmm, sleep, that sounded nice, I would just sleep… maybe she could talk about other myths, it seemed to help. What kind of myth?

Something… something like… helpful… what was a myth that-

Oh yeah, that would be good to know.

“So, are there similar myths about Kyklopes?” I wondered distantly.

“What?”

“Well, I know the Polyphemus one but-“

Annabeth let out a shaky breath and I opened my eyes.

“There are… several myths on Kyklopes…” she said.

“Is that why you’re afraid of Tyson?” I asked softly.

She pursed her lips.

“I’m not-“ she faltered. “It’s… it’s complicated.”

“I have time,” I assured, pushing to a more upright position again. This was an important conversation.

She looked away.

“You have to understand Percy, Thalia, Luke and I… we were on the run for a long time… we faced a lot of monsters.”

I nodded, silent as she spoke.

“And… well… there was one particular cause for Thalia’s death in the end…”

“What happened?” I asked softly.

“Grover led us back to camp, but—” she rubbed her face “—he took a few wrong turns. One of them… one of them led us into the lair of Kyklopes.”

“Did he hurt Thalia?”

“He tried,” she muttered grimly. “But it wasn’t… it wasn’t that… I don’t-“

She sighed. “It was… one of the most terrifying moments of my life. Being along in his lair and- and watching him prepare Thalia and Luke for dinner… but in the end that wasn’t what killed Thalia.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“It- well… Percy… I just- your dad—he always picks his kids side.”

I blinked, “Okay?”

“And well… Polyphemus isn’t the only Kyklopes whose asked for revenge after people hurt them to escape.”

Understanding slowly dawned on me, my brain sluggishly putting the pieces together.

“Powdered doughnuts!” Tyson declared, sweeping the door open.

I blinked.

Annabeth flinched back.

We both stared.

Tyson was holding up a pastry box, looking very proud of himself.

“Where did you get that?” Annabeth asked, baffled. “We’re in the middle of the wilderness. There’s nothing around for—”

“Fifteen meters!” Tyson chirped. “Monster Doughnut shop—just over the hill!”

“Monster doughnuts?” I asked.

“Didn’t we go to one of those before?” Annabeth muttered.

I nodded. I vaguely recalled having some issue with it, but I couldn’t remember what.

OO OO OO OO

“You ssshould not be here,” Martha hissed. She’d tried to convince us to not check it out but it seemed important to at least take a look.

“We need to go,” Annabeth agreed, crouched at the top of the hill with me.

The doughnut shop was just sitting there… nothing around except a parking lot and little road… and there were a few harpies in line inside.

“It’s a monster doughnut shop,” Annabeth muttered.

“A shop for terrors?” I asked, stifling a yawn.

“We need to leave,” Annabeth muttered. “It’s one of the chain shops.”

“Chain shops?” I wondered. I was too tired for this.

“Doughnut shops?” Tyson asked.

Martha hissed in agreement, “Sssshopsss that are connected to monssstersss. They risssse and fall with monsssterssss.”

“Oh…”

“If one rose here it means there’s probably a monster connected to it nearby,” Annabeth hissed. “They’re connected to the life-force of monsters, specific ones usually. I believe Hydras are the most common.”

“How did that happen?” I asked.

“Some children of Hermes figured it out in the 1950s. They bred a bunch of hydras and some other stuff… I don’t know all the details… the information was destroyed after the first mess…”

“They were moving beyond what wasss okay,” Martha agreed.

“Regardless,” Annabeth continued. “We need to leave before we have to deal with one. Let’s grab our things.”

“Where do we go?” Tyson asked as we slipped down, heading back to the shelter.

“The Port, North Carolina Port, right?”

I nodded, I didn’t actually remember but that sounded right.

“Not sure how we’re gonna get there though,” she muttered. “We don’t have a boat and it’s at least… uh…”

“One-hundred-and-thirty-eight nautical milessss away,” Martha offered helpfully.

“Yeah… that…”

I hummed, grabbing our bags with them.

“Side pocket,” Tyson declared loudly, looking delighted.

He tugged at a side pocket on the duffle bag, revealing a set of extra tools. Huh… we had side pockets… didn’t notice…

Annabeth blinked, “Oh, extra things…”

She found the side pocket of her duffle and pulled out a thing jewelry box.

“Oh… it’s the charm from the last quest,” she murmured.

I found the same slot in my bag and blinked at the jewelry box inside. Unlike Annabeth’s, who’s only held a bracelet… mine held three things.

The necklace from the Demeter cabin from the last quest… and two gleaming silver whistles.

“I think I figured out how we’re gonna get to the Port,” I said, the recognition hitting me.

Annabeth turned to me curiously, raising an eyebrow at the whistles.

“What are those?”

“Hippocampi whistles.”

OO OO OO OO

Leilani POV

I sighed as I finished cleaning the tank for Hippolyta and Carl.

Hippolyta did not seem very happy about it, but unlike Percy I couldn’t use magic powers to clean it.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s gotta be clean. Today is cleaning day for it.”

I leaned back and studied it.

“Is that good?”

Hippolyta twined around her rock, staring at me.

I felt judged.

“Well, I’ve just gotta finish cleaning up the cabin and then we’ll be all done.”

I hummed and moved to grab the sheets from Tyson’s bed to bring to the washer in the bathroom. It was a fun little cubby that you could miss if you didn’t know to look for it, Percy showed me.

I’d just finished shoving them in when there was a knock at the door.

I sighed, but hit the setting to clean the sheets, then moved to open the door.

“Morning!” Silena chirped. “How are you today, Leilani?”

I leaned back slightly, “I’m good… how are you?”

“I’m doing good too,” she smiled gently. “I was just wondering if you guys were alright. You missed breakfast. Is Percy sick?”

I bit my lip, I’d started cleaning early and forgotten about breakfast.

“Uh… no he’s on a quest.”

Silena blinked slowly, tilting her head. Her shimmery black veil shifted over her shoulder.

“What?”

“Er… Mr. D sent them off,” I said. “So, uh, he, and Tyson, aren’t here.”

“I… see…” she nodded to me. “Please make sure you get lunch, you need three meals a day to be healthy.”

She turned and swept away, her melodic voice urging me to remember lunch later.

Weird.

Oh well, I still had cleaning to do until lunch. It took a lot more time with only me, normally all three of us did it.

Hopefully people at camp weren’t upset that they were on another quest.

OO OO OO OO

Lunch was so awkward. People were staring at my table, the Ares kids were glaring at the Athena table, and the Demeter and Aphrodite kids were whispering.

Plus, I had to eat alone.

I’d never realized how uncomfortable it was. Poor Percy, he had to do it all of last summer.

I was glad I usually had him with me.

Minos was frowning at my table and Tantalus looked incensed. He had a furious argument with Mr. D, but Mr. D ignored him and popped a strawberry in his mouth.

I hoped things were okay. There was tension here, more than before, but there was also hope.

Despite the way the leaders were arguing, and the people were upset, there was a new life to their movements.

It reminded me of something from one of my lessons.

When humanity has nothing else, it has hope.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

And the myth I told for the giant twins is one I simplified and elaborated on. I clarify the more vague parts of the myth in it cause some things are hard to understand without proper understanding. Hope you liked it :).

I hope you liked the boat facts too! I only spent for fucking ever researching so I could give accurate info on travel times! Locations were also carefully researched to ensure that I could give accurate facts about the area. Including correct coordinates (looking at you Rick)

What did you think of the conversation? Do you know what's up with Annabeth's story? How about Leilani?

Halmaheran
Avero=fuck

Terminology
Zeus Apomuious=An epithet of Zeus, meaning he who drives away the flies.
Polphonte=daughter of Hipponous and Thrassa, granddaughter of Ares
Hipponous=son of Triballus, eponymous king of the Triballi of Thrace.
Thrassa=daughter of Ares and Tereine, granddaughter of Strymon
Strymon=river God son of Okeanus and Tethys.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 26: Ocean Songs and Moon Lit Nights

Summary:

Travel!

Notes:

Just think, if manage to keep to my plans I'll be able to write ahead enough for you guys to get two updates a week again :D Wouldn't that be nice?

Hope you enjoy the chapter! This is more of a transition chapter, with some worldbuilding and an important piece of information becoming known.

... Okay so fun fact my end notes got too long to let me post the chapter- uh... I tried to add some lore there for the names of stuff so uh... please have pity on me. Also *please* read the lore, I spent forever editing the end notes so it actually fit the character limit.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

“There issss ssssomething dangeroussss in the air,” Martha hissed as we reached the shore of the creek once more.

I blinked, I didn’t sense anything-

My fingers went up to touch my necklace.

Oh.

Oh.

I was still wearing it. I’d… forgotten about it’s purpose. It blocked out sensations, blocked me from being overwhelmed… but also blocked me from sensing anything.

I was on a quest, I needed all my senses, not just my normal ones.

“What are you doing?” Annabeth asked as I moved my hands up.

I carefully unhooked the link in my necklace, pulling it off.

Exhaustion surged as a maelstrom of sensations surged over me. The ground swayed, or maybe that was me. The wind maybe?

For just a moment I could feel everything.

The water lapping at my skin, cool and pleasant, yet with clumps of mud dashing through hit. The crinkling book pages under my fingers, ink filled, worn from years of wear. Olive oil on my tongue, delicate with the tint of unfamiliar herbs. The heady scent of metal, radiating heat and warming my face, yet with a touch of salt rubbing against me. Tickling feathers dancing over smooth scales coating my arms like a shield. Lightning crackling distantly, the faint tinge of wine, rubbing salt and shifting sands. The warmth of the sun like a cleansing mist, the steadiness of the Earth.

My head spun as everything swept over me. My eyes prickled.

And just above those scaled a heavy layer, weighing like danger on my mind as an acid burn filled my nose and mouth, chasing away the warm metal and herb filled olive oil.

My ears rang as Annabeth grabbed my arm with parchment clad fingers, Tyson stepping forward in an updraft of heat.

“Percy?” A voice asked through the ringing, I could taste the word on my tongue, drenched in herb tinged olive oil.

And with a gasp of (breathless, endless, cloud filled) air the sensations cleared like the morning mist.

I was swaying, my head filled with cotton.

I could still feel the scales, tickling feathers brushing over me, acid burning my throat, but the rest was dull, faint, practically non-existent. Like someone had taken all the world and carved it into me, only to cover the marks.

I drew a shaky breath in, letting the (moisture filled, mud smelling) air fill my lungs.

At least until I focused and picked up faint traces nudging my senses.

“Percy?” Annabeth asked (again, I realized, and yet I felt odd not tasting the olive oil coated words).

“Sorry,” I whispered, leaning against her. “I- I forgot-”

I forgot, forgot, forgot.

Forgot how the world sparked with power and energy.

Forgot how sensations roiled over my skin like swirling currents.

Forgot how I could drown in them if I wasn’t careful.

Martha hissed, “Be careful. Annabeth move him to the water.”

I shook my head, world a blur of there and not, here and gone, flitting lights and colors and sounds. I could stare at it forever. I couldn’t look at it for another second. To much. Not enough. Overwhelming. Underwhelming. I needed- needed- needed something. Something more? Something less? Something that I couldn’t name.

I needed it to stop.

But if I stopped it we wouldn’t have the aid.

I needed to handle it.

I needed to be free of it.

I needed-

“Here,” Annabeth muttered, tugging me to the water with her eyes furrowed. I let her guide me into the creek, our shoes soaking through.

I could stop them from getting wet, but I wanted to feel the water right then.

Wanted to stop feeling everything and only feel one thing. Wanted to feel everything in the world until no one thing could be felt.

The water struck me like a physical blow and I staggered once more.

Annabeth held me up as my sight cleared, the light dancing over the creek and shining green through the trees.

I breathed.

My arms were coated in thick scales (invisible to all but me and my senses). There were feathers brushing over my sides. Acid burned my nose and mouth.

But I could breathe.

“Martha is right,” I croaked as I steadied. “We need to get out of here. Something dangerous is coming.”

Annabeth studied me with a frown, shifting her weight to better support me.

“What do we need to do?” she asked softly.

I clung to the support for a moment longer, just breathing. The world would be there again when I stood.

I took one last breath, letting the sensations flow over me, then straightened.

“We need to get closer to the bay, so I can call for Belle.”

I stepped back out of the creek, my shoes dripping. I thought about drying them, but I was tired. I didn’t know how I was going to call Belle and figure out how to get Annabeth and myself there too.

“You need two whistles for that?” Annabeth asked as she quickly moved to walk beside me, Tyson on my other side.

They both seemed concerned that I’d fall over. That was a valid concern.

My steps dragged, I barely had the energy to lift my feet. I just wanted sleep.

“This one,” I yawned and held up the whistle with a smaller scale hanging from it, “is Appa’s, my Hippocampi. Belle is Triton’s, he gave me her whistle too.”

“Triton- never mind,” Annabeth shook her head while Martha let out a hissing laugh. “But why can’t you call Appa too?”

I stumbled over a branch, the acid in my throat burning all the more. I blinked tears out of my eyes as Annabeth helped me steady.

“Appa is too young to carry us like that, he’s still a baby hippocampus. But Belle should be able to carry Tyson just fine.”

Annabeth frowned, “Wait, what about you and me?”

“Uhhh,” I tripped and Tyson caught me. “I hadn’t figured that out yet.”

Martha hissed, “Tysssson and I sssshall go on Belle. Perccccy, you sssshall carry Annabeth.”

“Woah, hold on,” Annabeth waved her hand. “How is he gonna carry me that far? I mean even if he were in full health that’d be ridiculous, but he’s exhausted right now.”

“I can probably do it,” I muttered. “The water will give me energy.”

“But that’s- that’s one-hundred-and-thirty-eight nautical miles away! And you look ready to pass out.”

“Yeah, hence the breaks.”

Annabeth stared at me for a long moment.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“We don’t have much of a choicccce,” Martha hissed regretfully.

A cracking noise echoed through the woods and Annabeth flinched.

“Let’s speed up,” she muttered, shooting a look behind her.

The ground squelched with every step, mosquitos flitting around us. There seemed to be less than earlier, perhaps Annabeth’s prayer did help. Glittering webs dripped from trees, spiders swooping at us as we passed.

Annabeth’s breath would catch, Tyson would wave his hands, and Martha would shoot up to snap them up. Not a single spider touched us.

Annabeth steadied me as we walked under reaching branches, trees waving in the breeze, water bubbling, whispering, rushing through the creek.

I breathed carefully, the air filled with acid, and tried to focus on something else.

Another sensation, something that soothed instead of burned.

The warmth of heated metal on my face, a faint comfort wafting off of Tyson. The barest taste of olive oil on my tongue when Annabeth hooked my arm around hers to steady me, nearly lost under the acid. Smooth scales curling under the heavy weight above them.

Annabeth breathed hard, sweat coating her arms and soaking her shirt. My own was equally damp. We nearly fell again as we reached the water’s edge.

Ahead the water grew deep and wide, the bay stretched out ahead filled with boats. I admired the view for a moment, though my head was throbbing from the heat and everything that was.

Martha hissed, rising on my arm.

“Call Belle, and then get ssssome water. You are dehydrated.”

I nodded and stepped forward, away from Annabeth’s support.

The water lapped at my feet as I stepped in, energy curling through me and taking the edge off my exhaustion.

It wasn’t enough, but it would do.

I took a deep breath, basking in the cool water curling around my legs, but stopped before I went any deeper. I could sense the abrupt drop ahead, the water deepening between one step and the next. I didn’t need to be in the deep water for this, just next to it.

I closed my eyes, drawing on the lesson I got from Triton.

It was easy to remember, the memory treasured like all the times I spent with Triton. I opened my eyes and took a breath, calling for the song.

I blew into the whistle.

There was no audible sound, nothing to be heard by me or any other present, and yet the waters rippled and the tone of it echoed through me.

I could almost trace the way it swept through the waves, tone high and pure, until it was out of range.

I tucked the whistle into my pocket and stepped back onto land, drooping as the strength the ocean offered me faded.

“It’ll probably take a few minutes,” I said.

Annabeth nodded, holding out a water bottle for me. Tyson was swinging a bag onto his shoulders again.

I accepted it, taking a sip from the already open bottle. I wished I could’ve sat down, but the ground was muddy and probably filled with bugs.

I eyed a snake that slithered past.

“So, uh, we still have awhile to go… how fast can we get there?”

I frowned, draining my water bottle quickly.

“I… fully rested I’m faster than most people but… I’m tired and will be carrying you…”

 “You’ll alssso be able to get the sssea to aid you,” Martha reminded me. “Though you will need thosssse breaks. We sssshall take breaksss often to enssssure you do not tire too much more. And will take time to let you sleep.”

I nodded, relaxing.

“It’ll be a long swim,” I added, turning back to Annabeth. “Both with the breaks, and it getting late into the night, and only having one Hippocampi… if we had another we could move much faster but-“

“But you can only call one,” she murmured.

I nodded.

“Well, hopefully it goes well-“

A splash heralded a familiar nicker.

We turned to the water, rainbow glints flashing in my eyes as a tail flashed in the water.

Belle had arrived.

“Wow,” Annabeth muttered. “She’s beautiful.”

“Pretty,” Tyson gasped. “A rainbow.”

I beamed at their expressions. Belle really was a lovely Hippocampi.

Her scales where a dusty white that slowly brightened to a shimmery rainbow as they reached her tail. Her back fin was brilliant colored, like a rainbow was placed directly on it. The hooves were glistening silver, catching the light and shining like liquid moonlight. The sleek fins on her front legs were a rainbow matching her back fin. Down her neck she had a thick mane, much like land horses. It drifted through the water in a haze of silvery white, glittering like it was dusted with glitter.

All in all, she was gorgeous.

“Hey, Belle,” I murmured.

She knickered.

“Prince, foal, hello.”

“Talking horsie,” Tyson whispered.

Annabeth blinked, “Talking?”

“Tyson, Annabeth, this is Belle. Belle, this is my little brother, Tyson, and my friend Annabeth,” I paused as Martha shifted on my arm. “And of course, this is Martha. She’s supervising our quest.”

Belle flicked her tail, water splashing.

“Quest? Foal too young? Why?”

“It’s an important quest,” I said. “To save the camp.”

Belle looked inclined to keep speaking, but a crashing noise behind us put an end to talk for the moment.

“Alright,” Martha hissed. “Time to go. Percccy, take Annabeth.”

I passed Martha to Tyson, who let her wind around his arm, then nodded to Annabeth.

“Let me transform first.”

“Wha-“

This time I didn’t wade in, I jumped straight into the deep end.

Bubbles danced around me, only growing in number as I tugged on my charm.

In a surge of long familiar bubbles and curling currents my legs disappeared. I breathed in the water, drawing strength from it.

With a quick flick of my tails, much less tired than my legs were, I breached the surface of the water.

“Holy Hestia!” Annabeth screeched. “Since when do you have a tail!?”

I blinked up at her in confusion. Did she not know about my tail?

“Uh… since I was nine? Ten? Maybe eleven… it’s been a bit?”

“Wha-“ she stared. “What the fuck.”

Martha hissed out a laugh as Tyson got on Belle.

“You coming?” I asked, holding out a hand.

Annabeth stared at the water for a moment before her gaze hardened.

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

She just reached my hand when the trees shook. I wrapped an arm around her, flicking back, as the threat we’d been escaping came into view.

A hydra.

Of course.

What else would it be?

“Let’s go,” Annabeth squeaked.

I nodded quickly, in full agreement.

“Hang on,” I muttered.

She held on tight as I wrapped the water around her, forming an air bubble the opposite of the way I formed water bubbles for Carl and Hippolyta when playing with them.

We dove underwater as the Hydra roared it’s challenge to the heavens.

Poor Hydra.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth hanging onto me actually made it harder to swim then I’d expected. My tails struggled to move right without hitting her too.

It made it hard to maneuver towards the Bay. It was a mess of fishing lines, nets, boats, and trash. I had to dive deep and tug Annabeth around several dangerous. She tried to stay as still as possible to make it easier, but it was a tough swim.

Just getting to the Bay proper took a while, and we paused to breath when we reached the exit of the offshoot. The bay ahead had many more ships than the offshoot had, and I dreaded the swim.

“You good?” I asked Annabeth.

She nodded, “Yeah, you’re a fast swimmer.”

I flicked my tails, “I have a bit of an advantage.”

I wanted to curl up on the ground and sleep, just rest for a while, but I didn’t think I’d get that chance. I took a deep breath and headed out.

Belle kept pace with me easily. She could be going much, much faster than me if she were allowed to, but since she needed to stick with me we were held to my speed.

“Would it be faster if you let me swim beside you and just pulled me along?”

I paused, drifting to the side of a fishing line.

“It might,” I decided. “Do you wanna try?”

She nodded, pulling away so she could take my hand.

I flicked my tails again, starting slower than usual and speeding up. It was much easier. I still had to be careful not to hit her with my tails and had to make sure to take into account her drag on my right side, but it was still easier than carrying her.

Despite the speed boost, the swim was slower than I liked. We had to go through the entire bay, and my senses told me it was fifteen miles, we’d only gotten through three miles so far.

Despite the exhaustion and the long swim, it was nice to be in mer-form again. I love being able to swim with my tails. I could go so much faster than as a human. I wondered if there was some science to it, there probably was. If I spoke to Lagi he’d probably know.

It was probably in one of the medical books I hadn’t bothered to read.

I pursed my lips, shoving the twist in my stomach away.

There were more important things right now.

“Wow,” Annabeth whispered as we went under the first bridge.

I followed her gaze, finding several jellyfish drifting past. I carefully guided us out of their reach, letting Annabeth admire them.

“They look… ethereal.”

“They’re really pretty,” I agreed. “You should keep an eye out for- ah, look there.”

I pointed to a form gliding through the water.

“A sea turtle!” Annabeth gasped.

“They like jellyfish.”

She watched, eyes wide and all but sparkling, as the sea turtle aimed for the jellyfish and snapped one up.

“Over there are some crabs,” I said, pointing down to the ground.

She squinted, “I can’t see them. You have better eye sight than me.”

I guided us lower, but Annabeth winced, rubbing her ears.

“I think you can handle pressure better than me too.”

I faltered, “I think we’re about fifteen feet underwater… how deep can the average human go?”

“Uh… I don’t know…”

“Martha!” I called. “How deep can the average person go!”

Belle swam closer, letting Martha perk up.

“I believe it’sss about twenty feet at mossst. Thossse trained can go much deeper though.”

“Okay… so I just need to make it less pressure?”

Martha hissed in agreement.

“How do you do that?” Annabeth asked.

I focused on the water around her. I’d only really been keeping the bubble around her face, it was the easiest to do, but I could move the water, so it was a full bubble around her head.

“There!”

“Oh, yeah that does feel better.”

Annabeth rolled her shoulders, raising a hand in front of the bubble to look at it.

“So, wanna see the crabs?”

She perked up, letting me tug her deeper once more.

“Woah,” she muttered. “There are so many.”

“Those are Ninap Eotem,” I said, pointing at the crabs. “And those are Pauru Eotem.”

“What do those names mean?” she asked, leaning as close as she dared.

I faltered, “Oh right… those are blue crabs and those are shield crabs.”

“Wow,” she murmured. “What are jellyfish and sea turtles called?”

“A sea turtle would be a Wasare Temati for a direct translation, but they’re called Wa’mati. A jellyfish is a Hamima.”

“That’s really interesting,” she said, letting me guide her up to keep traveling. “Do you know all the names of things in Halmaheran?”

I shook my head, “No, but I know a lot of them. Triton would only speak to me in Halmaheran for a while, to make sure I learned it. It came naturally but I still had to practice.”

She nodded thoughtfully, “What are some other words?”

“Well…” I paused to think. “What kinds of words do you wanna learn?”

“Hmm,” she hummed to herself as she thought over it. “What about words related to the ocean? Like the water I mean. Are there different words?”

I perked up, “Oh tons of them. Like ta… okay so let’s start with the basics. Ocean is moare and sea is wasare.”

“Moe-ah-rey and Wah-sah-rey?”

“Yep! And then water is pavu.”

I tugged us around a big boat and under two fishing lines.

“That’s cool. So those are the three words for it?”

“Nope!” I grinned as she made a confused sound. “There are lots of words just for the type of water or effects on the water.”

“Like what?”

I swam us down a bit, ducking down beneath a net and catching up with Belle under another boat.

“Well, underwater is iratan.”

“Ee-rey-tan?”

“Ee-rah-tan.”

“Okay, got that.”

We swam past a few sharks.

“Then there’s manurovu which is… uh… I guess the closest translation would be like… sunlight through the water?”

“Can you use it in a sentence?”

“In halmaharen?” I wondered as I tugged her past a nasty bit of trash.

She snorted, “Just the one word.”

I hummed, tugging her over a school of fish. “The manurovu is being blocked by the boats.”

She squeezed my hand, “That works. Okay, then what else?”

“There’s tetotepa, which is like… the way rain hits the water? It doesn’t have an exact translation.”

“Tey-toe-tey-pah,” she muttered. “That’s a pretty word.”

I nodded, guiding her in a zig zag around some fishing lines.

“There are several words connected to storms and the sea. Teverte, wamuvere, warovere, wativere-“

“Those last three sound similar?” she interrupted as we paused to let a ship pass in front of us.

“Uh… I think they all come partly from wasare.”

“What’s that mean again?”

“Sea.”

“Ah, so then… what do those words mean?”

“Teverte is like… knowing a storm is coming. The other three are the sea before, during, and after a storm.”

She drifted next to me as we reached the other bridge.

“We’ve reached the ocean proper,” I murmured.

“How would you say that in Halmaheran?”

I laughed, “Why the sudden interest?”

She glanced at me, expression guarded, “It just… is part of your life. It feels right to learn some of the language you speak.”

I softened, offering her a smile. That was… very sweet of her.

“I’d be delighted to teach you. And as for how you’d say that… Tav tal yame turo ert moare armiri.”

“That sounds nice. I recognize moare, what’s ‘we’ve’?”

“Tav tal would be we’ve, well, we have. Contractions don’t work quite the same. I could also say tav’tal or tav’al but tav tal is the more proper form.”

She let me tug her along, going into the actual ocean, far enough to not be caught by the waves closer to shore.

“So… what’s the difference between tav tal and tav tal?”

“Tav’tal,” I corrected. “You need to run the words together more, so they sound like one word.”

“Tav-tal?”

“Tav’tal.”

“Tav tal?”

“Tav’tal.”

“Tav’tel?”

“Tav’tal.”

“Tav’tal?”

“Yeah!” I flashed her a grin. “Just like that.”

She brightened, “That’s hard, not like in English. I’ll have to get better at it.”

I laughed and flicked my tails harder. Now that I didn’t have to maneuver so much it was easier to speed up.

“I’m sure you’ll get it soon.”

“So what other water words are there?”

“Uh… let’s see… I told you the ones for the sea and storms?”

“Yeah.”

“Um… did I tell you motura?”

“What’s that word?” she wondered, gasping and whispering “Dolphin” as we passed a pod.

“Dolphin is marame,” I said with a grin. “But motura is like… when lightning hits the ocean surface.”

“Cool,” she mumbled, her wrist twisting in my grip.

I glanced back and saw her peering after the dolphins. I smiled, she seemed happier now than earlier.

I yawned, my arm aching a bit. The water would keep me healed, but even it couldn’t fully counter the exhaustion clinging to me.

Belle drifted closer and I saw Martha perk up.

“We’ll ssstop sssson. There sssshould be a good placcce on land near here.”

“Sounds good,” I called back.

“Sorry,” Annabeth said. “You’re tired, we probably should’ve rested earlier.”

I waved my hand quickly, though I really was tired. The conversation with her had distracted me, but now I was more aware of my tail feeling heavy, my arms dragging, and my eyes stinging with the need to close.

“It’s okay, we’ll rest soon. Wanna finish up with the water first?”

“Sure, there can’t be that many more words, right?”

I hummed, “Well… depends… do you wanna get into the words for currents?”

There was a beat of silence.

“How many words for a current can there be?”

“Uh…” I paused to count mentally.

Strong, weak, slow, fast, unnatural, natural, warm, cold, narrow, wide, the current… were there any others?

“Twelve?” I said hesitantly. “I think.”

She made a strangled noise, “Twelve? Why do you need that many words for current?”

“Lots of things!”

I heard her huff, “Okay, not doing the words for current. What are the other words though?”

“Uh… just three I can think of off the top of my head.”

“Oh?” she wondered as I followed Belle closer to shore.

“Mhm. Piviua, puhipata, and mairoi.”

“What do those mean?”

“Uh…” I was beginning to realize that giving her accurate translations for words that didn’t really have a proper translation was hard. “Toxic water is piviua… water with oil spill? I think is roughly it? Is puhipata. Then mairoi is clean water.”

“Huh… cool,” she muttered. “There really are a lot of water related words.”

“Yeah!” I flicked close to land, nearly reaching it. Belle had paused and let Tyson off. “And that’s not even including words like tide, wave, or lake or anything.”

“Fascinating,” she declared. “I’ve never had too much of an interest in languages but that’s cool.”

I grinned. This trip was turning out to be a lot of fun.

“Well, anything else I should know while we rest?”

“Oh, there’s loads more words.”

OO OO OO OO

We swam for hours. Oh we had lots of breaks, and every now and then a shark agreed to help swim Annabeth to give me some rest from swimming for the both of us, but it was still exhausting. It was well past dark before Martha declared we should sleep.

“We’ll probably make it in time,” she hissed.

“We’ve covered a lot of distance,” I yawned. My head was drooping, and I was barely holding Annabeth’s air bubble in place.

If this had done anything it made me good at making and holding an air bubble in place.

She swam to the surface, stumbling onto shore and dropping in the shallow water.

“Yesss,” Martha agreed. “If we get up early then we sssshall make it to the port by nine-isssh.”

“And we need to be there by-“

“Noon,” Annabeth yawned. “That’s what the note said.”

“If you get there early then you may be able to leave early and ressst on the ride.”

“Right,” Annabeth muttered, her eyes closing.

“You sssshould not sssleep on the beach,” Martha chided. “Take sssshelter in the treesss.”

I changed into human form again and stumbled out of the water, Tyson and Annabeth just as tired. We’d been up hours, it was nearly pitch black as we ambled to the tree line.

Very thankfully we found a clearing with soft mosses. I didn’t think so much could grow like that so close to salt water, but maybe there was a clearing nearby.

I was too tired to think about it anyways.

Between the three of us we tugged out the blanket from the med kit and a small blanket that each bag had mixed in with the toiletries and settled down to sleep.

I barely remembered to dry us off before we settled down, grumbling at the frizz my braids had developed as I laid down. I didn’t have the energy for anything else tonight.

I drifted off immediately. For once I had no dreams.

OO OO OO OO

I woke to Martha’s tongue in my ear.

She let out hissy laughter as I yelped and scrambled up.

“Good morning,” she hissed.

Annabeth was awake and rubbing her own ear next to me.

A mental glance at the tides nearby gave me a rough idea of the time.

“It’s not even second tide,” I groaned.

“Much to do,” Martha cooed. “Time to get up and eat.”

I grumbled as I pushed up, accepting the food from the lunchbox we got on our last quest.

Sandwiches for breakfast, how nice. The fruit was good though, strawberries and kiwi’s. And having fresh water in it, even if the water bottle only refilled a little bit at a time, was also helpful.

With breakfast done, Martha ushered us back to the ocean. Why was the sun already up? Gross.

Belle knickered a greeting when we reached the shore.

“Hi rainbow!” Tyson called.

I stifled a grin as I reminded him, “Her name is Belle.”

“We ssshould only be about two hoursss out,” Martha said. “Ssso let’ssss hurry and be done with it ssso we can ressst.”

Rest sounded lovely.

OO OO OO OO

“So, uh, does the sea go by a different type of time?”

I shot a glance back at Annabeth, “huh?”

“You said it’s not even second tide earlier.”

“Oh… yeah uh… well you know there’s two high tides a day?”

“Roughly,” she agreed.

“Well in the sea we have it marked into four parts, high, low, high, low. Most can kinda just… sense it. So yeah… this morning’s first tide was… early?”

I paused to check the tide then.

“It’ll be second tide in about twenty minutes I’d say. In the ocean we go by the tides for time. I think it’s… hmm 18^th of Verumav right now? I don’t have a sea calendar with me… it’s around the eighteenth.”

“Verumav?”

“It’s the sixth month of the sea calendar.”

“Ooh, what are the months names?”

I mentally ran through them real quick to make sure I knew them while I swam past some interesting protrusions in the ground.

“Pontimav, Thalamav, Wasumav, Okeamav, Poseimav, Verumav, Tematimav, Kalmav, Mairomav, Retamav, Amramav, Pohumav, Hopumav.”

“Wait… one, two… six, seven… that’s thirteen months?”

“Yep!”

“The sea calendar has thirteen months then?”

I nodded, though she couldn’t see my expression.

“The last month of the year is basically a festival month. Every month before that is twenty-eight mana long- sorry, days long, four mavuho- ta- weeks. That one has seventeen days. The last three are big deals.”

I tugged Annabeth around some more jellyfish. Ooh, stingray. Then back down lower so the waves wouldn’t push at us.

“That’s really cool! I wish I’d known about that. What about the days of the week?”

“Manisima, Ponisima, Parupma, Tatovma, Veroma, Oatima, Himnema,” I recited promptly.

“You really do know it well,” she murmured. “That sounds really interesting.”

“It took awhile to memorize them all,” I laughed. “Kept mixing up Ponisima and Parupma.”

“I can imagine,” Annabeth laughed. “It took me years to figure out how to spell Wednesday, sometimes I still need to double check.”

“Ugh, I feel that. I’m so glad Halmaheran has it’s own alphabet that’s a thousand times easier to read.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely- ooh, what animal is that?”

I smiled and resumed tour guide for Annabeth.

OO OO OO OO

I dried us off with a flick of my wrist, then turned to Belle.

“Havua rao ert haumu,” I murmured.

Belle knickered.

“Helped Prince, Stay Safe, Tell Prince, Do Well.”

“I will, havu.”

Belle’s tail flicked up, a spray of water flashing rainbows as she dove under water.

A shimmery rainbow streaked from the harbor, until she was out of sight.

“Guess we need to wait for our ride,” I said turning to them.

“I believe I’ve found it,” Martha hissed.

Me and Annabeth followed her gaze to see our ride.

“And hurry up with the stocking up supplies!” shouted a familiar voice from the deck. “We’ve got a lot of water to travel through.”

There, standing on an old fashioned steam boat, was Clarisse.

OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

“Belle,” I called as she flipped to a stop in front of me. “Where were you?”

“Little Prince, Foal, On Quest, Need Aid.”

“What- do you mean Persi is on a quest?” I hissed. “AGAIN!?”

Belle nodded, impressions of Percy, pride, skill, determination, protection.

“What hirir areto dared to send sa’tan marai soha tatu on a quest?”

“Camp, Protect, Help, Important.”

I let out a slow breath and turned to one of the three apprentice messengers standing there.

“You,” I snapped, pointing at the young mermaid.

She straightened, “Yes, Triton-re’aia?”

“Go and inform Antonio-oro that his team is needed again. It seems Persi is in need of some help.”

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of their traveling? The Halmaheran words added? Triton's reaction?

Halmaheran
Ninap Eotem=Blue Crabs
Pauru Eotem=Shield Crabs (Horseshoe crabs)
Wasare Temati=Sea Turtle (direct translation)
Wa'mati=Sea Turtle (Halmaheran word)
Hamima=Jellyfish
Moare=Ocean
Wasare=Sea
Pavu=water
Iratan=underwater
Manurovu=sunlight on the water
Tetotepa=rain hitting the water
Teverte=the sense of an oncoming storm
Wamuvere=The sea before a storm
Warovere=The sea during a storm
Wativere=The sea after a storm
Tav tal yame turo ert moare armiri=We've reached the ocean proper
Motura=Lightning stikes the ocean
Marame=Dolphin
Piviua=toxic water
Puhipata=Oil spill water
Mairoi=clean water
Havua rao ert haumu=Thank you (very much) for the ride
Havu=thank you
Hirir areto=ugly fucker
Sa’tan marai soha tatu=my precious little brother

Suffixes
re'aia=High Prince
oro=Teacher

Terminology
If anyone has the desperate desire to know how fish move so fast... I do know but I don't think you'd appreciate the biology lecture in the notes here so feel free to ask in the comments lol.
All the animals mentioned that they saw are ones that have been noted to be in the Harbor.
Untrained or inexperienced free divers can reach a rough max depth of 20 feet, a trained one can go as deep as 40 feet.
Pontimav=the 1st month of the sea calendar, from the word "Ponisi" for Moon. It is the start of the year and thus the Moon Month.
Thalamav=the 2nd month of the sea calendar, from the name of the Primordial of the Sea, Thalassa, it is a month named in her honor
Wasumav= the 3rd month of the sea calendar, from the word "Wasuo" for Calm Season. It is the start of the Calm Season.
Okeamav= the 4th month of the sea calendar, from the name of the Titan of the Ocean, Okeanus, it is a month named in his honor
Poseimav= the 5th month of the sea calendar, from the name of the God of the Sea, Poseidon, it is a month named in his honor
Vermav= the 6th month of the sea calendar, from the the word "Veruo" for Storm Season. It is the start of the Storm Season.
Tematimav= the 7th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Temati" for Turtle. It is when the turtle migrations are at their peak.
Kalmav= the 8th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Kalala" for Tempest. It is the month when the storms are commonly at their peak.
Mairomav= the 9th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Mairoi" for Clean or Clean Water. It was once a month where the purifiers would step out and cleanse the sea of pollution, but pollution is too great for that now. The month.
Retamav= the 10th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Retafeti" for Soul or Spirit. It is the month when the Day of Passing occurs.
Amramav= the 1th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Amrama" for Kraken. It was named in honor of the Great Kraken who ended a war long ago.
Pohumav= the 12th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Pohur" for Night. It is the month where the icy season begins and the Night grows very long..
Hopumav= the 1th month of the sea calendar, from the word "Hopuo" for Last. It is the final month of the year.
Ponisima= the 1stday of the week (equivalent to Monday), from the word "Ponisi" for Moon. It is the start of the week and is named for the moon rise symbolizing the first rise of the week.
Parupma= the 2nd day of the week (equivalent to Tuesday), from the word "Parup" for Talk. It is the day when much communication was traditionally done.
Tatovma= the 3rd day of the week (equivalent to Wednesday), from the word "Tatov" for Whale. It is the center of the week and the day to get past for the rest of the week.
Veroma= the 4th day of the week (equivalent to the Thursday), from the word "Vero" for Strom. It is the day when the week is nearly over and the storm of activity to finish work occurs.
Oatima= the 5th day of the week (equivalent to Friday), from the word "Oati" for Happy. It is the end of the traditional work week, a happy day.
Himnema= the 6th day of the week (equivalent to Saturday), from the word "Himne" for Song. It is the day when most festivals occur, and songs sung.
Manisima= the 7th day of the week (equivalent to land Sunday), from the word "Manisi" for Sun. It is the end of the week, and is named for the sun rise symbolizing the last moon fall of the week.
Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 27: There Once Was A Ship That Put To Sea

Summary:

And they meet up!

Notes:

WARNING
There are references to Confederates in this chapter. There is racism, because they are Confederates.

We don't like the shippers, but alas, they're the only ride they have. Don't worry, they won't live to see the end of the quest.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

The docks were busy.

A forklift passed by, beeping constantly. Dozens more scattered the docks, most in use.

Ropes lay in coils all over the docks, chains with them, and there were all kind of sea faring tools I didn’t know with them.

It was a riot of color, flags and containers and every ship imaginable docked before us. The air was filled with salt and water and spices and fuel. My skin sparked, and I knew there was magic here. Blood chased my tongue as I curled a hand around Annabeth’s wrist.

We needed to reach Clarisse, but the water was filled with ships, small and large, and we couldn’t get to her safely. Nevermind try to climb the dock where she was. We needed to go around.

Around and through the docks, filled with every kind of person imaginable. Workers crawled through the boxes and boxes filling the port, moving them, lifting them, pushing them, checking them.

Shouts filled my ears, every language under the sun. Words I knew and words I didn’t shouting to get their points across, accents melodic, rough, sharp, and soothing.

Boats of every make and model blocked our sight, hiding Clarisse from us. A forklift passed by, adding beeping to the cacophony of moving ships and shouts. A worker’s eyes landed on us and they frowned.

“We need to move,” Annabeth hissed, tugging me by the hand holding her wrist.

Martha hissed agreement and Tyson took my other hand.

Warmth danced over my skin, paper crinkled, I let Annabeth lead the way.

I should’ve been a guide, this was a sea based domain, but the docks were a chaotic mess and I couldn’t begin to imagine what to do, where to go.

Money changed hands, people argued with workers in uniform, a line to get onto a cruise ship stood on a velvet carpet.

It was loud, it was

Someone waved a sign around, others seemed to be chanting. A police officer was arguing with them.

Annabeth guided us far around that, ducking behind some large metal shipping containers.

“Hang on a second,” she told me, slipping her hand from mine.

I watched her scurry up the side of the container like a monkey, disappearing from sight.

I tried to track it, searching for that touch of herb filled olive oil and crinkling pages, but she was too far for my senses to find.

Just being a few steps away was too far, so it wasn’t too surprising.

I wondered if the enhanced senses would remain or if they would fade once more as time passed. Did it matter that I hadn’t exercised sensing presence’s much? Was it just that everything felt more since I hadn’t felt it for a year?

I wasn’t sure. I would have to ask someone when I had the chance.

I wondered if Tethys-ran would tell me.

Annabeth dropped down next to us, falling all the way to a crouch before she rose.

“Clarisse’s ship is that way—” she pointed past the shipping containers “—and they seem to be nearly done refueling so we’ll need to hurry.”

“Lead the way,” I said with a half bow and a sweep of my arm.

She snorted, “Dork, follow me.”

Tyson trotted behind us, staring around wide eyed. He must’ve been rather confused by it all, I felt bad for ignoring him.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it,” I asked him.

“So many boats,” he agreed. “Where do they go?”

“All over. Some are for fun, like the cruise ship we saw. Others ship things to different states or countries. Others probably do things I don’t know about.”

“Wow,” he mumbled. “What about our ship?”

“Clarisse’s will be transporting us to the Sea of Monsters.”

Tyson nodded, looking down.

“Thank you for bringing me. I have not helped much.”

I nudged his arm, “Don’t be silly. You helped us escape the cruise ship. And you found us donuts.”

“I did find donuts.”

“They were good donuts too,” I grinned at him.

“Thank you, brother. You’re a good brother.”

I melted, smiling as brightly as I could at him, “Of course! You’re a good brother too, Tyson. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

He smiled at me, his one eye big and soft.

My thoughts drifted to what Annabeth told me about the Kyklopes she faced.

Poseidon was his Metua too.

Poseidon always protected, or avenged, his children.

Would he have avenged me if something had happened? Did he always do so? Or only when asked?

I knew there were myths where he hadn’t acted. Did he only act to those that called upon him to do so?

If I asked him to avenge a wrong committed against me, would he?

What would he do if asked by his children?

What did he do?

I stared at Annabeth’s back. He must’ve done something to her, to Thalia and Luke and Grover.

A Kyklopes took them prisoner and they must’ve fought back… and the Kyklopes asked Poseidon, my Metua, to avenge him.

I wondered if Poseidon cared why his child was asking for vengeance, what his child had done to get hurt so.

Would he care?

I was almost afraid to find out.

That was a dangerous power to hold, the ability to call to your divine Metua for aid, for revenge, and to receive it.

I knew such a thing happened in the myths but somehow didn’t connect it to the now.

“What are you thinking?” I blinked down at Martha.

I wondered if Martha could give me an insight.

“You said the Gods would aid their children…”

“Of courssse. They alwaysss sssseek to help their children.”

“What has my Metua done for his?”

Martha swayed.

“No more or lesss than Apollo or Aressss. No more than Lord Hermesss would sssseeek to do. All the Godssss would go to extremesss for their children, and often, though not alwaysss, are willing to ignore their childrenssss crimessss in the proccccessss.”

“So… if I got hurt while hurting others and asked him to avenge me…”

Martha swayed up, looking at me. I wasn’t sure what her look meant, but it seemed thoughtful.

“He likely would do sssso. The Godsssss will not handle your problemssss for you. You would never learn if you did not live your own life… but they will sssstep in, will avenge, will offer aid. But to call for your Metua would mean to live with the conssssequences of ssssuch a decccisssion. Are you willing to?”

I shook my head, “It’s just a hypothetical… I don’t- I don’t think I would want that. I-“

I frowned. I wasn’t sure what I wanted Poseidon to do if I was hurt like that. Did I want him to avenge me? Did I want him to sweep in and destroy my enemies?

I caught a glimpse of Annabeth looking at me.

I sighed, “I was just wondering… I didn’t quite realize it was… still a thing? I mean I knew it happened in the myths but… I guess sometimes I forget how much of them is true.”

Martha hissed a laugh, “Oh much of the mythssss isssn’t quite right. But much reflectssss truth. The Godsss defend theirssss fierccccely. Your Father would drown the world for hisss family.”

I could understand that.

I supposed that was why he was my Metua.

And yet despite that…

“I wouldn’t want him to,” I decided. “I would want him to make sure my friends are safe from whatever hurt me.”

Annabeth looked away, Martha hissed.

“An honorable desssire.”

I stewed in my thoughts as Annabeth guided us around shipping containers and past workers. Tyson was looking thoughtful as well.

Knowing your Metua would curse someone to wander the sea for ten years for harming their kid is one thing… hearing he would do the same for you-

I’d barely spoken with him despite being in the sea more often. Triton said the laws were being stretched as it was by allowing me around him so much…

I wondered why the laws were in place, what did Phoibe mean when she spoke of them?

I would ask Triton. He would know.

And he would probably tell me.

I let out a breath, wrinkling my nose at the bloody taste.

But before any of that, we had a quest to finish and a camp to save.

“Clarisse!”

I yelped and tumbled over, Annabeth snickered.

“Sorry,” she laughed. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

I blinked up at her, then saw the ship behind her.

We’d reached Clarisse.

Annabeth turned back to the ship, “Clarisse! HELLO!?”

A head popped over the side, blinking down at us as Tyson helped me to my feet.

“CHASE? JACKSON? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?”

“MR. D SENT US!”

“EH! WHY!?”

“TO HELP!”

“BUT WHY YOU!?”

Annabaeth sighed, “CAN WE COME UP THERE!?”

“WHY?”

“TO TALK!”

Clarisse disappeared from view for a moment, then returned.

“BOARDING IS OVER THERE—” she pointed to the side where a boarding ramp was attached to the boat.

“THANKS!”

Annabeth led the way; Tyson and I close behind.

Being on the ship was so much worse. The blood filled my senses, despite me grabbing Annabeth’s hand for the herb filled olive oil to cut the taste some. A knife trailed lightly over my skin, not stabbing or poking, just undeniably present. A familiar burning shadow crept over the rest of my skin, offset only by the cool scales coating it.

“Welcome aboard,” Clarisse declared, sweeping her arms out in a grand motion. “What do you think of my ship?”

Despite the fact it was clearly a steam boat, with a smoke stack and everything, it looked a lot more like what I imagined a pirate ship would look like than I expected.

It was wooden for one, though the floor appeared reinforced with steel plates in certain locations.

There were three tall masts as well, one at the front, one a bit farther back than center, and one in the back. Each held several sails rolled tight, three meant to be perpendicular to the ship and one parallel on the front mast, two perpendicular and one parallel on the middle mast, and one parallel on the back mast. There was a mass of ropes crisscrossing every which way and my head hurt trying to follow them all.

Other than the masts there was some sort of fan sitting right in front of the canon placed before the smoke stack, which had many pipes connected to it. Then several hatches I could see, along with more canons. Four life boats hung on the sides of the ship.

Then a flash of red caught my eye and I stared at the flag waving from the back mast.

“Why does your ship have a confederate flag?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.

Annabeth turned look, doing a double take, “Uh… yeah why-“

Clarisse grimaced, “I can’t get them to take it down. They were confederate soldiers and refuse to remove the flag, I’m half worried they’ll stage a mutiny if I take it down myself and I really can’t make it to the sea without them.”

I considered it for a long moment, “We could burn it when we reach the sea?”

“That,” she declared, “is the best idea you’ve ever had. Just don’t let them hear you say that.”

Annabeth huffed, “I don’t like the ship.”

“Fair,” Clarisse said, shooting a dark look at the flag, “but it’s all I’ve got so I gotta deal. It was a gift from my dad to help me with the quest.”

She had a proud look at that, and I felt for her.

“Your dad gave you a ship?”

“He rules over war, win or lose you owe an aspect of your war to him. As they lost, he cashes that in. I think this ship was a different one before, but he reformed it the same way as the old.”

“I think I recognize it,” Annabeth frowned. “What’s it called?”

“The CSS Birmingham!”

Annabeth hummed, “Not sure, I’ll think on it.”

“Right, well… anyways,” Clarisse placed her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed on us. “How’d you get here? And why did Mr. D send you. He told me he was sending someone but-“

“We got here by swimming,” I said. “And he said he thought we’d be helpful.”

“I know the myths better than anyone at camp,” Annabeth confirmed. “And Percy is the son of Poseidon.”

“And Tyson is really strong,” I chimed in. “He’s a big help too.”

“Right, well, I guess you might be some help,” she turned to yell at one of the ghostly workers I’d been very purposefully ignoring.

“HEY! YOU’D BETTER HAVE GOTTEN THE-“ she stopped and slowly turned to us. “What do you mean you swam?”

I snorted, and Annabeth broke into giggles.

“We swam!” Tyson chirped. “Well, I rode Rainbow. Percy swam Annabeth.”

Clarisse stared for a long moment, Annabeth and I snickered.

“Forget I asked. We’re heading out soon. I’ll get one of the crew to show you where to sleep.”

OO OO OO OO

We were sleeping on the crew deck, where normally the crew would also sleep but since these were undead they didn’t need sleep.

I leaned away from the burn that trailed over my skin whenever I got near one of them.

Annabeth was double checking there weren’t any more hidden pockets in our bags. Tyson had pulled out his tools to fiddle with them. I sat in the hammock, relaxing with the sway of the boat.

We were out to sea once more, though something about the boat rubbed my senses wrong.

There weren’t any new sensations, nothing that I needed to react to… but something was off.

Maybe it was just that it was a confederate ship.

I didn’t think that was it, but I didn’t know what it could be.

I sighed, closing my eyes and slowly unwinding.

Maybe I was just tense, the quest had been hard so far.

“Percy,” Annabeth whispered.

“Hmm?”

“You’re awake?” she huffed. “Sorry, I thought you’d fallen asleep.”

I yawned, “No, m’awake. What is it?”

“Nothing,” she assured quickly. “You can sleep if you need to. I’m going to go check how long Clarisse thinks the trip will be and talk about when we should plan what to do and our route and stuff.”

I waved a hand, barely having the energy to lift it, and then dropped it once more.

The faint clicking and clattering of Tyson working was a soothing background noise.

The hammock rocked slowly, the sea beneath me cradling the boat. The bloody taste and trailing knife weren’t too bad, not super strong, though still there and a distraction. The burning cold was less when away from the crew.

I breathed out and let the sea beneath me sooth me until my body was heavy and distant.

I slipped asleep to the sound of Tyson working.

OO OO OO OO

Beneath me, in the depths, was a war council.

I couldn’t imagine it being anything else, not with so many looking ready for battle. Several sea Gods I recognized from my lessons. Several I didn’t. Spirits, naiads, and terrors alike drifted around the room, all armed.

Okeanus-ari floated before other sea spirits.

“You have all heard the news, now you must make your decision.”

“To fight or to not?”

“If you wish to fight, then for whom. If you do not, then what will you do? Neutrality? War? What current will you pick to swim or die in?”

I drifted around the room, confused. What war?

“This is coming from you?” wondered one. “The Aril of Neutrality?”

Okeanus-ari shot them an unamused look.

“I stand neutral in all wars to protect my subjects and to prevent unneeded death. But can we truly remain neutral? You have seen the state of the world today. Is that not a direct result of us standing neutral in the wars now past? There are lives on the line once more, a war is coming. Will you pick a side or remain neutral?”

“And you?” Asked a new voice. “Have you picked a side?”

Okeanus-ari pursed his lips, “I have.”

“We weighed our decision carefully,” Tethys-ran declared. “It was not done lightly. But we must do what we believe best, for our people and the sea at large. No matter the sacrifice we must make to do so.”

What war? Do they mean-

My breath caught.

Were they getting involved in the conflict with Metani and the Titans?

“And what side have you chosen?” asked one. “Who will you support in this war?”

Okeanus-ari raised his chin, “I would not influence your decision, and yet I am aware what I have chosen will affect the choices you make.”

Tethys-ran touched his arm, her eyes gentle.

“We have chosen to support-“

The room swept from me as a current sent me tumbling, bubbles streamed past, glinting with reefs and fish and endless light and dark.

“Spying on others is oh so rude,” chided a silky voice.

I spun, finding a Goddess drifting before me. She could be nothing but a Goddess. It reminded me of Phoibe, with shining skin and dark hair dusted with constellations. Her eyes pools of deep water one could get lost in. The water around her was strong, and so was her presence.

Strong, guided, coils of water swept over me.

“It was not my intention,” I said warily, twisting my hand in a motion of greeting. “Muru.”

She smiled, “You are forgiven, by me at least. Why do you watch their war council?”

“I was sleeping. I don’t have much control over where the current takes me then.”

She nodded, “The power of the sea is mysterious, I presume then that it sought to give you knowledge. Alas, the meeting is well past the stage it was then and would offer no guidance to you now.”

I flicked my finger, annoyance curling though I hid it.

“Well then, I would like to return to my sleep.”

“So soon, it has been some time since I had a conversation with a drifter. Would you not stay and talk? I would offer you a meal?”

I didn’t know who she was, but she held great power. And she had pulled me from the war council.

“I suppose a conversation wouldn’t hurt,” I conceded carefully.

“Wonderful,” she declared with a grand smile. “And what might be your name, current drifter?”

“Percy,” I said.

Recognition flashed, “Ah, the youngest of Poseidon? I must apologize, I wasn’t there at your introduction. I am Eurybia, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

My eyes widened. Eurybia, the Titaness of the Sea’s Power and it’s Mastery.

“It is a pleasure to meet you too,” I said quickly. “Though I am unsure what conversation I could offer you.”

“I’m sure we’ll find something,” she laughed as the water twisted around us.

With a splash and surge of foam and mist we were elsewhere.

Coral climbed high, their arrangement strangely familiar. The ground beneath us was soft sand filled with shells and pearls. Soft seats drifted in the water around us, woven of kelp and soft with sea grasses.

A pelt of some animal was hanging from a hook, the fur a soft white and more elegant than anything I had seen before. It seemed to be a cloak of some nature.

“This is my sanctuary,” she said. “You may recognize the ceiling by the constellations shining through them.”

Understanding dawned on me. The coral openings were arranged like constellations. Wasn’t her husband a constellation God?

“It’s lovely,” I said honestly.

It was. The water was shallow here, oddly so, and the sun shown through the coral above us, shining like a thousand stars.

It was peaceful.

“Please, sit. What would you like to drink?”

“Tea?” I asked with all the grace Euphemia had taught me.

A taipanu shimmered before me, already filled with tea.

I sucked on it, the tea was delicious.

“Now, a subject of conversation, hmm? Perhaps we may speak of the war meeting you viewed.”

“I didn’t see much,” I rushed to assure her.

“Oh, I’m well aware. Okeanus-ari requested I ensure none could interrupt.”

I flushed, “Muru.”

She laughed, “No need to apologize little drifter, you have yet to learn to guide the currents. The skill will come in time, with experience. For now, I would hold you to here, so the currents do not sweep you away.”

“Havu,” I murmured, mind drifting back to the war council. “What is the war council about? What war? What side is Okeanus-ari taking—”

“So many questions,” she chided gently. “The war is the one to come, you are already a player in it despite your youth. Many would wish you removed from the storm coming.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“There is always a choice, it is simply a matter of one accepting the consequences of the decision made. The war council is about making a choice, as individuals.”

“Why are you not participating?”

“I have already made my choice,” she murmured. “A choice I grieve, a choice I stand by.”

I tilted my head, “What was your choice?”

“My husband. I have missed him dearly and I wish to have him by my side once more.”

I couldn’t remember who her husband was. I didn’t dare admit that though.

“I’m sure it must’ve been hard to be separate.”

“It is,” she murmured. “But he will be home soon. Have you chosen your side in the war?”

I considered for a moment.

I still wasn’t sure with Metani, what I thought of his goals or actions. I didn’t know which side I agreed with.

The Gods were certainly kinder than some claimed, I’d seen that kindness clearly on this quest.

And, of course…

“I’ll side with Triton,” I said softly. “I could never betray him.”

“A noble decision,” she agreed. “To stand by your family is commendable. It is always a tragedy when family fights.”

I nodded.

“I do not look forward to the war to come, but alas… it is needed. The world is suffering and it needs new aid, a new perspective.”

“The Gods can’t fix everything,” I frowned as I thought of Martha’s words from the day. “Mortals would never learn if they handled all our problems for us.”

“You speak the truth,” she agreed. “Else I would interfere now and cleanse the sea of all pollution. Alas, mortals have failed to learn. There are many who seek to aid nature, but those in power do not. Something must be done.”

