Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Poseidon loved all his children equally, even if he was often blamed for favoritism towards his demigod children. They weren’t completely wrong, but he liked to put it in perspective. He cared for all his children equally, but some lived shorter lives. He simply couldn’t care for them for as long, meaning he just had to care more. 

And who lived shorter lives than demigods? Monsters, gods, bad luck, and an unfortunate fatal flaw meant many died young. Even his demigod children weren’t excluded from this fact of life. Of course, he’d care more for them! And, well, if he accidentally dropped a trident while coincidentally walking through a neighborhood they’d soon pass through while being chased by hellhounds, he couldn’t be blamed for it. His family called him Seaweed Brain for a reason. He simply forgot things. And if his child were to pick up that trident and use it to survive, it wasn’t strange that he’d let them keep it. What kind of father would he be if he didn’t let his children protect themselves?

This child, though… he didn’t know why, but he didn’t often have daughters. He wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter, really, he loved them all equally, and any beliefs that women might be lesser than men evaporated the moment Demeter heard of some of the less-than-generous things he’d said. That Athena and Artemis heard him muttering about the entire situation later just reaffirmed that women were in every way equal to men. Perhaps more equal, considering his daughters seemed weirdly more powerful. Scylla and Charybdis never failed to make him proud, sinking islands when they were only fifteen. Protecting the sea from the land was the duty of each of his children.  

This daughter, however, there was something special about her in a way that no other daughter had ever been. Perhaps it was simply empty nest syndrome, something Amphitrite often accused him of. It had been many decades since he’d had a demigod child at all. So if he was a bit more protective and present than normal, who could blame him? Besides, the Ancient Laws had such obvious loopholes even if he could see them. 

Of course, it wasn’t that bad at first. He’d kept his distance as he always did, only visiting in the middle of the night. Perhaps he’d walk down the street just as she was headed home from school or he’d randomly decide to rest at a park Sally took her to play. Then she strangled a snake when she was only four. Four! Heracles was six when he strangled a snake, and snakes were much more common back then. Take that, Zeus! His children were just better in every way. 

His pride didn’t blind him to the truth, though. She was much too young to have to protect herself. So he’d take some time to make sure she was safe. Of course, he couldn’t do this himself, but it wasn’t difficult to find someone who’d be willing or could be forced to do it for him. They just had to be able to pass for a human and not look out of place in a city. 

He just didn’t expect the Cyclops to take what he said so literally. Was it so difficult to understand that day and night didn’t mean day and night? He’d meant for the Cyclops to simply keep an eye on her and make sure no monsters decided that his daughter looked like a snack. He didn’t mean for the Cyclops, whose name was Frank, to be there day and night. Thank himself that Frank didn’t decide to hide inside Sephie’s room. Sally had taken the existence of gods and such quite well, but this would definitely be too much, even for her. The Board of Cyclopes, Telkhines and other Oceanic Humanoids would also be quite upset about it. They hated it when they were called perverts. Someone who ate children apparently didn’t deserve that title, who knew? Poseidon was a firm believer that, in fact, eating children deserved far worse words being hurled at them and that being called a pervert was quite a soft one. 

Then again, he also believed such a man should be chopped up in tiny pieces with their own weapon and thrown into Tartarus for the rest of eternity, so maybe that was bias speaking. 

Either way, Poseidon still wasn’t entirely sure how Frank had managed to get an apartment next to them. The Mist was a terrifying force. Just another example of why women were, in fact, scary, as Hecate had some dark ideas about what was normal. 

Case in point Frank’s hiring of this apartment, since Poseidon highly doubted he was a vegetarian. 

Frank managed to do a great job, fortunately. He didn’t notice a single monster near them after that snake. The few that tried, not that many were interested in getting close to a fully grown Cyclops that took offence as the best form of defence, didn’t get far. Frank liked his meat fresh and had at some point destroyed the wall between himself and another apartment. Poseidon had no interest in seeing whatever was inside it. 

Except a Cyclops would only work inside the city, and Sally did Sephie on vacation even if they were poor. They weren’t very long vacations, nor did they go very far, but they were vacations. Poseidon wished that she’d accept his help, then he could give them nice trips to far away places, escorted by an entire army to keep them safe, but she insisted on keeping her distance. He didn’t blame her and likely wouldn’t have liked her this much if she accepted the help. 

They generally went on vacation to the beach at Montauk. It was a nice place, and the beach was safe enough. If something did decide to attack, Sally was smart enough to grab Sephie and run into the water. He, or whatever Oceanid was nearby, would do the rest. Oceanids protected their own, even if they often hated each other. It was similar to Olympians, he supposed. Only they could beat each other up, others weren’t allowed to! Ah, the delights of family. 

The dangerous part was where they drove through a fairly long stretch of fairly empty land. It was there that Poseidon always worried. And of course, just as they were driving past that road, something important happened. Just a moment of distraction, and when he tuned back in he was being accused of thievery again! The nineteenth time in six months. Him! As if Hermes didn’t live on that damn mountain and had managed to steal Signs of Power more than once, the inability to touch another’s Sign of Power notwithstanding. It was a hobby to him! But of course not, they had to blame him. 

And of course Athena had to realize he’d been watching someone. And of course his little brother, brainless idiot that he was, had to decide that his tiny four-foot-six daughter who didn’t even know gods existed was the one to steal it. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Zeus even set the Minotaur on her! While he was sitting right there! He couldn’t suppress a cheer when she managed to kill it. Frank might have helped a bit, but it was his daughter that did all the hard work.

Now, though, his gut told him that Sephie would be sent on a quest. It was such a Fates thing to do. And Frank wouldn’t be able to help. Really, he shouldn’t even have been there, though Sally had fortunately had the foresight to bring him. It wouldn’t work on the quest, though. His family was paying attention now, and they’d wonder why a massive Cyclops was wandering after his daughter without trying to eat her. His excuse that Frank wasn’t a fan of seafood wouldn’t work forever. 

It had led him to sit in this out-of-the-way room, a corner of the palace where people never came. No one other than him, at least. The coffee table in the centre with a mirror on top of it, was the only thing there. Well, the coffee table and those hideous tapestries Phoebe had given him and his wife for their four-hundredth anniversary. 

He tapped the mirror and his reflection changed. His face became younger and more feminine. The wrinkles faded and the slightly stern twist of his lips, one he always had when he was deep in thought, turned into a pout. 

His beloved daughter. She was talking to some boy, probably one of Hermes'. The glint in the eyes betrayed them every time. He narrowed his eyes. Twelve was far too young to be interested in boys, but she fortunately didn't seem to be at that point yet. He'd have to keep an eye on her. And on the boy. Sephie was insisting on something, though he couldn't hear what. The mirror didn't allow him to hear sound, unfortunately. He simply didn't have the skill for that. She wanted something it seemed, candy perhaps? He'd seen her beg Frank for candy many times, insisting that it was healthy somehow. He could never contain his glee when he saw it. She was so much like him, just like the sea. Wild, free and uncontrollable. 

“What are you up to, dear husband?” Poseidon immediately relinquished his control over the water, letting it cover the mirror once again. He turned around and whistled an innocent tune. 

“Not much, dear wife. Simply preparing for dinner tonight.” 

Amphitrite swam into the room, long tail stretched out languidly behind her. He couldn’t stop a stupid grin from growing on his face. Gods, he loved his wife. She was powerful, beautiful, smart. Just perfect. She didn’t even take her anger at his infidelity out on his children.  

“Dinner?” Amphitrite wondered. “Why would you need to prepare for dinner? You do remember that it is not just the two of us?”

Poseidon opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. Right, it was Tuesday. Rhodes and Kymolopeia would come by, without Helios, fortunately. It was a lot of work to give someone the ability to breathe underwater, especially when they had nothing to do with the domain in the first place. He huffed. Helios was more likely to evaporate the water than swim in it. For all of his virtues, which he did have according to Rhodes, he had a hard time liking the man. 

“Exactly,” Amphitrite said, smiling. “So why were you here? You haven’t been here in years.” 

“I was here just a week ago,” Poseidon said, confused. He was here every week to check on Sephie. 

Amphitrite hummed. “What is so interesting about this room that you come here every week then, Poseidon?” She swam deeper into the room, looking around as she did. “There isn’t much in here.” She looked back at him, eyebrows raised. “Is there?” 

“Of course not, dear. It’s a very calm place, though. I like thinking here,” he said. It might have been a mistake to always come here, instead of choosing different rooms. But there was no way she knew. He hadn’t let anything slip this time!

Amphitrite nodded. “Thinking before you do something is very important, dear husband.” Poseidon casually sat down on the table as Amphitrite started swimming a circle around the room. “These tapestries,” she huffed. “Weren’t those the ones your aunt gave us?” 

“Our aunt, love.” You couldn’t just ignore the family you didn’t like. If you could, he’d barely have any family left, which in turn left few people to mess with. There was nothing like bullying siblings. 

Amphitrite waved her hand. “Semantics. Why are they in the room that you like to think in?” 

Poseidon moved to join her. “They are a bit ugly aren’t they?”

“That woman,” Amphitrite hissed, “does not understand what is proper and what isn’t. A tapestry of fishermen in our palace, absolutely abysmal.” 

Poseidon put an arm around her waist. “It isn’t her fault she’s always caught up in her visions, Amphy.” 

Amphitrite sighed. A deep sigh, inhaling until she couldn’t, and then letting it all out in one big go. It was very distracting. “Well, at least neither of us is distracted by visions.” 

Poseidon hummed a bit, still looking at her chest. 

She narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t that right, Poseidon?”

Poseidon quickly looked at her, nodding. “Of course, dear!” 

“Well, it’s kind of you to give the throne back to my father. Perhaps it will give you some more free time to think before acting.” 

He was fairly sure that she hadn’t said that. Right? “Are you sure that is what I agreed to?”

“Well, you certainly didn’t agree to not being distracted by visions, did you?” She lifted her chin to look down on him. 

Poseidon smiled flirtatiously. “I’m always distracted by visions, dear.”

“Then I’m sure you don’t need this mirror.” She wound out of his embrace and swam towards it. 

Poseidon coughed and started protesting. “But I need that to see-”

“See what?” She cut him off, brow raised. 

“Myself,” he finished lamely. 

Amphitrite smiled and picked the mirror up. “You just said you’re always distracted by visions. I’m simply helping you fight that distraction.” She swam out of the room with the mirror in her arms.

Poseidon stared after her, a blush on his face. Gods, he loved his wife. She was so beautiful, so kind. But she was also the smartest woman he knew, and gods if that wasn’t frustrating sometimes. But did she suspect a child, or did she believe he’d found a mortal to pine after?

His eyes narrowed as he thought. Maybe he should set up some extra protections for Sephie? Who knew what might happen if Amphitrite decided to get mixed up in all of this? He nodded to himself. A plan O wouldn’t be amiss. But what to do? 

His daughter had every protection he could find. Monsters had been warned off, he’d set up a college fund for her, prepared several dozen safe houses across the country in case she needed one and even arranged a babysitter. 

What to do, what to do? He looked around the room for inspiration. That ugly tapestry was left for last. He’d more than once considered moving to another room to avoid it, but this room was very nice and out of the way. Nobody ever came here. 

Maybe he should throw it away. It wasn’t like Aunt Phoebe would know and might make Amphitrite nicer to Sephie if she ever learned about her existence. Besides, what kind of person would give a tapestry of a man fishing up eels to the god of the sea? He was even a vegetarian! There was only so much the gift of prophecy could excuse. He shook his head. Eating fish, the sheer audacity. Just eat a cow instead. It never failed to make Hera mad, too. 

He snickered, giving the tapestry another once over. He should throw it away, but it was prickling his thoughts. Eels, what did those remind him of? 

He wandered out of the room. Eels… eels. It was their bodies, not the name. What’s similar to an eel? 

It was during dinner that the answer came to him. “Snakes!” He shouted, startling everyone in the room. 

“Wha-” Rhodes gasped, a furious glint in her eyes. “You better explain why you’re calling Helios and his siblings snakes!”

“I’m sorry, Rhodes, I didn’t mean them! I was just thinking about what reminded me of eels,” he sputtered. 

“EELS?” Rhodes screeched. “You’re calling them eels?”

“You’re digging yourself a trench, father,” Triton muttered. Kymolopeia was too busy cackling. Amphitrite simply took a bite of steak. 

“No, no! It was the tapestry of the fisherman! Those eels reminded me of something, but I only just realized.”

“The one that Phoebe gave you for your millenia of marriage?” Rhodes asked, calming down. “That thing is ghastly. I thought you’d thrown it away.” 

“I thought we would,” Ampitrite said, “But if it helps your father remember such important things, perhaps we shouldn’t.”

“What did you do to make mother upset, father?” Triton asked. Kymolopeia, who had just managed to stop laughing, started up again. 

“Nothing,” Poseidon said. 

Triton nodded slowly. “If you say so.” 

“What’s this tapestry?” Kymolopeia wondered, leaving Rhodes to talk about the ugly thing that hung in one of the more out-of-the-way rooms in the palace. 

Snakes, of course. But would she be willing to protect what was pretty much a stepdaughter? Not everyone was so happy with stepchildren. Perhaps more importantly, would she cut him to ribbons before he had a chance to talk to her? He’d have to think about it. 

As he finished his steak, relishing the taste of revenge on Hera, that absolute cow of a woman, for all those times she ate fish in front of him, he couldn’t help but thank the gods that he was a god. At least now, he wouldn’t be petrified. 

It was hours later that he was alone again. Now, he could close his eyes and focus. He let his senses spread through the oceans, feeling all Oceanids at the same time. Another sign that women were equal to men. The ocean was a she. Maybe… probably not, actually. Pontus was technically the ocean, and he was a he, or at least had a male body. Perhaps he suffered from the existence of misogyny when he was younger and decided to avoid it. Or Oceanus had been lying to him when he said that Pontus was male. It wouldn’t be the first time Oceanus did something like that. Why, there was that time with the dolphins… He digressed. Hundreds, thousands, if not millions of beings, all sharing the ocean. Where was Medusa? His first thought was the cave she’d hid in after their break-up, but that only showed him another cave. Scylla might be an option if he needed something more extreme. Her sister was never really an option, causing natural disasters when she moved so much as an inch, let alone the miles needed to get to New York. 

It was only after an hour of searching that he realized Medusa might not be hidden in the ocean. He sighed. “This will take more time than I thought.” 

“Oh,” his wife whispered in his ear. “So you are distracted by visions other than me?” 

Poseidon gulped.

Chapter Text

Sephie’s day had been very weird. First, her best friend turned out to be half donkey, though he insisted he was a goat. She didn’t buy it. Goats had horns, and he didn’t. At least not visible ones. According to him, they were small and hidden in his hair, but please. She’d still be able to feel them. He just refused to let her, something about it being very personal.

Anyway, that was only part of her weird day. It turns out that having one eye in the middle of your head isn’t some common disability. Cause she thought it was. She’d seen so many throughout her life, pretty much since she could remember. And Frank had a single eye! And Frank was pretty normal, even if he did have strange tastes. Why, just a few days ago, he made some kind of chicken stew, but it tasted a bit… well, hot, she supposed. It reminded her of Indian food, really. Same spicy taste.

Anyway, it turns out it isn’t normal to have a single eye in the middle of your head. Well, it isn’t a common disability, which… is a common disability normal? Or is it abnormal? ‘Cause it’s common, but not everyone has it. It’s not the standard thing. But it’s common enough that people call it common. But it’s a disability. What’s the opposite of a disability? A propsability? A probability? No, that was something else. Anyway, apparently he’s a… cyklopes? Cyklopz? Ciclops? She wasn’t sure how it was written. A mythological monster. Which is pretty cool, actually. When she was younger, she loved dreaming about being a monster. She’d be able to beat bullies up. And the adults wouldn’t be angry at her for doing it, cause she’d be too scary to be angry at! And Nancy deserved a beatdown. Speaking of which, what happened to her after she was thrown in the water? Which Sephie had nothing to do with, she swears! She wasn’t even nearby. Even if Nancy did deserve it. Anyway, Nancy had been gone ever since, she wasn’t sure why. It was weird.

Like that day. Right, that day had been weird! After it turned out her best friend was half donkey, and that Frank was a cycleops, they started driving to some summer camp. And something about gods? Didn’t really seem important. Or maybe… if half donkeys and cycleopes existed, then… did gods exist too? Was Sephie a god? Maybe she was like that wine dude, and she just didn’t realize she was a god? But wasn’t he a halfgod first? Was she a halfgod who would eventually become a fullgod?

“MOOOOOOOH”. Right, that was the other weird thing. They were being chased by some half cow thing, who only wore Fruit of the Loom underwear. What size was that anyway. Like… extra extra extra extra large? Maybe add another extra on there, just to be safe. Cowman was very very very very very large. Yeah, probably extra extra extra extra extra large underwear.

There was a lot of lightning, too. And rain. And Frank barely fit in the car. He might have dented the roof up slightly. And Grover seemed scared. Frank also had his chef look on his face while looking at him, so that might explain it. Grover had nothing to worry for, though. Really! Frank was vegetarian. He didn’t eat humans, just plants and non-humans. He was very particular about that. Wait…

Did Grover count as human?

Maybe Frank would only eat his donkey half. It wasn’t like those legs did much. Grover wouldn’t miss them anyway. He needed crutches to get around. There wasn’t much of a difference between a wheelchair and crutches right?

God, Sephie was such a good problem solver. Maybe she should make that her job? Wait, maybe it was gods, cause they apparently existed?

Anyway, the Fruit of the Loom underwear wearing, half cow half man was coming closer. And maybe Sephie should be worried, but now she wanted to know if Grover was related to him. They were both only half human, after all. Maybe they had the same ancestor?

Ah, and they had just flown into the air. But she didn’t fly out of the car. Maybe her mother was right in insisting she always wear her seatbelt?

“Foooood.” Grover might have hit his head. Then again, he’d always been a bit eccentric. Who ignores their medical problems for enchiladas? Enchiladas aren’t that good. Pizza, now that is worth running for. And letting your poor, vertically challenged best friend carry your crutches for.

“CRASH!” Why did Frank say it? The door made enough noise. Wait, he punched the door out of the car?

“Sephie! Sephie! Get out of the car now. You need to run to the top of the hill. You will be safe there!” Her mother looked terrified. It wasn’t the first time that Sephie felt there was something wrong with her. Her mother that is. She wasn’t scared. Every time something went wrong, something solved that which went wrong. Generally Frank. He might not look like it (he did), but he was a very good fighter. It probably helped that he was about 40 feet, and had proportionate muscles with it. He would have made a very good wrestler if not for his single eye. That can’t be good for depth perception, right? And how will you hit someone with a table if you don’t know where they are?

Anyways, Frank had just gotten in a fight with the cowman, was he from Greek mythology, too? Hmmm.

“Help me carry Grover, Sephie. We need to get away before Frank needs to retreat.” What would Frank have to retreat for? He was bigger than the… something with an m? She gave the fight a quick glance. Forget that bigger part. M… Mcowman was actually quite a bit bigger. Huh. Maybe they should get away. Not that Sephie was in danger, of course. But her mother and Grover probably didn’t have her protection. Divine protection, maybe? Did she have a guardian angel? She squealed internally.

Gods, why did she have to carry Grover? She wasn’t made for the heavy stuff, she was better at thinking. Maybe? Apparently her thought processes were a bit worrying according to doctors. It went beyond ADHD. She didn’t assess risks well either. Which was wack. She was very good at assessing risks. It wasn’t her fault she never ran any risks. There was always someone to save her. Her personal favorite was that time she accidentally made her entire class fall into the shark enclosure in the marine zoo. They scared a bully so bad, he never even looked at her again. They also called her princess, which apparently had been a way for her to cope with trauma. Which is stupid. How was being called a princess supposed to help her cope with trauma? It was only her second childhood goal, just behind being a massive monster who everyone was scared off and prayed to. Maybe she could become both? How do you go about becoming a princess? Can you be a princess if your parents are king and queen? And how do you become tall if you are vertically challenged like her? And becoming a monster isn’t easy, either. Maybe her mother called her childhood goals childhood dreams for a reason.

“If you go beyond that pine tree you’ll be safe, Sephie. Just carry Grover with you.” Wait. Just Grover?

“What about you?” Not everyone was risk free like she. And the Mina- Mino- YES, Mino, but then what? Mino… Minocowman. And the Minocowman probably wouldn’t just let her go, if Frank somehow lost.

A roar sounded at the bottom of the hill, a loud stomping quickly coming closer. Huh, that was the… Minos? Minos something? He was charging them.

She didn’t see Frank anywhere, either. Ugh, she should have known he was a coward. He always refused to talk about his fights, which he did have! He always fought the stuff that attacked her. Told her to run, and he’d hold them off. She’d go over to his apartment, where he would eventually return. Then he’d make them a meal, after which she would talk about school. And he refused to tell her about the fights. So unfair.

He was a coward. Also, the Minostaur was very close, suddenly. Maybe there was something wrong with her head.

“Dodge to the left at the last second, he can’t turn well!” And so she did. And the Minostaur smashed against a tree. Not the pine tree, but some other tree. Large one, too.

“Get Grover beyond the barrier, Sephie. I’ll distract him!” Her mother screamed. The Minostaur charged towards her mother. She’d be fine.

“Foooood.” That was very handy, actually. Like a location sharer. She grabbed Grover, and started tugging him beyond the pine tree. “Foooooooood.” That one was longer. And louder. She looked up.

Yep, there he was. The Minostaur was coming for them. Where was her mother? Hey, Frank was back! And he’s gotten her mother. See? Everything went fine when Sephie was involved.

She left Grover on the ground and moved a bit to the left. Wouldn’t do to let Grover get trampled. He didn’t deserve that.

She jumped to the right, this time. And it worked, cause he smashed into… empty air? How in the world does one smash into empty air? Maybe that’s why her mother wanted her to go there? It was near the pine tree, at least.

Maybe she could just walk to the other side and wait until the Minostaur got bored. That should work. So she did. It was only a few meters, and now she was looking right at the Minostaur, who couldn’t even touch her. Gods, he was ugly. Who made him? Whoever did was very rude.

And now he was sniffing the air. “I’m right in front of you? How bad are your eyes that you can’t see me?”

“Foooood.” Ah. She’d forgotten that Grover was there. And the Minostaur had heard him too. Minostaur didn’t sound right. What else could it be, though?

“Hey… emmm… Cowman. I’m right here! Come fight me if you can!” The Minostaur only gave a confused look back. The taunt didn’t work. Well, someone should be there to do something, right? Her eyes suddenly got big. But Grover wasn’t her. Which means he didn’t have a guardian angel. Or God? Did she have a guardian god? Maybe even a Guardian God, with capital letters? That would be sooo coooool.

But Grover didn’t, so she’d have to save him. Maybe this was the first step to becoming a god? Like the wine dude. Didn’t he have to do tasks to become a god? She clenched a fist in front of her. She could do this. She would become a God too, with capital letters. Capital letter. Unless she would become a GOD, with only capital letters. That was probably better than being a God or a god. ‘Cause it has more capital letters.

She ran forward, the Minotaur slowly turned back, but she managed to get on his back, before he turned completely. There was an awkward moment where nothing happened, as both tried to figure out what just happened. Then the Minotaur snorted, and started shaking his back. Sephie quickly clamped on to his horns, and held on with everything she had. Which wasn’t much, unfortunately. What would she be GOD of?

It was enough, though, because the Minotaur decided to charge a tree instead. And then smashed into empty air again. There was a crack as Sephie was thrown through the air, the horns still clamped in her hands. Then she hit the ground, while there was a weird sound behind her. She turned around to look, expecting to see the minotaur right there.

There was only empty air. She narrowed her eyes. “YOU COWARD, COME BACK AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL WO-” she looked down. Hmmm. FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL GIRL!” She waved the horn in her left fist at where he was last. Right, she had horns.

“MOM, MOM, LOOK!” She ran to her mother, who was slowly climbing up the hill. Frank was down by the car. She pushed the horns into her mother’s face. “I have horns!”

She smiled tiredly. “I see that, Sephie.” They walked back up the hill, only to stop at the place the Minotaur was last. Sephie kicked the ground, only succeeding in kicking up some dust. “I can’t go beyond here, Sephie. The barrier won’t let me.”

“What? What do you mean? What barrier? There’s only empty air.”

A fond smile went in place of the tired one. “You… I don’t know who you got it from.”

“What?”

“The positivity. The bubbly attitude. It’s not from me, that’s for sure. And your father… his job didn’t let him. Even if he tried his best.”

“I don’t know. Why can’t you go beyond the barrier?”

“This… the camp. Camp Half-Blood. The barrier only lets demigods inside. You- Chiron will explain everything.”

Chiron, what’s a Chiron? Or is it a she? Or maybe a he? A they? “Sephie, focus on me, please.” She could do that. Maybe. “If you drag Grover inside, they will find you soon enough.” Sephie opened her mouth to ask another question. “The other campers.” Sephie closed her mouth. Could her mother read minds? That would explain so much. She always knew when Sephie had eaten candy. “Focus on me, baby, please.” There was a glistening in her eyes. “I’ll see you after the summer, okay? I love you, baby, I love you so so much.” Her mother grabbed her in a hug, clutching tightly. “I love you, baby. So much. Never forget that. No matter what others might think of you, I will always love you. I promise.” She let go. Her eyes were overflowing. She gave another hug, shorter this time. Then she walked down the hill. Sephie watched as she went down.

She blinked. Huh. She blinked again. She blinked a few more times. Her eyes are overflowing with water, like her mother. Weird. “BYE MOM!” She turned around, walking towards the empty air. She was forgetting something, she was pretty sure.

Right! “AND FRANK. EVEN IF YOU’RE A COWARD!” She’d done everything she needed. Right?

There was a small nagging feeling she was forgetting something, still. “Foooood.” Aaaah. Whoops.

She went to grab Grover. Except… she couldn’t carry both him and the horns. And there were other campers, right? They could grab Grover! Problem solved. Gods, she was so good at this problem solving thing. She walked into the forest. Wow. It was darker inside. That was cool.

“Who are you?” Sephie looked up. And up. And slightly more up. This girl was very big. “Are you done staring?”

“I’m Sephie. Grover is back there.”

The girl gave an incredulous stare. “Who the hell is Grover?”

“My disabled, enchiladas addicted, best friend.” She was forgetting something. “Oh! And he’s half donkey!” That was everything, she’s pretty sure.

There was a slightly alarmed look on the girl’s face. “He’s outside the barrier?”

“I can’t drag him and these horns.” The duh went unspoken.

“Wha-” She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to know. Keep walking that way. I’ll get the goat.”

“He’s a donkey.” The girl gave her another incredulous stare as Sephie walked past her. Huh, it was getting dark early. Maybe this camp had something. Maybe a massive lamp, which turned on when day turned to night? But a lamp which made everything darker.

It was even darker now. Maybe it wasn’t this camp which did something.

How did she get on the ground?

Meh, it was nice and soft. She’d be fine. And she could go for a nap.

Naps were nice. Like water. And sharks. And horns. Could she have horns?

Wait, she already had horns. She chuckled as she blacked out.

Chapter Text

Luke had had a few bad weeks. It started when he didn’t really fulfill the mission that Kronos had given him. Which was slightly understandable? Giving Ares the lightning bolt was a bit of a questionable idea, even if Kronos did manage to, well, solve the issue. Anyway, it led to a few weeks of terrible sleep, which were really starting to take their toll. Seriously, he didn’t have to know how five gods shared a single stomach. It involved a lot of weird gymnastics. Also, there were far fewer fights than he expected. Kronos said it was something about Zeus being a bit of a… well, as a good big brother, he knew to not swear, even in his head.

Anyway, after that, he got a new mission. Which he was doing now. Make sure Sephie Jackson got to, and into, the Pit. And he got it, he really did, but it was a bit of a douchey thing to do wasn’t it? Luke liked to think he was a good older brother figure, Annabeth was very good proof of that. Throwing little girls, or sending them to be thrown, into Tartarus didn’t really fit into that. So now he was thinking of ways that he wouldn’t have to. And thank… the Titans? The Gods? Thank someone for Alabaster. He would have probably died by now if his mind wasn’t his private place. This probably counted as betrayal, after all. 

That led to the current situation, though. Luke was carefully watching over Sephie Jackson, who was clutching onto two minotaur horns like they were stuffed animals. It was a combination of pretty adorable, and slightly terrifying. Luke liked reminiscing on the days that he was younger, or better yet, that the others were younger. Annabeth was a cute spitfire, Clarisse loved beating punks up, Grover didn’t have horns then, either. Frankly, if Sephie was killing the minotaur at twelve, what would she do a few years from now? 

Also, she made friends with Clarisse. Clarisse. That settled it. Sephie Jackson wasn’t allowed to die. Clarisse had a very hard time making friends. Of course, Clarisse didn’t admit they were friends, but Luke knew this stuff. Eight sentences, shared! And she didn’t even beat Sephie up. That was probably some kind of record. Also, Chiron said that Sephie shouldn’t die too, something to do with the gods, but Luke tried to do the opposite of what the gods wanted out of principle. Except for this case, of course. The best case scenario would be convincing Sephie that the gods were terrible, horrible, vain beings who didn’t care about their children. And that would work, too! If it wasn’t Poseidon who was her father…

Say what you want about him, but he really did his best. It was also part of the reason why many would not like her once they realized who her father was. And Luke couldn’t really blame them, for two reasons. First, Poseidon was a pretty incredible dad if the stories Chiron told on Sunday Night Story Night were true. Second, those poor kids just didn’t have a good older brother figure. You need a good older brother to handle such horrible truths as: Gods don’t really care about you. Or: There is an eighty percent chance that your parent doesn’t know you exist, a twenty percent chance that your parent simply doesn’t care that you exist, and a hundred percent chance that you will die a horrible death before your eighteenth. Luke obviously had his will ready, safely stored with Chiron. His survival chances were abysmally low, because being a demigod who was also rebelling against the gods made for a terrible life expectancy. 

On the other hand, Kronos was the titan of time, so that might balance it out slightly?

Anyways, the 80/20/100 percent rule didn’t count for children of Poseidon. Which meant Sephie would have a terrible time when the campers who didn’t have a big brother figure started realizing that, yes, she is a child of Poseidon, which means that she is likely going to be indirectly, accidentally protected. And yes, she is also the first child of Poseidon born since before the second world war, which means her stepmother, that is, the godly stepmother, as well as her half siblings from that same stepmother, will be pretty fine with her. Frankly, the amount of immortal women Poseidon had children with was way too high. And lastly, because these previous things weren’t irritating enough, Poseidon kept a good relationship with all his kids. And he got very sad when one of his kids died. So was Sephie gonna get killed by her half siblings on her father’s side? Unlikely. Was she gonna get killed by stepmothers and/or fathers? Low chance. Was she gonna get murdered by monsters. Meh, it depends on if half siblings or stepparents are around. They were the typical godly family. Only they are allowed to beat up their siblings and/or children. 

You know, Luke got why campers got jealous of some people’s parents. This felt pretty unfair. Sure, the oath on the Styx would be unfortunate for her, but still… it wasn’t like it would kill her. It wasn’t her oath, after all. The Styx was honorable like that. 

So the real question was, did the gods know who her father was? He looked at her. Black hair. Check. Tanned skin. Check. Sea green eyes? Well, probably. If there was one thing demigods always got from their godly parents it was their eyes. And their hair. And their skin. Maybe this was a conspiracy? He gave his scar a good scratch. A slow nod. Unlikely. Just gods being gods. Demigods were all a bit… more than mortals. Just stronger, faster, taller, more beautiful. Sephie got a suspicious glance as a result. Strong? No, he’d seen noodles bigger than her arms. Fast? Unknown, he required more data. Taller? He would burst out laughing if she hadn’t been sleeping. Beautiful? He is a demigod, not a god, which means he isn’t into incest. Also, he doesn’t have a death wish. (Note from the Fates: debatable, considering he is a demigod rebelling against the gods, in league with the titans lead by Kronos. He has the lifespan of a mayfly). Really, Sephie was the least demigodly demigod he had ever seen. If he passed her on the street he would think she was a mortal. Except Poseidon was her father, so she probably had some form of questionably human protection. 

Maybe he should help Poseidon be a better father? It would be unfortunate if Sephie came across some monster which wasn’t a child of Poseidon, but just assumed that it would be friendly and got eaten as a result. Then again, the chances of that happening were surprisingly low. What Poseidon hadn’t had in children in the past few decades, he more than made up for in the millennia before that. Especially monsterly kids. And kids born from incest. Seriously, there must be something wrong with the gods. How in the world do you ever think having a child with your grandmother is a good idea? 

Note from the Fates: for this next part, it is important to give some context from an omnipotent, that is, the Fates', perspective. Now, if someone else had been watching Sephie, they likely wouldn’t have noticed her wake up. But this is Luke Castellan. He is the ultimate big brother figure. He will make sure you know how to beat up bullies, kill monsters, eat your vegetables, and how to do your math homework at the same time. The moment she made a slight movement, a small part of his brain was activated. This channeled right to his scar, a place which activated every part of his brain at the same time. In that moment, he focused completely on Sephie. By the time she was completely awake, he would know if she had beaten up her bullies, if she had killed monsters, if she had eaten her vegetables, and if she had done her math homework.

Unfortunately, Sephie can easily be summed up in a single keyword: Chaos. 

While Luke was trying to figure out the conflicting signals in his brain, Sephie had already woken up. Her brain, unlike any other teen in history, was active from the moment it awakened. “Who are you? Why do you have a scar? Where am I? Is this a hospital? Am I a GOD, with capital letters, yet? Has the minotaur returned? Where are my horns?” It’s fortunate, perhaps, that Sephie easily gets sidetracked. “Oh, my horns are here. I wonder if they would fit on my own head? Maybe with glue?”

In that single moment, Luke got control over his brain back. “I’m Luke Castellan. I got my scar on a quest, a few years back. You are in Camp Halfblood, a camp built to protect demigods. No, you aren’t a GOD or a god, you are a demigod. The minotaur hasn’t reformed yet.” With that down, he got up from his chair. “If you’re up for it, Chiron and Mr. D are waiting for you. They have some things to talk to you about.” He started to turn around, only for Sephie’s last words to catch up to him. “And no, you will not be using glue, or anything, to stick those horns to your head. It would break your neck. In fact, from now on, every idea that you have, you will first go to me. Is that understood?” 

Sephie’s eyes got wide. She saluted. “Yes, Mr. Castellan Sir! By your orders, Mr. Castellan Sir!” This was the power of the big brother figure. The power to slow down even the most chaotic of beings. It is a power Sally wished she had access to.

Maybe Sephie was right in that she would become a god. The god of chaos, was that a thing? Well, they were the Fates, they could decide. Maybe a god of hot messes? The god of stupid plans? God of les-

Ah, that part is for later. No spoilers in this story, folks! The Fates like to keep things to themselves.

Chapter Text

Before we start the next part of this story, it is important to understand how the gods view Sephie. For this, there are three important things to do and remember. First, forget all prior expectations you had. Sephie is chaos, which means that everything will go differently than expected. Second, gods are closely tied to their domains, and domains can work in very strange ways. Third, gods love it when someone messes with other gods. Now that these things are clear, let’s begin.

Sephie never really liked school, and she had a really good reason for this. It didn’t do it for her. You see, geniuses like her (Note from Fates: she isn’t a genius) need to constantly be challenged. And frankly, school didn’t do that. Math was weird and useless (Note from Fates: it really isn’t), English was confusing and kept jumping around the pages (Note from Fates: dyslexia is a valid excuse), history was… well, that was pretty interesting, actually. It was entertaining to see how idiotic people were, when Sephie knew the perfect solution (what is it that the teens say nowadays, hindsight is 20/20?)

Note from Fates: Everytime words are between brackets, just assume it is from us.

Anyway, point is, school was boring. And weird. Except for Latin, that was fun. Well, the writing and reading and spelling and testing parts weren’t fun, but the teacher was. Mr. Brunner was awesome! Some days, he would wave a sword at them in challenge. And if they were supposed to write a bunch of names on the board instead of grabbing another sword and starting a swordfight, then that was just a lie. How better would you learn a language than to live where it was being spoken. Sephie was just smarter than others: Latin was not spoken anymore, so you had to go back in time to live it, right? She was doing that! By fighting her teacher (somehow, this makes sense. We’re not sure how). He was pretty good at fighting, too, even if he couldn’t walk.

Anyway, this is going somewhere, you see, she just saw Mr. Brunner. Here, in this weird camp for half-bloods, which really sounded like something straight out of Harry Potter. Which, could Sephie do magic? That would be sooo coool. She’d be the GOD of magic. The GOD of Magic? The GOD of MAGIC? Was there such a thing? “Hey Luke, is there a GOD of MAGIC?”

“Well, not exactly. There is no GOD of MAGIC, with capitals, nor a god with magic, without capitals, but there is a goddess of magic, without capitals. That’s Hecate, goddess of magic, crossroads, necromancy, the night, and the Mist. Well, I say goddess, but she really is a titaness. Even if she is a goddess in quite a few ways that counts. The Mist is really terrifying.”

“What’s the Mist?”

“The Mist is the barrier between the immortal and the mortal worlds.” They kept walking, though Luke hadn’t said where. The camp really was pretty. All kinds of colors, there were strawberries, and a bunch of small houses in an n form. “Mortals won’t see what happens in the immortal world. They will explain it away somehow. If you fight a monster, they might see you fighting a human, albeit a slightly strange-looking one.”

“So what’s the Mist to do with Hecate?”

“It’s one of her domains, and she’s used it to essentially… warp reality to make herself more like a goddess. She’s not truly one, but she looks and feels enough like one.” Sephie stopped just like that. Feels?

She slowly turned her head to look at Luke. “What do you mean, feels?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Her aura, what else would it be?” She gave a suspicious glance in response. “I don’t know, what else could it be?”

He gave his scar a scratch. His scar! It was so cool, it was long, and large, and ran from the corner of his eye, that is, the outside corner, down to his chin. “Sephie, the chance of me getting it on with a goddess is extremely, and I mean extremely, small. Frankly, it’s non-existent for a variety of reasons.”

“What kind of reasons?” He sighed. What, Sephie thought, you can’t just say something like that without expecting another question.

“I doubt you would want to know.” That’s not true, she wants to know. “There’s a lot of math involved, you see.” She doesn’t want to know.

They walked up a hill in silence, and that’s when it happened. Sephie saw a man in a wheelchair. She should still for just a moment, and then… she charged. It’s all muscle memory, you see. She’d spent the entire year swordfighting a man in a wheelchair, so now she just attacked without thinking. It was a fortunate thing, then, that the man she was attacking was the same man she had fought before. Coincidentally, that also made her stop. “Mr. Brunner? What are you doing here.” She blinked. “Why are there so many disabled people here? There’s Grover, you, Luke.”

“How am I disabled?” Why did she have to explain everything? “You have a scar, so you’re disabled.”

“That’s not how it works, Sephie.”

“Yes it is, I just said that’s how it works.” Please, she was a genius, she knew how things worked. Also, there was a third person. Curly hair, nearly purple so black.

“Who are you? Are you disabled, too?” She gave the curly haired man a careful look-over. That red nose was suspicious. And frankly, those Hawaiian-themed clothes were a crime against fashion. And Sephie knew a lot about fashion, believe it! “Are you an alcoholic?”

He gave her a drowsy blink. “Not anymore.”

“Hmm.” She narrowed her eyes. “I believe that glasses would do you good, Sephie.”

“What?”

Mr. Brunner rolled back from the table. “You narrow your eyes a lot. Often, this is an indication that you need glasses.”

“I’m not disabled!”

“Sephie.” It was accompanied by a long suffering sigh. “Just because someone’s body doesn’t work perfectly does not mean they are disabled. In addition, I am not disabled, because my legs work perfectly well.” She gave his wheelchair a dubious glance. “I’m sure.”

And then he suddenly unfolded from the chair. Legs, ones that belonged to a gazelle, came out of the wheelchair. “As you can see, Sephie, my legs work perfectly well.”

“YOU’RE HALF GAZELLE!”

“Please don’t shout, Sephie, but yes. I am half… what?”

“Gazelle. You are half gazelle.” Obviously. He had hooves. “Isn’t that a disability?”

“Sephie,” he sighed. She giggled. He was probably similar to Grover. Though they were probably not related. After all, Grover was a kind of barn animal, just like the Minotaur. Mr. Brunner was a safari animal. Mr. Brunner shook his head. “Either way, my name is not Brunner. I spent the last year teaching, or trying to teach, you Latin, because I think you are quite the powerful demigod.”

“Are you sure, Chiron? Sapphire Johnson doesn’t look like much. Frankly, she’s the least godly demigod I have ever seen.”

“I like that name.” Mr. Brunner gave her a smile. “Thank you, Sephie. Chiron is my real name.” What? That made no sense. Chiron is half horse, not half antilope. He must be an imposter.

Also, “I meant the other one. Sapphire Johnson. I like the way it sounds.”

The old man looked surprised, then gave a smile. There was a choking sound behind her. “Why, Sophie Jefferson, that is the first time someone says so. No respect, I say. They just don’t understand the amount of time that goes into creating a good alternative name. And there are so many campers here! I have to remember a dozen names for each of them. And yet, I don’t get respect.” He shook his head sadly. “The only vice I have left. No alcohol, no parties, no…” he trailed off, giving her a quick look. “How old are you again, Sapphic Jayson?”

“Twelve.” How was that relevant?

“I see, I see. Do you know why you are here?”

“To become a GOD.” How often did she have to make this clear?

He gave a slow blink. “What do you mean exactly?”

“Well, the wine dude had to do tasks before he became a god. But since I’m a genius, I decided I would become a GOD instead, after doing my tasks. And defeating the minotaur was the first task. I think I deserve an A on that, Mr. Brunner!”

“The… wine dude?” She gave a slight head tilt. “Yes, that god which is the god of wine? The wine dude?”

He gave a slow nod. “I see…”

“Luke, why don’t you give Sephie a nice, long tour of camp? I’ll make sure that Mr. D has a nice afternoon.”

WAIT! “You can’t be Chiron! YOU ARE HALF GAZELLE! You must be an imposter!”

There was another long silence. A snort broke it. “Yes, she must be right. A gazelle, what kind of fake centaur are you? And taking Chiron’s place at that? Truly such a nefarious thing to do.” Fake-Chiron put his head in hands. “Are you sure she isn’t mad, Mr. D?” Luke breathed in very suddenly.

The now-named Mr. D gave her a long look. “Mad? No. The best way to word it would be fascinatingly wired.” Luke exhaled slowly.

“Sephie. Let’s go. Now.” That was the General’s voice! “Yes, Mr. Castellan Sir! Immediately, Mr. Castellan Sir!” She gave a salute for good measure. As they marched away, she overheard Mr. D and Chiron talking.

“She’s nothing like him, Dionysus. Nothing at all. Was I wrong?”

He scoffed. “No, you are just looking at it the wrong way. She’s not his part of the sea.” He was quiet as he spoke. “Her mind… you can’t imagine what I saw. A normal mind, as far as there is such a thing, has a few colors which are closely related. Red, pink, orange, for instance. A mind belonging to someone who is mad has a few colors which clash. Orange, green, and purple are an example. They don’t mesh well. Her mind… it is fascinating. There are hundreds of colors, yet somehow it works.”

“So, she’s simply drawing from another part of his domain?”

“Hmmm, not so much another part, as much as she’s drawing from his domain in a different way. From what I remember, they normally draw from the currents. They go with the flow. It seems that Sephie draws from something else. I am not sure what, though.”

“The earth, perhaps?”

“No.” That wouldn’t make sense. You could feel it when someone drew power from the earth. When they took a step, the earth resonated. Children of Poseidon always had this, simply because they had the slightest of connections to it. Sephie, however, had more than just a resonation. The ground sung to her, it reached up. As far as he could feel, anyway. He had been focusing on it due to the conversation he had had with Chiron before she arrived. It was hard to say, though. He had no doubt that someone else would have a better idea. Hephaestus, perhaps. He had a connection to the earth as well. Athena could piece it together. Ares would probably have a few guesses once she got into a fight which he could listen in on. Dionysus rubbed his hands. “There’s no reasoning with her, is there? She won’t ever believe that she won’t become a god. It’s quite fascinating.” If he played this right he might be able to shave a decade or two off his punishment. His dear father was always so dramatic. It would be easy to play around it. He rubbed his hands a bit more. He could already taste the wine. It would be nice to see Ariadne, as well.

Question now was who would help him? Athena would want to figure it out on her own, Ares was Ares, Hermes was too busy, Apollo wouldn’t care until she was eighteen, Artemis would beat him up… would she? If his theory was right, Sephie could become an incredible hunter. And Poseidon would be more than happy to let her join the Hunt.

He grinned. Oh yes, he could already taste the wine, feel the parties, and hear Ariadne’s voice. He just had to play this right.

Chapter Text

Sephie didn’t enjoy life in the Hermes Cabin. They were all very loud, and they kept trying to steal her horns. And Luke didn’t even stop them! Well, he told them to stop, but that didn’t work for long. Ten minutes later they would try again. Luke told her that she had to fight for herself, but she was pretty sure she just needed to have a bit more patience. Her guardian angel, or was it her guardian god? She really needed to find out. Anyway, whoever it was would come and help her, she was sure. As for her parent, whoever they were, well… they had to be pretty incredibly important, right? Because they had her for a daughter, and some boring god couldn’t have her as a child. No matter how much Luke insisted that it was definitely a minor god. Why he so badly hoped that, she wasn’t sure. Maybe he was lonely and desperately needed her company? She snickered. Nah, he needed her sheer genius to avoid being late. Somehow, he always overslept. 

And how could he? Camp was so awesome. In fact, it was AWESOME, with capital letters. There was a lava wall, and a massive forest, and even a lake! With canoes! Sephie had always wanted to go canoeing, but she never had a chance! Well, except for that one time, when she did. But then her mother refused for some reason! Really, Japan was so weird. Well, her mother was weird, but especially in Japan. Apparently she would attract attention if she went canoeing there. 

Of course she would, everyone was always looking at Sephie, she was simply that special. They did the same here, at camp. Constantly whispering their admirations. And something about looking weird. Maybe they’d never seen someone like her before? People often said she was very pretty. 

Really, there was only one thing about camp that wasn’t cool, and that was that everyone was so incredibly tall! And she didn’t like it! The chance of getting neck problems was way too high, especially because everyone she spoke to was even taller than average. Luke was old, so he didn’t really count, but Clarisse was only a tiny bit older than Sephie, but she was, like, two heads taller. And that was a lot, no matter what they said. Being vertically challenged meant that two heads were about a third of her vertical size. And that. Was. A lot. 

Anyway, apparently there was some kind of activity today, but Sephie wasn’t entirely sure what it was? Something about a flag? She would have paid attention, but there was a very pretty woman waving at her when Clarisse explained it. She got very mad for some reason, too. Threatened to beat her up. As if she could, please. Her guardian angelgod would protect her. 

Somehow, though, that made her be Clarisse’s opponent? This blonde said something about plans, and teams, but… well, the pretty woman had appeared again. There was also another very pretty woman with her, but she didn’t wave. She looked a bit angry, actually. Very strange, that. 

Anyway, that’s why she was here. At the river. Not because of the pretty women, mind you, but because of the activity. She was the border patrol, for some reason. She would have been fine with it, really, but… the shield was a bit large, and the sword seemed to be made for someone taller than her, because it was nearly as long as her arm. And it was heavy. Very heavy. Sephie huffed and dropped it, slowly rolling her shoulder around. There were some pops, but that was ok, right? And the water was nice, especially when it came down on her like a wave. Wait a second? She turned around.

“So you finally realized I was here?” The second pretty woman stood in the middle of the water, an eyebrow raised. “My husband is not the sharpest fish in the sea, I’ll admit, but you…”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m not my father, because I’m very smart!” Sephie said with a firm nod. And she was. Just look at how she saved Grover. She was very good at solving problems.

“Hmmm, an interesting view of intelligence. Hephaestus and Athena would love to have a conversation with you. Or they would hate it. I deem that more likely.” She gave a soft sigh. “Really, he cheats, and you are the result? I am not sure if I should be happy or furious. Your mother must be very mortal.” 

“She is a bit weird,” Sephie said, punctuating it with a nod. “She never lets me go canoeing. And she always says that talking to fish isn’t healthy.” 

The pretty woman shook her head. “Mortals, they just don’t understand the world. I can assure you that talking to fish is perfectly normal. It is very therapeutic as well. Now, I am not Hera, so I will not blame you for being born, but don’t expect me to be kind.” 

And that was when Sephie understood. “You mean I’m an accident?” Because that must be why she had a guardian angod. It was like that priest had said when she was in India, those things about Karma. She had very bad luck when she was born, so she had very good luck now.

Note from the Fates: There are several issues with the past few things that Sephie Jackson has said. First, Karma is something that happens over the course of several lifetimes. You see, doing good deeds would result in happy rebirths, doing bad deeds would result in unhappy rebirths. If she was indeed born an accident, which she admittedly was (birth control doesn’t really work on gods, unfortunately. That would solve many issues. The person who figures out contraceptives for gods will have a lot of good Karma), then that would mean that her previous life wasn’t a good one. It would be the start of an unhappy life. In addition, however, this is a belief closely associated with rebirth, which doesn’t happen often within the Greek (and Roman) pantheons. As Sephie was born in a country ruled by Greeks, she will never be reborn, unless she reaches Elysium (50/50, on the one hand, she is a demigod and a hero, on the other hand, she is Sephie) and chooses to be reborn. Then she has to reach Elysium again to be reborn again. If she does it a third time, she would instead reach the Isles of the Blessed, after which she will not have that option anymore. However, if she was born in a country ruled by a pantheon that does have reincarnation, the belief that her accidental birth was just bad luck, which resulted in good luck now, would still be wrong. In fact, it would be the result of bad deeds in a previous life, which resulted in a worse life now. She would need to do good actions with good intent to get good Karma, which would result in the good life she has now. The issue with that is that this is Sephie. Her actions are on a spectrum of Chaotic Good to Lawful Evil. Her Karma is all over the place.

The second wrong statement is that she says she has been to Japan and India. This is definitely not true. Her mother in no way has the money to pay for those trips, and has refused any and all help from Poseidon. Instead, those trips were simple dreams. Admittedly, they were fairly realistic. The Greek (and Roman) pantheon is not liked by any other pantheon in existence, mainly due to their tendency of… ah, light, completely kind, tolerant, and liberating conquest. We of course sought only to help the countries we liberated from their horrible, uneducated, and unwashed dictators. Why, from Alexander the Alright Alright Alright to Julius “Cheekbones” Caesar, to the Roman Empire in general, then to the Spanish empire, the British empire, and eventual the Americans, who definitely only sought to protect the world from communism and were very much against imperialism, we have made sure that the world is a better place. The other pantheons just don’t understand. Ahem, either way, despite our very pure intentions, the other pantheons don’t really like us. Their ways of dealing with it differ. The Hindus like converting our believers, they take disgusting pleasure in rubbing it in our faces, while the Kami take special pleasure in killing them just outside our reach. Sally Jackson is a smart woman, and if she for whatever reason had to bring Sephie to Japan, India, or any other country in the world, outside of the United States (and even there it is risky, gods rely on belief, and the original gods still have that. They take special pleasure in messing with us poor Greeks (and Romans). Anyway, if Sally Jackson for whatever reason had to bring Sephie outside the United States, she would do everything she could to make sure that Sephie wasn’t conspicuous. Obviously, that’s a second reason why Sephie has never been outside the United States, or even New York, really. 

Anyway, to get back to the story, let us give you a reminder. Sephie just asked if she was an accident. 

“Why should I know? I wasn’t there when you were conceived.”

“You weren’t? But then how was I born?” 

The still unnamed had the look of a parent who just realized they had to give the Talk. “You do know how babies are born, right?” 

“Of course. Don’t you? I can explain it very well, I promise! I won’t even use books .” She spat the word out. Books, her worst enemy. Well, her second worst, because letters weren’t exclusive to books. 

“Then why would you think I was there when you were conceived?”

“Well, you are my father right?” As she said it, Sephie realized that that didn’t really make sense though. Who would call themselves stupid?

She sputtered, then made a kind of look here gesture. “Do I look male to you?” 

“Not really, but according to mom, parenthood isn’t really gender exclusive. Somehow a woman can be a father? It’s very confusing, really. But I don’t judge.” Sephie shrugged. “Though it is a bit rude to be away for so long, and only show up now!” 

“I am not-” She stopped short. Then a sinister grin slowly grew on her face. Her voice changed to a sugar sweet tone. “I am your father, Sephie, though I would prefer you call me mother instead. It was, well, it wasn’t a phase, of course, but I felt like a man at the time.” Sephie nodded. That made sense. This one teacher had the same thing. The most normal thing about them, really, considering they growled a lot, and smelled like a wet dog. 

“Okay!” This was pretty cool. Also, she was the perfect person to ask a question to. “Quick question, do you know what I’m supposed to be doing here? Also, what’s your name?” 

“Sally never told you my name? For shame. It is Amphitrite, my dear, as for what you are doing here, it depends on what you were told to do.”

“Border patrol, I think? You and the other pretty woman were distracting me.” Sephie blinked. Was it weird to call her mother pretty? It wasn’t, right? Gods seemed to do that kind of stuff all the time. In fact, her stepmother had a child with his grandmother at some point. Orion, wasn’t that his name? Sephie would love to be able to shoot a bow so well that a goddess took notice, but she only managed to shave a few inches off of Fake-Chiron’s tail when he stood behind her. Maybe that was very impressive, though? Clarisse seemed to think that.

“Border patrol? Then you must patrol the border. But that would be an insult, you see. A child of mine, border patrol, oh no. I think that you should try and capture the flag. But with a sword? Please.” She grabbed a shell from her hair and gave it to Sephie.

“Just say “Thank You, Mother,” and it will transform into a weapon. Try it.” 

“Thank You, Mother.” The shell, a very pretty one, suddenly turned into the most beautiful thing Sephie had ever seen. It was slightly taller than her, with beautiful greens and blues weaving around the staff, slowly turning to dark blues as they reached the three prongs. There was only one teensy tiny issue. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to use this.”

“You are my child, dear, just do what feels natural. Both with the trident, as well as water.” Sephie, for maybe the first time ever, had managed to follow the entire instructions. Not counting her mom, of course, but she was gifted. Then again, this was her mother, which meant that she must have the same gift. 

A grin appeared on her face, teeth glinting in the sunlight. Maybe this Capture the Flag activity was more fun than she thought. 

And so she moved forward, in the direction of where she thought the enemy flag was. Later, she would wonder why she suddenly felt so… alive. Why she was trembling with energy as she moved through the trees with an elegance she had never had before, how she jumped over the many streams without ever getting even a drop of water on her. Maybe she would connect it with the suddenly full feeling in her heart, where there had been a hole before. But now, she just lived in the moment. And that’s how she came across Clarisse. 

“Punk, are you ready to di- why do you have a trident?” Sephie looked down at the beautiful weapon which glinted in the fading sunlight. She couldn’t stop the smile, one smaller than normal.  

“My mother gave it to me.” 

“Your mother? But…” Clarisse shook her head and grunted. “Whatever, stay out of this you four, I’m doing this alone.” Her four companions all took a step back, as Clarisse took one forward. “Let’s do this punk.” 

Sephie got into a stance that felt vaguely right. Only to then realize something very important. “Why are we fighting again?”

“Fights don’t need reason!” Clarisse shouted it as she charged forward, spear at the ready. “It only needs a justification!” That sounded like the same thing to Sephie, but she didn’t really bother with these kinds of philosophical debates. They were really boring and confusing. 

Sephie managed to dodge the spear, an ominous crackling at its edge. Her trident poked forward, but it was easily blocked by an armguard. “Heh. Should have listened better, punk!” Clarisse taunted. 

Sephie frowned, this time trying a sweeping motion, but Clarisse just jumped over it, and counter attacked. It was just a scratch on her arm, but it was enough. Her arm went limp, all feeling disappearing from it. Her trident dropped to the ground as a single arm wasn’t enough to carry the weight. The back of the spear hit her in the side and threw her over, resulting in her dropping into a small stream. “That was anticlimactic,” one of Clarisse’s friends muttered. Sephie couldn’t help but agree. She’d expected more, as well. 

“So where did you get this,” Clarisse asked, holding the trident in one hand. “It’s pretty damn cool.” 

“I told you already! I got it from my mother.” 

“But your mother is mortal. She probably didn’t have this lying around.” An eyebrow rose. “You sure that was your mother?”

“My mom is mortal, my mother isn’t! And of course she is my mother, why else would she come talk to me?” Which reminded her of something very important. “Also, where is your flag? She told me I had to capture it!” 

“Why would I tell you where- No, not the point! Why do you think she is your mother? Father? Godly parent!” 

Sephie gave a roll of her eyes. “She told me, duh. Also, can I have my trident back? I need that to capture the flag.” 

“Your arm is still paralyzed, punk. And you can’t live that trident with a single arm. And barely with two. Might I advise using a sword instead?” 

“I can’t just use a sword! I’m supposed to use a trident!” And her arm wasn’t paralyzed at all, just a tiny bit numb. Clarisse was a bit of a baby if she called this paralyzed. 

Clarisse huffed, then dropped the trident next to her. “What did she call herself anyway?”

Sephie focused on the water, instead of answering. Apparently it was similar to the trident? She thought she could feel it, or something. A call, a song. She wasn’t sure. But it was moving, not just from Sephie lying inside it, or Clarisse stomping around, but without help. And it was moving fast. If she was fast then maybe she could capture Clarisse and capture the flag?

“CLARISSE, GET OUT OF THERE!” Darn it. Another of Clarisse’s friends pulled her out of the water as it grew wilder and wilder. Sephie wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it felt right, so she just kept doing it. And so, the water grew wilder. There was cheering in the distance, and she could feel something coming closer. 

“CHIRON! WE NEED HELP OVER HERE!” 

Four feet, no, hooves. Sephie wasn’t sure how she knew. The water swirled even faster. “what in the world,” someone whispered. A howl echoed through the forest. 

“Quickly, my bow!” Fake-Chiron shouted. A bow materialized in his hand. The same howl, but closer. There was a rumbling sound in the ground. The water was a whirlpool, now, slowly spreading outside the stream and onto the land, dirt and water combining into mud. “HELLHOUND! GET BACK!” Something jumped towards Sephie. Black, growling. 

It was an instinctive response, as the mud swirled up, swallowing the monster whole, and slowly vanishing into the ground. “Sephie, what did you do?” Clarisse sounded slightly scared. “What kind of… who is your parent?”

Something shone above her head. Sephie looked up. A blue and green serpent with a crown on its head circling a trident was above her. She ignored the muttering, instead focused on the beautiful scene happening above her head. For a moment, it seemed as if the snake winked at her, then it disappeared. And Fake-Chiron slowly knelt in front of her. “Hail, Sephie Jackson, Daughter of Amphitrite, Queen of the Oceans, Lady of the Nereids, and Daughter of Oceanus.” The other demigods echoed it as Sephie looked curiously at them. She also had a very, very important question. 

“Does this mean I no longer have to stay in the Hermes Cabin?”

Chapter Text

There are two types of family dinners in the Poseidonic family, which, for the record, is not a name Triton created. Rhodes was the one who coined that term, and it is very much obvious that said term doesn’t work. What would you call his grandfather’s family? Oceanic? They are sea gods, of course they are an oceanic family. Anyway, there are two types of family dinners. The first, and the most common, is just a simple normal dinner, as far as that’s possible for gods. A few small discussions, some conversations on things that happened that week, a short fist fight, things like that. Very normal. The second type involved glares, fighting, threats which may or may not include tridents put in very awkward places, murdering of spouses, and on a very rare occasion the murdering of children. These threats may or may not actually be fulfilled. It depends on who made it (Never, under any circumstances, anger Rhodes. She has a very vivid imagination, and Helios is whipped.)

Today, it was the second type. Now, these dinners normally happened because his father, Poseidon, decided that this particular person looked very pleasant. Or had a nice laugh. Or were slightly smart. Or were incredibly ugly. His taste was human-looking. And even then he was willing to, ah, taste a different type of cuisine once in a while. Nine months after meeting this particular person, there was a child. Key Amphitrite, Poseidon’s wife and Triton’s mother, getting very angry. Depending on the situation, she would say that Poseidon was a whore, an idiot, a seaweed brain, and had bad taste. The last one was very much true. Triton’s mother was beautiful. No, that did not mean that Triton was going to take after his father and have intercourse with his family members. He had standards, thank you very much. At least one degree of separation was needed before you could enjoy relations with someone. Two degrees of separation or more was preferable. 

Anyway, that was the normal reason. This dinner, however, was anything but normal. Rhodes was coughing like mad, Kymopoleia didn’t bother with such pretensions, and Triton wasn’t sure if he should laugh at Poseidon getting what he deserved, cry because both were doing it now, or just ignore the insanity very much prevalent in his family. 

“SHE IS MY DAUGHTER! MINE. I CONCEIVED HER!” His father shouted.

Amphitrite simply took a sip of air. “Considering she called me mother, I highly doubt so. Unless I became pregnant without knowing, of course,” she said. 

“That, that doesn’t even make sense!” Poseidon sputtered. “If you’re the mother, you would be the pregnant one!” 

“Don’t be stupid. Sally was the pregnant one, and I conceived my dear daughter.” 

One of the things that you should know about Poseidon is that he isn’t the sharpest fish in the sea. As long as an argument sounds confusing and convoluted enough, he would not bother trying to figure out if it made sense or not. It let Triton get away with a lot. Not that he needed to of course, he was a model son. 

“I- I didn’t dream it!” 

“I think you remember wrong, dear. You must have been drunk and blacked out.” To be fair, his mother could swim circles around most people. “But even if she was your daughter, consider the advantages.”

“Wha- NO! SHE IS MY DAUGHTER!”

“Can you two figure this out without us being here? As entertaining as this is, Helios and I have plans.” Rhodes said. “Maybe I’ll change them though. I wanna see this new sister, whichever parent she comes from. Which is pretty extreme. I expected it from you, father, but mother. Cheating? You? I am very horrified.” 

Amphitrite gave a slow blink. “I would believe you were, Rhodes, if not for your tells.”

“What tells?” 

“The one where you hide your mouth behind your hand,” she said. “Just because you hide your mouth, doesn’t mean I don’t see you smiling.”

“Blasphemy!” She shouted. “Anyway, I’m off. I can visit her, right?”

Amphitrite gave a thoughtful frown. Poseidon was a step ahead, though. “Of course you can visit my daughter, Rhodes,” he said, a smug smile on his face. “And Kymopoleia, maybe you feel like creating some storms with her? I’m more than willing to give you an island to do so.” 

Kymopoleia looked stunned for a moment. “DEAL! And no take backs,” she said. “Maybe the Sea of Monsters? The mortals never question ships sinking there, for some weird reason.” 

“Of course, dear.”

Triton suddenly felt a creepy feeling covering his body. He was getting dragged into this, wasn’t he? “I have to go as well. I have… er, heir stuff to do. Exactly.” He quickly got up and started swimming out of the room. 

“Triton,” his mother’s cold tone made him slowly turn around. “You are not off the hook. Sephie isn’t the best at using a trident.” She said it in a pained tone. “Why don’t you take the time to teach her a bit? It will help her in her upcoming quest.”

“Quest? What quest?” 

“The one in which she has to get Zeus’s stupid Lightning Bolt back, that is, the one with capital letters. He doesn’t care that Sephie is my child. Idiot.” 

Triton didn’t bother arguing, he just sat back down instead. “Have you already gone to your other children to see if they can assist her, father?”

“Of course I have gone to see. And,” he stumbled over his words, “others… as well.”

“What others,” Amphritite asked, a threatening undertone. 

“Just some… acquaintances, dear?” 

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

“Telling, of course,” he said, voice quivering slightly.

“I don’t suppose those acquaintances can explain the scratches you came back with a week ago?” 

“Ah, the scratches.”

“Yes. The scratches.” Amphitrite said, frostily. “The ones made by long claws. Claws, which I may remind you, I remember quite well. Considering they scratched you before, and they hurt so bad.”

“Well, when you say it like that…”

“What did you offer Medusa in exchange for helping my daughter?”

“She’s my daughter,” Poseidon muttered. “I offered to try and convince Athena to lift the curse.”

“And?”

“She laughed in my face and tried to cut me to ribbons.”

“I wonder why,” Triton muttered. “You treated her so nicely last time around. Ignoring, of course, your extreme rivalry with Athena, which I still don’t trust.”

“Ugh, even thinking about that horrifies me, Triton.”

“Yes. I’m sure it does.” Admittedly, Athena was a bit too smart for his father, but still. She was very beautiful, and smart, and… well, needless to say that Triton was a bit frustrated with the rivalry.

“Enough, both of you. Poseidon, you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve convinced Medusa to protect my daughter, your stepdaughter. You see, I will talk to Athena and convince her to lift the curse. At the same time, you will go to the Mediterranean and get Chrysaor out. He can stay in the Sea of Monsters, I suppose.”

“The Olympians won’t like that. There’s a reason he wasn’t allowed to come with us when we moved west.” Triton said. “Aphrodite in particular wasn’t happy with so many of her children being, ah, taken.” 

“Chrysaor has standards now! He only does that to mortals. Demigods are either killed or given to Circe.” 

“Chrysaor wouldn’t know standards if they bit him. I’ll give him rules he has to follow. Demigods are to be left alive and intact, unless they threaten Sephie. Or are a danger to him, I suppose.” 

“And the mortals?” Triton asked, not really caring about the answer.

“Don’t know, don’t care. They’re mortals.” 

“That’s a bit harsh, dear. I’ll tell him to let them go if possible.” Poseidon looked thoughtful. “Maybe he’ll be convinced if I tell him it’s good for his reputation. Leaving people alive will let his legend grow quicker.”

“Sure, you do that. I’ll make sure that Athena lifts that curse.” Amphitrite suddenly glared at Triton. “And don’t forget. Seven every evening. You. Train. Sephie. Am I clear?”

Triton gulped, paling slightly. “Of course mother,” he said, his voice slightly pitched. 

“Good.” With that, she left, Poseidon quickly following. Triton gave a huge sigh of relief. He’d survived this dinner without getting caught in the crossfire too badly. He just had to train… his stepsister. With the trident. He didn’t know who her conceiver was. Oh Oceanus, he was gonna regret every choice he’d ever made. 

Ah well, at least he’d be able to join Chrysaor on his piracy trips more easily now. That would be a good way to destress. And if he was lucky Athena and Poseidon would lessen their rivalry through indirect contact? 

— —

If there was one thing that made Camp Half-Blood the best summer camp Sephie had ever been to (she’d only ever been to one), then it was the food. You see, all you had to do was ask for the food you wanted, and you would get it. This is what Luke said. What he didn’t say was that you got all the healthy stuff, no matter the food you got. So if Sephie wanted a pizza, which was hands down the second-best food out there, it would be a pizza with all the fat and grease and stuff, but without being unhealthy. And the best part? It didn’t limit itself to boring real foods. So if Sephie wanted her favorite food, that being blue pizza, then she would get it. If she wanted Frank’s favorite food, some kind of chicken stew with… dog? Wolf? Sephie wasn’t sure, really. Needless to say, because they were cool animals, though not as cool as sharks. Or dolphins. Or whales. Or fish. Really any kind of aquatic animal, actually. Anyway, because wolves and dogs were cool animals, she didn’t really want to eat them. Even when he swore it was a bad dog. Or wolf. Maybe a hound? He called it a hound, she was pretty sure. But that was some kind of dog. Or wolf. 

Anyway, the food was amazing. Even if the seating arrangement wasn’t. If she wasn’t careful she’d fall from the bench, because it was so full. Sephie was really tempted to see if she could sit at her stepfather’s table. He would be fine with that, right? 

Speaking of which, people were very weird about it. Fake-Chiron kept looking at her like she’d killed a fish, Luke looked like he’d gotten all the blue pizza in the world, Mr. D kept bursting into laughter whenever he saw her, and this weird blonde girl kept following her and whispering about changing plans and questions. Or was it quests? 

Was Sephie going to go on a quest? That must be her second task. Maybe she’d get to save a princess. That would be cool. 

Suddenly she realized that everyone was very quiet. And looking at her. “What?” Did she have something on her face? “Why are you looking at me?” 

“I believe they are looking at me, dear step-sister.” She turned, and looked up. And a bit more up. Why was everyone so tall? “You are late.”

“Late? I’m never late, I’m always exactly on time,” she said. “What am I late for?”

“Training. Get up, let’s go.” 

Sephie blinked slowly. “This sounds like stranger danger stuff. My mom warned me a lot about that. Don’t know why. It’s not like I’d go with a stranger.” 

“I’m Triton, your step-brother. Now I’m not a stranger anymore.” 

Sephie narrowed her eyes slowly. Then shrugged and got up. She didn’t see it, but Luke paled. As a good big brother he knew the dangers of strangers. He also felt that Sally Jackson had not reminded Sephie of said danger from strangers enough. For all kids reading, take the following lesson from Luke Castellan, Ultimate Big Brother Figure. 

“Hello kids. I am here to teach you about Stranger Danger. Stranger Danger, also known as Danger from Strangers, is very important to understand. You see, strangers can not be trusted. Especially if you recognize said stranger. Now, when do you recognize a stranger? You can recognize a stranger if you have seen them around several times, but don’t know their name, where they live, things like that. Personal information. But why should you trust recognized strangers less? Well, it’s quite simple. That stranger might have decided to target you, yes, you. That means that he is planning his escape route. Now, knowing someone’s name is not enough to no longer make them a stranger. Knowing some personal information makes them a known stranger. These can be neighbors. These are not as dangerous, but are still people to be careful around. Now, you are children which means your attention spans are limited, so let’s quickly move on to the second part: what to watch out for. There are several things which make a stranger, be they recognized or not, threatening. First, do they have a pet? If yes, be mindful. Second, do they offer you something, be it candy or petting the pet? Back away. If a parent or much older sibling is near, ask them to come with you just to be safe. Third, do you need to go somewhere to get this offering? This place might be a home, a car, or somewhere away from areas. If that is the case, leave. Stay in busy areas while you go to a non-stranger, that being siblings, preferably older, parents, etc. Now, there is only one case in which you can break stranger-danger rules. And that is if the stranger-danger situation has been fired. Let’s say that the stranger is chasing you and you are in a non-busy area. In that case, you can break the stranger-danger rules and go to a trustworthy seeming stranger. Ask them for help, act like they are family. If they try to refuse, use those puppy dog eyes.” Thank you, Luke Castellan, Ultimate Big Brother Figure for this lesson on Stranger Danger, also known as the Danger from Strangers. Now, let’s go back to Sephie completely ignoring all her Stranger Danger lessons. 

They walked only a little while, to the beach. There, he turned around. “Do you still have that shell?”

“Of course,” Sephie said, grabbing it from her hair. “See?”

He sighed. “Make it a trident. Let’s get this over with.”

Sephie blinked, but did as he asked. “Thank You, Mother!” She looked away from the beauty that was her trident to see Triton rubbing his fingers on the sides of his head. “What are you doing?”

“I’m suffering from the pettiness that is very prevalent within my family.” His own trident appeared in his hands. “Alright, let’s begin. Show me how you hold a trident.” And so it continued for about an hour. Triton was a good teacher, even if he kept sighing. As if he wasn’t getting enough air in his lungs. Ah well. Sephie really felt better at trident-fighting, tridenting? She felt loads better at tridenting afterwards.

She also lost every spar. And ended up on the ground. She just didn’t get up this time. “Can you ask stepfather if I can stay at his table during dinner?” The Poseidon table was next to the Hermes one, which meant Sephie could still participate, but didn’t have to worry about falling off. 

Triton, who was sitting next to her, gave her a long look. “I’ll ask him,” he said. “I doubt he’ll have issues with it.”

“Why are you helping me anyway,” she asked. 

“It was either beating up or being beaten.” 

“That’s a bit harsh.” 

“That’s how mother is. She’s a witch.”

“That’s so cool!”

“Literally as well.”

“Wait, what?” 

“Don’t worry about it. I doubt she’ll be angry at you.” He frowned slightly. “You’ll be her favorite, I think. Both of theirs, even.” 

“What about you,” she asked. 

He responded with a very slight smirk. “I’ll just wait for you to die.” 

“I’m gonna be a GOD, so I can’t die.” 

He tilted his head ever so slightly. He hummed ever so slightly, then put a hand on her shoulder. Something jolted in her. “I can see that.” He rose to his feet. “I should get going. Same time, tomorrow. Be ready.” 

“I said that I didn’t get any letters!” 

“That’s not my problem. You know now. If I have to come get you, I’ll throw you to the beach.”

“You ca-”

“Yes. I can. You are small and I am a god.” He walked to the ocean, the water enveloping him. “If Kymopoleia comes, have fun. If Rhodes comes, good luck, I wasn’t here.”

She waved. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” He just let the water cover him completely, and was out of sight moments after. Sephie gave a happy sigh. What she was feeling right now was happiness, she was pretty sure. ‘Cause she had a large family that liked her. Her mom loved her, of course, but she was also busy. And Frank was like a distant uncle, even if she saw him every day. He was a bit too polite to be close family. 

Steps neared, and she turned to look. “Sephie, are you alright?” Grover bleated. “You- I- I was getting worried.”

“It’s only an hour, and it’s not like he’s a stranger. He’s my brother, he said so.”

“How do you know for sure?” 

“Chiron would have said something if he wasn’t,” Clarisse said, appearing behind Grover. She had a spear in her hand. “What were you doing? Also, Luke’s looking for you.”

“Tridenting. And what for?”

“Stranger Danger training,” Luke said, suddenly grabbing the back of her shirt to drag her away. “I’m giving you a complete lesson. And I will be testing you afterward.” 

Sephie’s eyes grew huge. “Nooooo, no tests!” She wriggled, trying to free herself, but to no avail. “HELP ME!” 

Clarisse just laughed. “You deserve this, punk. He irritated me the past hour with all his nervous stuff.”

Sephie would fail the test three times. The fourth time she barely got a good enough score. She’d remember it for a full three days. After that, it existed mainly in nightmares. Needless to say, it had only stayed in her short-term memory, which means it hadn’t really caught on.

Chapter Text

“Fake-Chiron.” Sephie said. 

Chiron just ignored it. He had gotten used to the sheer stubbornness that Sephie could achieve. Like with all demigods, she took after her godly parent, who in turn took after their domains. Heracles had Zeus’ arrogance, while Perseus had his honor. For Poseidon’s children, and Sephie was Poseidon’s child, no matter how much others might insist, they generally were go-with-the-flow types, albeit ones who could switch to dangerous fury in a heartbeat. Sephie, very much in character, however, did not do this. Oh, that is not to say she wasn’t a go-with-the-flow type, but her flow was very… special, let’s say. It certainly wasn’t the standard flow that most demigods followed. Or mortals, for that matter. 

It is, therefore, no surprise that she was expelled from every school she ever went to. A track record which was much, much worse than every other demigod. She simply didn’t play well with others, unless they adapted to her. It was this that made Dionysus so confident in his rightness. And perhaps he was right to be so confident. After all, whom does nature listen to, but itself?

“Don’t just stare at me! That’s weird!” And she definitely wasn’t patient. But then, Poseidon couldn’t be accused of patience either. Very few gods could be, in fact. A beautiful, horrific irony when considering their immortality.

He blinked slowly. It was good to force children, especially demigods, to stop for a moment. To make them think. Listen. Just… exist. “Have you noticed the bad weather recently?” She hadn’t, he knows that. Bad weather is something that just happens, after all. 

“Huh?” 

He smiled a sad smile. The Fates could be very cruel. Who knew if this would be one of those times. “Zeus and Poseidon have been fighting.”

“So,” she said. “What does that have to do with me?”

Everything. “Because you have been dragged into it, Sephie. You are Poseidon’s stepdaughter after all. Who else would steal the Lightning Bolt?” Poseidon’s daughter, but he would not break the fragile illusion that they had built. Maybe it would fool Zeus, maybe it wouldn’t. It was best to attempt it anyway.

“What lightning bolt? How can you steal a lightning bolt? I would like to have a lightning bolt. That would be so cool! I could beat Triton up, easy!” Ah, their spars. Triton was a good brother, even if he rarely showed it to his demigod siblings. Or his godly siblings, for that matter. He liked to think he was above it all. Chiron had lived for a long time, though. He knew that nobody was, least of all the gods. 

“This is not a simple lightning bolt, child. It is a Lightning Bolt, with capital letters as you are so fond of saying. Imagine a weapon that can turn all of New York into ash with a simple thought. A weapon that makes nuclear bombs look like a children’s toy.” He shouldn’t have said that. It might work on someone else, but nature has no issues with destruction. Least of all that which destroys it. 

“That’s so cool!” 

Grover baahed. “You’re not helping your case, Sephie.” He stood right behind her, carefully following Dionysus’ orders. 

“What case?” He had a difficult job ahead of him. The irony was strong. The runt of the litter, tasked with protecting the two strongest demigods in decades. Perhaps even in centuries, he mused, watching them argue. 

“Eyes on me, Sephie,” he said, walking past them, gesturing for them to follow him inside the Big House. “You must go on a quest to recover the Lightning Bolt and bring it back to Zeus.” He could have said there was a limited amount of time, but… Grover wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure, and Sephie would forget before he even said it. Hopefully Annabeth would use some of that intelligence once she joined the quest. Grover would listen to her, and together they might be able to control Sephie even slightly. “To do a quest, you must ask for a prophecy.”

“A prophecy? What’s that? Wait, it’s a riddle, right? I like riddles. They are like puzzles.” He ignored the rest of what she said through simple experience. He wasn’t surprised she enjoyed puzzles. Like attracts like, after all. 

“You will find her in this room. Simply ask for a prophecy and you will get one. Good luck.” He didn’t give the warning of madness. In actuality, he was more worried for the oracle. 

STOP! Apollo here, to talk about the beautiful art that is the prophecy. 

Riddles are awesome

So go to the oracle

And go very insane

Take that, Artemis. I so well can write haikus! Ahem, anyway. I’m Apollo, the hottest god on Olympus, in more ways than one. *Winks* Now, I’m here to tell you a bit about prophecies. You see, prophecies are a way to get to know your future. It should be noted, this is also written from the future, which is why I know what will happen in this story. I also knew what would happen in this story while the story was happening, but that is because I am also the god of prophecy, which is why I’m here to tell you about them. 

Anyway. Prophecies. Right. Now, prophecies are riddles, except there’s a large chance you go insane, a medium chance you die while fulfilling the prophecy, and no chance that you will understand the prophecy until it is fulfilled. Prophecies also come true, no matter the situation. This isn’t Harry Potter, folks, where prophecies are given by hacks and above all, don’t rhyme. That it came true was a coincidence. 

Now, prophecies are given by oracles, or on rare occasions by me. These oracles were therefore both beloved, because they were 1. Very special, 2. Blessed by yours truly, 3. Nearly always pretty and virgins. Me’s, that reminds of this one person I blessed. It’s a bit of a shame they have to be virgins. OUCH. No, Artemis, I’m not being a douche. This is very important. OW. Stop that. Get back on tra- Who do you think you are, woman? 

Yes, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, it was just a very bad joke. Please don’t hurt me. 

Ahem. Either way. Oracles, in addition to being beloved, were also unloved, in more ways than one. AAH. DAMMIT, THAT HURT. Yes, I know what will hurt more, leave me alone. I’ll stop, I’ll stop. Just a joke. Yes, I know your kinds of jokes. I don’t like them. Wha- My jokes are super funny. They’re the hottest thing since me. Why are you laughing, that wasn’t even a joke? 

Ugh, sisters. Anyway. Oracles were also unloved, because not everyone liked what they said. And sometimes, this results in awkward situations when the person they gave the prophecy to has the ability to act on this anger. Which happened to the current Oracle of Delphi, who was cursed to live forever. What do you mean that’s a spoiler? How is that supposed to spo- oooooh. I see what you mean. 

Ah well, what’s done is done. 

Anyway, have fun reading the next part. Also, I don’t make the prophecies, the Fates do. I just give them to my Oracles to tell. 

– –

The room was dark and stuffy. Sephie would have hated it, except for all the cool things in it. There were tails, tusks, teeth, and more words beginning with a t. Also horns. Very nice. 

There was also a mummy, which really fit into the atmosphere. No oracle though. Or was it an Oracle? There was an important difference between the two, she just wasn’t sure what, yet. 

“Approach, Seeker, and ask.” She blinked, and turned around. There was no one there? That must be the oracle, Oracle… oRacle, though.

“Emmm…” Sephie hummed. What should she ask? She could ask about the quest, but that was a bit boring. Maybe there was something more fun to ask? “Am I going to become a god?”

There was some rustling behind her, again, so she turned back around. The mummy moved. And there was green smoke coming out of its mouth. “That is a yes or no question. Ask for something more abstract.” 

Yeah, that made sense. Bit difficult to give a riddle about a yes or no question. Abstract… She hummed a bit more. The mummy moved a bit more. She hummed again. It moved again. It was like an echo. Cool. Sephie hummed for a while, with the mummy moving the entire time. Then it spoke again. “Could you hurry up?”

Sephie blinked, then shrugged. Not so much an echo. She did have a nice idea, though. This should let her know if she would become a god. “What is my destiny?”

The green mist surrounded the mummy until it was no longer visible. Shapes appeared, then turned into people. Her mom sat on her chair, a cup of tea in hand. Her mother sat on the couch with a shape that she couldn’t see. Triton was there as well, and several others. Cool. 

“Untameable child, beware the monster lurking in your life,” her mom said, head turning to watch Sephie.

“As a voice calls, and gods turn to strife,” Triton spoke in his usual calm low voice.

“War beckons, as its origin clamps tight,” her mother said, eyes cold.

“Find what was stolen, to set the struggle to right,” the shape next to her mother said. 

The green mist disappeared, flowing back into the mummy’s mouth. The room grew slightly dark again. Sephie stood there, surrounded by trophies and memories. 

It was weirdly serious, and Sephie didn’t like it. She wasn’t one for being serious. Then again, it had to be serious didn’t it? Some boring easy task wouldn’t allow you to become a god. She did a fist pump, cheering loudly in her head. Yeah, this was the second step in becoming a god, and she would do it well.

“Leave, please.”

“Huh?”

“I just want peace and quiet,” the mummy said. “You are the opposite of both of those.” 

“I don’t think I’m really a war person.” 

“No,” the mummy responded, green mist flowing from its lips as it spoke. “You are much, much worse. Now leave!” 

Sephie huffed, then turned and walked out the room. “Fine.” Stupid, weird mummy.

“I heard that.” 

It was supposed to.

“I’m a she.” 

Could it read minds? That was pretty cool. Sephie would like to read minds, nobody would ever be able to hide anything from her. Also, she would finish every exam without any problem, no more having to do it three times! Or did reading minds not work like that? Would she be able to read their thoughts? Their memories? Both? Neither?

“Reading minds?” Sephie looked up. 

“When did you get in here, Fake-Chiron?”

“You came here, Sephie. What did the prophecy say?”

Hmmm. “Was I supposed to remember it?” 

“Of course you were, Sephie! Please say you’re just joking, you have to just be joking, right?” Grover bleated as he spoke. 

“I don’t joke, I think. Maybe?” She scratched her cheek. “Does cheating on tests count as joking?”

“Let’s sit back down. Please remember what the oracle told you while we go back, Sephie.”

Sephie gave a slow nod. She vaguely remembered something about monsters. And a voice? And war, definitely war. And the oracle said something about her being war, so war must be her. Hmmm. 

“I remember!”

“Go ahead,” Fake-Chiron responded as they walked into the room.

“Monsters are friends. Careful of a voice, ‘cause it lies. And war is me!”

Fake-Chiron sniffed, and rubbed his chin a bit. “Sephie.”

“Yes?”

“That wasn’t a prophecy.” 

“It wasn’t?”

“You don’t remember anything of it, do you?”

“Of course I remember it.” Please, she wasn’t forgetful. 

“Then what is the prophecy?”

Sephie hummed. “A voice calls, and gods turn to strife. War beckons, as its origin clamps tight. Find what was stolen, to set the struggle to right.” That was all, she was pretty sure.

“That is all?”

“Definitely.”

“That makes me believe you less,” Grover said, taking a bite out of a tin can.

“Why?” The door opened, but she ignored it in favor of glaring at Grover. What kind of friend would sell her out like that?

“Saying definitely when someone asks you if you’re lying is a bit…”

“It is often used in books to make it obvious that someone is lying.”

“Annabeth!” Grover looked happy to see her. Sephie frowned. 

“Ah, Annabeth. Sephie, Annabeth is the third member for this quest. Grover will join you as well.” 

Why three? Also, she remembered that blonde hair from somewhere.

“It’s tradition,” Annabeth said. “And I’m not reading your mind, you just talk out loud.”

No she didn’t. 

“Yes, you do, Sephie,” Grover responded. “It’s very upsetting when you say that I look like a donkey.”

“You do look like a donkey. You’re half-donkey.” Maybe more than half. He wasn’t the most colorful fish in the sea.

“That’s rude.” 

Chiron clapped in his hands. “Enough, all of you. Tomorrow, you will be going west. You will be given a short lift.”

“West?”

“Tell me, Sephie, who has to gain from a fight between Poseidon and Zeus? Who would gain power from death?”

“War?”

“What?” 

“War, right? ‘Cause they will fight a war, which means that a god of war gains power.” Sephie narrowed her eyes. “Athena can’t be trusted. I’m sure of it!” Sad. Athena was a pretty cool god. 

Triton couldn’t help the tears sliding down his face. He could feel his last chance slip away. No chance to play the little sister card now. 

“What?” Annabeth gave her a cold stare. 

“STALKER!”

“Excuse me?” 

“You’re my stalker. It’s a bit weird that you’re letting her join the quest, Fake-Chiron. You shouldn’t encourage stalkers in their stalky stalking ways.”

“I wasn’t stalking you,” was the confused response.

“You were following me from far away while whispering weirdly. You also giggled once.”

“That wasn’t me, but a nereid. She-devils,” she muttered. “constantly splashing me.” 

“Sure.” An eyebrow was raised slightly. If the other one rose as well, that was their problem.

“Enough. All of you,” Fake-Chiron said, ignoring Grover saying he didn’t do anything. “Go to bed early. You will leave early tomorrow.”

“But where to?” Maybe Hawaii. She would like to go to Hawaii. Or Japan. Apparently there was some kind of comic book thingy there. Sephie liked comic books. 

“South-West, to Los Angeles. Hades stands to gain a lot of power from war, Sephie. Most deaths in the United States grow his power. Enough power and he can overthrow the Olympians.”

Hmmm. Shouldn’t he have been in her prophecy then? Ah well. She walked towards the Poseidon cabin. At least Triton had managed to convince her step-father that she, as his stepdaughter, should be allowed to stay in his cabin. Was it even his cabin? Wasn’t it hers now? Sephie’s cabin. She liked that. Yeah.

“You can’t call it Sephie’s cabin, Sephie,” Grover said. “Lord Poseidon would be very insulted.”

“Mother would beat him up if he hurt me, I’m sure. Or my Guardian God, I guess. He wouldn’t dare.”

Chapter Text

Argus was weird. He constantly winked at her, which Sephie was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to do at children when you were an adult. Let alone when you were an immortal adult. Yet he still did  it. One eye winked. Then the next. Then his thirty-third. It made her uncomfortable. She crossed her arms, averting her own eyes. Argus made her nauseous, too. That many eyes, she shuddered. What would it look like? What would your surroundings look like? What would happen if one of his eyes was blinded? What would you call it? How many eyes did he have anyway? She had a lot of questions. She asked them during the first hour of the drive to… someplace. She wasn’t sure where they were going, actually. Blond Stalker did, apparently. Anyway, according to Grover (and Blonde Stalker), Many Eyes never talked, because he had eyes everywhere. And when she says everywhere, she means everywhere. Bottom of his feet? Yup, also very painful to walk, probably. Tongue? Definitely. Also, more private places, which Sephie thought would be quite the eye-watering sight. 