“You could always offer aid to the mortals,” I offered.

“We could,” she agreed. “And often we do. But it has not been enough. Something more must be done before the damage is irreparable…”

I shifted, my gut twisting. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“Ah, I apologize. It is not right for me to hold such a debate with you, child. It is a dark thought, a fear that you should not be burdened with. Let us speak of another thing, perhaps you dreams? Do you dream of elsewhere often?”

“Often enough, but a lot of the time it’s things I don’t understand.”

“Such is the nature of divining the truth.”

“Divining?”

“That is what you are doing. Dream Divining, Tairo.”

“I thought it was… Hee-oh-eye-pie-hah-eye-hoe?”

“Hioipihaiho,” she corrected. “And that is a specific kind of Tairo, the kind you are doing right now.”

“Oh… I didn’t realize it was a form of divining.”

“It is a common gift of demigods to my knowledge, and those of the sea commonly have a stronger gift than most demigods.”

I nodded slowly, “That makes sense, I suppose… why though?”

She laughed, “The dreams for most demigods are of the mist’s whispers, but those of the sea follow it’s currents. The Mist may hold much knowledge, but it is whispy and hard to catch. The knowledge is rarely shared, and you must be quick to see what is shown. In the ocean the currents are ever moving, the knowledge shared freely and widely. It is easy to find new knowledge.”

“Oh, that… does make sense.”

“I am glad, as it appears our time is up.”

I blinked, “What?”

“Your current strives to bring you to your slumber once more, and so I will release you. Safe travels, Persi Yakson.”

With a swirl of currents and a bubbling of power I was swept away once more.

I woke up.

OO OO OO OO

“So, we’ll arrive at the sea of monsters on the thirteenth.”

“That’s three days,” I muttered. “Will we be traveling on this ship the whole time?”

Annabeth nodded, “It seems so. Tyson mentioned that a steam boat of this make shouldn’t be going so fast in the waters. Clarisse wanted to push it down to two days but he argued her to three.”

“Tyson argued with her?”

Annabeth nodded, “Started talking about the engine and stuff. I didn’t understand much of it, I’m adding boats to my list of things to research.”

“That sounds useful,” I mused. “Maybe I could ask Khrysaôr—well… Triton probably wouldn’t be happy with that.”

“I mean if you can learn something from someone might as well ask?”

I perked up, “That’s true.”

Khrysaôr did talk about his ship a lot. It was one of the few things I knew about him.

He didn’t like Triton. He didn’t want tails. And he loved his ship.

Maybe he’d teach me something if I asked nicely.

“Well, guess we’d better get comfortable for the ride,” I said. “And maybe we can learn a bit here too.”

She nodded, “I’ll definitely be taking notes. At least we have time to read our books.”

“Yeah,” I stretched. “At least there’s that.”

OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

Antonio-oro and his three students floated before me, bags packed and ready to go.

“Do you understand your mission?” I asked.

“Find Persi-aia, make sure he gets through the quest safely.”

“I have searched them out, but they are currently residing on something under another God’s rule, and it makes it difficult to pinpoint them.”

Kai nodded, “Then we’ll just need to track the Godly boat they’re on. Those leave marks, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Be warned that with Persi on the boat it will hold more sea than expected.”

The three shared a look before turning back to me with their hands twisted in a sign of respect.

“We won’t fail you, Triton-re’aia.”

Antonio mimicked them behind them, “We will find Persi-aia and ensure his safety.”

I nodded, “The ship is heading South, along the coast. Your best bet may be to move ahead of the boat and try to find it at a port down south.

“Florida?”

“A good starting place,” I agreed.  “Beware the Wasare av Tetek, it is near Florida and you would be wise to avoid it. That is not ours to rule over.”

They nodded, determination shining in their eyes.

They would protect Percy, I had faith in them.

“Now go.”

OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

I rubbed my hand over my face as I studied the reports.

Something was going on with the various Sea Gods.

Okeanus was holding meetings.

Duberdicus was holing himself up.

Eurybia was hiding something from our sight.

Keto had started experimenting with new children.

And many more were coming out or hiding away.

They were preparations.

Preparations for what could only be war.

What war was the question.

Was it related to my son’s quest last year? Was it related to his mention of… of my Father rising once more?

I shivered at the thought of Kronos.

I didn’t know what was coming and my spies were being blocked quite well.

I needed more information. If this war had anything to do with Persi or his quest from last summer-

I rubbed my face. Was he safe? It was summer for him now, so he must’ve already arrived at camp. I wished I could’ve seen him more before he went.

I let my gaze fall upon the camp, searching out my son amongst the campers, and frowned.

The camp… the lightning wind that imbued the barrier was weak, flickering. The barrier itself was thin and cracking in places.

What-

I zeroed in, sweeping my gaze over the campers.

Tense. Afraid. Armed.

Something was going on.

But Persi… wasn’t there.

I scowled.

Where was Persi?

 

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Percy is obviously POC in this story, there've been some references to his lineage prior though his exact family line hasn't been talked about yet. It will be at some point in the future. Thus... the confederates aren't the best with him...

What do you think of Clarisse? Percy's dreams? Poseidon's reactions? What do you think of the war preparations?

Halmaheran
Metua=Father
Aril=King
Metani=Grandfather
Muru=Sorry
Taipanu=sponge cup
Havu=Thank you
Tairo=Dream Divining (general)
Hioipihaiho=Dream Swimming (present)
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Terror

Suffixes
-ari=old king
-ran=old queen
-oro=teacher
-aia=prince
-re'aia=high prince

Terminology
Eurybia=Titaness of the Sea's Power and Mastery, wife of Krios
The pelt mentioned would be her opening courtship gift from Krios, kept and treasured even now.
Duberdicus=God of the ocean in Lusitanian mythology
Keto=Goddess of the Dangers of the Sea (and sea monsters)

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 28: Please Listen to an Expert

Summary:

Poor various experts on the boat, they aren't being listened to

Notes:

I have returned! I am in the midst of final exam crunch time and have another two exams tomorrow and the next day, and had several the last few days, and two final projects, and two essays, but I finally had some time to write (and ignored an essay, an exam, and a project to do so alkdsjf, guess what I'm spending the next few hours doing?).

Oh, I'm also sick... yay.

Hope you enjoy the chapter! They've finally reached the sea :D

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

The confederates were… something.

They were perfectly polite to Annabeth, especially when she mentioned being from Virginia, but they… didn’t like me very much.

Annabeth got in a shouting match with one when he said some… less than flattering things to me.

Clarisse ordered all of them to treat us with respect or they’d join the one who went off the side of the boat.

He was not retrieved.

I wasn’t very upset about that.

Suffice to say I spent most of the time studiously ignoring the looks while staring out at the water.

Annabeth had decided she did not want to learn from these sailors and was instead going to buy books on ship engineering, ship manning, and all other manner of ship handling.

She promised to summarize them for me, so I could learn it too.

Tyson was upset that they weren’t nice. He liked the boat and wanted to learn about it but didn’t want to be around the people being mean to me.

Tyson tried to explain to the captain that it wasn’t very nice to be mean to people for something like their appearance, but the captain wasn’t very impressed.

Tyson had to pulled away ‘cause he’d burst into tears and tried to backhand the captain.

The captain avoided Tyson from then on.

Other than the people running the ship, it was a nice ride. We got to sleep in hammocks, ride the waves, see the stars relatively untouched by pollution, wave to various sea creatures, and relax.

I read my curse breaking book a lot. It was elaborating on the nature of curses and how to counter them when it has yet to be tied in.

The best time to break a curse is before it can be fully placed on someone, before the layers are laid or the threads twisted or tightened. The hardest one to prevent are ones with overwhelming power, but the rest were at their most delicate when one is placing them.

I ran my finger over the lines detailing methods to counter curses.

They were all different. From stabbing out your power to break the web, to sweeping a physical barrier in place, to threading your own power in a different way so the curse threads get caught, to pushing them away, there were all kinds of methods to do.

Even a beginner curse breaker could prevent someone from cursing them if they could catch it before it set. They just needed to keep an eye out and practice controlling their power.

Annabeth groaned, dropping onto her hammock.

“The soldiers are so… infuriating.”

I closed my book, peering at her.

“What did they do?”

She paused, glancing at me, then grimaced.

“It… just being nasty again. Clarisse is going over the maps right now so didn’t hear it.”

“They’re already dead,” I muttered. “They’ll die again soon and go back to torment, or whatever else it was they had.”

Annabeth nodded, huffing. “I wish we could’ve gotten on a boat with almost literally anything else. They’re so horrible, it makes me feel icky just being around them.”

I nodded again, opening my book again.

They were… a lot worse than anything I’d dealt with before. But literal slavers would do that I supposed.

At least the ride was almost over.

OO OO OO OO

The water was choppy.

I woke to the boat rocking in waves harsher than they should be.

I climbed up the stairs, pausing at the top to look around the boat.

There were all the workers wandering around, doing their jobs. Several shot me looks, but I ignored them.

The ocean was choppy.

I went to the edge of the boat, staring in confusion.

It wasn’t a storm, I knew it in my bones.

It was something… else…

I swept my gaze out, but all I could sense was the ocean below me. Salt water spray on my skin and a tinge of seaweed in my mouth.

The only thing around for miles was ocean.

I decided to see if Clarisse knew what was up. This was her boat, and her quest.

Picking my way across the ship was a bit difficult when I had to dodge literally everyone on the boat.

I debated just jumping off and coming back on where I wanted to be but decided that was probably overkill.

I finally reached the opening to the Captains Office and tugged it open, faltering at the sight below.

Ares stood there, speaking with Clarisse.

I hadn’t noticed with all the blood and knives already present that he’d arrived.

“-will succeed, have faith in yourself.”

“Right, I’ve got this…" she peered up at him with wide eyes. "Thank you…”

Ares sniffed and looked away, his cheeks reddened.

“You’re my kid, of course I’m making sure you do well. It's what parents are supposed to do. You’ll kick their asses and get the fleece and save the camp.”

She nodded, determination flaring in her eyes.

“I’ll succeed, I can do this. I'm gonna kick ass and take names.”

“That’s the spirit! Now get ready, you're less than an hour out."

I closed the hatch and sat next to it, waiting for them to finish.

It was really nice to see Clarisse getting support from her dad. He was kinda… Avipa Tahapo last time we met… so it was nice to know he wasn’t with his family.

The ship was filled with activity, like always. The workers checking ropes, cleaning the deck, talking. The scent of salt filled the air and the occasional spray wet the deck. I tilted my head back and breathed in.

There were eyes on me, the Confederates always seemed to keep an eye on me whenever I was around them, but I was used to getting looks. Usually for my hair, but my skin tone got looks too some places.

I could deal with it just fine.

Just needed to ignore them. Clarisse had made her stance very clear to them, none of them would try anything.

I wished mom was here, she was great at handling people. And she always made comfort food when stuff happened. I desperately wanted some Sayadieh right then, the fish was delicious, and mom did the best spice mix she learned from her mom’s cook book.

Maybe she’d make it when I went home, we didn’t have it often but I loved it.

The hatch was pushed open, Clarisse’s head popping up.

“Eh, Jackson?”

I waved, standing up as she clambered to the deck.

“Hey, Clarisse.”

“What do you want?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

“Uh,” I pointed to the water, “The water is acting strange, but there’s nothing around to cause it. I was wondering if you knew why?”

She blinked, then lead the way to the ships side.

“Huh… is that odd?”

“Well, it’s a lot rougher than it should be. And there’s no storm around, nor any creatures in the ocean that I can tell, though it can be hard to tell when the ocean is right here… I’m not great at identifying things yet.”

She nodded slowly, “Keep an eye out and let me know if you sense anything. We should be reaching the sea of monsters today.”

I checked the tides, it was nearly second tide.

“We’ll be going in through the Atufak Aipav?”

“The what?”

“The Atufak Aipav-“ I mentally went through the words. “The Crashing Rocks.”

Clarisse scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous, we’re going to destroy Kharibdys and go past her!”

I blinked, the waves rocking the boat.

What.

What.

I spun, “What!?”

“What?” Clarisse asked.

“You’re going- Kharybdis is-“ I gaped. “She’s older than Rome!”

“Most monsters are,” Clarisse dismissed.

“She’s one of the deadliest terrors around and only limited by the fact she can’t move!”

“We can destroy her,” Clarisse insisted. “This ship has a lot of fire power.”

I spluttered, “You- she- the ship- it- Are you insane?”

Clarisse scowled, “I have faith in the ship! You think my dad would give me something subpar?”

“No but- it doesn’t matter how strong the ship is!”

Clarisse raised an eyebrow and I quickly drew up all my knowledge from my tutoring.

“The canons won’t be able to go very deep with any force in the water,” I explained. “Things entering the water slow a lot very quickly because the surface tension and density of-“

“Are you trying to talk science?” Clarisse looked very exhausted all of a sudden.

I huffed, “I’m trying to explain that the canon won’t do much. There’s a reason undersea warfare happens undersea, and naval warfare happens on the water.”

Clarisse sighed, “Look, Prissy. I’ll handle shooting Kharybdis, you handle making sure it hits and the ship doesn’t crash, alright?”

I blinked, “I- you want me to- what?”

“Make sure the cannonballs hit Kharybdis.”

“But- but-“ I waved my hands. “You can’t-“

“Don’t worry,” Clarisse pat my shoulder. “This will work, I know what I’m doing.”

 “What will work?”

I glanced over at Annabeth who was gliding over.

“Clarisse wants to go past Kharybdis instead of the Atufak Aipav.”

“The what?”

I sighed, “The Crashing Rocks.”

Annabeth shook her head, blinked, then turned to Clarisse. “Why would you go by Kharybdis? Percy is here, he can guide the boat through the Crashing Rocks. That would be so much safer.”

Clarisse groaned, “Are you going to start up a science lecture on how I can’t shoot Kharybdis with cannonballs too?”

Annabeth gaped, “With- what- that won’t work!”

Clarisse let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Look, I’ve got a plan. You guys can help out or sit below deck while we destroy Kharybdis. The coordinates you gave us brought us here-”

I made a mental note to not trust the Grey Ones with coordinates.

“-so really it’s your own fault.”

Annabeth shot me a desperate look and I just shrugged helplessly.

“Clarisse-“

“Now then, let’s double check the engine to make sure that it’s in top shape then head off to face off with Kharbydis! This quest does have a time limit.”

She stomped off, mouth set in a firm line.

“We’re doomed,” Annabeth muttered.

“I don’t even know science,” I muttered.

Annabeth snorted, then burst into giggles. Her eyes sparkled as she grinned at me, the tension seeming to melt away.

I let the tension drain from my own shoulders.

The water was settling, the rough waves slowly stilling. Tension hung in the air and the sky was dashed with storm clouds.

But Annabeth was smiling, and Tyson was having fun working on the ship. Despite everything going on, for just that moment I felt at peace.

OO OO OO OO

“Well,” Annabeth squinted ahead. “That would be Skylla’s cliff.”

“Kharybdis isn’t doing anything,” Clarisse muttered. “That’s weird.”

“She sucks in water three times a day,” Annabeth reminded her. “So maybe we’re lucky.”

“Lucky,” I said slowly.

Talking felt weird, seaweed clinging to my mouth.

I’d come to realize that was not just normal sea taste. I’d felt it from an hour out, and now I could barely focus on anything else.

I didn’t think we were lucky.

“We should hurry,” I said, grimacing. I had to move my mouth so slowly to deal with the feel.

“You alright?” Annabeth whispered as Clarisse started shouting orders.

“Seaweed,” I muttered.

She shot me a confused look.

“What do you mean seaw-“

Water roared in my ears, seaweed curling over my skin. The stillness broke with a crash of waves. The ship roiled, the ocean surged, the deck went out from under us.

Annabeth screamed, tumbling over as I held onto a rope to keep my feet under me.

“What the fu-“

“Captain! The water is pulling at us!”

I turned my gaze to the ocean and my breath caught.

The waves crashed, the ocean roared, the water spun. Spray filled the air, a mist rising. Before us was the maw of Kharybdis, and it was dragging us in.

“Captain!”

“Fire you idiots!” She screamed.

The cannons, loaded and ready since before we reached Kharybdis, shook and-

BOOM

My ears rang, the cannons shuddered, smoke filled the air. Annabeth staggered to her feet beside me as the ship roiled beneath us.

“Percy!” She tugged my arm. “Percy hold the ship!”

Hold the ship? What was she-

She waved at the water.

“Stop Kharybdis!”

Stop Kharybdis- the terror was older than Rome! Older than many Gods! Even those of the sea were uncertain of how she came into being.

A terror, a naiad, the force of the whirlpool that held this strait.

I was supposed to stop that.

“The boat, Percy! Stop the boat from moving!”

Oh.

…

Yeah, I could do that.

Probably.

I furrowed my brows, stretching out my power and clinging to the water. If I could life it- so much- I needed to- twist- no it was tugging- pull- no I couldn’t pull enough-

The world narrowed to the seaweed in my mouth, the salt on my skin, and the ocean beneath me.

I swayed with the ship, letting the crashing waves call to me, calling to them in turn to spiral away, to pull from Kharybdis and guard our ship. I needed them, I needed their aid.

The whirlpool tugged, Kharybdis’ maw yawning before us, deep beneath the currents that sought to sweep us away, to devour us, to pull our bodies into it to feast.

I battled the maelstrom for some semblance of control of the waves. The ship shook, cannons boomed, smoke and sea-spray filled the air.

The water sang beneath me as I tugged, winding it into a ball around the hull of the ship and pulling us back and back and back. Away from the roiling currents and the hungry seaweed drenched presence before us.

The spiral roared, furious at us remaining out of it’s grasp. I snarled back, yanking at the currents and threading my presence through them. I held firm, spinning my own vortex around us that kept us away.

Metal balls hit the water, not going nearly deep enough, nearly far enough. They spun and spun into the whirlpool until they hit the bottom.

The creatures of the sea knew to avoid this spot, there was no life beyond the storm before us.

Pe

My hands shook, and my head ached, but the battle raged on. The maelstrom viciously fought to hold us, and I wrapped the ocean, my sword and shield, around us.

Just a little longer. I just needed to wait- just a little-

I shook, the ocean currents rebelling. Rocks scraped the waves, the waves lashed out, the currents tugged hard.

Not enough, I needed to hold on- we couldn’t- couldn’t fall-

My arms were shaking, my legs were shaking- oh no that was the ship.

Per

I wrapped the currents tighter, stronger, firmer, just hold on, just a little longer, you just need to-

The roaring of the waves, the song of the sea, the call of the currents, it all drowned all other noise out. All I could hear was the sea. All I could see was the ocean. All I could feel was the water.

I needed to pull- just a little bit more-

Percy

The ocean was hidden by spun gold and I blinked, swaying as my eyes focused on the storm clouds in front of me.

“Percy! Get down!”

Down- but the water- the currents- what-

Needle points dug into my back.

“PERCY!” Annabeth screamed.

My feet left the ship, my head spinning. The ocean roared, the water escaped my grasp, the boat careened forward.

I clawed my knife out, twisting in the grasp of what held me.

Rows of teeth clung to me. Grisly black dripping from her mouth. Her neck was coated with scales and seaweed and now, hung up high, I felt the itch of a curse and the dripping black death on my skin.

I stabbed my blade in her eye.

She shrieked like a puppy being tortured, writhing and throwing me as she yanked her head in.

I tumbled through the air, the sea singing beneath me.

The ship roiled beyond my reach, surging towards Kharybdis' maw.

The waves reached up.

I reached out.

I fell into darkness filled with bubbles.

OO OO OO OO

Klara POV

I leaned over Kai’s shoulder as he studied the map.

“So… where do we go?”

“Acantha,” Kai called. “Can you divine the ship from here?”

Acantha tugged her necklace off. A small, but dense, crystal hung from it. She carefully dangled it over the map and narrowed her eyes.

The currents seemed to shift, and the crystal drifted to the East.

“So… East?”

“Looks like it,” Kai muttered. “We’re getting… worryingly close to the Wasare av Tetek…”

“It’s okay,” Acantha assured him. “Persi-aia wouldn’t go there, that would be far too dangerous. He’s not foolish.”

Kai fingered the map, his gaze worried. I nudged his shoulder reassuringly.

“Antonio-fu’oro?” I called. “If he’s in the Wasare av Tetek will we be following him?”

Antonio’s tails swished slowly, a frown on his face.

“We must. Persi-aia’no safety is the top priority. We’ll have to be careful if he is in the Wasare av Tetek though. If the path leads there we will pause to regroup and gather supplies.”

Kai relaxed a bit and I smiled.

“He should be safe, right?" Acantha asked. "Okeanus-ari favors him.”

“Ert Aril av ert Horenu may favor him, but one should not forget that tensions have been rising as of late. His favor may protect Persi-aia, or we may lose Persi-aia to his grasp.”

They shared a confused look.

“The politics are not something you would normally need to deal with,” Antonio soothed and I frowned.

Persi-aia was Poseidon-re’ore’no child. He loved him dearly. Klara had heard the rumors of him sending on of Kyklopes children to Persi-aia to ensure his safety.

And Triton-re’aia clearly cared just as much for his little brother, he’d sent my team after all.

Was there a risk of Okeanus-ari trying to hold Persi-aia to force Poseidon-re’ore to do as he commanded?

I swallowed, we needed to find Persi-aia.

And soon.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of their fight with Kharybdis? Do you also smile in delight at the confederates painful second-end? Are you concerned for those on the boat? You should be :)

Some memes Lauren on my server made while I was ranting writing this chapter (links broken oops forgot about that, will fix soonish): X X

Okay but for real you guys would not believe the idiocy people claim- like completely unrelated to this chapter but I was double checking the sourcing for the Zeus giving the mixed drink to Kronos to make him throw up the other kids and like literally I cannot find a mythological source for this shit like- there is one source mentioning something of that nature but it's not that. It's a drug- so like- why- people cite your sources---
The sourcing is apparently carvings except I can't find this carving anywhere so if anyone finds it lmk.

And then on this chapter, you might note that I said Kharybdis had no known parent and that's cause she has several claimed parents... but the sources for them are either super vague (no named scholia on the Odyssey, just mentioned that there is one that they pull it from), or it's a Roman source commentary on the Aeneid. So basically... no proper sourcing and it took four hours for me to finally decide that the sources were bs and unless someone can give me the actual source (because I spent forever searching...) Kharybdis is most likely a natural born naiad of the whirlpool, or is a child of Keto (which has a bit of support even with those bs sources).

There's another hint to Percy's heritage in this chapter btw. I spent awhile figuring out his family tree... probably didn't need to go back 4+ thousand years but oh well.

Oh, and I did way too much research into how much you can shoot into the ocean and how it's affected, just ask the server that had to witness my pitiful attempts at physics (I may have done well in two physics classes but it's not cause I understand physics)

Ugh, I could spend forever ranting about the nonsense involved in all these claims on myths.

Halmaheran
Avipa Tahapo=gill-less jerk (consider it something like a very strong curse combined with a minor one, like fucking idiot)
Atufak Aipav=Crashing Rocks
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Terrors/Monsters
Ert Aril av ert Horenu= The King of the Deep

Suffixes
aia=prince
fu'oro=master-teacher (great teacher, one they are apprenticed to)
re'aia=High Prince
aia'no=Posessive form of Prince (saying it is Percy's)
ari=old king
re'ore=high King of now
re'ore=high King of now (posessive)

Terminology
Sayadieh=A fish with rice recipe in several cultures, notably traditional to Lebanon but not exclusively
Kharibdys=Phonetic spelling of Charybdis
Skylla=Phonetic spelling of Scylla
Maelstrom=A powerful whirlpool

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 29: Oh Gentle Ocean, Please Stop Giving Me Trauma

Summary:

They have entered the Wasare av Tetek

Notes:

*bows* I have returned, in the midst of finals week, to give a gift. I uh... apologize.

I did tell the discord there would be death this time.

TW:
-drowning
-major injury (non-graphic)

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

ANNABETH POV

Going on a quest was my life’s dream ever since Luke went on one.

Oh, Luke came back worse. He wasn’t happy, he was injured, he wasn’t the same… but his dad was proud.

I wanted that.

I knew my mom looked after me. She guided me to Thalia and Luke, she ensured I had food and water. She whispered guidance when I needed it the most. She gave me my cap of invisibility… but I wanted her to be proud of me.

Quests could do that, they could show the Gods that you weren’t just their kids, you were someone to be proud of. Your actions to honor them, your success and failure in their name. Whether you succeeded or failed, you trying, you giving your everything, it could get you praise. It could even give you a time with your parents, a time the Ancient Laws couldn’t interrupt.

My mom visited me in a dream after my first quest. It was short, but she told me I did well. She told me she was proud, proud that I survived, proud that I stopped a war, proud that I fought well, proud that I used my mind well.

And then there were the small things. The discounts on books I wanted, the cafeteria always having one left of my favorite food, the way my room was always the right temperature, the way my thread hadn't caught once in the last year. I knew she was proud, I knew she was rewarding me.

I was too young for my Fate she said, but I did well.

I wondered if my Fate was determined here. I wonder if she made sure to tell me she was proud after my first quest because of this.

Because I didn’t think I would be making it out of this quest alive.

I crashed into a pile of ropes, the ship roiling beneath my feet. Percy had been snatched up with Skylla and so had his control of the water. The ship was fighting against Kharybdis’ currents, but without Percy we were doomed.

I hadn’t managed to grab him.

He was going to die, and it was going to my fault for failing to take his hand in time.

Tears burned my eyes as I tried to push up, the ship crashing against the waves. I hated storms, I hated boats, I hated it all.

A storm was building above us, the sky darkening. Poseidon’s wrath falling upon us at last.

It was Thalia’s death all over again.

“Annabeth!”

I struggled to my feet once more, clinging to the ship’s mast.

“Annabeth,” Another voice hissed from my arm. “You must to get up.”

I nearly crashed into the mast as the boat surged up, crashing against the waves.

“Annabeth! We need to go!”

A hand grabbed my arm, yanking me along.

I looked around, Percy gone, Martha on my arm, Clarisse dragging me along-

We staggered into a cannon as the boat dropped beneath us.

“Where’s Tyson!?”

Clarisse scoffed, “Down below! We don’t have time to get him-“

My heart stopped, “No! We can’t leave him!”

She shoved me against the life boats, working on the release.

“You don’t even like him.”

Martha hissed, “You need to get on the boat-“

“He’s Percy’s brother,” I said fiercely. “Percy is- he’s-“

I couldn’t leave his brother behind. No matter what I felt about him- Percy would never have forgiven me if I left his brother to die.

“We have to go, or we’ll die!”

“Go without me,” I said, stepping away from the life boats.

The ship shuddered, and I almost went over the side.

Sea spray soaked my skin, the sky darkened further. I clutched the side and worked my way towards the hatch.

“Annabeth!” Clarisse sounded angry. “You can’t- it’s useless.”

Maybe so… but I’d failed to grab Percy, and he wouldn’t have left Tyson behind.

I muttered a prayer to my mom to let me get out of this safely and pushed away from the side of the boat.

The planks beneath me seemed to leap up, down, all around. The ship spun and bucked and twisted. The cannons shifted, the masts cracked, the ropes lashed out.

A loud cracking noise caught my attention just a moment too late.

“ANNABETH!”

My breath left me, tears sprang to my eyes, pain erupted in my chest. I hit the ocean with a crash, the mast that hit me hitting the water near me.

I gasped for breath, pain burning in my chest, and swallowed water.

I thrashed, grabbing for something, anything, to get above water again as the currents pulled me down.

The cold ached, my chest burned, my lungs rebelled.

I was going to drown.

I held my breath as long as I could, moving my arms, kicking my feet, struggling to swim through the water. Every movement sent spikes of pain through me. My limbs grew heavy, my chest burned with more than broken ribs.

Something wrapped around my wrist and yanked me up up up out of the water.

Shining scales glinted in the dim light as my vision went black.

OO OO OO OO

Percy POV

I woke to rain.

It pattered on my skin gently, the ocean beneath the small boat cradling its form. My skin ached though, a throb in my head and my skin too tight, too firm, not coiling and swooping like the sea beneath me.

“Morning,” croaked a familiar voice.

I lifted my head (skin too firm, too tight over my body) and blinked at Annabeth. My eyes (the light was so bright, the colors intense) widened.

“Are you okay!?”

Her chest was wrapped in white bandages and she held herself stiffly. Her arms were unbandaged and covered in small scrapes, bruises blooming over her skin.  

Martha was draped around her neck, closer to the size of a scarf than the bracelet she had been before. Her tongue flicked out at me.

“I’m okay,” Annabeth said, wincing as she shifted. “My ribs were broken but… Martha managed to help a bit.”

“I cannot heal you completely,” Martha agreed. “But I can sssspeed thingsss up. Ambrosssia would help assss well, if we had it.”

I relaxed a bit at that, letting my head drop down once more (ground solid but ocean soft).

“So, you’re mostly better?” I asked.

“It still hurts,” Annabeth murmured. “But… they’re no longer broken.”

“They ssssshall hurt for ssssome time,” Martha confirmed. “The bonessss are mossstly healed but weakened. Ssstill holding thin cracksss. And the bruisssesss remain.”

“How did you get hurt?” I asked. “Did something happen?”

Annabeth looked away, her lips twisting as she stared at the ocean around us.

“I-“

“How do you feel?” Martha asked before she could answer.

Annabeth jumped on that topic, “Yeah, are you- are you okay? I thought- well when Skylla-“ her voice hitched “-I didn’t think-“

“I’m okay,” I reassured them. “My head hurts and… my skin feels off but-“

Martha hissed and nodded but Annabeth frowned.

“What do you mean your skin feels off?”

“You exerted quite a bit of power,” Martha said solemnly. “It issss not uncommon for demigod children to feel wrong afterwardssss.”

“Oh,” Annabeth murmured. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Martha’s head rose up, studying us.

“Unlikely. He will need to recover on hisss own.”

I grumbled but nodded.

“So what about you?”

Annabeth went back to studying the water.

“Percy I-“ She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”

I blinked, “For what?”

“It- Tyson-“

Tyson! Where was he? Were there other boats? Was he on nearby land? 

I pushed up to check despite sensing no boats, maybe he was farther away and hadn’t seen me wake (too bright, too deep, skin too firm and soft and weak). There was nothing but water for miles around.

“Where’s Tyson?”

I twisted back to Annabeth, faltering at the sight of tears trickling down her cheeks as she shook slightly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice caught. “I tried to go back for him but-“

“The massst hit her,” Martha hissed softly. “Sssshe wassss knocked into the occcean.”

“I’m sorry,” Annabeth whispered, voice cracking. “I’m so sorry, Percy.”

I swallowed, “It- he could have escaped-“

“The boat wassss devoured,” Martha hissed, apology in her tone. “I watched it.”

“No- he-“

“He was in the steam room,” Annabeth blurted. “He was fixing the boat, trying to give it more power- and he- I went to get him- but the ship was shaking and the mast broke and, and-“ she swallowed, taking a shaky breath and lowering her head “-I tried to get him. I tried to get him I did. But I- I couldn’t- and- and-”

“I- He can’t-“

He couldn’t be gone.

“I’m sorry.”

My eyes burned.

He was just a kid Kyklopes- he was only on the quest to keep him safe.

I should’ve left him at camp.

He shouldn’t have- he shouldn’t have been here-

I scrubbed my eyes, ignoring the wetness.

He should’ve been building something cool. Should’ve been with Triton in Atlantis. He should’ve- should’ve- should’ve been anywhere else. Should’ve been safe.

Instead…

The rain grew stronger, water drenching us.

I covered my face with a choked sob.

Instead he was eaten by Kharybdis.

OO OO OO OO

Several hours passed and the rain stopped, leaving the air pleasantly cool. It was well past third tide and the sun was beginning to set.

When we finally spoke, it was about our supplies, and where they were. Martha assured us they weren’t eaten because she would know, but they’d been caught by a current, so I had to track them.

I was no good at tracking currents though, so I asked some fish if they saw some bright yellow bags.

None had returned with news yet.

My mind drifted to Tyson once more, my thoughts on Annabeth and him.

She was afraid of him, she didn’t like him, but she still got injured because she went back for him.

I knew part of the story but…

“Annabeth?”  I asked.

 “Yeah?”

Martha shifted from her place on my lap. Her head nudging my hand.

I opened my mouth, then faltered. I took a deep breath, rubbing Martha’s head.

“What happened with Thalia? Like… the full story.”

“Oh…”

I looked over, seeing Annabeth hunch in on herself, before hissing and straightening, rubbing her ribs.

“It…” she closed her eyes. “You have a right to know I guess.”

I tilted my head, watching her with a frown.

“If it’s too hard-“

“No. I-“ she took a deep breath. “It’s just… not a happy memory but… It’s an important one.”

I nodded, waiting patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

She rubbed her fingers, reaching up to touch her necklace, then nodded.

“I- I said we got caught by a Kyklopes?”

I nodded.

“He… well you saw Tyson, the Kyklopes can copy the voices of others they hear. He lead us in circles, crying out as each of us. Calling for help, mimicking the voices of other monsters. You would’ve thought it was filled with monsters with how much he did…”

I shivered, that sounded terrifying.

“Thalia was caught when he pretended to be me I think, maybe that was him pretending to be her but-“

She let out a shuddering breath.

“I was the last one. He caught the other three, maybe leaving me for last because I was the youngest. It-“

She rubbed her fingers, nails digging in.

“I found him in the kitchen, each of them strung up to cook. He didn’t turn around but- he said in Luke’s voice…”

Her gaze was far away, her fingers red. Her eyes were strangely glassy.

“He said?” I asked softly.

“He said ‘It’s okay Annie, the fire is warm. Just lay down and fall asleep. We’ll be together when you wake.’”

I swallowed.

“Oh…” the meaning of that… “What did… what did you do?”

“I moved forward, stopped right in front of him… and stabbed him in the foot.”

I snorted, “What?”

Her lips twitched but didn’t quite reach a smile.

“I stabbed him, then I cut Thalia, Luke, and Grover free and they managed to injure him and we fled.”

“Only injure?”

“Kyklopes… well they’re stronger than many monsters. There’s a reason they work in the forges. And well… they’re more dangerous than most monsters because you never know which is Poseidon’s kid.”

I nodded, remembering what she said before.

“He was my Metuano kid?”

She nodded.

“He… as we fled we heard him call a prayer to Poseidon. He asked for him to kill us for what we did to him or should that not be our Fate… to at least punish us.”

“And… my Metua did?”

“We were fine at first, but then… do you remember that storm? In 2007? It was early morning, before sunrise even.”

“I think I remember that. There was a lot of flooding, right? And I think my mom had to stay home that day cause the subway system was knocked out.”

Annabeth nodded.

“It hit right when we reached the city. We- it- well… we were almost to the camp. If the storm hadn’t hit- it knocked out all the public transport. The flooding made it unsafe- no taxis really wanted to drive in the rain- the wind was horrible…”

I started to understand.

“The storm came from the sea… Poseidon is the God of sea storms…”

Horror dawned.

“The storm slowed us enough for the other monsters chasing us to catch up. It- Thalia had trouble calling on her lightning during the storm and-“

Her eyes were glittering with unshed tears.

“The storm dissipated after about 2 hours… ending right after Thalia fell.”

I swallowed hard.

“I- I’m sorry.”

She rubbed her arms, “It’s not your fault. I just-“

Martha rose up and our gaze turned to her.

“It issss the unfortunate truth,” she hissed. “That for all the Godsss aid their Demigod children… they alssso aid their other children. While ssssome have a line that they will not cross in their aid… othersss will aid in all thingssss.”

Annabeth closed her eyes, “I know.”

“I am ssssorry for your losssss.”

“Annabeth-“ I didn’t know what to say.

What could I say? I’m sorry my dad helped his kid who tried to eat you? I wouldn’t do that? Tyson wouldn’t do that? I don’t want that to happen?

“So yeah,” she muttered. “That’s why… A Kyklopes killed my sister with his prayer. I- I just…”

“I understand,” I said softly. “That’s horrible.”

She blinked back tears, sniffing.

“Can I hug you?” I asked softly.

She nodded, I wrapped her in a hug. She pressed her head against me, her breath shuddering. I rubbed her back gently.

“My Prince!” a fish called. “My Prince! We have found the yellow bags!”

I pulled away, focusing on the fish.

“Where are they?”

“On an island ahead! It is not far! I will guide you!”

“What is?” Annabeth whispered.

“They found the bags.”

“That isss good,” Martha said. “Let’sss get them.”

Annabeth nodded, “Sooner we have proper supplies the better.”

“Then let’s go.”

OO OO OO OO

The island they went to seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t pin point why.

They walked onto the beach and looked around. Their bags weren’t on the beach like the fish said, but it insisted that the bags should be there.

I frowned, my skin still wrong. My body stiff, too tight, too firm, too soft. It made it hard to focus on anything else.

Annabeth was moving carefully, her ribs clearly still aching.

“It seems abandoned…”

They moved further in, searching for their bags.

Martha hissed, “I do not like thissss.”

“Percy,” Annabeth whispered. “Do you sense anything?”

I shook my head, “I don’t… my skin feels wrong still and it’s hard to focus.”

I rubbed my arms, it seemed like I got stiffer the further I was from the sea. I wondered if the water helped with the issues I was having.

The island was beautiful. Wildflowers grew all over. There were small peaks (mountains?) climbing high above us. Trees filled with fruits dotted the island.

I thought it seemed a bit like paradise.

It was only when Annabeth gasped, stepping back- It was only when Martha hissed in panic- It was only when I saw the figure in front of them that I understood.

Before them stood a figure of carved marble. A figure with long hair splayed out like they were moving. Arms raised to defend themselves. Sword on the ground next to them.

It was only when familiar hissing and stiffness locked my joints that it clicked.

“Hide!” Martha hissed.

The figure stepped out, hair raising and hissing just after they hid behind a clump of bushes.

And before them stood a figure with hands made of bronze.

Before them stood a woman with wings of gold arcing on her back.

Before them stood a woman with hair of hissing snakes.

Before them stood Medusa.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of Annabeth's POV? How about their discussion? Thoughts on the ending?

Halmaheran
Metuano=Father's
Metua=Father

Terminology
The storm mentioned by Annabeth did actually occur in 2007. It forced public transportation to a stop, and the subway was flooded. It is due to that storm that they've since improved the state of the public transportation, and it is why it survived the Hurricane that went through.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
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Chapter 30: Greek? Roman? What's next, Etruscan?

Summary:

:P

Notes:

I've gotten so little sleep in the last few days- night work is hell when you're also doing day work.

Anyways, you may notice the tags for my fic have been updated. Hope you enjoy the Chapter!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Medusa held a basket at her side, her dress a traditional chiton. Her face was too far to see, but the hands flashed bronze in the light and the gold wings were impossible to miss.

“That’s- that’s Medusa-“ Annabeth hissed. “But she looks- she looks different- we met Medusa, she didn’t have the appearance from Pseudo-Apollodorus like this one does-“

“Psuedo-Apollodorus?” I muttered.

“One of the ancient Greek myths,” She hissed. “But she- this one fits that description- the gold wings and bronze hands… and if she’s truly like that description then her face as a whole is deadly to look at. But she- we met Medusa and she’s not here-“

“Yeah,” I muttered. “She’s off to kill abusers.”

“How niccce,” Martha hissed, coiling tighter around my arm.

Annabeth opened her mouth, paused, shot me a look, then shook her head.

“I don’t understand… but we need to be careful…”

I swallowed, watching the woman casually pluck a few apples off a tree.

“Gotcha.”

“Yessss, ssstay hidden and essscape sssoon.”

She finished off an apple, lazily plucking each seed out and popping it into her mouth. She finished three apples than carefully placed the other three in a basket at her hip.

She placed the basket under a tree and stretched, twisting side to side then stretching her arms up high, then in front of her.

Her bronze hands gleamed in the light as she arched up, her gold wings stretching out. They flashed, feathers highlighted in the sun light. I winced at the light in my eyes.

And then she turned to look directly at the bushes we were hiding in.

“You think I can’t smell you?” she asked.

Despite the way her movements were filled with an easy grace, a lazy confidence, her voice was cold as ice.

“Come out, little Demigods.”

I flicked my waterskin’s lid off, sharing a look with Annabeth.

“You have no choicccce,” Martha hissed.

Annabeth swallowed but nodded, and we stood. Annabeth winced, staggering slightly, and I offered her a hand of support.

She leaned on me as we straightened, one hand on her ribs.

Martha tightened on my arm. “Do not look up.”

We faced the gorgon, careful to keep our gaze down so that we wouldn’t see her face. Her feet drew closer, each step smooth and quick. I twisted my wrist deftly, my heart in my throat as I formed an opaque shield. It was clear enough to see through but distorted enough to protect us… hopefully.

She stalked right up to the shield, her gold wings glittering and her snake hair shifting with an audible hiss. I took a shaky breath.

The stiffness was now obviously her, catching in my joints and cracking over my skin. Though it was still different than before… there was no olive oil thick in my mouth like the Medusa we’d met before had.

Her claws gleamed bronze, catching my eye.

She hummed, though we didn’t look up to her face through the shield I could feel her eyes on us. I noticed her hand raising and focused harder on the shield, keeping it sturdy.

“You are…” she rocked back on her heels. “You are a child of Poseidon… It has been so long since one ended up on my island.”

I swallowed. Her voice echoed with longing, pain, and something… dark. My hairs stood up on my neck and I wanted to dive into the ocean and swim far far away. Martha’s tongue brushed my arm, her scales rubbing comfortably.

“Are you-“ Annabeth faltered when the gorgons snakes hissed, nudging the shield. “Are you Stheno or Euryale?”

Medusa (for it had to be her) laughed, a musical tone that made me want to look up. I kept my gaze on her hands.

“I am neither Stheno nor Euryale, they are my siblings. My sisters, born and raised as such. I’ve not before been mistaken for them, strange that. What makes you believe that I am anyone other than Medusa, the most infamous of the Gorgons?”

Annabeth’s breath caught, her hand slipped into mine, squeezing it tight. “We- we’ve met Medusa-“

And it clicked.

This Medusa had no taste of Olive Oil.

Annabeth said she was as the Pseudo-Apollodorus stated, which was an ancient Greek myth.

The myth of Medusa being transformed by Athena was a Roman myth.

This wasn’t the Medusa we’d met before.

I remembered my lessons where’d I’d gone over the myths and assumed the one we’d met was the Roman Medusa, the Medusa holding a grudge over Athena and Poseidon for what had been done to her.

That meant-

“You’re the Greek Medusa,” I said.

Medusa hummed, snakes coiled through my water shield and I hardened part of it to ice.

“Indeed,” she murmured. “So, you have met my counterpart.”

“What?” Annabeth asked. “What do you mean Roman-“

She chewed her lip, her brows furrowing in thought.

I didn’t know what was safe with the Greek Medusa or not. I defaulted to my lessons.

Medusa was born of the sea, a child of Phorkys and Keto, old Sea Gods that ruled the dangers of the deep and sea terrors. She was a terror, a powerful, ancient, and dangerous one.

I had no idea what the etiquette was for her. I decided to go with the basics.

“Atula, naiye yopu?”

She cooed, “What a precious child. Ta en omavai. Y opu ro ika omasa?”

“Ta en omavai,” I said politely, my smile strained.

Her eyes felt locked on me, her presence radiating something that put me on guard.

I didn’t want to be here.

She was dangerous.

“And why might you be on my island, little demigods?”

“We’re just-“ I glanced at Annabeth.

She picked up the thread, “We’re just looking for our bags. We’ll be out of your way once we pick them up.”

“Your bags? I did notice something of interesting nature washing up on the south beach, yes. But it’s so far I rarely bother to go down there.”

Her voice was silky, drawing us in delicately.

Annabeth squeezed my hand and Martha relaxed ever so slightly.

She didn’t dare speak and draw attention to herself.

“Great!” I said cheerfully, forcing a smile on my lips. “We’ll just grab them and be out of your hair- er—“ I coughed “—we’ll be gone soon.”

“Oh no,” she purred, her fingers brushing against my water shield.

I trembled, feeling Annabeth tense.

“The two of you- oh you remind me of Lara so much. I could never allow one with her eyes and one with her lips to leave. And your hair young girl, if it were just black it would be just right- Yes, you must stay.”

“Wasn’t-“ Annabeth faltered. “Wasn’t Lara the other Medusa’s?”

Medusa huffed, “Lara is mine, and became hers as our histories interact. I am Medusa, the original, born and raised a monster. She is Medusa, one who changed and whose history adopted mine. My history is hers, but hers is not mine. Lara is mine, and thus Lara is hers.”

Annabeth’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“It’s alright child, you need not understand. You won’t be alive much longer. I’ll pluck your eyes out and replace them with his… yes and dye your hair- it will be lovely-“

Annabeth flinched, and I leaned away from the shield.

“No thanks,” I squeaked. “They’re uh… they’re better in our own faces.”

“I’ll pluck them out,” Medusa muttered. “I’ll fix her hair and eyes, dress her properly, then turn her to a statue in full color… one in Lara’s likeness.”

Hahaha, eaye ert areo.

“Please don’t,” Annabeth whispered, tugging my arm back.

“And you even wear a matching necklace, perfect. It will be as if she never died-“

My hand came up to clutch at my necklace. The necklace Metua gave me. The necklace that matched Lara’s, that I remembered from Lara.

“It’s a different necklace,” I croaked, swallowing hard as I inched back.

Annabeth shuffled with me, clutching my sleeve

“Where do you think you’re going?” Medusa asked lowly. “I haven’t made Lara her statue yet.”

Her wings flared, arching up and around like a bristling hen. Her claws flexed, bronze gleaming. A small shift of her weight drew my eye.

I realized what it meant.

The tension snapped.

I yanked Annabeth back, freezing the water in the air in an instant. Water and ice shards glittered through the air, Medusa surging forward with a snarl. Droplets wet my face as my wrist flicked and my power rose at my call, a familiar, instinctive, coil of water rose and spiraled out. Annabeth’s knife gleamed, drawn with one hand with her other around her ribs.

Water spun, twisting out of my waterskin and growing in size as Medusa stepped forward, her claws flashing in the light as I lashed out.

Water cracked in a whip, slashing Medusa and sending her stumbling back with ice shards buried in her skin. Gold ichor spilled.

An inhuman screech made me wince, snake hair hisses in fury as we tumbled back back and down. We scrambled to our feet, Annabeth let out a hiss. A roar sounded and I swept my hand back, water crackling and freezing and snapping as an ice shard flew.

Medusa snarled, blood sizzled on the ground and snakes hissed.

“Percy! Her blood forms vipers!”

Martha unfurled from my arm and hit the ground with a thump, much larger than she had been a second ago.

I grimaced and tugged Annabeth along. Snakes hissed, from the ground the sound of hissing battle, from the sky faint with the sound of rustling. Wings snapped, and the air was filled with hard beats.

We ran.

Our feet pounded the ground, wildflowers crushed underfoot and the trees a blur. The once beautiful sight seemed malevolent, arcing towards us as we fled. Gold danced over the ground as wings beat, bathing us in dappled sunlight.

The ocean was so close, so far, so out of reach, right beneath my skin. I called for it, it called back. Waves crashed, the tide was rising from the peak of third tide, the ocean sang as I called. I reached for the depths so deep, beasts spiraling through the water, fangs flashing, lights glittering, fish swimming, and I knew it would answer me.

I tripped, nearly falling on my face. Annabeth’s hand steadied me.

She was gasping for breath, her eyes glinting with tears. She had her hand on her ribs, her breath catching.

I was out of breath too I realized, each breath too little, too much yet not enough. My skin felt tight and it slowed me along with the coiling stiffness. And yet- the ocean depths swept it all away. I reached for the ocean, the ocean was within me, beneath me, around me.

It was right in front of us and all I had to do was reach. I reached and reached and smiled when the cool water coiled around me like an old friend. I could drown in its depths, I could live in its depths. Safety, comfort, it would always protect-

“You will not escape!”

I blinked, the world around me crashing into me and fishing me out of the ocean.

Medusa was right behind us, Annabeth was struggling to breathe.

The ocean was still in front of me though, still there, here, all around. I reached once more but kept myself from diving into its depths.

Stiffness locked my joints and I stumbled forward, Annabeth going down with me. The ocean was so close, the tide drew it further, but we had come so close.

So close I could taste the salt on my tongue and feel the seaweed on my skin.

So close I could reach out and touch it.

I yanked.

The tide decreed the ocean should be far, the ocean should be nearly at its furthest, but the ocean was in me and I could make my own decree.

The ocean roared and fourth tide came all at once.

The world froze.

Had the ocean not held me in place, so very cold, ice crystals dancing over my skin, then I would have collapsed.

Granted I was already on the ground-

I blinked quickly, spots in my eyes. I shook my head and turned to Annabeth.

My breath caught, “Annabeth! Annabeth are you okay?”

Her breath fogged the air, frost clinging to her skin and eye lashes. Her hair seemed almost white. She was trembling violently, a hand clutching her chest.

“C-c-co-“ she shook her head.

I reached for the ice surrounding us, the cold in, on, around, my skin. I willed the ice to warm, to melt away.

Water splattered, frost hissed, I brushed the water off of Annabeth.

She pushed up, hissing in pain and clutching her ribs. I had a feeling they’d gotten worse.

“What-“

He jaw dropped as she stared past me.

“Percy-“

I rolled over, unable to sit up, and blinked.

I rubbed my eyes with shaking hands and stared one more.

My ears were ringing, maybe I had a concussion. Because otherwise-

“ω Θεοί μου-“

I blinked at Annabeth’s words.

“Percy- what-“

I simply stared at the large iceberg sitting on the beach.

It was massive, curling elegantly like a wave.

“Percy-“

“I-“ I stared, swallowing hard and trying to push up but failing. “I panicked?”

“’m okay,” I muttered at Annabeth’s concerned noise. “Fine. S’okay.”

I stared up at the iceberg I’d formed.

“Oops?”

“You just- made a glacier-“

“Iceberg.”

“Just on the beach- with sea water-“

I rubbed the ground and wondered at the grainy feel. It wasn’t sand.

I glanced down and blinked at the salt.

Oh, that made since. Salt didn’t freeze.

“Is…. Is she dead?” Annabeth whispered.

I blinked, zoning back in. I hadn’t realized I’d zoned out.

I focused on the sensations Medusa gave.

Stiffness locked my joints, coiling into them with malevolence..

“No.”

She swallowed, “We need to go. We don’t stand a chance like this-“

I nodded, then stopped as the world went all spinny.

I didn’t think colors were supposed to look like that.

“Percy,” she said slowly. “Are you okay?”

“Spinny,” I noted idly.

“He’ssss overexerted himssself,” Martha hissed, scales whispering along the ground as she arrived. “He needssss ressst.”

“Mmm,” now that she mentioned that I noticed I was exhausted. “Sleep does sound nice.”

“Percy,” Annabeth said softly. “Can you stand up?”

I considered myself for a moment. My legs felt like jelly.

“No.”

“I ssshall carry you both back to the boat,” Martha hissed. “Climb on.”

Annabeth hurried onto the large snakes back and leaned helped her shift her tail under me. I did my best to pull myself on, but I was exhausted.

I’d never done something so large with my waterbending before- I didn’t realize it could be so tiring.

The scales were warm beneath me, power thrummed lightly beneath Martha’s skin. I wondered at it, basking in the feel of light scales brushing over me, keeping me in place as she shifted forward. There was a faint brush of feathers, a fain taste of gold. Underneath it all was something endless, a cacophony of sound yet not even a whisper to be heard. I tried to focus on it, but it was too much.

My skin ached.

I went back to the surface, relaxing in the safety of Martha’s scaled hold.

The ocean was beneath me, the boat rocking. The scales left but still brushed me from afar. I heard a faint murmur; a hand brushed my hair back.

I sighed, relaxing into the touch.

I fell asleep to the sound of whispering scales and rocking waves.

OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

I rubbed my head, glaring at the Wasare av Tetek.

I’d been trying to see through it, into it, for several hours inbetween my work. But it was stubbornly hiding its contents from me.

It was the worst possible timing for Okeanus to lock down his territories, considering I knew Perseus (and therefore Tyson) was there.

Two of my children were missing in the Wasare av Tetek.

The sea was very dangerous! Oh the beasts in the water may leave them alone, but there were numerous Monsters on land that feasted on any that dared to land on their island.

Perseus was competent, he was more than that. I had the best tutors in the sea teaching him! But the Wasare av Tetek was Okeanus’ main territory outside of ert poreso porlisav av ert wasare.

And it was filled with his children, and their children’s, creations. And Okeanus’ own.

Even Keto and Phorcys had children there, and those were the most dangerous of all.

I just wanted to check on them, to be sure of their safety. Something so simple, I’d done it a thousand times over the last year… but Okeanus was interfering this time.

And I didn’t dare message Okeanus and request sight into his waters, not with the tension rising in the sea nor the nature of the lockdown of his kingdom.

It was allowing people in and out, but all were checked, and none were allowed in the royal territories of ert poreso pavuv.

There was far too much official business going on, and several monsters had all but vanished.

No, I couldn’t contact Okeanus. There were too many risks, for Perseus, Tyson, and the sea as a whole.

A ripple in the water drew my gaze up in time for Triton to sweep into the room.

He flicked his fingers and came to a stop before my desk.

“You have news?” I asked, eyeing his full feparu kateo.

He dropped several new aipone, airomo, and papote on my desk.

“I’ve contacted Neptune as requested,” he declared, ordering the messages neatly for me.

I straightened, “Oh?”

“He states that Okeanus invited him to a meeting, but he turned it down as he has no interest in the Greek matters. He requests we keep our Greek conflict ‘out of his seas’ and says that he told Okeanus the same.”

Well… at least I would not be at conflict with my counterpart. We’d never gotten along the best, but at least there wouldn’t be any additional conflict.

“That will have to do,” I muttered, accepting the papote of their meeting from Triton. I’d go over it later to see if he let any more information slip. I doubted it though, Triton was always good at finding such information.

I turned my gaze to the Wasare av Tetek once more.

“Okeanus is up to something,” I said softly. “And considering how last summer went…”

“And his secretive actions started to be noticeable around Hom’amio Kalala as well,” Triton said. “Ill tidings.”

I rubbed my beard, staring down at the numerous reports on my desk.

“We need to learn what’s going on. Send out a few more agents to scout, I’ll leave the details up to you. Contact Camila-nee and Delphin, I have orders for them.”

Triton nodded, flicking a hand in acknowledgement.

“And…” I stared at the Wasare av Tetek once more, “Send a quest to the Wasare av Tetek to find Perseus and Tyson.”

Triton stiffened, “Persi is in the Wasare av Tetek?”

I smiled tightly, “Yes… he seems to have gained a quest there. I have tried to gaze on him several times, but Okeanus is hiding the sea from me. I cannot help but feel something is the matter.”

Triton nodded seriously, “I’ve already assigned a quest to guard Persi. Belle informed me of their travels at sea… but for them to go there-“

I blinked, “You have a quest assigned on Persi already?”

“I—" he flushed, looking away “—yes I… was concerned for his safety. It is a team under Ororai Antonio Rodriguez de Luna. Including Klara Zhdanova, Kai Māhoe, Acantha Vallas.”

Antonio-oro I knew, he was a very skilled team leader who had completed several important quests. He specialized in escort missions.

The names of the students… I ran through my subjects trained in the camps for a moment before identifying them.

Ah yes, Acantha who was skilled at Paipave and was working at gaining experience in Yavailu as well. And then Klara who… yes she was a skilled fighter, almost no skill in magic but put a weapon in her hand and she would win. And Kai, not as much of a fighter as the other two, but still good with his knives. His greatest strength was… ah, knowledge.

I idly twisted the facts about them around, Klara was the daughter of a paitia, the other two were children of civilians.

I nodded, they were a good team. Had a variety of life experience and a variety of skills. Combined with Antoniono experience and skill in leadership, strategy, and battle, they would do well.

“Please inform me in the future,” I said mildly. “But that seems like a good team. Thank you for arranging it.”

Triton nodded, “Yes Metu. I was… concerned for Persi’s safety-“

I smiled, “I’m glad you care for your brother so much, but do be careful not to guide his life too much.”

Triton’s tail swished, “I want him to be safe.”

“As do I, but if we do everything for him he won’t grow. He’s mortal, not immortal. We must let him grow and learn to live his life the way he wishes.”

He looked away, teeth digging into his lip.

I sighed, “It’s alright to help. Especially when he asks, you know this.”

“I know… I know the laws, I know why they exist, I agree with them- I just- He’s so young.”

“All mortals are.”

“It’s hard to resist the urge to guard him until he’s strong enough.”

I smiled, “It’s always hard to let our children grow up. There’s so much to protect them from… but we must let them live, to grow and experience the ups and downs of life for themselves. That does not mean we aren’t here to offer advice and guidance, nor does it mean we cannot assist or avenge them.”

He sighed, “I know. I shouldn’t struggle so…”

“You’ve not grown so attached to a mortal family member in a long time,” I murmured.

I could not recall him being attached to any of my children. He favored the odd one, approved of others, but then… he never interacted with them so much at such a young age.

The last one he cared for so much was his own daughter, Pallas. With her… tragic end. It shouldn’t surprise me that he was so protective of Perseus with that as his last experience with a child.