But Sephie was bored, and poking Grover, asking questions, and making puns wasn’t as fun as before. Blonde Stalker constantly told her to stop, and then became angry when she didn’t. Sephie didn’t like being told to stop. That rarely happened before. And Grover didn’t care, otherwise he would have told her. Fortunately, they were nearly there, wherever that might be, based on what Blonde Stalker said when Sephie asked. Speaking of which. “Are we nearly there yet?”

There was a very, very controlled sigh in response. “Yes,” was the response through clenched teeth. “We are nearly there. Thank the Gods.”

“With or without capital letters?”

“ONE! Gods is never written with more than one capital letter, that letter being the first, the g,” Blonde Stalker said. Sephie wanted to clap her hands, but that would probably make Blonde Stalker even more upset. Which would be funny, but also might result in her trying to attack Sephie. It wouldn’t end well for her, because Sephie had Guardian Gods. And possibly more? She wasn’t completely sure, but did Frank count as a God? Or was he just a monster? A Monster, because he was important? More important than some monsters, at least.

After a few more minutes, the car came to a stop, leaving Sephie and her followers to grab their things and get out. Or were they servants? Sephie hummed, trailing behind the other two. Something to think about. “We need to run, Sephie! We can’t miss that bus!” There was another one after this, right? And one after that? And after that? And… you get the idea. She shrugged, running after them. There was a sign on the bus which showed where they were going. “Nwe Jresye.” She frowned. “Where’s Nwe Jresye?”

They got onto the bus and walked all the way to the back. “New Jersey, Sephie.” 

That didn’t sound like a real place. “Where’s that?” Speaking of which. “Where’s Jersey?” 

“England, probably. Most cities and towns with new before them in this part of the United States are named after English cities and towns. That is why New York is called New York. It is named after York,” Blonde Stalker said.  

“But where’s Jersey? And York?”

“I’m not sure where Jersey is, but York is in the northern part of England. It has many older buildings, including the York Minster, one of the largest Gothic Cathedrals in Northern Europe.” 

Sephie turned to look at her. “What’s gothic? Like black clothes and makeup?”

“It is an architectural style. It was used especially between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries.” 

Sephie blinked slowly. “Sounds confusing.”

“I’m not surprised,” Blonde Stalker said.

“What does that mean?”

“That you’re not the smartest person out there.”

“I’m plenty smart, I just don’t get why buildings are interesting.”

“Buildings are the symbol of all that humanity has achieved. All it can achieve. Much better than what your father does.”

“Father? I don’t have a father.”

“Don’t tell me you actually believe Amphitrite is your mother,” she deadpanned. 

“She said she’s my mother, so she must be.”

Blonde Stalker opened her mouth, then closed it, shaking her head as she did. “Whatever.” She turned to look out the window. 

They stopped to let three old ladies in. Very old ladies. Sephie didn’t know it was possible to look that old. Like, you had ancient grandmothers, right? Who had wrinkles on top of their wrinkles. But these ladies had wrinkles on wrinkles on wrinkles. And then some extra wrinkles thrown in, here and there. They must be very, very old. And Sephie being Sephie, well… They sat down in front of them. There was no reason not to ask it, right?

“How old are you?” 

There was the sound of skin hitting skin behind her, but she ignored it. This was more interesting. “That’s quite the rude question, little one. Has your mom never taught you manners?”

Sephie tilted her head in thought. “Not sure. What do those lessons look like?”

“Ah, it depends. Nowadays, it’s firm words and standing in a corner. When we were young… well, that was a very, very long time ago.”

“Every wrinkle is a year? Like with circles inside trees?”

“You are welcome to come count the wrinkles, little one. I doubt you will get high enough, though.”

Sephie quickly got up and sat down next to the woman. Grover said something behind her, but when was Grover interesting? Except when she was poking him in the side, at least. He made funny squeaky noises. She grabbed one of the women’s hands and started counting. There were a lot of them. When the bus stopped again a few seconds later, she was already at seventy. “Did you have a nice trip, Alecto?”

“I suggest you leave. Our Lord wishes this one for himself.”

A huff. “I’m sure he does,” she finished the word with a hiss, which made Sephie look up. “Who are you?”

“Hmmm. I suppose you can call me Auntie Em, Sephie. Now, could you sit back down with your friends? I’ll be with you in just a moment.” But she was already at two hundred and thirty-two. What if she forgot where she was?

“I- I’ll help you remember it, Sephie. P- Please…” Grover made a bleating sound. “Oh Gods,” he whispered.

“Ah, you look quite a bit like your uncle, don’t you? Do not worry, however, Grover Underwood. I have no interest in Satyrs today. My prize is something…” she smirked. “special.” A cool smirk. Sephie wanted to smirk like that, too. Something that promised danger, but was also pretty. Maybe she could get lessons? 

The bus came to a stop for a third time. The bus driver had come to check. “Take this outside, you seven. I want nothing to do with any of you.”

They all looked at him in confusion. A single eye blinked back at them. “What in the world are you doing in a bus, cyclops?” 

“What do you think? I need to work for my meals, too. And this one…” the cyclops grinned. “I think it will be a good one. Also, the blonde one is a spawn of Athena. Just so you know.” With that, he walked back to the front, and they left the bus. Sephie smiled. Good for him. She always told Frank he should work for his food, too. Instead, he just insisted watching over her brought in all the food he needed. 

And then she was pulled back. “We need to run,” Blonde Stalker hissed. “Those… that… we need to go!”

“But I want to watch the fight.” And it was gonna be a cool one. Auntie Em had taken her veil off. Sephie wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but… well, maybe it was a good thing that Gods didn’t care much about familial relations, because Auntie Em was incredibly pretty. 

The old ladies weren’t. They suddenly had wings and whips and were screeching. Something about prey, and their lord? Lord? gods, capitals were hard. 

“You should know that Lady Amphitrite told me to be here. Are you certain you wish to anger her?”

“Fool! That woman has no power here! And her father can not intervene! The laws won’t allow it!” The screech hurt her ears. 

“Do you truly believe that that man holds the power in that relationship?” She scoffed. “Lady Amphitrite is the reason I am restored. Lady Amphitrite is the reason I am here. And you, I suppose. I have always wanted a statue of a fury. Though I imagine this will be a three for the price of one deal.” The veil fell to the ground. “Shall we begin?”

“Die! And with you, the half bloods!” Wait a second.

“What about half donkeys?” 

“Shut up, Sephie! I don’t wanna die. Also, we need to go!” 

Pfff, why would they not watch this. There was no way they were in danger. Also, Auntie Em was pretty damn cool. She had snakes for hair. Wait what? Snakes for hair? Grover and Annabeth tried to drag her away, but she stayed put. “You’re Medusa!”

“YOU ONLY JUST REALIZED?”

“Don’t mind the donkey, dear. He’s only here for comic relief. But you are right. I am Medusa. You can still call me Auntie Em, though.” Hands turned to claws, and Sephie imagined a smirk growing on the woman’s face. “Now, let me handle these three, yes? We can talk after that. It’s nearly time for dinner, too.”

And with that, Auntie Em charged forward. It was fast, but the Furies were faster, quickly flying up. “DIE, TRAITOR!”

A husky chuckle was the response. “I can not be a traitor to someone I never followed. Or intended to follow, at least.” 

That sounded like a very important thing. Like you had foreshadowing in stories. No way. Was Auntie Em a double agent? 

Or maybe it was one of those triple agent things, where she gets their trust by protecting them, only to kill them later on. But why not kill them now? She slapped her forehead, leaving Grover and Blonde Stalker looking at her like she was crazy. Nothing new there. Anyway, it was obvious. Her mother was probably keeping an eye on her, so if Auntie Em tried to kill her now, it wouldn’t work. But now, by gaining her trust, her being Sephie, she could get Sephie’s mother’s trust. Sneaky, very sneaky. Sephie might have done the same, if not for the fact she liked the direct approach more. A lot more. Like, way, waaay more. It was still cool though. “GO AUNTIE EM!” She got a thumbs up in response. Wow, maybe this triple agent thing was working. 

One of the Furies crashed into the ground, its skin gray. Could Sephie learn to petrify something? How would she be able to do it? Hmmm, she was pretty sure Auntie Em needed to be blessed by some goddess. “How did Auntie Em get her blessing?” 

“What,” Grover panted out, still trying to pull Sephie away. 

“How did Auntie Em get her blessing?” 

“She means the curse,” Blonde Stalker said. “And she got it by having sex in my mother’s temple with your father.”

“ANNABETH! You can’t just say that. She’s a child.” 

Sephie looked away from the absolutely awesome fight, where Auntie Em was currently strangling the screeching Fury with her own whip. “You’re a child.” 

“I’m not a child. I’m twenty four.” 

Sephie snickered. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“He is! And can you stop resisting? How are you even not being dragged away?” 

Sephie hummed thoughtfully. “No clue. Grover, you’re twelve at most. Younger, I think. You’re less mature than me.” Auntie Em currently taunting the Last Fury was much more interesting than Grover realizing he wasn’t that old. Also confusing, because why would you want to be old? Unless you could stay young forever, of course. Which is why Sephie would become a god, God or GOD. 

“I’m sorry?” 

“That’s pure bullshit,” Blonde Stalker said. 

“Luke would wash your mouth out for that,” Grover said, still trying to pull Sephie away. Sephie, in turn, was watching Auntie Em tear the last Fury to ribbons. 

“Luke isn’t anywhere around.”

“Luke has a sixth, seventh and eight sense for this kind of stuff.” He shook his head. “And I really am twenty four, Sephie. Satyrs age slower than humans.” 

“It’s true, dear. His uncle said that at such a young age, satyr’s made much better statues. More durable, you see.” Blonde Stalker and Grover slowly turned towards Auntie Em, who had come to a halt before them. “Well, shall we head home? I imagine you are quite hungry.” 

Grover whimpered. “Uncle?”

“Oh yes. Ferdinand was very insistent on the many uses of young satyrs. He offered to bring you to me, in exchange for him surviving. Needless to say, I saw no reason in choosing one over the other. It would be ever so rude. Age discrimination, and all that.” She grabbed a phone out of her pocket. “Now, be quiet you three. I need to get a transport for my new statues.” 

While she made the call, they, they being Grover and Blonde Stalker, whispered amongst themselves. Something about escaping. Ugh, what did they need to escape from? Auntie Em wasn’t dangerous at all. She was pretty cool, actually. Like the cool aunt. Triton said something about his two sisters, but Sephie hadn’t met them yet. There was no way they would measure up to the sheer awesomeness that was Auntie Em, though. Snake hair and petrifying eyes? Sephie would like to have those, thank you very much. And all that was needed was having sex in Blonde Stalker’s mother’s temple. “Who’s your mother, Blonde Stalker?”

“Excuse me?”

“Who’s your mother?” Sephie was pretty sure that whichever god was the god of hearing wasn’t doing their job well. Probably because they were male. Boys were a bit stupid in Sephie’s experience. Look at Grover. 

Blonde Stalker shook her entire body. “Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare. What’s it to you?”

“Huh, how did she manage to get you?”

“What do you mean with that,” was the icy response. 

“Well,” Sephie said, extending the word, giving her a careful look over. 

There was a crunchy sound. “Why do you want to know anyway,” Blonde Stalker said through clenched teeth.

“I need to know in which temple I have to have sex in!”

“Sephie, you, you are only twelve. That’s way too young to have,” Grover shook his head. “To even think about that!” 

Sephie frowned. “What’s wrong with sex?”

“I believe he means to say that you are quite young, and should not have sex simply to receive a blessing, dear.” A hand was put on her shoulder. “But then, I imagine that this is simply a misunderstanding. Twelve, that’s a time you should have a good Talk.” 

“A talk?”

“With a capital, dear.”

Grover whimpered, while Blonde Stalker paled ever so slightly. “I was already taught that.”

“Ah, Annabeth, dear, your mother knows nothing about the delights of sex. She is a maiden, after all. Coincidentally, that is also why she, ah, blessed me.” She smiled kindly. “Do not worry, though. I will not turn you into a statue. I see no reason to keep memories of your mother for a thousand years.” 

“Thank you,” Blonde Stalker squeaked out. 

“Oh no, don’t thank me. I would tear you to ribbons,” she said. “Now, my car is just over there.” She gestured towards the forest. “I know it seems suspicious, because it is, but I can assure you it isn’t.” 

“Going to a dark forest with a lady we’ve just seen murder three of the worst monsters in existence with no one knowing where we are?” Grover bleated. “That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Let’s do it!” Sephie cheered. “It will be like that field trip where everyone fell into a shark enclosure.”

“Ah, already killing mortals, Sephie? You are very like your godly parent, whoever they are.” They started walking towards the forest. “And using marine life at that, very fitting. They are very proud of you, you know.”

“I know!”

Annabeth and Grover stayed behind, watching as they walked across the treeline and into the steadily darkening woods. “Before I met Sephie, I never went through these things,” Grover muttered. “Oh dear Pan, please save me.” 

“Where were you when we traveled with Thalia?” Annabeth scoffed.

“She was never this bad.” He whimpered. “We need to get Sephie and Medusa away from each other.”

“I agree. Who knows what Medusa will do to her.” She jogged after them.

Grover bleated again. “I’m worried what kind of ideas Sephie will give Medusa,” he muttered to himself, before reluctantly running after them. He was gonna regret joining this quest, he was sure.

Chapter Text

Annabeth was very surprised that she was still alive. Cause really, before meeting Sephie, she hadn’t met this many dangerous monsters. Meeting being the key word. She’d fought dangerous monsters, sure, the gods knew that Thalia was just as much a monster magnet as Sephie, but she never really talked with them. Not beyond battle talk at least, which generally limited the conversation to death threats, taunts, cries, screams, and grunts. And on one occasion a moan, which was slightly scarring. She did not need to know people could be into such things. It was, perhaps unsurprisingly, also the day she got the Talk. A proper one, which didn’t limit itself to “sex is bad, so don’t have it and be like me. Be a maiden forever!”

Fortunately, that Talk came after the more informative one. And the more haunting one. She was still not sure where Luke found the time to get books and diagrams while fighting three hellhounds and a cyclops, as well as dodging several Karpoi, at the same time. It was one of life’s unsolved mysteries, and one of the very, very few that Annabeth didn’t seek to solve.

She nodded at whatever Grover was saying. He was being overly paranoid. Like, sure, Medusa was her mother’s, and her, archenemy, but it was very unlikely she would seek to somehow trap them using money when she could have easily either let the furies kill them, or attack them at any of the seventeen moments where they were in some way unable to fight. Yes, she had counted. She also counted how many times Sephie was the reason for those chances. Spoiler alert, it was all seventeen. That girl had no self-preservation instincts. How in the world did Luke ever let her leave camp? And hadn’t he given her his patented stranger danger quiz? The world was so unfair. 

‘Cause Annabeth sure as hell wasn’t stupid. She could see that Poseidon, or more likely Amphitrite, had in some way convinced Medusa not to kill Sephie. Some people got all the luck. Annabeth wished that Athena was willing to be so helpful. Maybe Thalia would… no, she shook her head. She shouldn’t think like that. 

“We should definitely give the poodle back to get safe money, Annabeth! How can you say no to such a fail-proof way of staying safe!” 

“I’m sorry, what?” She turned her full attention on him. 

“We bring the poodle back to its owner, and get two hundred dollars in exchange. We then take the train to Los Angeles.”

“Two hundred dollars isn’t enough to take the train to Los Angeles. Also, that poodle is pink.”

“Yes, it’s a pink poodle. He is sacrificing herself for us, Annabeth. Say thank you!”

“You are asking me to say thank you to a pink poodle.” Was this hell? “A pink poodle.” She looked at Sephie, who was sleeping through everything. She had been awake the entire night talking to Medusa, which was slightly terrifying as there had been several cackles which had woken Annabeth up. Sephie had crashed now, though. And was snoring slightly. And drooling. A lot. Annabeth made a disgusted face. And this was the person that was supposed to find the Lightning Bolt? 

Well, it at least affirmed Chiron’s decision to entrust Annabeth with covertly leading the quest. With some luck, Sephie would stay asleep the entire day. It would make everything easier, and Grover could do with some body building. Even the lightest weight grew heavy if you had to carry it several miles. 

“ANNABETH!” She quickly focused back on Grover. “Thank you. Now, we bring Gladiola back to his horrible horrible home. We get two hundred dollars in return, which will help us get closer to Los Angeles, and then we STOP!” He lunged forward to where SHIT!

Annabeth lunged forward, quickly grabbing Sephie while Grover grabbed Gladiola. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” Grover screeched. 

“It’s a pink poodle,” Sephie calmly said, all the while trying to wrestle free of Annabeth, who really didn’t expect it to be this difficult. “It’s obviously a monster.” 

“Wha- Do you even hear yourself?” Grover said, wide eyed. “How is a poodle a monster and Medusa herself not?”

“Auntie Em was perfectly nice. Poodles are evil, terrible creatures. They can’t be trusted. Also, it’s pink.”

“Sephie, please stop trying to get free. I’ll let you go if you give me the sword, where did you get that anyway?”

“Chiron gave it to me, of course. Something about gods, fathers, oceans, nymphs, and not breaking it.” She scoffed. “As if I’d ever break something.”

“No, you’d never break anything,” Grover deadpanned. “I broke my own leg.”

“Ah, I mean I’d never break something important.” Grover started shouting at her in response. Annabeth just ignored him.

“Where did you get your social skills, Jackson? A pack of butter?” 

“Hmm, not sure. Anyway, can I kill the poodle now? It’s obviously evil. Also, dolphins are much better. And sharks and whales. Fish, too, I suppose. And cats are fun.”

“Cats are far worse than dogs,” Annabeth said. “They plan our deaths, you know.”

“That’s what makes them fun. Dogs are boring, and eat their own poo, and drool a lot.”

“You drool a lot. In your sleep.” Annabeth smirked. She’d been waiting to say that for a while now. Well, since she noticed it, which was only a few minutes ago, but still. 

Sephie just shrugged. “Either way, can I kill it?”

“NO, YOU CAN’T! HE’S A LIVING CREATURE!” Grover was back to screaming again. 

“He’s also our ticket to Los Angeles,” Annabeth added on, shrugging, though making sure to keep her arms around Sephie. At least she’d stopped struggling.

“Huh?”

“Grover thinks Medusa’s money can’t be trusted.”

“But it’s already ours? And she’s gone to New York.” 

“You think that will stop her?” Grover hissed, eyes wide. “That monster will return to kill us all. Mark my words!” 

Sephie did her best to look at Annabeth. “He’s very paranoid.” Annabeth nodded. “If she was gonna kill us, she would have done so already.” 

“Ah well, more money is good,” Sephie said, shrugging. “It’s still a monster though.” Annabeth slowly let go, ready to intervene in case Sephie was trying to fool them. Not that she was expecting that, mind you, but better be careful. 

“HE!” 

“Bless you,” Sephie said while walking away.

“GLADIOLA’S A HE!” 

“Didn’t know dogs could be trans.”

“His master is a stupid, I guess,” Annabeth said, following her. “Do you even know where you’re going?”

Sephie scoffed. “Of course not. That makes it boring. And we have all the time in the world!”

“We have until the summer solstice, which is in five days. We have everything but time. And support. Really, the only thing we have now is money.” 

Annabeth could feel Sephie rolling her eyes. “With that attitude…” was the muttered response. Annabeth just sighed.

“Let’s go, Grover,” she called over her shoulder. The hoofsteps told her enough. “You alright,” she asked. 

He sighed. “Fine.” He held Gladiola firmly in his arms, seemingly taking comfort in the fur, even if it was a pink that would revolt even Aphrodite. They walked in silence for a few minutes, simply watching Sephie’s back. Sephie walked fast, making them fall behind ever so slightly. “I’ve gotten used to it, I guess. She’s been like this for as long as I know her.”

“Chaotic? Irritating?”

“Independent. At times, I wasn’t sure why I was even there. Chiron insisted she needed a protector, but…” he sighed again, looking at the sky. “She’s protected.”

“Tell me about it.” 

“You don’t get it, Annabeth. I mean that where she lives… that entire neighborhood. She invited me to her home a few times,” he chuckled at Annabeth’s look, but could you really blame her? Grover shook his head. “You should’ve seen it. I saw cyclopes, telkhines…” They fell silent, only their breathing to be heard. And the dog’s, of course. A huffing sound. “And that’s just the ones I saw. Once, there were red eyes,” he whispered. “Or eyes that looked red. They looked right at me, into me. The moment I left Sephie’s that night, I ran all the way to Chiron. Never stopped. I told him I wanted, no, needed to quit. But it was necessary, he insisted.”

“I guess you are the only way to truly introduce her to our world. A monster can’t do that. Not like you.” 

“Thanks Annabeth.” She smiled at him, and put a hand on his arm. “Thing is, she’s always been like this.”

“Is she…” Annabeth trailed off. There was something about saying it that made things awkward. Not that leaving it up in the air made it better.

“No, she isn’t. Chiron thinks it’s because of how much the mist impacted her life.” 

“You mean because the mist still tried to hide all the monsters and stuff, and…”

“And it affected her mind, somehow,” he finished. “He isn’t sure, though. He wants to call in help, but he’d need permission from her godly parent for it. He would probably get it, except it’s not clear which god he needs to approach.”

“He asked you to do something, didn’t he?”

“Lord Dionysus did. I have to make a list of things she does and says. According to him, she isn’t insane, but her mind is alien. I think he has a theory, but I’m not sure.” 

“And this quest, succeeding it I mean, will give you your searcher’s license, doesn’t it? That’s why you’re doing it. That’s why you protected her, even if she’s like this.” 

“I don’t hate her, I don’t even dislike her. She’s a friend, and a good one in her own way.” He tightened his hold on Gladiola, who gave a soft woof in response. He smiled slightly. “I guess I pity her. She’s so different from how she would have been. Maybe should have been. Lord Poseidon just bent every rule until he couldn’t find any more, and then I guess he started breaking some.”

“How do you know all this?” She never… she knew Grover was smart. He was capable of keeping up with her on her best days, or worst depending on who you asked. But she never realized he just got this. Got it more than she did. And sure, he’d known Sephie for a year, but this was beyond that.

“You think I studied at high school? I’ve done it all already. Had to do something with my time. Sephie barely pays attention to her surroundings, and is easily distracted if she does. I could do all the research I wanted. She’s unique. Her childhood’s been nothing like any other. A demigod so close to the immortal world, yet never allowed to step through the barrier.” 

“Do you think she’ll be alright?”

“She will be,” he said, shifting the poodle a bit. “Speaking of which…”

“SURPRISE ATTACK!” Grover quickly jumped to the side, leaving Annabeth to take the full weight of Sephie’s fall. The full weight wasn’t much, mind you, but still. It was the principle of the matter. “Oh, hey Blonde Stalker.”

Annabeth clenched her fist. She shouldn’t hit her, even if she wasn’t truly the quest leader. It was a terrible idea, Poseidon and many others would hurt her for it. Probably much worse. Oh who was she kidding. She punched Sephie in the stomach. This was also revenge for all the things she put Grover through, even if she had an excuse. And Annabeth really needed to get rid of some of her antsiness. “A very obvious attack,” she muttered, before jumping at Sephie, who had been left clutching her stomach on the ground. And if her eyes were closed, and she was groaning and muttering, well… Annabeth was a daughter of Athena. She was nothing if not adaptable. A surprise attack would work fine, too. 

Chapter Text

“Why is that stupid poodle still here?” It was slightly difficult to say, due to the wet piece of cloth held to her lip. Blonde Stalker punched hard. Her other arm stayed around her stomach in the vain hope that it would ease away some of the pain from the bruise. “We could have sold it for money.”

The poodle in question gave an insulted woof from where it was sitting on Grover’s lap. Sephie just huffed back. It was a stupid thing. It drooled, and made a lot of noise. And it was a hideous pink. Poodles, needless to say, weren’t supposed to be pink. She was quite sure of that, even if she knew nothing about them at all. And wanted to know nothing about them either. 

“We no longer need to bring it back, due to the money we got from Medusa,” Blonde Stalker said patiently, looking up from her booklet. “And we don’t want to bring it back, because his owners obviously abuse him.”

Sephie looked at the poodle thoughtfully, ignoring Grover’s mutters. He had been talking about it the entire train ride, and there was nothing new to be heard. She didn’t know poodles were allowed on trains. Which begged the question why it was allowed, but fish weren’t. Fish didn’t make noise, and neither did they smell bad. They also weren’t pink. And if they were, it was a nice pink, accompanied by various other colors. Not this neon pink, that was only accompanied by more neon pink. 

“We used the Mist,” Blonde Stalker said, making Sephie wonder how she knew. “Can you let me read my booklet now? There’s a lot of information about the Gateway Arch.”

“What’s the Gateway Arch?” Please let it be something interesting. She couldn’t handle more boring stuff. Like looking outside. There was nothing to see. Nothing interesting, at least. ‘Cause really, cyclopes weren’t interesting. Now that she knew what they were, not people who were just physically different, they were even more boring. She’d been seeing them her entire life. 

“It’s a fascinating building, the tallest monument in Missouri, at 630 feet.”

Darn it. “Who cares about buildings?” The ocean is much cooler. There’s actual interesting stuff inside it. 

“Oh you did not just say that,” Grover muttered, putting his face in his hands.

There was a worryingly audible grinding of teeth hearable, as Blonde Stalker slowly answered. “As I said, it is the tallest monument in Missouri. It is also a marvel of architecture”

“What’s 630 feet in normal metrics? Mom always says that I shouldn’t use feet, ‘cause feet are arbitrary. Also, everyone uses meters.” She frowned. “Mom also calls it a weird metric system, and that that’s fitting, because Americans are weird. I don’t think mom cares much for Americans, actually.” 

“Isn’t she American?” Blonde Stalker looked surprised. “But you look American, so…” She trails off, a light crinkle in her brow. It was her thinking crinkle, Sephie had learned. She always got that when she was thinking. Which was always, so she always had that crinkle. It was gonna cause wrinkles when she was older, she was pretty sure. Sephie didn’t have that problem, fortunately.

“Who knows,” she responded. “Either way, what’s it in meters?” She frowned. “And what do Americans look like, anyway? Aren’t they all kinds of different cultures?”

“I don’t know, for both things. Where is your mother from?” Grover nodded as Blonde Stalker asked it. Sephie rolled her eyes, sighing.

“I don’t know. Don’t really care either. Where’s your mother from?” She gave a challenging smile.

“Olympus,” Blonde Stalker deadpanned. “She’s from Olympus.”

Huh, that backfired slightly. “What is she the goddess of?”

“Wisdom, warfare, civilization, mathematics, strategy, crafts, the arts, and skill.” It was all said in one single breath. “She is one of the most important gods.”

“But not Gods?” Well, that was disappointing. Blonde Stalker looked pretty strong, but her mother wasn’t even a God? “Is your father a God, then?”

“He’s a scientist.” Now that was even more disappointing. How was Blonde Stalker so strong, then? She gave a quick sideways glance at Blonde Stalker, who was watching her carefully. Maybe she shouldn’t say that out loud? “What’s he a scientist in?” Annabeth didn’t yell at her. Well done, Sephie. Basic social interaction succeeded!

“Warfare. He’s completely obsessed with planes in war,” she muttered. “That’s how mom became interested in him.”

“Warfare.” Sephie said the word slowly, trying to get a feel for it. It didn’t sound logical. War was war, so what was warfare? Was it war with extra steps? War without steps? War with a single step? Maybe a step back? 

“Stop! I can’t think if you ask so many questions!” Blonde Stalker said. “It’s more than war. I guess you can call it an overarching term. War is only the hostile aspect, while warfare is much more. It is the tactics, the reasons, the political and economic aspects.” She got more intense as she spoke. Grover inched away slightly, the monster-poodle huddling closer to him.

“You’re sounding a little fired up, Annabeth,” he said. “It’s making me worried. 

“Sounds boring,” Sephie said, slumping down in her seat. “Who cares about reasons?”

Annabeth frowned, and sat up straight. “You need to know someone’s reasons to understand their actions. Only then can you truly understand their mistakes and their successes.” 

“Meh, still boring.”

“And you are aggravating,” she hissed. 

A massive grin. “Yep!” 

Grover put his hands up. “Calm down, you two. Let’s not fight each other when there are enough monsters that can beat us up instead.” Blonde Stalker crossed her arms, looking out the window. 

Sephie sighed deeply. “I still say that Auntie Em should have just stayed with us. Then we could have simply done whatever we wanted.” 

“I do not think she would have been interested in doing that, Sephie,” Grover said carefully. 

“Please, it’s the perfect business model.”

“Do you even know what that means,” Blonde Stalker asked, looking distrustful.

“Of course I do!” She didn’t.

A single eyebrow rose up. “Then what does it mean?” 

Ah, sharks. “Hmm, it means that the model for business was good.”

“That’s circular reasoning,” Blonde Stalker said, one hand rubbing her face.  

“Do you know what it means?”

“Yes, Sephie, I do know what a business model means. I also know that, surprise surprise, you were not wrong in this case. The amount of monsters you attract is probably off the charts, which would all become statues, which she could sell.” 

“Exactly. That’s what I said.”

“Actually, Sephie, you just said that her business model was good because it was a good model for business.”

“Shut up, you.” She glared at him. “You know nothing about my genius.”

“It’s an interesting type of genius for sure,” Blonde Stalker muttered. 

“What’s that supposed to mean,” she asked.

“Exactly what I said, seaweed brain.”

Sephie put a hand on her chin. “Is that an insult?”

“What do you think?”

“I knew I liked you for a reason, Blonde Stalker!” She grinned. “Seaweed brain, I like it. A compliment referencing my smartness. Just like Blonde Stalker is a reference to your blonde hair and tendency to stalk me!” The train slowly started back up, a constant hum in the background. Sephie was pretty sure smart people were supposed to ask questions. That’s what her mom always said, at least. It might also stop Blonde Stalker destroying her own teeth.  “So how tall is the Gateway Arch in normal metrics?”

“192 meters. Well, 192 comma zero two four meters, to be exact.” They all turned to see a younger woman standing, who had a slight smirk on her face. 

“Ten comma zero two four bucks says that she’s a monster,” Grover said. “No deal,” Blonde Stalker immediately responded. 

“I’m no monster, dears.” 

Sephie rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what a monster would say.” 

The woman gasped, eyes wide, as she put her hands to her heart. “My own little sister, saying such vile things….”

“That’s why I know the poodle is a monster. It hasn’t once spoked up in its defence! It is using circular redination!” 

“Er, that’s circular reasoning, Sephie. And that’s also not true.” He quickly turned back at the woman. “Which monster are you? If Sephie’s your sister, that doesn’t mean you aren’t a monster.”

“That would be a rude thing to say if it wasn’t so true,” the woman muttered. “Scylla and Charybdis really aren’t the most humane of women. Or human for that matter. And the words you are looking for are reverse psychology, Sephie. By not speaking up in its defence when you are calling it a monster, it is making it seem like it isn’t a monster, when it obviously is.” She made a gagging motion. “Nothing with that color of pink could ever not be a monster.” 

“So who are you?” 

“Rhodes of Rhodes!” 

“I can see the family resemblance, I think,” Grover said. Blonde Stalker had a slight look of horror on her face. 

“Oh mother, there are two of them,” she muttered. Her hands were clasped and she was looking slightly up.

“No worries, Chase, I’ll be gone in a minute.” She clapped her hands, and Sephie suddenly felt weird. Well, her skin felt weird. She looked down. The clothes she normally wore, slightly old and too small jeans, together with a hoodie, had suddenly disappeared. In their place were newer jeans, skinny ones, with a too large sweater over it. “I don’t have the time to go shopping, but we’ll do that when you get back from the quest! Until then, this will have to do!” There was a large smile on her face. “It’s important to look stylish while doing quests, you know.”

Sephie flapped her arms, looking at the sweater moving with them. It was oversized, and… well, if she had learned anything from Triton, it was that movement was very important during fights. So even if she hadn’t been in any fights yet, “I think I’m gonna die in these clothes.” Blonde Stalker gaped at her, while Grover bleated.

“Wha- What are you talking about?” Rhodes gave her a wide eyed stare. “How would those clothes kill you?”

“I can’t move. The sweater is too large.” And it really was. It was large enough to act like a skirt, sitting half way down her thighs. The sleeves hung to just above the tips of her fingers. She was pretty sure it would tangle with her trident or sword if she was unlucky. (She really like them though, but Triton would kill her if she died on this quest. That’s what he said, at least)

“Then don’t use a sword or trident. I’ve never had to, and I’m perfectly fine!” The smile was back, though it was smaller than before. “Just wash them away!” 

Hmm, that was a good idea. Just one slight, teensy, tiny problem. “How?”

Blonde Stalker face palmed, while Grover had gone from bleating nervously to biting his nails. “I could have sworn Triton had taught you how to fight.”

“With a trident, yes.” That sword was a work in progress, she supposed. Triton also didn’t seem to like swords that much. 

Rhodes pouted, and waved her hand. Sephie saw the new sweater shrink, until it fit better. Still too large, but not as bad as before. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, little sister,” Rhodes said, pouting. “The moment this quest is finished…” a finger was pointed up threateningly. “That is the moment I will strike!” Then she vanished, only the smell of the sea being left behind, a breeze flowing through the train. 

“You’re gonna get yourself killed,” Grover moaned. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.” 

“Why would I be getting myself killed?”

“You’re so rude! She’s a god, Sephie,” he whispered loudly. “She’s obviously angry that you refused her gift, and now she’s gonna get payback the moment you finish the quest.” He whimpered. “Oh god, she’s gonna die!”

“She’s gonna get a makeover, I think,” Blonde Stalker said, think crinkle obvious. “Good luck, Sephie. I’m gonna leave you for the sharks.” 

If this was an anime, there would be a thunking sound as reality sunk in. Sephie slumped down even further into her seat, until she was half off it. “Kill me now, before I die a worse death!” Though she really wouldn’t have a problem with another oversized sweater. 

A snicker. “That can be arranged, little hero!” 

— —

“Remind me why we didn’t stop at the Gateway Arch anymore?” 

“Because I refuse to spend more time with cyclopes,” Blonde Stalker spat out, quickly stomping through the streets. Anyone that stood in her way quickly moved to the side, and those that didn’t found themselves shoulder checked. Sephie wasn’t sure how physics worked, but she guessed it was a godly thing. A twelve year old just smashing through adults was a weird thing to see, but it was also pretty cool. She didn’t think she could do it. She clenched her fist. She would try. Just not now, she thought, as she hurried to catch up to the other two. 

They had ended up in Denver, where they were now following Blonde Stalker… Sephie shook her head. Annabeth, they were now following Annabeth, through the city. She should really stop calling her Blonde Stalker, no matter how true it was. She was terrifying, and had threatened one of the cyclopes to tears when it dared to sit down next to Grover. It might have had something to do with how it was looking at Grover, but really, Grover needed to learn to stand up for himself! Or something like that. 

Anyway, they had ended up not leaving the train at St. Louis, simply because Annabeth refused to go up there with the Cyclopes, who refused to let them out of sight. Well, they refused to let Sephie out of sight, and then Annabeth also refused to let her out of sight, because Sephie would “find some stupid thing to do! And there’s no way any of you would stop her!” It was a very rude thing to say, and Grover didn’t have to nod along as she said it. Either way, they were now in Denver, meekly following Annabeth, who had just sat down at a diner. At least there was food? That would be nice. Unless they had seafood. Sephie refused to eat that due to ethics and morals and norms and values. Maybe culture, too?

It didn’t take long before a waitress came up and gave them menus. Fortunately for Sephie, there was no seafood to be found. Just the normal fries, hamburgers, and other fried goodies. No pizza, unfortunately, but it would just have to do. Sephie, being a connoisseur of fried goodies, went for a hamburger, along with fries, and a milkshake. Now, you might wonder where she put the food, and the simple answer is, I don’t know. Sephie ate a lot. Which is completely fine, of course. You should eat as much as you want. The weird thing for Sephie is that she ate a lot more than should be right for how much she weighed. She is one of those horrible, horrible people that can eat pounds upon pounds of food, without gaining any. For normal metrics people, that is kilograms upon kilograms times two. I won’t go into the very specific formula that can be used to calculate kilograms when you have pounds, let alone the one which does it the other way around. No reason why you would need that particular formula. 

Either way, Sephie ended up with an incredibly large amount of food, leaving Annabeth looking wide-eyed, Sephie having been too busy talking to Auntie Em to eat the previous day, as she swallowed every crumble. Grover went green as he also saw as she casually ate a hamburger, which has meat, which went very much against his sensibilities. “How can you eat meat, yet claim that eating fish is an evil thing to do?”

“Fish have souls,” she said around a mouthful of fried goodies. “Meat doesn’t.” 

“Why would fish have souls while cows don’t?” Grover kept his hands carefully over his eyes, ensuring that he didn’t have to see the horrifying sight of her talking with her mouth full. 

She gave him a weirded out look. “What do cows have to do with anything?” This made Annabeth look up, who had been eating a hamburger herself, albeit with less gusto than Sephie. 

“They make hamburgers from cows,” she said. “You did know that, right?” 

“Course I do, just don’t see how dead meat should have a soul like fish.” 

“The fish are dead, too, Sephie,” Grover said carefully.

Sephie’s rolled her eyes. “Duh, but they weren’t when they were cooked. Like they cook crabs!” 

“What does cooking crabs have anything to do with souls? Let alone with how fish are cooked?”

Sephie’s eyes went wide as she quietly whispered (an average person’s volume), “they cook crabs while they are still alive! And the poor crabs don’t realize it so they die while being cooked!” 

Both Annabeth and Grover gave her a long stare. “You can’t be serious.”

“I absolutely am! That’s when I decided to become a meaty-vegetarian!” 

“There’s no such thing as a meaty-vegetarian, Sephie. And fish aren’t cooked alive,” Grover said, pushing away his bowl of fries. 

“Yes they are! They keep a cold cloth around the fish’s head and the rest of its body is cooked, so it is alive, while its body isn’t!” Sephie glared at her burger. “They should do it to the cows instead.” 

Annabeth rubbed the sides of her head. “And what do you have against cows?”

“They look stupid,” Sephie while taking another bite from her hamburger. “They are black and white and are so dull, just standing around and mooing the entire day.”

Grover inhaled suddenly, and looked up at the sky. “Oh, you did not just say that,” he muttered. “We’re gonna die on this quest, and if not on this quest, we’ll die after. There is no way they’re gonna let us live.”

“Who’s they,” Sephie asked.

“The donkey probably means us.” Sephie suddenly found herself grabbed by the shoulders and practically carried to the side of the bench. “Can’t blame him. We’re assholes.” 

She looked up, and saw a man. She would call him the stereotypical biker, except he was more than a stereotype. He was the person from whom the stereotype came. Leather jacket, biker pants, sunglasses. He was tall, with large muscles. He sat down next to her, and gestured towards the waitress. “Y-yes?”

“Whatever they had. Twice. And make it snappy.” His voice was low and commanding. Someone who was certain of their place in the world. All the way at the top. The waitress nodded shakily and hurried away, looking over her shoulder at them. Sephie waved at her. The man huffed. “You don’t get scared easily, do you? Not like them.” He gestured at Annabeth and Grover. 

Sephie shrugged. “Guess not.”

The man smirked. “Going with the flow,” he muttered. “Fitting.” 

“L- Lord Ares, why are you here?” Annabeth’s voice was slightly shaky. “We are on a quest, we don’t have much time.”

Ares snorted, giving her a lazy look. “You have several days, more than enough time to get to Los Angeles and back. ‘specially if I help you.” 

“Why would you help us?” Grover asked.

“Why do gods do anything?” He didn’t say anything until his food arrived. Three plates, filled with fries and hamburgers. He grabbed the first of the hamburgers and took a large bite. “Mortals have few uses. Making food is one of them.” 

Annabeth gathered her courage. “Wouldn’t you like it if there was a war,” she asked, though it was closer to a statement. “You would gain power from it.”

Ares gave a chuckle, which quickly turned into uproarious laughter. It took several seconds before it died down. “Typical for one of Athena’s spawn to think that,” he said, still chuckling slightly. “You, all of you are so obsessed with power, you never consider what it does.” 

Annabeth frowned, but Grover quickly spoke up. “Then why are you here, Lord Ares?”

“Shut up, Donkey. Not here for you. Not here for the pellet, either, but it’s fun to show her the world from a black and white view, instead of the gray they constantly look through.” He scoffed, and turned to Sephie. “I’m here for you. You’re interesting.”

“What black and white view?” Sephie asked. He couldn’t just say that, and not explain it. 

His hand went up to his sunglasses, and slowly took them off, his thumb nimbly closing the arms, and put them on the table. His eyes burned red like white-hot coals as they seemed to glare into her own blue-green ones. “People like to say that you should know the reasons for why something happens. The so-called gray view,” he said mockingly. “As if that somehow makes things right. Athena, her children, they’re all the same. The ends before the means. Look at history, and so many wars were caused by them. And who was left to fight them?”

“Your children,” Sephie said, completely focused on him. 

“Not just mine. Everyone’s, assuming you weren’t born to rich parents, of course. The poor left to fight in the mud, as the rich stayed behind and drank wine. Talking about how unfortunate it was that they had to die, but that they would be remembered for all the good they did. For god, king, country. Whatever you can think of.” He tore into his second hamburger, seeming to try and take his anger out on it. “Yet when they return, they’re deemed monsters. How could you kill someone? How could you do something so horrible?” He growled. “As if they had a choice.”

“Sometimes war has to be fought,” Annabeth said. “Sometimes war is the only way that something can be fixed. Without war we’d still have dictators running around.” 

Ares smashed his hamburger back onto its plate. “Typical pellets, so obsessed with the past and the future, they don’t stop to think about what happens in the present. And they’re not even good at it,” he spat out. “Because how did all those dictators come to be, huh?” He shook his head, fight seemingly draining out of him. “But your kind never understands. Because you’ll never be on the frontlines, not truly. You don’t know the way people survive war. Either broken, cold or crazy. Or all three.” He put his sunglasses back on. “Learn from someone who's gone through it again and again, kid, and make sure you don’t ever get pulled into a war, unless you truly want to. And if they force you anyway, make sure to fight for something you can believe in. Maybe then you’ll be alright.”

Sephie nodded slowly. “That’s the difference between war and warfare. Warfare is the reasons, the why’s, the how’s, while war is the what’s, the who’s. What happened. Who it happened to. Athena’s the general, sitting and planning, while you’re the soldier, who has to deal with the consequences.” 

Ares nodded, a sad smile on his face. “You’re a smart one, smarter than them.” He gestured at Grover and Annabeth again. “Never forget this, no matter what happens to you. The person who fights… The person who fights, is the one who experiences war. The one who caused it, the one who plans it, the don’t.” He grabbed his hamburger again, and slowly resumed eating it. Sephie blinked at him, then went to grab one of her fries. Instead, he pushed one of his hamburgers to her. “Here. Destroy a few more cows for me, yeah? I don’t like them either.” 

They found themselves sitting in a companionable silence, eating hamburgers side by side. Perhaps it was strange for Annabeth and Grover, but Sephie was used to being close to those that felt more powerful. Maybe it had changed her. Maybe it had warped something important. Maybe her very fate had changed, but, in the end, did it really matter? Not for her, the one who didn’t have to plan anything. She would only experience it, and that was enough for her. Go with the flow, Ares had said, and she liked that. She would keep going with the flow, and come what may, she would not lose sight of what her actions caused. 

It was maybe half an hour later that Ares got up. “There’s a truck over there, Kindness International, it will take you straight to Vegas.” He smirked and nodded at Grover. “I think you’ll enjoy it, Donkey.” With that, he walked out of the diner, the same confidence in his posture as in his voice that showed he knew his place in the world. Sephie… maybe one day she would have that confidence. 

It was Annabeth who noticed first. “THAT ASSHOLE DIDN’T PAY!” Grover joined her in figuring out what they would do to Ares next time they saw him, while Sephie didn’t. She just wondered what tomorrow would hold. 