I sighed, “It’s an exercise in patience.”

“I don’t like it.”

He blinked as I laughed. It was not a happy laugh, it ached in my chest, the ocean swirling.

“We never like it. it’s the hardest part of having half-blood children for a God. You must let them live and die on their own time. It is not in our nature to let those we care for pass, but we must. Life and Death are a part of the world, and we cannot interfere in Fate.”

He sighed, “I know. I understand even. I just…”

“You care,” I said fondly. “And that’s alright. As long as you don’t lose yourself to it.”

“I won’t.”

I nodded, picking up another aipone, “You’d best finish your work, I’ve kept you long enough.”

He twisted his fingers, folding two over another, “I shall take my leave then, Metu.”

“May you have swift currents and calm waves,” I murmured as he turned to leave.

He paused, sending me a soft smile, “And may your load be light and your water moon-bright.”

Despite everything going on in the sea, and my sons missing in the Wasare av Tetek… home was doing well.

Most of the tension from hiding Perseus had faded away, and I was glad.

I only wished Perseus would stop risking his life.

OO OO OO OO

Acantha POV

I watched the coils of the currents as Antonio-fu’orono spell drew us closer and closer to the Wasare av Tetek.

I had divined the direction, and Antonio-fu’oro had woven a charm to guide us properly. Now that we were so close I could no longer deny that it was the Wasare av Tetek.

Antonio-fu’oro had realized we were certainly heading there yesterday and had paused for us to gather more supplies from a nearby town. Our pouches were fully packed and he himself was carrying a full med kit.

They didn’t have everything we wanted, being just a small mer-enclave, but it was enough to stock up.

We’d hoped Persi-aia wouldn’t be there, but it looked as if our hope was for naught.

Klara nudged me, “Look ahead, that’s Kharybdis right?”

“I think so,” I muttered, shooting a look to Kai who nodded.

“Now we must decide how to get in,” he said.

“How did Persi-aia get in?” I asked in confusion. “Kharybdis devours all going through her waters.”

“He likely went above water,” Antonio-fu’oro said. “We won’t be able to do so, but… if they timed their trip right and chose the right path they could make it safely.”

“Will we go through the strait?” Klara asked.

“It would be a death sentence,” Kai chided. “There is only one time safe to pass and it’s all but impossible to manage.”

“But if we go through the crashing rocks we’ll be in an entirely different part of the sea!”

“And we don’t have time for that,” I agreed.

“Let me find when Kharybdis last devoured the sea,” Antonio-fu’oro interrupted. “The beings around us may know a place to tuck away until then.”

Kai hummed, watching Antonio-fu’oro leave. He seemed worried.

“What’s the matter?” I asked softly.

“It’s… well it’s possible that there is a spot, they form and collapse quite often. But… if Persi-aia… if he’s there-“

They  stared ahead, at the vague shape coiled in the ocean so far away.

“We can see her from here, despite the distance between us.”

“She’s massive,” Klara agreed. “But Antonio-fu’oro knows what he’s doing.”

“She is a the force of the whirlpool,” I said. “But the spell- it wouldn’t work if Persi-aia were dead… I don’t think.”

Kai grimaced, “The charm Antonio-fu’oro wove was based on a gift from Triton-re’aia. So long as the item it’s tracking is safe, the spell will follow.”

Klara frowned, “Well… Persi-aia is strong, I mean he stopped that war. I’m sure he made it safely.”

Kai dropped onto the sandy ground beneath us, the water rippling.

“The Wasare av Tetek is… dangerous,” he said. “It will be a struggle to survive… both for us and Persi-aia.”

“True… but surely… I mean we were hand-picked. We were chosen for this, we must have the skills to do it.”

“Triton-re’aia has a lot of faith in us,” they agreed. “But… I mean- what if we’re too late? What if we show up and find only Triton-re’aiano gift? What if Persi-aia is angry with us for the deception? What if-“

“It’s okay,” I said, taking his hands. “Hey, there’s a lot that can go wrong, but it won’t help us to think about all the bad. We need to work under the assumption that Persi-aia is alive. He may be injured, but he’s alive.”

“Yeah!” Klara chirped, nudging Kai with her tail. “We won’t fail Persi-aia, or Triton-re’aia. Triton-re’aia is counting on us to protect Persi-aia, and Persi-aia needs us. We’ve got this!”

“Right,” Kai muttered, fingering one of their aipone, running them over the writing on it. “We’ve got this.”

Klara curled her fingers around their wrist, “We’ve got this.”

A swish in the current alerted me to the return of Antonio-fu’oro.

“I’ve found a spot that should be safe for us to hold until after her devouring,” he said.

Kai flicked up, drifting next to us as Antonio-fu’oro reached us.

“We’ll need to tuck close, but it should hold us through the pull of her maw.”

“Will it be close enough?” Kai asked. “We’ll need to swim swiftly to survive.”

He nodded, “It should be. The fish say they’ve used it as a shelter to do so a few times over the last week.”

His tail swished, smoothly sending him arcing above.

“Follow me.”

We flicked our tails, swiftly following him through the water and towards the rocks at the base of Skylla’s perch.

In order to enter the Wasare av Tetek, one had to pass through the enchanted gate, a gate between the perch and the spiraling cliff on the other side, which Kharybdis claimed as her own.

It was never safe to pass by her waters. She may have only devoured all thrice a day, but she was more than capable of snapping up morsels in other times. All tame knew that if you wanted to enter the Wasare av Tetek, go through the crashing rocks.

But we couldn’t, so we’d just have to trust Antonio-fu’oro to guide us right.

Kai explained as we swam. She apparently had one period of rest, a time where if you were quick, if you were quiet, if you were ready, you could slip past right after she’d expelled the excess of her meal.

We shifted through small spirals of rocks, slowly being worn down by Kharybdis’ power, and dove closer to the seafloor.

Antonio-fu’oro flicked his hands at us, making a motion downward and guiding us to a hole in the ground.

It was tight, a craggy space that wouldn’t allow us much movement, but it looked large enough for all four of us.

“This should do,” he muttered.

I dropped lower, fingering the various gleaming items in the hole.

“We’ll need to be most worried about stuff coming in rather than getting out. Acantha, can you raise a current above us when Kharybdis begins expelling the excess?”

I nodded, “It wouldn’t stop us from being drawn in, but I can guide most things away from us.”

“Excellent, we have some time so tuck your pouches close and press them tight. I’ll see if I can’t remove some of the things in here so we have more space…”

“Can I keep this knife?” Klara asked.

“You may keep anything you find here, but be aware that we must carry it.”

He began tossing various items out. Wood shards, clubs, a few nets, a necklace, a shining gem, some books.”

I drifted down, ignoring Klara carefully considering the few weapons present, and studied a folded and sealed cloth pouch. It had a splash of ichor on it.

Hmm, it seemed well cared for, other than that.

I picked it up and carefully unfolded it.

“What’s that?” Kai asked.

“I’m not sure-“ there was an note on the inside.

Dear Percy,

I did want to finish your gift before the quest. I did not do so. I am sorry. I hope that you like it. Press the button for it to be cool.

Love,

Tyson

Your Brother

I fingered it, staring at the Percy.

Halmaheran didn’t have a c, and y’s were commonly replaced with i’s.

And Tyson… Tyson was the Kyklopes… Tyson was a friend of Persi-aiano, and apparently his brother.

I eyed the gold ichor stain on the cloth.

“I think this is a gift for Persi-aia.”

All three of them turned to me.

“But then- did Persi-aia- Kharybdis-“ Kai swallowed hard.

“It’s alright,” Antonio-fu’oro soothed quickly. “Triton-re’aia would know if he were dead, and we would be swiftly informed.”

“What do I do with it?” I asked, studying the gift. Was Tyson- no, it must’ve fallen. And maybe another being bled on it.

Surely Tyson was okay, Persi-aia was always protective of him.

It was a strange yet lovely watch, shaped in an intricate wave pattern circling the center hands, with thin lines of seaweed acting as the hands on the clock and a background of a sandy beach. The numbers were in Halmaheran script rather than Arabic numbers. The band it was held on was made of woven bronze and fabric, glittering and sturdy.

I wondered what it did, but it wasn’t my gift.

“Put it with your things. We’ll return it to the Aipri when we catch up to him.”

I tucked it away, carefully securing it in my pouch.

The ocean seemed to tense then, and Antonio-fu’oro hurried us into the hole to hide.

And then the ocean was devoured.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of Medusa? What about Percy's fight? Poseidon and Triton's conversation? Acantha's discovery?

Okay, so how the Greek/Roman split works in my story is clearly different. I just... don't vibe with them being "the same but different". They are connected, but they are not the same beings. Some monsters are (as mentioned in Percy's lessons) and some aren't, but their histories are still intertwined.

Medusa in the Psuedo-Apollodorus writings is noted to head that were "were entwined with the horny scales of serpents, and they had big tusks like hogs, bronze hands, and wings of gold on which they flew" (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 38 - 46 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :). That's what I based her description off of here.

Halmaheran
Atula, maiye yopu=Hello, how are you?
Ta en omavai=I am well
Y opu ro ika omasa?=And you in return?
Eaye ert areo=What the fuck
Metua=Father
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Terrors/Monsters
Ert poreso porlisav av wasare=the deep dark depths of the sea
Ert poreso pavuv=the deep dark waters
Feparu kateo=messenger pouch
Aipone=Thin rock slabs
Airomo=Braided Kelp
Papote=Messenger Shells
Hom'amio Kalala=Tempest Eve
Ororai=Teacher
Paipave=Hydromancy
Yavailu=Cyclomancy
Paitia=Captain
Metu=Dad
Aipri=Prince

Suffixes
-or0=teacher
-fu'orono=master teacher's
-fu'oro=master teacher
-aia=prince
-re'aia=high prince
-re'aiano=High prince's

Terminology
Chiton=a traditional greek dress
Pseudo-Apollodorus=A Greek Mythographer
Stheno=One of the Gorgons, All who looked at them were turned to stone
Euryale=One of the Gorgons, All who looked at them were turned to stone
Phorkys=God of the Dangers of the Sea
Keto=Goddess of the Dangers of the Sea--Particularly Sea Monsters
Delphin=General of Poseidon, a dolphin

OC's
Camila-nee=a mer general Percy met briefly during the full moon ceremony
Antonio Rodriguez de Luna=Commander of the mer quest group
Klara Zhdanova=member of the mer quest group
Kai Māhoe=member of the mer quest group
Acantha Vallas=member of the mer quest group

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 31: Cats are Soft And Fluffy With Fangs

Summary:

I don't know where the cat came from

Notes:

:P Happy solstice! In honor of the solstice here's an extra long chapter :) That I actually proof read for once :) Ignore that it's a day late.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

 I woke to heat.

My skin felt too hot, tight and uncomfortable. I cracked my eyes and hissed at the light shining down on me.

“Careful,” hissed the familiar voice of Martha. “Sssit up, here-“

Martha’s scales shifted, giving me leverage to slowly push up against the boat. I groaned, rubbing my eyes and squinting.

My body felt like lead.

“You usssed too much power,” Martha chided. “You have been usssing too much power. You will need to ressst today.”

“Today?” I squinted at the sky.

The sun beat down on us, I was pretty sure I had a sunburn. It was too high in the sky considering we’d reached Medusa’s island closer to sunset than anything.

…

“How long have I-“

“All night,” Annabeth interrupted, voice tired.

I twisted to look at her, leaning against the other side of the boat. Her chest was covered in bandages, her shirt draped over her legs.

“We stopped on an abandoned island a few hours after sunset last night,” she continued. “Then started up again a bit after sunrise. I’m not sure what time it is now-“

“It’s about half past first tide,” I said helpfully.

Annabeth blinked at me slowly, “I- I am not sure how that translates to hours and minutes.”

I didn’t really know either, not without a clock.

“It’sss about nine-thirty,” Martha informed us.

“Thank you, Martha.”

“Of coursssse,” the snake stared at me.

I shifted, “I didn’t mean to- to make the… ice berg.”

Martha’s tail swished.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“It isss dangerousss to ussse sssso much power,” Martha explained. “You are mortal. You cannot put sssso much of yoursssself into your actions, it drainssss you too much.”

“I’ve never done so much difficult stuff in a row,” I muttered. “I didn’t realize…”

Martha hissed out a sigh.

“Let thisss be a lessssson. You are too young, too mortal, to do sssso much at onccce.”

Annabeth shuffled, “So the uh… iceberg…”

“It’s hard to make ice,” I muttered, twisting my fingers. “It’s uh… well fresh water it’s easier? I don’t have to force the salt out. But with salt water it takes a lot more effort… I’ve never made something so big before.”

“And before that you were fighting Kharybdissss,” Martha grumbled. “And healed in the occccean.”

“Thank you for protecting us,” I said softly. “We… wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”

Annabeth nodded quickly, “Seriously, you’ve- you’ve saved our lives at least four times already.”

Martha preened a bit at that, “It isss my duty.”

“Well, I’m definitely setting out some good offerings for you when we get back to camp,” Annabeth said. “We… owe you a lot.”

She rubbed her ribs, her lips pursed.

Martha hissed, nudging me lightly, “Drink sssssome nectar. And perhapsss we can get ssssome water in the boat, to cool off.”

I perked up, “Oh, did you get our supplies?”

Annabeth nodded, “It was on the other side of the island. All three bags were there… though… Tyson’s was partially open… I uh, I don’t know if anything fell out.”

I swallowed, accepting the bag that Martha dropped into my lap with her tail. My breath caught as I ran a finger over the trident marking his bag.

I opened it slowly, blinking back tears as I examined his clothes in the bag. There were gold stains on them.

“Why- why would it be open?” I whispered.

Annabeth chewed her lip, “Well… it could’ve opened by catching on something or… Tyson opened it and didn’t close it.”

“They’re stained,” I muttered. “I think that’s gold…”

Martha twisted over my arm, peering in.

“Yesss, it doesss appear to be.”

“What does… that mean?”

She nudged my chin, a soft comfort.

“It issss likely that he opened the bag before he wassss devoured. He may have been injured.”

I ran my fingers over the stains, then let out a breath, checking the rest of the bag.

The cash was still there, tucked under the clothes, so were the drachmas. I pulled out the thermos and the vitamins as well, both in good shape. That would… probably be helpful… I dug through the bag, shifting his clothes around as I searched for his tools. He’d been nearly done with whatever he was working on last he said, I wanted-

I wanted to save it. He- it…

I dropped the clothes in my lap, shifting them around, shaking them, there wasn’t anything else in the bag though.

I turned it upside down and shook it, my hands shaking.

“Where is- his tools and stuff- where did they go-“

Martha poked her head into the bag, then shifted to poke at the side pocket. It was empty as well.

“It musssst’ve fallen out.”

I swallowed, wiping my eyes.

I couldn’t even save the thing he’d put so much work into.

A wet blanket draped over me, soft and cool.

I blinked up at Annabeth who tucked the blanket from my med kit around me, offering me some nectar. Her eyes were soft.

“I’m sorry, Percy.”

I shook my head, “It- it’s not your fault. I-“

I let out a shaky breath, my body shaking with it.

“I-“ she twisted her fingers, tucking them close. “Do you want to talk about it? Or… do you want a distraction?”

I didn’t want to dwell on Tyson, on his death, on his missing tools.

I didn’t want to dwell on the blood on his clothes.

“Distraction?” I whispered.

“What did you say to Medusa?” she asked quickly. “The uh- stuff after we found out she’s Greek?”

I blinked slowly, taking a moment to remember.

“What?”

“You said something like- Amula?”

It clicked.

“Oh, Atula! That means hello. And uh, I think I said ‘naiye sa’opu’ after. That means ‘how are you’.”

She blinked, “Oh, is that more Halmaheran? Why did you say that to her?”

I shuffled, rubbing the soft blanket. It was comfortable.

“The uh- the greeting is kinda traditional? It’s a really simple greeting mind you- but like- it’s the simple proper way of greeting people in the ocean that you know but aren’t close with. It can change depending on the situation…”

“Oh, makes sense,” she muttered. “But Medusa isn’t of the ocean?”

“She was with my Metua though, so like- it’s polite… She was with my Metua!” I dropped my head back with a groan. “Ugh, her proper title would’ve been Medusa-nio!”

She tilted her head, brows furrowed. “Why was her being with Poseidon important? What’s ‘nio’?”

I blinked up at her, “Oh um… well, she was with my Metua, so like- she’s kinda connected to the ocean? Plus, she’s Khrysaôr’s mom. So, I went with the basic ocean greeting. And her being someone who was with my Metua means she has the title of that.”

Annabeth snorted, biting her lip, “There’s a suffix specifically for those who were with Poseidon?”

I nodded, confused.

“That’s- wait… does that mean your mom’s title is-“

I nodded.

“Oh my Gods.”

Martha hissed laughter, “Yesss, it isss a way of recognizzzing that they were ssssomeone great enough to hold the favor of a God, while still marking them asss not of a higher rank.”

“A higher rank?”

I perked up, “Oh, some people have several ranks. Like Triton is a messenger, but he’s also the high prince. So, when they have several ranks you use the highest rank to refer to them… unless the other rank is more relevant to the situation. For Triton though, well you’d almost always call him Triton-re’aia.”

She nodded slowly, “Oh, that’s cool. I think that works like that with mortals too… I don’t know much about royal stuff though.”

“Same.”

“So, uh… how would my mom be referred to in the ocean?”

I shuffled, “Well… She’s um… kinda a touchy subject?”

Annabeth blinked in confusion.

“She- well… Triton isn’t a big fan of Her. The uh…. Pallas thing…”

Understanding dawned, “Oh… sorry I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s fine,” I offered a smile. “The title She had before- well uh, before it was kinda revoked-“

“Revoked?”

“She’s… not entirely blocked from the ocean but… with the conflict with my Metua and Triton’s anger… it’s well… She’s not got the title anymore, not Her original one. And some insist She still holds it but-“ I grimaced “-doing so will get Triton mad.”

“Oh… so uh… what was it?”

“Uh, so there’s the royal title as a ward of Triton of Athena-ove, which is like… basically Lady Athena? And then there’s the title She had as Pallas’ friend, Athena-re’ino.”

“’re’ino’?”

I nodded, “It’s like… ‘ino’ is family friend, and ‘re’ means like… uh… not sure about direct translation but it’s basically higher rank, like ‘re’aia’ means High Prince. So it’s calling Her a high family friend.”

“Oooh, I guess that one is definitely not a thing now.”

“Not unless you’re speaking of Her specifically in the past tense of Her relation to Pallas.”

“Okay… and what would She be known by today?”

“Uh… well you could call Her Athena-o’ove-“

“Oh-oh-veh?”

I nodded, “The ‘o’ is basically like… disowned, but that’s not technically accurate for Her. It’s um… she’s not just disowned, it’s stripped entirely.”

Annabeth winced, “That’s… harsh.”

“Yeah, so uh,” I huffed. “She’s got several ways of being referred to today, it kinda depends on why you’re talking about Her. If it’s for Wisdom and all then She’s Athena-tiu or Athena-oro, which is like- librarian and teacher. But Librarians are also viewed as knowledge guardians. It’s the closest thing to Her Wisdom realm, and also used for Apollo.”

Annabeth considered that, “And ‘oro’ is teacher?”

“Mhm.”

“So that’s used in the terms of Her teaching Her wisdom?”

“Yeah exactly.”

“Huh, cool. And what about if She’s as a War Goddess? Or crafts?”

“For crafts it’s Athena-koi, which is basically craftsperson. Or even Athena-re’koi.”

“Ooh,” Annabeth said. “And War Goddess?”

“Athena-re’fea. It’s a… complicated one. She and Ares are the only one’s really called re’fea…”

“Really?”

“Well Them and other War Gods, for various pantheons. It’s uh, ‘fea’ is soldier, but there aren’t any High Soldiers. The other positions can have Higher roles within them, and they specifically reference the ocean ranks.”

“So, you can’t call Her general or tactician ‘cause it implies She works with the sea?”

I beamed, “Exactly! So She’s called ‘re-fea’, a High Soldier, as a War Goddess She’s basically the highest.”

“That’s really cool,” Annabeth offered with a grin. “I never knew there were so many titles in the ocean.”

“It’s really interesting to learn,” I agreed.

“What’s your title?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“Like, Percy…”

“Oh! I’m Percy-aia for most.”

“’aia’ is prince, right?”

“Yep!”

She hummed, “So you’re a recognized Prince in the sea?”

I nodded.

“Is that normal for a demigod?”

I faltered, “Well uh… I’m not sure?”

She tilted her head and Martha straightened.

“It isss not very common,” Martha said. “All of hisss children hold a title of lord, lady, or liege, but it isss rare for one to hold the title of Princccce, Princessssss, or Princccette.”

I pointed to Martha, “What she said I guess.”

Annabeth nodded, “How strange… do you know why you’re recognized as a Prince?”

“I uh, I’m not sure. I just know Metua said that I was getting banded.”

“Banded?”

I perked up, “Yeah! In the sea we don’t use crowns, we use arm bands. Mine are in my cabin.”

“Oooh, that sounds cool!”

“It’s super cool! They’re really pretty, with a kraken design and stuff.”

“Sounds lovely, you’ll have to show me sometime,” she said with a grin. “You seem to know a lot about the sea, and other stuff…”

She looked thoughtful, “So uh… what’s the Greek versus Roman thing?”

“The Greek versus Roman thing?”

“Like- the Greek Medusa versus the Roman Medusa- is that a normal thing? You’ve mentioned Greeks and Romans a few times before but… I just- I don’t know, it’s unfamiliar to me? Like the Arachne stuff is by Ovid, and is Roman, but the spiders still target me…”

I hummed, considering.

“It’s… okay so the Roman Gods are different from the Greeks, right?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but also- I don’t know, the mythology overlaps so much? And a lot came from Greek mythology, and Etruscan obviously but…”

“Right…” I tried to remember how my teacher taught me it. “Okay so… imagine a-“

Couldn’t use the metaphor my tutor Euphemia gave me, Annabeth wouldn’t know it cause it was based in the sea.

“-okay so imagine an apple tree.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, “Okay…”

“So the Greek Gods are the tree itself, the thing putting pieces together.”

She nodded.

“The Etruscan Gods… well not entirely accurate but let’s call them the apple blossoms on the tree, there’s a lot that goes into making the apple blossoms, but there’s still the tree helping with that. There’s some overlap in their mythos from what I remember…”

“Yeah, I remember some stuff about it too.”

“There isss,” Martha agreed. “But it issss of a very different nature.”

I nodded, “Maybe consider the Etruscan’s the sun, or the water, they’re something the apples can’t grow without. They’re needed for the apples to even begin to grow.”

“Okay,” she said. “So?”

“So the Roman Gods grew from the Greeks and the Etruscans, and kinda overlapped the two, it formed from them both and it’s like- echoed aspects? But then the apple got plucked-“

Annabeth was nodding slowly, looking thoughtful.

“-so uh, the apple is now an apple, and grows on it’s own. It ripens more and can turn into other things like pie and cake and stuff.”

“So… they originally came from the same but now don’t?”

“Yeah.”

“That… makes sense. They’re not the same beings, but have the same source…”

I nodded, “And the histories changed some, it’s like um… mixing apples from different trees, or having a new farmer. They changed how the tree looked and stuff so the apple is different.”

“Like Ovid.”

“I don’t like Ovid,” I muttered.

“Me neither,” Annabeth laughed. “But I guess that makes sense. The Roman Medusa was formed, was mortal first.”

I nodded, “She got with Metua in the temple, and was transformed.”

“And the Greek one, I think I remember a mention somewhere of her and Poseidon getting together.”

“In a field of flowers,” I agreed.

“But she was born a monster, so of course she’s more monstrous…”

I shuffled at that, “Just cause they’re born as terrors, doesn’t make them evil.”

Her gaze flicked to Tyson’s bag and she winced, “I… I know you mean Tyson, and he deserved better- I should’ve treated him better. Everyone should’ve… But Percy, you- you do know most monsters, they aren’t good like Tyson…”

I shifted, “I- I know most want us dead… I just…”

“You see the best in them,” she murmured. “I don’t know if it’s different in the sea, maybe you have an easier time negotiating with monsters there… but Tyson is the first nice monster most of us have met in our lives.”

I blinked, thinking of Medusa.

“But…”

“Even if some can be convinced to spare us, we’re usually too busy trying to survive, or run, or fight for our lives, to even bother. It’s-“ she chewed her lip “-I don’t want you to try to be nice to the wrong monster and die for it.”

I blinked, “I- I mean… I wouldn’t…”

She stared at me sadly, “You’re really nice, and that’s a good thing most of the time. It just… it might get you hurt… and I don’t want that…”

“Consssider thisss,” Martha hissed. “Mossst monsssters are naturally inclined to prey on mortalssss.”

We both blinked at her.

“It isss the ssssame way you may eat fisssh, dessspite underssstanding them. It isss their nature. It isss not usually cruelty that leadsss their actionsss, it isss ssssimply dinner.”

I swallowed, I hadn’t considered it like that.

“Ssssome are ssssmarter, but that only makesss them better hunterssss ussssually. Tyssson, and the Kyklopessss employed by your father, are rare excccceptionsss. It would be like a fisssh trying to get you to not eat the fisssh, or any other fissssh.”

I nodded slowly, “I… I think I understand that.

“It’s important you remember that,” Annabeth said earnestly. “You… your kindness has saved us before, with the other Medusa… but most monsters will react like this Medusa, and it could kill you. Even if they seem like they’ll be nice- it could just be a trick.”

“I understand.”

She seemed worried, I wondered if she had a friend in the past try to spare a terror and suffer for it.

I didn’t ask.

My stomach grumbled then and I realized I was starving.

“Do we have food?”

OO OO OO OO

I yawned and tucked away my book on curse breaking I’d been reading for the last few hours as we neared an island with many boats parked at it.

We were hoping to buy one of them with our money.

Or steal one. Martha was advocating for stealing one.

I ran my fingers over my shirt, feeling the armor underneath it. Hopefully it wasn’t necessary, but neither me nor Annabeth wanted to take any chances. She was also wearing her armor under her clothes, her cap of invisibility tucked into her pocket and her knife strapped to her arm.

I had my own knife strapped to my side. I really needed to get a way to carry it hidden, Annabeth seemed to feel the same way.

My oceanskin was at my side, as it should be. And everything else except the vitamins and thermos (which Annabeth had) were packed up, for both of us. Annabeth said we should keep the stuff hidden on the boat, to be sure we didn’t lose anything, and I agreed.

Martha was chosen to guard everything, no one would get past her.

The island grew closer and closer and I slowly started to pick up on the various sensations it held.

I’d noticed the heat from a good distance, but only because the air was cooling as the sun sunk down and fourth tide passed. I was growing warmer by the second as we drew closer to the island, and a pinpoint of light far down the island held my attention.

But underneath that was the cloying twine of weaving threads.

There was a magic user here, I wasn’t sure what to do about that.

I did warn Annabeth, so she’d be aware, she promised to leave the magic to me for the moment.

I eyed the boats as we grew closer, magic user forgotten. I really wanted the big pirate ship. I didn’t know how the direct it, but I was sure Khrysaôr would, and maybe he’d be impressed if I brought one back. He could teach us how to sail it!

And in the meantime, I was great with water so would just direct it that way.

Our boat hit the docks just in time for a young woman to step onto them.

We climbed out of the boat as she reached us, sizing her up as she gave us each a look over, pausing on me with a slight frown.

“Hello, my name is Hylla,” she said finally, flashing us a bright smile. “I’ll be your guide while you’re at the spa!”

“… the spa?” I asked in confusion.

She nodded, “Are you not here for the spa? The island is dedicated to it.”

We shared a look, spas were nice in the time I spent in them with my sisters… but I wasn’t supposed to go to them without them.

But then… we did need a place to stay for the night, and I’d yet to have an issue with a spa.

I poked mentally at the magic presence around me and hummed, I wasn’t sure.

Annabeth shrugged, “We need to stay for the night, would that be alright?”

Hylla nodded eagerly, “Abso-lutely! Now, may I have your names, genders, and anything you want to focus on in particular? I assume hair for the both of you, and perhaps a massage…”

“I’m Percy,” I said hesitantly. My gender… I mean obviously merfolk could be many genders but I’d never thought about my own… “I’m a guy I guess?”

“I’m Annabeth, and a girl. Why are our genders relevant?”

“To know who to put you with,” she chirped, scribbling things down on her clipboard (which I could’ve sword she didn’t have a second ago). “We don’t want to put the guys with girls or the girls with guys if they’re not comfortable with it, and some who aren’t guys or girls prefer having another that’s not a guy or a girl- do you have any such preference?”

She looked at us expectantly.

I shrugged, “Um… not really?”

“Me neither.”

“By the way, are the boats for sale?”

Hylla blinked, seeming surprised by the question. “Well, some are. Would you like to speak with the head of the spa about it?”

I nodded, “Yes, please!”

“And how much does the spa treatment cost?” Annabeth asked quickly. “We have a budget.”

Hylla beamed, “First time guests get it half off! With a hair treatment, massage, skin care package, would you like a bath? Of course you do, it comes free with the massage- and of course a makeover, new clothes and skin and hair care, and makeup if you wish… that would come to be one hundred silver drachmas a piece!”

I mentally went over our drachma count. One gold drachma was worth ten silver drachma in the current day, so that meant it was ten gold drachma a piece. Would be twenty without the half off…”

I glanced at Annabeth and saw her sigh, “I think we can do that… depends on ship prices?”

“Well, how about I bring you get a hair treatment and drop Percy off with the head of the spa to talk about boat prices?”

Annabeth shot me a concerned look, but I flashed a quick smile. It would probably be fine, just talking about ships. I could do that alone… probably.

“Sounds like a plan,” Annabeth said with a determined nod. “Shall we go?”

Hylla beamed and hurried us in, chattering about the different treatments as she led us deeper into the spa.

I stared at the Hippocampi formed in a fountain and ached as rainbows glittered off the watery scales.

Tyson would’ve loved it.

I shook my head and hurried to keep up.

“Here you are, Percy,” Hylla chirped, stopping at a door. “Just go tell Ms. Kiki that you want to buy a ship and she’ll do the negotiations!”

“Thank you, Hylla,” I said with a cheerful smile. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit, Annabeth.”

She waved, letting Hylla lead her further into the spa.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping in.

“Hello? Ms. Kiki?”

Faint humming cut off, a faint rustling catching my ears. I looked around, stepping further into the room just as a figure sweeping into my view.

I froze, staring at her in awe.

Her hair shone like gold, her eyes even more so. They literally glowed, shining like twin suns. Her skin was warm, deeply tanned and smooth. She wore an elegant khiton in a soft blue, with gold bindings holding it in place.

“Ah, and who might you be?” she asked gently.

Her very presence radiated magic, winding threads dancing over my skin, ready to weave into a pattern of power.

“I’m- I’m Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. I’m, uh, I’m here to ask about buying a ship.”

She hummed, studying me intently.

“Yes, I’ll allow you to buy a ship. Which do you want?”

“The pirate ship,” I said immediately. “If it’s available.”

“Thirty golden drachmae, and you allow me to give you a makeover.”

I blinked, “A make over?”

She swept to my side and I stumbled back a step, but her finger curled a strand of my hair and she tugged lightly. I blinked up at her.

“Such potential in your appearance, and yet- it’s not properly cared for. Your poor hair…”

I shuffled, flushing at that. “I care for it as best I can- I wash my hair every week and use coconut oil to moisturize it! My hair isn’t as curly as my moms and doesn’t need the same amount of care as hers-“

Ms. Kiki tutted, “You poor dear. You don’t deep condition it? Oh, this just won’t do, I’ll fix this. Here, come, I have stuff to care for it. And your skin as well- do you regularly wash your face? And moisturize? Hmm, a facial would do you well to be sure.”

I looked away, feeling inadequate. I had some nicer products thanks to the lotus card, but I didn’t need to do as much as mom so didn’t. Mom said I got more of her dad’s white hair rather than her moms (and her) thick hair.

I mean mine was still thick- but not like my mom’s. And wasn’t nearly as curly. Was I caring for it wrong?

“Come,” she said, tugging me along to an area with a seating area.

“Now sit, I’ll make a good potion to improve your hair. It will lessen the amount of work we need to do.”

“Work?”

“Yes, a proper hair treatment, when was the last time you cut your hair? Oh, the split ends- and it’s clearly too dry… do you treat it like normal mortal hair? It’s mer-based, on top of the mortal care you need to ensure it has all the natural oils-“

She fell into mutters as I realized part of the issue.

Apparently, I had a bit more mer-biology than I thought. That would explain it- I had no idea… I would have to ask my Metua how to add that into caring for my hair.

I tugged my hair, frowning over it while I tried to figure out what to do about it as Ms. Kiki returned with a frothing pink potion.

I blinked at it.

“Now, do you have the proper products for your hair? Oh, a ridiculous question, drink your potion and I’ll return with the products I need-“

“What’s that?” I asked, staring at the potion.

That was not for hair.

It twisted and turned and reminded me-

It reminded me-

Avoid spas at all costs

Spas are dangerous

They’ll give you fancy drinks and then you’ll die

Fine, but when you get turned into a pig or killed, I warned you.

I stood up, heart beating fast.

Magic that wove like threads ready to weave a pattern.

A spa.

“You’re the one that cursed Carl.”

She faltered, confusion crossing her face.

“… who’s Carl?”

And she didn’t even remember it.

“You turned him into a guinea pig!”

She hummed, putting the magic potion down.

“I turn all men that come into guinea pigs. I’ve shown mercy to men in the past, and they dared to cause more problems… no, I won’t allow that. If you won’t drink the potion, I’ll do it personally.”

The threads around me tightened, her power weaving and twining and tying it together.

I stiffened, drawing my own power to me as the threads tightened, her light shown brighter, heat burned. A tapestry of a curse twined tighter and tighter and-

I threw everything I had in a sharp spike against her curse.

“You brat!” She snarled, staggering slightly as the tapestry tangled and twisted and fell apart.

I drew on my memories of curse breaking, pulling everything I knew together, and steadied myself.

“You cursed Carl! And just tried to curse me!” I glared at her. “Well I won’t let you curse me.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Oh? You won’t? I have thousands of years of experience on you, little boy. But if you want to try and fight me… well then, let’s see how you do little boy.”

She raised her hands, glowing gold like the sun, and power throbbed through the air.

I took a breath.

I let it out.

I offered a quick prayer of apology to Martha for not resting more.

Fire burned and swept towards be and threads wound over me, digging into me and threading together to weave a tapestry.

I yanked open my oceanskin, tugging my own power and surrounding myself with it. Water spiraled out, light twined through me, I twisted, winding my power tight around me. Layer and layer and layer and guard. Sharp spikes, guard like the ocean guards, quick movement, sharp spikes, ice glittering and shoving through her careful tapestries. She snarled, stalking towards me with magic burning and bright.

I summoned my trident and lunged.

Magic burned, and fire shoved me back, water yanked at my own and I yanked it back. Water was mine, she could not have it.

“I won’t let you curse me,” I snarled as I yanked the water and lashed out, spiraling curls shattered a chair, fire blazed catching at my shirt. Water coated my skin, physically and magically.

“You think you can match me?” she hissed. “I have fought for millennia!”

“Even a weak curse breaker can counter a curse if they do so before it’s finishing laying,” I countered. “I may be new to this, but you need to weave your tapestry before you can curse me!”

I tugged for my power, remembering how the ocean cleansed in my presence. I wrapped myself in layers of power and water and shielded tight and close and safe.

And with spikes curling around me, an octopus of water lunging for her, and ice coating the floor, I sent a pulse of purifying power out.

She shrieked, her threads cleansed on my skin. My water crashing in wave that her light couldn’t burn away.

Light blazed, a tapestry wrapped around her, I lashed out at it. My magic faltered, but I shoved, my eyes burning as hers did without the light. My breath caught and I my magic slipped. I staggered.

“You- you pitvel ufanto!”

“Uvena vak!” I snapped back. “Leave me ALONE!”

The world crashed in a blaze of light and a rainbow of watery mist, tapestries tumbling apart as the floor iced and the air blazed. I fell to my knees, gasping and shaking and struggling to hold tight to my wall of water and clean and sharpness.

Ms. Kiki was breathing slowly, her eyes burning.

“Are you done, pemapo?”

Was I done? Was I done with my defense? I couldn’t hold it, not against this. It was exhausting- I’d never fought that before, never fought this way before. I didn’t know- I couldn’t- I had to keep fighting-

I glared, my power thin on me, water dripping. I tried to shove my power out, but it was new, and I was weak.

“I just want to buy a boat,” I hissed. I was desperate, I was ready to plead.

She snorted, “After this display you’ll be lucky if I leave you alive. I’m thinking… turning you into a little kitten and setting a tiger on you… yes that sounds nice.”

“No-

A tapestry wove, my vision blurred as I struggled to spike at it, but she wove gaps into it and twined it around them with delicate skill. I tried to stand, tried to fight, tried to resist, but the tapestry was tight, and I was tired, and my magic was spent.

The door slammed open as the tapestry of a curse finished, a lovely horrible image winding with fangs and fur. The world grew large and my skin itched, and I wanted to scream but all that came out-

“Meow!”

I meowed. Like a cat.

“Percy! What did you- you changed him-“

“Ah, you must be his companion,” Ms. Kiki crooned, crouching down to look at me with a victorious smirk. I hissed at her and her smile widened. She smelled like sunlight and clean cotton.

Her teeth were bright white, in sharp contrast to the rest of her.

“You’re Kirke,” Annabeth whispered.

I twisted to see her, to see my friend, she was in danger, she wasn’t safe, she couldn’t- Kirke (Kirke the sea witch?) was a magic user and Annabeth had no magic and she couldn’t defend her self- she couldn’t- she was in danger!

She also smelled like oils and books, sea salt clinging to her.

I leapt away as I felt Kirke reach for me, leapt to Annabeth. The world was big and ground slippery and I tumbled head over heels with a yowl.

I blinked, the floor bright and wet and icy and oh- that was me- oh no-

I could see myself in the ice, a little multi colored (blue and purple and green) kitten with bright green eyes.

I blinked. The cat blinked. I blinked.

“Percy, don’t move,” Annabeth called. “I’ll- I’ll handle this.”

“You?” Kirke laughed. “If the little merboy couldn’t handle this, how do you expect to? You have no magic.”

Annabeth glared, her eyes stormy and her form bright. She looked like an avenging Goddess, here to handle all the dangers we could possibly face.

I stared in awe as she yanked out the vitamins and downed one. She stalked forward, standing tall and proud with her knife in her hand and battle in her eyes.

“You don’t get to hurt my friend,” she said fiercely. “I won’t let you. Turn him back, or I’ll make you.”

Kirke scoffed, “I think instead I’ll turn you into a tiger and have you eat him. Much more satisfying.”

Annabeth glared, her knife drawn and ready. Two figures hovering behind her, confusion in their eyes and stance. They smelled of battle and blood and soft water and soft silk. Confusing smells prodded at me, demanding attention I didn’t know how to give, I didn’t understand. I whined and covered my nose.

“Try it,” Annabeth declared.

Magic wove, a tapestry reaching for Annabeth-

I wanted to cry out but I was just a cat, I was too small and weak and I couldn’t- she would be-

The tapestry slipped right past her, as if made of mist and silk.

I blinked, twisted to look at Kirke, she looked shocked.

Oh, she had ankles. She had visible ankles. The ankles looked very bite-able, very vulnerable to small but sharp fangs.

I bared my fangs.

She tried to attack Annabeth, my person, my friend, I would show her what I thought of that.

 “What- no that’s one of Hermes’-“

I lunged, feet skittering as I clamped down on her ankle and shook my head.

“Πουτάνας γιος!” Kirke snarled, fury in her scent. I bit harder.

“Move your foot and I stab,” hissed Annabeth, far closer than I expected.

I tasted iron in my mouth, hot and burning and sharp and filled with power and-

A hand gentle caught my scruff, oils and sea salt and books-

Annabeth scooped me up, hand comfortable and scent safe. I released Kirke’s ankle, preening at the knife at Kirke’s throat.

“You’re going to let us go,” she said. “And you’re going to give us supplies, for free. If you don’t, I’ll kill you and get them myself.”

I nuzzled her hand, soft and comfy and gentle.

Annabeth was great.

Very nice smelling.

I wanted to cuddle. Cuddle’s were nice.

“Go then,” Kirke hissed. “But don’t think this will be forgotten.”

Annabeth scoffed, her chest rumbling with it and ooh- cool- ooh her hair was swishy-

I wanted to bat it.

It was very poke-able.

Maybe I could bite it.

I swiped a paw at it.

Ooooh.

Annabeth was walking, I didn’t like that. It was nicer standing still.

What happened to Kirke? I wasn’t paying attention.

Ooh hair bouncing!

“Hold still Percy- let me get- here,” she held a vitamin in front of me. “It should cure you.”

I nosed it, sniffing curiously.

I sneezed, shaking my head at feathery birdy smell. And incense. Weird.

I turned my eyes to her, it smelled weird, I didn’t want it.

“Please, Percy?”

I eyed her hair, sparkly-

“Percy, if you eat the vitamin we’ll get some fish.”

Oooh, fish!

I snapped the vitamin up, swallowing quickly.

Weird. Fish now? Where was the fish-

My body tingled, itching and twisting and the ground was cold- why was I on the ground? Oh, Annabeth put me down- was she getting taller- what-

My skin was cold, so cold and wet and the ground hard and-

I gasped, struggling for breath, and blinked up at Annabeth from where I laid on the ground.

“Oh,” she whispered. “Oh, thank Hermes.”

An armful of Annabeth tackled me, shuddering breaths escaping her. I hugged her tight.

“Was I a cat?” I muttered after a long moment.

“A very cute cat,” she whispered back. “I wish I took a picture.”

I snorted, hugging her on the floor of the spa. My body shook, I was so tired again, but… I was human. I was human and could breathe and hold Annabeth.

I was myself, and even better, now… now I had a cure for Carl.

And most importantly-

We’d escaped Kirke.

OO OO OO OO

Kai POV

“This does not look right,” I muttered.

“What’s the matter?” Klara asked, Acantha leaning over my shoulder.

“That island is not on the map.”

“The sea shifts,” Antonio-fu’oro explained from ahead. “The map is unreliable at best. But it is accurate for the currents. We will need to speak to another being, one of the deep waters here, to find the right path to Persi-aia.”

“Well… at least we know what direction he’s going in?” Acantha offered.

Klara nodded, patting my shoulder as she passed.

I let out a slow breath, clinging to their comfort. My knowledge was all but useless for the maps here. I’d forgotten that the Wasare av Tetek was never reliable.

Hopefully we’d find the path quickly, we needed to reach him before anything happened to him.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

If anyone draws cat Percy I'll love you.

What did you think of the fight scene? What about Percy's magic? Their discussions about Romans and sea culture?

Halmaheran
Atula=Hello
Naiye sa'opu=how are you
Metua=Father
Pitvel ufanto=two-legged bastard (please note this is nasty to say)
Uveno vak=Faithless Tailless (please note this is nasty to say)
Pemapo=brat
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Terrors/monsters

Suffixes
nio=one who slept with Poseidon
re'aia=high prince
ove=lady
re'ino=high ranking family friend
o'ove=disowned lady
tiu=librarian
oro=teacher
koi=craftsperson
re'koi=high craftsperson
re'fea=high soldier
fea=soldier
aia=prince
fu'oro=master teacher

Terminology
Kirke=phonetic spelling of Circe
Πουτάνας γιος=(Putanas yos) son of a bitch
As Percy is bi-racial and has non-human biology mixed in through his dad, he's got a bit of a unique self care situation that he's not realized previously, so he's gonna learn how to deal with that later :) Fun times!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 32: Sing Your Song oh Sirens

Summary:

And they leave the island, plus Siren's :) Oh and the hunt!

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter! It's another longer one, the escape from Kirke took longer than planned.

The final chapter will be another Q&A and bonus scene, so if you have any questions you want me to answer, send them in! And also feel free to make a request on what the bonus scene should be :) I have a few ideas but I've not decided yet.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

“Are you okay?” A familiar voice asked from behind me.

Annabeth’s arms tightened around me as I stiffened, and she lifted her head to look at the person.

“What do you want?”

“We-“ I tried to get a look at who was speaking but the world was spinning and my head was hurting and I buried my head against Annabeth again with a hiss. “-we saw what Lady Kirke was doing and- you didn’t deserve that. We want to help-“

“You didn’t expect the woman known in the myths for turning men to pigs to try and harm a boy?”

“She’s also known for helping Jason and Medea!” one said fiercely. “And she attacked you as well, it’s not- you didn’t deserve that. We don’t want you to get hurt more…”

“She offered aid to Jason as required by divine law, hospitality rights are important. But that doesn’t change the other things she’s done, like turn a bunch of men to pigs.”

“Explains Carl’s comment,” I muttered.

Annabeth huffed softly, rubbing my back.

“Why are you talking to us?” She asked them.

“You won’t make it off the island,” one said. “Lady Kirke has decreed that you are to be brought to her, dead or alive.”

I frowned, “When did she say that?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Annabeth agreed.

“She sent the decree out by magic,” one of the girls explained. “All the workers on the island know now, and you won’t escape… not without help.”

I took a deep breath and pushed away from Annabeth, her hands steadying me as I swayed despite being on my knees. I blinked the spots out of my vision and turned, relying on Annabeth to stay steady.

“Are you offering that help?” I asked slowly.

“Why should we trust you to help us?” Annabeth added.

She pushed to her feet, her legs a steady presence against my back.

“We…” the girls shared a look.

Their hair was hidden in elegant soft yellow veils, and they wore elegant khitons in soft green. Bronze threads and pins held it in place, along with their hair. Their brown skin shone in the light of the hallway.

“We don’t think you deserve this, we don’t want to help you get hurt… and you also don’t really have a choice, not right now.”

Annabeth crossed her arms, “I’m more than capable of defending us. Why do we need you?”

“You are fierce indeed,” said the older one. “But against all the guards of the island? Against all of Lady Kirke’s students? You wouldn’t survive. They’ve trained far longer than you.”

Annabeth hesitated, her legs pressing against my back. I shrugged, tilting my head up to look at her.

She chewed her lip, studying me for a moment, and then nodded.

“Fine,” she said. “We’ll let you help… but if you betray us, I’ll stab you. Repeatedly.”

Her fingers touched her knife as she spoke, and the girls nodded quickly in response.

“We understand,” the younger said.

“We can lead you to the boats,” the other said. I thought she was the one to welcome us to the island. Hi-something. “You can use them to get off the island.”

Annabeth offered me a hand, pulling me up as I took it. I stumbled and she tugged me close to her, slipping an arm around me to steady me.

“You okay?” she whispered as I swayed.

The world spun around me, light splashed across my vision. Dark spots danced across my eyes.

“Ow,” I muttered. “Can’t see well-“

The girls khitons swayed, I could see the pretty way the light reflected off the metal holding their outfit and hair in place.

“I’ll handle things,” Annabeth assured me, a worried frown on her face. I didn’t like that, she shouldn’t look so worried. “Trust me.”

“I always trust you,” I muttered.

She flushed, her gaze softening, “Well, hold on then.”

“Ready?” the girls asked.

Annabeth nodded, stepping forward and helping me follow.

“Then let’s go,” Hi-something said.

“What are your names?” I blurted.

“That’s Hylla,” Annabeth reminded me, motioning to the older one.

Hylla, I knew it started with an H.

“I’m Reyna,” the younger one said. She still looked older than me and Annabeth. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I was supposed to say something back. What was it- manners- ugh brain to tired for this... oh yeah!

“Maie em maiv houp opu,” I mumbled, dropping my head on Annabeth’s arm. Why was she so tall? Entirely unfair.

Annabeth snorted, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Hylla led the way down the hall, glittering tiles depicted images of sunrise, of battle, of ladies dancing, of fields of flowers, of stars glittering, decorating the walls, the ceiling, the floor.

I idly wondered if I could put stars on my ceiling at home, that would be pretty.

Annabeth helped me walk as best she could, but I was struggling. Her support was the only reason I could move down the hall. I was relieved she was there, I would’ve been dead without her.

“In here,” Hylla hissed, tugging us into a room.

A waterfall decorated one side, a deep pool beneath it. Chairs were scattered around, and a set of large fabric squares were hung along one wall.

“Hmm,” Hylla said, studying them.

“Why are we in here?” Annabeth hissed, helping me sit in one of the soft chairs. I eyed the water.

“I caught a glimpse of one of the magicals of the island,” Hylla explained, still studying the cloths. “We don’t want to face them, Lady Kirke trained them herself and they’re very skilled.”

“The vitamins I took should prevent us from being affected,” Annabeth pointed out.

“Not all the magicals use the same kinds of magic,” Reyna warned. “They may use a kind not protected against, as there is no full proof shield. And well…”

“Even if they can’t harm you directly,” I piped up. “They might do something to the floor, or break the walls, or bring down the ceiling, or turn something else into a tiger to attack you.”

Reyna waved to me, “That.”

“Here,” Hylla said. “Put this on.”

Both of us blinked as she shoved a large cloth into Annabeth’s arms, and dropped another on me.

I blinked, too tired for words... this was confusing. “Eaye?”

“Oh!” Reyna grinned. “That’s smart.”

“Disguises,” Annabeth mused. “But Percy’s hair-“

Hylla held up a deep blue cloth with green vines decorating it. “You can cover yourselves, you’ll just look like you want your privacy. Plenty of visitors do so.”

Annabeth relaxed, “Himations are good for that… alright…”

“Himations are used for privacy?”

What was a himation?

Annabeth smiled at me as she gathered the khiton handed to her (soft blue, elegant red flowers coiling over the edges).

“Himations were used a lot in ancient times to grant women privacy in public, same with veils really. Himations were commonly used to veil as well- it allowed a woman to express themselves.”

I wondered how that worked, sounded nice.

“Are we going to wear the same thing?”

Hylla hummed, “You can, there are various styles to wear the fabrics in. You could wear a peplos, or a khiton.”

“You’ll have a himation regardless,” Hylla said. “That should definitely help hide your form.”

“Dress quickly,” Reyna added. “We need to move before they lock down the docks.

Annabeth moved somewhere behind me, rustling fabric audible.

“Do you need help with the khiton?” Reyna asked. “I can aid you if you need it.”

I held it up with a frown, “I’ve never worn one before.”

“I’ll help,” Reyna said. “You’ll need to stand and remove your over clothes.”

She turned away while I removed my clothes, and handed me the large cloth without looking at me when I was ready.

“Fold it around your body in a narrow tube, and fold down the top,” Reyna explained. “I’ll help you pin it in place when you do.”

I hesitantly did so, swaying as I wrapped it. I stumbled on the fabric when shifting and yelped, Reyna catching me before I could fall.

“Here, I’ll help you finish wrapping it.”

She wound it tighter around me and pulled out silver pins to pin it in place at my shoulders. She left for a moment before returning with several silver rope-like pieces.

“It’s considered stylish to wear them as belts,” she explained, helping wrap them around me. “This style I’m doing is meant to help with ease of movement when doing activities or work for women. It wouldn’t be as common here, but if you need to move freely this is better.”

She crossed the belt across my chest, pinning it neatly.

Then she grabbed a himation, the deep blue one.

“You can simply drape this over your head-“ she carefully did so, tucking it around my hair “-and let me grab a few pins in case you need them…”

She helped tuck it against my hair and checked the beaded weights along the edges of it.

“They help keep it in place,” she explained. “This style is considered more modest, for privacy. It should work fine and hides the belts nicely. It’s a bit warm for a himation, but this is a thin fabric so…”

I slumped back in the seat the moment she declared me ready and closed my eyes.

I was so tired. But the fabric was really soft.

“Percy,” Annabeth called. “Are you ready?”

“Mm, yeahhhh,” I mumbled.

I felt her hand on my shoulder as she leaned over me.

“You look very stylish,” she said lightly. “Maybe we should grab a few fabrics for later.”

I blinked at her.

She giggled, “Kitten eyes.”

She grinned when I wrinkled my nose at her.

“One minute, let me ask.”

The waterfall in front of me looked nice, and it sounded nice… Maybe I could just get in for a second-

“Percy?”

I blinked up at Annabeth again, this time with fabric folded neatly in her arms.

“Ready?”

I nodded, letting her tug me up and carefully tie the fabric against me, to keep it safe in case she needed to fight.

She looked very nice in her khiton, a soft blue that was folded a lot more intricately than mine.

“Mine’s an Ionic khiton,” she said. “You’re wearing a more Doric style, it’s simpler but works well.”

I hummed, leaning against her as she started out the door, a himation in soft grey with bright blue birds decorating it.

I did my best to seem alert as we walked down the hall, led by Reyna and Hylla as if we were normal guests. I was very grateful for the himation, which hid part of my face from view (especially when I ducked my head).

Annabeth’s support was literally a life saver, I was exhausted and my body too heavy for me to have been able to make it without her. I really wished we’d brought Martha, or that I’d gotten more rest.

The world spun with every step, but her hold was firm and she went only as fast as I was able. I was thankful, even though I wished I could just sleep.

“Maybe we should’ve kept you as a cat until we left,” Annabeth mused. “I mean you act like one regardless-“

“I’m a kraken,” I grumbled. “Triton said so.”

“A baby kraken,” Annabeth teased. “Who has kitten eyes and wrinkles your nose like a little cat-“

I wrinkled my nose and she laughed.

“I’m fierce and dead-“ I yawned “-deadly.”

“Very obviously so,” she giggled. “Tell me, do you prefer tuna or salmon?”

“Tuna-“ I scowled as she cackled. “I’m a mer! I like fish!”

“Mkay, cat boy.”

“Owl head,” I grumbled.

“Your fur was softer than your hair,” she added. “But it looked like your hair, soft with lots of color.”

I flushed, tugging at my himation.

“I’m a kraken, not a kitten.”

She poked me lightly, “A very deadly kitty kraken.”

“I’m calling you owl head forever.”

“Okay kitty kraken.”

The girls in front of us sent an amused look back. I pouted.

“We’re nearly out,” Reyna said. “Just this way-“

She ran right into two women coming around the corner.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said bowed quickly to them. “I was just leading these guests back to the docks.”

The woman studied us carefully, I kept my eyes down.

“All guests are to wait until the count is done before leaving, for the survey.”

Reyna swallowed.

“Well, they were in a rush, I’ve already noted them down-“

“Have you?”

“Yes, χορηγός,” Reyna said.

Khoregos, fun word. Leading, lead, to lead, to uh- I didn’t know what it meant.

I guessed leader.

The woman, and the one next to her, both looked very skeptical.

“What are your names?” She asked Annabeth and I.

“Alicia,” Annabeth said quickly. “And this is- um- Fiona.”

I bowed my head and kept silent.

“Alicia,” the woman said slowly, flipping through the papers on the clipboard she’d pulled out of nowhere. “I’m afraid you aren’t on our guest list.”

Hylla shifted, “We-“

“You wouldn’t happen to have just met Lady K, would you?”

“Just one moment,” Annabeth said politely, the women raising their hands and clearly ready to attack.

She helped me to the wall and let me sit down.

“Let me handle this,” she said softly. “You just rest.”

I blinked up at her, a frown on my face.

“Be careful.”

“Of course,” she said, pulling off her himation and handing it to me. “Hold my himation?”

“I’ve got it,” I assured her as she straightened and moved over to them.

“Let us pass, or I’ll make you.”

“You?” the woman laughed. “Little girl, I have trained under Lady Kirke for many years. You stand no chance. Surrender and we will take you without harm.”

“Making it is,” Annabeth declared.

She shifted her weight, then lunged, knife drawn in an instant. Light flashed out from the first woman, but it splashed uselessly against Annabeth. She ducked under a blast of fire one summoned, and flipped her knife neatly as she blocked a strike from the woman in front of her. With the hilt in hand she slipped right past something sharp that flashed out, shattering against the wall, and slammed the pommel against the woman’s head.

Hylla tackled the other woman, punching her in the face clumsily as Reyna hurried to help. The woman shrieked hands glowing.

“Traitors,” she snarled, a blast sending both Hylla and Reyna flying through a door that slammed shut and lit up gold.

Annabeth slammed into her before she could stand once more, her knife burying in her raised arm.

The woman sent tiles spinning into the air, flying at Annabeth on top of her, but Annabeth rolled off, yanking her knife out as she did.

Blood splashed the floor and tiles shattered, showering both girls in shards. Annabeth was back on her feet before the woman, blood dripping down the woman’s face. With a quick movement Annabeth sent her over her shoulder in a judo throw, then dropped on top of her and pressed against her throat.

“Surrender,” she hissed.

“Never!” she tried to raise a hand, the floor glowing, but Annabeth punched her in the face again.

She pressed harder, putting more pressure on the woman’s throat as she did. A few moments later the woman went silent, her hand dropping.

Annabeth stood, uninjured except a few scratches from the tile shards.

“Are you okay?” she asked me, hurrying back.

“That was so cool,” I whispered.

She flushed, “Thanks. Come on, I’ve got you.”

She helped me up, iron tinging the air and her clothes. I leaned against the wall as she wrapped her himation around her once more, then let her support me as we stumbled to the door Reyna and Hylla had been sent through.

Despite the woman being knocked out, the door was still sealed and glowing gold.

“You need to go on without us!”

Annabeth scoffed, and I couldn’t help but agree.

“We’re not leaving you behind!”

“You must,” Reyna said. “You’ll be killed if you’re found, we’ll just be punished. Leave us, get to safety.”

“We can’t just-“ I started.

“Please,” Hylla said. “Don’t make our actions to save you be in vain.”

Annabeth tried to jab her knife into the door frame, but the gold rebuffed it.

“Leave,” Reyna commanded. “The exit is just ahead, take a boat and get away quickly.”

If I had the energy I could’ve tried to force the door open… but I had nothing left to use. Annabeth tried again, then once more, but the gold guarded all the door and prevented her knife from even scratching it.

“You need to go,” Hylla said once more. “Respect our choice and leave.”

Annabeth glared, knife clutched in one hand while the other supported me. “If you don’t survive I’ll drag you out of Haides myself.”

I heard a soft huff on the other side, “If we don’t survive then may our souls find peace in Scotus. Now leave, and live.”

Annabeth swallowed, but turned away with me. Her grip on me tightened as she helped me down the hall.

“You need to live too,” she said, though I was uncertain if it was meant for their ears or not.

I didn’t like leaving, and neither did Annabeth, but her safety was more important. We didn’t have the time nor the means to open the door.

Hopefully we’d see them again another day. I wouldn’t forget what they’d done for us.

We continued down the hall, only hiding once to allow some guards to pass.

There were no alarms, but I knew that the unconscious figures had to have been found. If they could make the decrees they had so far without our knowledge, it was likely they had done so again.

Annabeth walked smoothly around another corner and paused.

In front of us was the entrance, a spiraling hippocampus in the fountain. The docks were just ahead, and the boats bobbing in the water.

Annabeth took a deep breath.

“We’re nearly out,” she said. “Just hang on.”

She helped me through the final hall, and down the ramp beside the steps. It was slow going, and it took all I had to not look behind me, to not look suspicious, but we finally made it to the docks.

We’d barely gotten three steps forward before a familiar hissing reached my ears.

Martha twined over my arm, curling over my shoulder. Her tongue flicked at my cheek, “I left you for ten minutessss.”

“More like an hour,” Annabeth said.

Martha hissed sharply.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “This is apparently Kirke’s island.”

“And she’s angry with us,” Annabeth added.

Martha coiled for a moment, then let out a snake-y sigh and leapt from my shoulder. By the time she hit the ground she’d grown many times in size.

“Climb on, I will get usss to the boat.”

“Go to pirate ship,” I said, yawning as Annabeth helped me sit on Martha’s scaly back. “I negotiated for it.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, “Before or after you got turned into a cat.”

“A cat?”

“Before.”

“There!” A voice cried from behind us.

Annabeth dropped on Martha’s back quickly, “We might wanna hurry.”

“Where are the bags?” I asked, then squeaked as Martha shot off.

Her body weaved back and forth, muscles contracting and expanded rapidly. I clung to her as the docks whizzed past, ocean waves crashing, guards charging, spots dancing across my vision as the world spun with her.

She twined quickly over the docks and reached the pirate ship in record time, curling over the ropes, with Annabeth keeping me on as she wrapped around them and reached the dock.

“I have the bagssss, do not worry.”

I relaxed, sliding off of her back onto the damp ship.

The deck was a mess of barnacles and various salt water puddles. I squinted at some of the suspicious spots.

“How are we driving this?” Annabeth asked, the guards behind us yelling and pointing at us.

I didn’t want to know what they would try to do to the boat to stop us.

“I can-“ I started, pushing up and ignoring the world spinning, the heaviness of my body, the need to rest.

“No,” Annabeth said fiercely, not even waiting for me to finish. “You’re about to pass out, I’m not letting you…”

Something flashed on her face as Martha tugged me into her coils to sit and she rushed over to me, tugging the folded fabrics off and digging through them.

“Aha!” she held up the thermos triumphantly.

“Destroy the boat,” A voice commanded. Annabeth rushed to side, knife in hand.

There was hacking, Annabeth shouted something I couldn’t quite make out but I imagined was insulting, and then with a roar the boat surged away from the dock.

I could hear the boat cracking, the screams of the people behind us, but the boat surged away, water and people crashing, and Martha tightened around me.

“Ressst,” she hissed, allowing me to slump as the boat switched directions.

I trusted them to watch over me until I woke.

I let my eyes slide shut and darkness take me.

OO OO OO OO

I woke once more to sun in my eyes. It was just like the day before.

Or at least I hoped it was the day before. I was still far too tired despite the sleep I’d gotten. I’d really need to improve a lot in my skills, this quest had really shown me how quickly I could be exhausted.

I shifted and relaxed against the scales beneath me, a soft fabric covering me. It must’ve been one of the cloths for clothing from Kirke’s island. It was very comfy.

“Good morning,” hissed Martha.

I groaned, pulling the fabric over my head.

I was really tired of waking up like this. Far too tired, wanted more sleep.

“Hey, Percy,” Annabeth said.

I peaked up, squinting at her.

She had changed, putting on pants once more. But she still had a short khiton on as a shirt.

“It’s comfortable,” she said with a flush as I blinked at it.

“It looks nice,” I assured quickly, yawning and stretching.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, moving over to me.

“Tired.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “You’ve done a lot lately, and I can’t imagine it was easy fighting Kirke.”

I groaned, “She’s a really good curser.”

“Sssshe hasss much experiencccce.”

I grumbled, reluctantly sitting up. “I know.”

“How did you fight her?” Annabeth asked. “She’s… well…”

“Defending from being cursed is much easier than cursing, or even curse breaking. You just have to poke a hole in the curse before it can tighten.”

Annabeth blinked, “How does that work?”

“Like…” I tugged at the fabric covering me. “You gotta jab your power out- the same way I thread it through water and stuff. But instead stabbing it out in more raw form.”

“I’ve never used power like that before,” Annabeth said. “I didn’t really realize it was possible.”

“Takes lessons,” I said. “I was reading on how it works when we arrived at the island.”

“Oh… is it something I could learn?”

I shrugged, “Maybe? Probably? We can try to teach you later?”

Martha nudged me, her head bigger than mine, “Sssshe can learn yesss. But for now, you are needed. Discusssss magic later”

“We’re out of wind,” Annabeth agreed reluctantly. “Do you know how to direct the ship?”

I frowned, staring at the ship.

“I uh… don’t… I was just gonna move the water around it.”

Annabeth looked unamused. I flushed.

“We’ll have to wait for you to recover more first,” Annabeth said. “I definitely don’t want to arrive at the island with you ready to pass out.”

I nodded reluctantly, letting Annabeth check me over for injuries.

“How did you get the khiton short?” I asked. “We didn’t have smaller fabrics, did we?”

“Martha changed the size,” she explained. “Do you want her to do that for your too?”

I tugged at the khiton then nodded. It was too long for me to be comfortable.

Twenty minutes later Annabeth was helping me pin the khiton over my shoulder and arranging the folds nicely.

I was also wearing pants beneath it.

“This is actually kinda easy to do,” I muttered, trying to copy her example.

“Well, it was done for hundreds of years,” she pointed out with a grin. “If you wanted you could wear a Khlamys too.”

I thought of Eros in a khlamys.

“I’m good,” I squeaked.

She snickered.

The change of clothes did feel nice though. And so did the food from Annabeth’s lunch box (so glad we had the magic lunch box).

We relaxed on the ship, Martha having cleaned a section to be good for us to sit on. I wished I could work on the ship, but they’d ordered me to save my energy.

It was nice to just… drift and rest. We ate the food, drank water, and rested.

And talked of course. We didn’t have much else to do.

OO OO OO OO

“We’re going to pass the Siren’s,” Annabeth said hesitantly. “Or at least we should… I would like to hear their song.”

“Please don’t,” I said. “They tend to eat people.”

“You could tie me up!”

“You could get free.”

“It would be fine!”

“They’re deadly. If you really want to hear a Siren’s Song, then I’ll bring you to meet Fetu. He’s great at it, and not cursed and up to eating you.”

Annabeth grumbled but accepted the deal.

OO OO OO OO

“So your step-mom didn’t get any better?”

“No,” she said with a wince. “I’m not going back there. Not only was it horrible, but they’re also planning on moving soon. To California.”

“California?”

“The bay area, and Mount Tam is there. If it was bad in Virginia, it will be so much worse there.”

“Why?”

She blinked at me, “Sometimes I forget you don’t know much about land myth stuff. You know so much about the sea.”

I shuffled, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she waved her hand. “Just takes me off guard sometimes. But uh- yeah Mount Tam is also Mount Othrys… sorta. It’s not literally Mount Othrys, in the same way Mount Olympus over the Empire State Building isn’t literally Mount Olympus. But it’s like- it’s the base of power of the older rule.”

“Wait- but there is a Mountain over the Empire State Building.”

“Ehhh, sorta,” she wrinkled her nose. “It’s not a literal Mountain, it’s more… symbolic? It’s the form they choose for Olympus. Sometimes it changes. One time it was a huge plateau.”

“Wow.”

“It can ssshift to many thingsss,” Martha agreed. “It issss what the Godssss desssire it to be.”

“Cool,” I muttered. “But you were saying?”

“Oh, yeah. So, Mount Tam is kinda known for being a monster hot spot cause of the older energy there. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard. We’re encouraged to avoid it by the Gods, most say their parents guide them away from California as a whole unless they have to be there.”

“How interesting,” I muttered. “Is that true?”

I looked at Martha, and Annabeth turned as well in interest.

Martha hissed, “There are many threatssss there. Monsssstersss are not the only one. It isss besssst to avoid that area.”

“Good to know,” I said.

“Definitely not going back,” Annabeth agreed.

OO OO OO OO

“I really am sorry,” Annabeth said softly as the sun set. “I shouldn’t have put such an expectation on you to heal Thalia’s tree.”

“I should’ve said no,” I said. “I knew I wasn’t good at healing.”

“I insisted,” she reminded me. “It wasn’t fair of me.”

“You were scared,” I said. “Triton said people don’t think right when they’re scared.”

“Triton is very wise,” she said, with a small smile.

“You just say that cause he raised your Mom.”

“Well, my mom is the wisest… but really… thank you… I know what I said was-“

“It hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I mean- it hurt but… you were hurt… I forgive you.”

“You’re too nice,” she said with a sigh.

“You’re just vicious,” I teased. “I mean wow, that woman at Kirke’s is gonna have a ruined nose from that punch-“

She threw a barnacle at me as I laughed.

OO OO OO OO

“So, what was it like? Traveling along with Luke and Thalia I mean.”

“It was… it was fun. We went all over and saw so many things…”

She sighed, staring at the stars above.

“Thalia would dye streaks into her hair sometimes, she liked electric blue but it required too much upkeep. Luke always got so exasperated. She did my hair one time, it was a bright pink.”

“Really?”

She nodded, smiling, “It faded really quick, pink is always the quickest to fade… I cried for ages I think, Luke didn’t let Thalia dye my hair again after that.”

“My friend made some special dye,” I said hesitantly. “It’s really long lasting… it’s what I dye my hair with.”

Annabeth looked at me wide eyed.

“You could dye your hair if you wanted.”

She swallowed, turning back to study the stars.

“… I… I would like that.”

“What was Thalia like?”

“Headstrong,” she said immediately. “She was stubborn to a fault. Kept starting fights, but… she was amazing with Luke and I. One time she got in a fight with the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis-“

“Hunters? I feel like that’s been mentioned before…”

“Oh yeah, they’re the ones working with Lady Artemis. They used to be just the sixty Okeanids, but She’s diversified a lot. There are several factions too- the actual Hunters and then the Pack of Artemis and the Maidens of Artemis. They all have different purposes and different rules.”

“Wow,” I said. “Artemis is worshiped a lot in the sea, but I didn’t know about that stuff.”

“It’s very interesting,” Annabeth agreed. “We met them one time and they tried to recruit Thalia and offered me a place with the Pack.”

“What would that be like?”

She hummed, “The Pack is… they’re loyal to Lady Artemis, dedicated to Her. But they’re not sworn to Her like the Maidens or the Hunt. They run foster cares, orphanages, women’s centers, and those kinds of things. They care for the people left behind and stuff.”

“Huh, that sounds cool. What about the other one you mentioned, the Maidens?”

“Oh uh, they’re sworn to Lady Artemis as well, but are more… uh… defenders? The Pack protects people, and offer aid, and the Maidens get people out of the situations in the first place. I don’t know much about how they work, they’re for adults only. I do know part of their vow is to not marry.”

I hummed, studying the stars with Annabeth in silence for a long while.

“So, what happened with Thalia and the hunt?”

“Oh yeah,” Annabeth laughed. “Thalia tried to stab the Lieutenant when she mentioned us going to different places, especially when she stated Luke was not allowed as all those of Artemis’ sworn groups are women, or at least not men. Thalia is not allowed to talk to the hunt now.”

I snorted, “She’s very protective.”

“She lost a family member before,” Annabeth said softly. “She never told me the details but mentioned him once. I think she was scared of losing us too.”

I winced, reaching out a hand to Annabeth.

“Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to bring the mood down.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “It sucks that so many demigods have to deal with losing people close to them.”

“It does,” she agreed. “I wish… I wish things could be different.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d never really lost those close to me. The one closest to me was immortal, and though I’d lost my mom I got her back.

Annabeth wouldn’t get Thalia back, and Luke had betrayed her. Her own dad didn’t seem to care for her and her step-mom ostracized her. Her Mom looked out for her, but could only do so much.

She’d suffered a lot more than me in the family side of things.

“Maybe we can improve things,” I offered. “Don’t people always say the world is what you make of it?”

Annabeth let out a breath, “Maybe… I want to make my mark on the world. I want to do something that will stand for thousands of years… Maybe it can be something that prevents this sort of suffering from happening to others.”

I squeezed her hand, unsure what to say in the face of that.

OO OO OO OO

Acantha POV

I groaned as they finally rested, rubbing her tail.

“That last sea serpent was not happy to see us.”

“Yes,” Antonio-fu’oro muttered. “It’s troublesome for sure. We don’t know this area’s safe spots. Traveling above the water seems to be allowed, but under requires you to know what paths to take.”

“We should skim the surface,” Kai said. “It will take more energy but will hopefully have less… Messes.”

I grumbled, Klara joining me. Skimming the surface took a lot more energy. You had to deal with the surface waves and their pull while swimming, it was much easier to swim deeper.

“Well, we should only be a day out from Percy-aia,” Antonio-fu’oro said. “Assuming we keep up a speed roughly like this we should catch him… within two days, assuming he moves again.”

I perked up, “Then we’re really close!”

“And then we can ensure his safety,” Kai said, relief in his voice. “He’s still been moving, so he must be alright.”

“And we can check on Tyson,” Klara added. “I’m worried for him still.”

Antonio-fu’oro folded up the map he’d been studying.

“Indeed. We have much to do, so twenty more minutes to rest and then we’ll get moving again.”

OO OO OO OO

Okeanus POV

I studied the map of Camp Half-Blood’s beach. It would be a pain for any ship to reach it, not that it mattered too much in this case. But he thought it would be easier to dock further away and send smaller vessels ashore.

But what did he know, he wasn’t a shipping God. Just one of the literal embodiments of the ocean.

“Aril-ari, the Sea Serpents have been contacted. They will be ready when the time comes.”

I smiled, “And early, thank you.”

The messenger twisted her fingers in a motion of respect before swimming out.

I sighed, “So much to do still, but things are finally falling into place.”

OO OO OO OO

Fanart done of Cat Percy!

(By: AO3Lurker55 on Deviantart)

(By: Me)

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

You may notice I've put a chapter count finally, hopefully it's accurate and I'm not miscalculating.

The final chapter will be another Q&A and bonus scene, so if you have any questions you want me to answer, send them in! And also feel free to make a request on what the bonus scene should be :) I have a few ideas but I've not decided yet.

What did you think of their escape from the island? Their discussions while on the boat? What is Okeanus up to?

Halmaheran
Maie em maiv houp opu=It's nice to meet you
Eaye=What
Aril=King

Suffixes
fu'oro=master teacher
aia=prince
ari=previous king

Terminology
Please note that hospitality rights (mentioned briefly by Annabeth) are actually hugely important in Greek custom. Even in the modern day there are expectations, but in Ancient times there's practically a code for it. Zeus was the one who was basically the "enforcer" of it.
Peplos=a style of Greek dress, It is a simple sleeveless outer garment worn primarily by women. It is an older style and fell out of popularity in the 540 BCE.
Khiton=phonetic spelling of Chiton. This is the most commonly seen type of Greek style, used by men and women both (though in different forms usually). It is a square of fabric (as most styles) folded and pinned into place, in a variety of manners.
Doric style Khiton=it can also be considered a peplos by some, but primarily known as a khiton. It is a less intricate style of stress, with a simple fold and could have additional folds added with the help of belts.
Ionic style Khiton=a more complex style of khiton using 8-10 pins to pin the fabric over the arms, and numerous folds. Belts were utilized for the folds and to decorate.
Himation=a large square of fabric used in a similar manner to a shawl, it could be used to cover the head, pinned over the shoulder, or wrapped around the wearer. It was most commonly used by women in the later days, men favoring the khlamys.
χορηγός=(Khoregos) a word meaning roughly 'to lead'. It was a term used in Athens for wealthy citizens given public duty related to financing amongst other things. It is being used here as a title for the woman in charge of the matters of organizing the people, but whom is not a proper commander. They are a high ranking, but still low positioned worker of Kirke.
Haides=used as both the name of Hades and as the name of the underworld
Scotus=used both as the name of the entrance to the underworld, the underworld itself, and as the name of the primordial. Roman name of Erebus.
Hunters of Artemis=A set of maidens sworn to chastity. They hunt along side Artemis and are spoken of in the mythos. Originally they were formed of 60 Okeanids, picked by Artemis, along with 20 river nymphs helping the hunt.
Maidens of Artemis=a group I have created for the purpose of my story.
Pack of Artemis=a group I have created for the purpose of my story
Artemis' Groups=each of her people have their own vow unique to the group (Hunt, Maidens, Pack). Each has their own purpose.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 33: When the World Comes Crashing Down (But you live)

Summary:

Did ya miss me?

I'm sure you missed Tyson!

Notes:

I know I post Monday's, but it's Monday for some of you, also I'm 3 months late lmao. I don't know if I'll update next week as I have an essay and several exams this week, but now that the writer's block has finally left me alone, I'm hoping to be able to update it properly!

I even combined two canon chapters for this one <3

So, hope you enjoy!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I did not like mountain climbing.

The rocks were sharp and rough and cut my skin each time I clung tight; my fingers bleeding from hanging by the tips of them as my feet scrambled for a grip. My knees were aching from the numerous times I’d banged them against the mountain side.

I had experience on a harder rock wall of course, we did the one at camp all the time. But it was designed to have break areas, so you could rest if you needed it. Real mountain walls apparently didn’t see the need for that.

There were a few spots we could rest, but they were small and far between. And while it wasn’t quite a sheer face… it was pretty close.

So… not a fun climb.

Martha tried to help where she could, curling around us like a rope and finding the easiest paths, but this wasn’t exactly easy.

But we couldn’t take the easy path up the lush rolling hills we saw floating in.

The lush hills sparkled green, tall grasses, as tall as me, waving in the breeze. Groves of trees dotted the land, taller than the norm. Annabeth had pointed out the apple and pear trees, murmuring how they normally didn’t get so large. Animals were grazing the grasses, massive sheep as large as a bull.

And somewhere there I had sensed a presence full of life. My breath came easier, my skin hummed with a pleasant warmth, coolness twining down my back. It all but drowned out the sea beneath me. I couldn’t see where the fleece was, only that it was there.

I couldn’t imagine many artifacts that echoed with life and nature and sunlight and water on it.

It was how we knew this was the island. Nothing else would match.

The mountain rose above the fields and trees. Rose above the rocky path atop a hill. Above the rope bridge swinging lightly in the breeze. It was tall, with large paths climbing up it.

I couldn’t see any caves, but I knew there was one. The mythology spoke of one, and more importantly Grover was in a cave.

But if we went straight through the island, over the lush fields and across the rope bridge, we’d be in full view of the Kyklopes that called the island home.

So, despite the beauty, despite the ease of the trip, we couldn’t risk it.

Thus, the climb.

Annabeth slipped above me with a soft curse and steadied herself, blood staining some of the rocks from a cut on her leg she earned banging it earlier.

We were both in our normal clothes once more, deciding not to wear the comfy khiton and instead to wear the shirts and pants from our bags. Our armor was overtop the shirts, the scales of my chest plate and arm guards glittering in the light of the sun in a way they never would in the ocean. Annabeth’s burnished bronze only gleamed dully in contrast, much better for sneaking.

Hopefully they wouldn’t be needed, but… better safe than sorry.

I peered up but couldn’t tell how much more of the mountain there was, not with Annabeth ahead of my and the sky above that.

It was slow going, hard going. The mountain was much harder to climb than the wall at camp, and far more dangerous as well. The camp wall had lava, but this wall had no safety net for falling. There was no gentle breeze ready to sweep you down or a medic to check you over.

We climbed and climbed, rocks crumbling, hands bleeding, bodies aching.

For a moment I wished this was a waterfall, that I could simply wrap us in the ocean and guide us up. It was a fleeting wish, a fanciful one, before I focused once more on the rock ahead of me, just above me. I tested the grips and winced at the sting in my hands. Reach, grip tight, move my foot, find a solid hold, move my other foot, reach with my other hand-

I kept climbing, kept reaching and lifting and breathing and-

I blinked as my hand found only air and squinted up.

Annabeth was just climbing to sit on the ledge- no, there was no mountain above her, that was the top of the mountain.

I forgot a lot of mountains weren’t very pointy, very odd.

I got a solid grip and pulled myself up the rest of the way, knees aching as I dropped onto the ground next to Annabeth, breathing hard.

We had climbed the mountain. I felt that was an accomplishment but wasn’t sure what to call it. Could you put that on a college application? ‘I climbed massive mountain a Kyklopes lives on, give me a scholarship’?

Annabeth groaned, rolling over.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I grumbled, propping up on my elbows, “Yeah, you?”

She nodded. There was a small scrape on her cheek, we probably needed to bandage ourselves up. It wouldn’t do to fight a Kyklopes while bleeding out.

Of course, before we could even begin to pull out the bandages, a booming voice from below drew our attention.

On the other side of the mountain top, below the peak we were sitting on, was the Kyklopes cave.

A massive rock sat to the side of it, and Annabeth and I leaned down to listen.

“You’re a feisty one!” a deep voice bellowed.

“Challenge me!” said the very familiar voice of Clarisse. “Give me back my sword and I’ll fight you!”

Polyphemus roared with laughter.

Annabeth and I peered over the edge but couldn’t see into the cave, only hear the conversation happening. We swallowed hard and listened carefully, hidden on the top of the mountain.

Clarisse had clearly survived. I wondered, hoped desperately, that Tyson had as well. That Tyson would be there, would be safe, or at least alive. But I did not hear him and felt nothing of his familiar presence.

“Hmm,” the Kyklopes pondered. “Eat loudmouth girl now… or wait for wedding feast? Hmm… what does my bride think?”

I heard a shuffle as Grover squeaked, and I could imagine him stumbling over his dress at the attention. “Oh um… I’m uh- I’m not hungry right now, dear… Perhaps-“

“Wait, wait, wait,” Clarisse interrupted. “Did you say bride? To Grover?”

Annabeth stiffened as my breath caught.

“Shut up,” Annabeth muttered. “She has to shut up.”

Polyphemus huffed, “What is Grover?”

“The satyr!?” Clarisse yelled, sounding baffled.

“What satyr?” Polyphemus bellowed. “Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?”

“Don’t answer,” Annabeth hissed.

“The one in the wedding… dress?” Clarisse stopped, seeming to realize too late what she was doing.

I wanted to wring her neck, and Annabeth looked about ready to jump down and do that herself, but the damage was clearly done. Deep breathing echoed below before a low growl rumbled through the air.

I swallowed as brimstone and burnt meat filled my nose.

“I don’t see very well,” growled Polyphemus. “Not since many years ago when another hero stabbed me in eye. But… YOU’RE – NO – LADY – KYKLOPES!”

We heard a yelp from Grover, and hooves clattering on the stone floor.

“Stop!” Grover pleaded. “Don’t eat me raw! I – I have a good recipe!”

I reached for my trident charm, but Annabeth put a hand on my arm, “Wait.”

There was a brief pause, “Recipe?”

“Oh y-yes! You don’t want to eat me raw. You’ll get E. coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things! I’ll taste much better roasted over a slow fire, with mango chutney! You could go get some mangoes right now, down there in the woods. I’ll just… wait here.”

There was a long pause where my heart was in my throat. I didn’t imagine I’d have much luck attacking myself, and Annabeth seemed to be of similar mind. Polyphemus had been defeated by trickery before, not strength, but I couldn’t let Grover (or Clarisse) die.

“Roasted satyr with mango chutney,” Polyphemus mused. There was a considering pause. “You a satyr, too?”

I assumed he’d turned to Clarisse for that as she swiftly snapped back.

“No, you overgrown pile of dung! I’m a girl! A daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!”

“Rip my arms off,” Polyphemus repeated, bemused.

“And stuff them down your throat!”

“You got spunk.”

“Let me down!”

Movement sounded beneath us and the Kyklopes spoke, ignoring Clarisse’s demands.

“Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we’ll eat satyr for main course!”

“But… you’re still getting married?” Grover sounded hurt. I wondered if he suffered from Stockholm syndrome. “Who’s the bride?”

There was a brief pause before Clarisse started yelling again.

“Oh no! You can’t be serious. I’m not—”

I blinked, slowly registering the implication that- that-

“Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!”

The Kyklopes then whistled and stepped out of the cave, letting us get a look at him for the first time.

Polyphemus was wearing a painful wedding suit, well, not a suit. It was… almost a khiton… if said khiton was baby blue and stitched together from tuxedoes, as if he’d skinned an entire wedding party. The hair on his head was roughly braided with bones and shining metal that… I thought they were weapons.

Sheep and goats flooded out of the cave behind him—smaller than the ones we’d seen sailing in—and heading down to the pasture. Polyphemus patted some on the back, cheerfully greeting them by name.

How he could identify sheep that seemed identical to me but not Grover being a satyr I had no idea.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled the boulder we’d seen in front of his doorway, shutting it tight and sealing off the sounds of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

“Mangoes,” Polyphemus grumbled to himself as he walked down the mountain that was practically a hill to him. “What are mangoes.”

And with that Annabeth and I were left sharing a dread filled look, Clarisse and Grover depending on our ability to rescue them before sundown.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth and I tried for what felt like hours, but the boulder didn’t so much as budge. We tried shoving, pulling, digging, I tried to suck the water out of the rock but it was large and I was weakened from the rest of the quest and all I managed was a bit of per-spir-a-tion before Annabeth had me stop out of concern.

Even Martha tried to help, but without outright interference (without taking on a more divine form, large enough and strong enough to move the boulder herself) she couldn’t help. And she was a guide and a guardian on the quest, not the quest goer. She hissed an apology as she draped over my shoulders, having failed to move the boulder in the ‘mortal allowed’ form she’d taken.

I glared at the rock, thoroughly frustrated with our failure. Even if we managed to kill Polyphemus, it wouldn’t do much good. He wouldn’t be able to eat Grover, but he also wouldn’t be able to move the boulder to free them any longer.

Annabeth had us sit down and treat our injuries from the climb while we waited for the sun to set, many hours still before that would happen. We traded off cleaning the others cuts and rubbing paste on the bruises and wrapping bandages before finally climbing onto the top of the mountain, above the entrance, once more and laying down to think.

“Trickery,” Annabeth declared after some time. “We can’t win this by force, so we’ll have to use trickery.”

“What trick?” I wondered.

She mused silently for a while.

“Learn from the passsst,” Martha suggested. “Polyphemusss hasss been faccced before and defeated.”

Annabeth sat up.

“Hey, Percy,” she said slowly.

I squinted at her.

“How much do you like sheep?”

OO OO OO OO

“Don’t let go,” Annabeth hissed, standing somewhere off to my right with her invisibility cap on. It was easy for her to say, she wasn’t hanging on the belly of a sheep.

Now, it wasn’t that hard, the sheep didn’t seem to care about the extra weight and even the smallest of them was big enough to support my weight. The wool was thick and easy to twine my fingers into, though it kept trying to poke into my eyes and nose and mouth.

But it was still a strain to hold on for so long, as the sun went down slowly and the Kyklopes led the way back up the slopes. Plus, the underside of a sheep didn’t smell that great and I had to breathe carefully to not gag.

The walk up the mountain was slow going, the flock trudging up and down the slopes, plodding along the path up and up and up to the cave.

“I’ll be close,” Annabeth whispered. “Don’t worry.”

I didn’t bother to try to open my mouth to respond with the fur trying its best to get in, but I made a mental note to tell her she was a genius if this worked out.

“Hasenpfeffer,” The Kyklopes said, patting one of the sheep ahead. “Einstein—” I could hear the sheep give a baa in response “—Widget—eh-“

A heavy wait landed on the sheep and I nearly lost my grip.

“Putting on some extra weight there,” the Polyphemus said with a booming laugh. “Go on, you’ll be good breakfast soon!”

And just like that the sheep, and I, were in the cave.

I couldn’t see beyond the sheep’s furry underneath, but I could hear just fine when Annabeth pulled her distraction.

“Hey, ugly!”

“Who said that?” Polyphemus bellowed, loud movement heralding him moving away from the door.

“Nobody!” Annabeth yelled back.

That got the exact reaction she’d told me she wanted.

“Nobody!” Polyphemus roared. “I remember you!”

“Ha! You wouldn’t remember the path to your cave if it weren’t the only one available, much less Nobody!”

I heard Polyphemus bellow with rage, wordless and wild, and a loud scrape before wind whistled and a massive shattering boom shook the ground.

I hoped to the Gods that she’d moved, because as I rolled out from under Widget I found the boulder that had been his front door gone.

Silence reigned for a beat.

Two beats.

Three-

“You haven’t learned to throw any better either!” Annabeth laughed.

Polyphemus howled, the air shaking. “Come here! I will kill you, Nobody!”

“You can’t kill Nobody, you stupid oaf,” she taunted. “You can’t even see me!”

Polyphemus raged and stomped his feet, demanding she show herself. But Annabeth laughed, and her voice grew fainter as she moved away.

“Come back here, Nobody!” Polyphemus roared, charging down the hill after her with loud booming footsteps.

I was so glad I’d read the Odyssey, so I’d understood Annabeth’s plan fairly quickly. Though Odysseus had revealed his name to Polyphemus at the end of the trick, and that was why he was cursed, Annabeth was banking on Polyphemus remembering the name Nobody more clearly.

Clearly she’d been right, because though she was a different gender and invisible, Polyphemus didn’t even hesitate to treat her as he had Odysseus.

I assumed he ascribed to the sea view of “gender is whatever you say”, as he’d also wanted to marry Grover who wasn’t at all a woman.

I gave Widget a pat and a quick thanks for the ride then headed out to search.

The sheep and goats reached my shoulders at their shortest, and twice my size at their largest, so it took a lot of pushing and shoving and slipping past them to search the room and determine Grover and Clarisse weren’t there.

I’d dreamed about the place before, but hadn’t seen much of the interior, so I could only assume there were more rooms. And indeed, I quickly found a maze of hallways to search through.

They were all massive, several times my height and width and scattered with bones. Clearly, he wasn’t big on sweeping.

The rooms I ran past were varied in their interiors. With one that seemed to be a hot spring, another that seemed to be filled with various furs, another filled with fruits, and another still decorated with many cement sheep. I found rooms filled with wool, rooms filled with fabric, rooms filled with yarn, and rooms filled with thread. I searched a room filled with teetering crates with symbols in a language I didn’t know, and another with various weapons of all sizes displayed. Yet another room shone with rainbow crystals and the one after had blood stained floors and a trident painted on the wall.

I finally found Grover and Clarisse near the back, in a room I recognized from my dreams. A spinning loom took the place of honor in the room, and Grover and Clarisse huddled in the back corner with a pair of dulled bronze scissors.

“It’s no good,” Clarisse was saying. “This rope is like iron!”

“Just a few more minutes!”

“Grover,” she cried, exasperated. “You’ve been working at it for hours!”

And then her eyes landed on me.

“Percy?” she gaped. “I thought you were eaten by Skylla!”

“Good to see you, too,” I muttered. “Now hold still so I—”

“Perrrrrcy!” Grover bleated as he lunged to tackle me with a goat-hug. “You heard me! You came!”

“Of course, I did,” I said, hugging him tight for a moment. I had been worried, I was glad he was okay.

I turned to Clarisse as Grover released me, hovering by my side.

“Is Annabeth—" Clarisse started.

“She’s outside,” I assured her. “Hold still for a moment so I can cut the ropes.”

I crouched beside her and drew my knife, carefully slicing the bonds and being very careful not to cut Clarisse.

She rubbed her wrists as the bonds fell, standing stiffly beside me. She stared down at me for a moment then looked away with a muttered, “Thanks.”

 “You’re welcome,” I hesitated, knowing the answer but needing to ask anyways. “Was anyone else on board your lifeboat?”

She looked surprised. “No, just me. Everyone else… well I didn’t even know you guys made it out.”

I swallowed hard, blinking back the tears at the thought of Tyson being—

No, we needed to—we had things to do.

“Come on then, we have to help—”

CRASH

Annabeth screamed.

OO OO OO OO

“I got Nobody!” Polyphemus was gloating when we crept to the cave entrance.

We could see the Kyklopes from there, grinning wickedly and holding up empty air. He shook his fist and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground, revealing Annabeth hanging upside down by her legs.

“Hah!” the Kyklopes said. “Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. You get roasted with mango chutney!”

Annabeth was scrambling for her knife, but his shaking her meant she was having a tough time getting her bearings. And she had blood dripping from her hair.

I tried to swallow but my throat felt tight. I had been taught how to do this, how to fight, but I—Annabeth was hanging there panic on her face and blood splattering the ground and my chest grew tight.

“We’ll take him,” Clarisse growled. “Percy you—”

She glanced at me and hissed, “Percy!”

I turned to her, giving her my attention.

“You good?”

I nodded, “Yes, fine—I—Sorry. I’m good—You have a plan?”

She eyed me for a moment before nodding.

“Attack plan Macedonia,” she said.

“I’ll take center,” I offered, having the best chance of surviving.

“You sure?” she asked, frowning.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. Annabeth would be fine.

“Yes.”

Grover and Clarisse nodded, hefting the weapons they’d confiscated on our way out. Clarisse held a very nice rams-horn spear, while Grover had found a club shaped from a thigh bone.

I summoned my trident with a tug of the charm and took a moment to flick the lid off my waterskin before stepping forward.

“Hey, hirir!” I shouted.

The Kyklopes whirled to face me. “Another one!? Who are you?”

I put on my sharpest smile, “I am Odysseus! I could’ve sworn I hit your eye, not your ears, but then, you are a uveno moni so what should I expect?”

Polyphemus roared in anger, stomping towards me.

“I will kill you, Odysseus!”

Thankfully, he dropped Annabeth partway through his charge. His hand was behind him as he did, and she went flying back. But Annabeth had trained since she was seven years old, and she knew how to fall in a way to minimize the damage.

I didn’t see her hit the ground though, the Kyklopes charging at me kinda drew my full attention.

I spared a moment to pray to Poseidon, my Metua and Arila, that I lived through this then readied my trident.

“For Pan!” Grover rushed in from the right and swung his club with all his might at the Kyklopes leg. It hit with a thud but didn’t seem to do any damage.

Clarisse charged in from the left and aimed her spear for the back of his heel, where tendons were close to the surface. This got a reaction, a roar and a stumble. But the Kyklopes just swatted at his ankle and she skittered back, diving behind a rock to avoid his violent hands.

The Kyklopes made a grab for me, in reach now, but I rolled aside and pushed up. My trident slipped forward, into his calf. Gold splattered my trident and hands as I yanked it out and ducked aside as he raged and stomped, trying to crush me underfoot.

I stared at the gold and didn’t think of Tyson.

“Percy!” Clarisse yelled. “Thrace!”

I swallowed and adjusted to the new plan, my hands sticky with gold blood. The Kyklopes lunged, I dodged, slipping under grasping hands and jumping over tumbling rocks to stab into his thigh. More blood soaked my weapon and yet it was nothing but a pinprick to the giant.

Clarisse slid under a stomping foot and stabbed right into the joint at the ankle. She lost her spear to the Kyklopes in that move but Polyphemus roared and staggered.

“Get Annabeth!” I yelled to Grover, finally seeing Annabeth on the ground down the hill.

Grover snatched up her hat and booked it for her.

Clarisse charged the Kyklopes again, using a knife I had to assume she’d stolen from his weapons to stab at his leg. I slipped in and hit his foot.

He stomped and howled and grabbed and raged, but the two of us were quick enough to avoid his grasp.

But we couldn’t keep this up, we weren’t doing enough damage to Polyphemus and eventually he’d overwhelm us.

I paused for breath behind a rock as Clarisse distracted him and my eyes drifted to Grover and Annabeth. He was helping her over the rope bridge. She was leaning heavily on him, but able to stand and walk.

I wondered why the shaky rope bridge was there, surely the Kyklopes couldn’t cross it easily, it didn’t seem strong enough to hold his weight.

And then my eyes caught on a glimmer of gold in a large tree on a hill.

It was faint and distant, but in that instant, I knew I’d found the fleece.

“Fall back!” I called to Clarisse.

We couldn’t win this fight, but we could escape with our lives and our quest goal. So we ran.

Rocks tumbled under our feet as we raced down the mountain. Clarisse leapt over a larger rock and I slipped between two more. My feet hit the ground hard, jarring me, but we didn’t stop. Behind us Polyphemus roared, staggering after us. His many injuries slowed him down, but his size meant that he was still moving faster than us. Every step for him was the equivalent of five steps for us, and no matter how fast we ran it seemed he was gaining.

“Faster!” I called.

She rolled away as a rock slammed into the olive tree beside her as we hit the bottom of the mountain. The rocky path here was even more unsteady, many more small rocks and stones making it easy to twist your ankle. We had to slow to pick our way through more carefully, or risk sprawling on the ground.

“Grind you into sheep chow!” Polyphemus bellowed. “A thousand curses on Odysseus!”

“Grover!” I yelled as we came up on the bridge. “Get Annabeth’s knife!”

We hit the bridge and ran as fast as we dared, it swung wildly as we crossed. Grover was sawing at the ropes holding it in place as we did.

The first strand went snap, and I nearly fell off as one side of the bridge slackened. Clarisse reached the other side and I leapt, she swung her spear, the bridge collapsed.

The Kyklopes howled from the other side and I slumped on the ground.

OO OO OO OO

The cut bridge wouldn’t stop the Kyklopes for long, I had no doubt there was another path around. We needed to reach the fleece quickly.

Plus he was now grabbing a boulder to throw at us—

“Move!” I hissed, helping Grover pull Annabeth up as we rushed from the ravine.

We ran as best we could till we reached the trees and hid within them.

“I’ll look Annabeth over,” Grover said. “Do you have your-“

Martha popped up from my shirt and spat out the medical kit.

“Thanks,” Grover said, staring at Martha.

“This is Martha,” I said helpfully. “She’s the adult supervision for the quest.”

“We get adult supervision now?” Grover wondered.

“Percy does,” Annabeth said. “Apparently some important sea Gods weren’t happy about the whole… kids on a quest thing. The sea is much safer for children so you have to be sixteen to do quests there.”

“That’s so weird,” Clarisse said. “Many demigods don’t even reach sixteen.”

I grimaced at that. She was right, there weren’t a large number over sixteen at camp. While there were other places Demigods would go, they generally didn’t go until eighteen.

Of course, not ever demigod went to camp, but if you had enough of a presence for terrors to find you, you probably made your way to camp at some point.

“We need to find the fleece,” Clarisse said.

“It’s that way,” I pointed through the trees to the pasture where the large sheep were.

“That isss not good,” Martha hissed. “Thosssse ssssheep are dangeroussss.”

Clarisse frowned, “They’re not just sheep?”

“They are man-eaterssss,” Martha confirmed. “You will need to do ssssssomething to remove them from you firssssst.”

Well, that didn’t sound good.

“Can Grover—”

“No,” Martha interrupted me. “They would happily eat him.”

She seemed to think for a long moment before she unhinged her jaw once more and spat out my ocarina.

I scrambled to catch it.

“You may be able to enchant them to allow sssssomeone to go through,” she said. “But whoever doessss will need to be ready to rissssk their life.”

Clarisse raised her chin, “I will. Prissy, you think you can actually enchant them?”

I swallowed, holding my ocarina tight.

“I… yeah. But I won’t be in much of a state to fight after.”

She grimaced. “Grover, get Annabeth down to the beach and then come back to help Percy after he does whatever it is he’s going to do.”

“I will aid you in reaching the beach,” Martha promised me.

“Well, sounds fun,” I wiped my blood-soaked hands on my pants, leaving streaks of gold. “Could you also grab my inhaler?”

They all blinked at me and I motioned to the medical kit. “I’ll need it after I do the thing.”

Grover dug through the kit for a minute before pulling out the coral inhaler. “This it?”

I nodded, taking it and tucking it into my pocket. “I’m ready.”

OO OO OO OO

Reaching the sheep’s pasture took no time at all, but Polyphemus was nowhere in sight. We didn’t have much time before he’d take some other path and reach us once more, so we needed to hurry.

I brought the ocarina to my lips and went with a familiar tune, one I’d practiced for months at Yancey Academy.

Ert Hove Himne.

The tune twisted through the air, twining like the river currents. It was a short song, a bit playful, dashing through the air like a river, twining over the sheep in front of me. It brought to mind joy and childhood for me.

My lungs burned as I channeled my power through the ocarina.

Blades slipped through my chest as the rivers danced through the sheep fur. A high note signaled the end and I brought it down in a quick tune pulled from Orauro Opep that warbled like a bubbling brook before twining the tune right back into streams.

Clarisse moved forward slowly, hesitantly, as the sheep slowly drifted towards me. They didn’t try to bite, the Song soothing them quickly. A few nosed my pants.

I kept playing, ignoring the ocean spilling from my chest into the ocarina, pulling my breath from me. Razors dug in deep, the ocean welled up and demanded more from me, but I kept playing.

Clarisse had reached the tree by the time I reached my fifth repetition of the tune, channeling the Song longer than I had before.

My head spun, my lungs filled with fragments of ocean breezes and cracked ice. Blades buried deep in my chest.

The Song sung and I swayed.

Scales wrapped around me, giving me the support I needed to stay up as the warbling notes of Orauro Opep brought the tune back around to its sixth repetition.

Clarisse was hurrying back out, faster than she’d gone in. I was glad, my breath was failing me, and I wouldn’t be able to play for much longer.

The sheep were shifting, the twirling rivers slowing, faltering with me. I pushed the Song harder, calling for more, demanding from it as it did from me, but there wasn’t much left to give.

Clarisse escaped the sheep as Grover reached me and my breath failed.

I wheezed, sucking in air and desperately trying to clear out the razors and wrapped currents in my lungs. I needed to breathe.

“Let’ssss go,” Martha hissed urgently as the sheep made discontent noises.

My ears rang as I gasped, Grover offering me an arm and helping me stagger away as my hands shook. I fumbled in my pockets to pull out my inhaler.

One puff, ten second hold.

Breathe for a few seconds.

One puff, ten second hold.

Breathe.

With Grover and Martha’s support I managed to reach the beach with Clarisse and Annabeth.

The only boat there was the small life boat, but it would be big enough for the four of us, at least to let us reach the pirate ship we’d acquired.

Annabeth and I were unceremoniously shoved into the boat, Grover checking us over. Martha wound around us both, hissing comfort.

“Okay, let’s get going!” Clarisse declared.

“NOBODY!”

Ah, there was Polyphemus.

Clarisse blanched and scrambled for the oars, Grover leaving us to help her row push the boat into the water.

A rock hit the ground in front of the boat.

“Ha! Loser missed!”

“Shu- shu’ up” I gasped out.

I didn’t have the energy to call the ocean to move the boat, so we were stuck with their fumbling rowing. I leaned against Annabeth who looked exhausted and far too pale.

“You ‘kay?” I whispered.

She blinked, “’ine.”

Another rock crashed down, this time sending up a spray of water.

We were pulling out of the waves trying to drive us back to shore and slowly but steadily reaching the open water.

“DIE!” roared the Kyklopes, a rock arcing in the air.

My heart plummeted with the rock heading straight to us.

I reached for my power, desperately tugging for something, anything, that would listen and save us.

The ocean surged, and the boat swept out to sea.

I blinked.

That wasn’t me.

My head swung around and landed on four figures bobbing in the waves.

The merfolk who’d guarded me at Meriwether College Prep School floated before us.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Yeah Tyson didn't show up <3.

Anyways, what did you think of their fight? The way of getting the fleece? The guards showing up at the end?

Halmaheran
hirir=ugly
uveno moni=faithless moron
Metua=Father
Arila=High King
Ert Hove Himne=The First Song
Orauro Opep=Upwelling Current

Terminology
Khiton=phonetic spelling of Chiton. This is the most commonly seen type of Greek style, used by men and women both (though in different forms usually). It is a square of fabric (as most styles) folded and pinned into place, in a variety of manners.
Thrace=used in the same manner as plan Macedonia, both are locations in Greece

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Chapter 34: Home Once More, In All Forms

Summary:

What is Truth? Look to the Heavens and learn what is to be. Look to the Sea and learn what once was. Neither of these are the truth of what is. Truth is loss and pain. Truth is finding home again.

Notes:

Hey y'all. I have a little request of those that have time. I'm deciding what to do with TKC and MCGA. Right now TKC is closer on the time line, so I'm deciding details, like if it should be included at all. I would like include at least part of the canon books, but if I was including it I would probably do all of it and rewrite it like ATLOP, with Percy and Annabeth getting a starring appearance. Otherwise it would be a pain to clarify what changed and what stayed the same. Anyways, I have a little survey that would be a huge help for you to fill out! Link Here

Anyways, you should thank Hatima for the chapter being posted today as she bribed me with cookie recipes. The next chapter will likely be posted not this Monday, but the next one. There are only two more book chapters, and my bonus scene + maybe answering questions after this <3. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about how I research, worldbuild, etc. Or anything about the story itself!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Getting away from the island ended up being more of a chore than it had any right to be.

First, we needed to reach the boat, which required getting around the island to the back without the Kyklopes noticing us. Acantha (Akantha?) ended up raising a bubble of water around us, since I was far too tired to do so myself.

Then Grover remembered that his woolly mammoth was supposed to be grazing in one of the fields, sent there by Polyphemus because it needed food. Apparently, the woolly mammoth was not a dream.

Annabeth and Clarisse looked just as lost as me, but all the same we guided the pirate ship around the island until Grover found his… woolly mammoth.

Thankfully the boat was strong enough to hold it, it only weighed about 400 pounds since it was just a baby woolly mammoth. But getting it on the boat was a pain.

It sat in the place of honor at the front of the boat, Grover carefully looking it (him we learned) over.

“So, uh…” Clarisse glanced at Annabeth and I but we just shrugged. “How’d you get a woolly mammoth?”

“Lord Pan guided me to him!” Grover said, brightening. “It’s really a great honor, I’m not sure how to care for him fully but I’ll learn. I’ll need to start checking coast lines more—"

“Does…” Annabeth squinted. “Does he have a name?”

Grover nodded, “His name is Momo!”

I blinked, was that like… an ironic thing? A joke over Momo in Avatar being so small—

“Like Aangs Flying Bison!”

“What.”

Grover blinked at me, bright smile on his face in direct contrast to my flat tone. “I named him off of Avatar, Momo is the Flying Bison’s name.”

Annabeth giggled, eyes flicking to me.

“I thought its name was Appa?” Klara interrupted.

Clarisse snorted as Grover’s face reddened.

“Uh… no I’m—I’m pretty sure that—"

He looked at me and I just shook my head, staring as judgmentally as I could sitting with Annabeth on the deck.

“Oh… oops?”

“I’m disowning you as a friend.”

“Oh come on-“

“Disowned.”

Grover pouted at me.

Once the woolly mammoth was handled we were on our way, the island slowly fading to a blur in the distance. I wondered if Polyphemus realized we’d survived. I wondered if he was the norm for Kyklopes.

I wondered if Tyson could’ve convinced him otherwise, had he been there.

“We made it,” Annabeth murmured, relaxing against the boat.

She was right, we did make it.

We had the fleece.

We were alive.

We’d done it.

All we had to do was sail out of the Wasare av Tetek and we’d be home free.

I breathed in the salt air and slowly relaxed, the tension uncoiling. My lungs still ached, my breath was still unsteady, but I was recovering. The inhaler helped a lot.

The tightness in my chest wasn’t just from the Siren’s Song, but I was content to pretend it was.

“So, uh… who are you guys,” Clarisse asked.

I turned to the others, pulling my gaze from the island in the distance to my friends in front of me.

The oldest one had bandaged Annabeth up and treated her injuries and checked on me. He was familiar from picking Klara up before. Klara, Kai, and Acantha (Akantha?) were hovering nearby.

“I apologize,” the older guy said. “We should have introduced ourselves. I am Antonio Rotrikez te Luna, the leader of this team for the duration of our quest.”

“’Pleasure,” Clarisse said, squinting.

“This—“ Antonio motioned to Klara “—Is Zhtanova, our weapons expert.”

“Hello,” Annabeth offered.

“And this—” he motioned to Kai “—is Kai Māhoe, our intelligence expert.”

Clarisse had crossed her arms.

“And finally—” he motioned to Akantha “—this is Akantha Vallas, our primary magic specialist.”

Akantha nodded to everyone.

“Uhuh,” Clarisse paused to study them. “That’s nice and all, but why are you here?”

“We are here to ensure Persi-aia returns home safely.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Poseidon sent guards to protect Percy on this quest?”

“No, no,” Kai said quickly, and Clarisse relaxed. “Triton-re’aia sent us.”

Clarisse took a deep breath.

Annabeth winced, opening her own mouth.

 “Wait—” I said before either could speak, Clarisse’s eye was twitching dangerously “—can we uh… cover a few things? Like the fact that you guys were guarding me during the school year?”

They all nodded.

Clarisse looked rather murderous and Annabeth pursed her lips.

“… why?”

“Triton-re’aia ordered it,” Klara explained.

I nodded slowly while Clarisse waved her hand.

“What the fuck,” she snapped.

“I uh… I knew he could be a bit overprotective but…”

“There is conflict rising in the sea,” Antonio explained. “Triton-re’aia does not wish for you to be harmed to get to Himself or to Poseidon-re’ore. Part of why we were sent was because the nature of your quest has a high chance of intersecting with the conflict rising in the Ocean.”

“Plus, you’re in Okeanus-arino territory and since He’s probably siding against Poseidon-re’ore—”

“What.” Clarisse said.

“Oh uh, the Ocean Gods kinda have territories,” I said, turning to her. “So, the Wasare av Tetek is part of Okeanus-arino territory. Each God rules Their own territory absolutely, though They still have dominion over other parts of the ocean, the ruler of that territory has final say in everything.”

Clarisse considered that for a moment, “I guess that makes sense… But what does that have to do with you having a personal guard team?”

I shrugged, the tension in the air getting to me.

“Persi-aia is a Prince of the Sea!” Akantha said, indignant. “Okeanus-ari has already tried to steal him from Poseidon-re’ore before, we cannot risk him succeeding because no one was there to guard Persi-aia.”

“Sorry, just one sec,” Clarisse turned to me. “Okeanus did fucking what?”

I flushed, “Er… He uh…”

“Okeanus-ari tried to claim Persi-aia as His own son,” Antonio said calmly. “He failed.”

Clarisse’s hands twitched. I wondered if I should’ve been moving to a safe distance.

“Okay, so the fucking Titan of the Ocean tried to… forcibly adopt Prissy—"

“Persi-aia,” Kai corrected.

“—And Prissy’s Godly brother apparently sends guards to stalk him—”

“We are guarding him!” Akantha said, askance.

“—And to help him on a quest- is that even allowed?”

“You don’t know anything,” Klara snapped. “We were picked specifically for this—”

“Sorry, but Prissy didn’t even know you were guarding him.”

“We were to be discreet!”

I wasn’t sure who to side with on this. Clarisse was right that I didn’t know about them, I probably needed to talk to Triton about that. I was also fairly certain that this… wasn’t allowed.

Clearly Triton cared, and I felt happy about that… but like… it seemed a bit… much?

I glanced at Annabeth, who was frowning herself. And Grover, who looked confused and a bit wary. And then Clarisse, who was angry and… jealous?

I remembered what Annabeth had said to me, when I failed to heal Thalia’s tree.

You don’t understand what it’s like

No other camper had guards to keep them safe, and I didn’t know of any previous siblings of mine having guards. Yeah, they often had a tutor, but… not guards.

And Metua didn’t even send these, it was Triton. Was Triton allowed to? None of the other campers had a Triton to send guards for them too.

It made me feel bad.

I didn’t want to feel bad about someone caring for me, someone protecting me, but no other camper had that. Or… well they didn’t have someone who would send guards to protect them. They didn’t have someone willing, or more able, to step in and protect them.

None of them had proper direction on learning their powers either.

I did.

I couldn’t be upset with them for being upset that they didn’t have this, I would’ve been upset too, I imagined at least.

But I did have this. And I… didn’t know how to feel about it.

But I did know that it upset the others.

I swallowed my nervousness and pulled myself together, pushing up to stand, “Excuse me—”

Everyone turned to face me, and I held back a wince.

“I… I do appreciate you coming and helping, we likely would’ve died without your help.”

The guards straightened, Klara beaming.

“But… Clarisse is right… I didn’t know about your guarding me and—”

“Triton-re’aia told us—we weren’t supposed to tell you—it’s just… we really were—are—your friends—”

Antonio placed a hand on her shoulder, silencing her. “I apologize, you do have a right to know when there are guards following you. We were following our orders, but we can bring this up with Triton-re’aia, if you wish?”

Klara looked rather miserable at the prospect, and Kai looked about ready to cry. Akantha was wringing her hands, expression pinched.

“It’s… it’s fine,” I said slowly. “I can talk to Triton about it.”

“You can talk to Triton,” Clarisse muttered. “Just casually.”

My stomach got all twisty and I bit my lip.

Annabeth sighed, interrupting. “Okay, well… obviously this is something that needs to be handled in… in the sea. But thank you for helping us get away from Polyphemus.”

The guards nodded, all eyeing her warily.

“Of course,” Akantha said stiffly. “Tis our job, daughter of Athena. We take our duties seriously.”

I winced at Annabeth’s confused look at the cold response. The sea… didn’t like Athena… and Annabeth didn’t know about all of that.

“So, uh—” I threw around for something to distract them from Annabeth “—how was your trip here?”

 OO OO OO OO

It was nearly a full day later when Akantha came up to me. She’d taken over directing the boat, letting me rest after all the power I’d been expending on the quest. The others were helping Antonio clear the deck and clean the boat.

“Persi-aia,” Akantha said.

“Yeah?”

“I… I apologize for interrupting you,” she nodded to Clarisse who was reviewing our expected arrival time with me. “But I thought that you would like to have this.”

She held out her hands, a cloth bag with a small golden stain sitting there.

I tilted my head in confusion.

“I… well… I’m sorry, Persi-aia,” she looked away. “I—well you should… here.”

My stomach twisted and I swallowed hard as I took the bag. She seemed near tears holding it, what was it?

The bag was an oilskin I realized, and I opened it to find… a watch? And a piece of paper, also stained gold.

Stained gold like the blood from Polyphemus.

I didn’t think of Tyson, not until I read the note.

Dear Percy,

I did want to finish your gift before the quest. I did not do so. I am sorry. I hope that you like it. Press the button for it to be cool.

Love,

Tyson

Your Brother

The paper was wet, little droplets landing on it like rain. I hadn’t realized it had started raining—oh… that was me. My eyes were burning and—and—and Tyson—

I choked on a sob, clutching the note tightly. My chest ached.

Tyson—

He’d—

He’d made something for me and—

He wasn’t—

He couldn’t give it—

He was—he was gone.

“Percy?”

I wiped my eyes, blinking up at a blurry Annabeth. More tears wet my cheeks.

“Percy,” she crouched in front of me, one hand holding her ribs. “What’s the matter?”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I swallowed, holding out the note. Tyson did this—he made this for me. He made me something and—and he was—

“Oh, Percy,” Annabeth whispered. She sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

I couldn’t stop the sob that broke out. “Tyson—he—”

“I know,” she whispered. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Annabeth hugged me tight as I cried, whispering comfort to me. I didn’t pull his gift out of the bag.

I couldn’t.

I couldn’t pull his gift out as if—as if it were the only thing left.

I wasn’t ready to accept he could be (was) dead.

I didn’t know what the others said, only that Annabeth sent them away. I just curled up against her and clutched the oilskin bag and cried.

OO OO OO OO

We reached land several days later. I couldn’t begin to tell you what we’d done the last few days, I spent the time in a haze. The others had given me space, though Annabeth checked on me often. The guards hadn’t seemed to know what to say or do either, they’d known Tyson too.

And he was gone.