She would like to meet more cool people.

Chapter Text

Kindness International was likely meant ironically. All three animals, a zebra, a lion, and an antelope, had gum in their fur. The antelope had a balloon around its horn, and the food was all mixed up. The water was also disgusting. Sephie was happy she didn't have to drink it. She'd already prepared herself for a several hour trip in this stupid, boring place, when she noticed that Annabeth and Grover had started helping the animals. She didn't care for it. They were... there was something wrong with them, is all. Maybe they were monsters? It wasn't the animal part, at least. She liked animals. And nature. She liked being outside, watching the stars. Then again, she hated zoos. And seaworlds. And those things where they send hawks and eagles and seagulls after prey. Was it seagulls? She put her hands behind her head. She wasn't sure. Maybe it was some other predatory bird. Seagulls were fun, though. One once took ice cream straight from her hands, and then ate it mere meters from her, while making weird sounds like laughter. Despite that traumatizing event, she still liked birds. Not owls, though. They always attacked her, and pooped on her, and stuff. Very rude. Though there might be some mythological logic behind it? Nah, she’d done nothing to make Athena angry at her. 

Either way, while Annabeth and Grover gave the animals the right food, and refilled their water, she just tried to ignore the zebra, which was apparently capable of talking. It was screaming about gracious princesses, thanking Poseidon, and something about being sawn in half. That probably didn’t help her dislike of it and its compratiots. Compratriots. Compatriotes. Something like that. 

“Can you clean this water, Sephie,” Grover asked, lifting one of the water bowls. “These bowls are incredibly dirty, and I can’t clean them.”

“Why?” There was a bark in response. “No, you stupid poodle-monster. I don’t care about your arguments.”

More barking.

“It doesn’t matter that a zebra is horsey-like! It’s stupid. And boring!” She turned away from them. “I’m not gonna help it!”

“Oh my great princess, please. I beg of you!” The zebra neighed. “Please help this poor fool, who let himself be captured!” 

“No.”

Someone sighed. “Let it go, Grover. You know how she is,” Annabeth said. There was a scraping sound.

“Please, your grace, I need only your help to break these chains! After that, I will go free, and never let myself be tamed again.” The zebra stomped his foot. “No human will keep me from freedom again!”

Sephie turned around to look at the strangely verbose equine. What she saw instead was Annabeth standing in front of her with a knife. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” She scrambled backwards. “YOU WILL NEVER KILL ME ALIVE!” 

“Shut up,” Annabeth hissed, still brandishing the knife. “Those drivers might hear you. And I need you to give me some water to clean the knife.” She waved the knife around slightly, showing the dirt that covered the blade. 

Sephie made an oohing sound. “How do I do that?”

“I don’t know. Just do your daughter of sea god thing,” she said. 

Sephie frowned at the knife. She really wished Triton had taught her some magicky stuff, instead of constantly throwing the trident at her. She hadn’t needed to use it even once, so far. “Your grace, please hear my pleas!” Stupid zebra. More barking. Stupid poodle-monster. How was she supposed to think like this?

It was the sound of a lock turning that scared them into silence. Grover scrambled to hide behind the lion’s cage, while Annabeth pretty much jumped on Sephie. Needless to say, it was a very awkward situation. The knife was very close to Sephie’s eye. And to Annabeth’s. This was a very weird position indeed. “Nope, nothing here. Thought you said you heard something?”

There was some shuffling outside. “Must’ve been the kitty kat.”

“Kitty cat, Robert, not kitty kat,” the first man said. 

“What? That’s exactly what I said, Jhon,” Robert said.

The now named Jhon sighed. “It’s John, not Jhon, Robert. I get you’re dyslectic, but please don’t mess with my name like that.” 

“Oh for — sake.” 

Note from Fates: Due to the possibility of children reading this, we have made liberal use of the well-named ‘bleep’. Please just continue reading.

The door was slammed shut. Shortly after, it started up. “Please, perfect princess, pull me from this prison, and point me to a safer place! I will find plenty without problem, then.” The poodle-monster barked along with the zebra, as if punctuating each p. 

Sephie blinked slowly up at Annabeth, who quickly scrambled off her. “This never happened,” she hissed, then stomped off towards the antelope's cage, which moved as far away from her as it could. The lion was looking at Grover, his gaze focused suspiciously low, towards the more donkeyly parts. It was a strange thing. Why would you want fur in your mouth? Now, if Grover was half-cow, then she could get it. Cows didn’t have fur, after all. Except the minotaur did. Which was weird. But then, it was half-bull, so maybe that explained that. It was dwelling on the mysteries of cows, bulls, and donkeys that the truck finally started up. 

“Oh, stunning lady, please have mercy for this sorry servant.” 

“Can you shut up,” Sephie asked. “Get someone else to help you. I’m sure Grover will do it.”

Grover sighed, then walked over to the zebra, which he started whispering to. “What does it sound like to you?” Sephie asked Annabeth.

“Normal speech, while the zebra doesn’t seem to make any sounds beyond some neighing and stomping of its hoofs,” Annabeth said. “It makes sense. The communication between you two is likely mental, while it is physical with Grover.” Sephie nodded. That explained the cursive text. 

“What,” Annabeth asked, such a confused look on her face that she nearly looked like it made sense. “How… no, I don’t want to know.” She put her knife into her belt. “Back, lion.” Sephie got up to join her. 

“Whatcha doing?”

“Figuring how to get it out. Think we’ll just have to break the lock.” She glanced at Sephie. “You have your trident, right? It should be capable of breaking it without problem. It’s only animal proof.” 

Sephie began to nod, only to be cut off. “Oh great seaweed brain. Please grace me with your intelligence. This one wishes only to be free as Fūjin.” The zebra lifted its head, looking her right into the eyes. “All I need is the lock to be broken, and I will never be caught again. Be it human, god or monster, none will chain me.” He stomped his hoof, punctuating his declaration. 

Grover smiled encouragingly at her, leading Sephie to roll her eyes and sigh deeply. “Fiiine. If it makes you shut up.” 

Grover grinned. “I’ll give you a blessing to make sure you find water and shelter, Edison.” What?

“What kind of a name is Edison?”

“I received it from those bedamned zoo owners. I disowned it. I will forge myself a name, one fitting for one freed by one as untameable as you.” 

“What about the blessing,” Sephie asked, frowning. “Why do you need a blessing?”

“We will have to free them in Las Vegas. How are they supposed to get out of the middle of a city?” Grover said. 

Sephie waved her hands a bit. “Just run out.” 

“It’s not that simple.” Annabeth mixed herself into the conversation. “Police, the drivers, various other people, they’ll come after them. Grover giving them a blessing means they will be fine, no matter what happens.” 

Sephie shrugged. “Isn’t it natural selection at that point?” She sat down against the zebra’s cage. It huffed into her hair, messing it up slightly. “If they need help to get away now, they’ll need help forever. Better to have them prove it now.”

Grover shook his head wildly. “NO! I’m not letting something wild be so callously treated. What if they get thrown into this truck again!” He clenched his fists, looking for a moment as if he wanted to go and beat up the drivers. “Edi- Zebra will get sawn in half, and who knows what will happen to these other two? I’m not letting that happen!”

Sephie frowned. “They're not even wild. If they were wild they would never have been caught.” 

“Wha- so just because something has been caught, it means they are not wild? You’re blaming them for being caught by someone with so many advantages.” Grover bleated wildly. “How can you even say that?”

“And they most likely were born in the zoo, or taken when they were young.” 

“This one was taken when barely born. If I had known what awaited me here, I would have fought, instead of doing nothing.” The zebra headbutted the cage. “I gave up, then. I will not do so now.” He looked Grover into the eyes. “I thank you for your offer, Protector of the Wild, but I will not take your blessing. I walk my own path, and will fight for my freedom.” 

Grover slumped down, all fight taken from him. “Erm, don’t worry, the other two still want it?” Sephie said. Gladiola woofed. “See, Gladiola agrees with me!” 

Grover took a deep breath, and looked up. “You’re right.” He looked at the lion and the antelope in turn. “You two still want it, right?” He gave them donkey-donk eyes. 

They both nodded, though there was a slight hesitation in the lion. It growled, and Grover growled back. It nodded. “Let’s get some sleep, you two,” Grover said. “We need to be ready when we arrive in Las Vegas. And it’s a long way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.” Sephie and Annabeth made agreeing sounds. 

While Annabeth moved behind the boxes, and Grover soon joined her, Sephie stayed with the zebra. It was a bit awkward, but she managed to look up at him. “Do you want a name,” she whispered. 

“If you would do the honor of giving me a name, then yes, I will take it.” 

Sephie gave a thoughtful frown, coincidentally similar to Annabeth’s, as she thought. Her first thought was giving it a name like Frank, Jackson or Philadelphia, but it just didn’t fit. It was weird. On the one hand, she thought he shouldn’t get a name, but on the other hand she felt he should. Either way, it had to be a name he could then choose to accept. “What’s that name you said? With the freedom.”

“Fūjin, god of the wind, he who flows freely through the Archipelago.” The still-unnamed zebra frowned. “I wish not to be given that name, as It is already taken.” 

Sephie didn’t know what it was that made her realize what name it should be, but it was just there. It was really obvious, too, she wasn’t sure why she didn’t think of it before. “Jibun, you are Jibun!” She punctuated the statement with a nod. 

“I like this name. From now on, I am Jibun.” He looked her in the eyes. “Let this be just one of many stories told about you, Free One. Myths and Legends as well, as what is more free than a story told by all?” Jibun scraped his hoof along the metal floor. “If I can give you advice, Free One?”

“Sure!” 

“Sleep. Rest for now, so that tomorrow you are strong and able to face all your enemies.”

Sephie yawned in response, and moved behind Jibun’s cage. She took off her sweater, and put it on the floor, quickly lying down on it. “You’ll make sure no one sees me?”

“Yes, Free One, I will make sure.” Jibun laid down in front of her. Nobody would be able to see her now, not from the entrance at least. Sephie yawned again, and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long before her dreams took her.

Chapter Text

Exiting the truck, with the animals seemingly being their heralds, Sephie was struck by what she saw. Las Vegas was alien in a way that Manhattan wasn’t, despite Las Vegas only having a fraction of the population, spread out over a much larger area. Hundreds of lights ensured that it never became night, despite the sun being down, and having been for over an hour. The lights were red, green, orange, blue, and every other color you could imagine, as long as they were bright, did the opposite, in fact. It seemed as if the city had been woken from a slumber. There were people everywhere, walking, talking, heading towards one of the many restaurants or casino’s. Yes, Las Vegas was alien to Sephie, and she hated it. Manhattan, even if she didn’t truly like it, was at least home. Las Vegas wasn’t, and wouldn’t ever be. The chaos was not the chaos she was used to, even understood. It was thousands of people, all doing different things, going different places. And all that for different reasons. For Sephie, it was terrifying. She didn’t understand this kind of chaos. Unlike a storm, it wasn’t simple. It was unimaginably complicated. People were complicated. They weren’t consistent. Some moved out of the way, some didn’t. Some nodded at them, others ignored them, a few glared at them, particularly at Grover. She glared at one who was particularly cruel, going out of his way to bump into Grover, and then pushed him away. The man paled. It made her feel better.

She wasn’t sure why people cared about the color of your skin, or who you were or who you loved. What did it matter? Perhaps that was why she could understand storms, because it didn’t care. It didn’t even know people existed. It just took a path, and whatever was in the way either ran or was destroyed. People didn’t do that. They judged, and questioned, and looked at them. Like it mattered what they thought. 

Perhaps it was all these thoughts, going through her head too fast to truly stop and consider them, that made her feel particularly vindicated when they freed the two animals and Jibun. They ran right through the middle of the city, Sephie and the other two following them on foot. The lion and the antelope had fled quickly, while Jibun was slightly behind them. He had taken the time to kick one of the drivers in the head. The man, maybe Jhon, had fallen to the ground, and hadn’t gotten up. 

People were screaming, running around, while some policemen tried to catch up to Jibun on foot. Sephie scoffed at them. It was a good thing they were in the middle of the city, she supposed, because that meant the policemen wouldn’t be grabbing their guns any time soon. Especially because Jibun made a point of constantly putting people between them. Those people didn’t like it. It was funny to see. 

They slowly made their way through the chaos, dodging panicking people as they walked. And there was a lot of panic, for some reason. You would think that people would’ve gotten used to these kinds of stunts, considering it was Las Vegas, but maybe there was something different this time. Sephie wouldn’t know. She’d never been in Las Vegas before. Maybe obviously. She slumped slightly. “Where are we going?”

“We’re gonna find a place to sleep. Somehow, we’ve got money left over,” Annabeth said. “I don’t know how,” she muttered, sounding confused. “Luke said that you were always out of money on a quest. Not having more than what you started with.” 

The mons- Sorry, the poodle, barked in response. Grover nodded as it did so. Sephie did as well, it made sense what it was saying. “Auntie Em is incredibly nice, yeah,” she said. She ignored Grover’s look. “But where’re we going?” 

“A hotel, I guess.” Annabeth still looked out of it. “There’s one over there,” she said, pointing. Grover made a startled sound. “Where did that come from? I could have sworn...” he trailed off. Then shook his head. “It looks fun, though. What’s it called, Annabeth?”

She glared at him, an eyebrow slightly raised. HA. Sephie could understand that look. It was the ‘I’m slightly irritated by you and I also know you know and are doing it intentionally’ look. It was completely coincidental that this was how Annabeth often looked at her, of course. 

Grover snickered slightly (just like Sephie would have done if she were in his position). “The Lotus Casino,” he said, mockingly looking down at Annabeth. They slowly walked to the casino, not realizing the ever so big elephant in the room. Not that it had come out of nowhere. Which, should be noted, it had. Which brings us to this very important and helpful lesson, given by none other than Janus, Ro- HOLD THE PHONE! Ahem. This lesson is given by none other than Dionysus! Expert in madness and the sometimes accompanying hallucinations. And wine. Which is also sometimes accompanied by hallucinations. Take it away!

A sigh. “First, casino’s obey the mortal laws, which means they can’t appear or disappear. The only way they can is if one, you are drunk, which I unfortunately am not. Two, you are mad, which you could definitely be. Three, it’s not a casino. Pog. Is that something the children say, nowadays, Larry Stringson? Pog?” 

Larry ‘Not-Actually-Larry-Stringson’ Stringson gulped. “Yes Mr. D., Some children, and people, respond like that.” 

“Pog, in that case.” 

And there you have it folks! This randomly appearing casino can be explained away because you are either drunk, mad, or it’s not actually a casino. Please, make your pick. 

In the case of the three heroes and Sephie, however, it was quite simple. It was all three of the above. In the case of Sephie, it was in fact all three at the same time. She was drunk on the lotus smell. She was mad, which you might have already noticed, though it’s not your average madness. And lastly, it’s not actually a casino. In the case of the other three, Gladiola the Poodle-Monster included, it was simply drunkenness and the casino not being a casino. 

“Welcome to the Lotus Hotel & Casino! Here are your cards, I hope you enjoy your stay.” A billion dollar smile accompanied the slightly generic statement. They thanked him and entered the actual casino. It was amazing. Games were everywhere. It should be noted we are not talking about gambling games, as children are not allowed to play those. For all its faults (and it had many) the Lotus Casino & Hotel made sure to never break those laws. It was terrible for publicity, you see? This also explained why they were allowed to enter. They quickly went to their rooms, which was actually a single room which they had to share. A shower and dinner later and it was time to play games. The entire time, they didn’t stop to wonder what was happening. Why did Annabeth suddenly care about games in which you built a city, instead of meticulously planning one out in her many notebooks. Why did Sephie suddenly not care about the dozens of neon lights shining down on her wherever she went. Why did Grover play Deer-Hunter reversed? Why d- That one is easy to answer, actually. All satyrs have a monster in them. The Lotus Casino simply allowed him to let the monster out. One could also argue that it was, in fact, the hunters that were the monsters. Artemis and her huntresses would argue, however, that it depended on which kind of hunter you were. For sport? Likely, yes. For your job, not as likely. To protect humanity from the great many threats that hid in the shadows? Most definitely not. Though in the last case, some huntresses took a little bit too much sadistic pleasure in taking them out. Needless to say, all satyrs loved Artemis and her hunters. 

Yet that was not the point. Because Grover got bored of shooting hunters, likely because there is a limit to the number of hunters you can shoot before they go extinct. This game had a mechanic like that, likely to limit screen time. Have to keep the people from only playing video games, after all. Of course, he could simply walk to a different game station to play something else. And there are many other games to be played. As he walked away from the screen, he realized there was something slightly weird. Three things, to be specific. First, he was very hungry. This is something gamers might recognize. You are so taken by your game, that you don’t realize you are hungry, thirsty, and have to use the bathroom. The second thing is that he was smelling monsters. This is something that is not uncommon to your garden variety satyr. Their noses are so strong that they will smell monsters everywhere. Even on Mt. Olympus (also because some of the worst monsters are up there). The last thing he noticed was Sephie bungee jumping. Sephie hated heights. She hated them badly. In her words, they were obviously made by someone to one day secretly kill her. She told Grover this when exiting a bus. It might come as a surprise (though most likely not) that Grover had to carry her down. Fortunately, for all that Grover is often used as comic relief, he also has a brain. 

There was something wrong, Grover was certain. The smells, the hunger he felt, the thirst, too. But it had only been a few hours. Right? It’s a little known thing about satyrs that they are very good with time. It has to do with nature. You see, some flowers and plants that they cared for in ancient times had very specific moments that they needed water, shade or sun. They still did, in fact. Also, Dionysus was similar. You could argue that Dionysus took a lot after grape plants, in fact. Or the other way around, Grover mused, as he looked for Annabeth. Grape plants also had specific needs. He looked at the rows of game stations, and noticed one which allowed you to grow a garden which would then kill polluters. 

When had he sat down? The garden had grown quite large, somehow. And there were a great many graves, which were also serving as fertilizer? There was something slightly creepy about that, even if it was true. But when had he been playing it, he’d been walking around just moments ago. It had only been a few… hours? What was happening? He pushed the chair back and rose suddenly, taking several steps away from the screen. “Are you alright, sir? Would you like a refreshment, perhaps?”

He turned around so fast he bumped into the chair he had just sat in. His senses were going crazy. A monster, how had it gotten so close? But, it was only a human. The kind you would normally see at a casino. And the food looked tasty. He reached for one of the tin cans. It was suddenly close to his mouth, and he dropped it in surprise. He was breathing fast. Why would they be giving him tin cans? He looked at the server, who looked back calmly. He rubbed his eyes. It was all the same. He snapped his fingers. And the world warped. 

Everything was the same, yet it wasn’t. The game stations were still there, and being used. The neon lights still shone. The server hadn’t changed. Sephie was still bungee jumping. Yet Annabeth was next to him, dagger out. “We’re leaving. Let’s go get Sephie.”

“It pains me to hear that,” the server said, pain shining through his words. “Just when we were about to give our platinum cards out, too. Are you sure you do not wish to stay the rest of the day?”

“We’ve been staying long enough,” Annabeth said. She grabbed Grover’s hand and started walking towards Sephie. Her grip was tight, but he could feel her hand tremble. “We’ll be alright, Annabeth,” he whispered, even if he wasn’t sure what happened to her. What had shaken her so badly?

She said nothing. He tightened his hands around hers for just a second. Her shoulders seemed to lose some tenseness. “Sephie, let’s go!” 

“Why?” It was hard to hear what she said, going loud as she got close to the ground, then quiet as she went away from it. “This is fun!”

Dammit. Why couldn’t things just go right for once. And Medusa most certainly didn’t count. “How did you snap out of it,” he asked Annabeth. “‘Cause I don’t think she’s snapping out on her own.” He could tell from months of experience in the art that was Sephie-Managing. 

Annabeth shivered slightly. “Spider on the screen. Shocked me so bad I stabbed it.” And that explained why she was so pale. Athena really should do something about the phobia that her children experienced. 

“The spider?”

“The screen.” She genuinely looked upset as she said it. Unsurprising. He’d be upset if he hadn’t killed the cause of his phobia, too. Still sad she tried to stab an animal, though. She should have stabbed one of the servers, instead. That was probably more cathartic, too. Killing a spider always made her feel so guilty. At the same time, he couldn’t help but be slightly impressed that she tried to fight it, instead of running away. 

Wasn’t this a situation that Luke had told him about? He smiled at Annabeth. “Good job, Annabeth!” Big Brother rule number 37.9, always make sure to use positive reinforcement when someone confronts their fear. Even if it has negative side effects on their nonliving surroundings. Rule 37.91 was in case it had negative side effects on their living surroundings. Luke did the ‘I’m not mad just disappointed, but also incredibly proud look’ way too well. Annabeth nodded at him, so he’d probably remembered correctly. Unless it was rule 73.1, in which case he did the opposite thing of what he was supposed to do, which coincidentally had the same effect. Somehow. He probably shouldn’t spend so much time thinking about this, should he? “So we just scare her,” he said, focusing back on the situation at hand. She nodded.

“Think of a way?”

Grover smirked. “Oh do I.” He untangled their hands, and cracked his knuckles. Then put his hands around his mouth to make himself sound louder. “SEPHIE!”

“YES?” 

Gotcha. “LOOK DOWN!” 

“WHAT?” She was coming down. Dammit. He’d have to time this better. 

“What are you doing?” Annabeth asked. 

He shook his head, still looking at Sephie. When she was at the top. That was when he would strike again. She’d hear it eventually. 

“LOOK DOWN!” He shouted again, louder this time. Sephie frowned, but didn’t look down. 

“We need to be quicker, Grover,” Annabeth whispered, gesturing behind them. He risked a glance, noticing several servers walking up to them. Dammit. 

He sighed. Sorry, lovely voice chords. It was fun knowing you. “LOOOOK DOOOOWN!” Sephie was at the apex. He could see her frown, then shrug. She looked down.

The screech Sephie made was louder than any sound Grover could (and would) ever hear again. He was pretty sure she had deafened him slightly. Sephie waved her limbs wildly, somehow trying to slow down. And she did. By hitting the ground. It turns out that waving your limbs around when holding a sword in one and a trident in the other while only being held by a rope is a good way to fall. When she had gotten those out, Grover didn’t know. Fear gave people wings, unless you were a demigod. Then it gave you strange abilities. Getting weapons out of nowhere (‘cause there was no way that Sephie could summon those when going this fast) was not even close to the weirdest thing he’d encountered. Not the most normal, either, but it wasn’t that weird. Fortunately she had slowed down completely, but even then the sound of her hitting the ground made Grover flinch. 

“Are you alright?” She grumbled in response, but got up slowly. 

“Fine,” she muttered. “What happened?” She grabbed her sword, which she had let go as she fell. 

“I don’t think this is a casino,” he responded, keeping a watchful eye on the servers who were slowly closing in on them. 

“Lotus,” Annabeth gasped. “Stupid! It’s like the Lotus Eaters!” Grover nodded slowly. It made sense. He gave the massive casino a quick glance. They had definitely done a scale-up, though. 

“What’s that?” Sephie asked. Grover noticed she was clenching her trident and sword tightly, to the point her knuckles were white. She looked pale, too. She was scared. Grover had never seen her scared before. 

“The Lotus Eaters were a group of people who gave people drugs so they would forever stay on their island. Except the drugs seem to be games here. Well, that and the tin cans.” 

“What tin ca-,” Annabeth interrupted herself. “No time, let’s go.”

Grover watched the servers seemingly doubling. “Umm, Annabeth? I don’t think they’re gonna let us go.” He quickly grabbed his pan pipes. Worst case scenario he’d just have to try and tie them all up with some plants. 

“You mean they drugged me?” Sephie wondered. “I don’t feel drugged. Nah, it was probably ‘cause I liked it so much.” Grover looked at her. She was shivering, paler than even before. What was happening to her? “Definitely didn’t get drugged,” he heard her mutter. “Couldn’t have.” 

“What’s the plan, Annabeth?” He asked. They had to leave quickly. Sephie was not taking this well. 

Annabeth slowly put her knife up. “We’ll have to fight our way out. Let’s do the standard tactic. Sephie.” Sephie startled, and looked at her. “Just follow us, okay?” Sephie nodded. “Let’s go!” Annabeth put her cap on her head, turning invisible. Grover started playing his pan pipes. Keep the attention from Annabeth, and they should be fine. He hoped. 

Plants burst from the ground and started grabbing at the servers legs. A few fell over due to the unexpected attack. Thank god for the extra lessons Coach had given him, he thought as he continued playing. He wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. Could have done without the baseball bat lessons, though. He quickly took a breath, risking a glance at Sephie. She was still standing still, shivering, pale. What in the world was happening to her? Someone shouted, and the first server burst into dust. He played a slightly different tune. Slightly higher and faster. The plants followed his wish, and grew faster too. Several servers fell, while others burst into dust. Thank god that the servers weren’t actual fighters. That would have started a whole ‘nother mess. 

He risked another glance at Sephie. She was muttering something. “Sephie?” He risked the question, but could then feel plants tear. He resumed playing, a heavier sound, drumming through his veins. The plants listened, and grew tight. One of the servers was caught off guard, and was soon enveloped. Annabeth put him out of misery. It went well for a little while longer. Grover could hold them off where they were, while they couldn’t find Annabeth. The Lotus Eaters didn’t really have a good way to fight, either. They were limited to their drugs, and now that they knew about them… well. Needless to say Grover was not changing his ‘no drugs ever’ rule now. Yet there were so many. They kept coming, wave after wave. And Sephie wasn’t helping. “SEPHIE!” He shouted, trying to wake her up out of whatever dream she was in. She didn’t react. Just kept muttering to herself, shivering, pale hands clenched around her weapons. He clenched his teeth before returning to playing, trying desperately to keep the servers’ attention. If Annabeth was caught… He shivered himself. Don’t think about that! 

But just because he didn’t think about it, didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Maybe it was a mistaken attack, maybe it was a simple moment of bad luck, but suddenly Annabeth was visible, her hat on the ground, surrounded by several servers who wasted no time in attacking her. Grover played a high, fast, trembling tune, trying desperately to lock them up. It wasn’t working. 

“Always stay calm, cupcake!” Coach shouted, waving his bat wildly. “If you aren’t calm, you can’t BEAT ‘EM UP!” 

Sorry, Coach. He just never succeeded in staying calm. 

“AND IF YOU CAN’T STAY CALM, BEAT ‘EM UP ANYWAY!” Coach glared at him, and swung his baseball bat in a similar way you would see when a baseball player hit a homerun. “Just like that,” he muttered. 

Grover sighed. Well, Coach, let’s see if your questionable lessons are true. He put his pan pipes away, and grabbed the small stick he had on the side of his belt. He kept it carefully hidden. Coach was all about those hidden secondary weapons, so it wouldn’t do to not follow his advice. Least of all, because he liked not being completely deaf. As painful as Sephie’s (he looked at her again) scream was, Coach was much louder. “I’m gonna help Annabeth. Just stay here, okay?” The small stick grew into a baseball bat. The main weapon in any true Satyr’s arsenal, according to Coach. If it was up to him, Satyrs wouldn’t be healing plants and guiding demigods, but going to the root of the problem. And beat it up, of course. He quickly ran towards Annabeth. Good thing Luke had managed to convince Beckendorf to cover his in some celestial bronze spikes, otherwise it wouldn’t have much effect on the monsters, he thought, as he smashed the first one in the head and it burst into dust. It was also a bit weird he was just thinking while fighting. He blamed Coach. Whenever they sparred he had to think for two. Coach would probably say that it was a part of the training regimen. 

“Thanks,” Annabeth said, while stabbing a server through the chest. “How’s Sephie?”

Grover would have shrugged, except you can’t shrug while hitting a home run. Need your shoulder and back muscles to do that correctly, he was pretty sure. “I don’t think she’s getting worse. I just hope we can get her out.” 

Annabeth frowned, rolled between an opponent’s legs, grabbed her hat, and put it on. “You deal with these guys, I’ll get her. We’ll have to fight her way out.” She ignored Grover’s groan. Why was it that whenever he grabbed a baseball bat, he had to beat everything up? It happened during capture the flag, too. It was like people suddenly decided that he could handle an entire cabin on his own. He dodged an attack, and kicked one in the face. He gut punched one with his bat, then took a few steps back. Another one tried to chase him, only to trip and get a bat to the face for his troubles. “You guys are some of the worst fighters I’ve ever seen.”

“Believe me, we know,” a server groaned, slowly getting back up. “I tripped over my own feet, if you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t, actually,” he muttered. 

The server shrugged. “We generally don’t have good fighters around these parts. At least not one who can fight that well on their own.” He sighed. “Now we’ll have to move again. Last time, the entire casino got destroyed.” He perked up. “Hey, Larry. Think we can do a massage salon again? I liked that one.”

Larry shrugged. “You’ll have to take it up with my brother. He decides.”

The server groaned. “He’ll want to do a restaurant again, won’t he? Kill me now.” Grover was about to oblige, but then he saw Annabeth waving at him from behind the servers. How in the world they’d slipped by he didn’t kn- that’s not true. He did know. The Lotus Eaters were apparently some of the worst fighters in mythology. Who knew that constantly being around drugs made you lose your ability to fight? 

“How about you just let me go, and I won’t tell anyone what I saw here,” Grover asked. He’d also learned from Coach to always be diplomatic, though he thought Coach might not know what diplomacy actually meant. He seemed to think it was simply swinging your bat around, making threats, and calling people cupcakes. 

Larry gestured towards the door. “Go ahead. Keep that third kid away, please? Oceanids never do so well here. Something about being very big on freedom.” He gave a thoughtful frown. “Who's her godly parent?”

Grover started walking towards the exit, Larry following a few steps behind him. “Why do you want to know?” It might seem strange to have such a calm conversation with someone you were just fighting, but that was the art of baseball bat diplomacy. People suddenly became pacifists.

“Some of the godly oceanids are very big on revenge. Hel, many oceanids are. ‘t would be a bit unfortunate if we got flooded again.” Again? Also, he was pretty sure Larry wasn’t supposed to tell him this. It would get him a bad mark on his T.T’s.  

“We’re not sure,” Grover said, stepping out into the sun. “Could be a lot of different people, really. It’s a whole situation.”

Larry nodded. “Yeah, I get that. We have a few of those, too. Anyway, good luck on your quest, and no hard feelings, right?” 

“Sure.” Grover quickly left the casino behind, moving up to where Annabeth was crouched next to Sephie, a hand on her shoulder. “Is she getting better,” he asked. 

“Not sure. I’ve got bad news though.” She nodded at a newspaper stand (and wow, did they still have those?). “We were in there for a long time. We’ve only got a day to get the lightning bolt back.” Grover suddenly felt very bad at keeping secrets, especially when he was near an ocean. Or any body of water, really. He wasn’t picky. As long as it led to a very, very local flood. 

Well, look at the positives. If they succeeded in getting the Lightning Bolt, the place would flood. And if they didn’t succeed in getting it, it would likely flood as well. Along with the rest of the western world, probably. He was pretty sure a lot of pantheons would be completely fine with that. Maybe they would be willing to give him a small place to live out his days?

Chapter Text

“We should head to the nearest water,” Annabeth said. Sephie was looking better, but still heavily leaning onto her. “I’ve no idea what happened to her. Water should help her get better.”

Grover frowned, grabbing onto Sephie’s other side. “We’re in Las Vegas. Where is water here? I don’t think a fountain will work.” 

“It’s our best bet. We can’t get to Los Angeles like this,” she said. They couldn’t get to Los Angeles in time, anyway. It was morning. It would take hours to get there by car or train. Plane wasn’t an option, not with a daughter of Poseidon with them. It would just spark another war. Annabeth glared at the hotel. The Oceanids knew of this already. And if they didn’t, they would know soon. It was a free favor gained with some of the most powerful gods in the world. Still, they didn’t have any options left. “Let’s just go,” Grover said, and started walking.

“Where,” Annabethg asked. “We shouldn’t exhaust ourselves.” Not more, at least. 

“Somewhere. Anywhere.” Grover tried to start walking again, but Annabeth didn’t follow him again, leaving Sephie hanging between them like a doll. They needed a plan. Badly. She only realized it now, but… they hadn’t really had a plan so far. It was all a lot of luck. From Medusa beating back the furies to Ares pretty much guiding them to Las Vegas. They had been incredibly lucky so far. But now, that luck has run out. Their bags were still in their hotel rooms. They had no money, no way of getting further. “Annabeth?”

“Not now, I’m thinking.” They needed a way to get to Los Angeles fast. The plane wasn’t an option. It would get blown out of the sky. It would take hours by car, and it would be extremely expensive. That wasn’t an option. Unless… “Do you have a lotus card?”

“A what?”

“A lotus card. I dropped mine somewhere.” It might be their way out. Traveling to Los Angeles by taxi would cost a lot, yes, but if those cards were legitimate. They might just be. It would take a long time to get to Los Angeles, but they would be closer to water then. Sephie was looking better already as well, which meant that the drive might be enough. Grover finished rummaging in his pockets. “I have nothing.” Annabeth had already started checking Sephie’s pockets. The left pocket came first, but it was empty. Right pocket, just a pen. Left jacket pocket was empty again. The right jacket pocket gave success, though. A green lotus card. “Let’s get a taxi.” 

It didn’t take long to find one, they were everywhere. The scariest part came next. The driver gave them a long look and took a long drag from a cigarette. “Money first, then I’ll take you.”

“Do you take casino cards?” 

“Some of ‘em.” She gave him the green card. He gave it a dubious glance, then shrugged and tried it. It seemed to crash, hundreds of numbers appearing and disappearing and appearing again. Then an infinity symbol appeared. They all looked at it in surprise. The man coughed, and quickly sat up. He sneakily threw his cigarette out of the window.  

“Where do you wish to go, erm… your highness?” 

Annabeth smiled. “That will do, yes. Los Angeles. As fast as you can.” The man nearly saluted, then took off. 

“We will arrive there in about two and a half hours, your highness. Is that sufficient?”

“It will have to do,” Annabeth said. Then they rode off.

The drive itself was boring. All of them were exhausted. Despite the stress, they quickly fell asleep. Annabeth woke up intermittently, quickly checking on Sephie, then falling asleep again. Sephie was doing better, though. She’d gotten her color back, and seemed calmer than before. That didn’t mean Annabeth had forgotten about it, though. The simple fact is that there was something very wrong, and she wanted to know what. It helped that Sephie still had dark circles beneath her eyes. She’d not slept as much as she might’ve otherwise. 

Many years later, looking back at all these smaller moments, Annabeth would wonder how she’d never seen it coming. It was staring her in the face. Except it wasn’t, not really. How could it, when you had nothing to compare it to?

— —

The taxi let them out near the ocean. They were fully energized, having quickly stopped to get food on the way here. Sephie let them down the beach, casually talking about anything and everything. It was as if she hadn’t been down for the count just hours ago, or that they were on a mission which could potentially end the entire western world. 

“What’s the plan, Sephie?” Annabeth cut her off from whatever she had been saying. 

Sephie hummed for a bit. “I guess I’ll just wade into the water? No clue, really.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” 

Sephie shrugged, then walked into the surf. Her hair shone golden in the sun. Like a crown, Annabeth supposed. Oddly fitting, considering her family. She wasn’t jealous, though. “You’re jealous, aren’t you,” Grover said. 

“Shut up,” she muttered. They watched quietly as Sephie waded ever further into the ocean. She slowly disappeared into the waves, which had also slowly been growing in size. Something was coming closer. Well, maybe it was someone. Only the fates knew who it was that met her in the depths. 

Note from the Fates: That’s absolutely true! We know she is meeting right now (that is, in the story. We also know who Sephie is meeting right now now, but that’s a future story). 

It took a dozen or so minutes before she came out, clothes completely dry. She looked healthier than before, the slight circles beneath her eyes completely gone. “Let’s go!” She shouted, walking in a random direction. Grover and Annabeth gave each other a glance. If they rolled their eyes, then that was their business. 

“Where’re we going?” 

“The Underworld! With a capital U!” Of course with a capital letter. When wasn’t it? “It’s… somewhere. I’m not sure. But I’ll find it. That’s what she said!”

“Was that…” Grover trailed off. 

“Was that what?” Sephie asked. 

Grover bleated slightly. “Never mind. You know where we are supposed to go, right?” 

“Abouts. Some place called DOA Recording Studios.” Sephie slowed down so they could catch up without running. “And there was some guy nearby. We should stay away from him. Prius something-or-other. Not sure.”

That could be a lot of different beings. Priapus, a minor god of fertility, or Priam, the last god of Troy. But knowing Sephie, it was someone completely different. Hopefully they could avoid whoever it was. “How much further do we need to walk?” They were on a very strict time schedule here. With their luck the past few days, it would be on the other side of Los Angeles. 

“We’re here!” Annabeth looked at where Sephie was pointing. It was an office building with DOA Recording Studios above the doors. They stopped just in front of it. 

“Are you sure this isn’t a trap,” Grover wondered. “It seems awfully much like a trap.”

“I doubt my mother would send me to a trap.”

“It’s the underworld,” Annabeth said. “Isn’t that a trap per definition?”

“It depends,” Sephie said. “What’s the definition of a trap?”

“A device or enclosure designed to catch and retain animals, typically by allowing entry but not exit or by catching hold of a part of the body.” Had she read that in a dictionary recently? Yes. Yes she had. It was all in preparation of the quest. “The other definition is more likely. A situation in which people lie in wait to make a surprise attack.” Then she frowned. “Actually, no. It’s a combination of the two that is more likely.”

“Can’t we go to some nicer place? I don’t like the underground,” Grover said. 

Sephie rolled her eyes. “It’s the Underworld, not the underground, Grover. It’s two very different things! So let’s go! It’ll probably be very cool.” She pushed her way through the doors. “Also, isn’t there like a shark or something here?”

“A shark? Why would there be a shark underground?” 

“It’s the Underworld, Grover. With a capital U. I hear things like that. And a shark makes a good guard dog. I think.” There were a large number of ghosts inside, all muttering things. The ghosts stood in a line towards… Annabeth wasn’t sure. While she was fairly tall, nearly everyone here was an adult. It wasn’t actually possible to see anything. All that she could see was that the line was long, even if it did move fast. And there was a podium with someone on it. Behind him was a large sign. It said NO SOLICITORS, NO LOITERING, NO LIVING. 

“You mean Cerberus?” 

“YES! The Guard Shark!”

“No, it’s a guard dog, Sephie.” Grover spoke quietly. Annabeth wished that Sephie knew what that word meant. 

“No, that’s what you call it. Someone who’s guarding something is a guard dog. If a dog is guarding something it’s a Guard Dog. And because it’s a shark guarding something it’s a shark who’s a guard dog, which means it’s a Guard Shark.”

“She’ll be proven wrong if she sees Cerberus, Grover.” Grover shrugged, and nodded. “Also, did whoever you talked to say anything else about entering the underworld?”

“The Underworld,” Sephie said pointedly. “And yes, she did. Something about kind donations, loan raises, and suits. Oh, and a reminder of water always flowing down.”

“I’m sorry? We’re threatening H- You Know Who?”

“No, of course not. That’s for Chiron. There’s something else for Uncle Hades.” Annabeth quickly clamped her hand over Sephie’s mouth.

“Don’t call him that,” she hissed. “He’ll know exactly where we are!” Sephie mumbled something through the hand. “And don’t call him uncle! It’s incredibly rude. You’ve never even met him before.” Sephie mumbled something else. Annabeth ignored it. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed the exchange. No one seemed to have. She turned back to Sephie, only to feel something wet on her palm. “Did you just lick me?” Annabeth quickly pulled her hand back, wiping it on her pants. 

“You didn’t let go,” Sephie said petulantly. “And you didn’t hear my genius idea!” 

“Let me guess. By calling him uncle he will remember all familial relations and therefore treat you nicely,” Annabeth said sarcastically. “Not now Grover,” she said in response to him shaking her shoulder. 

“How did you know that?” Sephie wondered. “Maybe there’s some truth about your mother’s smartness. Still not as smart as my mother, though. Or my mom.” 

Annabeth clenched her fists, and took a careful breath. “Guys,” Grover said. “Guys?”

“What?” She turned around to look at him. There was a man behind him. 

“We were a bit too loud, I think.”

“You think?” The man had a British accent, though with a slight accent behind it. As if it was a second language? Annabeth wasn’t sure. What she was sure of was that this guy was scary. “I always thought most living people who decide they want to be dead don’t actually think it through? The way you think explains a lot.”

“That’s a bit rude to say,” Annabeth muttered. Grover elbowed her in the side. 

“Are you Chiron?” Sephie asked. Everything went silent. Even the ghosts stopped their incessant mutters. The man slowly turned his gaze at her. 

“Do you know how often this happens? You stay away from the surface for a few centuries and people confuse you with a centaur. A centaur!” The man put his hands in the air. “And that infuriating halfbreed is centuries younger than me!” He looked back at Sephie. Annabeth noticed his eyes were dead, empty, yet filled with death and despair. Fitting for a god in the underworld. Sephie gave her a quick glare. Underworld, she mouthed. With capital. 

“Eyes on me.” Sephie quickly snapped to attention. “It is Charon. That is pronounced Care on. Repeat after me.” Sephie repeated it. “And now you two.” They did the same thing. Charon sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Let me guess, you want to get some loved one out of the Underworld?”

“Actually, no,” Annabeth said. “We would like to gain entry, though.”

“Do you want to die?” Charon asked confusedly. “Don’t misunderstand, it’s a nice change from the normal ‘it’s a mistake, I’m not supposed to be here’ variations I always hear. Still strange though. If you wait here I’ll get a scalpel.” He was about to turn around when Sephie quickly started speaking. Even she realized the dangers of a scalpel, apparently.

“What if we give you something to let us inside. While alive.” She grabbed something from her pocket. “Here!”

The man opened his hand, and Sephie dropped a single coin in it. He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “This attempt of bribery is so incredibly pathetic I’m tempted to actually let you through.” 

“Really?”

“No.” 

“Darn it. There goes my allowance,” Sephie muttered. Then she grabbed more coins, and dropped them in his hand. “That’s all I have, but we can also put a kind word with your boss!”

“It’s high time for a raise, isn’t it,” Annabeth asked. “You said you’re centuries older than Chiron, after all. I doubt that your boss gave you a raise in that time.”

“You’re not wrong,” Charon mused. “I believe my last raise was… several centuries ago, actually. After a new gold vein was discovered by several of the eternally damned in the Fields of Punishment. That’s where you’ll most likely be going when The Dark Lord figures you out by the way.” He shook his head. “So much inflation. And even then, it took years to convince him. I managed to get through to him, though. We like the same types of suits, you see. Italian make. Very expensive. Comfortable, too.” 

“Think of the suits!” Sephie cheered. “You wouldn’t not buy them, right? That’s just rude!”

“I suppose. But I’ll also get a raise if I tell him of the attempted infiltration attempt.” He turned to walk away, money still in his hand. Sephie put her own hand up as if to stop him, only to drop it. She looked morosely at his back. Annabeth waited, expecting her to speak up.

“Wasn’t there a fourth thing, Sephie?” Sephie just looked at her, not understanding. 

“Water always flows down!” Grover shouted at him.

Charon stopped. He slowly turned around. “Excuse me?”

“You should remember water always flows down. And you are in a cavern, with a daughter of P- Am-... a sea deity.” Grover gave a nonchalant shrug.

Annabeth nodded along as he spoke. “It’s true, you know? I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. Sephie here is a daughter of either Poseidon or Amphitrite. They both insist that they’re the parent, so I’m sure neither would be happy if their daughter died in the underworld.”