I wanted to believe him alive, I wanted to turn around and see him smiling at me, but I knew—I knew better. He was gone.

And he wasn’t human, he didn’t have a soul.

He wouldn’t be in the afterlife.

He was just… gone.

I stared at the docks we had reached, though how Antonio got us permission to dock I wasn’t sure. The boat would probably just sit here until someone realized it was there.

I sent a prayer to Khrysaôr about the pirate ship. I didn’t really have a use for it, but I figured he could figure something out. Maybe he’d keep it, Triton had called him a pirate a few times.

We got off the boat, double checking we all had everything. My bag felt heavier with the weight of Tyson’s gift. I hadn’t removed it from the pouch yet, I wasn’t sure I ever would.

Grover led his woolly mammoth off the boat and stood awkwardly beside us. I wasn’t sure what the mortals saw instead of an extinct species, but they didn’t seem bothered.

“Miami Beach,” Clarisse said, taking a deep breath as she stepped off the boat. “Now we just have to get all the way to camp.”

“Can we just take the boat?” Annabeth wondered. “I’m not sure why we’re getting off.”

“No,” Martha hissed, rising up on my shoulder. “It issss too ssssslow. I will provide Clarisssssse with a plane ticket. Sssshe may hurry to camp.”

“What about the others?” Clarisse asked, frowning.

I dug out some money for her, “We can take a train or something.”

Martha bobbed her head, “Yessss, I will get them ticketssss on a train.”

Clarisse frowned, but accepted the money. “You all better be right behind me, if you don’t show up by the day after the solstice I’ll be telling everyone you died.”

Annabeth snorted, “We’ll get to camp, don’t worry.”

“And avoid any trouble,” Clarisse insisted. “This is my quest, you’re all making it back safely.”

The words were like a blow to my chest and I had to close my eyes at the pain. We weren’t all making it back safely.

Clarisse muttered a sorry and I opened my eyes to her rubbing her arm, Annabeth glaring.

“Just… get back to camp, kay?”

I nodded, “Kay.”

Martha nodded to the road where a cab was waiting, “Time to go.”

Clarisse got into the taxi, bag clutched in her hand and tickets to a plane deposited by Martha into the other. We waved as the taxi pulled away, taking Clarisse to the airport.

“Well,” I said after a long minute of watching the taxi disappear into the crowded streets. “We did it.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth murmured. “We did.”

Annabeth’s fingers brushed my arm, a concerned look on her face. I swallowed, “I’m fine.”

“It’s okay to not be okay,” she said. “It’s… been a lot.”

I rubbed my face, exhaustion clinging to me with the vines of the woolly mammoth. “I know… I just… I just want to go home.”

“Well, we sssshall be taking a train sssssoon.”

Martha coiled tighter around my arm, like offering a hug.

“Yeah, we’ll be home soon.”

A throat cleared behind us and we turned to face the guards, and Grover standing next to his woolly mammoth.

“Right, you guys,” Annabeth said. “I guess you’re headed back to the sea? Since the quest is over and all?”

The guards faltered, clearly not expecting that. “Well…”

I plastered a smile on my face, “We just have to travel back to camp, and Martha is handling that.”

“I am,” Martha hissed in agreement.

“So, we don’t really need a guard anymore,” Annabeth finished.

Antonio frowned, and Klara sent her a glare, but I nodded.

“I suppose you are correct,” Antonio said. “You are able to handle travel across land far easier than we can. We shall report back to Triton-re’aia.”

He flicked his fingers into a motion of respect that made me blink, surprised to receive it from one older than me. Klara, Akantha, and Kai all followed suit.

“Opu ert opepav eretamu sa’opu y opu Hermesono hurmu iem sa’opuno orpioe.”

“Opu meye’v tel hamapep y wasahu,” I responded to Antonio without thinking.

The addition of Hermes in his blessing was abnormal, but we were traveling over land, so it made sense.

And with that they turned to leave, Akantha waving and Kai offering a nod as they turned to follow Antonio to the ocean.

“Well… that was awkward,” Grover said.

I huffed, “Extremely… but at least it’s handled?”

“Yeah, now we should probably grab our own taxi to the train station.”

“We have a few hourssss until the train leavessss,” Martha assured us. “It issss only nine right now, the train leavessss around eleven.”

“Maybe we can grab some breakfast?” Grover asked, perking up. “The magic lunchbox is great but after a bit… it’s uh…”

“Repetitive?” I asked, a grin curling over my lips.

“Yeah,” Annabeth laughed. “The same thing for over a week for every meal gets a bit bland.”

I nodded, “I wouldn’t mind getting food. You still have your card so—"

“Percy!?”

I jerked around to face the voice and gaped.

Standing ahead of us, half on the sidewalk half on the beach, was a figure with brown hair pulled into a ponytail wearing a blue and black ruffled swimsuit.

Zoey gaped right back at me.

“What are you doing in Florida,” she asked finally.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Ta…”

She stepped onto the sidewalk, her eyes narrowing. “And I have questions for you! What were those things at school—is that blood are you bleeding!?”

She scrambled forward, her hands hovering over my shirt, which was in fact bloodstained. I was pretty sure that was from some of the cuts from our climb on the mountain. It wasn’t bad though—

Maybe I was growing numb to this.

“Er, who are you?” Annabeth interrupted.

Zoey looked away from me and squinted at Annabeth for a moment. Her hands hovered over my shirt before dropping. “Hang on, you’re the girl who showed up at school and killed that one… thing!”

Annabeth blinked, “Wait—”

Zoey spun back to me, “Explain! What were those? Who is she? Why are you here? Why did they attack you? Why is there blood on your clothes? Why are—”

“Woah,” I waved my hands. “I can’t—I can’t answer all of those could you—”

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I just—What’s going on? Percy—"

Annabeth’s fingers curled over my wrist, a comforting presence. Grover hovered next to us, wringing his hands.

“Is that a snake?” Zoey asked, staring at Martha curled around my arm.

“Sssshe is mortal,” Martha noted. “Though gifted.”

Zoey rubbed her head, squinting at the snake. Her gaze landed on Grover’s woolly mammoth when she looked away and she stared.

“That is either a very big dog or…” she scowled. “Or… something.”

“Can we…” I didn’t know exactly what to ask there. Could we tell her about the Gods? She worshipped Them, she definitely knew They were real and around us, but like—to tell her I was the kid of one was a whole ‘nother matter.

“You may ssssay whatever you wisssssh. There are no lawssss about revealing onesssself to a mortal.”

That was… good to know.

Annabeth sighed, “It’s… a long story. And it’s not really for a public space.”

“We can meet up before school starts back up?” I offered. “I’ll explain to you—”

“And Nikola,” she added. “Nikola wants to know too.”

I nodded quickly, “And Nikola.”

She considered me for a long moment, “You promise you’ll explain?”

“Yeah,” I glanced at Annabeth who shrugged, and Grover who nodded. “I promise.”

“Well… that’s alright then. I guess. Why are you in Florida though?”

“Er…”

“It’s um…”

Grover rolled his eyes as we floundered, “They were picking me up.”

“Had to crash his wedding,” I added.

Zoey blinked at us as Annabeth snorted, covering her mouth to stop from laughing. Grover elbowed me.

“We’ve gotta go, though,” I said. “Grabbing food before taking the train back to New York—"

“Oh! Do you know where you want to eat? I know loads of places, I’ve been here for ages at this point, we’re staying with my grandma.”

Annabeth hesitated, glancing at me but I shrugged.

“I suppose that would be nice. We were just gonna find someplace nearby.”

“There’s this lovely café, over on Giralda Avenue, that has the best French toast. My mom likes their egg benedict though.”

Zoey pulled out her phone as she rambled about the café, which was apparently only a short walk from where we were.

“Sorry just gotta text my mom and tell her I’m taking you to the café…”

“It’s fine,” I assured her, following along.

Annabeth and Grover trailed after us, Grover looking slightly overwhelmed.

“Anyways,” Zoey asked, tucking her phone away. “How’s your summer been so far?”

OO OO OO OO

Brunch with Zoey was nice, though filled with dodging landmines. We couldn’t really explain most of our summer, at least not until I sat her down and explained I was a demigod.

Zoey was happy to fill in the silence, rambling away about the beach, the pool at her grandma’s house (she mentioned a lot of places here had pools), the many cafés she’d been to, the local shops, and their brief stop at Disney World up in Orlando.

She spent a bit talking about a water park (at Disney World?), and the lazy river (which sounded fun), and the snow cones they had. Then talked about the world trip thing at Disney (Epcot I thought she said?) where she had tried to convince her parents to buy a sword in the Japan section (apparently that was “too expensive” and “a weapon”).

Zoey was gonna be so jealous when she learned I had three weapons on me right now.

All in all, Zoey excelled at filling the air with chatter and preventing any awkward silences.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed her, her and Nikola, but I did. They had become good friends and I really did want to tell them what was going on.

It helped that Annabeth slowly relaxed with Zoey too. She asked her questions about Disney World, and asked her if she’d ever been to Universal (she hadn’t).

Annabeth wanted to go to Universal someday, so did Zoey. But Zoey’s parents preferred Disney World, probably because her grandma preferred it and paid for their tickets every time they came down.

Grover joined in the conversation to ask if she’d been to any parks and I nibbled on my food with a smile.

It was a fun breakfast, and I was glad they all got along. I’d have to have a long talk with Zoey and Nikola before the next school year.

I hoped they would understand.

OO OO OO OO

We made it back to the train station with more than enough time to get on our train, and with Martha’s guidance got tickets for a sleeper cabin. She instructed us on how to get access to food and what to do when we arrived, then uncoiled from my arm to curl on the bd.

“It isssss now time we part,” she declared.

Annabeth straightened and I made a confused noise.

“What?” Annabeth asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You ssssimply need to sssstay on the train and you will arrive ssssafely. I no longer need to ssssupervissse you.”

Annabeth and I shared a look. Grover looked on in confusion.

“Oh…”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said. “You’ve… we wouldn’t have made it without you.”

I nodded quickly, “Seriously, thank you for all the help and uh the guidance you gave us.”

Martha preened as Grover chimed in his own thanks.

“I wasn’t here for most of it, but you definitely helped get Momo on the train,” he said. “Thank you.”

Yeah how she got Momo on the train I would never understand. But Momo had a train car all to himself.

“It wassss my pleasssure to aid you on your quesssst. Thank you for taking the quesssst.”

I hesitantly reached out to stroke her scales, “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Your help was invaluable,” Annabeth agreed. “We’ll… we’ll set out an offering for you and Lord Hermes… can you receive offerings?”

Martha hissed a laugh, “I can, we ssssimply ssshare with Hermessss.”

I made a note to make sure to specify something nice for Martha later in an offering.

“I wissssh you a sssssafe resssst of your journey,” she hissed. “Farewell.”

“Bye,” I whispered.

“Take care,” Annabeth added.

“Thanks again!” Grover called.

And with that, Martha coiled tighter and tighter until she vanished into her coils, leaving the bed empty.

OO OO OO OO

Grover was asleep on the top bunk when Annabeth finally spoke.

“I wish my mom could send guards.”

I tilted my head at her, curious.

“I mean, I know your dad didn’t send them… and honestly I’m a bit worried that Triton will get in trouble for it, but… it just… it’s such a clear display that he cares.”

I nodded, “Yeah… I—I understand what you mean. It… it’s both upsetting and nice. He… he’s possibly breaking the rules to keep me safe… I’ve never heard of a God doing it either though. You don’t think he’ll get in trouble, do you?”

“It… depends…”

We sat quietly for a long minute.

“I think it may be against the laws,” she murmured. “In which case He may get in trouble.”

I fingered my bracelet, frowning. “Triton should know the laws though, right? He… wouldn’t do something that would get him in trouble.”

And yet I couldn’t imagine none of the Gods sending guards if there wasn’t a law preventing it. Surely they would, just from what Leilani had told me I knew that her mom had tried to help. If she could do more, wouldn’t she?

“He… He’s never had a demigod child, to my knowledge,” Annabeth said slowly. “And the only Godly child He had was Pallas, who died. So… He might not know the laws and even if He does…”

She eyed me for a moment, but I just blinked at her.

“Well, He might not care about them.”

I frowned, “But if he gets in trouble—”

“Maybe he thinks he won’t? Plenty of Gods aid Their children, in small ways. My Mom guided me to safe people when I ran away, and I know Thalia’s Dad sent her aid in the form of a goat.”

“A goat?” I asked, baffled.

She giggled, “Yeah, the goat that helped raise Him. She told me some stories about it. She found the shield that she used in a place the goat guided her to.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s cool.”

“It is. But that just… it’s my point. He might not know, or just doesn’t care, about the laws. Giving you aid is one thing, sending an actual team of guards is another.”

I stared at the bed sheets, fingering a loose thread.

Triton was a good brother, and he cared a lot. I knew that, I’d seen that. But he… he wouldn’t really put himself at risk for me, would he?

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Annabeth said after a moment. “Poseidon wouldn’t allow Triton to be at risk, at the least.”

I nodded, “That’s true. It’s probably fine.”

But the thought niggled at me.

OO OO OO OO

I dreamed of the Princess Andromeda.

Alabaster was arranging his spell cards, a few blank ones in front of him ready to be prepared. Two had boats on them, one I recognized as a shield card.

“You won’t need those,” said a voice, familiar though I didn’t know their name.

“Well, maybe not,” Alabaster murmured, dipping his brush into blue ink as he began painting sigils in place. “But I would prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Are they ready, Ethan?”

“Yeah,” Ethan said, stepping into view. “Things are all set. Phoibe has confirmed that our path is clear, and our… ocean aid has given us their word.”

“That’s good,” Alabaster said. “Lord Kronos is counting on us to get this done for him. We’ll strike a blow against the Gods and retrieve what Lord Kronos needs all in one fell swoop.”

Ethan grinned, “We may win the war tomorrow.”

Alabaster smiled, the blue ink revealing a sigil that swirled into an elegant sea serpent. “That’s the goal.”

OO OO OO OO

We returned to camp quickly after reaching New York. Annabeth had her magic card and paid the taxi to bring us all the way to Long Island, and then we simply walked up the hill.

It was late in the afternoon on the Solstice when we reached the top of the hill, and we could see the preparations for the dinner being made.

The hill guard was still there, sitting by the tree. Even before I saw the Fleece, I knew it was there. The barriers were different, draped in soft wool that rubbed electric.

“You guys made it,” the guard, an Apollo cabin kid that I didn’t know the name of, said.

“Yeah, we made it back, Bina,” Annabeth said. “How’s Thalia’s tree doing?”

“It’s already looking a bit better… I think. I’m not really a plant expert but the Demeter kids have been watching the tree closely.”

“That’s good,” Annabeth murmured. “Guess all we can do is wait.”

“You can join the others,” Bina added. “Dinner will be soon.”

“We actually have something to do before dinner, but thanks!”

I blinked as Annabeth led the way down, sharing a confused look with Grover and his woolly mammoth (our taxi driver was told to go extra slow so Momo could follow along without any difficulty, he got paid triple so didn’t complain).

“What do we have to do?” I asked. “Talk to Lord D?”

“Well yeah,” she said. “We should actually probably have him with us when we fix Carl.”

I stopped.

“Fix Carl?” Grover wondered.

Carl.

He had been cursed by Kirke.

We had the cure to Kirke’s spell now.

We could free Carl from the curse.

“Annabeth,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“You’re a genius.”

She straightened, a pleased smile curling over her lips. “Well, yes. Thank you.”

“Wait, Carl—Carl was cursed,” Grover said. “You mean we can free him?”

Annabeth nodded. “He was cursed by Kirke, we have a cure to it…”

I stiffened at the sly smile creeping over her expression.

“We should go see Lord D right no—”

“I should’ve taken a picture of cat Percy—”

“Don’t wanna delay!”

“Cat Percy?”

“He was soooo cu-“

“Let’s go, Lord D will want to see us immediately—”

“Oh Hades he got turned into—”

“It was the cutest thing—”

“Percy!”

I jolted as a figure slammed into me, arms wrapping around me.

“You’re back!”

I grinned as Leilani stepped back, checking me over.

“Hey, Leilani. How’s camp?”

She smiled brilliantly, “It’s better now that my cabin mates are back. Where’s Tyson?”

My grin dropped like an anchor. Annabeth looked away.

“Percy?”

“He—” I couldn’t. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t—

“No,” she whispered, eyes widening.

“I’m sorry,” Annabeth whispered.

Leilani swallowed, looking down.

“Oh.”

There was a long moment of silence, broken only by her sniffles as she wiped at her face. I felt almost numb, unable to cry anymore.

Tyson was dead.

I had to admit that.

He…

He was gone.

For good.

“So uh… this might be—this might be bad timing,” Grover hesitating, clearly able to read the room with his empathy powers. “But who’s Tyson?”

“Tyson was Percy’s brother,” Annabeth said softly. “He was a Kyklopes.”

Grover recoiled at the word Kyklopes, “A—”

Annabeth leaned over a whispered something to him and he bit back whatever it was he had to say. “Oh… I—I’m sorry for your loss.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

“Why don’t we go talk to Mr. D,” Annabeth said softly.

I rubbed my arms, woolen sparks crackling over me, and nodded.

“And maybe you should put your necklace back on,” she added with forced cheer. “The barrier bothers you, right?”

I blinked, oh yeah, my necklace.

“Right, thanks.”

I dug around the duffel to pull it out, Grover watching in confusion.

“What’s the necklace?”

“It’s magic, it like… dulls all the sensations I feel with Godly things.”

“Oh, nice. That was really bothering you before, so I’m glad you figured something out!”

I nodded, “Me too.”

“So… what are you doing now?” Leilani asked.

“We’re going to go speak to Lord D, and then we’re gonna free Carl from his curse.”

OO OO OO OO

Lord D was positively delighted to supervise breaking Carl’s curse. That may have had something to do with the fact that Minos and Tantalus looked ready to murder each other and Lord D was sitting between them.

Poor Lord D had apparently been playing peace keeper with the two of them, and He did not like playing peace keeper.

And so, we were soon tucked back into the Poseidon cabin, sitting in front of Hippolyta’s tank.

Hippolyta was not in the tank mind you, she’d demanded to be scooped up in her water bubble immediately and was now curled on my shoulder, smugly staring at Carl.

At least she hadn’t eaten him while I was gone.

“Okay,” Annabeth said. “We should probably have a water bubble for Carl too. We don’t want him to change back in the tank and break it or drown.”

“Probably a good idea,” Lord D agreed, sipping his Diet Coke and watching us.

At Annabeth’s behest I controlled the water to scoop Carl up, who was eyeing us suspiciously for all this.

“Do you actually think you can undo the curse? Cause Mr. D can’t just cure me, it’s against section 32a.15s. of the Mortal Interference policy.”

“The what?” I asked, settling the ball of water in the air in front of us.

“Immortal or Amortal interference is strictly prohibited when involving a curse, spell, or enchantment laid on a Mortal or Amortal by an Immortal or Amortal unless the one who placed the curse, spell, or enchantment has given them leave to interfere.”

“That’s a rule?”

“Yeah, section 32a.15s. of the Mortal Interference policy!”

I made a note to read up on this policy.

“Well, we have a cure for you, it worked on the curse Kirke put on me—”

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO TO ANY SPAS—”

Lord D snorted when I was cut off by Carl’s rage infused rant.

“Okay,” Annabeth said eyeing the goldfish that Grover was staring wide eyed at. “I don’t speak goldfish, and even I can tell he’s mad. What’s the matter?”

I sighed, “He told me not to visit a spa—”

“AND WHAT DID YOU DO?”

“…Visited a spa…”

Lord D snickered as Carl went right back to his rant.

“Well, Carl, do you want to be cured?”

Carl paused, “Of course I want to be cured! Are you sure you’re an Athena child? Obviously I want to be cured, would you want to be a goldfish?”

“She can’t understand you.”

“I know that!”

I put my hands up as he griped.

“He says he would like to be human again,” I said. “I think he’s still mad about the spa—”

“Of course I’m still mad!”

“Er… sorry.”

“Then you just need to eat this,” Annabeth declared, holding out one of the vitamins.

“What.”

“It really works,” I assured Carl quickly. “Just try it.”

Carl looked dubious, but when Annabeth stuck the vitamin in the water he swam over and started nibbling on it.

“Oh, that does feel—”

I stepped back quickly, as did Annabeth, as Carl’s form shifted.

Between one breath and the next he grew. Going from goldfish to person in a rapid growth, scales merging and paling to a lightly tanned tone, hair growing messy and golden blonde. Clothes seemed to blossom over him, torn and ragged but familiar.

An orange camp shirt and a pair of jeans.

And around his neck a beaded necklace formed.

“Oh,” Lord D said, recognition in his gaze. “Carl.”

His eyes opened to show a sharp stormy gray, very similar to Annabeth’s own eyes.

“You’re an Athena kid!” Annabeth said in surprise.

“You’re obviously one, with such a genius observation,” Carl said with an eye roll.

It was nice to see he was as snarky as a human as he was as a fish.

“You know,” Lord D mused. “I expected you to be older, if you were alive. Like… in your twenties.”

He looked maybe fifteen, so that was weird. Magic messing with aging?

“Wait, why were you cursed by Kirke?” Annabeth asked. “Why were you in the sea of monsters?

“Oh, you’ll find out one day,” he said, slowly stretching. “Wow, it’s nice to be able to do that!”

Annabeth made a frustrated noise.

“It was a private quest for Athena,” Lord D said with a dismissive wave. “He can’t tell you without permission.”

Annabeth frowned, glancing at Carl who was peering around the room curiously.

“Colors are so different when you’re a goldfish, did you know that? It’s so weird seeing like a human again. Percy do you see like this all the time?”

I shrugged, not quite sure what he meant by that.

“Well, this is nice and all, doesn’t seem to have many side effects. We like minimal side effects.”

“The air is so weird, I’m used to breathing water—hey Percy is it weird to breathe air for you too?”

“Er… it’s normal?”

“Huh… Hey I was wondering, what’s it like—”

“Are you pulling a Dylan?”

Carl blinked at her, “A what?”

“Using the person in front of you who knows things as the subject of your experiments.”

“Oooh,” Carl nodded. “Yes.”

“Please don’t—” I jumped, cut off as the door slammed open.

“Mr. D!”

Mr. D turned to them, “Yes? What’s the rush—” His gaze grew serious.

The camper gasped, clutching the door frame. “Approaching the camp in the ocean, there are warships.”

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul!

What do you think about the guards? Clarisse's reaction? What about Carl? Or the ending ;)?

Halmaheran
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Terrors
Metua=Father
Meye'v ert opepav eretamu sa’opu y meye'v Hermes hurmu iem sa’opuno orpioe=May the currents guide you and may Hermes fly at your back
Opu meye’v tal hamapepav y wasahuv= May you have fast current and calm waves
Ta=equivalent of "Um" or "Uh"

Suffix
re'aia=High Prince
re'ore=High Sea King
arino=Old King's
aia=Prince

Terminology
Antonio Rotrikez te Luna=Antonio Rodriguez de Luna (Halmaheran is missing some letters and thus it is spelled and pronounced a bit different)
Giralda Avenue does have a popular cafe, with good reviews for their French Toast and Egg Benedict. It is in Miami as mentioned here.
Sigils=symbols meant to channel magic, use varies by magic user
Phoibe=Titan Goddess of Prophetic sight, amongst other things
Amortal=Being that is not fully immortal, yet cannot die of aging. Nymphs, Naiads, and the Hunters of Artemis would be examples.

Now since I've put so much work into the timeline I'm also adding it here! So you all have an overview of what happened when!
Timeline
School year ends: May 8
JUNE 8
Chariot Race: Morning
Percy and Annabeth leave for quest: 11pm
JUNE 9
Arrives at Virginia Beach: 10am
JUNE 10
Arrives at North Carolina Port: 9:10 am
Meets up with Clarisse: 9:30 am
JUNE 13
Arrives at Sea of Monsters Entrance: 12pm
Escapes from Medusa's Island: 6:40pm
JUNE 14
Arrives at Kirke's Island: 7:33pm
Leaves Kirke's Island: 9:42pm
JUNE 15
Passes the Sirens: 9:15 am
JUNE 16
Clarisse arrives at Kyklopes island: 9 am
Percabeth Arrives at Kyklopes Island: 9:30am
Reaches Mountain Top: 11am
Leave Island: 5:20 pm
JUNE 20
Arrives in Miami: 9 am
Clarisse arrives at camp: 4pm
JUNE 21
Percabeth arrives at camp: 7 pm
Yes I did actually calculate distance and travel time, did way too much math.

Hey y'all. I have a little request of those that have time. I'm deciding what to do with TKC and MCGA. Right now TKC is closer on the time line, so I'm deciding details, like if it should be included at all. I would like include at least part of the canon books, but if I was including it I would probably do all of it and rewrite it like ATLOP, with Percy and Annabeth getting a starring appearance. Otherwise it would be a pain to clarify what changed and what stayed the same. Anyways, I have a little survey that would be a huge help for you to fill out! Link Here

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 35: Determine Who is Left (The Ocean Decides)

Summary:

“The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” -Robert Lynd

Also known as: Minos bitches about the lack of temples and the kids commit war crimes

Notes:

Guys, I spent so long on this chapter. There is so much work packed into this chapter. You have no idea how much effort I put into this. I spent four hours figuring out their strategy with my friend Teags (thank bestie <3), and spent a good hour comparing notes on historical offering practices with other helpols. That's not counting the dozen times I've rewritten the chapter to be more accurate 😭

Also, you should thank my boat accuracy advisors for making it so I couldn't give the super major angst. I had such angst planned. If you want to see the angst scenes (because I WROTE THEM and then had to rewrite it cause they didn't work) then join the discord!

If you wonder about the OCs named this chapter (only a few have starring moments) then uh... I'm sorry but I ran out of characters in the AO3 authors note so... I'm gonna make a dictionary for the OC's like the Halmaheran dictionary, it'll have their names, parents (if claimed), age, gender, ethnicity, and notable powers, plus any info mentioned in the story like weapons.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

We moved out of the cabin quickly, Lord D taking the lead looking more serious than I’d ever seen him. We hurried around to the side of the cabin, facing the ocean.

Even in that short walk, the tension in the air was palpable. Campers were hurrying towards the beach, counselors and Athena kids shouting orders.

“Darius help Miranda on the West side of the beach–”

“Aadhev! Aaqib! Grab those mines!”

“Kyan, Jake, where are those grenades?”

Clarisse was hurrying towards the beach, spear in hand and wearing half armor, determination in every line of her body.

The ocean came into sight, faint in the distance behind the Dining Pavilion and the rolling hills… but we didn’t need to see the water.

Carl made a strangled noise and Leilani, a horror filled gasp. If not for the way my throat closed up at the side I would’ve done the same.

The ocean was but a thin line in our view, but the threat towered high above that. Less than half-a-mile out in the sea, well within our sightline, the threat approached.

The skyline was marred with warships.

Most were wood or steel, with battlements and figures moving around over them. Several had sails, though not all. The flags that snapped in the wind shimmered with a golden scythe, visible despite the large distance.

“Apó tous Theoús,” Annabeth whispered, staring at the ships in the water with wide eyes and a pale face.

“We’re under attack,” Minos informed us, materializing by my side.

And I meant that literally. One moment he wasn’t there, the next he’d shimmered into existence. I supposed he was technically still a ghost, but that didn’t stop me from jumping with a yelp and crashing into Lord D, who steadied me without a glance.

“I never would’ve noticed,” Lord D muttered, gaze narrowing on the ships.

“Can you do anything?” I asked, my throat tight.

Annabeth’s fingers curled over my own Carl hovered by my shoulder.

It couldn’t end like this could it? After everything we’d done to save the camp, we were going to fall anyways? The camper barriers weren’t recovered, they couldn’t stand up to this kind of force. There were at least two dozen ships. And if—

My mind flashed to my dream, Alabaster making his cards, talking about winning the war in one fell swoop.

He’d be able to force his way through the barrier considering its current strength, or rather lack of it.

My stomach sank. I should’ve realized what the dream meant. I should’ve—

“I can’t do much,” Lord D said. “Not unless a deity acts on their side as well.”

“The fact that they got so close without notice implies that someone is helping them,” Minos said, voice quick and sharp. “Poseidon would’ve noticed something like this and given warning otherwise.”

My mind drifted to the tension that I’d noted in the sea, and the dream I’d had with the meeting.

“It’s possible, but I don’t sense any divine interference at the moment and as such… I can’t do much.”

It was quite possible that my Metua wasn’t able to interfere, not if enough other Gods were in His way. And if Duberdicus sided with Metani… with Okeanus—

“What kind of aid can you offer?” Minos asked. “I’ll need to consider that in my plans.”

My nails clicked on the scales of my choker and I wondered what I would feel if I took it off. I probably needed to take it off.

I didn’t take it off.

“I’m no war God, I can incite some discomfort in the enemy and strengthen the resolve of those here but the best aid that could be offered without opening us up to the enemy getting divine aid would come from Athena and Ares, and of course Zeus.”

I feared that I would feel the familiar weight of the Ocean’s depths if I removed my necklace.

“What do we do?” Annabeth asked. “We can’t fight that force, we don’t have the numbers, or the strength and we’re not prepared—”

“Yeah, that’s not something we can win against,” Carl confirmed, idly patting Leilani’s head as she hid behind him, eyes locked onto the ships.

“Can Percy destroy them? Like with waves or a storm?” Leilani asked.

Lord D snorted, “Maybe with another ten years of experience, but not at his current level. And that’d be assuming they didn’t fight back .”

I nodded, “And I’m still tired from everything we did in the Wasare av Tetek. I could barely sink a rowboat right now.”

I might’ve been able to do more honestly, but I would only have one big move in me to do alone.

Lord D tilted his head in acknowledgement.

“Yes, we can’t win as we are now,” Minos interrupted. “But we don’t have to. I’ve sent a messenger to the College of Botanē, it’s the closest location where there may be fighters. We just need to hold out until reinforcements can be sent.”

Lord D nodded, “That means holding the camp for several hours at the least.”

“It won’t be easy,” Minos confirmed. “But I have a strategy, the campers are already working to put it into play.”

I felt a little less hopeless at that, we had a plan. We could do something. But was it enough?

“We’ll need to arrange offerings to the Gods, Dionysus can you inform the rest of the Gods–”

“Already doing so. Ask for aid and you shall receive what they can give.”

“Wonderful–”

“Offerings?” Annabeth asked. “But the ships are right there! And how will offerings help?”

Minos’ lip curled up, “Khiron really didn’t care to teach you children about all the ancient traditions did he? Truly, the fact that you celebrate so much is almost a surprise with how little you truly embody it. The camp doesn’t even have a temple!”

“Uh,” Annabeth faltered, shooting me a confused look.

“The Gods help those who help themselves, and they also help those who give them an offering to show that they respect the help offered and request it.”

Annabeth blinked up at him.

“You can’t do the offering,” Lord D asked. “So who is doing it? I can’t imagine we have many campers available.”

“True, I will have one of the strategists do it, but I have more orders to give first, and these are time sensitive. We have only ten to twenty minutes before their first troops will hit the shore, and we need our defenses ready.”

“You should have Jackson do the offerings,” Lord D said, before Minos could continue. “The aid of the ocean would be invaluable.”

“I was going to put him on the front lines actually, I was hoping to send him out now to start doing damage to the ships. We need the ballista taken out yesterday .”

I looked between the two, eyes wide. What.

“Offerings first, we don’t have long so hurry.”

Minos scowled but nodded, and turned to Annabeth.

“Chase, you’ll be the Emergency Battlefield Commander. If something happens and there’s no time for commands from the command center, you’re in charge. A harpy will be stationed with you, wearing an orange talonband, to relay messages into the battle.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened, before she squared her shoulders and nodded.

“The defenses are being set up to herd the monsters to the path leading to the lake, when they reach the path hold the line as long as you can then slowly fall back. The end goal is the lake, the naiads there are preparing to wash the monsters in and drown them.”

Annabeth gasped, hope burning in her eyes, “That would do immense damage– we might actually be able to survive!”

“Yes,” Minos said with a nod. “We’ll be building the funnel as you fall back so do not fall back further than the blockade is built. If the monsters get out of the path then the satyrs and dryads will drive them back, but we need to keep them on the path.”

“Got it,” she said, back straight and head held high. “I won’t fail.”

“See to it that you don’t.” He promptly spun to face Leilani as Annabeth released my hand and ran to her cabin. 

I wondered if she would be okay. 

I wondered if I would be okay.

“Kameāloha, you need to get to the beach immediately. You’ll be using your powers to turn as much of the East beach as possible into a pit fall. Potholes, hills, whatever you can. You’ll be stationed at Toxeúō Beach after that, cause problems for any monsters trying to go to the east point, we want them funneled down Firework Beach to the path.”

Leilani swallowed and nodded, “I understand. I–will I be alone?”

“No, two Hephaestus, half a dozen Aphrodite, and a handful of Hermes cabin members will be aiding you. You are the priority, they won’t be able to get a foothold on the beach as long as you control the sand. If you must, retreat rather than fall.”

Leilani nodded, face pale. “Right. I can do that. I’ll… grab my armor.”

She hurried back around the cabin.

“What about me?” Grover asked.

“And me!” Carl added.

“Grover, yes?” Minos asked.

Grover nodded.

“Go to the woods, the satyrs, nymphs, and dryads are preparing as a second wave and support. Help the Demeter cabin with the beach preparations on the West strip if you can.”

“Right, I’ll bring Momo,” he hurried around to grab his woolly mammoth.

“Why is there a–” Minos shook his head “--never mind. Jackson, you’re with me.”

I nodded, “Should I grab my armor?”

“Yes, do so now. Meet at the Dining Pavilion with everything you need to fight.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” 

I spun and hurried back, leaving Carl with Lord D and Minos.

Leilani looked rather green when I entered and I grabbed my armor as I turned to her.

“Are you okay?”

“Just… scared. This– he makes it sound like I’m a key player in the fight but–”

“You can do it,” I assured her. “You’re getting really good at controlling the sand. Just don’t over tax yourself and do your best. You won’t be alone.”

I was terrified myself, but Leilani looked so scared– I needed to be strong. Things were moving so fast, just minutes ago we were basking in the joy of restoring Carl, now we were preparing for an invasion.

I put my armor on, the scales gleaming dully in the light. My forearm braces as well, the Kraken design looking almost alive. My fingers brushed the pen that was always in my pocket. This battle had a good chance of being a time I’d need it.

I checked that my knife was attached properly, and fingered the trident charm on my bracelet.

I had everything I needed to fight.

I hesitated before leaving, hovering by the curtained doorway. Leilani was slowly hooking her armor in place, fingers fumbling over the ties.

I took a deep breath and hurried to the med kit. Inside was the full set, along with the few extra things I’d bought for it.

Some mortal medicine and gauze. An inflatable splint my mom got for me. And the potions I’d bought at the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

I pulled out two healing potions and an energy potion. Just in case.

“Here,” I said, handing Leilani one of the healing potions, hesitating when she fumbled it. “It’s a healing potion, if you need it… be safe.”

She closed her fingers around it and took a deep breath. “Right. I’ve got this.”

“You’ve so got this,” I assured, hoping I was right. “Just remember, you’re not alone.”

I leaned over and gave her a quick hug, pretending not to notice the shaking.

“It’ll be okay,” I assured. “King Minos has a plan.”

“It’s a good plan,” she said with a nod. “I think.”

“The best plan possible,” I squeezed her hands. “We’re going to be okay.”

She took a slow deep breath and then relaxed, “We’re going to be okay.”

I hoped that I wasn’t lying to her, I wanted us to be okay. I wanted the camp to be okay. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt or–

My mind stuck on Tyson once more, his smile, his tinkering, him being gone .

I didn’t want anyone to die.

I turned and hurried out of the cabin, pushing thoughts of death and doom from my mind as I made the trek up the hill to the Dining Pavilion. 

The command center was clearly set up there, tables pushed together with a map of the camp spread out, three Hermes campers taking orders and running down to the defensive line being set up. A harpy perched on the top of the pavilion, and one Ares and two Athena kids bent over the map.

I wondered briefly where Tantalus had gone, before Minos saw me.

“Jackson, over here.”

He was standing in front of the brazier… which didn’t look as it normally did. 

Instead of being open with the bronze guard around it, it was surrounded by stone blocks, with one overtop the fire with a half sphere dip taking up half the space, and otherwise flat and smooth. As I drew closer I noticed an inscription on the stone.

For the Glory of the Gods

“This isn’t right at all ,” Minos grumbled, scribbling something on a piece of paper. “This should be done in a temple, or failing that a palace. But it will have to do. I don’t dare ask Lord Dionysus for any more aid beyond summoning some offering stones, it undermines the offering.”

“Is that what those are?” I asked curiously.

Minos paused, glancing at me.

“Yes. The stones surrounding the fire have inscriptions to offer strength to the fighters, and honor the Gods, and the stone above is for laying down the offerings. Of course traditionally we’d slaughter the fattest of the livestock, and two of the youngest livestock, but this camp doesn’t keep livestock, thus we shall have to do so later.”

I nodded, that made sense. The camp would probably have to order the livestock from somewhere.

“Of course,” Minos hummed. “We could slaughter a pegasi, they’re close to the divine and thus–”

“What!?” I shrieked. 

“They would do well as an offering,” Minos explained, expression pinched.

“Not to the sea Gods!” I countered quickly. “They’re considered children of Poseidon in the sea, horses in general but Pegasi especially. That would just make them upset.”

He grimaced, “Ah… unfortunate. Then we shall have to make due. You shall be doing the actual verbal offering, it would mean more coming from you here, and well… I’m dead. The Gods would be… put out by the lyma I hold. I shall be laying out the offering food and libation for you to put in place, which is enough of a risk. Do you know what to say?”

“What’s lyma?” I asked instead.

Minos took a deep breath, “Of course you’re not educated on the variety of impurities that can come into your life. Why would Khiron ensure your education in respecting the Gods and bettering yourself. You do know about miasma, yes?”

I nodded, it came from doing… what was the word Euphemia used… impious? Stuff like murder.

“Lyma is the more… natural occurrence of similar impurity. It comes in normal daily life, from things like birth, death, sexual activities, the like. It’s normal, and not a bad thing, but still something to purify before coming in contact with the Gods, out of respect. As I’m dead , I cannot get rid of this inherent aspect of myself. But a normal living mortal would just need a quick wash to remove it and return to katharos.”

“Oooh,” I nodded. That made sense, and reminded me of what I did with my mom when we did stuff at the altar. Katharos was a new term, ‘pure’. “Does that mean I need to… purify myself first?”

He nodded, “Yes, we will be using khernips to do so shortly. And by that I mean that you will be using khernips because I can’t interact with it without ruining their purpose. Back to my original point, do you know what to say for the offering?”

I shook my head.

“I thought not, the camp is such a disaster.”

I was suddenly quite glad the camp did so much to honor the Gods, because I had a feeling Minos would not think much of it at all otherwise.

“Right, I’ve written out what you should say, since the camp can’t be bothered with basic lessons on this. I know the sea has its own language, it may help, with the sea Gods in particular, for you to speak the words in that language.”

I blinked, “Oh, uh, I’ll need a minute to translate–” I stared at the long bit of writing “--all this.”

“You don’t need to translate these. I figured you could write the ones for the Sea Gods, use these as guidance. The ones for the Sea Gods should be in their language.”

I quickly nodded and grabbed a pen while looking over the Ancient Greek words.

First was the prayer to Zeus, and kinda Hera…

That sounded fancy, and important. I had to say that with the offering? 

I glanced at the busy command center, even with so few… I hoped I didn’t stumble over the words.

The next prayer was to Athena.

Athena… Athena was a sea Goddess, maybe not properly but… She was still of the sea, in some form. Her’s would be best in Halmaheran, I thought. It felt right to do it like that.

I got to work translating it, spending a few minutes dithering over words to make sure they matched the meaning right.

Okay, then… Ares. 

His seemed much flowier, lots more praise than the others. I wondered why. Maybe Minos was trying to make up for the fact that I stabbed Ares in the heel last summer?

I swallowed at the thought, yeah probably.

Okay, then Artemis and Apollo.

That was sweet, and supportive. I liked it. It felt very… big.

I couldn’t quite believe I’d be the one to read out the prayers. They seemed so important, and I still had to actually fight too. Things were- they were scary. But even reading these made me feel better, like the Gods were leaning over my shoulder waiting for me to ask them for help.

I licked my lips and picked up the pen again from the table. I needed to pray to the sea Gods too, at least ones that would help.

There were a lot of sea Gods, but I thought it would help to pray to the ones most able to help me right now. My Metua, of course. And Triton.

I’d never made a prayer like this before. I’d try to copy the ones above, I supposed.

I knew some of the titles of the Sea Gods, so I could probably copy parts of it…

Hear me, Father of mine, Ruler of the Sea Far and Wide.

I paused and frowned, titles… check… hmm… next was asking for the thing, but like, with more titles. This was a battle, so I probably needed to bring up something battle like. His trident? That seemed good…

I ask you, Uh… how to say that… your hand? No… the other prayers used fancy language, so like… whose hand that holds the trident and it… it does stuff so which the mighty sea bows to, plus of course the whole listen to me thing hear my prayer to you. 

Prayers were hard to write. Okay, so next… I was supposed to bring up what I did for him, and my relationship and stuff. They used Blessed a lot for the Gods, I was pretty sure that was a good thing. So Blessed. He was my Blessed Dad.

O Blessed Father, if ever I have honored you, Wait what did I offer Him? Uhhhh, I hated having to think of things on the spot. Fish? Yeah fish. Nice fish. No not nice, that’s not fancy, maybe… best? I wasn’t sure if that was fancy enough but it was what I had. offered you the finest of Fish that didn’t seem like enough… maybe a drink or something? Mom always poured Him a glass of water so- and the sweetest of water, then grant me my request. 

Wait, what was my request? I wanted… strength? And maybe the ocean to help me? So like… fast currents to get away from enemies and to get to the boats… fast isn’t right, what was the word… I wanted Hamapep, that was… currents, but like- fast ones… whats the word used in the dictionary…

…

…

SWIFT!

Okay, swift currents- wait I was putting this in Halmaheran I didn’t need to remember the English word… oops. Well, swift currents, and strong waves. And uh… power? Yeah power. 

Grant me swift currents and strong waves, to lend power to my own. 

Then uh… guiding my strikes maybe? I didn’t know where on a boat to hit but Poseidon definitely did. So like- guidance, that’s what the other prayers did. And like- swift strikes, fast, and good, so the ships would break… no not break… fall? Yeah fall.

Guide my hand so my strikes may be swift, and the ships may fall before me. 

And then… Something about everyone knowing how great He was. That seemed like a good note. Maybe the enemy, cause He’d be helping me, and you were supposed to dedicate actions to Gods so dedicate this to Poseidon? My Metua would like that right?

And may every fallen enemy know your strength. 

Then just… the whole honoring thing at the end. I could probably just copy that.

And when the battle is done, let me honor you further.

Okay, then Triton!

Triton would be easy, that was my brother. Titles first of course, plus the “hear me” thing.

O Triton, wide-ruling of the sea, herald most high, hear my prayer now. 

Okay, then the whole pointing out gifts and relationship and stuff so… What gift did I need to mention? Maybe just gifts. I’ve given him a lot. So reminder, and request…

If ever my gifts have pleased you, Brother Most Loved by Me, then grant me your aid. 

And I wanted to… have help, guidance with attacks and stuff, so I could win quickly- No! Swiftly.

Guide my strikes so that I might win swiftly.

Oh, and this was also to like, protect the sea and stuff right? Like invasion with Sea Gods helping them, so like- I was the Prince so needed to do stuff to protect it. I could ask for strength for that too, right? I was pretty sure.

I looked up at Minos who was guiding one of the Athena kids, Yewande I thought, through something with… something on fire? Over water?

He seemed busy, I’d just add it.

Grant me the strength to do what must be done, to protect the sea as I ought. 

Then something I remembered from a lesson with Euphemia. Triton wasn’t technically God of the Tides, but he was associated with them… and Calm Waves. And sometimes was prayed to in war to ‘calm the waves of war’ in the sea. So…

O High Prince, Lord of Tides and Calm Waves, please grant me the strength to calm these seas once more.

Yeah, that seemed good. I wasn’t sure who else to pray to in the sea.

I eyed the ships in the distance, smaller boats being filled. Maybe…

I really probably shouldn’t, I knew that but…

O Okeanus, Lord of the Oceans Deep, the Encircling River. If ever you have welcomed me into your home, hear my prayer. Grant us the strength of the Deep, and the ability to withstand all that wants to hurt us. Please, Okeanus-re’ari, aid your children today.

All in the sea, were in their own way, Okeanus’ children. And Poseidon’s. Just as all were Pontus’ as well. It was one of the basic rules of the sea.

If you were in need, you could call for aid as a child of the sea.

I wasn’t sure it would do anything, but at least I would’ve tried.

“Jackson, are you done?”

I quickly grabbed the paper, nodding. 

“Wonderful, now, Sterling prepared the khernips for you. Sprinkle some on the offering stone, and then wash your hands in it.”

I quickly followed his instructions, carrying the bowl over to the offering stones and sprinkling water on each of the ones around the brazier, and then onto the top offering stone.

After that I placed the bowl on the table and awkwardly washed my hands in it. Everyone was watching.

“Good, now, step in front of the brazier–” he led me in front of it “--and read the prayers, carefully. We don’t have time for all the proper offerings before you need to be there, so place the offerings between each prayer… do you know how to place the offerings?”

“No.”

He took a deep breath that I didn’t think he needed and closed his eyes. “Of course you don’t know.”

I shuffled awkwardly, “Er… would you be willing to explain it to me, Your majesty?”

He sighed, “Yes, I will correct Khiron’s failure. There’s no time for a proper explanation, unfortunately, but for now– well first you’ll pour the oils and perfumes into the libation jug. That is to be placed on the flat portion of the offering stone.”

I nodded quickly, oils and perfumes in the jug. Got that.

“You can place a different food offering in the dip in the offering stone with each prayer, place the libation before the prayers begin. I’ve placed out the food, you can put a few pieces in with each prayer.

“Right,” I muttered. “I’ve got this.”

I took a deep breath and centered myself as I was taught by Triton. This was just like the events in the sea, this was just like my introduction to the sea. Stressful, but I could do it.

I carefully picked up the first bottle of oil that Minos indicated, and poured it into the libation jug.

“Is there supposed to be anything… fancy done while I do this?”

“Generally? Yes. But for now just do it. We’re in a rush, thus leeway is given.”

I nodded, pouring each of the oils in, then picking up the perfume bottles and pouring them in.

They were nice ones, I recognized one as Silena’s favorite. He must’ve had the Aphrodite kids gather the perfumes.

All of them were unused. 

Once that was done I picked up the libation jug, heavy with all the liquid inside, and brought it over to the offering stone to carefully place it on the flat part of the stone.

That done I picked up three fruit tarts and placed them in the dip in the stone, before stepping back and picking up the prayer sheet. 

Minos nodded when I hesitated, so I took one last deep breath and began.

“Hear me, O Zeus,” I declared, with as much gravitas as I could. “Much-honored, Zeus, supremely great, King of the Heavens with your Blessed Queen Hera, if ever I have offered to You as I do now, Zeus, who shakes the- shakes with fiery light of- fiery light the world, grant us Your blessing in this fight. Grant us Your strength in this battle. Grant us Your power, so that we might survive to honor You further.”

Minos motioned 

My cheeks burned at my mistake with the fiery light line, yet at the same time…

The fire burned brighter, the air heavy with the attention of the King of the Gods. It was as if a crown had been placed on my head, his attention weighing me down yet… with a feeling of authority. 

I didn’t think I’d stumble on the rest, not with Zeus’ eyes on me, his authority supporting me.

“And the next,” Minos murmured when I paused.

I nodded, moving to gather more of the offerings. These had olives on them, so they fit well for Athena. That done, I stepped back once more and recited Athena’s.

Farovi sa’ta, Ponova-Matpeki Taio, Tapuvuki av Herfomav teye faitak ert Aegis. Pallas Athene, Voi teye tapuvuk ert fehuav ro wova, farovi sa’ta ika ta hinru. Ta Havua Sa’opu rao ert survu poniov Opu tal eretamur sa’ta, y meteniav av era auru’fare, ie auviom, y patuva erva Opu ravir erivap, Opu rav ary pohiva. Eretamu sa’tav tie Sa’opuno atienta, uti erva tav tani siena auviom. Y iaye ert pomain em raviruk, tatifa tav hiparu Sa’opu suivaia.

I took a deep breath, the air bright and clean. A hand was on my shoulder, yet nothing was there. The paper fluttered at the attention of Athena.

I swallowed and reached for another offering, placing a honey cake and slices of beef in the indent. With that done I turned to the prayer for Ares.

I wondered if he was past the whole… conflict. I hoped so as I started reading aloud.

“Ares, exceeding in strength, golden-helmed, Savior of cities. O defender of Olympos, father of warlike Nike, hear me, helper of men, giver of strength. If ever I have honored you with offering or deed, then hear my prayer now. Shed a kindly ray from above, O blessed one, and grant strength upon the warriors who stand here today, so that we may be able to drive away bitter cowardice and face the enemy with courage in our hearts. And when the battle is done, let us honor you further.”

I let out a breath when I finished, feeling more confident than before. My back straightened further, a steady thrum in my bones. 

I turned back to the offerings and picked up the last honey cakes and some fresh fruits, placing them in the dip like the rest. 

That done, I turned to the last prayer of the Olympian Gods. Then I only had the Einalioi Gods, as the Sea Gods were known.

“ Swift-footed Artemis and far-shooting Apollo, dear children of Leto and thundering Zeus, I pray to you, O Gods, in our time of need. O Blessed Protectors of Children, if ever we have been shielded in your arms, grant safety to us once more. O Archers unmatched, of the Golden Shafts and Silver Bow, whose arrows always find the mark, grant our aim your hand. O Gentle Gods, the Saving Goddess, the Healing God, guide the hands of thine healers, and lend your blessing to the infirm. And when the battle is over, and the children safe, let us honor you further.”

I paused for just a moment, licking my lips. Warmth tucked over my shoulder, a soft comfort laying over me, like a child’s first laugh.

I just had the Sea Gods left.

I placed more fruits in the bowl, those were valued in the sea I knew.

Farovi sa’ta, Metua av tan, Aritoh av ert Wasare Tiem y Vulai. Ta patuva sa’opu, Teyeno auhou faitak ert Lamuhana, rinaye ert viekuki wasare karisak ie, farovi tan tialoy ie Sa’opu. O hirupuki Metua, mat roni ta tal hiparur Sa’opu, mutevar Sa’opu ert taru av lar y ert maruni av pavu, erivap kumiol ta sa’tan vulion. Kumiol ta hamapep y hasashi, ie talou vomni ie sa’tan. Eretamu tan riape uti sa’tan tupiav meye’v hamalia, y ert moaneliv meye’v hiso homiva sa’ta. Y meye’v romi hisor isevia roti sa’opun vomni. Y iaye ert pomain em raviruk, tatifa tav hiparu Sa’opu suivaia.

My Metuano prayer rolled off my tongue like waves on the shore, smooth and easy, familiar. I knew, in an instant, that He was watching, and that He had heard me. 

And I knew, in my heart, that He would aid me.

I took a deep breath and gathered a collection of fruits that I knew Triton liked from our meals together, then stepped back and began reading my prayer to my brother.

“ O Triton-re’aia, vulai’arivak av ert wasare, febalit suvia teit, farovi tan tialoy pohiva. Mat oni tan otopelav tal oatir sa’opu, Tatua Suvia Auhereaki muriv Sa’ta, erivap kumiol ta sa’opu atea. Eretamu tan tupiav uti erva sa’ta viek uviom hamaliat. Kumiol ta ert omniveki ie rav eaye elri’meye en ravir, ie pauroi ert wasare ika sa’ta elyria. O Apiria, Rakil av Pyev y Wasashu, hamoto kumiol sa’ta ert omniveki ie wasai erav wasarev hore suivai.”

Nothing felt different with that prayer, it was as it was before, yet I didn’t think he’d missed it.

It was almost as if he had been watching before that, waiting for what I had to say. The thought warmed me. My brother cared, he’d send the guards after all. I didn’t think he’d leave me to fight alone.

I carefully collected a few more fruits, rare gifts in the sea from what I remembered, and placed them in the dip–which was now nearly filled. I hesitated slightly as I eyed the last prayer. But… better to try than to not.

O Okeanus-ari, Rakil av ert Moare Horenu, ert Muhomuk Vakniki. Mat roni opu tal potaivir sa’ta ro ie sa’opun fare, farovi tan tailoy. Kumiol tav ert omniveki av ert Horenu, y ert etaka ie faita kalup topta erva tehasono ie mauioto sa’tav. Hamoto, Okeanus-re’ari, atea sa’tan avoliv ertma.

That prayer had a distinct weight, a judgment laid down on me. The Gods and Minos alike seemed taken aback, yet none said anything. 

And the weight of the Ocean’s depths settled on my skin, coiling heavy currents that draped over me akin to a cloak.

“You need to get to the beach now. The first ships are heading towards shore,” Minos said, stepping away from the brazier, drawing my attention from the offerings. “Fight well, may the Gods be with you.”

I let out a breath, placing the prayer sheet on a table. 

“And with you.”

“There’s a pegasi for you,” called Malcolm. “To get you to the beach faster.”

“Target the ships with heavy artillery,” Yewande added. “We need them taken out the fastest.”

“Got it,” I said, hurrying to the waiting Pegasus.

It nickered in greeting, bending slightly to let me slide on. And then, in a beat of powerful wings, it leapt into the air.

It didn’t go nearly as high as I expected, but it was still enough to see the archers on top of the Dining Pavilion, two of them from the Apollo cabin with several quivers of arrows next to them.

More archers were on the Arts and Crafts Pavilion, and the Climbing wall. The rest of the archers were spread out on the short hills before the beach began.

The pegasi, Broadhoof as he introduced himself, swept over the hills and past the very complex field of thorny vines and some strange leafy plant and skimmed the water briefly.

Is here fine, Prince?

“Yeah,” I called back. “This is fine. Thank you!”

I slipped off the Pegasus’ back to a faint your welcome and splashed into the ocean. 

I quickly dropped deeper, for once not summoning my tails but instead using the ocean currents to guide my movements.

I reluctantly reached up and unclipped my necklace as I settled in the deeper water, swallowing as the weight of the enemy pressed down on me. Fire, shadows, light, dark, deep ocean currents, shifting sands, draping blankets, razor blades, knives and daggers, it was a cacophony of sensation.

And then it smoothed out, softened and dulled in a spiral of home and safety and go forth .

It was like being at the hearth, sitting with Hestia.

All offerings went to Hestia, I remembered. I wondered if She was offering aid as well.

I took a steadying breath, then jerked at the form that rippled in front of me. A naiad, one that had talked with me before, in the river in the Forest.

“Hello, Persi-aia.”

“Hello,” I said hesitantly. “Are you helping with the boats?”

Nerissa nodded, “Agata, Delta, and Greta are targeting the barges heading for land. Ines, Kasandra, Lesya and myself will be helping you with the larger boats.”

That would be a large help, I didn’t believe I could handle even one boat alone. 

The ocean rejuvenated me and I’d rested for several days, but I was still tired . I lingered in my bones, in every breath I breathed. A need to rest , to sleep , to stop doing things .

So yes, the aid of the naiads would be very helpful.

“We’re not as powerful in the sea,” Nerissa said as she led me to the boat the others were waiting at. “But we can support you, and minimize the strain for you.”

I took a steadying breath and nodded. “Sounds good. Is that the boat?” 

Three other naiads were already there, hair flowing free in the water. My own hair was in a bun that Annabeth had done on the train, a few thin braids trailing into it. 

“Persi-aia,” one said, I didn’t know her. “I am Kasandra.”

“There’s no time for pleasantries,” Lesya–one I did know–said. “We need to get to work.”

I nodded, “Right. What do we do?”

“Have you had any lessons on naval warfare in the ocean?”

I shook my head. That was something Triton had mentioned to me as a future subject, but we hadn’t thought it would be needed, not for some time. Wars in the sea were commonly in the sea . Triton had deemed naval warfare something for later days as a result.

“Well, I was advised to break a hole in the hull, or simply capsize it, depending on how much power we have and how fast we want to do so.”

“Which requires less power?” I asked, eyeing the boat moving steadily forward. We were on a time limit.

“Depends on the type of boat. Steel and metals are easier to capsize usually, wood is easier to break.”

Well, this boat was wood, so…

“Guess we’re breaking it,” I said. 

I furrowed my brow and reached to the sea. I could feel the ocean waves lapping gently, far gentler than normal. The ocean was steadying the waves, holding them down. The moon tugged at the tide, keeping it in when it should’ve been pulling back. A Taliv Hirupuk draped over the ocean surrounding the invading force.

That was fine, we weren’t trying to capsize a boat, so this wouldn’t need to counter that.

I spun the ocean in my hand, spiraling it as I did when preparing a weapon for sparing with Triton. I needed to break the boat, that was easiest to do with sharp things, right?

The naiads were doing similarly, preparing their own javelins of seawater. Though unlike myself, they had no need to guide it with their hands. Their willpower alone guided the sea to do their bidding.