“It's the Underworld, actually. With a capital U. He-Who-Must-Be-The-Richest-Being-Deity-Alive-Ever insists. And I suppose you are right.” Charon sighed. “I always get the pyrite in those kinds of situations. Last time the DOA was flooded it took me weeks to get the water pumped out. The expenses.” He shook his head. “It took me years before I could get a new suit. Alright then, I’ll row you to the other side of the river. Don’t come crying to me if His-Richness decides you have to die, though. And don’t forget to talk about my raise. It’s rare that these kinds of things happen, you know,” he said. “He-Who-Savors-Gold despises Labor Unions of any kind. Slightly despotic like that.” He started walking away again. They quickly followed after him. “He’s a real industrialist, too. Obsessed with money. Don’t tell him I said that, though. He’d swap me for one of my siblings as revenge.” Annabeth felt a pang of sympathy. She knew all about being replaced. They walked through a door behind the podium. And then, they were in the underworld. Suddenly. They hadn’t taken an elevator down, or anything like that. Instead, they were just in front of a small dock, with a boat tied to it. The boat was completely normal, if slightly old-looking. Some of the wood seemed rotten. It creaked a bit. Annabeth didn’t fancy getting into it, but the ends justify the means, she supposed? Maybe not the right situation to use it in, but she’d make due with what she had.

The boat bobbed up and down when they got in, one after the other. “It’ll be a bit tighter than normal. Gotta meet my quota, you see? Even if I take the right number of people, they should all be dead.” Charon shrugged. “Just make sure you don’t touch the water and you should be fine.” Calling it water was controversial. It wasn’t water. It didn’t even look like water. It was pitch black, weird sounds bubbling out of it. At the same time, it was completely silent. It made no sound, and Annabeth couldn’t even see it move. The Styx shouldn’t have been called a river, she thought. A pond would have been a better name. One which didn’t really start or end anywhere, just kept going. Except you didn’t know if it was even moving. She glanced at Grover, who quickly helped her force Sephie between them. Sephie had been watching the Styx with a bit too much interest. 

“I wasn’t gonna do anything bad, I promise!” Sephie actually looked innocent as she said it. Annabeth didn’t believe it one bit. “I was only going to dip a single finger in it.”

Charon gave a ghastly chuckle. “Then you would lose that finger.” His voice had turned away from a smooth sound to a hoarse rattle. It was looking at him that made Annabeth understand why. His suit had turned to tatters. His skin had turned gray, with scratches and sores appearing all over it. His throat was simply open. You could see right through to the bone. “It is the border between the living and the dead. Swim in it, and it doesn’t kill you. It just takes something from you that makes you wish you were. Dip your finger in, and it will strip everything from it. Only bone left.” Charon coughed, spitting something into the boat. It went right through one of the ghosts. “There is a reason why breaking an oath on the Styx is stupid thing to do. No life. No death. Just…” he trailed off. “Something else.” He chuckled again. “Yes, something else is a good way to say it.” 

Chapter Text

Sephie was tempted. It showed in a shivering through her entire body. A burning through her muscles. She really, really wanted to touch the water. The river Styx. The River Styx? She didn’t know. What she did know was that the water had something. Perhaps it was the sheer lack of color, the way it seemed to have no end. Perhaps it was the voices that bubbled out of it. Screams that promised dreams fulfilled, nightmares becoming real, and a world turned to ash. Or maybe a world blooming. Those weren’t so different, right? Itt could also be the very pretty woman that was looking straight at her, standing on the water like it was solid. Like Jesus, though Sephie wasn’t really sure if Jesus existed. If Greek Gods were real, was Christianity fake? But then, she was pretty sure other pantheons existed, so perhaps Christianity was true, too. Perhaps it had its own place in the world. Like Sephie did. Except a bigger place. Or maybe a smaller one. People often told her that she took up a lot of space.

This woman, though, wasn’t small. She towered over the boat, eyes so alike to the river boring into hers. She didn’t move, just stared. So Sephie did the natural thing. She stared right back. And if watching this woman tempted her into jumping into the river, that was her business. It wasn’t like she could actually do it. Grover and Annabeth made sure of that, with their solid hold on her shoulders. The woman took a step forward, into a patch of light. Which came from nowhere? The Underworld was weird. Black lines covered her skin, running through it like trenches through an ocean. It was as if the black moved, though, like blood through veins. Sephie had a hard time looking away. Then she blinked. The woman had disappeared. It was as if she had never been there. 

They crossed the river slowly. Charon was careful whenever he put the oar into the water, barely making any sound. No one made a sound, in fact. The silence was oppressive. It was similar to a library, Sephie supposed, where making even the slightest noise felt wrong. As if everyone around you would suddenly glare. Then again, Sephie had never really done libraries, so maybe that had to do with it. They always felt very rude to her. As if one was about to throw books at her head. Or call her stupid. She wasn’t stupid, thank you very much. Sephie was just intellectually disinclined. Her mom always said that. You just don’t care about thinking in depth about things. You’re like a wild animal. You follow your instincts. And now she missed Jibun. And Gladiola. “Hey.” Sephie ignored the hushes. “Where is Gladiola?”

Grover glanced at her. “I sent him to Camp Halfblood,” he said. “He’ll be safer there. Still miss him, though.” He hung his head.

“He’s a dog. Everyone likes dogs,” Annabeth said. “He’ll be fine.”

“I’m not sure if I want to be friends with him if he isn’t fine,” Sephie said. 

“Nearly everyone, then,” Annabeth muttered.

Grover glared sadly at her. “You opportunist. You only care about friendship when someone is doing well.”

Sephie gave him a strange look. “I’m friends with you, right?” 

Annabeth started coughing loudly while Grover hung his head again. “It’s weird to hear people talking here,” Charon said. “Probably because of you, Daughter of Poseidon, Amphitrite, or whatever other Oceanid wants you.”

“That sounds like a very bad thing to say,” Grover muttered, arms around himself. “What if more of them decide to claim her.”

“Please, no,” Annabeth muttered, looking pale. “The sheer chaos it would cause.”

Sephie ignored the rest of their conversation. There were more interesting things to do. Like watching the ghosts. And touching them. Well, not touching them. More like moving through them. Through should be taken literal, as the ghosts didn’t have physical forms. Moving through them felt weird, but weird in a funny way. It was like a cold-hot hand being clamped around her entire body. Which made no sense, but maybe it was like sweet-and-sour sauce. How something could be sweet and sour at the same time, Sephie still didn’t know. Either way, the hold-cot feeling seared, like a burn, but it also felt very cold, like frostbite. And there was no mark, either. That made sense, though, because ghosts didn’t really have bodies, so the feeling probably wasn’t real. Well, not fake, but not real like touching a human body. “What does the Styx feel like to you, Daughter of Poseidon?”

The question startled Sephie out of her thoughts. What did the Styx feel like? Like the Styx, obviously. She said so, shrugging as she did.

Charon hummed. “Circular reasoning. Why am I not surprised? I would like a clearer answer, though.”

Sephie turned around to look at the black river. It felt like… she wasn’t sure how to describe it. “Like… Like a bad dream, I think,” she said. “Just before you wake up.” She shook her head. “No, not that either. It’s like… chocolate. The very pure kind. With 80% cocoa.”

“Bitter, then?”

“I guess.”

Charon moved the oar to the left, maneuvering past a rock. “Interesting.”

“Why did you want to know,” Annabeth asked. 

“You of all people should know that, daughter of Athena.” He glanced at her, then looked ahead. “Wisdom is useful, no matter where it comes from. If an Oceanid says the Styx feels bitter, who am I to dispute that?”

“A god of the underworld,” Grover said, drily. “I’d say you are the perfect person to dispute it.”

“Ah, but am I a god?” Charon shook his head slightly. “No, merely a demon and a spirit. I have my domain, but not true control. That is for Hermes. And please don’t forget,” he said, “that it is the Underworld. Gods notice the difference.”

“You just said you’re not a god,” Sephie muttered, “but I agree. They’re very bad at this.” She glared at Grover. 

Charon gave an elegant shrug. “We are close enough to gods to notice the difference, even if we don’t care much about it. To me, calling it the Underworld is only important as it influences my paycheck. And less money means fewer Italian suits. It happens very fast, too. I only had enough for two dozen suits.”

“This year?” Annabeth looked stunned.

“This week,” Charon said. “I drive a hard bargain, but so does He-Whose-Name-Mustn’t-Be-Given.”

“Why do you do that?” Sephie asked. “It sounds funny, like something from a book, but I don’t get it.”

“His-Dark-Grace notices whenever his name is spoken, like any other immortal being. He is just more… strict about it.” 

Annabeth paled slightly. “We didn’t say his name at any point, right?”

“His name, Annabeth. His name,” Sephie said. 

“Not exactly, Daughter of Poseidon. His name would be used for God. His name is fine.” 

“God is real?” 

Annabeth leaned against the side of the boat. “Not sure. It’s a bunch of spiritual stuff, though. Same with Allah, and Yahweh.”

“Exactly.” Charon gestured to the ghosts in the boat. “These ghosts see different things based on what they believe in. Jews see everything according to their underworld. The same for Christians and Muslims.” 

“What about the others?”

“That,” Charon said as they suddenly arrived at a dock, “is a story for another time. I wish you good luck on your journey. Do not forget to remind The-Second-Most-Hated-One of my salary and the terrible inflation.” He threw a rope around a pole, and the ghosts flooded off. Sephie stepped off the boat, Annabeth and Grover following her. 

Charon pulled the rope off the pole. Then, he rowed back to the other side. Sephie waved after him. “See you soon!” Charon turned to give her a look. When she turned around, she noticed Grover and Annabeth do the same thing. “What?” 

They just turned and started walking. Sephie jogged to catch up. “What did I do!” 

“What didn’t you do, Sephie,” Grover muttered. “What didn’t you do?

Chapter Text

The underworld was a good name for the underworld. It made Sephie think of large caves, and winding caverns, as well as very, very long tunnels. For some reason, the last didn’t apply, possibly because the tunnels didn’t really help you move around. Well, move the dead around, as there were ghosts everywhere. For some reason, there were very long lines, despite Charon not constantly rowing from one shore to another. According to Annabeth, at least. Sephie didn’t quite agree, as he’d been off the moment they arrived! And the moment they got to the other side, he was off again! Annabeth was a bit weird like that, though. Apparently it was written in some books, but Sephie never really agreed with books? They were a bit weird, with letters and stuff. Also, she hated libraries, and they hated her. They were stuffy, and always blew dust up her nose. And in her face. When she was younger, her mother didn’t agree that this was a good reason to never read books, but she got around eventually. Sephie was very good at this debating stuff. 

Needless to say, that was why she was pretty sure she was winning this debate. She’d won many previous debates with Annabeth, so why wouldn’t she win this one? Annabeth wanted to be all sneaky, and act like they were ghosts. Sephie was of the opinion that that was very boring. And easy. Ez, too, ‘cause Annabeth wanted to take the Ez Death route. Obviously, that meant they would die easily, and Sephie didn’t want to die. And it seemed boring, of course. 

That she wanted to meet ghost judges was just a random detail, she promised! Now she just needed Grover to agree. The poodle-monster would agree with her, agent of chaos that it was, but he was at camp by this point. Maybe. He had very small legs. Or is it has? Both? Something to consider while ignoring Annabeth’s arguments. They were logical, stupidly enough. And Sephie really didn’t like logical arguments, or just logic in general. It just rubbed her the wrong way. She didn’t hate Annabeth for believing in logic, really, but you could hardly blame her for wanting as little to do with her as possible when she was in such a mood. 

“Enjoying yourself?” 

“Yes, thanks for asking!” She said to the random person who had suddenly started talking to her. “I didn’t know ghosts could speak.” 

There were simultaneous choking sounds behind her. There was something familiar about that, actually. She’d heard those sounds before. “I’m not a ghost” was the slightly icy answer. “Though I suppose it’s an easy mistake to make. I guide them here, and I remember all of them.” He smirked. “You don’t have that Charon vibe to you, you know?”

“Charon… vibe?” 

“Yes, Annabeth Chase, the Charon vibe. Those brought to the dead side of the underworld, and passed the Styx in the process, have what I like to call the Charon vibe. They’re more… dead? No, that’s not it.” He shrugged. “They get an advantage when being judged, at least.”

“That’s not very fair,” Annabeth said. 

“Death rarely is.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It makes sense,” Sephie said. “Don’t you agree, Grover?”

“I don’t really do death, Sephie. I’ll just get turned into a plant, and the more I see of the underworld, the happier I am.”

“The Underworld, satyr. It’s an easy mistake to make.” 

“What?”

“It’s not the underworld, but the Underworld.” The Non-Ghost shook his head. “But I’m not here to give you spelling lessons. Got something I’m supposed to deliver, your hands only,” he said, looking at Sephie. “You are Sephie Amphie Jackson, right?”

“What kind of a middle name is Amphie?” 

“It’s Amphy, actually,” Sephie said, pouting. “And don’t call me that. It’s a stupid name.”

The messenger coughed. “You shouldn’t say that,” he said, “it’s a bit insulting. Also, it definitely is Amphie. I don’t deliver messages that aren’t labeled right.” He pulled a backpack out of nowhere. “Here you are, compliments of your favorite cousin.” The messenger snickered. “As if! Obviously I’m your favorite.”

“You’re Luke’s father,” Annabeth said.

The now-named Hermes grinned. “Smart one aren’t you? Say hi to him for me, will you? And please deliver the Lightning Bolt safely, I like my children, and the world in general, to be unexploded.” 

“We’ll deliver the Lightning Bolt safely, Luke’s father,” Sephie saluted. “Though I would like to see a small explosion.” Preferably here. The Underworld was a very irritating place. She liked water more. If only she could have gotten a nice swim in that river, that would have been great! She would’ve been completely pumped up for the Underworld then. She glanced at Grover and Annabeth, noticing they were still talking to Hermes. They wouldn’t notice if she snuck away. 

It took only a single step for her hands to be grabbed. She pouted again, puffing her cheeks out. Rude. What did she even do to be so rudely grabbed? She just wanted to take a swim. “Now, could you take the package? I have other things to deliver,” Hermes said. Sephie wrenched her hands, and grabbed the bag.

“There’s nothing inside?”

“Ah, an anonymous package. Well, I say anonymous, but I guess I spoiled who you got it from, huh? Not really the point. I managed to arrange these bad boys after the second world war, when Hera finally stopped blocking the legislation. She really didn’t want Zeus getting more freedom, but after the war, that problem had disappeared.” Hermes frowned thoughtfully. “Though now that I think about it, the number of packages I’ve been delivering for him has increased.”

“Then how do we know it’s safe?” Annabeth asked. “We don’t even know what’s in it.”

“They give me something very valuable as a collateral. If the package turns out to be dangerous, they don’t get it back!” 

Sephie quickly put the bag down. “That doesn’t sound very safe to me,” she said. 

They all gave her a weird look. “What?”

“I’ve only really known you for a few minutes, but I’m pretty sure that this is very out of character behavior.” Grover and Annabeth nodded in agreement. Hermes shrugged. “Oh well, you do you, and all that. If it turns out to be harmful, no worries. They’ll lose something very precious to them.” He snapped his fingers, and simply disappeared. They were left alone in the underworld, a very scary bag in between them. Sephie kept a close eye on it, leaving her completely blindsided when Grover suddenly picked it up. Sephie looked at him.

“What? If you think that it’s dangerous to hold, then it’s obviously safe to do so. That’s the way your logic works.” He turned and started walking. They scrambled after him, Sephie shouting loudly.

“If we take the bag, then we go through the ghostly judges!”

“Absolutely not,” Annabeth shouted. “We’re taking Ez Death!”

“So you want to take the easy way out, huh?” 

“In this case, yes!” Hah, it was on. Sephie had time to convince them, she was sure. Just you wait, Annabeth Chase, she would be so logical that Annabeth would be struck blind! By her logic.

She’d have to work on that one.

Chapter Text

Sephie regretted not taking the easy route to death. The line they were in was crawling forward, perhaps like a line at an amusement park. Even then, it would require everyone in the amusement park to be waiting at that line, and said line being quadrupled. Then you might approach the size of the queue they were currently in. Yeah, Sephie couldn’t help but regret her choices. Annabeth was, painfully enough, right, even if it wasn’t for the logical reason of avoiding danger. 

That wasn’t to say that joy couldn’t be taken out of this. “What’s so bad about waiting in line, Annabeth? It’s a nice soothing thing after all the stress we’ve had this week!” 

“We have a deadline. One that ends by the end of today. I am incredibly stressed, more than I was this entire week.”

“I think you have some gray hairs, yeah,” Sephie said. “It suits you?”

“Shut up.” 

“Rude,” she whispered. Sephie wasn’t sure why Annabeth was worried, though. While she was pretty sure that not meeting the deadline would mean imminent death for quite a lot of people, she also assumed that this didn’t pertain to her. 

“Why are you muttering, and why are you using those words,” Grover asked. “Since when do you know those kinds of words anyway?”

“What kinds of words?”

“The ones with more than one syllable,” Annabeth muttered. 

“The non-standard words,” Grover said, looking at Annabeth, “Pertain, for instance.”

“When did I use that word?” 

“Just now, when you were muttering to yourself about death and survival. I’m also pretty sure that you can in fact die, Sephie,” Grover said. 

“Did I say pertained?”

“You did.” 

“Weird,” she muttered. She couldn’t remember it. Maybe? Grover was confusing. What was also confusing was those skeletons walking straight at them with their guns out. 

“Come with us,” the first said. 

“The Judge will see you now,” the other continued. 

“We’ll just wait in line, thanks,” Grover responded. 

The guns were cocked simultaneously. “You have no choice in this matter.”

Grover bleated. “Do I need to hit a homerun?”

“Let’s just go with them for now,” Annabeth muttered. “Start a fight here and we’re done for.”

 They followed the two skeletons, moving quickly past the line. As it started cresting a hill, they took a turn into a dark corridor. They walked for a few minutes, quietly, one soldier in front of them, another behind them. They made no noise, but the rattling of bones. They stopped at an absolutely massive door. A pitchblack one, even, decorated with all kinds of horrifying imagery. Scenes of death, despair, and agony were carved into the wood. It was a bit over the top, Sephie thought. Like, sure, we’re in the Underworld, but please… do you have to make it obvious? Wouldn’t it be much nicer if it had some happy scenes, too? An ocean, maybe, with a sunset behind it. Several skeletons stood in front of it, and as they came to a halt, moved to open the door. It creaked and groaned as they did. The skeletons started moving again, leaving them to follow. “Hey, what are your names?”

“The dead need no names. All that we were in life, we have left behind. We are puppets and tools, only there to serve His will.” 

“That doesn’t really sound conforming to workers’ rights,” Annabeth muttered. Grover gave her a terrified look.

“This isn’t the time,” he hissed.

“You’re lucky you got here today, you know? We had a strike three days ago.” The skeleton frowned, or tried to. It was hard to see as it lacked any and all body parts that allowed it to do so. It hunched, Sephie supposed. It also made her wonder how it was capable of walking, as it didn’t have any muscles. She was pretty sure you needed muscles to walk. 

“What happened,” Annabeth asked.

“Decimation. Our Lord was in a Latin mood.”

“A Latin mood,” Grover whimpered.

“Oh yes, he has those every once in a while. More strict, then. You are quite lucky, though. He’s been his normal self today. He can be reasoned with. Maybe.”

“It didn’t work for the strikes.”

“It didn't work for the strikes. On the upside, he didn’t decimate. Just send a few of us to the Fields for a few days.”

They had been walking for a while now. Sephie was getting bored. What did decimation look like, anyway? She knew that you could decimate an army. You could also decimate a sports team, or a class. One of her teachers said she nearly did that, which was grounds for expulsion. As if! All she wanted to do was show her classmates the joys of the ocean and its inhabitants. So what if one of them nearly lost an arm, and another a leg. It’s not like it didn’t take her an arm and a leg to arrange it! And the one that did lose a leg shouldn’t have stabbed himself in the leg that day. Sephie could hardly account for all those logistics. And the shark who did it apologized, too! Sharks didn’t normally do that, she was pretty sure. The school also didn’t believe her, called her criminally insane, and the boy’s parents threatened legal action. They never ended up doing it, though. Something about Frank and pans? And losing legs being the least of their worries? Sephie wasn’t sure about that one. 

“But he’s only been in a Greek mood for a day, you said.” Sephie turned back into the conversation. Admittedly, she wasn’t good at math, but several days of work in one day sounded weird to her. Then again, all types of work did. 

“We work long hours.” The skeleton slumped badly. The kind where people around you would tell you to straighten up to avoid having an eighty year old’s back at the age of sixteen. “Very long hours.” 

“You know, the longer this quest goes on, the more I feel that monsters are like slaves,” Grover said. 

“Excuse me,” Annabeth said. 

“The Lotus Casino guys, they had to spend hours and hours working, and now these skeletons who work more hours in a day than there are hours in a day.” 

“We also have very long days, weeks, months, and years,” one of the skeletons said. “Just very long lives.”

“Don’t you mean deaths,” Sephie asked.

The skeleton shook its head, the head making some very precarious movements as he did. “Death is just a single moment. You die, and then you become like us. Servants to the Great Tyrant down below. Well, ahead, I suppose.”

“Oh gods.” 

“No gods to pray to here, girly, just His Cruel Grace.” 

Another massive door opened. The skeletons led them into a room so large you could not see the ceiling or the walls. A throne made of jewels, some dark stone, and souls stood on the far end. One of the skeletons made a weird clattering sound. “Oh Great Lady, this lowly servant did not know you would be here today!” 

They approached the woman, who stayed silent. “Here are the three infiltrators, Great Lady. Do with them as You will.” 

“Thank you.” She waved her hand, making them run away. “Now, what are two demigods and a satyr doing here?”

“Where is Lord Hades,” Annabeth asked. “We wish to speak to him about… something,” she finished awkwardly.

“My husband is busy searching for his Hat. And I can assure you he doesn’t have the Lightning Bolt. I would have known. That stupid Thing has a tendency to electrify all the flowers.” The woman looked furious. Sephie felt slightly bad for her, and started to take a step forward, only for Grover to stop her. He shook his head at her.

Sephie pouted. Why couldn’t she talk to the Great Lady? Could she become a Great Lady? She would settle for being a Great lady, or even a great Lady. Okay, maybe not the last one. That sounded a bit weird, and old. But still! Her mom always told her to learn from other people. And various other things, but she didn’t really listen to that. 

“In addition,” the woman continued, “you already have the Lightning Bolt. In that backpack you carry.” 

“Excuse me,” Annabeth said.

“You are excused, but not forgiven.”

“What does that even mean,” Grover wondered.

“It means that ‘excuse me’ is not a valid sentence in this case,” the Great Lady answered. “As a daughter of Athena should undoubtedly know. Now, would you kindly hand over the Lightning Bolt? I’ll make sure to give it to my father.” 

“That’s not what the prophecy says.”

“It doesn’t,” Sephie wondered. 

“What was the prophecy, Sephie?”

“That’s a good question.” 

The Great Lady laughed. “You’re quite the funny one, aren’t you. I can see why my brother thinks you’re a riot.” 

“Your brother thinks I’m a riot? Cool.” She blinked. “Who’s your brother?”

“Who isn’t my brother,” the Great Lady muttered. “As for your prophecy, it says nothing about who has to bring back the Lightning Bolt.”

“If we don’t bring it back, this entire quest feels slightly redundant,” Annabeth said, already over Ares nearly getting them killed by giving them the Lightning Bolt while sending them straight into the pits of hell. Hell, in this case, with a capital H, as it was in fact Hell, not the metaphorical, but the physical. It was Hell, straight up. 

“I suppose it is,” the woman said. She sighed. “That’s the irritating part of being a God. You can’t do everything directly, you need a demigod to do things for you. Oh well.” She stepped down, and shrunk a bunch of meters. “If you would?” She asked, making gimme hands at the bag. 

Annabeth took a step back. “I’m not sure.” 

“What’s the worst that could happen,” Sephie asked. 

“War? Hades overthrowing Olympus?”

“You think I want my father overthrown? Sure, he’s a bit of an asshole, but not that much. Also, my husband really doesn’t need more power, at least not the death part of power.”

“Sephie, do something,” Grover hissed.

“Do what,” she asked, making the Great Lady look at her.

“It’s Persephone, not Great Lady, actually. Easy mistake to make, of course. I blame the skeletons. They believe that calling someone by their actual name is dangerous. I think the magic has messed with their brains.”

“Skeletons have brains?”

Persephone opened her mouth, then closed it. “You know, I’m not sure. Care to find out?”

“Yes please,” Sephie answered. They both turned to look at the nearest skeleton. Its head looked slightly empty, but who knew what was hidden behind its skull. Admittedly, they could see the inside of said skull, but still. It might be an illusion. Or something. 

“Will you do the honors?” Persephone asked.

Sephie uncapped her pen, for what she believed was the second time this entire journey. “Will I?”

“Will you?”

“Ah… Yes, I think. Can I?”

“Of course! Far be it from me to take such joy out of children.” As they started figuring out best to lobotimize a skeleton, Grover and Annabeth were left to scheme. 

And to be upset in Annabeth’s case. “How is it that every time we meet a god,” she started, ignoring the call of God from both Sephie and Persephonie, “they like Sephie?”

“I have no idea, but it made this quest so much easier,” Grover said. “So how are we getting out of here?”

“Sneak out, using Sephie as a distraction? She’s most likely to survive, I think. Persephone seems to have taken a liking to her.” 

“Not surprising, that,” Grover muttered. “Guess naming someone after someone else actually helps a lot.”

“I guess. Makes me wonder what my mother saw in my father, when there are women around who are so much smarter. Then again, Sephie needs a smart parent badly. The gods - Still Gods! - Gods,” Annabeth rolled her eyes, “know that she isn’t the smartest tool in the box.”

“Most colorful fish in the sea,” Grover muttered, ignoring Annabeth’s confused stare. “So what’s the plan?”

Annabeth looked around, though she was careful not to even glance at whatever horrifying things Sephie and Persephone were doing to that poor skeleton. “There’s a door over there, without skeletons,” she said, pointing at a door behind the throne. “Let’s sneak out over there.”

“And leave Sephie here?”

“She’ll survive, let’s go!” And so they went, carefully keeping an eye on their surroundings. The skeletons were all focused on the murder that was happening in the middle of the throne room, though one did give them a quick thumbs up. They carefully slipped behind the throne. Annabeth put her hand on the handle. “It’s locked,” she hissed, trying desperately to open it. “Now what?”

“Kidnap Persephone and force our way out?” 

“You want to kidnap a god?” 

Grover coughed. “Yeah, that’s not a good idea is it?”

“No, it is not.” They both slowly looked up, and up, and up. There was a massive figure who had somehow snuck up behind them. “Care to explain why you have my Helmet?”

“What?”

“In your backpack. Along with the Lightning Bolt. Trying to start a war, heroes?” 

They gulped in unison. “Of course not, Lord Hades. We thought you might have the Lightning Bolt.” 

Hades scoffed. “Typical demigods, believing that I wish for a war, simply because I am the God of death. Look around, girl, what do you see?” He waved his hand, and the entire hall lit up. There was death everywhere. From shades, to skeletons, to skeletons covered in flowers. And flowers in general, too, somehow. “Every death costs money. My power of the dead has grown, but as it did, my power of valuables has been reduced.”

“Charon wants a raise!” Sephie shouted. “And the Skeletons too!” 

Everyone turned to look at her. She stopped hacking at the skeleton's head. “Wasn’t this the time?”

Hades sighed, shaking his head. He walked to his throne, and sat down. He waved his hand, and a few chairs appeared. Annabeth and Grover looked at each other, then went to sit down. Annabeth made sure to keep the bag close. Persephone sat down on a throne made of flowers. She waved her hand as well, making a table appear. There was food on it. 

It was silent, at least until Grover grabbed an apple and started eating it. Then Sephie joined. Annabeth was tempted to face palm. “Let’s negotiate,” Hades said. “I could kill all three of you, but I’d rather see the Underworld low and dry. In addition, being able to enter my library without books trying to behead me is quite nice as well.” 

“That happens to me too,” Sephie asked, still eating her apple. Grover wordlessly closed her mouth. 

“Athena has creative ways of getting even. It’s always a joy to get her to help devise some new punishments for the Fields,” Hades responded. “It is just a shame when one of her children dies. As if I have to do something with that.”  

“I still believe we should have used that fertilizer punishment, dear.” 

“Maybe, but it has to be symbolically fitting. Not punishment for punishment’s sake.” Hades gave another great sigh. “Now, give me my Helmet back, first.” 

Annabeth slowly opened the bag. It was inside, like he’d said. She quickly grabbed it and put it down on the table. “We want to leave in peace, with the Lightning Bolt.” 

“That can be arranged,” Hades answered the unspoken question. 

“And Charon and the skeletons have to get a raise!” Sephie shouted. 

Persephone smiled. “Of course. Did you enjoy that apple, Sephie?”

“Yeah, it was nice!” 

“I think you’d like these seeds, then.” A skeleton walked up, grabbed one of the plates, and offered it to Sephie.

She grabbed one of the seeds, only for Grover to grab it out of her hand. She huffed, and grabbed a new one. Grover did the same thing. Then it happened again. “Can you stop?”

“Eat one of those seeds, and you’ll stay in the Underworld forever, Sephie. I don’t think you’d like that.”

“I don’t know,” Sephie shrugged. “It’s been growing on me.”

“Absolutely not,” Hades grumbled. “You are not staying here.” 

“But Uncle Hades,” Sephie whined. 

Hades paled, somehow, as his skin was already a pasty white. “Never call me that. It brings back memories.”

“Good ones?”

“Bad ones,” he grumbled. “Now, we will let all three of you go.”

“Assuming you don’t turn into a flower I like, satyr. What flower will you turn into?”

Grover got a deer-in-the-headlights look. Strange, as he wasn’t actually a deer, but a donkey-man creature. “I don’t know what flower I turn into,” he responded carefully. 

“What if we tested it? We kill you, then if you turn into a flower I like, we’ll keep you, and otherwise we apologize.” 

“That sounds fair.” “Absolutely not.” 

Sephie and Annabeth looked at each other from the corner of their eyes. Annabeth gave a cough. “Grover is vitally important to our quest. Without our support goat we won’t be able to make it, I’m afraid.” 

“You won’t? I could have sworn teleportation didn’t require any skills from you,” Hades mumbled.

“She’s trying to trick you, dear. It’s as if they want to get someone out of the Underworld, before they have died.”

“Living people,” Hades grumbled. “Untrustworthy. Unless they are you, of course, dear.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” 

“Always.” 

Sephie gagged. “Ugh.”

“Do not worry, dear, one day you’ll find someone you love.” 

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Sephie said, hand over mouth. 

“Oh, you might want to send them to Olympus now. Make it father’s problem to deal with.”

“Now that is an idea I can get behind,” Hades muttered. “Now if I could get my Helmet,” he trailed off. 

Annabeth quickly grabbed the helmet from the backpack and gave it to him. “Here you go, sir.”

“Now go.” He waved his hand. the world crumbled. Seconds later, it reformed. Before them stood twelve large thrones, all inhabited. If that was the word? Sephie’s head was a bit scrambled, her stomach along with it.

“Why,” a heavy voice said, “are you here?”

“More than that, how did you even get here?”

Sephie blinked the lights away, and found herself looking at very large people. “Are you giants?” Later in life, she’d blame it on the teleportation, as it was very obvious that they were, in fact, gods. Not Gods, just gods, but with a semi-capital. Not completely capitalized, but slightly capitalized. She wasn’t sure how to explain. 

Either way, they weren’t giants. They also weren’t happy to be compared with their second life-long enemies, after the Titans. Sephie, for the first time in her life, was about to have gods be upset with her. It would take her years to understand why.

Chapter Text

The giants were giant, as might be obvious from the name, but they were not actually giants. She realized it after giving them a close inspection. There were twelve of them, sitting in a circle. Maybe not so much a circle as a U-shape, each turned towards the middle. They sat on thrones, proportionate to their size. It was the thrones that grabbed Sephie’s attention more than the gods, strangely enough. Perhaps it was because she recognized some of them, and it made them less fascinating. Even if Ares was twirling a dagger between his fingers, which was really cool. Then again, Ares was cool too, which made it much more tempting to actually watch him. 

But the thrones were cooler, still. They were large, shooting up into the air, with the backs standing much higher than the gods themselves. Somehow, it did not make them look small, despite the thrones dwarfing them. They looked powerful, and made her feel small, instead. The thrones, not the gods. She wanted one. Maybe one day, when she became a god, she would get one. Each was more beautiful, more intimidating, and simply more than the last. Ares sat on one made from steel, with stunning artwork carved into it. Battles and wars were carved into it. A large boar’s head hung onto one of the sides, and the pelt of some other animal covered the throne’s back and seat. Dionysus’ throne, on the other hand, seemed like it was made from plants. Vines twirled around each other to form it, somehow, with grapes combining into vague… things, which made her feel slightly dizzy. Before her eyes, the vines twirled up into a cup holder. Sephie blinked. Yeah, that was pretty disappointing compared to knife twirling. She thought gods were supposed to be cool, but Mr D had just debunked that belief. He was even sleeping, somehow having curled into some kind of weird ball to fit onto the seat. 

At least the other thrones were cooler. Clouds, lightning, more plants, the very ocean, everything you could imagine could be seen in these thrones. There was even a moon in one of them, with stars surrounding it, glittering as if real. A large bow hung on the side, with the throne next to it holding its twin. The bows were simple, and yet they were not. For a moment, Sephie wanted to hold it. Then she met the owner’s eyes. Silver bore into her green, and she gulped. That woman was very, very scary. She didn’t want to hold the bow anymore. The goddess looked like she would grab her if she even glanced at it. Looking away didn’t make her feel better, either. All the gods - except for Dionysus who was still sleeping - were looking at her. There was thunder rumbling through one god’s beard. “That looks really cool,” Sephie blurted out. Maybe that would make them look less scary?

“I do not care for what you think, girl.” He thundered. “You come in here, unannounced, insult us so, and you think some pretty words will help you?”

“Yes,” Sephie asked hopefully. 

The man sniffed. “I guess you are Poseidon’s daughter after all. Only he could get a spawn so stupid.” He looked pointedly at the man sitting on a throne made out of water. 

“As I have said before, brother, she is obviously Amphitrite’s.” Poseidon gestured at Sephie. “She doesn’t even look like me.” 

Sephie found herself carefully inspected by eleven different pairs of eyes. “I suppose her skin is slightly paler than yours, but that does not say much,” the scary woman said, “and her eyes are slightly different.” 

“Exactly! She’s obviously Amphitrite’s,” the man blustered. “That means I should be allowed to interact with her!”

“I’m still not convinced,” Thunderbeard spoke regally. 

A woman sitting on a very elegant and symmetrical throne nodded in agreement. “You are definitely her father,” she said. “Either way, this discussion is a waste of time. She brought your Lightning Bolt back, father, which means her quest has come to an end. Now we should decide if she should even be left alive.” 

“WHAT?” Sephie shouted, breaking several of her mother’s rules at once. “What do you mean leave me alive!”

The woman turned to her, gray eyes gazing into her gray blue ones. It was as if she knew everything about Sephie, even the things Sephie herself did not know. “Because you are dangerous.” She turned back to look at Poseidon. “He is stirring, Poseidon, you know this. Letting her live would be-”

“I will not allow her to be killed,” Poseidon said, rising from his throne. A trident appeared in his hand. “Try this, and you will not have to worry about his stirring.”

“Poseidon-” Thunderbeard started, only to be interrupted as well.

“We allowed your daughter to live, Zeus. No matter the threat.”

“You have to admit there is not much justice in killing an innocent, father,” Ares said lazily. “The war wouldn’t even stop if you did.”

“It wouldn’t,” a blonde god nodded. “The Fates stop for no one.” 

The Olympians went quiet. Poseidon sat back in his throne, putting his trident next to it. Dionysus made a weird sound, and tried to turn to his other side. The scary woman elbowed him in the side. “I’m awake, I’m awake,” he mumbled, blearily opening his eyes. “Just thinking with my eyes closed.” 

“I suggest you think with your eyes open, Dionysus. This is a serious matter.”

“It is always a serious matter with you, Artemis.”

“And it never is with you.” 

“Is this a bad time to ask who I should give the Lightning Bolt to?” Sephie asked. “Cause it’s getting pretty heavy.”

“You’re not even holding it,” Annabeth said. “I’m the one holding it.”

“It’s still heavy. LIke a burden you can’t feel. But one you can feel? I don't know,” she said, shrugging. 

Zeus sighed. “Give it here, mortal.” He gestured to Annabeth to come forward. “I’ll have to give Hades my thanks,” he huffed.

“Oh no, what a nightmare,” another woman said. “To have to see your brother more than once a year.”

“Not now, Hera.”

Hera elegantly lifted an eyebrow. “Considering everyone seems to have given their opinion, I should too.” 

“Not everyone has given their opinion,” the blonde god said.

“And nobody asked for yours, Apollo,” she responded. “The way I see it, there is no reason to kill her, as it would not change the future. Better to keep her on our side, so that she would not betray us.” 

“It is an unnecessary risk. If there is no child of the Big Three, then there is no way for them to truly defeat us,” the gray-eyed woman responded.

“They don’t need to destroy us to defeat us, Athena. If the hearth dies-”

“Enough,” Zeus said. “I have heard your points. We will continue this at a later date. I suggest you stay in line, Sephie Jackson. You might just survive then.” Thunder rumbled, and a lightning bolt came down from the ceiling. When the light faded, so had he. 

“My brother,” Poseidon began, “should have been a god of the theater. Come, Sephie, let’s talk.” He rose from his throne, and walked up to her. The ground rumbled slightly as he did, at least until he shrunk. 

He looked down at her, perhaps the size of a tall adult. “Come with me,” he said, and walked away.

Sephie glanced at Annabeth and Grover, who were just standing there awkwardly. Some of the other gods had disappeared as well, though Mr D and Athena still remained. “Go,” Annabeth said quietly. “We’ll be fine.” Sephie looked back at Poseidon, only to see he was nearly out of the hall already. She ran after him. One last glance into the throneroom showed the scary lady having shrunk and talking to Annabeth. Mr D had started talking to Grover. Hopefully they would be fine. 

They walked in silence, passing by dozens of temples and hundreds of statues. From gods to heroes to monsters, they could all be seen here. All carved from marble, so perfect they nearly looked alive. Sephie wanted to wait to see if they would start moving soon. She was sure it wouldn’t take long. That one statue of a massive lion in particular. It was incredibly cool, and it was cut so finely you could actually see hairs. She blinked. This sounded familiar.

“Stunning, aren’t they?” 

“They are,” Sephie answered, carefully analyzing the statues from a distance. “I don’t suppose they are…” 

“Medusa’s, yes. Though she created the god and hero statues by hand instead of by eye. There would be a riot if she petrified them.” he shook his head. “It was part of the deal we made. In exchange for her help, I would advertise her statues. They became a hit.”

“Huh.”

“Huh is all you have to say?” Poseidon had an eyebrow up. “Most demigods would not react so calmly to hearing gods made deals with monsters.”

“Meh, humans make deals with monsters, so why can’t gods?”

“I think you should see it the other way around, Sephie. Gods make deals with monsters, and mortals copied us.” 

“If you say so,” Sephie answered. “But how do you know you came first?”

“I know, because I saw humans come into existence.”

That actually made sense. Except… “how do you know they weren’t just hiding? I’m sure mortals are scared of gods, so they might have simply hid!” 

“I saw Prometheus carve them from clay, Sephie,” Poseidon said with a sigh. He shook his head. “You haven’t changed at all,” he muttered. “This wasn’t what I wanted to talk about.”

“It wasn’t?” Strange. Sephie would have loved to talk more about this god-mortal paradox. Not that she had any idea what it was, but it was bound to be interesting. Annabeth was sure to know, and she often talked about a lot of interesting things. That wasn’t to say Sephie would ever admit that, obviously. That took a lot of the fun out of it. You can’t just admit that you like someone’s hobby, you have to force them to painstakingly drag it out of you. If that, even. 

“Sephie, eyes on me.” She looked up at Poseidon. “Thank you. Let’s talk.”

“About what?”

“The future,” Poseidon said. He sighed again. “Y-

“That sounds boring. Who wants to know future?”

“Sephie,” Poseidon frowned. “Please, focus. We don’t have much time.”

“Why?”

“There are Laws. Amphitrite has claimed you, but we don’t know what this means for the laws. I doubt it has been done before.” Poseidon was smarter than he looked. Better than the average goldfish, at least. Though that didn’t say much, as goldfish were stupid. Maybe. She narrowed her eyes in thought. Poseidon was less smart than Annabeth. Perfect. Now to channel her inner Annabeth - even if Annabeth insisted that such a thing didn’t exist - and say something smart. 

Sephie held up a hand, interrupting Poseidon’s speech which she had missed most of anyway. “Does that mean I can’t talk to my mother anymore?” 

“Mo- excuse me?” Success! She had done something smart. Not that that meant that she wasn’t normally smart, of course. Wait, he’d asked something. 

“Mother, Amphitrite is my mother. My mom is my mom.”

“Then what does that make me? Sushi?”

Sephie hummed thoughtfully. A good question. Far be it from her to tell anyone what they were, but he asked for it himself. “Sushi sounds right!” Sushi didn’t taste good, just like salt water. It was fun to swim in it, but it was a bit too salty. Poseidon seemed similar. Fun to hang out with, but not fun to be related to. He was a bit aggressive. That is to say, Sephie would never threaten her brother just because he threatened to kill some child she didn’t know. And Zeus probably had a very good reason to want to! That didn’t mean that Sephie had a death wish, of course. She was thankful to Poseidon for intervening, she just didn’t condone his methods. It was… complicated. A very complicated situation. 

Poseidon was sputtering. “I understand that this is a shock to you,” Sephie said, standing on her toes to give him a shoulder pat. It became a bicep pat. “Stupid tall people,” she muttered. 

There was a grumbling in the air. Literally, that is. Not someone grumbling, but thunder sparking through it, without the actual lightning aspect. It was just the sound. “Enough,” Poseidon said. “I need you to be careful, Sephie. Please.”

“I’m always careful,” Sephie started to say, only to be interrupted.

“I need you to promise me. Swear it on the Styx.” 

Sephie frowned. "Why? Why does it matter to you if I’m safe or not?”

“Please, Sephie,” he nearly begged, “just promise me. Promise me you’ll stay safe. You are my daughter, a child of the sea, an oceanid.”

She kept frowning. She didn’t care about him, for she didn’t know him. That’s how simple it was. Her mother never asked her to make such a promise. Her mom knew that Sephie would be fine no matter what happened. “I won’t. There’s no reason to, and mom always tells me not to make promises to strangers.”

Poseidon closed his eyes. Before her eyes, he seemed to age ten years. Black hair turned gray, while wrinkles appeared in his face. “I see. That is good advice. Very well. I will do my best to continue protecting you, then.” He stamped his trident onto the ground. A puddle of water from the fountain moved to surround Sephie. “If you will not make the promise, I ask that you at least, if nothing else, try to stay safe. You don’t have to promise it,” he said, holding his hand up, “but try it, nonetheless.” 

“If you insist,” she said mutinously, crossing her arms. “But I’m not doing it because I like you.”

He aged a bit more, but nodded. “I understand.” He waved his trident, making the water swirl around her. “There’s a storm coming, Sephie Jackson. Please, brace yourself.” And with that, Olympus faded. The marble statues and palaces turned to trees, dirt, and cabins. That, and a lot of food. Sephie frowned.

She was standing on a pizza.

“I see you have succeeded.” Sephie turned around to see Chiron looking steadily at them. “Congratulations.”

“Why are you here, Charon?” This made no sense. Since when was Charon a centaur?” 

Charon made a choking sound. “That is… we will talk about this later, Sephie,” he said, vaguely threatening. “For now, tell us about your quest. I’m sure it will prove enlightening.” 

“Enlightening is a word you can use, sure,” Grover said. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

“There’s other words that come to mind, though. A lot of other words.” She glared at Sephie. 

Charon nodded slowly, frowning. “Come,” Charon said. “We will talk in the big house.” With that, he turned and walked away. Sephie blinked, then jumped off the table - and the pizza she had been standing in - and jogged after him. Someone glared at her, but she ignored him. Maybe Charon would tell her why he was here instead of at the Styx. 

Maybe he’d tell her how to swim in it, too!

— —

It turned out this was Chiron, not Charon. He was very firm on it as well, giving a lesson complete with one of those old and dusty chalkboards. He actually wrote out both his and Charon’s name, forced her to spell it, actual letter by letter, and then say it slowly. And from now on say it quietly to herself twice, before actually saying the name. It was all to avoid another mixup, as if it would happen again. She’d only mixed them up twice!