Ah, the benefits of being Taliv.

I chilled the water slowly, until it was almost a slush, not frozen but icy and glinting with ice crystals.

Eddies curled around me, the currents shifted and coiled tight. Heavy currents blended with rippling tides and a soft rub of salt. 

The javelin of icy water slipped from my fingers, hurling through the water in a blur alongside the naiads own javelins.

Wood cracked and creaked and shattered as one after the other our attacks hit, till a gaping hole loomed.

“Away!” Nerissa called. “We don’t want to get pulled down.”

The five of us hurried away, the naiads simply blurring while I called for the water to aid me. 

Currents not mine swept around me and pulled me away from the boat, till I was resting beside the naiads.

The boat sunk quicker than I expected, tugging everything around down with it.

“Wow,” I muttered. “I’ve never seen a boat sink before.”

“It’s quite the sight,” Lesya agreed. “But we have more boats to sink.”

OO OO OO OO

Sinking ships was hard. Funneling the power into the attacks to pierce the hull was hard, and the concentration needed was a lot. 

And there were only a handful of wooden boats that had heavy artillery. So after only three boats we needed to come up with a new plan to sink the other boats.

We surfaced near a metal boat. I didn’t know what the type of ship was called but it was metallic and would be a lot harder to break.

We were probably going to need to capsize it, but that would take more power to raise the waves against the force of the Taliv Wasashu the sea held.

“Alright,” Nerissa declared. “We’ve got this. We just need to ready the wave under the water and if we can hit it in the side and curl it over we can drag it down. Lysa and Kassandra, you go on the other side and pull. Persi-aia, Ines, and myself will push.”

“Got it-” Lysa blinked above. “We’ve got a message.”

We all turned to look at the sky, following Lysa’s gave, and found a harpy dropped towards us.

“Order from Commander Annabeth! Target ships with hellhounds! Priority!”

“Eh,” I frowned. “Why hellhounds?”

Our gazes turned to the beach as the harpy flew away without answering. 

On the beach was a raging battle. We were too far out to see the details, but we could clearly see the large shapes of hellhounds charging across the sand and crumbling away in swaths. 

Even as we watched two hellhounds rose up on the beach, seemingly melting into being out of nothing. 

Could hellhounds teleport? Apparently they could–

“Oh,” Lysa whispered. “Yes that– we need to stop the hellhounds.”

I didn’t understand, but I nodded nonetheless. “Where’s the nearest boat with hellhounds?”

It took a few minutes before we could identify the nearest boat filled with hellhounds, it seemed they were spread out amongst many boats.

“That boat has the most,” Nerissa decided, pointing to a larger metallic ship than the one we’d been planning to target before. “We’ll need to put more power into our wave.”

With that we dipped under the water and got to work. 

Ines, Nerissa, and I gathered around to begin pushing the water together. I was flagging at this point, my body beginning to ache from the strain. 

The ocean spiraled and spun and condensed tighter and tighter as we drifted further and further apart, my breathing strained as I held the water in place and pulled more water into the act. 

We needed to stop the hellhounds.

Hellhounds.

Why were they called hellhounds? That was a weird name, Hell wasn’t even real? And it also wasn’t Greek? Were Hellhounds Greek? 

They were big, black, shadowing dogs that were as large as a semi. I’d not read anything about them though.

How weird.

Maybe they were adopted?

“Ready, Persi-aia?” 

I jolted out of my thoughts and nodded at Nerissa. Ines was concentrating hard, brow furrowed and body almost fading out of shape. The naiads needed a physical form in the ocean, else they could lose themselves. They were of the river, not the ocean.

I took a deep breath and readied myself for the release.

Pressure raised.

The ocean rages against our bind.

Nerissa opened her mouth.

Go

I threw myself back and released my hold on the top of the pressure, Nerissa and Ines doing the same.

In a surge, in a rush, an explosion of wrathful water and waves, the ocean exploded upwards. It was a tsunami in a bottle, the wrath of the sea lashing out viciously after being bound even for a few short moments. 

The ocean did not like to be bound, it did not like to be held in place, and it let us know it. The force of the ocean shook the water, shook through my skin and bones and mind. A howling cry, demanding freedom, demanding we let it rage wide and free.

My jaw clenched as I held the shape, sending it up in a cacophony of powerful waves. My vision blurred and my arms shook but I didn’t dare let my grip falter. The ocean would come at us just as much as the ship if I did.

The water surged up and up and the boat above crashed as we curled the water back down, over the metal, over the beings, over the hellhounds. We dragged and dragged, Lysa and Kassandra grabbing hold as the water reached them and pulling .

I could feel the results, even if I couldn’t see with the white in my vision. The boat crashed down, water swamping the decks. The ocean howled and swallowed the boat up, swallowed the lives aboard up as it raged free once more.

And then the ocean was free and the waves settled and the wind soothed the might of the sea.

Might of the Sea.

Eurybia. 

I struggled for water, the ocean cradling me gently in familiar deep currents and soft eddies.

“Are you okay?” Nerissa asked. 

I waved my hand, reeling from the sensation of the lives lost and the ocean's rage. I dragged water into my gills, my body shaking.

The amount of power I’d used was too much.

I couldn’t do anything else.

“We still have other boats,” Lysa said, concern in her voice as they led me away. “Can you–”

I fumbled for the pouch at my side, pinned closed, and pulled out one of the two potions held inside.

My fingers slipped over the stopper on the lid and I bit back a snarl. My hands were shaking, my body aching. I was exhausted from that last surge of power. I needed-

“Let me–” Ines reached over and pulled the lid off.

I downed the potion, lowering my arm to put it back in my pouch only to pause as something coiled within me.

Cool power swept from my stomach, crashing out in a flood that filled me from the tip of my toes to the ends of every hair on my head. 

My fingers were still shaking, but for a different reason now.

“Okay,” I said, positively buzzing with energy. “Okay. Let’s do this. What else do we need to hit?”

OO OO OO OO

We sank three more boats before a Harpy came and called us back to shore. The naiads were tired themselves, but I was running on the high of the energy potion I’d taken.

I knew it wouldn’t last forever, and when it ended I’d crash hard , but for now I was full of energy.

I reached the beach quickly, stepping onto the blood soaked sand only minutes after the harpy came for me.

I swallowed, staring at the golden sand that coated the white sand beach. Blood, gold and red alike, stained the sand.

“Over here,” Annabeth called. “Percy!”

I hurried towards her, noting her appearance. She had a gash on her arm, though it was already bandaged, and blood stained her shirt and armor. Her pants had a tear in them that wasn’t there before, but there wasn’t any blood.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Are they retreating?”

It didn’t seem like they were, there were still many boats beyond the seven me and the naiads had taken down, and many had been rescued from their wrecks.

“No,” Minos said, expression grim. “They are graciously giving us a chance to surrender. They’ve declared that was just a taste of what they had, and that they would prefer taking us peacefully rather than with further battle.”

I blinked.

Then blinked again.

“We need to hold out for a few more hours,” Annabeth said. “How long do you think you can target boats?”

I hesitated then grimaced, “Not… not long enough? I’ve already taken an energy potion so I’ve got a good bit of power but when it wears off I’ll be crashing hard . At least that’s what the instructions say.”

“We can probably… this can work still,” Annabeth said. “You’ve taken down quite a few ships and we’ve only had three deaths so far–”

My stomach dropped, “Who died?”

“Mitchell,” Annabeth whispered. “Mitchell and Sofia and Melissa.”

I closed my eyes, my chest tight. Mitchell I knew quite well from my time with the Aphrodite cabin. Sofia and Melissa I’d talked to a few times, I wasn’t close to them but… Leilani probably was.

“How did–”

“We can discuss our losses after,” Minos interrupted, not unkindly but firmly. “Right now we must decide what to do. We’ve pulled the injured back, but the numbers are growing and we may not be able to hold out.”

“I… the chances of us surviving either way are slim,” Annabeth whispered.

“You might survive if you surrender,” Minos said. “They offered you a chance to surrender, killing you would be unusual with that. But you would be prisoners, at the very least.”

“We don’t know when reinforcements are coming,” Pointed out Lee Fletcher. “We have to do something.”

“We have a strategy!”

“But it might not be enough! Especially if any hellhounds break the line-”

“What? And let them have died in vain?”

“You can’t just–”

“My brother is dead for this and you want to suggest–”

Fighting broke out, campers arguing over surrendering or staying to fight en mass.

I swallowed, watching them all. They were all scared, I was scared. I didn’t want to fight, not in this. I wanted to survive, to go home, I wanted them all to live. But at the same time… surrender wasn’t really an option.

We were offered the chance yes, but could we really surrender and let them do as they wanted? If we surrendered now, who knew what could happen. It was a war brewing, we were the first line of defense of Olympus.

The Gods were on our side, I felt Their presence in the prayers. I’d felt the ocean cradling me, guiding me. I didn’t know how the battle was going so far, but I was fairly certain that over half an hour of fighting resulting in only three deaths was… really impressive.

I didn’t want to fight, but we had to. What else could we do? When our lives and freedom were on the line? When our family was?

The Gods were with us right now, I could see it in the way the healers hands shone. I could feel in the way the currents wrapped around me in the ocean. I could tell from how perfectly each of our strikes hit the boats.

We had a chance, we had to have one. Maybe we wouldn’t win, but… worst come to worst we could probably all hide in the lake, it was the place of our last stand.

I rubbed my head and frowned. 

I didn’t know what was right, but I’d chosen to side with Triton. And right now… this battle was a result of a conflict in the ocean too. I… I had to do what was best. 

For the camp.

For the ocean.

For Triton.

“I… I’m going to fight,” I announced. “Maybe we can’t win, maybe this will all be for nothing… but we prayed to the Gods to aid us in our fight, we’ve fought and bled already for this. They’re offering us a chance to surrender but they didn’t do that until we’d shown that we could push them back. It… it might be a hopeless battle, but I don’t want to sit down and be taken prisoner so that they can move on and attack Olympus.”

Annabeth straightened at my words and nodded, “You’re right. We’re the first line of defense for Olympus. Maybe our enemy is too strong for us, but we’ve held out so far. Maybe we can’t win, but we have to try. We’re the Children of the Gods, our parents are with us today. We can fight.”

“We can win,” I said softly. “If we’re willing to fight, we have a chance to win. King Minos came up with a strategy, and we’ve held the enemy so far. What was the point in- in Mitchell, in Sofia, in Melissa dying if they died only for us to kneel to the enemy mere minutes later?”

“We can do this,” Clarisse declared. “We’ve all fought for our lives all our lives! We can beat these stupid monsters! Just because there’s more they think they can win? We’ve won unwinnable battles before! We only need to hold out for reinforcements, we can hold them for a few hours.”

Silence reigned for a few breaths after Clarisse’s words, campers sharing looks. I twisted my bracelet, watching them all carefully.

Silena fingered her own bracelet, charms gleaming. She looked worried, scared almost. My heart panged. She didn’t like to fight, for all that she could and was good at it.

“Is that a joint decision then?” Minos asked. “That’s three cabin heads voting, what say the rest of you?”

“I agree,” Lee said. “Our archery has never been more accurate, our Dad is with us today. We… we can do this.”

Beckendorf leaned forward, “We don’t have much of a choice but to fight. I think… I think we should. We have traps set out, we have people ready and willing to fight- they still haven’t hit all of our landmines. We might get hurt, we might die, but honestly… that’s our normal daily lives. I’m not about to surrender to beings that normally eat us on the off chance they’re feeling nice today.”

I grimaced at that. He had a point there, Tyson wasn’t the norm. Annabeth had taught me that.

Silena sighed, “I don’t want to fight, but if- if we have to… we’ll do our best.”

Eliza scowled, “I don’t want to fight. I think surrender would be better, would give us a chance at survival… but fine. We can fight, if that’s what you want to do.”

Castor and Pollux shrugged, “We’re fighting, we’re not about to abandon our Dad.”

And with that the decision was made.

“Then do we just stand here and prepare or like send a message-” I stopped, my breath catching.

“Percy?”

I turned to look at the ocean, where the pressing currents bore down on me. Hard scales tightened on my arms, fangs scraped my sides, the weight of the deep ocean bore down on me.

“Percy, what is it?”

There were multiple, multiple beings that- I knew that feeling, the powerful coiling currents that wound tightly over me, scales strong as platinum, fangs dripping poison.

“Percy!?”

The water was bubbling.

“Jackson!”

I jolted, turning to them.

“What’s going on?” Annabeth asked.

“I– I think–”

And the ocean erupted.

It was nothing like when I’d worked with the naiads to sink ships.

It wasn’t the ocean exploding with rage and a desire, a demand, for freedom. There was no guidance, no build up. 

It was simply the force of a beast rising up.

The water spilled down, the spray drifting all the way to the beach where we stood, and revealed the four figures that had come up.

Sea Serpents.

OO OO OO OO

OO OO OO OO

Extra Author's Note (I ran out of space)

Okay! So let's talk about the strategy the camp is using (yes you get to hear the whole thing)

The camp has overwhelming odds against them, they are facing an entire invading force with only 100ish campers total, with traitors in their ranks that they don't know about, and with only about 30 minutes of warning. The beach is a horrible defensive position, with no cliffs or high hills and being about a 3/4ths of a mile long. They don't have the forces to hold that length. 
First Line: Percy & the Naiads--Job: Sink as many ships as possible
Second Line: Beach Force--Job: get them to the mid beach
---Beach force method: Leilani took East beach, ruining the beach and making it all but impassable while working with other fighters to guide the invading force to the center of the beach, the Demeter cabin and Satyrs worked to grow thorny vines and Hogweed (it burns <3), this is effectively chemical warfare. 
---Bonus! Hephaestus cabin throws all faulty inventions that go boom, products still in testing, and any explosives they made onto the beach and semi-bury them. This is testing products on the enemy, also a war crime
---Leilani is vital figure on East beach, as long as she's there they can prevent the enemy from getting a foothold on the beach
Third Line: Hill & Path Force--Job: Hold the line and slowly fall back
---Commander: Annabeth
Fourth Line: Archers and Path Builders--Job: Lay cover fire and build the fortifications to funnel to the lake
Fifth Line: Snipers & Forest Backup--Job: Sniping down flying threats and offering support when needed
Sixth Line: Command center & Healers--Job: Coordinate the forces and heal the injured. 
---Combat medics go into the field and get the injured off and to the healers, 3
Seventh Line: The lake

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Halmaheran
Metua=Father
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Monsters
Taliv Hirupuk=Divine Blessing
Taliv=Divine

Terminology
Apó tous Theoús=By The Gods (Ancient Greek)
Duberdicus=The God of fountains, lakes, and oceans in Lusitanian mythology
College of Botanē=College of Botany, Botanē means roughly Botany
Toxeúō Beach="bow" beach (roughly, not exact)
Offerings: traditionally done at a temple or, if not available, a palace, particularly in the case of offerings to pray for aid in war. The offering stones are placed as described, and usually covered in carvings of the Gods, phallus', or other symbols to symbolize strength and power and safety. Minos is very right to complain about the lack of temples, as there is no dedicated place for the offerings.
Offering a Pegasi: Horses are considered close to the divine and thus good offerings
Lyma: The natural impurity all people draw when interacting with death, birth, or bodily fluids. This occurs on accident often, by simply walking past a graveyard or shaking hands with someone who came from a funeral or a child's birth. It is natural, but should be washed away to interact with the Gods
Miasma: This is the impurity coming from impious behavior, such as murder, incest, adultery, sacrilege, or other severe crimes. It could also be cleaned off, with proper actions taken (not as simple as cleansing Lyma), but it also affected their surroundings, hence why criminals were often exiled and banned from communal rites (they would corrupt them).
Katharos=Pure, the natural state of all beings
Khernips: lustral water, made by extinguishing fire in pure water (usually) and then sprinkling the water on the altar and participants. Unclean people were not allowed to touch it (hence Minos not making it, but another camper) as it is not simply meant to purify you, but to consecrate you, to bring you to the sacred state needed for important rites.
Libation: A jug usually filled with wine or oils, as the camp is banned from wine, oils and nice perfumes were used. Ambrosia and Nectar should not be used, as those are divine foods already and giving the divine something they already have is lazy and disrespectful
Hellhounds=They are not Greek
Eurybia=The Titan Goddess of the Might of the Sea, She controls the aspects that influence the sea, such as the wind that blows the waves, the stars and moon on the tide, etc.

Prayers
Athena
Hear me, Bright-Eyed Goddess, Savior of Cities who holds the Aegis. Pallas Athene, she who saves the soldiers in war, hear me as I pray. I thank you for the many times you have guided myself, and others of this hearth, to victory, and ask that as you did then, you do again now. Council us with your wisdom, so that we could seek victory. And when the battle is done, let us honor you further.

Poseidon
Hear me, Father of mine, Ruler of the Sea Far and Wide. I ask you, whose hand that holds the trident, which the mighty sea bows to, hear my prayer to you. O Blessed Father, if ever I have honored you, offered you the best of Fish and the sweetest of water, then grant me my request. Grant me swift currents and strong waves, to lend power to mine. Guide my hand so my strikes may be swift, and the ships may fall before me. And may every fallen enemy know your strength. And when the battle is done, let me honor you further.

Triton
O Triton, wide-ruling of the sea, herald most high, hear my prayer now. If ever my gifts have pleased you, Brother Most Loved by Me, then grant me your aid. Guide my strikes so that I might win swiftly. Grant me the strength to do what must be done, to protect the sea as I ought. O High Prince, Lord of Tides and Calm Waves, please grant me the strength to calm these seas once more.

Okeanus
O Okeanus, Lord of the Oceans Deep, the Encircling River. If ever you have welcomed me into your home, hear my prayer. Grant us the strength of the Deep, and the ability to withstand all that wants to hurt us. Please, Okeanus-re’ari, aid your children today.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 36: Divine Intervention

Summary:

“War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War

Or The Battle is Over, and those who are left must pick up the pieces

Notes:

bows I know, I left you all on a cliff hanger last chapter. But this time there's no cliff hanger <3. Only one more chapter left at camp! I have hopes I'll get it out next week too :D

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Waves beat the shore, crashing over the sand, washing away much of the defenses. The air filled with a salty mist as the sea serpents twisted in the water, sending up a salty spray that washed towards the shore. The boats in the ocean rocked violently, the water roiling with the sea serpents arrival.

I wasn’t the only one gaping up at them, I was certain of that, but I had no care to look and see everyone else’s reaction. These weren’t just sea serpents, they were Wa’tepov-re, Greater Sea Serpents. They were from the darkest depths of the ocean, the depths of the Abyssal and Hadal zones.

I’d seen one before, in my dreams of Okeanus’ palace. It had been massive; the pupil alone had towered over me. I hadn’t been able to see the majority of it either. These ones seemed to be equal in size, if not greater, and we could only see a small fraction of them.

Only the heads and the very top of their sinewy body was visible to us now, but that alone was enough. Their eyes the size of ships, their mouths large enough to devour a whale whole. Their presence pressed down, demanded attention, demanded respect.

They were beasts of the deep dark, creatures nearly as old as the Gods Themselves. Four massive serpents that towered over us, over the ships, over the land. I dragged in a shaky breath as the Wa’tepov-re twisted around, yellow eyes seeming to lock onto the land scattered with cowering Demigods.

Light refracted, skittering off of their scales and lighting up the land with rainbows. They shone as they never did in the ocean, in the dark depths where even light died. In the light of the setting sun they lit up the world like a kaleidoscope. Blue and green light flecked the beach and red and orange specks scattered across my skin like stars. Gold, silver, and bronze danced across the beach, shining off of their horns and fins and scales.

It was beautiful, terrifying, awe inspiring.

Their fins fanned out, light glancing off of the ships and washing them in a blood red shine. Silver marked the shore, teeth gleamed dull and white in their shining mouths.

The Wa’tepov-re reared up, reared back, mouths open wide. A rumble shook the ocean and my teeth, their eyes locked on their target.

And, in an instant, they struck.

Like a striking snake the one closest to shore whipped down, their mouth open wide, a hungry maw snapping shut on its target. The crunch of their teeth made me flinch, taking a step back into Annabeth, her hands steadying me even as she made a noise of terror.

Screams echoed all the way to us, campers around us gasping, shouting, terror in their breath. The waves rocked against the beach, washing away any remaining defenses. The campers fled back.

The Wa’tepo-re that struck, a her I thought from the shape of her fins and the curve of her horns, raised her head once more.

And the remains of the ship that she’d crunched between her teeth slowly sunk into the ocean.

No one moved. Even the ocean seemed to still, the boats settling in the water. My breath left me in a surge and I turned to look at the other campers.

No one moved, eyes wide, mouths open.

And then, in an instant, the moment shattered.

Cheers rose up from the campers, hope flared like a raging fire. The ships in the water became a flurry of activity.

The ones in the back turned quickly, the water twisting around them to guide them quicker. In contrast the ones in the front tried to move towards shore, but that turned out to be a very bad idea.

The Wa’tepov-re once more proved their title of Optea and struck like serpents. Four ships cracked and shattered beneath their teeth. The water stained gold with dust and light.

The boats in the front stopped moving forward.

The Wa’tepov-re twined in the water, twisting over and around each other. Their bodies were large enough to fill canyons, yet they shifted through the water like quicksilver.

The boats fleeing were allowed to pass. Not a single boat dared come closer to the shore after they struck down the first four.

The first strike was a warning. The next four were a declaration. Any further ones would end in the destruction of every ship there.

I stared up in awe, feeling the presence of the Gods around us, the Titan in the water, the sheer divinity in the air. I wanted to go out, I wanted to greet the great beasts of the deep sea. They were sacred to Okeanus, they were His vanguard. The most dangerous creatures in the sea, and yet here they were, aiding us.

I remembered my dream, the dream where I met Eurybia. I never heard His decision, but She had told me Hers.

Okeanus had chosen our side.

I took a step towards forward, towards the beach, towards the water, towards the Wa’tepov-re, but Annabeth grabbed my hand.

“Percy don’t.”

I faltered, my gaze turning to her. Everyone else was still watching the ships, faces awed, gaze filled with fear and hope. Annabeth was the only one to notice my movement.

“Wait until…” she bit her lip, eyes on the water. “Just… wait for a bit. Until the ships are gone at least.”

“The Gods heard our prayers,” breathed a camper near us.

They did. The Wa’tepov-re would not have been able to reach the camp had Poseidon not allowed them to. Okeanus could’ve gotten them somewhat close, I was sure of that, but not all the way to the camp.

They had been allowed to help.

The Divine could not interfere directly, but They could act in ways to aid us.

The archers had perfect accuracy, the injured healed faster than the norm, the strategy that we had been blessed with worked well, there were only a handful of deaths in a situation where normally there’d be many.

The Gods had heard us, They had helped us.

I stepped back, beside Annabeth, and watched as the ships fled.

“Just until they’re gone,” I murmured. “Then I-“

I didn’t know what I was going to do. I wanted to go out there, to the Wa’tepov-re. I wanted to speak to them maybe, to thank them perhaps. I didn’t know what I was to do, but it felt wrong to do nothing.

“Until they’re gone,” she agreed.

OO OO OO OO

The Wa’tepov-re stayed until the last ship was but a blip on the horizon, giving me enough time to head out into the water.

The campers were uncertain, but Annabeth argued for my actions necessity. The Sea Serpents had not left yet, and they had someone who could understand them. And wasn’t it important, to know which God to thank for their appearance?

I did not say that I could explain the rough set of Gods needed. I knew most of how the process of the Wa’tepov-re getting here would work. I knew which Gods would have looked the other way to allow it.

But I wanted to go out there. I wanted to speak to them.

Even as I walked over the beach, exhaustion dragged at me. I had never felt so tired, so drained. The amount of power I’d used lately, the work we’d done, the battle we’d fought… and combined with the energy potion which would end in me having no energy-

It was all so much.

But I needed to speak to the Wa’tepov-re. I needed to- to thank them? To ask them who else to thank? I wasn’t sure. But I needed it.

And so, I slipped into the water and swam forward.

Under the water I could see more of them, and it was… terrifying.

Their bulk above the water was great, just their heads and the top of their long bodies stuck up, and still they towered above the tallest trees. Yet in the water I could see their bodies stretched out to the sea floor, then stretched out further, deeper into the ocean.

They were massive, their length easily touching the rocky bottom, the ocean shivering with each twist of their coils.

It was humbling.

I couldn’t imagine anything capable of taking down these creatures except for the Gods Themselves. What would dare to strike at these ancient beasts?

The coils shifted, shaking the water, making me sway until I reached for my charm and let the power sweep my human form away to leave me as a mer.

My tails swished, steadying me easier than my human legs could. And when I had steadied, the coils still once more, I turned to look up once more, to see the Wa’tepov-re and figure out how to draw their attention.

And then I screamed, flicking back quickly as I came face to eye with one of the Wa’tepo-re.

A rumble from the Optea made the water shiver, and I swallowed hard. My fingers rose of their own volition to make the proper motion of respect.

The yellow eye seemed familiar as it studied me silently, and in an instant, I realized that this was the same Wa’tepo-re I had met in my dreams to Okeanus’ palace.

“Hello,” I said. Then I corrected myself, remembering I was not on land. “Atula.”

The eye was unblinking as it considered me. I wondered if I was to say something else, a proper greeting perhaps, when a voice echoed in my mind.

I shook under the weight of it, ancient power in each note.

Son of the Sea, it rumbled. Why do you float before us?

I swallowed hard and straightened my form. “I wished to-“ I still didn’t know why I had been so determined to come out, and yet I couldn’t say nothing “-I wished to thank you for your aid.”

The eye almost seemed to tilt, but I was unsure if that was truly the case. I wondered if the head was resting on the sea floor, or simply on a coil of their massive body. I didn’t dare look down to check.

Our aid was decreed, it rumbled in my mind, the authority in the words pressing down upon me. Thanks is unnecessary

I blinked, trying to understand. Thanks was obviously owed, they’d saved us. Perhaps it meant the thanks was owed to another?

“Should I offer the thanks to the one, ta- the ones who guided you here?”

The eye of the Wa’tepo-re definitely tilted that time. The water rippled and the scales on my skin from their presence almost seemed to click. I wondered what it was thinking.

We would not speak for the divine, was said at last. And yet tis proper for a tialmau to offer thanks.

Tialmau- I didn’t know that word. But these Wa’tepo-re was much older than me, perhaps it was an older word. Or perhaps it was a local dialect, there were many of those in the sea.

I offered another motion of respect nonetheless.

“Who should I offer thanks to then,” I asked. “Okeanus-re’ari I presume, and my own Metua-re, Poseidon-re’ore?”

Yes. And indeed there is more, such as the High Herald, and also He who rules Northern Oceans and Fountains Pure. Include, also, She who rules the Pure Waters. And even the King of the Heavens, for He has turned His gaze aside and allowed our passage.

Okay, the High Herald was probably Triton, I vaguely recognized the title of Northern Oceans and Fountains Pure but couldn’t remember who the title belonged to. Tethys was She who rules the Pure Waters, and the King of the Heavens was obviously Zeus.

I nodded and offered yet another motion of respect.

“Thank you for the guidance, we will be sure to thank each of them for their aid. Is there anything we may offer you, as well?”

The eye studied me intently for a long moment, before the head moved back, raising slightly. The water rocked with the movement, and I took a few moments to steady myself.

There is nothing for you to offer us. Return to the shore and honor those who ought to be.

And with that the head rose once more, breaking the surface and towering above all.

OO OO OO OO

I gave my report to the camp leaders and Minos, Tantalus having mysteriously reappeared as well. Carl was helping clean up the command center, it was nice to see him. I was glad he was alright.

I was swaying on my feet by the time that I finished my explanation, and I quickly promised to look into who the one who rules Northern Oceans and Fountains Pure was.

The others started planning out how to handle everything else that needed to be done, but Silena took one look at me and said that I needed to go lay down, Annabeth quickly agreed.

One of the Hermes kids, I couldn’t have even hoped to remember their name at the moment, told me Leilani had been sent to our cabin to rest already as well.

I trudged up the hill to my cabin slowly, my feet dragging and my eyes heavy. I just wanted to lay down and sleep for a week.

I pushed the door open and kicked my shoes off in the little opening section before pushing the curtain aside and walking into the main sleeping area of the cabin. My gaze was drawn immediately to the bed farthest from the entrance.

Leilani was sitting on her bed, knees hugged to her chest with her head buried in her arms. Her body was shaking.

“Leilani?” I asked, stumbling as I stepped forward. I leaned against my bed for a moment before pushing forward and reaching the furthest bed, where Leilani slept.

“Leilani, are you okay?”

She sniffed, lifting her head to reveal a tear streaked face. Her lip trembled and I faltered, unsure of what to do.

“Leilani?” I asked softly.

She let out a choked sob and threw her arms around me, nearly sending us both to the floor.

I held her weight shakily, leaning forward to rest against her bed as I held her while she cried.

“It’s okay,” I said, rubbing her back. “You’re safe now. It’s okay, the attackers are gone.”

I didn’t know what was the matter, I didn’t know what to say to help her, so I just continued to assure her that she was safe, we were safe, the enemy was gone, she could rest.

“Melissa died,” she whispered, voice a bare croak.

Melissa, that was one of the Hermes cabin kids. I didn’t know her that well, but it seemed like Leilani did. They’d mentioned her death earlier, along with- with Mitchell, and one other.

“I heard,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“She saved me,” Leilani choked out. “She- the hellhound lunged at me and- she pushed me aside and it- it- I- I couldn’t stop it and it just-“

She shook, her breath coming in heaving gasps.

I hugged her tighter, her hair tickling my nose.

“It’s not your fault,” I said. “It’s horrible, she- she didn’t deserve that but- but it’s not your fault.”

“I should’ve- I could’ve- it- I didn’t do anything,” she cried. “I didn’t do anything and she’s- she’s- she died- She was go- was going to beco-“ her voice caught, her breath unsteady and choked “-she wanted to be a beekeeper, to- to help with preserving them-“

I sat on the bed, keeping my arms around her.

“She wanted to- she had so much to live for-“ I was fairly certain my armor couldn’t have been comfortable to cry on, but I didn’t think she would let me sit back to take it off.

“I’m sorry,” I managed. “She didn’t- she should’ve gotten to do that.”

Leilani’s fingers tightening on my shirt as she whispered, “It’s not fair.”

“It’s not,” I agreed softly. “War- it’s- it’s not fair. Melissa should’ve lived, so should’ve Mitchell and-“ I couldn’t remember the name of the other person who died and I felt a surge of guilt for that “-none of them should’ve died.”

“Why?” she asked. “Why do we have to fight like this?”

I didn’t have an answer. I knew that the Gods cared, that they tried to protect us… but they couldn’t stop the monsters from attacking.

It wasn’t fair that Melissa had died, nor that Mitchell had. Mitchell had always been nice, he wasn’t a big fighter, but he was nice. He was good at helping people with their emotions.

They didn’t deserve to die. The Gods had helped us this battle but it wasn’t enough to prevent the deaths.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that we had to fight to survive.

It wasn’t fair that some of us lost that fight. Life wasn’t fair.

I wished that I had some answer, something that would soothe her. Something that would make it all worth it. But life was a battle, it was a struggle, one struggle after another. We could only do our best.

“I don’t know,” I said finally.

“I want my dad,” she whispered. “I want-“

I wondered for a moment if she was going to say her mom, and I ached at the thought. I often longed to go to Triton, to have him solve my problems. He didn’t do it for me, but he often had advice, had guidance to offer. He could teach me and prepare me.

Other campers didn’t have a God they could just walk up to and ask for help, or even just a hug.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

My eyes slid shut as I hugged her, her face pressed against my armor, my face pressed into her hair. She shook slightly, maybe from crying, maybe simply shaking, and my own body was definitely shaking too.

I didn’t quite grieve for the campers we’d lost, but I ached with Leilani, for the pain she felt.

I wondered if there was something wrong with me, that I felt more pain at the fact that Leilani was hurting than that they died. I felt pain at the mere thought of Tyson’s- Tyson’s death. I felt responsible, he came because of me, he died because of me. He was my brother and he’d died because he’d trusted me to keep him safe. But for the other campers all I felt was a vague sadness at their death.

It hurt in a distant fashion. Maybe I would hurt more later. All I knew was Leilani was hurting, and I didn’t want her to hurt.

My eyes stung with tears as I held her, and I let out a shaky breath.

We sat there offering comfort to each other for a long time.

OO OO OO OO

I slept deeply, and without dreams. Simply fell onto my bed and slipped into darkness. When I awoke once more the sun was high in the sky and the cabin was empty.

I stumbled out of bed, nearly falling when my blanket tangled with my legs, and went to the bathroom to clean up.

One soak in the waterfall pool and a quick brush of my teeth later I felt ready to face the day.

I still ached with exhaustion, still longed to collapse back into bed, but I needed to go see how I could help.

The camp was quieter than normal when I walked out, and I paused for a moment to study the area.

The infirmary was bustling with activity, people entering and leaving en masse. The arts and crafts center had quite a few campers as well.

“Percy!” Silena called, hurrying over. “You’re awake!”

“What time is it?” I asked, squinting at the sun.

“Like, three in the afternoon ish?”

I blinked.

“We let you sleep, Annabeth said you’d done a lot on the quest too and probably needed the rest.”

“Oh… uh, what can I do to help?”

Silena hummed, rocking on her heels. “For now we’re mostly finishing up treating the injured and preparing for the funeral tonight. The shrouds are being made right now by the cabins. I think Leilani is there too?”

“She wanted to help with Melissa’s shroud,” I remembered. “So she’s probably there yeah.”

Silena nodded, fingers idly twisting the edge of her veil.

I glanced around, noticing most of the girls were veiling and more boys than normal. “Should I be veiling?”

Silena blinked, “Oh, uh… well it’s up to you. Because it’s the solstice and also… because of the deaths. It… I dunno, it’s not necessary but a lot of the girls are out of respect even if they don’t normally, and a lot of the others too.”

I nodded, “Would you help me put on a veil?”

She perked up at the question and offered me a smile, “I would be happy to. Do you have one?”

I nodded, “In my cabin.”

I’d packed a few when we’d come to camp.

Silena let me lead the way into my cabin once more and asked me to pull out all my veils.

“Which one do you want?” she asked, studying them.

I fingered the shimmery green one, but my eyes were drawn to the one I got while on the quest last summer, with Annabeth.

“I think the constellation one.”

Silena nodded, plucking up the black one dotted with stars.

“Sit, oh your hair is all tangled let me brush it-“ I pointed out the brush to her and she went to brushing it.

That reminded me of the quest and Kirke.

“Uh,” I bit my lip. “Hey, Silena. Do you have any recommendations for how to take care of my hair?”

Silena paused, “Huh?”

“Well… I mean, my mom probably knows but I still have a few weeks at camp… and it was pointed out that my hair is uh- not being cared for right? I dunno, I’ve kinda just been using shampoo and maybe conditioner but mom does other stuff for her hair… I kinda got more of my grandpas hair, you know? She has more of grandma’s hair.”

“Oh, okay yeah. I can help with that. Your hair is kind like Lapis’ so she can probably give product recommendations. I think you have two C hair, though yours has a different texture. I know Lapis is always dealing with the frizz, but your hair doesn’t seem to frizz much, it’s got a like… sleek kinda texture to it.”

I figured that had to do with being from the sea. I’d probably need to ask Triton or Euphemia about if there was anything to do for that. I didn’t know what two C meant though.

“We can speak to Lapis tomorrow,” Silena said. “Your hair does seem to be a bit dry though. A hair mask will help with that.”

Did my hair need to be extra moisturized because of being from the sea, or less moisturized? I didn’t know. I would need to ask Triton.

Silena finished brushing my hair and tying it into a neat bun. Then she placed the veil over my hair and pinned it under the bun.

“There, all good.”

“Thank you,” I said, offering her a smile.

She smiled back. I noticed the bags under her eyes.

How many of her cabin was making Mitchell’s shroud?

“Uh, is there anything I can help with?” I asked. “The shroud or-“

She blinked quickly and shook her head. “No, you should get something to eat, we have snacks out because of how much everyone is doing. And you- you have Leilani to look after, and you’re still- well- Tyson-“

I closed my eyes at the mention of Tyson, an ache in my chest.

“Mitchell was a good friend,” I said after a moment. “I want to do something. Leilani isn’t alone right now so-“

Silena softened, “Well, you are our nephew…”

I rolled my eyes but smiled at the faint smile she held.

“The shroud is being made already,” she said after a moment. “All three of the bodies- they’ve been treated and prepared for cremation we just- we just have to pay our respects still. Most of the campers are doing that, or being treated, or helping with normal chores around the camp. We’re making some cakes to place at their grave marker.”

“Where is their grave marker?” I asked. “Has it been set?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s being made too. It- Minos and Dionysus have been discussing what to do for it. They think maybe it should be placed at the beach, or well not at the beach but on the hill, to the right of the path.”

“The one a bit to the left of where Leilani was placed?”

She nodded. “As a memorial for the battle, and for them. They haven’t fully decided yet though. So, the grave marker isn’t made yet.”

I nodded. I didn’t know the traditions for the dead here. I’d never been to a funeral, though Euphemia had taught me some of the undersea traditions.

“So, I should go pay my respects? Then uh…”

“Maybe go see if Minos or Mr. D has anything else for you to do,” she offered.

“Is Tantalus not in charge?”

“Oh!” she grinned then. “Tantalus has been returned to the Underworld. He hid during the battle instead of doing anything to help guide us, and Zeus wasn’t very pleased. This was supposed to be him proving he’d improved and no longer needed to be punished but he failed. So he’s back to punishment.”

I grinned, “So he’s gone?”

She nodded, “For good!”

“Yes,” I whispered. “Wait, who’s the activity director then?”

“Right now, Minos and Mr. D are sharing the job. Argus is being called back to be in charge of security again and Minos will take over activity director.”

“Khiron isn’t coming back?”

“Nope,” she said, wincing. “I don’t know the details, he might be under review? Might come back later. I doubt Minos can stay for too long, he is a judge of the dead and the dead aren’t allowed to stay amongst the living for long. This is a really unusual situation.”

I nodded, musing over that.

“Well, we’d best get going. I still- I still need to go join the talk for the memorial. You’ll probably need to join that meeting later too.”

I stood with her and headed to the door, thanking her for her help.

Lot’s to do still, it seemed.

OO OO OO OO

The infirmary was busy when I arrived. It wasn’t a surprise, there were a lot of people injured… and of course those visiting the dead.

It seemed to be clearing out a bit though, several leaving as I arrived. I nodded and mumbled greetings to those who greeted me. One of the Apollo campers pointed me towards another doorway before going back to wrapping someone’s ankle.

I pushed the door open, letting it fall shut behind me as I entered, and paused at seeing someone else sitting in a chair by the bodies.

Each was laid on a bed, cloth covering most of their bodies. I could smell oils, and noticed candles lit around the room. There was an altar in the corner of the room, with a few statues placed at it.

I stepped forward to where there were chairs surrounding the beds, and paused at the one next to Mitchell.

“Hey,” whispered a voice.

I turned and realized that it was Annabeth sitting by the body.

“Hey,” I murmured. “You okay?”

Her eyes were a bit red, but it didn’t seem like she’d been crying. There was a pad of drawing paper in her lap and she was holding a pencil.

“Yeah… I just- paying my respects.”

I nodded, “Yeah, same. I didn’t know this was a uh… a custom. I’ve never been to a funeral.”

Annabeth hummed, leaning back in her chair, her veil hanging loosely.

“Yeah, this is called prothesis, it’s one of the three parts of the funeral arrangements. It uh- the bodies have been washed and anointed with oil. And right now is where we mourn them and honor them.”

She drew one of her legs up, nearly sending her drawing pad to the floor as she hugged her knee to her chest. I reached down to steady it for her, blinking at the drawing on it.

“The next part is the funeral procession, it’s called ekphora. That’s where their bodies are brought to be burned.”

“What’s this drawing?” I asked, then flushed as I realized I’d interrupted her. “Sorry, you can continue. I don’t actually know anything about the funeral procedures…”

She shook her head, “It’s fine, we can discuss them another time. The funeral will be occurring before dawn tomorrow, so you might want to go to bed early.”

I figured I could manage that.

“Right, got it. The drawing then?”

Her fingers ghosted over mine as she took the pad back.

“I’m one of the people designing the memorial,” she said. “Several people will be making a version or two, and then the cabin heads and the members of the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins will vote on which one to use, or to combine them or something.”

“Oh, the memorial?”

“Their gravestone,” she said softly. “And also… a reminder of the battle we fought. Mr. D decreed one should be made. Apparently normally they’d be added to the gravesites in the forest, but because this one was a battle he decided a separate memorial should be made.”

I blinked, “There’s a gravesite in the forest?”

“Hmm, yeah… it’s- you know the path you take to get to the fruit tree grove?”

I nodded.

“You take the branch off about halfway there and pass the balanced rocks. It’s kept separate to minimize the effect of the lyma from the dead. Their ashes will be offered to their families, and if they don’t wish to handle them themselves, they’ll be placed in the gravesites there. A separate marker will be made regardless, it’s where all who died in the camp boarders or during a camp quest are honored.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Does that happen often?”

Annabeth shrugged, “Quests used to happen once every year or two, it’s been several years since the last quest though. They usually weren’t big things, just stuff to allow one that wanted to to earn themselves some fame.”

“The last one was Luke’s, right?”

“Right.” She said, a scowl crossing her face. “His quest was the last one. The members on it- he was the only one that made it back. The Gods brought their bodies to the camp to allow us to do the funeral arrangements.”

That was kind of the Gods, to ensure the bodies returned so they could be given their rites.

“But that wasn’t a battle, so… we just did the normal funeral stuff, and made a headstone. We didn’t do a memorial.”

“Will it just be stone?” I asked, noticing the notes she had on materials. “Like the marble in the museums?”

“Oh no,” she said with a small giggle. “Most of the pieces in the museums were once brightly painted. So, we’ll be painting the piece when it’s done. It’ll be bright, and beautiful. They deserve it, to be remembered.”

I nodded, settling at last in the chair next to her.

I wasn’t sure what to say to them, what to do to honor them. Melissa had saved Leilani’s life, and I was guiltily grateful for it. She’d died, but she’d saved Leilani.

I didn’t know how the other two died, but I didn’t want to ask. Annabeth looked pained enough.

“How are you doing?” I asked instead.

She blinked, her pencil pressed against her drawing pad.

“I don’t know,” she said at last. “My mom spoke to me last night, She spoke to all of her kids. I don’t know if any other Gods spoke to Their kids but… She spoke to us. Said She was proud of our handling of the attack.”

“That’s good,” I offered.

She nodded, “I dunno, I could feel Her presence with us as we fought. She’s the Goddess of defending towns, you know? And this is basically a town, so it really fell under Her rule here. It was nice, but- I wish that we hadn’t needed it.”

“I do too,” I said softly, remembering Leilani’s tears.

Annabeth sighed, “I hope this was the last thing of the summer.”

“Gods,” I muttered. “Same. If there’s one more thing I might just jump off the climbing wall.”

She giggled, “You’ll get caught by the wind spirits.”

“Alas, there is no escape.”

She shook her head as I draped dramatically against her shoulder.

“Dork,” she muttered.

I stuck my tongue out.

“We should probably leave,” she said. “So that others can pay their respects.”

I nodded, standing with her. I stopped at Melissa’s bed, as Annabeth left.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for saving Leilani. I hope you get Elysium.”

I paused once more by Mitchell’s bed, resisting the urge to reach out. “I hope your passage is smooth, and that you earn Elysium too.”

I murmured another wish for Elysium over the camper whose name I didn’t know, then turned and followed Annabeth out.

We still had a funeral to prepare for after all, and meetings to attend. And I was pretty sure that offerings and thanks still had to be given to the Gods that aided us in the battle, particularly the Gods who allowed the Wa’tepo-re to arrive. There wasn’t any time to waste.

OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV: Right after the battle

I watched the ships that were fleeing the camp, carefully noting the way they interacted with the water and the sea breeze. Even if Eurybia hid them from my sight once more, I would be able to track their effect on the waves.

“Well, that went well,” Okeanus mused beside me.

I hummed in agreement.

The arrangement of the Wa’tepov-re had been complex, and last minute. We’d had to open several paths for them and ensured that their presence didn’t interfere with the local sea life. Not to mention ensure that it wasn’t direct interference.

There was only so much Zeus could turn a blind eye to. He was giving a pass today, in part thanks to the prayers Perseus had offered. Technically our actions were responding to a prayer, and though it is more open interference than would normally be permitted, Zeus also didn’t want the camp to fall.

None wanted to see all of the children fall at once.

No doubt the interfering with mortal lives would come up in an emergency meeting that I had no doubt was being arranged now. We had interfered far more than we normally would. And Ares had kept his eye on his daughter throughout the quest so saw the guards Triton had sent.

Zeus had already made it clear that would need to be discussed.

He was right, Triton was doing too much. But Perseus was not like the rest of my children, even the ancient ones. Okeanus had made sure of that by making me announce him as a prince of Atlantis.

“The Wa’tepov-re will be returning to the trenches?” I asked.

Okeanus nodded, “As soon as the ships are completely out of reach and clearly won’t be returning.”

“Good,” I muttered. “We will have to make plans for the war that is coming.”

“Several sea Gods have sided with Kronos,” Okeanus said. “There will be great conflict.”

And yet, Okeanus had sided with the Gods. I wondered at that.

He’d never picked a side in a conflict before, and yet this time he had. I had no doubt Kronos had appealed to him, so why had he sided with us?

Something told me it had to do with Percy, but I dared not bring it up.

“We can handle it,” I responded. “An emergency meeting is no doubt being arranged right now.”

“You have my reports on the oceans movements,” Okeanus said.

“And the ones that we have been making as well.”

“Then I wish you luck in the meeting to come.”

I snorted, watching the ships completely leave the reach of the shore even as Perseus went out to speak to the Wa’tepov-re. He was doing so well, I couldn’t help but swell with pride.

I longed to speak with him, to congratulate him personally, but there was so much to do right now.

And Triton had acted enough for the both of us at the moment. It would be best for me to hold back, at least until the other Gods stopped bristling over Triton’s interference.

My gaze skimmed the camp itself, lingering on the daughter of Athena my son had befriended. She was watching the water, ignoring the discussion going on around her.

That girl… she was the one who fled with Zeus’ daughter after they harmed one of my Kyklopes children, Cyprian. She was skilled, a true merit to Athena’s name, truly embodied all of Athena’s clever nature. And like all of Athena’s children, she resembled Pallas to a painful extent.

Athena’s memorial to her love. Athena’s apology to the one she murdered.

It was never enough. It would never be enough.

But she was Perseus’ beloved friend, I would not harm her nor act against her.

But I would watch.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the Sea Serpents? What about Leilani's grief? Or the funeral processes?

You'll get to see a bit of funeral next chapter, along with the camp generally recovering. And of course the grand ending to the book. The chapter after is a very important bonus scene, and then two fun ones along with info on what's been decided for the Kane Chronicles.

Mitchell is a canon character, a son of Aphrodite. Melissa and Sofia are OC's I made. Sofia is a daughter of Hermes, she's from Russia. Melissa is from the USA and is a daughter of Aristaeus, the Greek God of Beekeeping. She was unclaimed.

Halmaheran
Wa'tepov-re=Greater Sea Serpents
Wa'tepov=Sea Serpents
Optea=Serpent
Atula= Hello

Suffixes
re=Greater (this term is not quite greater, but gives a higher rank to the term used. In the case of the Sea Serpents it is denoting them as Greater Sea Serpents, in the case of the Kings it is denoting them as the High Kings, in the case of the Prince it is denoting one as the Crown Prince or High Prince ie. next in line)
re'ari=High (Past/deep/previous) King
re'ore=High King

Terminology
Abyssal and Hadal Zones=the two deepest zones of the ocean, the Hadal is the deepest and the Abyssal the second deepest.
Eurybia=The Titan Goddess of the Mastery of the Sea. She does not control the sea specifically, but holds authority over outside influences on the sea, such as the wind or the stars and moon's effect on the waves and tide.
Two C (2C) hair=a type of hair curl, it is technically wavy hair, and just on the verge of classifying as curly. Percy's mom has 3B hair, curly.
Percy's hair is a mix of several things, and thus requires a bit of specialized care to be taken care of right, he learned this thanks to Kirke's commentary and will be taking some steps to actually care for his hair right.
Prothesis=the laying out of the body, the first part of the funeral process when the people give their respects to the dead. Traditionally the body would be laid out in the home, but that would be traumatizing for the campers in their cabins, so the camp has a special place kept separate in the infirmary for it. The space will be cleansed fully after the bodies are removed.
Ekphora=the funeral procession, where the body is transported to the pyre or the gravesite to be burned or buried. It begins shortly before dawn traditionally.
The internment or cremation of the remains=the process in which the body is buried or burned. This would be done around Dawn.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 37: I have no words (proceeds to lecture for 2 hours)

Notes:

You all had better ADORE this chapter, it's over 10k. You get to learn soooo much in it. It's not plot heavy, but it's very important to the growth of the characters. Next chapter will be camp stuff, and the closing of the year.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

I sat with the Demeter kids before dinner. They were happy to gossip with me about what had happened while I was asleep. Silena had told me a lot, but she’d forgotten to mention anything about the backup we’d called, and some knew news had cropped up.

For one, it was decided to have a memorial on the hill but the traditional grave markers in the graveyard for the dead. The memorial would honor them, and everyone who’d fought. I thought they might like that.

And then she told me about the people from the college that had arrived. They’d appeared over the horizon only an hour or two after I’d fallen asleep, having rushed straight over. They’d been on Pegasi, wild ones that would stop by the college periodically for food and medicine.

They’d been glad to know that there was no battle left, but angry they hadn’t been called about the sick tree. Though they’d agreed if Lord D hadn’t been able to help, it was unlikely they could… but they had argued Lord D could only do so much before he was directly interfering in their lives and that wasn’t allowed, so they could’ve helped.

Miranda was laughing as she told me how everyone immediately threw both Khiron and Tantalus under the bus. Apparently, Khiron had wanted to handle it “in house”, and Tantalus hadn’t wanted to allow anyone that didn’t have to listen to him into the camp.

Once the tongue lashing had ended, Miranda explained how they had gone to the beach and planted a few seeds. They’d grown grass many feet high all down the beach, some kind of sea grass, and used it to smooth out the sand. Then one of them had simply killed all the grasses on the beach itself, leaving a pristine beach behind.

“Wow,” I muttered. “That sounds so cool.”

“It really was! And then once they finished with the beach they went to the other parts of the camp and started restoring the plant life there. The grass has never been healthier, and several trees and bushes damaged in the fight in the forest were fixed right up!”

She’d then gone on to tell me about the native plants they’d grown. And the camp had been supplied with a variety of native plant seed mixes, with explanations on how to care for them. It was fascinating.

I let Miranda regale me with how the native plants were what should be planted here, and while the camp had a lot of native plants, she didn’t think it was nearly enough. She eagerly told me about how the college was working with some Natives on preservation and restoration efforts, and how the Native leaders of the project were apparently really good at teaching the others about the native life and how to take care of it.

A lot of the stuff she talked about made a lot of sense, I wondered why more people didn’t ask the Natives what worked best. They were here first.

It made me think about what I wanted to do. Miranda seemed really interested in the restoration and preservation of plant life. Did I care about something like that? I supposed the cleaning of the rivers, was that something I wanted to do for like- a job?

Could I? Was that a job?

Other than them lecturing Lord D and Minos, and fixing up the damage from the invasion, they also looked over the tree. They agreed with Lord D that it seemed to be recovering, but slowly. They advised the campers on what to do to speed its recovery and demonstrated so that they could see it.

Katie and Darius really enjoyed the lesson, and both were now even more determined to attend the college, Katie was already making up her application. It made me smile to listen to them rambling about all the things they learned.

It was soothing to sit and listen to them, soothing to watch them brighten as they talked, soothing to see some of the joy that I’d come to love about camp appear in their faces.

When the dinner conch shell rang out, I was feeling settled once more.

OO OO OO OO

The funeral was early, very very early. We were up an hour before sunrise, when the night was cool and dark. Everyone headed down, people streaming from all the inhabited cabins clutched small jars of libations, or bowls of pelanon, or holding their kollyva. Most everyone wore a veil, of all different colors and styles.

We arrived at the open end of the cabin U, where the bodies were laid out on biers. I stared at the forms visible in the flickering torch light. I couldn’t see the bodies, not because it was too dark but because the bodies were already wrapped in their shrouds.

I stared at the soft blue shroud covering the body of Mitchell. I couldn’t make out all the details, but I knew it was filled with doves carrying laurel wreaths, hearts twisted through the wreaths, spirals of perfume mist intricately embroidered.

I’d seen it before they took it to prepare his body, had embroidered a heart on it myself.  

I didn’t know what the shrouds for the others were, had no idea what they looked like. The flickering torchlight only let me see some of the details.

A caduceus centered on both, little yellow dots on one, big colorful dots on the other. Gold and silver gleaming on one, green filling fields on the other. Flowers perhaps? Coins? I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure which was which.

Leilani was staring at one, so I guessed that was Melissa. I softly murmured reassurance as we came to stop with the crowd.

Lord D wasn’t present, but I hadn’t expected him to be. Apparently, from what Annabeth told me, the Gods didn’t show up to the funeral rites, they watched but did not interact.

They were of the living, divine. And the dead, they were of the underworld, of the miasmic mists of below. The Gods of above weren’t to interact with such forces, it could make them impure. And so they didn’t go near them.

Annabeth wasn’t sure why Minos and Tantalus could be around Lord D, but she figured that they had to do something special to purify themselves enough to be there. Normally only Chthonic Gods interacted with the dead.

Argus was there though, standing over the bodies as if guarding them.

I squeezed Leilani’s arm as we began walking, feeling her shuddering breath as she stepped forward. Everyone had arrived, and it was time to walk to the graveyard.

I’d never been there before, most only visited family, friends, those passed who they knew. But the names were remembered, the cabin members spoke of them. I’d heard the names of dozens of Aphrodite and Demeter campers long since passed, some as recent as the last twenty years, others as old as three thousand years ago.

The camp remembered their names.

I probably needed to spend some time in the graveyard, to learn the names of my own siblings who were long passed. I didn’t know their stories, but someone probably did.

The path to it felt long, though in reality it wasn’t any longer than the walk to the grove. We simply turned right at the fork where we normally turned left and kept walking.

The night was cool, the heat of the day lost in the darkness. The trees cast deep shadows as we walked through them, even the torches lighting our path couldn’t cut through the darkness. No one was speaking and every step felt loud. Feet tromped on the ground, sniffles broke the stillness, the crunch of dirt and leaves filled the air. A twig cracked, someone flinched, a soft murmur of comfort.

I kicked a rock and winced as it clattered.

I wondered how much longer it was, the walk was torture. The dead were in front, leading the way, and the rest of us followed behind. We had been left behind as they passed on the underworld, and now we walked behind what was left of them.

The walk wasn’t that long, it really wasn’t, I knew, intellectually that it wasn’t. But it felt like hours. The night pressed down on us, the stars hidden by the trees, the moon was just visible, half of its face visible. I offered a silent prayer to Artemis and Selene as we passed beneath their light.

As if my impatience was audible, the end of the path rose up before us.

Ahead were four columns, holding up a triangle shaped… relief? I thought it was called a portico, Annabeth had talked about it before, but I wasn’t sure if that counted when it wasn’t at the entrance to a building.

The relief on the top was intricately detailed, though undoubtedly old.

I paused, just before entering the graveyard proper, and craned my neck back to look at the relief.

A winged God bent over a body; a figure stood on a boat going across a river. Three figures stood before them and judged.

That had to be Thanatos, and Charon, and the judges. I had completed the second part of that journey already. I wondered when I’d complete the other parts.

I stepped forward, continuing with the procession until we stood before a grand pyre.

There were three sections to it, one for each body. It was Giovanni and Jasmine who moved Mitchell’s body onto the pyre. Eliza and a camper Leilani murmured was named Batu placed Sofia’s body on the pyre, and Sirona and Elanor placed Melissa’s.

I noticed, as they placed the bodies, the glint of a silver coin on their lips. Charon’s obol, their payment for passage.

No one moved for a long moment, until finally Silena moved forward. She stopped to the side of the pyre, where three small graves were dug. The bodies weren’t going to be buried, but their ashes would be.

She placed a lock of hair at the grave, head bowed, and then lifted the small jar she held and poured it over the grave. Annabeth had called it choai when telling me about it, the offerings poured at the grave during the funeral.

The other Aphrodite kids stepped forward after her, each laying a lock of hair at the grave. They all had small jar, with perfume, oils, honey, water, and even milk within to be poured over the grave. They poured over all three, offerings to each of the dead, but the locks of hair were set before only one.

I could see their lips moving, prayers too soft for me to hear spilling from their lips.

I held my own prayers for the dead but would wait for my turn. So, I blinked back the tears their grief brought forth and clutched the fruits I’d gathered for my offerings (the fruits were known as kollyva, the first fruits of the crops).

While their prayers were inaudible, their tears were not. I could hear the shaky breaths and odd sniffles; I could see the shaking shoulders as they poured out their libations. I could see it in the people around me as well and wrapped an arm around Leilani. She was silent but shaking.

They stepped back, moving back into the crowd in clumps and stragglers. Several huddled together, several more leaned against other campers. Drew slipped up next to Leilani and me.

When they had finished, the Hermes kids moved forward. Nearly all of them laid out a lock of hair just as the Aphrodite kids had.

“Should I leave a lock of hair?” I asked Drew softly, as the Hermes kids began pouring out their own libations.

"You can, if you want,” she murmured. “But it’s only really done by those closest to the deceased.”

“Can I leave one for Melissa?” Leilani whispered.

“Yeah… yeah you can,” Drew said.

I stared at Mitchell’s shroud, he was the only one I could be argued close enough, I thought at least. I wasn’t the closest to him, not as I was with some of the others (like Drew). But we’d still watched Avatar together, he’d still helped me with my fashion, he’d still tugged Giovanni back when he was being overbearing.

He was still a friend, maybe family.

I drew my knife, my abyssal platinum one that desperately needed a name, and carefully knicked off a small lock of hair. Leilani glanced at it then at me and I leaned over to do the same for her at her nod.

She held the black strands tight in her hand, carefully balancing the pelanon (made differently than normal, her adding a dash of her own culture to it) with her other hand.

As she let out a shaky breath, her eyes on the strands of hair in her hand, the Hermes kids moved forward.

Each paused before the other two graves and laid down a lock of hair before bowing their heads and pouring out small jars of libations. Once more their prayers were too quiet to hear, yet they were clear. Their hands pressed to the ground, their heads bowed, they prayed for their passed family.

My eyes lingered on Eliza, the current cabin head. She’d been so angry before; she’d been angry since last summer. And even now, when mourning her dead cabin mates, a sibling and a friend, her expression was pinched, and her lips pursed.

She was still angry.

She looked like Luke right then.

I lowered my gaze to the graves.

They slowly shuffled out of the way, congregating around each other, with their friends, and the rest of us slowly started to move forward.

I went to Mitchell first, he was the one I knew. He was the one I spent movie nights with, the one I listened to about fashion with his other siblings, the one who had accepted Tyson so easily. I hadn’t spent nearly enough time with him, and now there was no time left.

I placed my lock of hair with the others, feeling almost shy as I did. I wasn’t as close as other were, but he was still a friend, and the Aphrodite cabin had declared me family enough times that I felt that I should.

I laid out the fruits before his grave, bowed my head, and murmured a prayer. I wished him safe passage across the river, and good judgement at the pavilion. I prayed to my Tonton, Hades, for him to find happiness in Elysium.

And then I turned to the other two graves and laid a fruit before each, with another prayer for each to find their journey quick and smooth. I prayed they would find happiness in Elysium as well.

I rose, once I finished, my eyes landing on Leilani who had her head bowed in prayer. The lock of hair she’d brought was before her, with the rest.

I let out a shaky breath and stepped away from the graves, before the pyre once more alongside Leilani.

There was a wait as everyone left their offerings, bowed their heads in prayer, and wished the dead well on their journey. Leilani and I slipped up next to Drew once more and waited.

Once everyone had stepped back before the pyres, offerings over the graves complete, Aponi daughter of Hekate stepped forward.

She was dressed nicer than usual, everyone was really. She wore a soft orange dress with black embroidery and had her long black hair tied into twin braids, soft orange ribbons gleaming with beadwork trailing from them. Her hairs glittered in the torchlight with more beadwork, in the earrings, and at her neck was an intricate necklace in a lattice.

Her brown skin shone in the torchlight, and her dark eyes drew everyone as they swept across the crowd.

She raised her hands, furrowing her brow, and then swept her arms and her body down in a bow.

The torches roared with fire, surging up in a crackling burst and spiraling into the sky, intertwining and flickering and dancing until they formed a fire serpent in the sky. The area was bathed in warm light and we all gasped as the fiery, wild, serpent twisted through the air.

Flames licked out, dancing from the tip of the tail and the open fang filled mouth. It seared our eyes as it circled and dipped and twined through the air, dashing through the sky as if it could burn the grief away.

It spiraled down, nearly close enough to touch, before it surged up and up and up and burst once more, three serpents spiraling down from it.

And with a flash of blazing blue flames, the serpents spiraled right down into the pyre.

Heat seared my face, the ones closest gasping as the pyre went up in flames with a woosh.

Aponi straightened from her bow, though kept her head lowered.

“Funerals are to be done by family,” she murmured. “We don’t use priests or priestesses, they attend to the Gods and thus cannot be affected by the dead. We do not have any priests or priestesses at the camp anyways, and yet there is an abundance of family.”

She raised her head then, dark eyes intent as they swept over us, “I am not related to Sofia, nor Mitchell, and none know whom might be Melissa’s family… and yet I shared a cabin with two of them, and they were family in all the ways that mattered. I have never had the honor of sharing a cabin with Mitchell and yet I still know of him, I still know him, and I thank him, too late perhaps, for all he’s done for me.”

She took a deep breath and placed her hand on her chest, a beaded bracelet gleaming on her wrist.

“We have lost three family members, all of us. They were not all of our siblings, but they were family all the same. I cannot find the words to describe this loss, or perhaps there are no words. All three of them were great, grand, truly worthy of their titles as divine children. What words are there to describe them?”

She almost seemed to implore the crowd to speak, to tell her what words there were. And yet, in that moment I couldn’t think of any. I didn’t imagine anyone else could think of something either.

“Indeed, we are all speechless in the face of their might. And yet, I must try to speak of them. It is my duty, tonight, to speak of our lost family and remind us all of them.”

She turned to the pyres for a long moment, framed by the firelight.

“Let us speak of Mitchell, first. I know I need not remind all of you of the countless times he offered a hand to those in need,” she turned to face us once more. “He fixed up our clothes, helped us style them, shared recipes and even taught some to cook. He volunteered with the infirmary, as he was never much of a fighter, but oh how he fought when there was no choice.”

She clasped her hands, head held high. “We remember his deeds; we remember them well. The countless times he soothed one in tears, the kindness he held, the way he lit up a room with a simple smile. And we will remember indeed his final deed. When the line was faltering, the laistrygonian charging forward to break our defense, to shatter it, he stepped forward. He raised his blade and slid it right into the laistrygonian and ended it. And yet with its dying breath it managed to end him in turn. We are alive for his deed, and we will remember it.”

She looked at us, eyes locking with several.

“Mitchell was the brother to thirteen others. He was the son to a mortal man, one who loves him dearly. He was the son of a Goddess, who looks down now to see us send him onward. And he was a friend, family, to everyone standing here.”

She spread her hands, “Let us remember him! Let us honor him! I implore you, all of you, to try and be as Mitchell was. Offer someone a smile when they’re sad, offer a hand to one who has fallen. Mend the broken, bring beauty to the world. Protect your friends and family as he did us. He has passed on without us, but he is not forgotten. We may hold him in our hearts, we may honor him. Remember his deeds and offer your own in his memory.”

I stared into the fire, where his shroud and he burned away. It ached, in a distant fashion. The thought of never being able to ask him for clothing advice again, the idea that he’d never get into fights with Drew over the proper word for cookies, the knowledge that he would never join us for Avatar IM nights again-

I swallowed hard and let out a shaky breath.

Aponi’s hands dropped and she looked at all of us with renewed solemnity.

“And now let us speak of another lost, let us speak of Sofia. She hails from a land far from us, across an ocean and another continent, and yet she stood beside us. What words do I have for her?”

She shook her head, taking a deep breath.

“She was gifted, truly, blessed by her father with a true talent for languages. It was a gift she shared freely, with each of us. She learned countless languages, and in turn aided us in learning them. She offered it freely, asking for naught but a treat or a spot of mischief in return. And indeed, her lessons lead to many learning a second, third, fourth, or even fifth in Yewande’s case—” the crowd giggled a little, eyes turning to the daughter of Athena who’d ducked her head with a smile “—language.”

Aponi swept her gaze over us, stepping forward.

“And let me speak also, of her deeds. She was a true daughter of Hermes, filled with mischief and delight. Many a dreary day was turned bright and joyful with her games and mischief. And indeed she also held speed unmatched, the quickest messenger in the camp who was always delighted to pass a message between friends.”

She lowered her head then, grief in her voice as she continued, “And it is this speed, this talent, that led to her warning the satyrs of the invading forces slipping through their woods to flank them. It was her final deed, her final prank. The invading forces never knew what hit them when she led the satyrs in the surprise attack to take them down with paint and blades alike, at the cost of her life. May that clearing be known as the Grove of Color in honor of her deeds.”

Aponi raised her chin once more, hands drawn close to her chest.

“I implore once more, to all of you. Remember her fun-loving-mischief, remember and exemplify that brightness of hers. Bring joy to the dark days, smile when you wish to frown, offer a game to one who needs it. And have fun, we may no longer have her with us, but we can honor her. We can remember her; we can bring her back to us by holding onto the joy she has given us and spreading it around once more.”

She wiped a tear from her eyes and smiled, “And she has left us behind, laughing as she waits for us below. She was always the fastest in the camp after all. One day we will see her again, but we have our lives to live first. She was our sister, our friend, she was family… and we will miss her dearly. Hold onto her memory and honor her deeds with your own.”

I didn’t know her, not really. I’d met her briefly in my time in the Hermes cabin, and had seen her around a bit since, but I was closer with others.

I still hugged Leilani close, and carefully remembered everything said about her. They deserved to be remembered.

The least I could do was remember them.

“And finally, last but never least, let us speak of Melissa. I am truly speechless thinking of what to say regarding her. She was something unnameable: shy, but oh so kind to all she met. She helped many a camper with their biology homework,” Aponi laughed softly. "She knew the forest like the back of her hand, always exploring and cataloguing the life there. She wanted to preserve it all and had her life thread not been snipped I know that she would have succeeded.”

She tucked her hands behind her, “Her deeds are many, quiet yet important. And all deserve to be expounded on. She cleaned the forest, picked up after parties. She ensured that everything was left better than we found it, and that nature was taken care of. She held many friends amongst the satyrs, nymphs, and naiads, for she was always willing to offer a hand in the care of the forest and their homes. And even beyond camp, she dedicated herself to rescuing bees, to rehabilitating them, to preserving them.”

Leilani let out a shuddering breath, her eyes closed.

“That was her goal in life,” Aponi murmured, voice threading around us all. “To preserve life. And that is how her life ended. She preserved our lives, and most importantly, she preserved the life of her friend. She gave her life to save another, to protect someone vital to our fight. All life is valuable, all is worth it, and yet in that moment she chose another’s life, another who we desperately needed.”

Aponi took a deep breath, and locked eyes with Leilani, “Melissa died in the same way she lived, protecting life. I can only dream of being as grand as she is—” her gaze left Leilani to sweep around the crowd “—and I must plead to each and every one of you to do as I will and strive to mirror her deeds. Remember to care for our homes as she did, cleaning the woods and offering aid to creatures in need. Honor the land we live in, our homes. Be as Melissa was, honor her deeds with ones to match. Remember her, honor her, and preserve life as she did.”

Leilani let out a choked sob, clinging to my arm. I swallowed and held her close but stayed silent. I didn’t know what to say in the face of her grief.

“She has left us behind, left friends and family. She was unclaimed and thus we cannot know who she was sister to, and yet she was family to all of us. She was family and friend to each and every one of us, and we will all miss her dearly. She has passed, but she would want us to preserve who she was. Remember her kindness, remember her love for the world, and love the world for her. She is gone, but we are still here, so let us honor her, her deeds, and her goals, and preserve the world as she would.”

And with one last bow, the fire blazing behind Aponi crackled to an end, snuffed out. We stood in the graveyard, ashes on the pyre lit with first rays of sunrise.

OO OO OO OO

I didn’t stay around for the collection of ashes and the burial, most didn’t. We all went down to the beach and washed in the surf, the sun bathing the water in pinks and oranges and reds.

I poured water over Leilani’s head, and she gave a weak giggle before splashing me. It didn’t evolve into a full-on splash fight, but only because of the solemnity in the air. We rung out our veils and put them back in place, wringing out our clothes as we stepped back onto the beach.

Annabeth stood next to me, squeezing her hair to dry it.

“Saltwater is really good for purification,” Annabeth murmured. “It’s why we wash at the beach after funerals and—” she motioned to a few Apollo kids filling buckets with seawater “—gather some to clean the area the bodies rested in.”

I nodded, watching as they headed up towards the camp, apparently to clean the area the bodies were in.

“It’s to purify the miasma, right?” Leilani asked. “Wait no that’s not the right term…”

Annabeth smiled, “Like a lot of things from the old days, terms can be a bit… iffy. I know some use miasma, but most in the camp don’t. Miasma is from like- bad actions, murder and things. It’s why criminals were banished. Most use Lyma here, which basically just means ‘dirt’, but often means both physical and spiritual.”

“I always mix up the terminology,” Leilani murmured, finishing fixing her veil. “So, we get Lyma from being around the dead.”

“And most anything dirty,” Annabeth confirmed. “That’s why you’re supposed to wash before doing anything with the Gods, though it’s not always feasible. But in the case of the dead, its Lyma because it’s normal pollution of the air and stuff, but if you didn’t give the body their rites then it would become miasma because it stays and gets worse and refusing a person’s funeral rites is a crime against the Gods.”

Leilani hummed, falling into step with Annabeth and I as we turned to walk down the path to the pavilion.

Annabeth’s lectures were always interesting, she knew a lot about all of this. Probably because she’d had like… seven years now to learn about it.

Everyone was a bit wet, but were slowly relaxing, smiles starting to appear as they talked.

In a way, it felt like the funeral had burned away the grief. People still ached, there were still some tears, but they were smiling easier. People were actually talking, reaching out to friends, settling.

“We don’t have to sit with our cabins today,” Annabeth said. “The camp isn’t hosting the feast, it’s the ones we buried that are.”

“Wait,” Leilani frowned. “What?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Annabeth smiled, pausing at the entrance to the pavilion to look over all the food laid out.

“We buried the dead, so for the feast the dead are the hosts. It’s tradition, basically a thanks for burying them.”

I stared at the feast; tables weighed down with food of all kinds. I noticed favorites of Mitchell’s and had no doubt several of the other foods were favorites of Sofia and Melissa. Annabeth led the way to a table, and we sat with her. Drew and Aarya and Tyrone from the Aphrodite cabin joined us, and Jackson from Hephaestus, and Victoria and Camryn from Apollo.

I’d never spoken to Camryn but had Victoria a few times during archery. I didn’t know Jackson well at all (and had in fact not known any of those three’s names until Annabeth had greeted them).

Some people were still missing, and Camryn said that Jalen, Lee, and Elizabeth were cleaning up the infirmary and the room where the dead had been laid.

I noticed Giovanni and Jasmine coming in late, as we piled food on our plates. They were the ones who had buried Mitchell. Four Hermes kids were drifting behind them, though I only recognized Jada.

“Who’s with Jada?” I asked Annabeth softly.

She peeked up and nodded, “That’s Mato, he’ll be leaving camp for the last time this summer since he’s heading to college. He’s uh- Sioux I think? Son of Hermes. He helped teach me to use my dagger.”

I made a note of Mato. He had black hair that was a bit longer than his shoulders, and light brown skin.

“Then the one who just joined Clarisse’s table, that’s Enfys, they’re unclaimed. They’ve got another year or two at camp probably, they’re seventeen. I think they’re from Wales, but don’t quote me on that.”

I nodded. That was a long time to go unclaimed, couldn’t be easy.

“And the last one, that’s Elanor. She’s a daughter of Urania- the Muse of Astronomy. She’s sixteen, teaches astronomy to anyone interested.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” I whispered. “Is that during the school year?”

“Uh, I think she still does it over the summer, but I don’t attend to so I’m not sure when.”

Leilani leaned over, “Neither of them are Hermes kids, that’s why they buried Melissa. The cabin has a like- a rule about it. I remember Chris telling me about it last summer. When a non-Hermes kid in the cabin dies, they have the unclaimed or non-Hermes kids bury them, because it’s the closest they can get to a proper family burial. If they’re claimed and have another sibling that one is in charge of it, if they’re not an unclaimed camper is.”

I made a sound of understanding, sipping my drink.

I relaxed back into the seat as the others at the table started up conversation, a few others joining that the were greeted and welcomed (Kawena, from the Apollo cabin who was friends with Leilani, Fiona from the Athena cabin, Aaquib and Aadhev from the Ares cabin, Suki from the Demeter cabin).

I took a deep breath, letting my gaze linger on the different campers in the pavilion. So many had lived through the invasion. So many were still alive. I was glad, thankful, I hadn’t expected so many to live. We’d been in an impossible situation, but with the Gods’ aid we’d come out victorious.

We were alive, and I was determined to make sure as many as possible continued to be so.

I did a silent toast, to the campers for living, to the Gods for their help, to the dead for their sacrifice, and to being alive.

War was coming, but right here, right now… we were alive. And that was what mattered.

OO OO OO OO

The rest of the day moved fast until lunch, though Lapis dragged me to the Aphrodite cabin to discuss haircare in the morning. She’d been quite frustrated with my hair, it was like hers in that it was thick and kinda curly (though hers was more curly than mine) but it was… sleeker she said. Like there was something coating it at all times.

We’d ended up pulling out my merfolk biology textbook to see if that helped and found out it probably had a coating of… polytetrafluoroethylene on it. It meant my hair was naturally more slippery, and tangle resistant.

That was cool.

Lapis was jealous.

“I have to use all kinds of hair care products to get the same effect,” she whined. “That’s such a nice advantage from your dad, can you ask him to give me it too?”

I laughed, apologizing for my natural advantage. That was nice to know, I never did need to brush my hair too much despite its curls.

She’d grumbled but declared we were going to test a few different products to figure out what was best for my hair. Which was how I got new shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, and sprays and some kind of hair oil. She assured me if I didn’t like any of it someone else in the cabin would be happy to use it.

At lunch, after most had finished eating but none had left, Lord D stood from His seat.

“Quiet down, brats,” He declared with a little flourish of His hand. “It is I, your esteemed head of the Camp. I have a few announcements to make, hold your questions till the end and then don’t ask them.”

I bit back a giggle as his gaze flicked over everyone, gaze careful despite his flippant tone.

“First off, let me welcome back our esteemed head of security Argus, hurrah, I’m sure you all missed him—”

I joined in on the clapping, Leilani giving a small cheer as Argus nodded to everyone.

“—Yes, yes, shush. Now then, Tantalus is officially back at the Gates of Tartarus—”

This time there was cheering and whooping and- and firecrackers I noticed with a laugh, alongside the clapping. I couldn’t help the grin that curled my lips at that announcement either.

“—Yes, Zeus thought this whole… mess was a rather conclusive bit of evidence that Tantalus hadn’t learned his lesson, and dear old Dad is very sorry for any hardship Tantalus caused during his trial run of not dealing with eternal suffering.”

I snorted; Tantalus had certainly made it his goal to make us all suffer instead of him.

“Now, Minos was originally here just to judge Tantalus but has agreed to stay on for a time longer as the activities director soooo… turn to him for the rest of the announcements.”

With that, Lord D dropped dramatically into his seat and motioned to Minos.

The King stood in a smooth motion, “I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave the camp knowing how inadequate your teaching was and thus petitioned my Father to allow me to stay for a bit longer. Alas, I do I have responsibilities in the Underworld and will be returning there by the end of the year—the current calendar year that is- not the proper one. Regardless, announcements!”

Minos smiled at us all, gaze sharp and assessing, “First, submissions for the design of the monument must be handed in by July first, we hope to have it completed by July twenty-fifth—”

“Why July twenty-fifth?” asked a Hermes kid in confusion.

“July twenty-fifth is the current date of Kronia, and while I understand that its one holiday that rather… fell out of practice, I still thought it a good date to finalize everything.”

Kronia… I’d heard that before.

Annabeth leaned over, “Remember on the boat they said everything would be done by Kronia?”

I nodded, and smiled and leaned back to whisper, “Well, everything will be done if we keep the schedule with the monument.”

“Just not the way they planned,” she agreed with a vicious smile.

“Now then, speaking of holidays… the solstice celebration was unfortunately interrupted by the invasion and as such we will be handling any further honoring of the holiday—placement of sundials and offerings that weren’t completed—tomorrow at the suns peak.”

I perked up, oh that was great. I hadn’t been able to celebrate the solstice twice and while it still wasn’t on the solstice, at least I would get to do something.

“And on the note of the invasion, we will be completing the promised offerings for the Gods in four days’ time, here in the pavilion. If any of you have dietary restrictions for meat, please inform me by tomorrow at dinner so that I may arrange an alternative to allow you to participate still. There will be no pork.”

I wondered what he meant by that, why did someone’s diet matter for offering to the Gods in that case? Annabeth shrugged when I looked at her.

Right, Minos had complained that the camp didn’t teach proper offerings.

“Finally, and most notably, we will be constructing a proper temple to the Gods. A temple is a house for the Gods, it is a place they may reside for you to speak to them. It is a proper place to leave offerings, pray, and honor the Gods. And, in the case of something like the invasion, it is where you go to implore the Gods for their aid. One shouldn’t just toss some offerings forward in the dining pavilion, you need a hearth for that. The camp does not have one dedicated to the Gods as it should be, a place kept clean and purified just for divine use.”

He let his gaze slide over everyone, “As such, there will be a design contest for the temple design.”

Annabeth sat straight up beside me.

“Each camper that wishes to participate must design, in detail, a temple dedicated to the Gods, all of the Gods. It must fit the proper structural format of a temple, including statues, reliefs, and a section for storage of worship supplies. Other specifics of temple structure will be listed in a handout available after lunch,” he held up a pile of papers.

“The drawings must have dimensions,” he continued. “They must include detail drawings of supports, entrances, and any and all reliefs. Rough sketches of the statues included in the temple may be added but are not required. A full set of plans and detail drawings will be made after a final design is picked. The deadline is July twenty-fifth, five days before the summer session ends.”

Annabeth looked to be vibrating in her seat and I couldn’t hide my grin then. I knew she wanted to design something like this, it was the perfect chance for her.

“The final decision on the temple will allow input from the cabin heads, but will be blind judged by myself, Argus, and Lord Dionysus. Any questions?”

Annabeth’s hand shot up and Leilani giggled.

“Yes, Ms. Chase?”

“When you say all the Gods do you mean you want a statue for every God there, or that you want it to have the capability to be used for any God?”

“The capability to be used for any God… though if you’re able to find a way to include a statue for every God without over crowding it, I will be impressed.”

I couldn’t see Annabeth’s face since she was facing forward, but I was certain if I could’ve, I would’ve seen a determined gleam in her eye.

I wondered how she would manage to fit something for all the Gods into the temple design.

Another hand went up and I settled in to listen to them discuss the temple requirements.

OO OO OO OO

“Percy,” Leilani asked softly as we left the pavilion. “Can we… can we maybe… I mean-“

“What is it?”

She took a deep breath, wrung her hands together, looked to the side then back at me, then away again. She licked her lips, opened her mouth, and in a rush said, “CanwehaveafuneralforTyson?”

I stilled, stared for a long moment while I parsed through what she said and when it clicked I let out a shaky breath of my own. “A funeral… funeral for Tyson—I…yeah I- I think—” I cleared my throat “—I think that would be nice.”

A hand landed on my shoulder and a I jumped, turning to find Annabeth taking a small step back. “You’re going to have a funeral for Tyson?”

“Um,” I glanced at Leilani who looked back at me. “Yeah… It just—he deserves one.”

“Can I- can I come? I can get a shroud for him-“

“Wait, we’re having a funeral for Tyson?” Silena asked from my left. “Can we join?”

“Is this invitation only?” Katie appeared behind Annabeth.

Beckendorf and Clarisse paused by the group.

“What’s going on?” Clarisse asked.

“We’re having a funeral, for Tyson,” Silena said.

“Tyson?” Clarisse asked. “He’s a monster though, monsters don’t need funerals-“

Silena wacked her arm, “Clarisse!”

My lips twisted into a scowl even as Clarisse continued.

“What? I’m not meaning he’s not deserving of one, he’s the only reason we made it into the Sea of Monsters, but like- they don’t go to the underworld. The funeral is so they can pass on!”

“Well,” Annabeth said. “That’s true but-“

“But we’re giving him one anyways,” I snapped. “Don’t all people have a right to a funeral?”

There was a brief pause where the others shared looks and then Clarisse nodded. “Fair enough, can I join?”

I blinked at her, thrown off by her question.

“What?” she grumbled. “He was a major help on the quest, I was the quest leader. It’s only right for me to attend his funeral.”

I let my shoulders slowly untense and nodded, “Yeah… you can come.”

“Can I?” Beckendorf asked.

I nodded, more relaxed now. Tyson had been friends with Beckendorf, it was only right for Beckendorf to get to come.

“I’ll get material for a shroud,” Annabeth declared. “If we all work on it, we can make it proper for Tyson within a few hours. It won’t be specially woven like some, but I wove something before that I think would work.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and agreed. Annabeth didn’t tend to share her personal projects, so it meant a lot for her to use one for Tyson’s funeral.

“And I can get some stuff for libations!” Drew chirped. “We still have some perfume.”

“There’s a bit of oil and honey too,” Giovanni mused. “We can get a bit of a variety.”

“I’ll tell the others in the cabin,” Lacy chirped. “So they can come if they want.”

“Oh, good idea,” Katie said. “I should let the others know-“

“I heard!” Imani said from behind her. “Can I make him an urn? I mean I know we don’t have his body for the ashes, but we can put the ashes from the shroud as a substitute?”

“I can make him a marker for the graveyard,” Beckendorf offered. “What time is the funeral?”

I blinked quickly, my eyes burning as I stared at my friends- at Tyson’s friends. They- they were going to help us give him a funeral even though- I shook slightly as I took a deep breath. “It- I think, um, maybe an hour before- before dinner?”

“That sounds good,” Beckendorf said. “Anything in particular you want on the marker?”

I swallowed once more, took a steadying breath, then nodded, “A horse.”

Horses had been Tyson’s favorite animal.

“Gotcha!”

“I can ask Darius to help me dig the grave,” Katie said.

“Oh,” Silena said. “I can ask the other cabin members to prepare food for a feast after. And maybe I can help paint the urn? I’m no good at making pottery but I can paint.”

Imani nodded, “I’m fine with that. Percy?”

“Yep,” I managed to choke out, a smile stretching my cheeks. “Yeah that’s- that’s fine-“

Clarisse shrugged, “I can provide the obol?”

My breath caught at the question. So deceptively casual, so dismissive of the meaning. The obol, used to pay for passage across the river. She was willing to provide Charon’s obol.

“That’d- that’d be great,” Leilani choked out beside me.

“We’ll uh-“ I cleared my throat and Leilani continued.

“We’ll prepare the speech?” she asked.

“That sounds right,” Clarisse said. “You’ve gotta talk about his deeds, you know.”

Leilani looked at me and I nodded. I knew Tyson best I was the one who was supposed to do the deeds.

“Can we do it at the beach?” I asked softly.

Clarisse nodded, “Yeah, Prissy, we can do it at the beach. I’ll set up a pyre, you should probably head to your cabin for Ms. Smarty Pants to bring the shroud.”

I nodded and turned to head back to my cabin, Leilani beside me. We had a funeral to prepare for.

OO OO OO OO

We had no body for Tyson, nothing to wrap in the shroud. So, we simply made the shroud, then cleaned it with clean water and a dash of oil.

Annabeth had brought a beautiful blue and green cloth she’d woven. She told me she’d been experimenting with making a gradient.

It was simple, but it was perfect. She embroidered the Trident of Poseidon in the center, and me and Leilani decorated the rest of it.

We couldn’t embroider like she could, so we had fabric markers and fabric glue and shiny metal pieces that we used to decorate.

I drew horses all along the edge, working very carefully to make them look right. Leilani made constellations out of the metal pieces, then used white fabric pen to connect the dots to show off various tools (and a horse and fish and a little octopus).

By the time it finished, it didn’t necessarily look professional… but it looked like something Tyson would love.

And that was what mattered.

We brought it to the beach, Leilani and I leading the way carrying the shroud. There were more with us than I’d expected, the entire Aphrodite and Demeter cabins, most of the Hephaestus cabin, Annabeth, Clarisse, even Grover had appeared.

The path was shorter than the one to graveyard yet felt infinitely longer. The weight of the shroud was less than the body would be and yet, like the walk, felt like so much more.

Every step brought us closer to burning the shroud, brought us closer to accepting he was dead.

The sun was high in the sky, it was only four in the afternoon, and for a moment I was angry at the shining sun. Apollo and Helios blessed us with the light and yet I desperately wanted the moons soft light on us. The funerals in the sea were all done under the moon, under one of the forces which guided the ocean.

I looked up at the sky, for half a moment convinced I would ask the sun to stop shining on us, only to falter at the sight of the moon halfway up the horizon.

Moon rise was during the day today-

We would be having Tyson’s funeral under the moon and the sun, land and sea.

I stepped onto the beach alongside Leilani, holding tears back through sheer force of will as we arrived before the Pyre and stepped forward to place the shroud on it.

Leilani painstakingly smoothed out the edges so that it was on full display and then stepped back with me.

We’d be moving the urn, after the pyre, to the graveyard. Beckendorf told me he’d already placed the grave marker before where they’d dug the grave (next to a few other Poseidon children). But the actual ceremony would be here, would be by the ocean because Tyson had been a son of Poseidon, his remains were no doubt in the ocean as well. The Ocean was in his blood, and it deserved to be a part of his funeral.

Clarisse stepped forward as we stepped back and offered me an obol, the silver gleaming. I accepted it with a hard swallow, the weight of the action heavy on my shoulders. With a shaky breath I blinked back tears and placed the obol where his head would be had he been wrapped in the shroud.

And then I placed a lock of my hair on the shroud.

Normally that would be done at the grave, but this wasn’t the normal funeral and there was no body to burn. His remains were in the ocean and thus the ocean was his true grave, the other was merely symbolic.

Leilani placed a lock of her own hair with mine, both of us staring solemnly at the shroud for a long moment.

Annabeth stepped forward, holding two small jugs for us, “Your offerings.”

I accepted one from her, and Leilani another. We poured out the offering, and whispered prayers for him.

There was no prayer for his safe passage across the river this time, he wasn’t able to pass the river. But we did pray for his safety in Tartarus. We prayed for him to reform swiftly, though we knew it could take hundreds if not thousands of years. We prayed for him to be happy when he returned, whether we were there for it or not.

We prayed for Tartarus to take care of Tyson, to let him find a home.

When we finished, we stepped back, letting the others move forward.

It was Drew who moved first, stepping forward and placing fruits in front of the pyre, close enough they would likely burn with the shroud. She bowed her head and murmured an inaudible prayer.

Like her act gave the others courage, the rest stepped forward bit by bit, setting out a fruit or two, pouring out some oils or perfume or water or honey—it was all so kind.

I understood now, more than before, how much Kyklopes and monsters in general hurt them. I understood the wariness they held, the reason they’d avoided Tyson… yet despite that here they were, certainly the ones who had always been somewhat kind to him… but also Annabeth who had feared him more than anyone, and Clarisse who hadn’t held any care for him, and several Hephaestus kids who had been annoyed that he’d kept Beckendorf’s attention, and even a few of the Aphrodite kids who I knew hadn’t been comfortable around him.

They all laid something out, no matter how small.

They all mourned him.

It was Beckendorf who lit the pyre, my hands shaking too much to set it aflame.

With the fire at my back, warm and dancing with fiery light, I looked at the crowd of campers that had come to mourn Tyson.

“I- I know that most of you didn’t know Tyson well, and in the grand scheme of things I didn’t know him as well as I would’ve liked. I only knew him a year- less than that even… but he was a dear friend. I- it’s- I’m sorry,” I swallowed and looked down. “There aren’t words for Tyson, not really.”

Leilani squeezed my hand and Annabeth offered a smile when I looked up.

“I know that most Kyklopes on land are- are dangerous. They devour demigods just like one would expect. They’re big, hard to kill, powerful. But Tyson- he was just a young Kyklopes and he was good. He wasn’t blood thirsty; he didn’t hunger for blood or flesh or anything—he cried when a butterfly died and left snacks out for the various city animals. He loved horses and fish and- and he loved people. He was kind, always wanting to help-“

I let out a shaky breath and wiped my eyes.

“He was big, and young, and didn’t always know how to control his strength… but he loved so much. He was an amazing brother, so excited to have a sibling. He hadn’t had much of anything in his life, but he still- he still did good deeds. He helped people and wanted to build things. He learned a lot about building while here, and even—” my mind flashed to the watch he made for me “—he- he died because of his skill with building.”

I took a deep steadying breath, “But that was a great deed that he did—” I tried to mimic the way Aponi had spoken earlier but wasn’t sure I was succeeding “—He saved those on the ship, gave them time to escape Kharybdis and enter the Wasare av Tetek. If not for him then we wouldn’t have been able to retrieve the Golden Fleece and save the camp.”

I remembered the guideline Annabeth had given me for how the speeches went.

“I- I implore all of you… I implore you to be as Tyson was, to be kind and caring to all. To offer help freely and to see the best in the world. Do what you can to help, don’t let people crush your kindness. It- he’s gone, he’ll return one day but it may not be during our lifetimes. So- so remember him, remember his kindness, and try to offer that same kindness to others.”

I bowed my head, finished.

OO OO OO OO

The others moved to the water to wash, but Leilani and I (and Beckendorf, who’d agreed to help us with the burial since we’d never seen or done it) moved to the pyre and gathered all of the ashes.

Leilani held the urn that Silena and Imani had made, an orange and black urn carefully painted with a few images.

One row around it showcased the camp, Tyson fighting the bulls, Tyson building in the forge, Tyson sitting by the beach.

The next row showed the quest, Tyson on a boat, Tyson riding a Hippocampi, Tyson holding the engine, Tyson in the water.

Horses lined the other parts of the urn, and hippocampi, and simple geometric shapes. It was wonderful.

I carefully poured the ashes into the urn, and with Beckendorf’s help we sealed it shut.

Beckendorf trailed behind us as we walked to the forest, then down the path, then took a right and headed for the graveyard.

The urn only weighed a few pounds, but it felt like the weight of the world. The weight of shroud placed in a jar weighed hundreds of pounds it seemed.

I didn’t register arriving in the graveyard, and only vaguely recalled placing the urn in the ground.

But I remembered with startling clarity how Beckendorf helped me fill in the grave.

When we finished, I stared for a long minute at the gravemarker.

It was a simple rectangle, but with an intricate carving of a hippocampi curling on a wave over a normal land horse.

I swallowed hard and offered one last prayer. A desperate plea to see Tyson again before I died, for him to reform before the end of my life.

And with that, we headed to the beach to clean from the funeral.

OO OO OO OO

The Demeter cabin hosted our feast, and we skipped dinner to eat there. It was crowded, with three cabins worth of campers and a few other miscellaneous ones on top of that. But it was nice, it was lively. We had plenty of food, and conversation flowed freely.

Clarisse regaled the cabin with the quest, Annabeth and I told them about Kirke’s island, we discussed the ship and the Titaness, and told a grandiose story of Tyson’s might and how he saved the day (multiple times).

Annabeth regaled everyone with the stuff I taught her about Halmaheran while I giggled and corrected her pronunciation. Leilani laughed outright when Annabeth mixed up the word “Areti” with “Areto”. She  got quite flustered when she realized she’d accidentally cussed us out instead of saying that we were amusing.

It was a nice dinner. And… I felt better, after it.

Tyson was gone, but he wasn’t forgotten. One day he’d return. Maybe I’d never see him again, not in this life nor the afterlife, but… but we would remember him.

And we would honor him.

OO OO OO OO

Leilani and I stared at Tyson’s bed, the one between ours. It still had his extra pillow. The drawers still had clothes for him, and a few knickknacks, and his toiletries were still in the bathroom.

I swallowed hard and picked up the extra pillow.

“Are we… throwing it out?” Leilani asked softly.

I shook my head, “No- it- I think… I think we should put the cabin stuff up, and his personal stuff away. Terrors return, after all. So- so he’ll come back, one day. We can put it up so when he comes back it’ll be there.”

Leilani perked up, “I like that idea. He can have a cubby for his things.”

We got to work, picking up everything of his, cleaning out the drawers, and picking a cubby in the sitting area just for his things. The cubbies had handy little curtains you could pull down, though we normally ignored them, so we pulled it down over his things.

I took a deep breath as we put the last shirt (neatly folded) into the cubby.

I fingered the wrapped tools in my pocket and left them but pulled out the little oilskin pouch.

“What’s that?” Leilani asked.

“Tyson- Tyson made it for me. I… I haven’t used it.”

Leilani leaned over my arm as I pulled the watch out.

“It’s pretty,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” I murmured. “He made it for me… It- I think he was making something for you too before-“

She nodded, her gaze on the watch, “You should wear it.”

I blinked at her in confusion.

“I mean- it hurts yeah but… he made it for you to use. And I bet it’s really sturdy, won’t break easily. You should wear it, for him.”

I fingered the beautiful watch.

“We should get you something too,” I said. “We don’t have what Tyson wanted for you, but maybe Beckendorf knows what it is.”

“We could make Tyson something!” she said, brightening. “We could put it in the cubby for him, so that when he comes back—whenever that is—he’ll have something from us!”

I grinned, “We can work on it over the summer, maybe Beckendorf can help.”

We shared a smile, a new goal in mind.

OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

Psamanthe stood on a beach, her gaze on my cabin and the child within.

“Your daughter is recovering,” I murmured as I stepped up beside her.

“Yes,” she murmured, turning part of her attention to me. “And so is your son. I had thought perhaps he’d never recover from the loss of the Kyklopes, yet there he is now.”

I smiled as he laughed with his other cabinmate, Leilani. She was a sweet child, and talented.

“You have a good child there,” I said.

“I do indeed.”

We watched quietly for a long moment as they planned out what to do with their cabin, and I made a mental note to adjust the curtain over Tyson’s cubby to be more personal. Perhaps they would want a kitchen in their cabin, many of the cabins had at least a small one to be able to make snacks and the like…

“Why are you here?” she said, finally turning the weight of her gaze on me. “Surely you have more important things to do.”

I smiled, the waves crashing behind me. “There is war building.”

“Yes, one would have to be blind to notice Okeanus’ blatant display of picking a side. I must admit, I am curious as to how Zeus approved such an act.”

“Zeus does not want the camp to fall, nor the children to suffer. We cannot help them as we’d like, but he is still able and willing to turn a blind eye every now and then to allow them aid, particularly in such dire straits.”

“He is the Most Divine King,” she mused, an approving gleam in her eyes.

Yes, she would understand. There was only so much one could do to help their children. Gods cannot interfere with all the affairs of mortals else they would never grow and learn. We are too powerful, our decisions and whims and aid can and do shape the world.

A lesson Triton had never been given the opportunity to learn, not when he’d never held a truly favored mortal nor a demigod child of his own. He’d never cared for any of my children as he did Perseus, and now he was dealing with all the struggles of having a mortal loved one… but with none of the practice at holding back and letting them live.

I’d been too lenient with it, wanting them both to be happy. But the guards during the school year… the quest could be excused but during the year? That was too much.

A tutor we gave, and by claiming him as a Prince of the Sea he was even allowed to visit our home without trouble from Zeus, so long as I did not take undue advantage of it.

But sending guards to follow him on land?

Which was why I needed help.

“There is a war building,” I repeated. “But my children aren’t ready.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Children?”

“Perseus is growing and learning, he’s doing well… but he is still a mortal child.”

“Ah, and your eldest is not at all able to accept that.”

“No,” I agreed. “He’s not. You have not had many demigod children.”

“I haven’t,” she agreed.

“I come to you to ask for you to advise Triton,” I said. “He is… my own child, and for all he listens to me… he is still a dash bitter at the situation involving Perseus.”

“I can imagine so,” she laughed softly. “Your eldest has always been stubborn as the tides.”

“Would you advise him on how to aid Perseus, but in the right way?”

“The way that allows him to grow, yet still have someone to turn to?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“It is a bit different, as he is not Perseus’ parent most of the laws don’t fully apply… but he is still…”

“Interfering too much?” I asked dryly.

“He is clinging to someone he views practically as his own child, and yes… he is interfering too much.”

“Will you help?”

“I will. I won’t teach him to be a parent about it, he is lucky in that he doesn’t have to be. But I will teach him how to step back and allow Perseus to grow.”

I nodded, “Thank you.”

“You are my Arila,” she said with a smile. “All you need do is ask and I shall obey.”

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the funerals? Did you find anything interesting? What about Minos' announcements?

Halmaheran
Tonton=Uncle
Wasare av Tetek=Sea of Monsters/Terrors
Areti=Amused
Areto=Fucker
Arila=High King

Terminology
Libations=a drink (usually wine, honey, or oil but can also include milk, perfume, or other liquids) poured out as an offering, usually to a deity
Pelanon=a mixture of meal, oil, and honey-used as an offering to the dead at their grave
Kollyva=the first fruit of the harvest or dried fruits-used as an offering to the dead at their grave
bier=a movable frame on which a corpse is placed before cremation which is carried to the grave
Chthonic Gods=Gods of the Underworld
Charon's obol=the coin placed on the lips of the deceased to pay for their passage
Choai=specifically libations poured out on the grave for the funeral
Lyma="Dirt" both physically and spiritually, gathered just by everyday living
Miasma=Corruption from "wrong" deeds, generally murder, rape, incest, etc.
Polytetrafluoroethylene=teflon, a synthetic non-stick substance that is used commonly in cooking. In merfolk it occurs naturally in their hair, protecting it from tangling in the ocean

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 38: On Your Skin, The Gods Reside

Summary:

The Gods are not within you, no you are you and They are Them, but They are all around you. On your skin, on your voice, in every act you make. They watch and wait and grant you the world you walk upon. And when you draw Their eyes, you can feel it.

For the Divine may not be in you, but They are in everything you do.

Notes:

How dare this chapter do this too me. It's too long, I can't fit everything I wanted into it. Perhaps this is a sign I should be less long winded, but alas, I would not be myself if I shortened my writing.

And thus, you lovely readers shall receive two more chapters after this. One more of camp, and one with bonus scenes (both canon and not) that have been planned and requested both.

This chapter is nearly 8k words, so I hope you enjoy the heavy imbalance of chapter lengths from the beginning of the story till now.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

The day was hot from the first rays over the horizon. Apollo’s chariot rose early with pink rays curling over the camp. Helios’ light beat down upon the camp with an uncompromising intent to burn away grief and pain and loss.

The Ancient Greeks believed fire purified, and even now we know fire burns away impurities. You heated your food to make it safe, you burned a blade to clean it, you sent up offerings in purifying flames. The sun was not quite fire, but it was close enough that I imagined Helios and Apollo had turned their cleansing heat upon us on this day, a blessing, a mercy.

A torture.

Annabeth agreed with me, offering sunscreen early in the day as we settled to do our readings on the myths. I wasn’t likely to burn like she was, but my mom had encouraged me young to be sure to use sunscreen to prevent health issues.

The sunscreen smeared on the pages, white staining crisp parchment. Annabeth used her shirt to wipe it off, smearing faint oils into the page. It was a copy, not the original, and so she didn’t mind too much.

Not today.

We were tucked near the lake, a cool breeze ruffling our hair from the blue water. The shade of the trees was a balm on our skin as we leaned over the parchment to read the myth of Icarus.

I thought it fitting to read it today, with the sun beating down on us.

Icarus had flown high, higher than he should’ve. Drunk with freedom, wings spread wide as he’d soured free at long last. The sun had melted his wings, Helios’ touch uncompromising and merciless as it had burned the wax, melting the wings until he shed feathers and tumbled from the heavens, falling to be embraced by the sea.

I wondered how it had felt, the sun shining on skin that had been trapped for so long. How the wind felt when one had been encased in stone for so long. How it felt to be free after being chained for so long.

Had he looked up, looked at the sun on a day like today, and reached for the burning warmth of Helios? Had he thought it worth it to fall if only for the moment that he had flown?

I wondered if Helios and Apollo had looked upon him as he’d fallen, if They’d realized that Their blessing, Their kindness, Their divine light shining upon the world had caused his fall. Or if They’d shaken Their heads at his hubris as he’d fallen and fallen and fallen from heights he never should’ve reached. Or even if They’d cradled his form as he’d fallen, honored by his joy and worship as he’d flown as close to them as he could, as he’d reached for the sun and tumbled into the sun struck ocean.

I wondered what They thought when Icarus fell.

I wiped my forehead, pushing a loose curl back as I leaned over the analysis written with Annabeth. The words curling over the page in ancient writing rewritten by modern hands.

I wondered if Apollo had set out to make today hot, hot as the sun that had melted Icarus’ wings. If Apollo was doing so for the grief we had faced, or for the simple act of bringing heat forth and warming the land.

I wondered if it was Apollo, today, who had decided such. If the Gods decided the weather beyond what Their emotions guided it to be. Was there a schedule for the various pantheons? Did They control much, or simple exist as it was? They could guide it, if they chose to, for it was Them. But did They?

Did the Gods act on the weather, did They follow the strands of Fate to do so? Or was acting on such defying Fate? Were They always the hand that guided our affects? Or simply the light that guided our land. Did They guide that which Their worshipper stood on, beside, in? Or did They act with prayer and devotion?

If I stood in Rome would it be the Roman Gods that embodied the land?

I knew in the sea, in the ocean deep, the waters were ruled by Their pantheon in Their currents. And in the currents where They were not the All Mighty, They held a say alongside Their devotees. Was that the same for the sun, the sky, the trees and breeze and light and dark?

I didn’t know, and yet I wondered. Perhaps I would never know, perhaps the answer was simply beyond me. Annabeth held no answer when I asked her, only stating that it was to our Gods, our Family, that she looked.

I mulled over it as Annabeth spoke, explaining the intricacies of the myth and the lessons it held.

The myth we held was from Ovid, who was no mythographer but did tell stories that reflected the ancient myths. She compared it to our myths, the Greek not the Roman. Ovid was no Greek and held no authority on the Greek mythos. But it was good, at times, to read what he’d written if only for all that it guided other beliefs.

Annabeth once told me that the hatred spiders held for children of Athena didn’t come from Athena, but from Minerva. She didn’t know why the anger turned to them as well, for it was not her Mother who had created Arachne.

A laugh like the chime of bells caught my attention as Annabeth finished her explanation, and our gaze was drawn to the figure walking towards us.

Lapu, from the Demeter cabin, was heading towards us. Her hair was tied up into the two flat buns she favored, bangs framing her face. She was wearing jeans as well, as if it wasn’t far far too hot for jeans.

I wiped sweat away and squinted towards her, the sun shining bright and brilliant around her.

“You seem hot,” she laughed.

“It’s miserably hot,” Annabeth groaned, tucking a loose strand of her own back once more. “It’s gotta be like, ninety-something.”

“Eighty-four, I think,” Lapu corrected cheerfully. “Which is a very nice spring temperature in my opinion.”

I eyed her doubtfully, “This is the peak of summer heat.”

“You should spend a summer in Arizona, see how that feels.”

She grinned at us and cheerfully explained just how hot it got in Arizona. I decided she was banned from commenting on heat when she revealed that it wasn’t uncommon for temperatures to reach a hundred and ten in Arizona.

That was just insanity.

OO OO OO OO

My time with Annabeth came to an end and I returned to Leilani at my cabin. She, had taken a nice long (cool) break in our waterfall bath and was all set to step into the heat.

It was solar noon, and we had our solstice rites to complete—if a bit late.

Our sundial, which we had made before the quest, needed to be set out.

It was the only Poseidon sundial set out in the area, the first in many years. It was not only for Poseidon, we included elements for Psamathe as well.

The base dusty and sanded to reflect the beach, dotted shells painted on and gleaming with the gold paint that Leilani had mixed with the softer tans and dashes of white and brown. It wasn’t perfect, not the smoothest nor the most elegant nor even reaching every crevice. But it was done with love, by our own hands and with Tyson’s hands as well. We’d designed, crafted, and painted it ourselves.

Tyson had designed the cresting wave that made up the gnomon, leaving the shadow of the time on the plate which I had designed. Each time was marked with a shell, rather than a number. It reflected the four tides which made up the ocean days. And then the base, crafted for Leilani’s Mother, was designed by Leilani herself.

It wasn’t the prettiest sundial out there, it wasn’t the most elegant, it wasn’t perfect by any measure. The beach had flaws, the wave arced a bit awkwardly, the shells were misshapen in places… but we made it.

It was our devotion, crafted by our hands. It was the first sundial made for Poseidon in years, and the first made for Psamathe possibly ever.

And so, despite its flaws… it was perfect.

OO OO OO OO

The water before me glittered in the fading light. The sunset streaking the sky a thousand shades of pink and red and orange and purple. Glints of gold and deep blues touched the heavens as Apollo brought the chariot to its home for the night.

The breeze ruffled my hair, catching in Carl’s and relenting to his hairs refusal to move.

It had been too long since I saw Carl, only a few days but after years of having him in the cabin, in my room, by my side, it was an eternity.

He was no longer a goldfish, he was a human once more. A human older than me… and it was strange.

He’d told me of what he’d been doing. During the battle he’d been assigned to the forest as backup. He’d not fought in years and had been a fish for much of the time, and thus Lord D and Minos hadn’t wanted to throw him straight into a fight.

And yet there was no option for him to not fight, not if the battle had reached within the camp.

Since then he’d been in the Big House, deciding what he wanted with his life.

He had a grave stone in the camp’s cemetery, and his mother had long since been informed of his death. He was six years gone, six years dead and passed and the world had moved on.

They’d waited a year before declaring him dead, waited a year before going to his mother and giving their condolences and a shroud made for her own choice of act. A separate shroud had been burned in lieu of a body at the camp, and the ashes interned in the cemetery.

He was only fifteen in body, he explained, Lord D had identified his age nearly to the moment. He was supposed to be twenty-three. He hadn’t aged a day since he’d taken the form of a guinea pig, or a goldfish.

I ached for him, for the way the world had moved on and he’d remained in place.

He had dreams, yet no identity any longer. He had had friends, loved ones, a mother. Yet he did not know if his mother was even still there. She could have moved, or died, or even created a new family.

He’d never truly expected to be human again, and he admitted to me, softly and with a broken voice, that he’d almost not wished to be human again. He’d understood, he’d realized, what it meant for him if he returned to his proper form.

He had been left behind.

Now he needed to… needed to refind himself, find his new dreams and new path and new home.

He wasn’t going to stay at camp, not for the school year. He needed time.

He told me he was going to go to a mortal school, one that Lord D was arranging for him. One of his siblings had gotten permission from their parents to let him stay with them for the year.

“Fiona lives in Georgia,” he said. “She said there was plenty to see and do. They live in- in Savannah I think she called it? There’s a big arts college there. It’s by the ocean too, or I think it is. It has a big body of water at least. She said it has a store that sells the best fudge that there is and there’s plenty to do-“

“Will you stay in touch?” I asked softly, nervously. He was no longer bound to me, no longer stuck with me because there was no one else who could understand him. Would he want to speak with me?

 “Of course!” Carl assured, lips curling up into something bright and mischievous and alive. “What would you do without me around? I definitely saved your butt lots of times.”

My lips turned up without my permission even as I rolled my eyes. He had a life to live, a life to figure out. It would be strange without him, without his thoughts and opinions given freely and insistently. I had Hippolyta and Ran of course, but Carl- Carl had been the first. It would be different.

I didn’t want that to change. I didn’t like change.

“Hey,” Carl said. “I’m not gonna be gone. I’m just… I’m going to go to school for a bit, and maybe try to find my mom. Lord D is making me an identity and I’ll be alright.”

I nodded, reluctant to accept the change but knowing I had no choice. I wondered if it was just his mom he wanted to find.

“Did you have any friends?” I asked. “Like- demigods, ones you might want to talk to?”

Carl was silent as he looked out at the lake.

A naiad knocked over a boat, the sailors spluttering as they came up and arguing with the naiad who laughed like bubbles rippled. The lake lapped gently at the pier as the naiad melted away and left the sailors who had been forced to become swimmers to swim to shore. Their grumbles were too soft to hear from our position, with the water rippling and laughing at their words.

Laughter echoed from further away, campers playing games and reading and running and living. A volleyball tournament had been started earlier in the day, though I’d refrained from joining. I could see some campers chasing each other through the grass beyond the lake, laughter twinkling and chiming as they did.

The camp was healing.

“There’s some people, I suppose. I wasn’t alone at camp.”

I turned my gaze to Carl, uncertain and hesitant at the pain that laced his voice. It clung to him like Hippolyta did my fingers, unwilling to let go and unable to be removed.

“Carl?”

“Sometimes,” Carl said softly. “Sometimes, no matter how important something is, no matter how much honor it could bring you, or even how necessary it is… sometimes some quests just aren’t worth it.”

He turned to me with a smile while I frowned at him, confused. The air was filled with grief, with regret, with longing. His eyes reflected blood, a glint of flint and steel with a ring of blades.

“What-“

“Remember though!” Carl interrupted, too-wide smile stretching his lips as he looked past me. “You can always stab the problem! Also, avoid spas.”

I snorted and allowed him to push the strangeness aside in favor of a long played out debate. “We already faced Kiki’s spa!”

“You never know,” he insisted, eyes looking at me now. “There’s always trouble.”

I shoved his arm and relaxed at his laugh. He swayed over, easily accepting the push, before swaying back with both arms thrown out against my own. With a neat shove he knocked me clean off the pier.

“Hey!” I shrieked, tumbling into the water with a splash of crystalline water. The coolness of the lake soothed the lingering heat on my skin. “Unfair!”

Carl just laughed, laughed like someone who was on the verge of crying. His head was thrown back as he dropped against the pier, giggling madly with tears clinging to his lashed. The sun shown red on his hair as I pulled myself from the water and wondered at the grief in his steel-edged eyes even as he kept a smile on his lips.

OO OO OO OO

The Council of Elders amongst the satyrs were apparently in charge of all things search and rescue, for demigods and Lord Pan alike.

And today was Grover’s day to explain to them his Search and what he’d Found.

The woolly mammoth was a rather useful demonstration that he was onto something. And no matter the politics at play, the way that eyes gleamed with something more than devotion, it was unanimous that Momo was a sign from Pan.

The biggest sign any had received yet.

They were babbling over each other, the council and all the other satyrs that had arrived for the meeting. Their volume rose steadily as they continued on, shouts ringing out and decisions being made.

There was hope in the air, something invigorating the crowds present. Pan had left a sign, Pan was there. I smiled as Grover stood tall and waited for a decision to be made even as they continued to speak above his head.

“-send more searches, and soon! We mustn’t lose this lead-“

“-Florida. So send them there-“

“Grover must be sent-“

“-keep him here with the-“

“-was a cave so we should-“

“-in no cave, that’s practically blasphemy-“

“-were just in a normal cave he’d be found by now!”

“-underground?”

“Preposterous!”

“Perhaps a tree hide away-“

“-side of a mountain? Did we check the Rockies? Or the-“

“-lots of ground we need to cover-“

I listened, tucked to the side and watching alongside Annabeth and Leilani and the Demeter cabin and many campers from many cabins as the Council spoke.

Lord D reigned above them all, lounging in a chair in the center of the group. They had been surprised when he’d arrived, a chair curling from the ground out of grape vines for him to claim. He hadn’t spoken beyond a lazy greeting and a demand for food.

But his eyes had never left Grover.

Even now he watched Grover, intent and thoughtful. The purple eyes danced with madness and power and a deep abiding calm. Something knowing gleamed there as he looked upon Grover and I wondered what it was he saw.

Momo the Woolly Mammoth was sitting just behind Grover, and while Grover stood straight now just minutes earlier had seen him leaning against his new companion for comfort and assurance.

Just when I wondered if the Council would ever make a decision and cease their babbling, Lord D spoke.

“The first order of business should be arranging a new home for… Momo.”

The satyrs practically fell over themselves agreeing, even as Lord D’s eyes stayed on Grover.

“Underwood shall be in charge of his care,” Lord D declared. “Save for the time he will spend searching for demigods.”

“Searching for- now is not the time to search for demigods!” shrieked one of the Council.

“Oh?” Lord D asked, gaze finally leaving Grover to land on the satyr. “Is that what you believe, Leneus?”

Leneus flinched back at Lord D’s question but nodded all the same.

“We must dedicate all of our resources to finding Lord Pan,” Leneus insisted. “We don’t have time to split our forces between demigods and Lord Pan-“

“Pan does not wish to be found,” Lord D said softly. “Not at this time. If he did, he would have allowed Underwood to find him, instead of his gift. Now is the time to dedicate towards the missing and fleeing and unknowing demigods. There are many out there, right now, in need of guidance.”

“But-“

Lord D tilted his head, purple eyes gleaming with an otherworldly light as the sun shown gold on his form.

“Underwood will be sent to find more demigods. There is war on the horizon, and there are children out and about who will be caught in the cross fire. We must guide as many to safety as possible, even if that safety is not camp.”

His head swiveled back to Grover, who swallowed hard and straightened.

“Do you understand?”

Grover nodded, “Ye- yes Lord D.”

And with that, the matter was closed.

OO OO OO OO

I relaxed in the bed with Leilani and Drew, giggling over Annabeth, Silena, Tyrone, and Halia stumbled over Halmaheran words.

Giovanni and Aarya were actually fairly good at Halmaheran, or at least better than the others. It made for an amusing practice session.