He also seemed slightly worried about the quest, even if he had only praises for them. Didn’t say anything about it, however. Sephie promised herself she would find out what he was worried about! Oh yes, - chiron. chiron. - Chiron should be worried! Sephie Jackson, professional detective, was on the case! 

The rest of the summer vacation was over in a heartbeat. The last week passed before she knew it, leaving them all to go home. Well, Sephie had to wait until someone came to pick her up, but - chiron. chiron. - Chiron said that wouldn’t take long. For now she was left with nothing to do, so she’d grabbed her sword, which she hadn’t really touched during the quest, and tried to hit a few dummies. 

She was succeeding, she was pretty sure. The dummies looked pretty destroyed. “Need some help, Sephie?” Luke came up behind her quietly. “Make sure to keep your sword up. If you don’t, it makes you a very easy target.” He took his sword out of its sheath to demonstrate. It was a cool sword, with two colors.

He seemed to realize her interest, because he started talking about it. “It is made from celestial bronze - he pointed at the orange part - and from mortal iron.” He pointed at the other side. “Sometimes you need to be able to fight mortals, too.”

Sephie gave a regal nod. “That makes sense.” 

Luke lifted a pack of cola cans. “Wanna have a drink?”

Sephie's eyes grew huge. She wasn’t allowed sugar, normally. Luke must not know this. She had to make use of this! “YES!” She started running to the canoe lake. “Let’s go!” she shouted over her shoulder. Luke chuckled and started following her. 

It was nice at the lake. There was a light breeze which took the worst heat away. The sun was slowly going down, leaving a beautiful sunset coloring the skies in pinks, reds, oranges and yellows. No blues, unfortunately, which took away some points. It was an eight out of ten. Very good, but not the best. 

They were sitting quietly side by side, both drinking it. Well, Sephie was, Luke was staring thoughtfully ahead. No loss, though, Sephie would drink for both of them. Except that Luke had a can in his hand, which meant there wouldn’t be enough for her to drink for both of them. She couldn’t drink five more cans when there were only four left, after all. 

Luke threw the last bit back, and crumpled the can. “You met the gods. What do you think of them?”

Sephie startled out of her thoughts, turning to look at him. Her second can was nearly empty, unfortunately. “They’re weird.”

“Weird,” Luke said. “That’s not a word most would use.”

“It’s a word I use, though,” Sephie responded. “That means most people should use it.”

Luke chuckled. “Maybe.” His chuckles faded into the quiet evening. “I don’t like the gods. Not at all. I have lost too many people, friends and family, due to their machinations. They are a blight upon the world.”

Sephie frowned. “That sounds a bit extreme.”

“They have done horrible horrible things. They ruin people’s lives simply because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

“But they feel bad about it!”

“Do they?”

“Of course. I’d feel bad about it, and I’m gonna be a God someday. Which means they must feel bad about it as well!” Maybe. She thought she’d feel bad about it. At the same time, maybe they shouldn’t be in the way?

Luke snorted. “That is such an oversimplification that Annabeth would give you a lecture for it.”

Sephie nodded in agreement. “But it doesn’t make me wrong.”

“Maybe.” He looked at the can in his hand. “Let’s make a deal, alright? One between you and me.”

“What kind of deal?”

“Promise me that when you become a god, you will change the world.”

Sephie frowned. “Why should I promise that?”

“Please.” Luke gave her a solemn look. “Just promise me that you will. You’ve met the gods, you’ve met monsters, one day you might meet others. Promise me you will give them all a chance.”

Why did people want her to promise them things? Why was her saying she would do something not enough? And why did Luke think she wouldn’t treat everyone equally? Her mom had taught her well! “Fine, I promise. But only because I know and trust you!”

Luke looked pained, but nodded. “Of course.” He got to his feet, pocketing the crumpled can. He offered her a hand, and she took it. “Have you packed already?”

“Nope!”

“Sephie,” he groaned, “please promise me you’re making a joke.”

“Nope!” 

He let his head fall back to look at the sky. “Whoever is listening, save me from the stupidity of children.”

“You’re a child, too!”

“I am nineteen.”

“Wow, you’re so old!”

“There is no pleasing you, is there?” Luke groaned, but he had a smile on his face. “Well, cuz, let’s go pack your bags. I’m sure your mom is waiting for you.”

“Yup!” She ran ahead, Luke sedately following her.

She was out of earshot when Luke sighed. “You see, Lord Kronos? Perhaps there is another option.”

In his head, where only he could hear it, there was a whisper. “If you give me the chance,” he began. “Then the world might change. For the better.” 

He listened, and nodded. “Yes, my lord, I promise this.” Then the night turned silent again. Luke smiled. “I promise this to whoever listens,” Luke said into the silent night, “I will change the world.” He looked at Sephie’s back, quickly disappearing into the slowly darkening night. “And I’m no longer alone in this quest.”

Chapter Text

Dodgeball. Most students love it. It’s a free card to throw balls at others! Even if you hit them in the head, you’re not really punished for it. It was a game that was perfect for Sephie. Allowed chaos and violence, without any of the punishment that generally came with it, like when Sephie had blown up a fountain earlier this year. That was a good day. Even now, with deadly fireballs flying around her, she couldn’t help but reminisce about it. It had been fairly simple. Simply block off all the places the water goes out, and increase the water flow. And there goes the fountain. Tyson made it even easier, as he could block off two of the pipes, leaving Sephie to just block one more with her powers. The fountain had exploded, shards of stone flying through the air. Ms.Taylor had not been happy. She'd been threatened with expulsion the entire way to the principal. And told to explain herself. Except she never got the chance to do so, the moment she tried to explain herself Ms. Taylor started talking about vandalism, children nowadays, and Sephie’s lack of respect for historical buildings. It’s a shame, because she was sure that her explanation would have convinced Ms. Taylor that blowing up the fountain was a perfectly logical thing to do. It was a step on the road of canceling the anti-fun. 

The anti-fun, not the Anti-Fun, as it was a mortal thing, so it didn’t need the distinction, was something that all schools that she had been to did. They refused to allow anyone to have fun. Instead of running, they had to do math, instead of playing, they had to read, instead of blowing up fountains, they had to read about others blowing up fountains. Or government buildings. Each other. Either way, doing it yourself was a lot more fun, and that lion’s head had it coming. The dolphin would be remembered as a martyr. And no one cared about the third head anyway. 

Sephie, as a firm believer in fun, had spent her entire life fighting against this dictatorship. From blowing up fountains, to sending students swimming with the sharks, and back to shooting at teachers. That last one might’ve been an accident, but Chiron was a teacher so it counted. Even if he wasn’t a member of the anti-fun cult, he still let it happen by being a teacher. Nothing could be done about that, unfortunately. 

Another follower was her PE teacher, whose name she could never remember. He didn’t really care what happened, and allowed them as much fun as they wanted, though it had to be orderly fun. That meant no to blowing up fountains, but yes to throwing fireballs at your fellow student. Sephie could respect that. After all, your average fountain was a lot more permanent than your average human, which meant that destroying the fountain was a lot more of a loss than blowing up a human. She just wished she was on the other side of the gym so she could be the one throwing the fireballs, instead of having them thrown at her. “Stand still, snack!” The man-eating man threw a ball. She also didn’t agree with being called a snack. She was going to be a god, so it should be calling her a Snack. 

Sephie stopped, letting the ball shoot right past her face. At least they weren’t stupid. They were trying reverse psychology. They would shout at her to stand still, making it seem like they would throw right at her, only to throw into the location she would dodge. Unfortunately for them, Sephie had mastered the art of reversing the reverse in psychology the past year. Ms. Taylor had been so confused that she told the principal, Mrs. Vanderveul, that she herself should be fired for instigating the entire fountain incident. 

There was a slight problem, though, as she continued not dodging the dodgeballs. And that problem was Tyson. She’d met him at the start of the year, and had immediately seen his potential. He would make the perfect partner in fun! Except he wasn’t the most colorful fish in the sea, so he became her puppet for fun instead. This lack of brightness kept making him try to catch the balls, which left Sephie to whack the balls away with her trident. Balls which were thrown at very high speeds. Had she said they were on fire? Needless to say, it felt like her hands were about to fall off. “I’M GONNA DUCK!” She shouted. Then proceeded to do so. A ball shot over her head, smashing into the wall. 

“I see,” one of the man-eating men muttered. “You are a disciple in the art of reversal as well.” He nodded. “Then I will throw this ball to your left.” He didn’t throw it. He just held it.

Sephie stared back at him, still on the ground, eyes narrowed. A fascinating situation. This is what being a disciple in the art of reversal was all about. Is he serious, or is it reverse psychology? But then, it could also be a reversal of the reverse, meaning he would throw it to the left. Or more impressively, reverse psychology squared. If this were an anime, Sephie was sure, it would be a forbidden art. 

The man had a smirk on his face. It didn’t hide his uncertainty, he knew he’d met his match. “I’m a Lastrygonian giant, actually.” Sephie was unparalleled in the art of reverse psychology.

Then she realized it’d said something different from the throwing balls and snack shouts she’d been hearing for the past five minutes. “Wait what?” 

“I’m not a man, I’m a Laistrygonian Giant,” the man said.  

“What’s that?”

“We are distant cousins of the Cyclopes.”

“I don’t get it.” 

The apparent giant, who it should be noted wasn’t actually that impressively large and could simply pass for a slightly above average Dutchman, scratched his nose. “We’re not in Greece anymore,” another giant, who was slightly taller than an average Bosnian, responded. 

“Right, United States,” the first sighed, as if that explained everything. Sephie blew a raspberry. They were acting as if she wasn’t there! Rude. 

“Tyson, you will catch the ball after this ball,” she said. The giants gave her a look. “What?”

“You are quite the hypocrite.” 

“Shut up. Let’s get this over with! I will stun you with my skill in reversing the reverse, Lestrig… Laystrai… What were you again?”

“Americans,” the first giant muttered, shaking his head. “Canadians.” 

“That makes no sense,” Sephie said. “Anyway, I will stun you with my skill in reversing the reverse, Canadian! I will dodge to the left!” 

The Canadian nodded. Then threw his ball. Sephie immediately rolled to her left, calling that he would start the reverse squared, only to chicken out and do a reversal of the reverse. Sephie, however, was not a chicken, and didn’t consider the fact that this might be too many steps for anyone to think through, and so followed her oceanid instinct. Reversal squared. Taking the fourth option. The ball sailed past her. “HAH! I knew you’d chicken out!” 

“Ah, no, I did do a reverse squared. Except I meant my left, not yours.” 

“Oh. What now?” 

“Now we keep bombarding you until you are either dead or unconscious, after which we eat you alive,” he said, grabbing another ball from the floor and throwing it straight at her head. Sephie rolled right, only to hear a loud slap. 

Tyson held the ball, which was on fire, in his hand. It didn’t burn him. “Tyson! It was reverse psychology. I tell them you’re gonna catch it, then you don’t catch it to take them by surprise!”

“But I can catch them,” Tyson mumbled. “See?” He waved his hand around. The ball looked slightly small in it. 

“Well, that’s- Stop ruining my plans!” 

Tyson shrugged. Looked at the Canadians, who in turn looked slightly worried, then threw the ball back at them. The first ducked, only for the one behind them to turn into dust. “How about we call it a draw in your favor?” 

Sephie blew another raspberry. “No,” she said, twirling the trident around. “The fun’s up. I’m gonna kill you now.” Her gut tightened and the pipes in the walls swelled. 

The Canadians roared, and charged at her. Sephie prepared herself for the battle of a lifetime. Her trident went up, just like Triton had taught her. She prepared to fake the dodge, only for the first Canadian to trip and fall onto the trident, turning into dust. Another in the back turned to dust as well. The other two fell in short succession. Sephie looked at the dust falling to the ground. Why was it always orange? Also, how did they just fail at everything?

Sephie leaned on her trident. “I guess I’m a god of luck?” 

“No, though you are lucky.” Annabeth shimmered into existence. “Let’s go. I doubt that the school will be so happy with you destroying the gym.” She started jogging out of the massive hole in the wall. 

“That wasn’t my fault!” Sephie shouted. “It was the Canadians!” It really did make sense, though. Of course the Canadians seemed nice. Everything they did that wasn’t nice was blamed on the poor Americans. Or maybe the Europeans? What was Sephie? Her mom was American, she was pretty sure, but what about her mother? Logic said that her mother was Greek, as she was born there, but were gods born? Were they made? So many questions, yet she had none of the answers. That was life, she supposed. She grinned. Life was so much fun! 

“Let’s go!” Annabeth was out of the gym already. Sephie jogged after her, looking over her shoulder to tell Tyson to follow. Except he wasn’t there. 

“Tyson?” She stopped to turn around completely. There were a few fellow students, most of which were either crying or looking blankly ahead of them. One was stuck in a wall somehow. The PE teacher was still reading a magazine. There were a few heaps of dust. But no Tyson. 

She looked behind her. Annabeth was standing there, alone. “What are you waiting for?” 

“Tyson.”

“Who’s that?”

Well, what kind of question was that? “Tyson.” I mean, how could she be clearer? “Hopefully he didn’t decide to be inspired by Grover again.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“What don’t you wanna talk about, Sephie?” Tyson asked.

Sephie started walking towards Annabeth, leaving Tyson to follow her. “That one time you decided you wanted to master the art of baseball, like Grover.” 

“I think I would make a good clubber,” he responded. 

Sephie shrugged. “Now where did you go?”

“I’m right here.”

“I’m so confused,” Annabeth muttered. Sephie smirked.

“That’s because you think so much. I don’t have that problem,” she said. There was something wrong with that sentence.

Annabeth seemed to agree, as she gave her a long look. “I agree.” They kept jogging to the street. “And what’s with the cyclops?”

“Tyson? He just showed up at some point. Not sure why.”

“I prayed to dad, and he showed me you.” Tyson walked beside her, leaving Sephie between Annabeth and him. A kind of barrier. “I just had to show you something important.”

“What’s that?”

“Dad said I can’t tell you,” he said. “Not sure why.” Strange. Why would someone not tell her something? Also, who was his dad? It wasn’t Frank, as Tyson called him uncle. And Frank called him cousin, and Sephie sister. Which meant that Frank was Amphitrite’s son, too. But Amphitrite was far too pretty to have a cyclops as a child, which meant that he must be Poseidon’s. That made Frank her half-brother. And because Tyson was Frank’s cousin, that meant that Tyson must be the son of one of Poseidon’s other children. That meant either Triton, Rhodes or the other one whose name she’d forgotten. Safe to say, Tyson was Triton’s child, as Rhodes much too pretty for him. Seriously, cyclopes are ugly. Very, very ugly. It’s like a sloth had a baby with a bulldog. They were ugly first and foremost, and cute under very rare circumstances. 

“Anyway, where are we going?” Tyson’s big blue eye put him in the cute territory, so he was an acceptable companion. He really should listen to her better, though. How would he make a good puppet for fun otherwise?

Annabeth threw up a coin. “Hear me, Grey Sisters. Bring me to my destination!” 

There were two things that were interesting about that sentence. First, it sounded ominous. What was the destination? Were they going back to the Underworld? Unlikely, as that wasn’t very ominous. She’d love to visit Persephonie and cut skeletons’ skulls in half again. Second, why was she saying it in such a weird way? Why not just ask the Grey Sisters, whoever they are, to come. Why did it have to be done in such a snooty, over the top way? But maybe that was the fun? She’d have to try it when she became a god.  

Her rampant thoughts came to a screeching halt, just like the car in front of them. It was some kind of old taxi, and someone closer to a something leaned out. “Where?”

“Camp Half Blood, Long Island,” Annabeth said. 

The creature nodded. “Get in.” A gnarly hand pointed at the back. 

As Sephie got in, she noticed two other creatures, which now that she looked closely were most likely very old women, sitting in the front. Very, very old. Like so old that they had wrinkles on wrinkles on wrinkles, and no eyes and teeth. “Give me the tooth, Pemphredo! I wanna bite the coin!” Or maybe one tooth?

“Only if Deino gives me the eye!” And one eye?

“I NEED THE EYE TO SEE, STUPID PERSIS!” 

Sephie paled. These were their drivers? This was gonna be the bus incident of three months before all over again, wasn’t it?”

Tyson groaned. “I’m gonna be sick.” 

Yup. They were all gonna die. 

Chapter Text

The ride started with a bang, literally. Something in the car seemed to explode. This in and of itself made Sephie worry, something very uncharacteristic. The thing is, she didn’t really feel like being covered in Tyson’s puke. Or anyone’s puke for that matter. It didn’t help that one of the sisters cackled. 

“There go the brakes!” 

“We just had those fixed!” 

“DAMMIT PERSIS!” The wheels screeched as the car shot forward. “LEFT, LEFT!” 

“Give me the eye!” 

“I feel sick,” Tyson groaned. 

“There’s bags in front of you,” Pemphredo said around the coin. The car made a sharp turn, barely missing a house. Sephie was pretty sure cars weren’t supposed to go over the pavement. Don’t get her wrong, she loved that they could, but it didn’t quite feel right. 

“GIVE ME THE EYE, PERSIS!” Deino made a sharp left. “I CAN’T SEE WHERE WE’RE GOING!” 

“I love this car! Why didn’t we take it to Los Angeles last time?” Sephie shouted at Annabeth.  

“They only drive in the New York metropolitan area. It’s the best way to camp!” Annabeth shouted back. 

“That’s Camp, godling! With a capital C!” Pemphredo said, ignoring Deino trying to tear the eye from Persis’ face. “We notice the difference!” 

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER?” Annabeth shouted. “IT’S JUST A CAPITAL LETTER!” 

“It’s super important!” Sephie said. 

Pemphredo took the coin out of her mouth, and nodded in agreement. “Very super important, even!” 

Annabeth put her head in her hands, as the car smashed through several tables, only barely missing a couple sitting there. 

“HAHAHA, VICTORY IS MINE!” 

“GIVE ME THE EYE BACK, YOU STUPID ****” 

Note from the Fates: For the sake of keeping this child from the Ancient Greek era friendly, we have taken the liberty to censor the swearing in this part. The Gray Sisters have given many different people rides, and have in doing so learned a great many swear words. Not all words are fit for repeating. 

“YOUR FATHER IS A HAMSTER AND YOUR MOTHER SMELLS OF ELDERBERRY!” 

Pemphredo shook her head. “We have the same parents, Persis,” she said. “Ignore them,” she told Sephie and Annabeth, and maybe Tyson too, but he was busy with his bag. “They always get into fights.” 

“I can see that,” Annabeth said. 

“NO GOSSIPING IN THE CAR, PEMPHREDO!” Deino shouted, also busy with trying to just barely not hit every person, car and building in their way. 

“GIVE ME THE EYE!” Persis made another grab. 

Deino used both hands to stop her. “STOP THAT, I NEED TO SEE THE ROAD!” 

“Are we gonna get to Camp,” Sephie wondered. 

“Of course,” Annabeth answered. “The Gray Sisters have never failed to deliver their passengers. 

“Are they alive when they’re delivered,” Sephie asked. 

“We have a 90% success rate,” Pemphredo said proudly. 

“In what?” 

Pemphredo grinned. The single tooth that the sisters shared was a disgusting yellow and black.

“In what?” Sephie asked worriedly.

Pemphredo hummed. 

“I’m too godly to die!” Sephie tried to open the door, but it was locked. 

Pemphredo frowned. “There’s child locks on there. For good reason, too. People always try to get out of the taxi while we’re driving. We never really understood why.” 

“They always say something about stoves, campfires, or other types of fires,” Persis said, having temporarily given up trying to take the eye back. “Not very wise, if you ask me.”

“Wise?” Sephie asked.

“The Gray Sisters are very wise,” Annabeth answered. “They know many things.”

“Oh yes, we do! We know the lottery numbers!” 

“And who Aphrodite is currently having sex with!” 

“And the location you seek!” 

There was a moment of silence, as they all processed that last sentence. “YOU STUPID ***** I’M GONNA *** AND YOUR FATHER TOO!” 

“THAT’S YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER TOO, YOU IDIOT!”

“IF I WASN’T DRIVING I’D MURDER YOUR FACE, PEMPHREDO! YOU ****” 

Sephie sat, stunned, watching the sisters wail on each other. Those were some awesome words. She’d have to remember them. 

“HAH, THE EYE IS MINE!” Persis shouted. 

Then it was hit out of her hand, and sailed into Sephie’s lap. Sephie grabbed it. It was the most disgusting thing she’d ever held, a slimy thing. “GIVE THAT BACK! I NEED IT TO DRIVE!” They sailed through a traffic jam. 

She should probably give it back. “What’s the location I seek?”

“Just give the eye back, Sephie!” Tyson groaned in agreement. 

“Just wanna know what I’m looking for,” Sephie said. 

“GIVE ME THE EYE!” 

“They’ll tell you once we give the eye back, Sephie! Just give it!” 

“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Pemphredo could be very loud, just like her sisters. 

“Just tell me the location,” Sephie shrugged. 

“30 31 North, 75 12 West. NOW GIVE ME THE **** EYE!” 

Sephi threw it to the front. Deino grabbed it from the air, and pushed it into the socket. “Alright, where are we going?” She muttered. “LEFT!” She shouted as she made an incredibly sharp turn to the right. 

It went on like this for a while. Even if Sephie already knew she was gonna hate having to stand on both her feet the moment she left the car, she couldn’t help but enjoy the ride. She carefully ignored the disgusting sounds on her right, where Tyson seemed to not just be expelling the contents of his stomach, but his liver, lungs, and said stomach as well. 

The car seemed to soar with how fast it went. Other vehicles were barely dodged. Or not dodged in one particular case. Sephie was pretty sure that that motorcyclist was sent flying. It looked quite funny, actually. 

Maybe she should get a driving license? Then she could do things like this, too. It would be a lot of fun, probably. As long as there were no other passengers, like Tyson, to ruin it with disgusting sounds. Seriously, couldn’t he be quieter about it? She understood he had terrible tastes (what kind of a freak eats fish?), but he didn’t have to make them so obvious. Leave the rest of them in blissful ignorance, thank you very much. 

“Ignorance is never bliss!” 

“Ignorance can be the greatest bliss, Annabeth! You just don’t get it, with your stupid brain.” 

“Always knew you didn’t have one.” 

“ONLY IDIOTS ARE IGNORANT! THE GRAY SISTERS ARE NEVER IGNORANT! WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU’LL SEE WHERE YOU’RE GOI-” The other two sisters, Sephie had forgotten who they were, laid into the third, slaps and curses flying around the air. Unfortunately, the sister who had shouted it was the one who was driving (Deino, that was her name), which meant they nearly crashed into another car, only to dodge by going onto the pavement. There was a loud cracking sound beneath the wheels, as well as a bump as they did. 

“DAMMIT. THERE GOES THE INSURANCE!” 

They made an unrealistically sharp turn to get back on the road, completely cutting off another car, which led to another crashing into it. “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”

Pemphredo huffed. “Those amathés no longer believe us, as if it’s our fault that everybody gets in the way.” 

“WE DIDN’T EVEN DRINK THIS TIME!” Deino seemed very angry. 

“WE SHOULD HIT THEM, THAT’LL TEACH THEM TO BELIEVE US!” Persis too, for that matter. It was a lot of fun to just listen to them shout. And they shouted a lot. They kept shouting the whole way to camp, which ordinarily should take maybe thirty minutes in a normal city, and maybe an hour in New York, where traffic did its absolute best to be slower than one of the pedestrians they drove over. And Sephie had heard those bones breaking, they wouldn’t be walking anywhere anytime soon. 

Frankly, this is why Sephie was of the firm belief that cars weren’t a good invention, even if it was hella fun to drive through these small streets, and much too high speeds, trying to hit everything. Maybe she could do the same thing one day, when she had a driving license. Or she could cause a storm? How much would it take to create a hurricane which could destroy all of New York?

It was something to think about if Annabeth started rambling again. And if old people counted as disabled. The Gray Sisters sounded incredibly old, and logically, they probably shouldn’t be driving, even if it was a lot of fun. But, if being old was a disability, just like having scars, then wouldn’t the gods be disabled, too? Then Mr D would be disabled twice. Did that make him disabled twice, or four times? Was it like reverse psychology squared? Something forbidden? But that didn’t explain Mr D, as he was disabled twice. He was old, and he was an alcoholic. The red nose gave it away. It was like one of those comics, with French people who weren’t actually French, but also not Roman, despite the Romans saying they definitely were, and trying to prove it every time. Those not-French people had the gall to say that they were Gauls, which resulted in more war. Anyway, they had a lot of alcoholics in that comic for some reason, and they always had large red noses. Coincidentally, a lot of the Gauls had large noses, though they weren’t always red. 

That said, cars weren’t a good invention. They were very slow, and made a lot of irritating noise. It was loud. Sephie liked the sounds nature made more. Like massive thunderstorms or tsunamis or hurricanes. Those were fun. And nice to hear. They even looked incredibly cool, too. Hopefully she became the GOD of those things. Or at least the god. It sounded like a lot of fun. 

Though she wasn’t sure if it meant she would be allowed to cause them? It sounded like she should be. If she were the GOD (or god) of massive natural disasters, shouldn’t she be causing them left, right and center? Which made her wonder what counted as a natural disaster. Was it just thunderstorms, tsunamis and hurricanes, or were there other things, too? What if an army of rats attacked a city? Was that a natural disaster? Maybe they’d have to bring some kind of plague, which would mean she’d be the GOD of plagues as well. And alcohol was a disaster, thousands died from it every year she was pretty sure, and it was a natural thing. Technically. It needed humans to make it, she thought, so maybe not. When did something stop being natural? Were humans natural? Weren’t they the biggest natural disaster, then, as they were a disaster to nature. 

What made something a natural disaster, anyway. Was it a disaster to nature, or just to humans, or maybe to both. Were there natural disasters before humans existed, or didn’t they count as natural then? She’d have to think more about this. She couldn’t not know what her domain was when she became a GOD. 

Anyway, it took about forty minutes to get to camp, if you didn’t include the five minute stop to buy new bags for Tyson. It was a bit weird, but at least they didn’t have to pay more due to the stop. Sephie stayed in the car with the sisters, who apparently decided who would get to drive by playing diamond, metal drill, electrocution. It was some weird variation of rock paper scissors, and they liked playing it with the real things. The lack of eyes and teeth were starting to make more sense. The abundance of insanity as well. They were a lot of fun. 

They screeched to a halt at the bottom of the hill. “We can’t go any further,” Pemphredo said. “Legally not allowed. Chiron threatened to send us to Tartarus the pointy way. Still not sure why.”

Persis cackled. “He hates being called Charon. It’s fucking hilarious.” 

“WE SHOULD SEND HIM TO TARTARUS THE POINTY WAY! THAT’LL TEACH HIM!” 

“Quiet, we’ve got another call.” The three sisters huddled together, turning up an absolutely ancient radio to the loudest volume it could go. 

Something which might not actually be words with how loud they were roared out of the radio, to the point the entire car trembled. “GET OUT! WE HAVE TO GO!” 

They scrambled out of the car, and watched it leave. Well, they would have, if they could stand. Sephie only stumbled slightly, while Annabeth and Tyson fell to their knees. “How are you handling it this well,” Annabeth groaned. Tyson just roared. 

“Why are you roaring? Shouldn’t be groaning, too?” 

“I di-” Tyson puked in the grass. “I did,” he said, wiping his mouth. “It wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?” Their question was answered as two huge bulls, bronze bulls, stepped out of the forest. It was clear they were about to charge. “Who would ever make bulls when you could make sharks instead? Or even horses.” 

“Have you ever seen a shark on land?” Annabeth asked, slowly getting to her feet. 

Sephie hummed. There was that time when those zoo workers pulled a shark up on land to get a leg out of its stomach, but she was pretty sure that didn’t count. “Nope,” she shrugged. 

“There’s a reason for it,” Annabeth responded. “And this is why you had to come to camp.” 

“I don’t get it. Clarisse can handle those bulls, fine. Luke, too. Even you could do it.” The bulls weren’t that intimidating. Sure, they were completely bronze, and there was smoke coming out of their mouths, but that was all. And maybe they were slightly massive, larger than Tyson, by like two full bulls heads, which included their horns. Okay, maybe they were slightly intimidating. 

“It’s not that. The barrier is fading, someone poisoned it.” Annabeth pointed at the large tree that Sephie had used to kill the Minotaur. 

The tree was yellow, leaves falling to the ground before their very eyes. “That’s a bit rude,” Sephie said. 

There was a loud, high pitched noise, similar to one of those old pots for cooking water. “Maybe we should kill the cows first?” Tyson asked, gesturing at the two bronze bulls. Annabeth and Sephie turned to look. The bulls, or cows, but Sephie was pretty sure they were bulls, were charging at them.

Fast. 

“Maybe we should?” 

“Shouldn’t there be divine intervention to save you,” Annabeth asked. “That happened every time during our last quest. I’ve literally never seen you fight before.”

“What about the Canadians?” 

Annabeth looked confused for a second, before seeming to get it. “I killed those. You stood there with a trident in hand.” 

“I killed them through sheer presence. They were terrified of me!” 

Annabeth sighed deeply. “Let’s just get this over with.” She vanished as she put her cap on. Sephie shrugged, and grabbed her trident. 

“If that’s what you want.” She put it into the ground in front of her, and braced. “Here we go again.”

Chapter Text

The first time Sephie had gone to Camp Half-Blood, she battled a minotaur and got a pair of horns. Now bulls were charging right at her, who also had horns. She was starting to sense a theme. Would she be fighting three creatures next time? And would they all have a pair of horns, too, or would there be eight horns split amongst them? That would mean the number of horns doubled every time, and she’d have sixteen horns the fourth time. That’s a lot of horns, and Sephie didn't think her walls had enough space for that. 

She also wasn’t sure how fast bulls were supposed to be, but she thought they weren’t supposed to close a distance of about fifty meters in the time that it took her to think about this horn situation. They also weren’t supposed to make her fly and cause a cracking sound in her chest. The air was violently expelled from her lungs as she slammed into the ground. Was this what losing a fight felt like?

She stood up, poking at her ribs at the same time. They hurt. The shell she always wore in her hair had magically stayed in somehow. But then, it had also managed to stay in when she’d bravely gone into the Underworld, that time she’d fought an army of junkies on her own, and even when she’d exploded the fountain a few weeks ago. It obviously stayed in no matter what happened. 

Sephie planted the trident into the ground, raising the pointy end at the bull charging her. She was pretty sure that Triton had said something about fighting cavalry like this. After that, he’d gone on a tangent about the seventh skirmish between Athens and Sparta. Sephie wasn’t entirely sure how that was relevant, but it had been interesting. That didn’t often happen when Triton was around. 

The thing is that cavalry isn't bulls, let alone one forged from celestial bronze and good old mortal steel. You see, hundreds of horses all clumped into a large mass that couldn’t simply stop. They’d smash into each other, which meant they would charge into the spears. This bull didn’t have that problem. It reared on its back hooves, something Sephie was fairly sure bulls aren't supposed to do. A strange glow grew in its mouth at the same time. 

The fire blazed out, so hot that ordinary metal would melt. Sephie barely managed to dodge it, jumping to the side. Getting up, she stabbed at the bull, scraping its side with the trident. It roared and charged at her, making her jump to the side again. She slashed at the joints in its leg, making it stagger ever so slightly. 

“SEPHIE!” Sephie turned to the shout. Tyson was loud, something she’d known for a long time. Whenever he was happy, his laugh made the ground tremble. His sobs could be heard throughout the entire school, too. That said, he was only loud when it mattered, even if only to him. It’s why she turned around. 

There were two bulls. She'd been fighting the first for the past minutes. The second came thundering from where Annabeth had been fighting it. It was so fast that she couldn't react when it charged. She went flying again, crashing with her back against a tree. Pain shot through her entire body, concentrated in her shoulder. Instinctively, she tried to move it, only to cry out in pain. She looked up. Her trident lay between her and the bulls. The bulls were between her and Tyson and Annabeth. 

Chiron had told them of situations like this, that you should always get into camp. Sephie tried to get up, only to fall back down. Her shoulder hurt badly. Not being able to feel her leg was worse. 

It looked so bad she nearly puked. White gleamed through red. 

The bulls were starting to charge right at her. They would hit each other when they reached her, but she’d be between them. She tried to get up again, but her leg couldn’t carry any weight. Trying to move her shoulder sent shots of pain through her body. 

Was this it? But that couldn’t be? This was just another trial, and like in every story, she would succeed in her trials. 

This couldn’t be it. 

Raindrops started falling from the sky, making her hiss when they hit the open wounds. This couldn't be it. She didn’t want to die at all. Especially not here. Where was the chaos? The ocean? The fun?

No, she could not die here. She would not die here.

A crack of thunder put everything into focus. Winds swirled around her. The bulls charged, but they seemed so slow. How could they ever hit her before?

Sephie struggled to get on her feet, as the rain poured with the buckets full. In seconds, the air filled with drops. Her hair was plastered to her face. She could barely see, only the shining bronze letting her notice the bulls still trying to get to her. Why was she getting wet? It was nice. Yet, she couldn’t help but hate it. She should be able to control it. 

The wind swirled even more, with her in the center. It made a loud whistling sound as it moved through the trees. The thunder overshadowed it every few seconds. 

Sephie got to her feet, leaning on the tree. The bulls were still charging, getting closer by the second. Fast. 

Not fast enough. 

At first, two came for her. Then it was only one. The second bull had been hit by lightning, leaving it twitching on the ground. The other had slowed down due to the winds buffeting it, slowly pushing it back. 

Then it flew. The winds threw it up. Shortly after, the one twitching on the ground followed. They flew around, first slowly, then more quickly, until they were blurs. She was in the eye of the storm. 

Everything outside could only pray. 

The bulls turned into dust as lightning hit them nearly incessantly. Sephie felt her anger cool slightly. Stupid bulls. Gods can't die, and they made her question it. 

Something fell on the ground in front of her. And then two more. A fourth fell a few seconds after that. The bulls’ horns. They were bronze and large. 

She could hang them up next to her other horns. Would she be fighting three monsters with two horns each next year? Or would there be four monsters?

Sephie grabbed the horns from the ground, barely holding them all. They were heavy. Large, too. Much larger than the Minotaur's horns. The winds had started to die down, as had the lightning storm. It was nice to be able to hear herself think. She started walking, only to fall, pain shooting through her body again. 

She looked down at her leg. It had gotten worse at some point. 

Bile filled her throat. Choking it down didn’t work. She puked, only for the pain to get worse. She puked again. 

“What did you-” Sephie looked up. Charon? Fake-Charon? Chiron? She didn’t know. She recognized him either way. That was the important part. “Get her to the infirmary. Now. We’ll talk about this later.”

Someone entered her sight. A blurry face appeared above her face. “Sleep. It’ll be better when you wake up.” The girl’s voice was very nice. It made her spin slightly. Normally, she wouldn’t do what others asked her to do. She could make an exception this time. She closed her eyes. She fell asleep only moments later. 

— —

Sephie didn’t like sleeping in. It made her groggy and gave her a headache. Today was no exception, even if she wasn’t sure what day it was, or if it was early or late. It was very light, so it might already be afternoon. 

That, or it was light because it was summer, which meant it didn’t really matter. 

She sat up, looking around. She’d been going to camp and had beaten up two bulls with two horns each. There’d also been a bone coming out of her leg, so she was probably in the infirmary. She couldn’t be completely sure if she was in the infirmary, but as there was someone with an orange shirt with Camp Half-Blood on it standing next to her, she was pretty sure she was at Camp. 

She was too good at this logic thing. Where Annabeth got the idea that she wasn’t, Sephie would never know. 

“How are you feeling?” This was the girl who’d told her to fall asleep, she was pretty sure. 

Sephie considered the question. She wasn’t tired. Neither was she hungry. She had the weirdest craving for seafood, but being a vegetarian, she ignored it. “I’m good.” 

The girl nodded, prodding at Sephie’s leg. “Looks good. You’re free to go wherever you want. Though just between us, you should probably go to the Big House quickly. Chiron’s not very happy with you. Though Mr. D thinks what you did is the best thing that’s happened to him since coming to camp. He's never seen Lord Zeus this angry. Well, not in the past decades at least.” The girl glanced out the window. Sephie looked outside as well, and she had to agree the sky looked slightly stormy. What had happened to make him so angry?

She shrugged as best she could, ignoring the slight twinge of pain as she jostled her shoulder. The girl glared at her. “If you could avoid doing that?” 

“Doing what?” Sephie asked, carefully getting out of bed. Where did her pants go?

“Moving your shoulder too much,” she said, only to shake her head. “You really should stay here a bit longer. Your shoulder isn’t nearly healed enough, which Chiron should know.” She sighed loudly. “Whatever. The moment you feel your leg hurt, you come here, alright? No reason to hurt it again. Though, if you do hurt it again, make sure that Chiron doesn’t know alright? I’d like to take more time to study it, and ethics are much more difficult to deal with when people know about the damage.”

Sephie blinked. Had she been a test subject? Was she supposed to be a test subject? It sounded cool, but maybe she shouldn’t get wounded for a while, just to be safe. “Where are my pants?”

The girl snapped her fingers. “Right, you need those.” The girl threw something at her face. “Yours were a total loss, so I spelled these up. There’s a chance they turn back in a few minutes, but if they don’t they should last you for the rest of the day.” The girl put a finger on her chin. “Should. They might burst into flames, in which case you'll probably have to come back. Though that healing of yours is very nice. Most of my patients need more than five hours to get back on their feet, especially when they are as wounded as you. Maybe we can do some tests?” Her hopeful look didn't make her words any better.  

Sephie didn’t often feel scared. After all, gods couldn’t die, and she was pretty sure that soon-to-be gods didn’t die either. Going through the entire thing with the bulls maybe messed with her feelings of immortality, because this girl scared her. “Do you have a pair of pants that won’t burn me alive?” 

The girl giggled. “Where's the fun in non-burning pants? And you'll probably survive it anyway!” She shoved Sephie out the door. “Go, Chiron’s not happy with you! And probably not happy with you. Though I gotta agree with Clarisse. Seeing that tree blow up was awesome. ” The door was slammed shut behind her before the sentence was even finished. Sephie was fine with that, though. That girl was weird. And scary. 

Sephie didn’t actually know where the infirmary was, which made it weird to exit the room it was in. It was like something changed, stepping from a place she didn’t know to one she did. Like culture shock, except the opposite. It was like coming home, though realizing she was in the Big House wasn’t much of a homecoming. And then trying to figure out where she was supposed to go made her feel this even less. The Big House must be a maze, that was the only explanation for nearly getting lost. Nearly, because she wasn’t completely lost. She found her way to the porch after only a few minutes of wandering around. She also found her way back to the attic, but she didn’t feel like talking to the mummy again, so she decided not to enter it. 

While wandering through the winding hallways, the weather had gotten worse. It was raining now. Despite that, everyone was still sitting outside. And she meant everyone. Well, everyone who was relevant, so Mr. D, the cabin heads, and Chiron. Mr. D was probably the most important of them all. Except for her of course. 

They sat around a ping-pong table, with all kinds of food on it. Someone was also tossing food at a leopard head, which was moving, and also outside. She was pretty sure it hadn’t been there the last time she’d been on the porch. “Why are you outside?” It seemed like a lot of work to drag the entire table out of whatever room it had been in. And with the way that leopard was snapping at every little piece of food thrown at it, it seemed like a slight finger hazard to touch it. 

“It’s safer here than outside,” Luke responded, glancing at the sky.

One girl, she thought a daughter of Demeter, nodded in agreement. “The Big House is a bit of a fire hazard.” 

“You shouldn’t have covered it in all those stupid vines,” Clarisse huffed.

Chiron clapped in his hands. “Focus, everybody. Sephie, sit. Please.” That didn’t sound like an actual please. Maybe he was still upset about that time she called him Charon. That sounded so much better, though. The I in Chiron made it so much more awkward to say than the A in Charon. “Sephie, can you explain what happened, exactly?”

"What happened when?" Sephie sat down in the chair, which put her directly opposite Chiron, with her back to the Big House. 

"Why did you damage the tree?" 

Ah. She hadn't realized she'd destroyed a tree. Was that even a problem? “Where should I start?”

“The beginning, please.” That sounded like an actual please.  

She shrugged. “I guess it started when Annabeth came along and killed my classmates.” 

They all turned to Annabeth. “They were Canadians!” 

Chiron gave her a stern look. “We will talk about killing mortals after this, Annabeth.” 

“But-”

“No. Killing mortals isn’t allowed, even if they are Canadian.” 

Mr. D hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t blame Annabel. Canadians are a bit…” he was quiet for a moment. “They’re very much against me.” 

Katie gave him an uncertain look. “How are they against you, Mr. D. They’re Canadians, the friendliest people ever.” 

Mr. D sighed. “It’s the maple syrup, Karen. It just rubs me the wrong way. Why not use a nice cup of wine to flavor your pancakes?” 

“Wine on pancakes sounds disgusting,” Katie responded.

Mr. D snorted, his red nose going up and down at the sound. “It’s a delicacy. Something you wouldn’t understand.” He sipped his cola.

Luke clamped a hand over Katie’s shoulder to stop her from jumping over the table. “Sephie?”

“After that,” Sephie continued, “she told me there was an emergency and that we had to get to Camp.” 

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say that! I said you needed to come back to camp.” 

“Whatever she said, it was not an emergency. Not then.” Chiron rubbed at his brow. “Do you remember the large tree at the boundary?” 

“The oak?” 

“No, Sephie, I mean the pine tree,” Chiron responded. Several people snickered. 

“Was that sarcastic?”

“No. And the no wasn’t sarcastic either. It is the pine tree I am talking about.” There was a lot of laughing now. Chiron stomped on the ground with his hoof. “Focus,” he said. “The tree is why the boundary exists. Before, there were constant monster attacks.”

“That tree was created by Zeus,” Luke said. “She stops monsters and mortals from entering camp. She was doing her job very well, but…” 

“The tree was poisoned,” Chiron said. “Normally, I would have no problem finding or creating an antidote, but this poison is one I have never seen before. The only place it could come from that I would not recognize would be Tartarus or the ocean. As the tree survived for more than five minutes, it has to be from the ocean. That is why we needed you here. As it was a slow-acting poison, we had the time to find an antidote. Except someone created a huge storm.” He looked at Sephie. “Lightning searches for the fastest path to the ground. As air is a terrible conductor, it will move to anything tall. The pine tree is the tallest thing you’ll find in the surrounding miles. It is badly damaged, weakening the barriers to nearly nothing.” 

“Wait, you’re saying it was my fault?” 

“You created that storm, Sephie,” Luke said, frowning. “Even if you didn’t destroy the tree, you still make the most sense to send on a quest. And since the tree is so badly damaged...”

“What is the solution?” A quest was probably more fun than going to school. Or to Camp for that matter, even if she’d liked Camp more than school. 

“The Golden Fleece,” Chiron said. “It is somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, which mortals call the Bermuda Triangle. Considering its location, as well as its inhabitants... Well, you have the best odds of surviving.” 

The best odds. Sephie was pretty sure that the best odds didn’t actually mean she had good odds. But that’s what people said about the first quest, so… “I guess I can look for Grover there.” She still wasn’t sure if that dream had been real. She never knew Grover was gay, let alone that he liked to crossdress. 

“Grover?” Annabeth asked. 

“Oh, he’s somewhere in the sea of monsters getting married. He really could have done better than a Cyclops, though.” 

“Grover is marrying a… Cyclops?”

“Sure. I think he was trying to invite me. Still think it’s weird I dreamt this, though.” 

“I'm joining the quest! We need to save Grover."  

Sephie gasped. “You think he’s being forced?”

“He has been making doe-eyes at that nymph,” Luke said. “I guess I’ll join you if you want. Maybe I can help you control those storms.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” 

“Focus. We have one more thing to talk about. Sephie, why did you bring a Cyclops to camp?”

“Tyson?”

“Yes.” 

“Had to stop some punks from killing him three times,” Clarisse grumbled. “How do you forget you’re not supposed to kill something three times? Also, dibs on one of the quest spots.” 

“Tyson is family, somehow. That’s what he says. His dad told him that he can’t tell me for some reason. I’m not sure about it all.”

“You can’t go on the quest, too, Clarisse,” Annabeth said. “Luke and I are joining Sephie. There’s no room for you.” 

“Guess I’m going on a random hunting trip to the Bermuda Triangle, then.” 

“That’s not how it works!” 

“Just because you’re going on a quest to the very same place, doesn’t mean I can’t go hunting there, Wise Girl,” Clarisse said. “You could stay behind if it worries you that much, though.”

“Grover’s my friend! Why should I have to-”

“Enough!” Chiron closed his eyes and sighed. “This is not a time for infighting. Sephie will decide who she takes with her. For now, though, the Oracle awaits you.” They quickly moved, leaving Luke, Clarisse, and Annabeth behind to face Chiron’s full-blown frustration. Not anger, because Chiron didn’t get angry. Not even when Sephie called him Charon or shot an arrow in his butt. 

He did make her swear never to use a bow again. Mr. D had looked a bit horrified when she did. He spent the rest of the day drinking. Cola, that is, alcohol was still not allowed. 

She went back to the attic. The prophecy hadn’t been fun, last time, and she still didn’t get it. 

Untameable child, beware the monster lurking in your life

As a voice calls, and gods turn to strife

War beckons, as its origin clamps tight

Find what was stolen, to set the struggle to right.

That’s what it was. She could still hear the oracle’s husky voice in her head. She stepped into the attic, taking the time to look at the many trophies. Luke told her that most campers gave them to Chiron when they left. A way to thank him for helping them survive for so long. Some trophies… well. Sephie would never be in that situation. And she would never give up her horns. Maybe she could ask one of the Hephaestus children to make her a helmet? Then she could put them on it, like the Vikings, except with more than two horns on a single helmet. 

She stopped the moment she could see the oracle. She hadn’t liked the first prophecy. Who is the monster in her life? 

Something hissed. Sephie focused on the Oracle with dread. There was already some green mist circling it. Its dead eyes bored into hers. As it opened its mouth, more mist came flowing out. 

“Approach and ask.” 

Could she just turn around and walk away? She’d need a prophecy for it. Great future god, kill monsters, grab fleece, complete trial?

“Not you again.” Its voice was that same husky sound as the last time. It sounded angry, though, which it hadn't last time. Or at least not right from the start. 

“Can I just not?”

“I will give you one that foretells your death if you don’t,” the Oracle told her. 

Sephie gulped. “What will happen?” That was a safe question, right?

The green mist turned over itself, slowly forming into figures. For a moment, it seemed as if they would become more than simple shapes. She saw the shimmer of gold, the color of their eyes and hair, and even a gown at one point. There was even a jellyfish on a head. It didn’t take long for that to turn back into smoke, too. 

The first figure stepped forward. It slowly became more visible, though never completely. “ Take to the seas to find what you seek,” it said, softly. The voice sounded feminine, but there was something inhuman about it, too. Or maybe it was a monstrous voice that had a feminine tint. 

“Siblings on either side, they cull the meek!” The second figure shouted in a rumbling voice. 

“Winds turn, as a storm beckons.” A third figure, she thought it was the one with a jellyfish on its head, stepped forward. It turned a helm as if sailing a ship. “Wrest control, choose their directions.” 

“Step on the island, with men in the sty,” another figure said. Only its eyes and mouth were visible. They were green, like emeralds, and the mouth was turned up into a smirk. “Warrior or beauty, for which do you qualify?”  

There were only two figures left. One was hulking, towering over the rest, while the other was smaller. “Golden imperium shimmers far away,” a masculine voice spoke. The smaller figure seemed to turn to gold. 

“Sends you to the stone,” the massive figure spoke, its voice gravelly.

The gold shimmered, glowing, lighting up the normally dark attic. “Or turn you astray.”  

The smoke and mist vanished back into the Oracle. Sephie felt herself choke on the air, only now realizing she’d held her breath the entire time. Who were the siblings? And what was this golden imperium? It had to be the golden fleece. 

But the Oracle said it, and the Oracle never meant the obvious. It couldn’t be the fleece, except wouldn’t it be obvious to do the unobvious? Was the Oracle a master at reverse psychology? 

Sephie shook her head, and quickly left the attic. The moment she got outside, she took deep breaths. She hated that dusty place. It was dark and damp, and not in the good damp way, like after it rained. “Are you alright, Sephie?” Chiron had walked up to her while she focused on breathing. He shook his head. “A foolish question. Walk with me,” he said. He took a few steps and looked back. 

Sephie shook her head again and followed him.

Chapter Text

“The Oracle never fails to make me uncomfortable,” Chiron started. “It is quite unnatural.”

“What are you talking about? It’s a skeleton. Those are supernatural!” 

Chiron huffed in amusement. “You are not wrong.” He shook his head. “I always have trouble knowing just what to say to you. Previous heroes I taught were so much simpler than you.”

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s not a bad thing,” he said. “When they went on a quest, I would simply tell them not to get a big head, to think things through, and to be careful of the random beautiful maiden that had suddenly fallen in love with them.” He looked at her. “Be very careful around beautiful maidens, Sephie. They can't be trusted.” 

“What about beautiful women in general?”

“Good question.” He said it like he wanted her to ask more, funnily enough. Maybe she should try that sometime? “Beautiful women, as well as men for that matter, should be handled with great care. Generally, however, they are more trustworthy than beautiful maidens. That is a simple way to trap and kill a hero in an unnecessarily bloody manner. Satyrs… well, they are up in the air. They’ve calmed down since ancient times, that is for sure.” 

“Why?” She asked. 

Chiron cocked his head. “I believe it has to do with Mr. D having calmed down after he found love.” They kept walking. She could see some other campers playing basketball on the fields. Sephie wasn’t sure who they were, but they scored a lot of points. 

“I want you to remember that the oceans aren’t your friend, Sephie. You are powerful, the storm you caused proved that, but-”

“It wasn’t my fault!” 

Chiron smiled at her, sadly. “I know that, Sephie. I let the surprise fuel my anger, and with the bulls already dead… well, no use talking about it anymore, I think. That said, there are far more powerful beings than you out there. Creatures so powerful that even the gods would think twice before crossing them. I need you to be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” Generally. It wasn’t her fault that others’ definition of being careful was wrong. 

“I’m sure.” Chiron looked at the sky. It had quieted down at some point, even if the rain had stayed out of camp. Zeus had kept to this treaty, despite his anger. Sephie would applaud his restraint, except that would probably set him off again. She didn’t think he would follow the treaty in that case, so applauding him wouldn’t do much. 

They ended up walking to her cabin in silence. Sephie'd gotten permission to sleep in it after finishing her quest, and she’d made full use of it. She’d put the minotaur’s horns on the wall. Covering the walls completely would come later, as you needed a lot more stuff to cover them than she thought. 

She had a lot of other things to do now, though. She needed to pack her bags, which were mainly just clothes and food, and the food was supplied by Chiron. And she’d have to decide who she would take with her. Luke, Annabeth, and Clarisse all wanted to go. And Tyson might get killed if he stayed behind. It would be a shame to lose such a great pupp- stepbrother. 

She didn’t have to take Clarisse with her. Clarisse would simply go on a hunting trip which would coincidentally take her on the same route. So she  could  just take Annabeth and Luke. Except that would leave Tyson, so Annabeth or Luke would have to stay behind. But that sounded cruel. She was pretty sure Annabeth wouldn’t do well without any friends on the quest, and she’d probably miss Luke if he went on the quest without her. Clarisse would go on the quest even if Sephie didn’t take her on the quest, so she might as well go on the quest with permission. 

And Clarisse didn’t mind Tyson, while Annabeth had been weird about it. So she’d probably take Clarisse and Tyson. They’d be there for the muscle, and she could be the tactician. She nodded to herself, now brushing her teeth. Clarisse, Tyson, and she would go on a quest to… do something or other? The Oracle said that she would find what she was searching for. Chiron said something about a Golden Fleece. The thing is, she didn’t care about finding the Golden Fleece that much. She’d much rather save Grover from being forced into marriage. So that must be what she was trying to find. Then there were siblings on either side. Her siblings? She was pretty sure she didn’t have secret siblings on either side of her family unless it meant step-siblings. But then, the Oracle could also have meant siblings that weren’t her siblings. And then the winds and storms and stuff, which made no sense. And then an island, and apparently she had to be a warrior or beautiful. Which begged the question, why couldn’t she be both? She was pretty sure that Gods were always beautiful, and that meant she was beautiful because she would be a god. But she was also a great warrior, just ask the Minotaur. 

“HAH! YOU CAN’T!” She shouted into the empty cabin. The Minotaur was deader than dead. 

Or not, because he would be reborn. So was she a good warrior or not? Well, she killed the bronze bulls, and those were automatons, so they probably weren’t gonna come back to life like some weird zombie cosplayers. She’d seen one when she was younger. They also had a gun for some reason and were wearing camo, so she guessed they were cosplaying a zombie soldier, but still. Though now she wondered if it hadn’t been an actual zombie. Did zombies exist?

It would be pretty awesome if they did. 

She closed her bag and grabbed her toothbrush. A bit of focus let some water flow from the small fountain in the corner of the room to her toothbrush. It was a bit unfortunate that Luke couldn’t teach her how to control storms during the quest, but it would be fine. It wasn’t like she could hit anything important in the middle of the ocean. And maybe she would learn it anyway? The Oracle did say something about storms and stuff. The more she thought about the prophecy, the more she felt it secretly actually made sense. It felt weird. 

She walked into the bathroom and rinsed her mouth. The most irritating thing about packing the day before is that you always had to leave some things out of your backpack. You couldn’t just leave your toiletries behind, but you did need them the evening before. Heck, you even needed them the morning you left! Unless, you left very early, but she was pretty sure she could decide what time they left. That meant they wouldn’t leave early. 

She liked being the boss. She could make all the fun decisions, and others had all the responsibility. If they did something wrong, she’d simply fire them! Though that did leave her with more to do, so maybe that wasn’t the way to run a business. Not that a quest was a business, of course. It was much more serious. Life and death. She yawned. Was it?

She put on her pajamas and jumped into her bed. It was soft, she was pretty there were some kind of feathers inside the mattress. Taken animal-friendly, though. The satyrs would rebel otherwise. Or maybe they had been taken from some kind of monster bird, which meant it would have been a bit more bloody. 

She yawned again. These philosophical questions were exhausting. She was pretty sure that the more time she spent with Annabeth, the more she became like Annabeth. It would do her good to not go on a quest together. Clarisse and Tyson were sure to be useful for this. 

Maybe. She wasn’t sure if Clarisse would listen to her. She was stubborn like that. Of course, Tyson was the ultimate pupp- stepbrother, so he would. Yeah. Everything would go perfectly fine. 

Chapter Text

The ocean was beautiful and peaceful. The only waves that Sephie could see were those caused by the ship. The ship which ruined the view. It was made of metal and crawling with skeletons. The skeletons weren’t actually that bad, even if Persephone wasn’t there to experiment on one with her. It was the metal that was the problem. Every time she was about to sink into the sound of the water and the wind, there was the clanging of steel and the groaning of metal. It disturbed the peace. 

She stood at the bow, looking at the great blue ocean and sky. There was not a cloud in the sky. Apollo must be smiling down on them. Take to the seas to find what you seek, and here they were in the middle of the ocean, headed toward the Bermuda Triangle. She liked its mythological name better. The Sea of Monsters. Θάλασσα των Τεράτων. There was something nice about it that made her want to say it aloud. “Thálassa ton Teráton.” It did sound nice. Right in a way she wasn’t sure how to describe. Annabeth would know. Maybe. Annabeth probably wasn’t too interested in that kind of stuff. She liked logic more, like math and other boring things like that. 

“My Lady, Hauptfrau Clarisse wishes you come to the mess hall.” Sephie looked over her shoulder. 

The skeletons here were clothed like soldiers. Worn clothing with tears all through them. They looked faded, too, probably from the salt water. Their bodies had laid in it for sixty years. Clarisse had explained that everyone who lost in a war was in debt to her father. It had sounded strange to her, as Ares had seemed so… sympathetic to soldiers. He didn’t sound like someone who’d make them come back to life and keep fighting. She shook her head and followed him. 

The ship was German as was its crew. The names had made her laugh at first, but then she realized that… she wasn’t sure. She’d been feeling weird ever since they got on the ship. 

She entered the mess hall maybe five minutes later. The ship was really large, an ironclad apparently, whatever that was. Tyson and Clarisse were already sitting at the table, Tyson tinkering with some kind of metal. Clarisse was talking to someone. As Sephie fully entered the room she could see that it was an Iris Message. 

“Hey Annabeth,” she said, sitting down, head on hand. 

Annabeth nodded back. “So how far are you from the entrance?” 

“The captain thinks maybe another day, assuming we don’t hit a storm or something.” Clarisse shrugged. “We should be fine. Maybe Sephie can turn a storm away?” Annabeth gave Sephie a questioning look. 

She shrugged. “Maybe, don’t know. I’ve never tried.” Annabeth frowned at her and then looked back at Clarisse. 

“We don’t have much more time. We got hit by a flock of Stymphalian birds this afternoon during lunch. Nobody got injured,” she said, making Clarisse nod, “but the barriers are weakening. If not for Chiron…” 

“Yeah, I get it. We’re going as fast as we can. Thing is, Ironclads aren’t made for speed. It’s meant to get us through the barrier.” 

Sephie frowned. “What is it that we’re going through?” 

“Really? Like, really? You’re supposed to be the ocean expert, fish-for-brains,” Clarisse said. “How do you not know what is in the freaking Sea of Monsters.” 

Sephie shrugged. “It never came up.”

“Not the time to fight yet, Clarisse. Wait until the end of the quest to blow up at her,” Annabeth said. Tyson looked up and frowned at that. 

“You can’t blow Sephie up!” 

“It’s… Oh dear gods, there’s two of them.” She rubbed at her face. “There’s two entrances to the Sea of Monsters. You can’t bypass them. They simply move in front of you. First, there’s the Clashing Rocks, which are not possible.”

“It’s a bunch of rocks flying around ready to hit you straight into your mother’s arms, Sephie,” Clarisse said. “And it’s not like I can shoot them out of the air. Nah, we’ll go through the Strait. Go close to the Watcher, stay below decks, and leave the skeletons to take the damage. They can’t die twice and won’t feel the pain either.” 

“That’s a bit rude,” Tyson said. “The skeletons are nice!” 

“I’m staying alive. If that means that the dead die again, so be it.” Clarisse frowned. “We should be able to get through it with the ship whole and without losing too much of the crew. Main thing I’m worried about is if we can get away from the Whirlpool.”

“What’s with the capitals?” Even as she said it, Sephie understood. “They’re siblings, aren’t they?” 

“What are you talking about?” Clarisse gave her a weird look. 

“That’s what the prophecy said. Siblings on either side, they cull the meek.” 

“This might be the time to tell us the entire prophecy,” Annabeth said. 

Clarisse shook her head. “Not with you here, wise girl. I’m not baiting the fates. Thanks for the heads up, we’ll go as fast as we can. See you on the other side.” Her hand flew through the rainbow despite Annabeth’s protests. 

Tyson pouted. “Bye-bye, wise girl.” 

Sephie swallowed. Her throat was dry. Something about repeating prophecies made her feel sick. She wondered if they felt it too. “Take to the seas to find what you seek,” she started, “Siblings on either side, they cull the meek.” 

“Well, guess you’re right about the Watcher and the Whirlpool being siblings. Wonder what they mean about culling the meek, though.”

“Why are we going so close to the Watcher?” It was a cool name. Sephie couldn’t wait to mean them, whoever they were. Even if it was likely she’d get eaten if she got too close. 

Clarisse drummed on the table. “Go through the middle of the Strait and you’ll get sucked up by the Whirlpool. The Watcher can reach into the Strait anyway, might as well get away from the Whirlpool.” She stopped drumming. “That might explain the meek part. You avoid the fight, you’ll get swallowed up.” 

“Isn’t that a bit simple for a prophecy?” 

Clarisse shrugged. “I don’t know anything about prophecies. Just what I’ve heard from other people. What’s next?”

“Winds turn, as a storm beckons. Wrest control, choose their directions,” Sephie continued. “I have no idea what it means. I guess a storm and I protect the ship? Sounds like what you said.” 

“Guess we’ll have to see if you can do it. Good to know the ship survives, though. That’s nice.”  

“Step on the island with men in the sty. Warrior or beauty, for which do you qualify?” Sephie scoffed. “So rude, as if we can’t be both.” 

Clarisse gave Tyson a weighted look. “Not saying it isn’t possible, but it doesn’t always happen.” 

“I’m sure there’s someone out there who’s both beautiful and a warrior!” 

Clarisse blinked. “You’re talking about most warrior deities. I legit don’t know any that aren’t both.” She frowned. “I don’t think I know any deity who isn’t beautiful except for Hephaestus.” 

“Do you know many deities?” 

“Of course not,” she scoffed. “I’ve only seen Mr. D.”

“He doesn’t count,” Sephie nodded sagely. “Should I continue?” 

Clarisse waved her hand. “Go ahead. It’s not been so bad.” 

“Golden imperium shimmers from far away, sends you to stone, or turn you astray.” Sephie breathed in deep, then puffed the air out. “The prophecy gets weirder the further in you get. The first lines were fine, but the last ones don’t make sense.” 

“What did the Oracle appear as? Might give us a hint.” 

“A bunch of different figures. Some women, some men, one mountain.” 

“A mountain?”

Sephie rolled her eyes. “A very very large man, with a gravelly voice.” 

“A gravelly voice,” Clarisse asked. She looked at Tyson. “There’s not many monsters that have a human voice. They are also rarely gravelly, let alone tall enough to be called mountains.” 

“You’re saying that Tyson is a monster? Also, how do you know the Oracle doesn’t give those monsters a voice, huh?”

“You’re not wrong, but we might as well use what we have,” Clarisse responded. “And Tyson is a Cyclops. The prophecy’s Cyclops might be related to him. Coincidentally, Tyson is a son of Poseidon, and Poseidon has an infamous Cyclops son, Polyphemus.” 

“Who’s that?”

Tyson looked back up from his tinkering. It looked like a little ship. “I’ve heard stories of him. He’s the biggest and strongest of us all.” 

“That. He’s a direct son of Poseidon. Odyssey took his eye out when he went back to Troy.” Clarisse frowned. “I wonder…”

“What?”

“The Treaty that the sea gods have.” 

“Ah, if Polyphemus follows it?” 

Clarisse nodded slowly. “Yeah. I don’t know anything about the Treaty, mind you. Don’t even know if it works for you since you’re not Poseidon’s. Tyson?”

“What Treaty?” 

“Never mind,” Clarisse sighed. “Alright, let’s just see when it gets down to it. I doubt we’ll be having a lot of luck, though. Let’s go to sleep. We’ll need the rest.” 

Sephie frowned. “Who made you the captain?”

“The Hauptfrau, Sephie, and I’m pretty sure that your strategy to completing this quest is to just see what happens. We’re not doing that.” 

Sephie hummed, looking out of the little porthole in the side of the room. The waves were getting ever so slightly higher, the sea ever so slightly rougher. “Alright.” 

— —

The Strait was visible from miles and miles away. Massive mountains lined the passage, seemingly rising from the ocean. The ocean had gotten choppier as they got closer. Now, large waves hit the ship from behind, pushing them closer to the Strait. Sephie had ended up at the hull again, watching the mountains grow larger as they got closer. Now that they were nearly there, they hit the clouds. The tips couldn’t be seen. Her hand went to her hair, touching the shell. Her fingertips trailed the edges. She swallowed. It’d be fine. The Lightning Bolt was the first trial, this was the second. She’d be a god, too. That would be fair. 

The Golden Fleece. Maybe she could keep it after it healed the tree. What would it look like? Was it truly gold, or was it just gold-colored? And was it a real fleece? Fake fleeces weren’t really her thing, she was pretty sure. 

“Ready?” Clarisse stepped up beside her. Tyson came up on the other side, towering over both of them. His hands were empty. 

Sephie swallowed again. “Maybe we should give Tyson a weapon? Just to be safe?”

Clarisse glanced at Tyson, then whistled. A skeleton ran up to them. “We need a large club, preferably celestial bronze. See if you can get it before we hit the Strait.”

The skeleton saluted and ran off. “We should head down,” Clarisse continued. “I’ve got no idea where the Watcher lurks, and I have no interest in finding out.”

Sephie and Tyson followed her downstairs. They ended up in the mess hall, looking out the porthole. The ship slowly made its way into the Strait. The water got even rougher, large waves hitting the sides, some coming as high as the porthole. Clarisse frowned and walked out of the room. Sephie ran after her. “Where are you going?”

“We’re moving to the middle of the Strait.” 

They jogged to the navigation room. Clarisse practically kicked open the door. “Why are you moving to the middle?”

“There’s rocks at the side. Hit one of those and we’ll make water.”

Clarisse’s hand trailed over her spear. “The Whirlpool?”

Hermann ground his teeth. It was surprisingly loud without a mouth to dampen it. “It should be fine, Hauptfrau Clarisse. Of course, there’s no maps of this area, so I have no idea.” 

“And the bait?” 

“The sheep are on the deck, Hauptfrau.” That was Clarisse’s plan. In addition to the fleshy people on board staying below deck, she’d also put some sheep on it. The hope was that the Watcher, whoever that was, would grab those instead of the less replaceable people below decks. 

“Let’s pray to the gods this works.” 

“Poseidon favors his family. I would not worry about it.”

“You believe in the Greek gods?” Sephie asked.

The skeleton waved his hand. “Ask me again if you wake up after being hit by a dozen bullets, while slowly sinking to the ocean floor with your crew around you.”

“I’d rather not imagine that,” Sephie muttered.

“Focus,” Clarisse said. “Let’s get through this alive, then you two can continue this discussion.”

The skeleton turned his head 180 degrees. “Alive? We’re headed into the Sea of Monsters. I hope you’ve made your peace, Hauptfrau.”

Chapter Text

Sephie wasn’t exactly sure why she was watching two girls kiss, but she didn’t mind it. It was much better than watching someone cry because they’d come face-to-face with a shark. Like, what was it about people who disliked sharks? There weren’t animals more beautiful than them. Though killer whales were absolutely stunning. She was still upset that she didn’t get to see them when they went to the aquarium. Falling into the shark enclosure wasn’t a good reason to suddenly not go and see the killer whales. They didn’t even look like each other! Sharks were beautiful in an ugly way, while killer whales were just beautiful. That, or they were both just cool. She didn’t really care about semantics. 

Anyway, the two girls kissing. It was a nice sight, cause they were both pretty. She still wasn’t sure how she got into this situation though. Well, that’s not true. She did know. 

It all started when she fell asleep. She’d heard from Luke, Annabeth, and others that dreaming scary stuff was common for demigods. Sephie hadn’t actually dreamt of any scary stuff until she saw Grover wearing a wedding dress just a week or so ago. This was the second time, even if it wasn’t actually scary. Sephie was pretty sure that beautiful girls couldn’t be scary, no matter what Chiron implied. She’d woken up to the first girl who was watching the ships down in the harbor. She was sitting on a wall in a castle. Or something like a castle, Sephie wasn’t sure. 

“Watching the ships again?” The second girl came up behind the first one and had an impish look on her face. Her hair was messy, it looked a lot like Sephie’s. The first girl rolled her eyes.

“What do you want, Chary?” 

“You,” Chary snickered. “And to know what you find so interesting about ships. Even after all these years, I still don’t get what you like about them. It’s much more interesting to see them be destroyed, no?”

The girl responded by rolling her eyes again. “I’d rather watch them sail away. It’s nice to imagine what happens to them.” 

Chary stepped up behind the first girl and started rubbing her shoulders. “Scylla, please. What’s better than making your imagination real?” 

“Nothing’s stopping you from doing so, but leave that one ship alone. The one with the bright red sail.” 

“What about the red ship?”

“I like the sigil,” Scylla simply said.  

Chary kissed her on the cheek and waved her hand. “As you wish my love!” Sephie ran up to the wall. The sea bubbled and swirled. The ships were left to float towards the whirlpool that had appeared from nowhere. “The red sailed ship can float to wherever it wants.” 

“Thanks. I wonder what will happen to it? Perhaps it will hit some cliffs or be attacked by a sea monster?” 

“I don’t get why you don’t destroy the ship yourself?”

“I don’t blame the ship for existing. The people on it are much worse.” 

Chary snickered. “You’re not wrong. Though I don’t care about the ships either.” 

Scylla shrugged. “I like them.” 

“Want to play a game?” 

Scylla turned away from the ships. “What kind of game?” 

“The fun kind!” 

And that’s when they started kissing. Sephie ended up turning away from the whirlpool (which was incredibly cool) to stare at them kissing. She wasn’t sure how this was a game, but she didn’t mind. It looked kind of fun. 

They stepped away after a little bit. “Do you think there’s something wrong with us?” Scylla spoke up. “I mean…”

“What,” Chary said. “We’re just taking inspiration from the gods.” 

Scylla scoffed. “I’m pretty sure mortals aren’t meant to act like gods.” They ended their embrace and stood in silence, simply staring at the ever-growing whirlpool. “So why are you here?”

“Came to get you. We need to leave again. The king is… upset,” Chary said, slumping. 

Scylla scoffed. “I wonder why?” 

Chary nodded. “Was it the sinking of his ships? The drowning of his people? The flooding of his fields? Maybe seducing his daughter was the last drop?” 

Scylla frowned. “Probably. She was supposed to marry some important guy from the mainland. I’m pretty sure she would flee with us if we asked.”

“Let’s do that! Also, we’re not fleeing, we’re tactically retreating to see more of the world. Now, shall we go?”

Scylla started walking. “We’re getting our new lover first.”  

“Gods, I love it when you take the lead!” Chary cheered, then jogged with her. 

Sephie gave the sinking ships a longing look first, then turned to follow the lovers. They were fun, too. They were all about destroying the anti-fun, just like her. Though they did it on a larger scale, so maybe she should try that, too? Creating a whirlpool couldn’t be that difficult, right? 

They ended up stopping in front of an elaborately decorated door. Scylla entered it without knocking, with Chary following her. Sephie quickly joined them, barely avoiding the door being thrown into her face. Though she wasn’t sure if it would actually hit her. She felt slightly… unfelt? She wasn’t sure. They couldn’t see her, she was pretty sure. Grover could, so what was up with that? 

“What are you doing here?” A third girl. She was wearing one of those Greek dresses and had earrings. And a necklace. 

“Wanna go on a trip?” 

“You… what?” The girl didn’t sound confused, but outraged. “You… I can see what you did from here. You just…” 

“Destroyed the ships?” Chary shrugged. “It was fun.” 

“You’re monsters,” the girl whispered. “I…” 

“You know how we said we are acting like the gods, Chary?”

Chary nodded in agreement. 

“I guess we’re kidnapping a maiden, then.” 

Chary gave the princess a once-over. “Does she even count as a maiden? I mean…” she trailed off. Scylla stepped up to the girl and simply grabbed her, ignoring her protests. 

“Technically she is. And I want eye candy while traveling.”

“What am I? A satyr?” 

“Do female satyrs exist?” Scylla asked thoughtfully, arm coming up to hold the princess, who was trying to struggle out. 

“I’m pretty sure they’re always male.” 

“Shame,” Scylla responded, then started walking. “Will you stop squirming? We’re gonna have a lot of fun, you know?” 

“You killed them all!” The princess wailed.

“Not all of them,” Chary said. “That’s what makes it fun.” Sephie nodded thoughtfully. That sounded like something she should do too. Leave some alive, and then people would remember her. For what purpose? She’d figure it out at some point. She’d also have to actually kill people at some point, but that was just a detail. Though if she killed nobody, wasn’t she technically leaving everyone alive? 

The four of them, or really the three of them, walked through the castle, though the more she saw of it, the more it felt like some kind of mansion. Just a large mansion made of marble, with a lot of random statues and images. They often portrayed a woman whom Sephie thought she recognized. Helmet, shield… where did she recognize that face on the shield from? It was highly stylized, so a bit hard to actually compare to reality. 

“Can you stop struggling?” Scylla wondered. “It’s really hard to keep balance. You’re surprisingly heavy.” 

“That’s kinda rude,” Chary remarked. 

“What is rude is you trying to abduct my daughter from my own home,” a male voice began, “after destroying my fleet, drowning my people, and flooding my fields. Do you really think you’ll get away with this?” 

“Calling her a this is a bit rude, too,” Chary said. “But by all means, come and take her from us. I’m sure you’ll get somewhere, Uncle.” 

“You are not my nieces, even if your mother was my sister. Not with what you have done,” he said, voice trembling with rage.  

“We’ve just been having fun,” Chary said. “Why’s everyone so against us having fun?.” 

“You think this is fun?” The uncle whispered. “What kind of monsters are you? May the gods curse you for your actions.” 

Scylla shrugged. “If they were gonna do that, they’d have done it already I think. And father seems to be fine with us doing this. He hasn’t told us no, at least.” 

“KILL THEM, BRING ME THEIR HEADS!” The uncle shouted, stepping back to allow the soldiers to charge forward. 

Chary stepped in front of Scylla. “Stupid uncle, have you not learned their lesson?” She waved her hand. Something rumbled. “You can’t even approach us.” 

Water smashed through the walls from all sides, enveloping the soldiers. Seconds later, the water flooded out, leaving nothing behind. “You…” The uncle croaked, looking horrified. 

“We?” 

“Charybdis, you idiot! You didn’t even warn me!” Scylla screeched, though she was completely dry. The princess was nowhere to be seen. 

Chary whirled around. “We always do it like this!” She shouted back. 

“You normally at least tell me when you’re about to do it” Scylla pouted. “Now we don’t have any eye candy for the road.” 

“Don’t worry, Scylla. You can stare at me all you want.” They walked out of the mansion, completely ignoring the man. 

“My daughter, my people, everything you-” the uncle sobbed behind them. “What did you do? Please, Athena, please curse them. Kill them.” Right, that was the statue person. Triton liked talking about her during the torture that he called training. 

They continued ignoring him, walking up to the shore. “Sailing again,” Chary groaned. 

Scylla smirked. “Yup.” Far on the horizon, Sephie could see red sails quickly moving toward them. “Seems a sea monster hit them,” Scylla said. “What a shame.” 

“Yes,” Chary drawled. “What a shame.” 

— —

Sephie woke up slowly. It had been an interesting one, and slightly fun, too. It was like a fairy tale, except not much of a fairy tale. There was a bit too much murder in it, she thought. But it was still fun! Also, Scylla and Chary were pretty cool. She could see herself sinking ships, flooding fields, drowning soldiers, and kidnapping princesses, too, not necessarily in that order. She might not kidnap a princess, either, since she was pretty sure those didn’t exist anymore, not like they seemed to do during Scylla and Chary’s time. 

England might have princesses, she thought. And maybe some Middle Eastern countries? Maybe she could kidnap a princess there. She’d probably have to be older before she should try that, though. Scylla and Chary were quite a bit older than her, so it might be something you worked up towards. The same thing with sinking ships, flooding fields, and drowning soldiers. She should probably start with flooding fields, cause no one would die from that. Though, if those fields were vital for food, maybe that was the last thing to do? Except ships were maybe important for food, too, if they supplied it. So she should actually start with soldiers because those only ate food instead of making it. 

Yeah, she’d start by drowning soldiers. Though maybe she could find a better name for it. Flooding fields, sinking ships… those were nice. Drowning soldiers sounded slightly… she wasn’t sure. Kidnapping princesses was similar but still fine. And it would make her a dragon, because dragons always kidnapped princesses. Or was it Princesses in this case?

She gleefully rubbed her hands as she went to the mess hall. Yes, she would capture a princess (or a Princess), become a dragon, sink some ships, then flood some fields. After that, she could become a god! Or a God. A GOD was acceptable, too. 

Though maybe she should burn the fields instead if she was a dragon? Choices choices. She should probably first find what she sought, whether that was a fleece, Grover, or something else entirely. Maybe she’d end up finding a princess on the quest? 

Maybe her mother could give her one for her birthday? That sounded like a good idea. It wouldn’t be kidnapping them, but that might not be such a bad thing. Scylla and Chary said something about seducing a princess. Or it was their uncle. Didn’t really matter. 

“Alright, we’ve gone through the plan, so let’s just do this,” Clarisse said. “If we’re lucky we won’t get eaten.” 

“Wait, are they actually called the Watcher and the Whirlpool?” 

Clarisse and Tyson gave her a Look. She glared at Tyson. How could he betray her so? “Of course not,” Clarisse answered, “but I’m not about to say their real names when we’re in their freaking domain.” She grabbed her spear which had been leaning against the wall. “Now, let’s do this shit.” 

Sephie was pretty sure that a spear wouldn’t do much against a whirlpool, let alone a Whirlpool, but whatever. She wasn’t gonna be the one to ruin Clarisse’s dreams. She’d leave that to… someone else. Annabeth? She seemed like the kind of person to ruin dreams. She absolutely reveled in messing with Sephie’s. 

The awesomeness of Clarisse grabbing her spear like she was about to fight the monsters was also lessened by them awkwardly staying in the mess hall. They weren’t gonna fight the monsters, after all. They’d just sail past them, hopefully losing only skeletons along the way. It would be best if they didn’t even lose any of those, but Sephie didn’t really like those odds. With how Clarisse talked about the monsters they were gonna meet, and how skeletons generally behaved… well. As long as Hermann survived, that would be fine. Hermann was a bit strange, even taking the other skeletons Sephie had met into account. Maybe Persephone would be interested in lobotomizing this one with her, too? Sephie’d like to do the flower thing again. 

The intercom turned on with a crackle. “Hauptfrau Clarisse, companions, please prepare yourself for enga-” Something smashed into the ship, hard. It swayed left to right and back again, and then happened several more times in quick succession. “As I said,” Hermann continued as if nothing happened, “we are now in engagement. Also, thank you for your sacrifice, Franz. I’m sure that there are flamethrowers in the underworld.” Hermann would sound a lot more sad about Franz’s death if he didn’t speak in a monotone the entire time. Maybe that was something the dead just did? 

“Well, losing one isn’t so bad.” 

Clarisse clenched her teeth, looking through the porthole. “We’ll be losing more than one.” Sephie pulled her eyebrows up and joined her. 

“Ah. I see.” Not really, because there was mist everywhere. That said, what she could see was enough. 

The monster was incredibly cool. And the more monsters she met, the more it felt like sea monsters and gods and nymphs and stuff were either very cool or very pretty. Probably had to do with the fact that the ocean was very cool and very pretty. 

At least, the parts of the monster that she could see. She thought there were seven heads, but she wasn’t completely sure. And the heads were too far away to get a clear view. At least until one slammed into the porthole. It was large, probably as large as Sephie’s entire body. Massive teeth as long as her arm filled its mouth, while venom-green eyes glared at her. Hungrily. It moved away at the same time as they backed away from the porthole. The glass had cracks in it. 

Clarisse cursed. “To the other side. Let’s go!” She started running out, only for another smash to send them stumbling, and a third head breaking into the room through the glass. “FUCK!” Clarisse managed to barely push it back with her spear. Another head bit a massive chunk out of the solid steel plate that covered the ship. The heads came flooding in. 

“No flesh for you!” Tyson roared, smashing one away with one of the chairs. 

Clarisse scrambled to her feet and stabbed at one, only for it to glance off. “We need to get out! Guard our backs!” They slowly moved back. “And Sephie, where the fuck are your weapons.” 

Sephie made an embarrassing sound, quickly grabbed the shell from her hair, and turned it into the trident. She barely managed to parry one of the heads. 

“Hauptfrau Clarisse, I’m sorry to say that we have a breach in the mess hall. If you are still alive, please make your way to the backup mess hall on the other side of the ship.” Tyson smashed another chair, then grabbed them and ran out, both of them cursing him the entire time. 

“Always listen to the captain!” He shouted as he ran through the hall.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Clarisse shouted enraged. 

Tyson didn’t waste his breath. He shook his head. 

“Take a right here. And put me down!” 

They took a sharp right, then Tyson slowed down, letting them get back on their own feet. “Sephie, please don’t just stand there next time,” Clarisse said. She took a deep breath. “Now I know what wise girl was talking about.” 

“What do you mean by that?”

“That you are very irritating to deal with on a mission. You realize you can die, right?”

“Gods can’t die!” 

“You’re not a god yet.”

Sephie felt the urge to cry happy tears. “You believe in me?”

“Nope.” Clarisse popped the p. “Now let’s go. If we’re lucky we haven’t gotten too close to the Whirlpool.”

Chapter Text

The second mess hall (Sephie had asked, but nobody had taken the time to explain why you needed two) was on the other side of the ship. That is, diagonally opposite, which meant they had to run long enough that they were all breathing heavily, even Clarisse who seemed to do nothing but fitness. While fleeing there, the ship kept shaking as Scylla smashed her heads into the hull, even breaking through on one occasion. It was only Clarisse’s timely intervention that stopped Tyson from being dragged out. He was bleeding with rough gashes on his side. 

“Get in,” Clarisse shouted while tearing the door open. They were safer here, mostly out of Scylla’s reach. Not completely safe, mind you. Sephie hadn’t gotten used to the ship at all, but she could feel the ocean beneath her feet. It was nice and soothing, except for the massive amount of pressure that lay in it. Something controlled it, moving the heap of metal ever closer to the whirlpool. 

The second mess hall was an exact copy of the first one, porthole included, so Sephie jogged over to take a look. There wasn’t much to see, but she could feel it. And hear it, a low rumbling roar which became louder by the second. “We’re getting close to the whirlpool.” 

Clarisse swore. “What is going on up there?” She had grabbed a tablecloth and was wrapping it around Tyson’s waist. The white color was turning rapidly. “Can you do anything?”

Sephie quickly went back to watching the ocean. She could feel it, the ocean, moving beneath her feet. Could she stop it? There was a tugging in her gut as she did… something . For just a moment, barely measurable, the ocean stopped. It didn’t move. Everything caught in it was stuck. Then the control was torn from her grasp by a presence so large she could not understand it. The ocean started moving again, with them moving ever closer to the whirlpool. A drop of blood fell on the ground. She felt her nose. Her hand came back red. 

Clarisse cursed. “Why are we moving so slowly?” 

The door opened and Franz’s German-accented voice drifted through. “That would be due to the failing of the engines. The strain is a tad too much.” 

“Then why aren’t you fixing it?” She shouted. 

Franz stayed in the doorway and shrugged. “We are evaporating in the heat.” 

“Shouldn’t that be more worrying for you?” Sephie wondered. 

Franz lit up. “Of course not! It means we can rest. No body means no servitude. Gods, the Fields of Asphodel must be so nice,” he mused. 

“Don’t you mean Elysium?” 

“I don’t hold any illusions.” 

“So we’re gonna die here,” Clarisse clarified, looking completely done with the situation. 

“I can go,” Tyson suddenly spoke up, holding his side. “I won’t evaporate in the heat.” 

“Guess not,” Sephie said. “Though please don’t die, Tyson. You’re my puppet in crime.” 

Tyson saluted her. “Yes, half-sister!” 

“Still not sure about that one,” Sephie muttered. Tyson quickly ran out the door, pushing Franz out of the way in the process. 

Franz stumbled against the wall, only to start running after Tyson. “Wait! You don’t even know where to go!” 

Sephie was about to look out the porthole again, only to see Clarisse move in the corner of her eye. “Where are you going?”

Clarisse grabbed her spear. “Scylla can get to those engines. I’m going to distract it.” 

Sephie nodded slowly. That might be a good idea. “Good luck! She put a fist in the air. “I’ll cheer you on from down here!” 

Clarisse gave her a look, then walked over and started dragging her out of the mess and perhaps more important, safe hall. “Yeah, no, you’re coming with me. If one of us gets thrown into the sea, it’d better be you.” 

Sephie kind of slumped in the hold. “Stupid quest.” 

“On that, we can both agree.” 

— —

They got to the deck, the stupid metal deck that felt wrong , and were forced to drop to the ground immediately as one of the many heads swung over them. It smashed into the stairway that they’d come from, leaving it dented. Skeletons were running around, their teeth clattering wildly. One of them was grabbed and thrown into the air. When it landed, its body shattered into pieces. 

“Gods, this is such a bad idea.”

“Exactly! We should go back down and be safe, instead.” 

Clarisse grunted as she used her spear to parry one of the heads. “Why don’t you do those weird things that make terrifying monsters like you? Annabeth’s told me about them more than enough times.” 

Sephie looked up at the mountain where the heads were coming from. Fog shrouded it, so she couldn’t even see what the rest of the body looked like. “What if you did that instead?” She tried to pierce one of the heads, only for the trident to bounce off. 

“Why the fuck would it listen to me?” 

“It seems very warlike,” Sephie insisted. “And you’re the daughter of the war god, so it makes sense!” 

“Yeah, no.” Clarisse stabbed at another head. The tip managed to pierce the scales, tiny amounts of blood dripping from the wound. Tiny was relative, as it was enough to make a puddle. 

What would happen if the entire head was cut off? Would they drown in blood? Could she even drown in blood? She’d love to try it out, though she doubted she’d succeed. Those heads were terrifying. 

The wounded head shook wildly, then stilled right in front of them, just out of their weapon’s reach. “So here you are,” the head hissed. Hissed, like it was some kind of stereotypical snake! Sephie resisted the urge to pout. “I don’t suppose you will just stand still and let me eat you? It’s been terribly long since I’ve had human flesh.”

Clarisse took a step back, grabbed Sephie’s shoulder, and pushed her forward. “Talk,” Clarisse hissed. 

“Ah, why has it been so long?” Sephie asked awkwardly. 

“It’s quite simple, demigod. Back in the good years, that would be when we sat in the middle of the Mediterranean, demigods were very common. Mortals, too. They’d constantly head through our strait.” The head kindly took the time to gesture around. “Food for days! I got slightly fat during that time, I’m sad to say, though Chary liked it.” 

Sephie nodded slowly. “I don’t suppose you’ll be happy with the skeletons?”

“Absolutely not!” The head shook its head. Or was it the neck? Sephie tried to inspect it, but the fog was too thick to see properly. “Though they do make a fun sound when they splatter on the ground,” it finished thoughtfully. 

“So you’ll take the deal? We get to live, and the skeletons stay here for you to toy with?” 

The head nodded slowly. “I could. It would win me browny points with Chary, too, for when we get turned back into humans.” 

“Turned back into humans?” Clarisse asked. 

The head nodded earnestly. “Oh yes, we used to be human. Sisters, both daughters of Poseidon. Goodness, those were the times. Head from island to island, always being welcomed by whoever ruled it. Then, we’d seduce their daughters, destroy their fleets, drown their people, and flood their fields, not necessarily in that order!” Huh. She’d been pretty sure, but now she was certain. These two monsters were the same as the ones in her dream. Gods, that dream had been weird. But fun!

“What if I… I don’t know.” 

Scylla sighed. “Shame, you might be fun to seduce in a few years.”

“A few? I’m sorry, are you telling me that you’d seduce her when she’s underage?”

“Two responses,” Scylla put up two heads as she said it. “Firstly, I’m only nineteen, the monster years don’t count. Secondly, I’m a firm believer in staying true to your own culture. That means that your weird age things don’t have any power here!” 

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Sephie said. “It’s not you, mind, it’s me, but… this entire relationship sounds a bit… iffy to me.” 

“Shame, but I understand. Times have changed.” Scylla seemed sad about it, too. “I’ll just eat you in that case. Instant gratification over no gratification, you see?”

“About that relationship… I suddenly think it’s a very good idea!” 

Scylla shook her heads. “No taksie-backsies.”

Darn it. She was too young to be eaten! "What about the skeleton toys? Those are instant gratifications!” 

“But I can have those if I eat you, too.” 

“But what if you can meet me when I’m a god? That’s like, super later gratification!” 

“Eating a future god is very solid instant gratification.” 

Clarisse gave Sephie a horrified look. “This is how you convince immortals that they shouldn’t kill you?”