They’d all wanted to try to learn after Annabeth had demonstrated what she’d learned during the quest, and thus a practice session had begun.

“Maie’m maiv hoo-up opu,” Tyrone said carefully.

“Close,” I said with a grin. “But you need to separate the ‘Maie’ and ‘em’ more clearly, and its ‘houp’ not ‘hoo-up’.”

Tyrone scowled as he tried again to pronounce the greeting correctly.

Annabeth was stumbling through a rough conversation with Leilani, who was feeling very confident in her skills now that she was practicing with someone less confidant than her in the language. I let her correct Annabeth’s pronunciation of “isenop” and “iamaka” rather than doing so myself and contented myself with helping the others with greeting and goodbye phrases once more.

“Op mey’v tel hah-ma-peep ye wash-a-shu,” Silena tried carefully only to pout when I shook my head.

“Not quite. You removed the ‘e’ in ‘meye’v’, it’s an important sound otherwise it means ‘new life’ instead of ‘may have’. Also, it’s ‘opu’, not ‘op’.”

Silena nodded, brow furrowed. “Did I get the rest right?”

I winced, “Er… not quite? You kinda got the start of ‘hamapep’, but the ‘pep’ is short, not long. And the ‘y’ doesn’t really pronounce an ‘e’ at the end? It’s kinda implied… not sure how to explain. Oh, and it’s ‘wasahu’, there’s no ‘sh’ sound in it.”

Silena nodded carefully mouthing the words again as she tried to get her tongue around them.

It was peaceful to sit with them and just practice Halmaheran. They were all curious, they wanted to learn. It was nice to share a small bit of my language with them.

OO OO OO OO

The two animals for offerings arrived just in time for the offerings to be completed, on the fourth day from Minos’ announcement. There was a young ox, not quite young enough to be considered a calf but too young to be full grown. Alongside the ox were two sheep, with bright white wool.

The day before he called all of the cabin heads in, to explain our roles in the offering. It was… a bit nerve wracking. We’d never done a proper offering before. We’d done offerings but nothing like what Minos was describing.

As the one who promised the offerings to the Gods, I would be the one to do the actual act of killing the animals and sprinkling their blood on the altar, which- that was a bit intimidating.

The others would be completing the other acts of the sacrifice, preparing the animals, leading them to the altar that Minos had had others set up, pouring the water upon the altar to cleanse it, and after I finished with killing the animals for the sacrifice, they would be the ones to dress the animals and remove the parts for the offering and for the feast afterwards.

Those that weren’t actually doing the physical steps for the offering would still have a part, as it was important for all present to be willing participants, including the animals.

It was nerve wracking, but I had been giving precise instructions and I would follow them. The Gods were owed their offerings after the aid they’d given.

And thus, the time of the offerings arrived only a short period before sunset and I stood before the temporary altar placed outside the dining pavilion.

The dining pavilion was decorated for once, as per Minos’ decree. Streamers and ribbons and flowers and wreaths hung all around. The tables had special cloths laid over them, and the cutlery shone silver in the sunset.

The head table, where Lord D would sit, was specially decorated with gathered flowers and a laurel wreath placed before his seat.

The procession leading the animals was led by Castor, Pollux, and Eliza. Beckendorf aided in corralling the animals whenever they got distracted, or reluctant, or rowdy. Many campers followed behind, and many more were already waiting at the altar.

The animals were prepared for the offering, cleaned and fed and watered. Their fur was brushed to a shine, with flowers and ribbons tied in. They tromped forward willingly, seemingly unconcerned with the people around them or what was to come.

The altar itself was purified by Silena, who poured sparkling clean water over it with a murmured prayer that echoed with intent. She stepped back once the water ran clean off the altar as onto, holding the vase she’d poured the water out of tightly and close to her chest as the next part began.

Each of the campers tossed various grains forward, some grinning as they threw large handfuls, some praying as they sprinkled pinches, some with narrow eyes as they lazily flicked the odd grain, and some still solemn but bright as they treated it as a celebration.

Annabeth stepped forward as the grains dwindled and placed bowls of fruit and bread before the altar, carefully arranged in bright piles of glistening strawberries, shining apples, juicy grapes, succulent pears, and mouthwatering blackberries. No doubt there were more goodies hidden within the bowls, out of sight, but even what was visible was enough to make my mouth water. The breads as well were homemade, with sumptuous garlic bread, copious pita bread, warm fresh rye, bubbled naan, and various stuffed rolls piled high in the bowls she placed before the altar.

It was a small change to the ritual, one that Minos wasn’t happy to have to do but in respect for the vegan and vegetarian campers he had done so.

He had spoken at length with those raised in Muslim and Jewish households to determine whether they would be able to consume the meat. As none of the Muslim raised campers were religiously so... or well, two of them weren't, they were fine with not saying bismillah, as that was something they did but it wasn't... religious. They had determined that so long as all but the bismillah was done properly, to make it halal, they were comfortable eating the meat.

Kaia, from the Hermes cabin, was the one to explain the requirements for Halal meat, which would coincidentally be met by the offering process… except for the fact that the butcher was to say bismillah as they slaughtered the animal. As I was not Muslim, and this was dedicated to our Gods, we would not be doing so. But Kaia assured us that she did not mind in this case, as she did not honor the Muslim God, and the food being in the name of God (as she explained bismillah meant) was not relevant to her. Shandra--as she introduced herself--was... less comfortable, as she was still figuring out what she believed now that she was at Camp (she was new apparently, and it had been quite the shock to discover her mother had gotten with Hephaestus), but agreed that it would not be right to bless the food in the name of Allah when it was for other Gods.

I wondered how one could balance such different religions, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to do so. Keeping to the traditions they were raised in, even while honoring completely different Gods seemed difficult. I didn't understand all that they talked about, with what bismillah meant and why they still considered themselves Muslim when two of them didn't worship Allah. There seemed to be a lot of complicated background and feelings there, I was glad I didn't have to deal with a religious crisis.

The Jewish campers had varying opinions from what I had heard, with each feeling differently about the meat not being Kosher.

And it couldn’t be Kosher, not when I (as the one doing the slaughter) was very much not Jewish, and in addition not trained as a shochet.

Valentina from the Aphrodite cabin didn’t mind it not being Kosher, as she didn’t follow Kashrut law strictly. Aria, a camper I didn’t know well but was from the Hermes cabin (unclaimed) also didn’t mind too much, she tried to keep to Kosher practices for the most part, she explained, but didn’t mind not doing so closely.

But Fiona, who Carl would be staying with in the upcoming school year, was a Hasidic Jew, and apparently followed Kosher law very closely. In the end she determined that as this was alright for her to eat, as it was an extremely traditional part of the offering and it was to honor the Gods… but she didn’t look entirely comfortable with it.

Minos informed her that if she did not wish to eat it, she could stick to the fruit or bread that was being offered up as well. I wasn’t sure if she would end up eating the offering, in the end, or not but she had the option.

Regardless of such, Minos had carefully planned out the other offerings and thus many of the campers had gotten together to gather the fruits and to bake the breads, to ensure many were included in the ceremony.

Annabeth stepped back, having determined the bowls were placed correctly, and it was time for Eliza to lead the ox forward to the altar.

Katie stepped forward, a jug of water held in her hands much like Silena had held. She stepped beside the ox and murmured a prayer as she tipped the jug over the ox’s head.

“O Divine Gods,” she murmured, “We welcome you today, in this moment. Bless this ox that we have set before you, and as we have promised, as is owed, accept the offering that is laid before you.”

The ox’s head bowed from the water, and it shook its head as she stepped back once more to stand beside me.

Lee hovered next to me himself, holding another jar, though this one empty. I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Prayer fell from my lips as I guided the strangely obedient ox’s head back. Prayer for the offering, prayer to the Gods, thanks and devotion tumbling over each other and wrapping around my blade as I pressed it to the ox’s neck. The words were long practiced over the previous few days, Minos’ eyes and ears attuned to each word, each intonation, each expression I wore as I spoke.

“We thank thee, Mighty Gods,” I spoke with a smooth cadence, a practiced tone and familiar words. The prayer spilled from my lips with nary a thought, the words easing out like silverfish darting through the currents. “We give thanks and offer unto you as promised this strong-willed ox, the guardian of its herd. Allow us to honor you, as we ought, and accept the offering we lay before you now, delivered to your table with thanks. O Divine Gods, oh Rulers of the Heavens, Your guidance was a force unto no other, which delivered our salvation in the battle that has passed. We honor you now, our thanks immeasurable, as we fulfill our vow offered freely upon the eve of bloodshed.”

It was daunting, standing before everyone with the ox in one hand and the blade in another. Divinity pressed like a cloak over my shoulders, the weight of Godly gazes on my back. I pressed the blade firmly and sliced deep and quick across the ox’s neck.

It needed to be deep and quick, to welcome all of the campers and to offer mercy to the ox as was proper in this offering. It needed to be smooth, so I wouldn’t lose my nerve.

I stepped back with prayer-stained lips and blood-stained hands as Lee slipped forward on light feet to place the large jar, or perhaps vase would be more fitting with its size, before the bleeding animal to gather the blood. It was to be drained of all blood, and which was then to be offered upon the altar.

I took a deep breath as the next animal was drawn forth, one of the two sheep.

Katie stepped forward once more as Eliza kept the ox in place so that the blood could drain out and Lee stepped back to retrieve another of the vases for the blood.

Her water poured over the sheep’s head, bowing it and giving its consent for the offering it had become.

As her water cleaned the sheep, bowed its head and cleansed its fur, Annabeth slipped beside me with a bowl of water to wash my hands and blade with. It was prepared special, though I was unsure if it held a special name. Khernips, perhaps, or another type of lustral water for purification.

Whatever it was, I washed and cleaned and then stepped forward once more as Katie stepped back.

Prayer tumbled from my lips once more, familiar and practiced, known and honored. The Gods gazes were upon us as my blade cut deep and clean across the neck, through the jugular vein, the carotid artery, and the windpipe in a smooth cut.

The blade was sharp, the action near painless, and the sheep was dead in moments.

Once more my hands were stained with blood, with an offering, with prayer. I let Annabeth guide me through cleaning once more as Katie and Lee completed their parts, the dance of the ritual taking place once more.

One more offering, one more prayer and one more cut, and then I was done with the blade and done with my part beside the altar.

I stepped forward once more and allowed the prayer to slip out like a minnow, quick and smooth and eager. The words pulled from my lips like the Gods breathed them in, weight like wings upon my back and a crown upon my head. When my hand slipped the knife across the last sheep’s throat I felt no resistance, only warmth and stardust and gold silver bronze upon my lips.

I stepped back the last time, allowing Annabeth to guide me through cleaning my hands and blade before stepping back fully, by her side as we awaited the others part in the ritual.

My lips tingled with what had been spoken, taste of sunlight on my tongue and ozone on my skin. Chimes rang out, echoing in my ears like the gentle tinkling of a bell.

I was wrapped in a cloak of starlight as I stood next to Annabeth, and I wondered if this was how all of these offerings felt. If all who stood before the Gods and offered up something great felt their gaze and held their approval in divine light and twinkling stars on your skin.

I breathed in as Beckendorf and Clarisse and Lee and Katie worked together to butcher the ox, Eliza and Castor on one of the sheep, and Silena and Pollux on the final one.

Annabeth and I were to prepare the fire, to offer up some of the fruit and some of the bread into the flame before the bone and fat was laid upon it and the meat prepared for the feast.

The two of us got to work, fire wood in hand and arranged neatly. The dry bundles to ease the lighting of the fire were pressed inside, tucked where they would be the most aid. Small branches were arranged as well, following the directions that Minos had given us.

We’d practiced building the fire, the day before. Minos was well informed on how to do most everything involved in the offerings and was determined to pass that on to us before he returned to his responsibilities in the Underworld.

I stepped away to allow Lee to do his part, blood on the altar, fingers stained with devotion. I clutched the flint and steel needed to light the fire and watched the altar bleed red as Lee sprinkled the blood over it.

He stepped away, allowing me to step forward and strike the flint. Sparks gleamed. I struck again, more sparks, warmth at my fingertips. The next strike rang through my hands, sparks catching on dry bundles and warming in slow rumbling embers.

And like a beast waking after a long winter, the embers blossomed, unfurling in petals of flame it licked up the bundles, gnawed at the twigs, leaped for the branches, then with a rush of hunger and freedom and delight, surged upon the logs. Light and flame alike surged up in a dizzying awakening that sent heat blazing across my skin, kissing my cheeks with a fierce joy, a delighted freedom, a blessed life.

I basked in the feeling, welcoming the warmth that soaked right down to my bones, alight with flickering flames so against my nature.

Lee stepped forward, spilling more blood into the fire, feeding the hungry flames with yet more blood that they leaped for. They licked at his fingers, blood steaming and slipping from his hands. It fed the flames bit by bit until they leapt high into the sky, a miniature sun of our own, hungry and all-consuming.

Their delight filled the air, and I wasn’t the only one struck speechless by the sight. The campers were quiet, awe dancing and tumbling and skipping through the air and feeding straight into the offering fire.

I wondered if it were as much an offering as the animals set before it.

Annabeth left my side then, stepping forward with a bowl filled with bread in hand. She carefully picked out the finest pieces, near the top for easy grasp, and tossed them into the flames. One of each kind, two of each filling, the flames snapped them up with eager tongues and hunger maws.

That was my cue, I realized, it was my turn to feed the fire.

I swooped down to retrieve the fruit bowl, delicacies of the harvest overflowing from it. We weren’t done yet, there was much left to the offering, but despite that… despite the work and the strain and the practice we had to work at…

I rather thought I’d want to do this again.

It was… Divine.

OO OO OO OO

The feast after was nothing short of extraordinary. The meat was perfectly spiced, cooked to a level I’d never had before. The fruits and breads added just the right side, and for those who could not eat the meat, allowed them to participate in the offering all the same.

The food had been cooked in the hearth fire, prepared with our own hands. The stew beside it was likewise cooked so and was the best I’d had beyond my mom’s kanuche soup.

We sat freely, without care for cabin boundaries as we had at the funeral, and I wondered at joy filling the air.

Even with the loss, even with the anger that many held, this was a time of community.

I basked in the feeling and let the joy fill me as I laughed alongside Annabeth at a story from Clarisse.

OO OO OO OO

I considered the various cubby holes in the seating area. It was where Leilani and I hung out together to do our things, and also where we’d stored all of Tyson’s belongings.

Belongings which were now hidden with an elegant hippocampi scaled curtain that neither of us had put there. I barely dared to assume it was my Metua that did so, but it seemed the obvious answer.

An answer that had made me ask Leilani if we’d ever properly made an altar for Poseidon and the home Gods, to which she’d confirmed we hadn’t.

I remembered that we’d planned on it, we’d discussed it previously. We’d had ideas for it, but things had been busy so we just… hadn’t gotten around to it.

But we had time now. So… we were deciding where to put it.

“Do we want it out in the open? Or hidden for us?”

“I kinda want it for us,” Leilani mused. “I know the Hermes cabin keeps ou- their altar tucked away in the back where it’s private.”

I nodded, “Though the Aphrodite cabin has one on each side of the cabin, it’s open enough.”

“Yeah, but this one… it’s ours,” she said, and I couldn’t help but agree.

Just as Tyson’s items were hidden away, so too I felt the altar should be. It was ours, our dedication and worship to the Gods in our home. We shared our communal worship with the others, but for this, for our own home where we would kneel and pray and honor them for our home… that was private.

That wasn’t to share.

And so, we wouldn’t.

There were plenty of cubbies, of all shapes and sizes. The walls seemed designed to allow private spots to store things, hidden from view with angled openings or open and visible for decorations. Many others had curtains to cover them, hiding what was within from view but easy to access all the same.

I decided on one of those for the Home Deities, the ones we honored on the New Moon on land.

Leilani picked another for the Sea Deities, whom were honored on the Full Moon in the sea.

They were both on the far wall, near the fountain. I wondered if the fountain could be used for cleaning up before praying at the altar, washing your hands was apparently a common practice to clean them so that you wouldn’t bring dirt before the Gods.

It would be different, something unique to our cabin. We’d honor both the land and the sea practices, something that the Sea Cabin really ought to do. Leilani was excited, as we hadn’t really practiced the honoring I did at home and in the sea in the cabin yet. I promised to show her how, when the next full moon came.

That wouldn’t be till July 22 though, since the last full moon had been the night of the funerals. Understandably, we hadn’t done much that night, busy grieving what was lost and preparing for the funerals to come with the sunrise.

We’d have time to prepare this way though, I could show her our practices and how we adjusted to being on land. It would be nice. It was something I hadn’t realized I’d missed from my time in the ocean and in my mom’s apartment.

It was a piece of home I wanted to bring to the camp.

I pulled my moon mirror out of my drawer for it, and Leilani had gotten her hands on some nice clothes. With that, we got to work.

Leilani laid out the two clothes, one a sandy shade that made me think of the beach, and the other a soft green like grass.

We placed various sea shells on the altar for the sea, carefully placing each item and stacking them in ways we thought looked nice. We didn’t have a statue for the altar, though we could make one during arts and crafts and probably would, so we substituted with things we had.

Shells honored various Gods, and we’d paint them to make them more fitting. We placed a small bowl with water in the altar, for the ocean. Another small tray, one that Leilani had retrieved from somewhere, was placed front and center to lay offerings on. I placed my moon mirror against the back wall, letting it stand in for any other representation of the Sea and Moon.

Leilani carefully scattered sand onto the altar too, for her mother. And I took the time to place an art piece each of us had made on the inner walls, for an extra personal touch.

The home Gods altar I looked to Leilani for, as I only had the bigger one we’d made at home to judge by.

She placed a jug in one corner, for libations, and another tray in the front center for placing offerings. We didn’t have any statues, once more, but were able to put other items in place. Some flowers, gathered from outside, and artwork we’d worked on. We put some pretty stones we planned to paint, and Leilani arranged a little fake hearth out of twigs and red amaryllis flowers that she’d gathered from the Demeter cabin.

It was lovely, and while it wasn’t as neat and fancy as I often imagined an altar looking… it was homey, it was personal ,it was made with our own two hands with items we’d created or gathered. Items grown and offered freely, items formed over many years… it was ours.

I loved it.

And once we finished the altars, finished placing each item and finished arranging the curtains so they could be opened and pinned in place easily… we both washed our hands and offered a prayer to Poseidon.

“O Poseidon Domatites, Poseidon my Metua, Poseidon the King and Ruler of the sea, thank you for this home we have made our home,” I mumbled, hearing Leilani’s words mingling with mine like intertwined currents. I wasn’t entirely sure what to say, what prayer to offer at this moment. But I wanted to thank Metua all the same. “May our altar show you our gratitude—” I continued doggedly “—and may we continue to honor you in the years to come.”

My tongue tingled with salt that rubbed like gossamer over my skin. A hand on my head, a smile shining down on me. I knew I was heard, I basked in the warm currents curling over me, around me, protective and pleased.

Leilani finished her prayer to Poseidon in the same instance that I did, and barely waited a moment before continuing onwards. A new prayer, to another God.

“Psamathe, of the Golden Sands,” she whispered. “My Me-Mevua. Thank you for claiming me- thank you for all that you have done. Thank you for allowing me into Poseidon’s home, so that I might have a place to belong. I-“

I felt I was intruding, listening to her speak to her mother with choked words and wet eyes. This felt private, sacred, personal.

I turned my gaze from her to focus on the shrine and whispered a prayer of my own to Psamathe. “Thank you for claiming Leilani,” I whispered. “And thank you for allowing her into my Metua’s cabin. I- I’m really glad she’s here.”

I bowed my head, for just a moment, as water sweet sand pressed like pillows against my skin. Silky and soft and gentle I accepted the attention, the blessing, for what it was and tried to project all of my gratefulness, all of my care, for Leilani’s presence in my (my Metua’s) cabin.

It would not be the same without her.

Leilani took in a shuddering breath, her prayer complete, and turned to me with a smile like the sunrise. I smiled back, feeling comfortable with the prayers we’d offered now.

We still had more to do, a whole half a summer session left practically… but in this moment, in this place, kneeled before our altar to our parents, I was at peace.

We were home.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Please note that Percy is a New Yorker, and I did actually check the temperature on the day I mentioned, and Percy is just a darling New Yorker and does not deal with "heat". Lapu is from Arizona and is not impressed but IS amused.

I spoke with smilesandshinythings and Xan about the Muslim deitary matters, and Chaotic Neutral about the Jewish dietary matters mentioned in the chapter, and had long discussions on the subject. The decisions made in the chapter will not reflect all views on the subject, but it is the one decided for this story. If I misused any terminology please feel free to let me know. And thank you all for your help in making the complicated religious overlaps respectful!

Halmaheran
Maie em maiv houp opu=It’s nice to meet you
Opu meye'v tel hamapep y wasahu=May you have swift currents and calm waves.
Metua=Father
Mevua=Mother

Terminology
Ovid is NOT a mythographer, he was a poet, this is very important to note because his writings were commentaries on the mortal rulers where he used the Gods to symbolize them. They are NOT proper representations of the Gods, but he was an excellent poet and thus his work was better preserved than basically any mythographer, and became the basis of knowledge of the Gods.
Kudos to him for his work, it's not his fault, but also Fuck Ovid.
Gnomon=the part of the sundial that sticks up and which the shadow from tells the time.
Halal=Food prepared according to shari’a.
Bismallah=In the Name of Allah
Kosher=Food prepared according to Jewish Law.
Kashrut=The dietary laws determining if the food is Kosher
Shochet=Those trained to properly prepare meat to be Kosher
Khernips=a specific type of water that is used for cleansing and purification. It is used for purifying oneself of miasma to communicate with the Gods. The use of it varies from pagan to pagan with some seeing it as vital and others not viewing it as necessary at all. It consists of water and a piece of burned herb or wood.
Lustral Water=Holy water, intended for holy acts. It is a title used in many religions for blessed water.
Kanuche Soup=A creamy Cherokee soup made from hickory nuts.
Poseidon Domatites=Poseidon of the Home

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 39: Violence is a Choice (Healing is an Act)

Summary:

Every battle you fight, every blade you raise, is a choice you make. At any time, you can lay down your weapons and declare the battle is over, at any time you can choose to stop fighting. If it is inevitable, it is because it has been made so.

Every act of violence is a choice, and so is every act of healing.

Notes:

*bows* I know, you all missed me so so much. You would not believe how much has been going on in my life since I last updated. Hang on I made a list-

I got Covid, then strep throat, then classes started, then got a sinus infection, then my car was broken (twice), then my body decided oxygen was for losers, then I got the flu then like a week later caught a stomach bug, then had major low iron and was nearly passing out daily, then my car broke again, then I got sick from stress, then I had a pain flare up, and right now as I write this I have BOTH a sinus infection and an ear infection.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I'm very happy with it despite the delay. And hey, I even updated on a Monday <3.

The next chapter will, as with last book, be posted alongside the first chapter for Book 3. I'm hoping to have that up in the next two weeks (hopefully on a Monday as usual). I'll likely be moving updates to once every other week with the new book, cause clearly I'm not able to keep up with once a week right now.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

The vote for the next monument took far too long in my humble opinion. I had expected us to look them over then pick the one we liked best, and I did do that. I knew the one I liked best pretty quick: a pretty spiral like design that arched up and was covered in intricate details showcasing the three who died and the battle itself. I thought it was fancy.

Annabeth voted for the same one as me, so did Lee. But Beckendorf, Silena, Clarisse, and Katie all voted for one that was shaped more like a pyramid.

Castor and Pollux voted for one that looked very classic in design, blocky and similar to the kind that I’d seen in museums. Their vote only counted as one though, because they shared their position as head (and only members) of cabin twelve.

Eliza had voted for a fourth option, designed like a rising sea serpent. I didn’t like that one because it felt like it was focusing on the end of the battle more than the people who died in the battle.

The other three didn’t get any votes and were promptly put aside.

Of course, the voting itself only took place after a solid hour of arguing over the details of the various monuments and debating the functionality, the placement, and how the voting should commence or if we should even vote today. They did agree to vote today, but also reminded everyone that we would not be informed of the designer until after.

Minos was the one to declare the winner, though it was obvious. With four votes the pyramid shaped monument was the winner, narrowly beating out the pretty arch.

The designer was revealed to us as an Apollo kid named Keanu and he was promptly called in.

It took another thirty minutes of discussion on the design and if anything should be changed before we adjourned, Keanu to be working with the Hephaestus and Athena cabins to turn the design into a reality.

Annabeth was definitely disappointed that her design wasn’t chosen, she’d apparently done the blocky ancient style design. But she perked up when I asked if she was also designing a temple and assured me she absolutely was. Her sketchbook seemed to appear out of thin air.

I left her to it, smiling fondly as she drifted to her cabin to work. I had a feeling that she would be missing her activities for the day.

That in mind I headed to the stables to do my activities for the day.

OO OO OO OO

The Fourth of July went well, though it was quieter than previous ones from what I understood.

There were still fireworks, still enough food to feed an army, but there was a solemn feel as people stood on the gold dusted sand of the beach.

I spent my time with Leilani eating good food and watching the waves.

OO OO OO OO

Camp was returning to normal slowly. These weren’t the first deaths of the camp, even if the only ones at camp in recent memory. The camp knew how to heal, the people were used to losing loved ones.

So, the Aphrodite cabin slowly returned to making snacks and planning movie nights.

The Ares cabin went back to challenging people to spar with them and kicking ass.

The Dionysos cabin worked in the fields and drove people mad (without the insanity).

The Apollo cabin manned the infirmary and taught archery and argued with the Ares kids.

The Athena cabin scowled at me and plotted for the temple design.

The Hermes cabin remained split and wary.

And the Demeter cabin invited Leilani and I to pick fruit from the fruit grove with them.

It was nice, peaceful, familiar. I was glad to be back with them, glad to be picking ripe fruits and chattering about our days and talking about future plans and discussing treats we could make and just generally basking in each other’s presences.

Leilani wove a flower crown for me, then wove several more as the Demeter kids fought over who would get the next one. I wove a crown for her that wasn’t quite as good, but she wore it and smiled all the same.

The grove was full of life and I relaxed in the comradery of the Demeter cabin.

And if my eyes lingered on the path to the graveyard, to where our companions were buried and where Tyson’s grave marker was… well, it was a pretty path, covered in flowers and buzzing bees and hanging branches covered in leaves.

OO OO OO OO

A new camper arrived at camp, a boy named Marcus Dalton. He was led by a satyr that found him during the summer.

Funnily enough at an actual summer camp.

Normally the camp got a dozen new members a year according to Annabeth. This year had had a lower number than usual so getting a new member was good news. There were still demigods out there that needed to be found, needed to be warned of what they were.

The satyr reported to Lord D and the Council almost immediately upon arrival. I wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but Grover was worried afterwards and was apparently being sent to a new school in the fall.

I hoped he would be safe.

OO OO OO OO

The battle had longer standing effects than most of the camp realized.

Leilani knew, because she watched me deal with it. The Pegasi knew, because they were the ones who alerted me of it. But I didn’t really tell the rest of the camp. The rest of the camp didn’t really ask.

Annabeth might’ve noticed, but she didn’t say anything.

Sometimes, whether in the day or at night, a Pegasi would come over to me and alert me to a sea creature in need.

It wasn’t something like a mortal trap, not usually. Only once had that happened. Normally it was celestial bronze weapons sticking up dangerously, it was the ship nets tangling around a neck, it was grenades getting set off and sea creatures in need of healing.

The traps from the battle were washed into the ocean, both those of the camp and those of the ships. It made the ocean nearby exceedingly treacherous.

I… felt somewhat responsible for it. And even if I wasn’t, I would still have tried to help. I was a Prince, it was my job to help his subjects.

So, when the Pegasi came and told me of trouble, I went out to help.

Today, I had to carefully adjust the ruins of one of the ships to free some young dolphins that had gone exploring and gotten stuck.

It wasn’t hard work, just took some time to do it right so they wouldn’t get hurt.

It was nice to spend time in the ocean just helping, I’d missed cleaning the rivers. Maybe I could do something like that around here during the summer?

I’d have to think on it.

OO OO OO OO

Marcus was claimed within the week of his arrival.

Spinning above his head was the cornucopia of Demeter, warm and welcoming and bright.

It was quite the celebration, the Demeter kids gleefully welcoming their new cabinmate. I had to smile at Marcus’ shy delight. He’d fit in well, I thought.

OO OO OO OO

Camp activities didn’t exactly get any less awkward despite the battle, or perhaps because of it.

I was still horrible at Archery, though Leilani wasn’t too bad. Leilani was struggling with wrestling, Clarisse being extra hard on everyone. And weaponry had gone from awkward to actively life threatening so we switched our time pretty quick.

It wasn’t entirely the Hermes’ cabin fault but… a good half of them did not like Leilani or me.

Leilani was fiercely defending me at this point, so any who had liked her were now against her. I was still enemy number one for many of them due to the whole Luke situation.

Somehow the invasion did nothing to convince anyone that Luke was really a traitor.

I really wished I had some bit of evidence to provide them all with, to prove that he was a traitor. But all I had was a scar on my hand and my memory.

Suffice to say, if I wasn’t so well trained by Triton I would likely have had an “accident” while training.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth and I poured over my cursebreaking books together. She couldn’t actually do any of it, the magic was inherent to the ocean, but she wanted to learn the theory anyways.

I think seeing me as a small cat scared her more than she was willing to admit. It scared me more than I was willing to admit.

I didn’t want to be trapped like that ever again.

So we studied, we debated the methods shown, we debated how much power the techniques would take.

Annabeth dragged Fiona and Carl in (and I was really glad to spend more time with Carl). Carl actually knew a decent amount thanks to not only having been cursed himself, but my many rambles on the subject. Fiona didn’t know much about magic at the start, but she was a quick study and good at theorizing with us.

Fiona promptly dragged Aponi in to help practice curse breaking.

It was tiring, required a lot of practice, but both me and Aponi were improving. She wasn’t great at laying curses at the start, but after lots of practice with me breaking them and her laying them, she could do them pretty quick and I could resist pretty well.

I realized quickly that I was insanely lucky that Kirke had laid her curses the way she did, I never would’ve lasted had she used any other method of curse laying.

Course, I still lost in the end, but I did learn a valuable lesson from the experience.

(And no, the lesson was not spas are evil Carl)

Don’t trust pretty women on islands.

OO OO OO OO

I left the infirmary after one last lesson with a scowl. I was done trying to learn magic healing.

It was important, I knew it was important, Lagi was amazing at it. But I… was not.

The books were interesting to read, but only parts of them. I didn’t want to memorize all the bones and muscles and nerves and every disease and injury and how the body parts and internal organs interacted and-

It was physically painful. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to do it.

I learned basic first aid, with bandages and stuff, from the infirmary. But I was never going to be a magic healer like Katara.

I was… disappointed.

I wanted to be a healer, I did, but the path to becoming one was just so- so tedious. So boring. I didn’t know how anyone could do it.

I felt a bit like a failure for it, I’d decided ages ago that I would learn it. I couldn’t learn it though.

I curled up under Thalia’s tree as I'd been doing since we returned from the quest and peered out beyond the barrier.

If I’d been a better healer I wouldn’t have made Thalia’s tree worse. If I’d bothered to properly study I would’ve known better but- but it was just so boring and really how was I supposed to deal with that?

“I don’t believe you’re on guard duty today, Mr. Jackson.”

I jerked, head snapping up to find Minos staring coolly down at me.

“I’m not,” I said, pushing up. “I just- needed to think.”

“It’s best to think in the safety of the camp,” Minos chided. “Away from the edge of the barrier.”

“Sorry.”

Minos studied me, looking like he always did when watching me- like he was unsure what to think of me but was inclined to find me lacking.

“What were you thinking about, so close to danger?”

I chewed my lip at his expectant look. I didn’t think he was often denied anything, and he was very good at telling when people were lying. Probably a result of being a judge of the dead.

“I uh, I think I’m gonna give up on learning how to heal with magic.”

“Oh?”

I shuffled, peering past him and down into the camp. The strawberry fields were near empty at the moment, not many worked in them right after lunch.

“There’s a type of healing, in the sea, tafahu. It… well a friend of mine is really good at it, and I wanted to get good too but a lot of the stuff you need to know to get good is just… boring.”

“Most things are,” said Minos lightly.

I got the feeling he was judging me so I shut up and went back to staring at the camp.

“So, you’ve decided to give up?” Minos asked after a long moment passed and it became clear I wasn’t going to continue.

“Well, I’ve tried for a few years,” I said slowly, eyeing him. “And I mean, I could probably put more effort into it but… it’s painful. It’s so boring it hurts. I mean not all of it is-”

Minos quirked an eyebrow at me.

“I do enjoy parts of it, it’s just- there’s so so much to learn and only some of it is interesting and there’s so much to memorize. And I’m still trying to learn about purification and curse breaking and fighting and-“ I took a deep breath “-there’s so much to learn but healing just isn’t interesting and I feel like I’m wasting time forcing myself to try to focus when I could do so much more in the other subjects I’m working on.”

“Then you’re not necessarily giving up,” Minos said. “You’re prioritizing. There are other healers, why do you need to be one?”

I shuffled, “what if someone needs healing during a fight? If I knew how I could help them.”

“Battlefield medics are extremely valuable,” Minos agreed. “And also, extraordinarily rare. Medics and healers are to be kept safe, because they’re needed to ensure the rest of your people can keep fighting. You seem more the type to want to be on the front lines.”

I blinked and considered that.

“I don’t know,” I said finally. “We’ve only really had the one big fight. I really just want to be able to keep people from being hurt. If I can do that being on the front lines then I guess that’s where I’d be?”

Minos considered me for a long moment, lips pursed. I had no idea what he was thinking, he was always annoyingly good at hiding his thoughts. Probably because he’d been a king. King’s did that.

I was supposed to do that too, but Minos definitely had me beat.

“There is no shame in not being good at something,” Minos said finally. “If you’re not a healer then you’re not a healer. Focus on what you are instead of what you aren’t.”

I blinked, that made sense.

“And besides,” Minos added, “healing comes in more forms than physical. You’ve been helping the ocean heal from the invasion, haven’t you?”

Oh… I had, I supposed. I hadn’t thought of it like that.

“Just because you can’t heal in one way doesn’t mean you can’t in another,” he said mildly. “All different kinds of people are needed to make a community.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Thank you.”

Minos nodded, seemingly satisfied. “I assume you have activities to be doing, so why don’t you run along now.”

I hurried back down the hill as he shooed me off, sending a glance behind me as I went.

Minos was translucent in the light of the midday sun, standing near the tree and looking up at it. I wondered what he was doing up by the tree, and if he’d expected to find me there.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth and I really did enjoy going over myths together. I’d learned so much during our “Ancient Greek” lessons. And Annabeth loved to dive into why certain myths worked certain ways and why some people made the decisions they did and what they meant and how the decisions effected the story and-

She loved rambling about the myths.

I loved listening to her ramble.

It worked out.

Annabeth also liked to teach me about the strategies they used in the myths, she liked to learn from them herself. Both what they did right and what they did wrong.

Like for example: don’t tell the guy you spared after blinding what your name is.

He totally could’ve avoided all that if he’d just killed Polyphemus.

“Mercy has a price,” Annabeth mentioned one time. “Sometimes it’s good to offer mercy, but you have to remember that not everyone will appreciate it. Sometimes ruthlessness is mercy to yourself.”

We talked about things other than myths too of course. Annabeth asked about my plans for the school year (going back to my old school) and told me about hers (not going back). And we talked about plans for holidays.

It was nice, it was familiar.

Annabeth was safe, I was glad I was friends with her.

OO OO OO OO

I watched Luke and Kronos speak. Or well, more like just Luke speak to the casket of Kronos.

They were someplace I didn’t know, made of elegant marble in colors I didn’t realize marble came in naturally. White and black were predominant of course, but there was also purple marble making up the columns.

“We should check the schools, my Lord. I’ve heard rumors that there are some powerful demigods in one, though which was unconfirmed.”

“Yes,” mused Kronos, “you heard that, did you?”

Luke paused, licked his lips, and straightened. “Yes, my Lord. I- Well I know you told me to stay on Mt. Othrys, but I wanted to be useful to you. Staying in hiding doesn’t move forward your plans so I- well I worked to further them for you.”

I could tell, even without hearing or seeing Kronos, that he was not pleased.

“You being in hiding means you are available for future plans,” Kronos chided, light but firm. “Do not leave again, you’ve been lucky none have identified you yet.”

“… yes, my Lord,” Luke murmured.

“But yes, the satyrs are being sent out in force by the Gods to find and protect demigods in schools. Finding them first is vital at this point. Call in agents of ours, we will work out a plan.”

Luke straightened, “Yes, my Lord! At once!”

I realized, even as the dream melted away, that I hadn’t dreamt of Kronos in some time. I wondered at that even as I tumbled down, shadows growing and twisting and warping with heat.

I landed before the pit of pain.

“Hello, grandson,” said a familiar voice of leaves falling and sands shifting.

“Metani,” I said in greeting. “It’s… been a bit.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how to greet my Metani who had sent forces that killed three campers and could’ve killed more without Okeanos-arino help.

“I thought you would want time to make your decision, on the war, on what side you would choose.”

“I didn’t need this long,” I said, achingly honest. “I didn’t need more than a day, really.”

“I had hoped you would consider it fully.”

“I did. I made my decision quickly though. I’m not- I can’t- I wouldn’t go against Triton, or Kymopoleia, or Herophile, or- or any of my family, or friends.”

“Am I not family as well?”

I chewed my lip, “Family doesn’t kill each other.”

There was a long beat of silence. A long beat of sands shifting over my skin, almost gentle, almost apologetic.

“Did you think I would decide to join you after the invasion?” I couldn’t help but ask. “You- three are dead. They wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t-“

I swallowed and didn’t say that Tyson had died because of Him. I didn’t say we’d have never gone on that quest if Metani hadn’t poisoned the tree. I didn’t say my brother would still be alive if not for him.

I hadn’t realized that I thought that until just now, but I did. It hurt.

 “I did not want death in the invasion.”

“Well… people died,” I said. “So it doesn’t really matter what you wanted.”

“We simply wished to intimidate the camp,” Metani soothed. “To lead to your surrender, or a quick and overwhelming defeat that needed no death.”

“It’s war,” I snapped. “It’s- it’s war. People die in war. You know that, you- you’ve led wars before. You knew there would be- could be death.”

“Yes,” Metani said, voice less soothing, more firm, more like a King and a General and less like a gentle grandparent trying to explain. “Yes, death was always a possibility. It was a possibility I deemed worth it. I cannot and will not stop. I will avoid the death of children as much as I can, but in some cases it simply can’t be avoided.”

“There’s always another option,” I snapped. “You don’t have to-“

“It is war.”

“Then stop the war!”

I was breathing hard, treacherous tears burning my eyes. I didn’t want to fight, I didn’t want to fight Metani or anyone else. I didn’t want to see the people who betrayed us at the other end of the battlefield. I didn’t want to think of who would’ve seen us as not worth staying for.

I didn’t think I could forgive them for it.

“There is no other option but war now, Percy,” Kronos (Not Metani, Metani was gentle and soothing, Metani was teasing and fond, He answered questions and offered alternatives and understood and didn’t- didn’t- didn’t see war as needed-) said. “Peace has not been an option for a very long time.”

“It’s always an option! You can just- you can talk to the Gods. Why do you have to attack them- why can’t you just… sit down and talk.”

I dragged in a shaky breath, I stared at the pit, burning shadows curled tight, and begged, silent and aloud, for my Metani to have a solution that did not mean war.

I didn’t want anyone else to die.

“Talk?” Kronos asked. “What talking is to be done when I am but a voice in a pit and my children want me to stay such? Should I beg them for mercy they shall not grant? Ask them to do as I would and fix the world? Percy, peace can never be an option until we are heard. Sometimes the only option is violence, and the price must be paid in blood.”

I closed my eyes and ached.

“That is not to say I want you to pay for the actions of your parents,” Metani spoke, soft and gentle and kind as if he wasn’t speaking of us dying. “Stand down, let the war pass you by. You don’t have to fight, even if you don’t side with me you can stay out of it.”

“And let my family pay the price instead?” I asked.

“It’s not your war.”

“You made it my war.”

Metani sighed.

“I see you’re firm in your decision.”

“And-“ I took a deep breath. “And you in yours.”

 “I am sorry it has come to this, Percy,” Metani said. “I will endeavor to make the war quick.”

We wouldn’t let it be quick. We would hold out as long as needed.

More people would die, and I hated it.

OO OO OO OO

The monument was beautiful, the intricate details painted with careful hands and the sea serpents making up the angles of the pyramid looking nearly alive. Each of the scenes was beautiful, showcasing the demigods who died with honor. The top of each triangle making up the pyramids held the symbol of a God that was prayed to for aid and the tails of each sea serpent holding the triangles together held a trident.

It was absolutely a piece of artwork and I was in awe.

The kid who designed it (Keanu) finished his speech about the invasion, about the lives lost and our remembrance of them, and finished pouring out the libation of thanks to the Gods, and thanks to the dead, when the claiming happened.

Shining on the monument was a bee, it circled the monument for several seconds before diving to one of the faces of the monument, the one facing towards us on the beach, and pressing into the image and settling above the head of the figure battling.

Melissa, daughter of Aristaeus, had been claimed.

OO OO OO OO

The vote for the temple design occurred the next day.

It was just as long and tedious as the monument vote, if not even longer. Each temple design argued over, the details of what needed to be done to make them happen debated, each aspect compared to tradition and Lord D’s opinion asked on them. We debated the materials, we debated the cost, we debated the time frame, the statues needed, how many Gods were honored, how it would be placed, where it would be placed, if the temple was feasible-

It was long, it was tiring, it ended in several vicious fights breaking out. But finally, finally, the final designs were picked, and the final votes commenced.

Most of the head campers ended up voting for the same one this time.

It was a traditional temple, with the traditional style, yet also including aspects of modernity.

It had the twelve statues of the Olympians with a thirteenth statue for the unnamed Gods. A statue that Minos explained was included sometimes to honor Gods of the locals or unknown Gods to the worshipers. Zeus and Hera would share their position at the end of the temple, with the hearth placed before them. Each of the statues would have a small altar before them, allowing for individual worship as needed.

A storage area would be behind their statues, hidden behind a wall. Any tools for the worshiping could be placed within.

The back of the temple had a second area, with a statue for Hades and smaller series of statues for major and minor underworld deities.

Along the inside and outside of the main temple area would be alcoves for Gods other than the twelve major Gods, dozens of them. They could hold smaller statues and altars, allowing worship for them in the same space while still giving the Olympians the center. Along the base of the wall, where we would nowadays have a baseboard of a wall, would be carvings for as many Gods as could possibly be fit on it.

It wasn’t too cluttered like many of the temples, it kept the classic design of the temple but with additions. And it included as many Gods as it could, seeing how there wasn’t enough space for dozens of temples in the camp.

Annabeth beamed when it was announced her design won.

“You understand, Ms. Chase, the amount of work you will have ahead of you? This is no easy task to be in charge of leading this project.”

“I understand,” she said, eyes bright as she stood straight and tall. “I won’t let you down.”

He considered her for a long moment before nodding.

“Then the decision is final and construction will begin as soon as the plans are reviewed and the first round of edits completed.”

OO OO OO OO

The last night of camp the bead ceremony took place.

This year there were two major events that occurred and the bead did its best to reflect that.

The beads themselves were gold, nearly sparkling in the firelight. Upon that gold background, coiled tight, was a blue and green sea serpent.

The Golden Fleece and the Sea Serpents that ended the invasion.

OO OO OO OO

I was on guard duty when it happened. None of us saw it coming, none of us realized it could be possible. I’d learn later, after a conversation with Triton, how exactly it happened.

Something that could change the course of the war.

Something that not even my Metani could have predicted.

A girl fell from the tree.

Blue eyes locked on mine.

And Thalia entered the camp.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Yes there is more to Thalia's resurrection than the Golden Fleece ;)

What did you think of Camp? What about the monument and temple? How about Percy's conversation with Kronos?

Halmaheran
tafahu=healing (ocean, magic)
Metani=grandfather

Suffixes
arino=once king (posessive)

Terminology
Aristaeus=God of Beekeeping

OC's
Keanu=Apollo kid, designed the monument
Leilani=Psamnthe kid, lives in the Poseidon cabin with Percy, Hawaiian
Marcus Dalton=new camper, Demeter kid
Carl=beloved
Fiona=Jewish Athena kid, Carl is staying with her
Aponi=Hekate kid, Hermes cabin, Native

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Chapter 40: Denial isn't only a river in Egypt

Summary:

A present, for my beloved readers, please stop denying the truth now

Notes:

*bows* an update on my status in the next book. Oh, and that's posted now <3

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

BONUS SCENE 1: Where is Tyson? This is canonical and what happened to him for all of you asking <3 Now please stop living in denial

First a note that the first chapter of the Next Book is out. ATLOP: Weight of Air.

Tyson POV

The ship was hot. It was very very hot. The ship was not supposed to be hot. The ship was not supposed to be in this water. The ship could do some sea water, but not the whirlpool. It was not strong enough and was too hot.

A too hot engine was dangerous.

I did not know how to work on a ship, I never did before. I could build things. I was good at building things. It was easy. And Beck at the forge helped me be very good at building.

I was going to be so good, the best. Then no one would be mean to Percy because he is my brother.

Percy was my friend, my brother. He was so good, the best. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted to make him happy. Like his friends did. I did not want him to be sad because of me. He was unhappy a lot. He tried to smile, but he was frowning behind it.

I was good at building things. I wanted to build his happiness.

I was hot here. Very hot. But I liked the heat, it was gentle.

I held the ship together in the heat. I would build later, right now I would fix. I did not know ships, or engines, or this. But I knew how to build. I knew how things worked. I would try and try. I would be enough. I would build Percy’s happiness.

It was not enough.

I was not enough.

The ship broke.

The ship was on fire.

Fire did not hurt me. Fire did hurt others. Fire was not what hurt me.

Metal hurt. Metal stabbed. Metal cut and dug and broke.

The engine broke. It went boom.

The metal sunk into me.

It hurt. It hurt so much. It hurt like the Sphinx’s claws did not. I was on the ground, I thought. The ground was hot, and the metal was hot and hot did not hurt but hot metal did, and I did not want heat anymore. I wanted Percy’s cold. I wanted Percy. Would this scar like the Sphinx’s claws did? Would Percy watch the door again? So I could change without anyone seeing them?

I wanted Percy.

Would I see Percy again?

I did not mean to fail. I wanted Percy to survive. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted to build him happiness so he would not hurt.

I hurt.

My skin crumbled. I knew that was what happened to monsters. Percy said I was a nice Monster. Percy did not call me a monster, he called me a terror. He said I was scary because I was so cool and good at building. Leilani said I was good too. But Annabeth was afraid of me. I was terror to her, not for good reason. I did not want her afraid.

I wanted to be good. I wanted to be good like Percy said. I wanted to see Percy again. But I was crumbling, monsters did that. We returned too. Would I return the same?

I wanted to see Percy again.

I was scared I would not be the same Tyson if I returned.

I did not want to crumble away. I did not want to go to the dark hole the other campers spoke of. I wanted to go to Percy.

I was scared.

I wanted to see him. Just one more time.

I wanted my brother.

I wanted him to smile at me. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to- to love what I would make.

I made him something.

My fingers fumbled and crumbled away before I could reach it in my pocket. His present.

I did not get to give it to him. I wanted to. I wanted him safe and happy. The present would keep him safe and maybe it would make him happy. I made it so careful, I was going to give it to him once we entered the sea. I was going to make him proud and smile and-

I could not now.

I wanted him to have it though.

Maybe our Daddy? Dad? Metu? Metua? Percy called him Metua… maybe Metua would get it to him. Could I pray?

Was praying allowed? I prayed before, and He sent me to Percy. Was that because I prayed? Or because Percy needed me? Maybe He heard me. The mean girl at camp said monsters couldn’t pray, that we were bad and evil and against the Gods. But Poseidon was my Metua, Percy said so, He claimed me. Maybe I could pray.

I hoped that he would let Percy’s present reach him.

I was already dying, crumbling away. I would be in the pit soon, they all said it.

It was so fast, fingers gone, hands gone, my side crumbling around the metal. The pain was fading though. Forever passed but no time at all.

I wondered what it was like, for a monster to die. I was finding out now, I did not want to. We were supposed to come back. I hoped I did. I wanted to see Percy again one day.

I prayed to my Me’du.

I prayed for Percy.

I prayed even though my skin crumbled and my bones faded and my breath left me. I prayed as the pain stopped stopped stopped.

I prayed one last time as the shadows consumed me.

Please, do not let me be consumed

Kane Chronicles Decision:

Quick note: the first chapter of Book 3 of ATLOP is out. ATLOP: Weight of Air

Okay! Now that Tyson’s end has been revealed <3 (and there are happy scenes after I clarify this info), time to get to TKC! So, as I’ve written this, 83 people have responded to my survey and Kane Chronicles being included has a 96.4% vote for Yes, so it will be included.

Percy and Annabeth being included has a 90.4% vote for Yes, so they will also be present!

The decision on whether they’ll learn magic (at all) and how much was very close, so if any of you who haven’t voted want to chime, I’ll be including a new survey below. I’ve started making my plans for it already, but I will take any additional points into consideration.

I will be including the Kane Chronicles as part of the general ATLOP world, but it will not overtake the Greek side of things, Percy and Annabeth will simply have a bit of an adventure in the Egyptian world that may impact their experiences <3. It will be the main focus while I work on it though (and that was another very close vote).

I’ve already written out a full timeline for when all the books and events happen, and Kane Chronicles won’t quite follow the canonical timeline it has.

The Red Pyramid takes place between The Sword of Hades (after BOTL) and The Bronze Dragon (before TLO).

Throne of Fire will take place before The Lost Hero, and the Serpent’s Shadow after the end of HOO.

Percy and Annabeth will not be present for the entirety of the books, and the world building for them will be different. Hopefully more accurate but I’m not a specialist on Egyptology though I’m doing a lot of research and speaking with a Kemetic Pagan. Regardless! I will be trying to make it more accurate and will be changing the plot line appropriately. (though funnily enough Rick actually probably did his most accurate work in the TKC so not as much will need to be changed as his other works). If there are any Kemetic Pagans reading please feel free to offer your advice <3

Now then! I will be covering some concerns and requests you had for me including Kane Chronicles. If you don’t want to read this you can skip down to the second Bonus scene I’ve included <3. (Titled: BONUS SCENE 2: Minos vs Camp Half-Blood (canon)). Reminder that the Next Book’s first chapter is out!

It will be too much, too much mixed together, will drag on

Understandable concern! I’m deciding how exactly I’ll be combining the factors on this still, if I’ll rewrite the entire books like I did for ATLOP or just write the parts with Percy and Annabeth there. I plan to write a good chunk of it before posting any, so those wanting the next Greek book can get to it soon enough and those wanting to see the Egyptian verse can enjoy the content. So I should have a good idea of it before posting any, and will be able to tell if it’s too much. I have several people to speak with about it, that will help a lot, and I promise not to bite off more than I can chew <3

Will the system of magic will get too much/Percy getting OP

I have actually long since created the magic systems for all of the books. I’ve got that all figured out, the only question here for me is if Percy and Annabeth will be learning any. Regardless of if they will, I don’t want either becoming OP so it will neatly slot into their current skill sets if it is a factor for them at all. I love powerful characters, but I love it more when they earn that power. There will always be a process of growth for any new skills!

Carter and Sadie will get outshone/the focus should remain on them

No matter how much Percy and Annabeth do, Carter and Sadie will absolutely have their time to shine! They are absolutely delightful characters, and while Percy and Annabeth will get to show off a bit, so will Carter and Sadie. Don’t worry, I won’t steal their books from them <3

Will there be romance? (I’d prefer there to not be)

At most there will be a small romantic subplot, I’m not big on romance myself so it won’t cause too much drama.

Sadie being with a thousand-year-old God

He’s actually more like 6-8 thousand years old, ish, maybe older (probably older), but don’t worry! Sadie getting into a relationship at all is something I’ve considered a lot. While I like the idea of a poly ship, I don’t think Sadie is the right person for it, not at her current age, and not with a God who has lived so long.

Finding a Kemetic Pagan source

I have found exactly one! And while I know that means there will be a fair bit of personal bias from them (I can compare my own stuff with several Hellenic Pagans but can’t really do the same with only one Kemetic Pagan), it does mean I will have info from someone who worships them! At the very least I can make sure I’m not being outright insulting :)

Egyptian water/ocean deities

They would definitely be present, but the Egyptians mostly seem to have deities related to the rivers, most notably the Nile. So, Ocean deities aren’t a big thing for them. It will give Percy a very new position! Would be fun to explore the contrast with so little focus on Sea Deities.

Concerns with Biracial pitfalls

I will be doing quite a bit of research before writing Sadie and Carter, and Percy himself is also biracial and I’ve been going in to edit bits that showcase his families culture more because I realized I’d failed at that originally. Percy is easier for me to write, as he’s very disconnected to his culture and I can draw off of my own experience with that, Carter and Sadie will have a closer connection though so I’ll be sure to prepare before writing them, so I get things right! And I hope any biracial members of my server would be willing to help out too <3. If anyone has any specific stereotypes they’re concerned about please let me know.

Muslim Characters Representation

I have several Muslim friends I’ll be speaking to about any Muslim characters I include in my writing. I’ve already spoken to them about the little bits I added at CHB and will speak them a lot more about anything included in TKC. If anyone has any specific stereotypes they’re concerned about please let me know.

 

That covers all the major concerns I was given, I compiled quite a few together in brief overviews. If you have any further concerns, please feel free to add your thoughts in the new survey below! And of course my comment section is always open for such discussions <3

BONUS SCENE 2: Minos vs Camp Half-Blood (Canon)

Minos stared in complete bafflement at the camp he was at. This was a camp for the Gods, and yet- yet they weren’t doing anything??? He’d been at the one in the other world (dimensions were so confusing) but this one was even WORSE.

The most they did were the dinner offerings! And that wasn’t even right. There was no devotion, they just got in a line and did it- where was the honoring? The care? Prayer and offering wasn’t just for the sake of it- if they didn’t care why were they just tossing stuff in? At least at the other camp they often did the offerings with care.

And even beyond that! At least the other camp had cabin altars. And did stuff for the solstice- Minos asked here and Dionysos just sighed and went “Gods I wish”. What????

Minos was about ready to throw hands and that was BEFORE he realized that Percy Jackson, the one who at his camp (and really at this point he could only consider the other one his) was actually devoted to the sea Gods at least and honored them often with carefully considered daily prayers with the food offerings and practiced the ocean’s traditions, didn’t… know anything.

Nor did the Chase girl here have any devotion to the history and culture like the other one did-

This was a crime. This was horrific.

Jackson wasn’t even friends with the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins here??? And why was Leilani in the Hermes cabin??? Minos had questions and no answers and rather thought the camp should be burned down.

And this Dionysos didn’t like Jackson either? There was none of the respect his Jackson gave “Lord D” as his Jackson called him. No, these two looked ready to throw down with each other.

Minos had never thought he’d be grateful for the mess of his camp, without a temple or a proper hearth, without any trained priests, barely celebrating the festivals as they were meant to be- At least his mess of a camp actually cared about this. They didn’t do it the best, like they’d been torn from their culture, but they still tried!

BONUS SCENE 3: Kronos vs Kronos (ATLOP vs Canon) with Titan Commentary

Kronos gaped at the scene of another version of him just… tormenting Percy. His grandson Percy. Percy who was hesitant and hopeful and just wanted peace.

What was wrong with this version of him.

Where was the subtlety! Where was the manipulation! The respect! The coaxing to his side!? Where was the care for the children?

“Wow, this version of you is just batshit,” chirped Hyperion.

“Did he just put a poisoned wreath of laurels on his head?” wondered Iapetus.

“Wow, his recruitment plans are clearly stunning,” Koios added.

Kronos wanted to strangle all of them.

He also wanted to strangle this alternative version of himself. Even if other him didn’t care about Percy he could at least be smart about it. That was just a pathetic attempt at manipulation. Was he aiming to scare Percy to his side? How idiotic, anyone who knew Percy for more than five minutes would know that Percy wasn’t going to change sides out of fear.

Now love? Loyalty? Friendship? He would switch for that. But only if those he loved switched sides first.

And this was the prime time for this Kronos to manipulate him to his side- this Percy didn’t even know Triton! The only reason Kronos’ own Percy didn’t switch sides was because of Triton. This Percy had nothing holding him back-

“I didn’t think anyone could be dumber than you when you ate your kids but wow this version of you is proving that wrong,” Iapetus drawled.

“I’ll stab you,” Kronos muttered, glowering at the other version of him.

What an idiot.

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Survey Link: Survey Link

What did you think of Tyson's death? Did you enjoy the brief snippets of canon vs ATLOP? Any further questions on the whole Kane Chronicles thing?

Are you also frustrated that I couldn't find my notebook for the memorial sketches? I'm furious, I tore about my apartment and my parents house looking for it.

Come yell at me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord

Notes:

Come chat with me, get sneak peaks of scenes, and help me plan on my discord!

Come read my theories, send me asks, and interact with me on my tumblr: @Percabeth4Life

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of To Make a Legend