Sephie shrugged. “I think so? Though I’m not sure if I actually did much those times.” Really, it seemed like they liked her before she even started talking to them. 

Scylla made a weird hissing sound. It took Sephie some time to realize that she was laughing. “I’ll be kind, too. You get one more chance to convince me not to eat you.”

Sephie nodded thoughtfully. Scylla wanted a good reason. So what to do, what to do? Maybe reverse psychology? If she said that she didn’t taste good, would that work? Though, she might have to say that she tasted incredibly good instead, right? Pull the good old reverse-reverse psychology?

But maybe she was being stupid. Surely family mattered to someone who was in love with their sister, right? Perhaps it would be the wrong kind of mattering, but one step at a time. “You wouldn’t kill your step-sister, right?”

Scylla stopped her laughing hisses. “Step sister? Don’t you mean half-sister?” 

“So you knew!” 

“You look a lot like Chary when she was younger. Similar hair and eyes. I took more after our mother, weirdly enough.” Several more heads appeared from the fog to look at her from different angles. “I can see the resemblance, I suppose. You look similar to her, even now. Though I’m not sure about the step-sister part.”

Clarisse started coughing. “She looks like some kind of weird whirlpool monster?” 

“As I said before, monster years don’t count,” Scylla responded distractedly. “This also doesn’t explain the step-sister comment, however.” 

“I’m Amphitrite’s daughter,” Sephie said proudly. 

Scylla’s heads came up for a closer look. “Are you sure? You look quite a lot like Poseidon. It could have been a ruse, some kind of reverse psychology, perhaps?” Sephie resisted the urge to grin. Every member of her family understood the power of reverse psychology, even crazy monster ladies! 

Clarisse muttered something. “Is it enough to convince you not to eat us?”

Scylla hemmed and hawed a bit, some heads doing one and some doing the other. “I suppose I won’t eat her . But I don’t know about you. Why shouldn’t I eat you? Chary says that the children of Ares are good food. She had a few, decades ago.” 

“I’ll make sure you swallow my spear along with me,” Clarisse growled. 

“I’m not sure if antagonizing the very big monster that wants to eat you is a good idea,” Sephie whispered. 

Scylla nodded in agreement. “On the other hand,” the monster said thoughtfully, “I’ve already decided to eat you, so maybe antagonizing me doesn’t make a difference. The only difference with antagonizing me is that I might end up eating you piecemeal. It will also avoid that little spear issue.” 

“What about that ruse?” Sephie suddenly asked. 

“Ruse?” 

“Yes, the ruse.” 

Scylla’s heads tilted slightly.“What ruse?” 

“You know, the ruse you were gonna tell us about.” 

“Was I going to tell you about a ruse?” 

Sephie nodded vehemently. “One with Poseidon.”

Scylla gave her a close look. “This sounds like a ruse,” she muttered. Her heads went up and down. “Oh well. It seems like Amphitrite claimed you to make it seem like you were her daughter when you are actually Poseidon’s. Quite the inventive plan, very much up the Queen of the Sea’s alley.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she’s always been very good at being sneaky. See, Chary and I always liked the easy route, just like Father. Why kill someone through poison when you can simply drown, eat, or eviscerate them? But Amphitrite, praised be her cookies, is all about the sneaky sneaky things.” The heads went up and down again. “Not sure why.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Sephie asked, getting the feeling that her entire world was about to turn upside down. 

“Well, you look a lot more like Chary when she was younger than Amphitrite when I last saw her. And while they are related, it is a distant relation. Chary, and me for that matter, are…” Scylla trailed off, heads looking in the distance as she considered her words. Clarisse saw the opening, and quickly slipped back inside the ship, leaving Sephie to stand alone on deck. And she was supposed to be the child of Ares. Coward! Sephie resisted the urge to shake her fist at Clarisse’s back. “Let’s see, Oceanus was Kronos’ uncle, no, brother, which makes him father’s uncle. That means that father is his nephew, and makes us his nieces once removed. That means he is our great-uncle.” She looked back at Sephie. “And by our, I mean our ,” she explained, heads pointing at both of them as well as the whirlpool which was slowly getting further away. The heads came back together, now swaying slowly in the rough wind. “Of course, there is the parentage theory.” 

“What kind of theory? And who is some?” Sephie asked, now interested. When she became a god, it would be useful to know who she was related to. Though on second thought, it might be easier to ask who she wasn’t related to. Her stepfather - real father? - got around a lot.

The water suddenly started rumbling louder as the whirlpool moved closer. “Ah, Chary is joining us, I see,” Scylla said happily. 

The whirlpool stopped sucking the ship in, though somehow continued drinking water. Better said, the water that the ship was on stopped moving entirely, all the water around and below it still flowing into the wide open… mouth? Hole? Face gash? “Aphrodite coined the theory that Oceanus and Rhea did it.” The voice that came out of the mouth was incredibly deep and rumbling. The pitch was similar to the sound of the whirlpool, making it hard to understand what was being said. 

“What did they do?”

The whirlpool closed its mouth, then opened it slowly. For just a moment, everything seemed to shake as the water that had been partially in the mouth was thrown back out. “You know, it. Like sex. For Aphrodite’s sake, has your mother taught you anything at all?” 

“Well, I didn’t meet Amphitrite until a year ago, so not really. Mom taught me everything I know. Also, shouldn’t that be for gods’ sake?

“Shouldn’t that be for the gods’ sake?”

“We are firm followers of Aphrodite,” Scylla said proudly. The whirlpool opened and closed rapidly in agreement. “Love conquers all! Especially people.” She growled the last part. 

“Ah, so Aphrodite thinks that Oceanus and Rhea did it , which is why Zeus is the son of Oceanus and Rhea,” Sephie said, nodding. Thunder rumbled without a cloud in sight. “How is this relevant?”

“Ah, no. Aphrodite thinks that Oceanus and Rhea did it , but that Poseidon is their son,” Chary said. “That would explain the water powers, you see?” 

Scylla rolled her many eyes. “Aphrodite also thinks that Zeus must be the son of Rhea and Ouranos, because he has sky powers. As if Grandmother would just go around and be unfaithful to her husband like that.” Her many heads shook as she said that. “No, Grandmother would simply kill Grandfather if she wanted to.”

Chary rumbled. “She did do that, with the help of the gods. And no husband means no need to be faithful.” 

“But she would have already been unfaithful at that point,” Scylla insisted. “You can’t just kill your husband to erase your unfaithfulness.” 

“It’s not like it mattered to Grandfather by that point.”

“You knew grandfather?” Sephie asked.

“So you admit you are Poseidon’s daughter?” Scylla grinned while Chary rumbled. “And no, well, that’s not true. We’ve had some dreams here and there. He insists that he can let us have all the food we could ever want if we join him. Stupid man.” 

Chary opened and closed her mouth in agreement. “As if someone cut into thousands of tiny pieces could ever give us what we want most.” 

“What do you want most?” 

Chary and Scylla went quiet, as quiet as a massive monster with dozens of heads (many of which were still toying with the skeletons) and a giant whirlpool sucking up thousands upon thousands of gallons of water every second could be. “I suppose food, he is right with that.” 

Scylla nodded. “Though it would be nice to turn back into human bodies.”

“Fun times are a bit difficult like this,” Chary agreed. 

“What if I told you I can convince someone to turn you back to normal?” Sephie asked. “Then you can let me, my friendly puppets, and the ship go without eating us. You’ll get all the gratifications you need!” 

“But it’s not as simple as that,” Scylla said. “I’ve grown used to this body. It’s very nice to be able to eat even gods when they stray too close, you see?”

“Athena tends to turn children of Poseidon into monsters,” Chary added. “But they always turn into huge and powerful monsters.”

“Or Pegasus, but we don’t talk about him,” Scylla said, many teeth glistening in the sun. 

“Black horse of the family,” Chary agreed, water shooting out with every word. “All of us know it’s tradition to be scourges, whether that be ocean or land. Pegasus had the perfect chance to be the scourge of the sky and muscle in on Zeus’ territory, but what does he do?”

“Spawn a bunch of babies and let people ride them!” Scylla finished. “He’s a fake, I tell you!” 

Alright, maybe being a child of Poseidon wasn’t so bad after all, not that she was one. She’d accept him as her stepfather. Then she could also be a scourge of the seas, which just sounded epic. But how to be one? 

She could just cause a storm every once in a while and try and sink a few ships, but that sounded a bit too simple. Maybe she could create a massive island that blocked ships from getting anywhere. Or build a dam - using her powers of course - that blocked a harbor? She’d learned about the largest harbors in the world. Normally she wouldn’t be listening, but… well, they mentioned the ocean. Even eight-year-old her knew that the ocean (and water in general) was epic and the best thing since pizza. 

Gods, pizza. Gooey with its cheese, and you could even choose the toppings yourself. A bit of ham, lots of cheese (obviously), and best of all, pineapple. The freshness, the juices, the healthy aspect that the pizza needed before being acceptable (according to mom), it was just perfect. She’d have to visit Hawaii at some point. Where better to eat a Hawaiian pizza than where it was first made?

Anyway, harbors. There were a bunch in China, which meant the impact of blocking one was limited. That meant she’d have to get one somewhere else. Like every good citizen of the USA, she’d never hurt her own country (that is, unless she felt like doing so anyway), so that option was out too. That left Europe. Rotterdam, to be exact. And the Dutch conquered land from the sea anyway, the heretics. It was practically revenge! Even if she’d probably end up moving the ocean back a bit. That might leave the revenge aspect of the entire thing a bit… well. 

Sephie looked up at the two massive monsters in front of her. They were now busy arguing the merits of being a scourge on or in the sea. “What is the best way to become a scourge of the sea?”

“Well,” Chary began, “that depends. Do you intend to be a scourge on the sea or in the sea?”

“Both?” Sephie said questioningly.

“Becoming a scourge of both is good,” Scylla said approvingly, head coming down to pet Sephie’s head. Sephie resisted the urge to grumble. “Now, being human makes it slightly more difficult. Quite the anomaly, that. Father rarely has human children. Humanoid, yes, but human, no.”

“Weren’t you born human?” Sephie asked. Another point in favor of being a child of Amphitrite. Annabeth said that demigods took after their godly parent for the most part. That meant she would have had to be a monster of some sort. Or maybe become one, considering that Scylla and Chary were born human. Perhaps needless to say, she didn’t intend to become a monster. She was quite fond of having two legs, two arms, and one head, thank you very much. 

“Not the point,” Scylla said hastily while Chary rumbled. “You should start big! You see, I began by eating entire ships filled with people headed to some war in Ionia. Chary… I’m not sure.”

“I swallowed that entire fleet that you ate. You’d gotten everyone except for that one guy that you sent on his way as your messenger.”

Scylla looked at Chary. “What did you do? He was supposed to tell everyone of my existence?”

“Don’t eat the messenger!” Chary sounded slightly offended. “I need to get what I can since you eat them faster than I can get them into my mouth. Athena truly favored you with the curses.” 

“Athena cursed you?”

Scylla nodded. “Yup! I killed one of her daughters some years back. Weirdly enough, Mom was the sister of the daughter’s father, which meant that, for a short while, Athena and Poseidon were in-laws. Anyways, the curse was more of a blessing, though we can’t change back.” 

“Which is why I’m supposed to get someone to help you change back.” 

“Control our changing,” Chary spoke up. “I like this form, but it would be nice to be human every once in a while.” 

They were quiet for a bit, leaving the ship to start rumbling. Sephie did her best to ignore it, as neither Scylla nor Chary seemed to have noticed anything. Gods, she was so good at this subterfuge thing. “So we have a deal then? I’ll do my best to get you the delayed but grander gratification by not eating me.”

Scylla and Chary put their… heads together? Not entirely sure. They put something together for a few seconds, the ship slowly floating away from the both of them. She hoped they’d hurry up. If they didn’t, they might realize that Sephie had no intention of helping them in any way, shape, or form. Sure, they must be lovely stepsisters to have, but she was pretty sure they’d end up killing and eating everything and everyone. Those dreams didn’t lie. No, sinking ships, flooding fields, drowning soldiers, and kidnapping princesses sounded like a lot of fun, but only in moderation. Do it too much and it would just get boring. 

Sephie nodded to herself. Another wise lesson learned. Don’t do things too much, or else you get blessed with an awesome monster body - assuming you are a child of Poseidon and have angered Athena somehow - without the ability to turn back. Though… maybe being the daughter of Amphitrite would help somehow? Would Athena be willing to let her change back whenever she wanted if she asked nicely? 

She’d have to figure out how to antagonize Athena somehow. It couldn’t be that different from irritating Annabeth, right? 

Chapter Text

The ship slowly started moving. Sephie would have held her breath if not for the very important conversation that she was in with two beings that could likely tear this ship apart as simply as breathing. Chary could likely do it easier than even that, as water constantly streamed down her gullet. Sephie didn’t personally find breathing in water that difficult, but she was fairly certain that not everyone could do it. 

“What was that?” About half of Scylla’s heads, at least of those that were in sight, moved back to Sephie. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what,” Sephie asked innocently. Please gods, including me, let Scylla’s heads share a brain. Half a dozen brains were more than capable of figuring out that the rumbling could only be from the ship. One, especially when it belonged to a creature that didn’t seem to need to do much tactical thinking, might not realize it. 

“That weird rumbling sound.” 

“It’s not me,” Chary… rumbled. 

Sephie shot her a suspicious look. “Are you sure about that? Because your voice sounds awfully rumbly to me!” 

“True, but that doesn’t mean it is me.”

“I’m only hearing the rumbling when you’re talking, though,” Sephie said. “I think our potentially shared half-sister is making fun of us.” 

“Not potentially,” Scylla said distractedly, “and I’m fairly certain it’s not Chary. I’ve been hearing Chary’s voice for quite a bit of time, and it doesn’t sound similar to the rumbling I’m hearing. It sounds closer to… I’m not sure.” 

Sephie resisted the urge to wildly look around for any kind of solution. “Could it be that you are hungry? Maybe your stomach is rumbling.” Scylla closed her eyes, while Sephie resisted the urge to scream. Why would she say that? Wait, no, this was perfect.

“If you allow us to leave, I’ll make sure that we get some cows for both of you.” 

All heads were now focused on her. “I’m not really a fan of cows, though.” 

“What do you want?”

“Are humans on the menu,” Chary wondered. “Because I’ve heard very good things about Mexicans.”

Sephie resisted the urge to ask Chary who would even tell her such things, considering she was a massive whirlpool in the middle of nowhere with a tendency to swallow whatever came near. Like, forget eating an elephant. Chary was large enough that changing the saying to eat a whale would make sore sense. That was also a horrifying thought. “Are you sure that person didn’t mean Mexican food? Tacos are very good, nearly as good as pizza.” 

“Hmm, no, I’m pretty sure he meant Mexicans. He’s quite the maneater, that one. What is this pizza?”

“Pizza is delicious, though I don’t think there is enough pizza in the world to give you both enough to eat.” There might also not be a large enough boat to move the pizza here in the first place. They could probably eat XXL2 pizzas, which even the US didn’t have. 

“Is there meat on it by chance? Preferably lamb chops?” 

“Lamb chops? I guess you can put it on the pizza. You can pretty much put anything on pizza.” 

“Like what?” Chary asked.

“Anything!” 

“Pineapple,” Scylla guessed. “It’s hard to find nice, solid recipes to put pineapple on. Always have to keep it on the side.”

“Nothing is better than pineapple on pizza!” Sephie cheered. 

Scylla nodded slowly. Her heads were turned up to the sky just enough that she didn’t see the ship slowly move forward. “It’s a deal!” She suddenly shouted. “We will let you, the other two, and the skeletons leave in your boat. In exchange, you will get Athena to allow us to turn back. And give us a lot of pizza with pineapple and lamb chops.”

Sephie nodded vigorously. “Deal! It might take some time to get back to you, but I’m sure it will still happen this century.” 

“I beg your pardon?”

Sephie shrugged. “I’m a very popular demigod, you know? Every year that I’ve known I was one I’ve been asked to do a quest. I’m expecting that to happen for the rest of my mortal life.”

“Aah, you expect to live a hundred years before becoming a monster like us?”

Sephie turned around to be able to look Scylla in the eyes. It was a good thing that she kept her heads fairly close together, as she could keep looking in a single direction. The heads also didn’t sway that much, so it wasn’t even dizzying. She didn’t bother trying to look Chary in the eyes, as that would require leaning over the side of the ship to look down at a massive gaping maw in the water. Leaning over the side while looking down at a massive gaping maw swallowing up gallons upon gallons of water was just asking to get pushed overboard by something (Tyson was a bit clumsy at times) and get swallowed up by said massive gaping maw which most certainly belonged to a very cannibalistic monster. Scylla was a cannibalistic monster as well, but at least Sephie could flee into the ship if necessary. 

Anyway, because the ship was moving Sephie was forced to move to the back just to be able to keep looking at Scylla. And the ship was going faster by the second, so she was forced to jog as she talked. And Scylla had moved her heads further away from the ship at some point, possibly to dodge the weird tower on the deck, which meant that she had to shout to be heard. “I-” She took a deep breath. “I don’t! I’m gonna be a Goh-” Sephie started coughing, desperately trying to get the fly out of her throat. 

“A goat?” Scylla started swaying her heads, making Sephie quickly look away while trying not to die from choking on a fly. “If that’s your goal. Zeus had an immortal goat nanny or something, so I guess that works?” Her heads went up and down. “You do you, I suppose.” 

Sephie stopped coughing and swallowed. She shuddered. Disgusting, but at least she could talk now. “I’m gonna be a GOD!” 

Scylla’s many mouths formed just as many O’s. “That makes more sense. Good luck on that quest, and try to get back to us as quickly as you can, yes? Let’s agree that the longer it takes, the more pizza we get.” 

Sephie nodded quickly. “Of course!” She waved for a few minutes until Scylla was out of sight. “Except no.” Her mom said a while back that pizza was getting more expensive, so that was another reason to not keep her end of the bargain. XXXXL pizzas would be way too expensive for her to buy. 

Chapter Text

The boat sailed away from the monsters. As they got further from the pass, the cliffs that surrounded it faded into the horizon. It was quite sudden when Sephie realized that they were going faster and faster. A weird pressure had disappeared, too. It was one of those headaches that you only realized was there when it went away. Chary or Scylla must have been doing something with the ocean. Chary, probably, considering she was a whirlpool. Pulling on the water was a whirlpool’s entire shtick, she was pretty sure. 

It didn’t take long before they were in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water, except for some islands far to the left. Sephie inhaled, enjoying the taste of salt in the air. She was tempted to jump and take a swim. Maybe there would be something interesting beneath the waves. 

Clarisse and Tyson found her like that, eyes closed and enjoying the breeze. She turned around to greet them, only to focus on Tyson’s soot-covered face. “What happened to you?”

“I repaired the engines,” Tyson said, a broad smile on his face. “Didn’t you notice?” 

“I guess?”

Clarisse sighed. “She noticed, Tyson. She just likes to play the irritating older sibling,” she said, ignoring Sephie’s protests. “What happened while we were below deck?”

“Why did you leave me behind like that? I was nearly eaten!” 

“And I was definitely getting eaten if I stayed up there. What happened?”

Sephie shrugged. “Nothing. We made a deal, but I’m not buying them massive pizzas, that’s too expensive.” 

“You should always follow-” Tyson sneezed loudly. He must have gotten soot in his throat somehow. That couldn’t be healthy. “Follow your deals. Not doing so is rude!” 

The other two shrugged. “If you want to take the time to deliver pizzas to a cannibalistic monster, be my guest,” Clarisse said, still looking at Sephie, “but I’m staying out of it.” 

“Exactly,” Sephie added, “and who knows what they might do if they can turn back into humans. Having two sisters sounds like a lot of fun, though.”  

“I’ve heard all about Rhodes from Annabeth. Wasn’t she gonna take you clothes shopping or something?”

“Something like that, what about it?”

“Isn’t that pretty good sisterly behavior? She’s even a god.” 

Clarisse might be right. She’d been taking Rhodes for granted, hadn’t she? Not that it had been her fault. Rhodes never even came by to go shopping with her. Sephie looked down at her clothes. They weren’t damaged yet. Maybe Rhodes would have some spares for her when they inevitably did? 

Speaking of which… “What’s the plan?” Sephie asked Clarisse. 

“Keep sailing, I guess? What does the prophecy say, something about a storm?”

Tyson nodded vigorously. “Yes! Though I don’t know the entire line.”

Clarisse patted him on the back. “No worries, big guy. You just keep those engines functioning, yeah? You’re worth a lot more than Sephie, that’s for sure.” 

“Excuse me? I got us out of Scylla and Chary’s clutches!” 

Clarisse snorted. “And nearly doomed the world in the process.”

“I don’t see you being all that diplomatic, with your daughter of war thing!” 

“You’ve met my dad. That argument doesn’t make any sense.”

They continued arguing, leaving Tyson to move his head to look at whoever was talking. Soot billowed up with his every move. 

Sephie threw her hands in the air. “Your dad obviously still does war things.”

“He hasn’t done that since the Second World War,” Clarisse shrugged.

“How would you know? Has he ever told you?” 

Clarisse looked at her. “I know because every child of Ares knows.”

Sephie gave her a disbelieving look. “That’s like me saying I’m a god because my entire family is made up of gods.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Clarisse groaned. “We are the children of Ares, we know what his domains are like. Some of us even have that particular one, though the depressive moods can go right to hell. Either way, you’re not a god.”

Sephie shook her head. “I’m not a god yet. I’m gonna be a god. Or a God. Maybe even a GOD!”

“You’re gonna be a god?”

“Yes!” Sephie cheered. “I just need to do some tasks. Like Heracles!” 

“Heracles is not the kind of guy you want to be like,” Clarisse muttered. “Unless you don’t have standards.”

“What’s so bad about Heracles?” Tyson wondered. 

“No clue,” Sephie answered. “Though I guess he’s a son of Zeus?” She was pretty sure that being a child of Zeus wasn’t a good thing. A lot of the people she’d met seemed to not like them. Except for Triton, he seemed weirdly keen on Athena for some reason. She’d never be such a traitor. No child of Zeus would ever have her respect!

Except Mr. D. was a son of Zeus. The solution was simple. No daughter of Zeus would ever have her respect!

“He’s an asshole.” Clarisse shrugged. “The gods aren’t a good excuse for doing all kinds of messed up stuff.” 

Sephie narrowed her eyes. “What kind of messed up stuff?”

Clarisse opened her mouth. “Well…” She closed her mouth.

“It’s something you heard, isn’t it?” 

“Chiron doesn’t like him either,” she responded defensively. 

“Chiron doesn’t like me.”

“The pony man doesn’t like you?”

“I think he’s a gazelle, actually.”

Clarisse groaned. “That’s why he doesn’t like you.” She started walking away, shaking her head. 

“Where are you going?”

“Gonna ask Franz where we are. We need to plan what to do next.” 

Sephie started jogging after her. “I’ll come with you! You’ll need my expertise.”

“Are you like this every time you manage to talk a monster out of killing you?” Clarisse wondered, trailing a few fingers along the dagger at her waist. 

Sephie looked at her carefully. “Maybe, why?”

“It’s funny,” Tyson said. 

“Just wondering,” Clarisse turned around to look her in the eyes, fingers still caressing the dagger. 

Sephie gulped. “No?”

Clarisse nodded slowly. “Make sure to keep it that way. Let’s go.”

— —

“What do you mean, you don’t know where we are?”

Franz shrugged. “We should be around here,” he said, pointing at the map. “But you should be able to see some islands on the port side.” He nodded to the window on the right. “I don’t see any islands there, so I’ve plotted a course in that direction. We’ll see them eventually, I’m sure.” Franz frowned. “It would be a bit unfortunate if we didn’t. There’s a lot of rocks in the seabed that could probably tear through the ship if we’re in the wrong place.”  

Sephie nodded slowly, Tyson joining after a moment. “But you don’t know where we are?”

While Franz started talking about coordinates, Clarisse was standing on the side, looking intently at the map. Sephie glared at the dagger at her waist. Scary thing. She’d have to try to get it lost somehow. Why couldn’t Clarisse just use a trident like she did? Or a sword, but she hadn’t touched it since last year. Riptide just wasn’t for her. She was more a trident kind of girl, nothing to do about it. Maybe Clarisse would be willing to trade the sword for the dagger? 

“Why were you gesturing to the right when you said portside,” Clarisse suddenly asked, interrupting Franz’s fascinating lecture on coordinates. 

“Rude,” Franz muttered. “And I did it because there’s no islands there.”

“Are you telling me you’ve been navigating as if portside is right?” Clarisse asked disbelievingly. “Where did you become a captain?”

“The German navy! God, I loved that place. Just wished there weren’t all the… other parts to it.” He shook his head. “Why?”

“Portside is left.”

“Ah.” They all went quiet at that. 

Tyson’s shoulders slumped. “So that means coordinates aren’t read from the stars?” 

“No. Nowadays, there are devices to know the coordinates,” Clarisse said distractedly. “Franz, how did you crash?”

“Hit into some rocks I didn’t notice. Entire ship sank within minutes.” At least Sephie knew how Franz died now. What an idiot. She’d never hit rocks and sink like that. 

“Sephie, check for rocks in the water. Tyson, prepare to have to repair the ship again. Franz, who plotted the course in your place?” 

Her eyes widened. If they hit rocks now, would it be her fault? She ran out of the room. If they sunk, they’d have to swim for the rest of the quest. She didn’t want to do that for hours and hours, it sounded like a pain. Worse, there was a storm coming according to the prophecy. She wasn’t about to swim in the storm, even if she could breathe underwater. It would be exhausting! And she was pretty sure that Tyson couldn’t breathe underwater. Clarisse definitely couldn’t. 

She jumped overboard without thought. The water was perfect. Warm, but not too warm. There were some waves, but not enough to make it difficult to dive. Just to make it easier, she made the water push her under. It grabbed her ankles and simply pulled her down a bit. The moment the water was above her, it started pushing her down. Within seconds, she was at the bottom. 

Looking around, there wasn’t much to see. It was deep enough that the sun didn’t light everything up. There were some plants in the distance that gave off some eerie green light, but that was all. The ship was far above her, making the water move just enough that she couldn’t feel anything else around her. 

She shrugged. No rocks, at least, so they weren’t about to crash. She slowly started swimming back up. As she did, the movement of the water became stronger, trying to tug her this way and that when she didn’t control it. Something was coming, but there still wasn’t anything around her. The ocean was as empty as it had been before, the plants had come slightly closer, but that wasn’t weird. She’d been swimming in their direction. 

She looked back up to see that the ship had gotten further away, sailing much quicker than she could swim. She took control of the water, creating waves that pushed her towards the boat. If she somehow pushed the boat back in the process, that was a lucky advantage. 

She slowly moved closer to the side of the ship until she could touch the side. The water came up below her. Just as she was about to make it shoot her up to the deck, something large slammed into the side, nearly sending it crashing into her. Only some quick reflexes managed to avoid her getting squashed by it. 

Mere moments later, it happened again, harder this time. Sephie quickly went back underwater. On the other side, a new ship had appeared. It was different from a navy ship, instead built like one of those massive cruise ships she’d seen in pictures. Massive, wide, built to transport hundreds of people in luxury. As she watched, the ship came up beside the naval ship, slamming into it. 

Sephie shot up. She would have jumped onto the deck, if not for the shouts. “Where’s the third?” A voice shouted.

Somebody screamed. Sephie clenched her fists. It couldn’t be one of them. 

Clarisse laughed. Sephie’s fists loosened. “You think you can beat us?” There were some clangs and a shout. Then a body plummeted down, smashing into the water and turning into orange dust. 

They were under attack. As Sephie watched, a seemingly endless horde of monsters started storming onto their navy ship. She couldn’t see Clarisse and Tyson from here, but she could hear the fighting. She had to do something. She was at her strongest here, in the water. And they were coming from the cruise ship. She felt a tugging in her gut as the water started swirling around her. A small whirlpool that grew as it appeared below the cruise ship. Sephie smiled. She’d just sink the ship. 

Then all control she had over the whirlpool disappeared, pulled away like an adult might take a child’s toy. The whirlpool disappeared much faster than it had appeared. Sephie looked around, but there was nothing there. No one. She tried to create another whirlpool. It grew fast, surging up to swallow the entire ship. The ship started to rock back and forth, only for it to still as the whirlpool vanished again. 

“Is that all?” A female voice asked. “Demigods aren’t what they used to be.”

Sephie glared. She’d show it! She quickly swam closer to the surface. The tugging in her gut restarted, this time so much worse, making her double over ever so slightly. An ominous rumbling started, far in the distance. The blue skies turned gray as clouds blotted out the sun. The first drops started falling, so small that they barely displaced the water. 

Then they grew, with small spouts of water everywhere they landed. “I’ll show you,” Sephie muttered. The tugging increased. The sky rumbled, closer this time. Lightning flashed in the distance. 

“Show me what? That storm? It’s a bit small.” The gray skies turned back to blue. The rain stopped. 

“How?” 

“You are weak.” 

Sephie looked around, but there was no one around. “Where are you?”

Laughter. “Join me, come down.”

The water suddenly dragged her down, fast. Faster. The surface faded away in seconds, and the sun disappeared. Sephie couldn’t see anything. 

“It’s not my style to stop storms, you know? In ancient times, I created the storms to punish those that insulted my father.” 

“Who are you?” Sephie asked again, angry, desperately trying to swim back to the surface. “Let me go! I need to help them!” The water didn’t yield.

“Help them? You are a daughter of Amphitrite, stepchild of Poseidon. You shouldn’t care about the landwalkers.” 

Sephie slammed into the ground, pain shooting up her legs as they bore the force. She barely avoided falling. She looked around, but it was too dark to see. A weird creaking echoed through the water. 

“All that power and you barely use it,” the thing scoffed. “You could easily kill all of the attackers. Why don’t you just do that?”

Sephie took a few steps forward. “What are you talking about? You stopped me!” 

“I did, yes, but you didn’t learn the lesson. You’re not weak like you make it seem.” Sephie took another careful step. “Why don’t you do the same thing as you did at that camp?” 

“I- I can’t just do that?” Annabeth and Luke had both been upset when she did. 

“Why not? Who will stop you?”

Sephie hesitated. She could see the person now, ever so slightly, but it was too dark to see more than the shape. She stayed quiet. 

“Exactly, no one will stop you. The gods won’t bother. Why should we? They’re only mortals. And the landwalkers that care can’t stop you.” Something appeared in the corner of her vision. She reflexively threw her hand out at it. A plant like the ones she’d seen before coiled around it. It gave a small amount of light. More floated by, trailing around her.

“This age is boring. We have to follow rules. Us! The gods themselves!” The figure became visible. She was swaying back and forth with the current. “Greece was much better. A true golden age, when hundreds of thousands prayed to us. The parties, the storms, they were all so beautiful. Mortals and gods mingled freely. My dating life was incredible. No one cared about some different looks. But look at me now.” Sephie could finally see the woman. Her skin was pale, with a weird green glow similar to the plants that floated around them. Her hair was black, but instead of the thicker strands that Sephie had, it moved around in thin strands similar to jellyfish. “What do you see, little sister? Do you see the same as all of those landwalkers? A relic of times long gone, who has no place in this world?” She stood in front of a ship’s wheel. It was old, ravaged by time and water. The wood was rotten, with fissures cutting through it. How often did she get splinters in her hands? The woman gave it a whirl. As it turned, the water turned with it, and a large wave slammed into them, sending Sephie flying. The woman barely moved. 

The woman turned the wheel the other way, and another wave pushed Sephie back. “Let me teach you how to create a real storm. A storm that makes even mortals realize something is happening. One that even the Mist can’t hide.” The wheel turned, and more waves crashed into them. 

“Times are changing, you see? Slowly but surely. The Titans are waking, even if Zeus doesn’t want to see. And others will wake with them.” The woman sighed. “I can’t wait. Imagine how the mortals will react, realizing that gods exist. How they will pray and fight for our favor.” She laughed. “And how we will fight for theirs! I wonder if the Persians will return to their former glory. It’s been millennia since I’ve seen Gandareva!”  

Sephie watched as the woman seemed to become more and more unstable, turning the wheel this way and that. The sea churned with every movement, though the woman must have done something, as neither was being tossed around. “Let’s start the first lesson, little sister,” the woman said, still giggling breathlessly. “Forget all notions of control. Times are changing. Storms don’t need it anymore.” 

Chapter Text

The woman gave the wheel a mighty haul, letting it spin around and around. With every circle it made, the water churned more while the currents grew larger and larger as they swirled around, sending plants and fish flying. Even small stone stones, Sephie realized as one whiffed past her head, nearly crashing into it. At that speed, it would give her the worst of headaches. The small reef below them was shredded in seconds, and far above the ships smashed into each other. She could barely make out someone falling into the ocean and quickly being swallowed up by the waves. Sephie wasn’t sure if it was a monster or a human.

“Control is the death of all storms, little sister. To create a glorious one, you must let go. Let the winds be free and the water flow.” The woman grinned. “You want to save your friends? That won’t happen if you hold back. Stop trying to control it! Tear the enemy apart, sink them, drown them, let them gasp for air only to tear it from their lungs!” She shouted with glee. “I’ll help you! Let’s do it together, like the old days!” Her eyes glistened, vivid even with the water stirring up the ocean floor. 

“I would’ve sunk that ship if you hadn’t stopped me!” 

The woman laughed. “You didn’t even feel them! I’m not the only one around, little sister! A lot of things are keeping an eye on that ship. They want to stop me if I decide to sink it. As if they could!” She spread her arms. “Me! The goddess of the violent sea! Father sent me to punish those who thought they could defy the ocean itself. I’ve drowned cities, swallowed fleets and destroyed civilizations. You think you can stop me?” She shouted. “Look upon me, monsters! See the great Kymolopeia and pray!” 

As Kymolopeia continued to shout things at unseen beings, Sephie desperately tried to free herself. The water held her tight, while the whirlpool surrounded her. It would no doubt send her flying into the ocean floor if she got too close. She had to try anyway. Her gut clenched and hurt as she tried to gain any hold on the ocean to break its hold on her. It was like a mortal trying to control water. 

Her brain felt empty, unable to think of any solution. 

“No, little sister! Don’t think. Feel! The ocean won’t be contained. It is free. Just like us!” Kymolopeia swam up towards her. “You can’t control us. Why should you be able to control the ocean? You can only guide it and then let go!” As she got closer, Sephie’s headache grew. Kymolopeia caused some kind of pressure around her, making Sephie feel like she was being squashed and pulled. Gravity itself seemed to change when Kymolopeia was around. 

She managed to wrench her hands free and grabbed the shell in her hair. She stabbed the trident at the god, hoping that it would catch her by surprise. Kymolopeia just laughed. Laughed and laughed and laughed, as if everything was nothing but a big joke. She was mad, Sephie realized suddenly. She was completely and utterly insane. 

Kymolopeia threw her arms out, opening them as if offering a hug. The whirlpool flooded outward, crashing down inside the ocean as if it were in the air. It didn’t just move, it roared. Sephie found herself thrown back, trident dragged out of her hand despite her efforts. The water smashed into her hard enough that she felt something crack in her chest, violent pain shooting through it. Kymolopeia’s mad laughter echoed through the depths. It was as if she was the storm itself. 

Sephie was thrown up to the surface, then shot up above it. The water still held her tight. She screamed in pain as her chest was squeezed, broken ribs grinding against each other. If not for the storm being so much louder, it would have been audible. She looked around her as the largest waves she’d ever seen swept across the sea’s surface, and clouds blotted hid the sun until everything was dark. Winds swept across what now seemed and felt more like a desolate wasteland with all the force of a hurricane. The thunder was all she could hear, and the rain was all she could see. The ships were gone. 

For a fleeting moment, a hand came up to grasp at the air, only to be devoured by the water. This was a real storm. This was a storm that people would talk about for months or even years to come. A storm that swept across a country and left indescribable damage in its wake, only to do it again to another. A tempest that left nothing but despair. It was awe-inducing. What she’d done at camp was nothing compared to it. 

“You want to, you know you do!” Kymolopeia appeared at her side, hovering in the air. Their hair and clothes whipped around violently. Sephie was drenched to the bone. She ignored it in favor of looking at the God. “Come! Join me! Let’s create a storm that they’ll talk about a thousand years from now!”

Kymolopeia had looked faded before as if she had only been living a half-life. The color of her skin, hair, and even her clothes had been washed out. Now, she was vivid. There was a massive grin on her face and a cackle that the storm echoed. For the first time, Sephie felt like she was in the presence of a god. A god who didn’t care about anything but themselves. A god who left death and destruction in her wake simply because she could. A god who did what they wanted to do.

Sephie took it all in and felt a strong longing in her chest. Wasn’t this what she wanted? To create storms like this? To do whatever she desired? The water squeezing tighter reminded her of her likely broken ribs. Perhaps it was just the pain instead of longing. 

A soft voice whispered in the back of her head, though. You can’t hide your dreams from yourself. 

Kymolopeia looked at her, eyes shifting from green to blue to gray and back again. “Let’s do this together, sister! A storm for the ages!” Her hand came up in offering, opened. Sephie desperately wanted to grab it.

What was better than being free? Kymolopeia used her father as an excuse. Wasn’t that like Sephie using Grover as an excuse? Camp? Did she really care about them, or was it just a reason to do what she wanted? What did she want?

She didn’t know.

Kymolopeia stared, eyes boring into hers. There, she could see more than just madness. It was a wish, a desire for a time long gone. Nostalgia motivated every facet of Kymolopeia’s actions. Sephie looked away, looked around. Looked back. Kymolopeia wouldn’t kill her. She could just refuse and she’d be fine. She didn’t have to do this. 

She also didn’t have to lie to herself. 

Sephie grabbed the hand and found herself dragged into the storm, a feeling unlike anything she had ever experienced. The winds that had been buffeting her before now became her, shifting with every thought, no, every urge she had. The water rose and fell with every breath. If this was what being a God was like, Sephie knew she was right to follow her dreams.

She clenched her teeth as she held onto that feeling, grasping at the storm. There was a stab in her gut. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Kymolopeia laughed. “Trying to take more, little sister?” It wasn’t booming like before. Now it came from within her. Sephie joined her in laughing. “Do it! Take it! Take it all! Save them, destroy them? Who cares! Just do what you want to do. Be free!” 

A massive wave grew behind them, expanding until it loomed over everything she saw. Sephie remembered the lesson. Lead the storm, then let go. Blood dripped from her nose, her ears, her eyes. A mortal’s body isn’t made to handle a God’s power. She quietly promised herself that one day, she’d do this again. And then, she wouldn’t need Kymolopeia at her side. 

She let go. The wave crashed into them, sending her flying down into the sea’s surface. As she did, it calmed. The rain, wind and thunder slowed down. The sun peeked between the clouds. “Yes, little sister. That’s it. Don’t control the ocean. Don’t control the storm. Let it rage and rip as long as it can.” Kymolopeia floated in front of her. “Storms are untameable. Just like water and earth.” She laughed. It sounded like a dolphin’s chitter again. “Go, little herald, wherever you want to go. Don’t let anyone try to stop you.” She turned around and started to swim away. “And if you ever want another lesson on creating a storm, just start one,” she said over her shoulder. “I’ll be there to help you make it even larger.” 

Sephie blinked, and Kymolopeia was gone. Even now, though, Sephie could still feel the pressure, Kymolopeia’s essence fused into the ocean. Every single drop of water was just an extension of her will. The water that was slowly turning pink. Sephie floated there, in the middle of that pink cloud. 

She breathed, eyes closing with exhaustion. Her head pounded in pain, and her chest joined in. She wouldn’t have been able to move even if she wanted to. Mortals aren’t made for handling a God’s power. Perhaps that said more about the Gods than about mortals. 

Chapter Text

“How long will it take to make that dress, sweetie pie?” An incredibly large figure loomed over Grover, one single eye planted in the center of its skull. It was a Cyclops. Sephie had seen enough over the years to recognize one on sight. Big, strong, and generally missing in the brains department. Their single eye led Sephie to believe that the number of eyes affected your intelligence, which meant spiders were incredibly intelligent. Then she saw a spider wind down a web next to Annabeth. The ringing in her ears didn’t fade for days. She also gained a newfound respect for Annabeth’s skill with a dagger. Clarisse had nothing on that. 

Grover for his part had a shaky smile on his face and was wearing some kind of wedding dress. “Grover?” She asked out loud. He didn’t react at all, instead answering the cyclops. 

“Of course it takes a long time, love! I want it to be perfect for our wedding.” The cyclops nodded slowly. 

“And then there will be more time to make a feast!” He clapped his hands. “I’ll get some goat people! That will be nice for dessert.” 

Grover whimpered. “Yes. Goat people. That will be a very nice dessert. Maybe we can have some cake, too?”

“Cake?” The cyclops muttered to himself as he walked out. “What is cake?” Sephie followed him instead of staying in the dark cave. Stepping outside, he grabbed a massive boulder and rolled it in front of the entrance. “There! Now beautiful bride can’t leave. Loves chase games too much.” He started walking into the fields. They were a lush green, covered in grass and flowers. Looking around, Sephie realized they were surrounded by water. An island, then. An island with a Cyclops and Grover. 

The cyclops stopped to grab a large basket that stood next to a wall made of stacked boulders. The wall itself was large enough to force Sephie to climb it if she wanted to get to the other side. The Cyclops simply stepped over, shouting all the while. “Oh sheepies! Sheepies, it’s dinner time!”

Several dozen sheep swarmed him, baaing the entire time. The cyclops laughed, put his hand into the basket and threw something onto the ground. Sephie couldn’t see what it was, because the sheep swarmed it immediately. Seconds later they looked back up to the cyclops like ducks waiting for bread. 

It was fun to watch for a bit, but quickly got boring. Sephie quickly found herself wandering the island instead, attention grabbed by a massive tree that grew in the middle of it. It towered over everything, its branches had the width of a tree themselves. She circled it, got bored, and started to walk away. 

At least until something caught her attention. There, higher up and hidden between the branches was a large golden fleece. Were there more like those? Probably not, since they’d specifically been sent to get The Golden Fleece, instead of A Golden Fleece. The capital letters also gave it away. 

The ground rumbled a bit and she whirled around. The Cyclops was headed straight for her! She went to hide behind the tree until she realized the Cyclops couldn’t see her. Of course he couldn’t. This was a dream. 

“Stupid storm lady,” he muttered. “Should take her storms somewhere else. Now I have to make the walls bigger again.” He glanced up and smiled. “At least you understand me,” he grinned. He grabbed the Fleece from the branches. 

It was only then that Sephie realized just how large the Cyclops actually was. The walls, the cave, even the sheep, they’d been large compared to Sephie. But if you thought of the at least thirty-foot cyclops as normal, then they weren’t. They would be closer to small. The only thing that wasn’t was the tree. The Golden Fleece must have helped it grow since it stood tall even with the Cyclops standing next to it.  

The cyclops held the Fleece close and sighed. “Stupid gods and their meddling,” he said to himself. “Just leave me alone.” He put the fleece to his face, to his eye. He sighed in relief. “That’s better.” He pulled the fleece back. “My sweetie pie is so smart. To think I never tried this before. Now Nobody will never trick me again.” He hung the fleece back, stretching to reach the branches it had hung before. When he landed back on his feet, the entire ground trembled. It did as well when he started walking away. 

Sephie bit her lip. How were they supposed to get it from there? She didn’t think the Cyclops would just grab it for them. And Tyson was way smaller. 

She looked up slightly, noticing that the Cyclops had stopped walking away. He looked straight at her. “What are you? Dinner?” 

A hand came straight for her. She turned to run, but it grabbed tight before she could. She screamed as her ribs, already bruised, shattered and turned to dust in the monster’s grip. 

Then she opened her eyes. It was just a dream. 

She was on a beach. Everything hurt. Ribs, arms, legs, gut. Everything. Sephie groaned into the sand, then tried to spit it out as it got into her mouth. It didn’t work. She pushed herself up on her knees and tried again. Sand and blood came out of her mouth. She wiped at her mouth to get rid of whatever was stuck on it. It didn’t work, since her hand was just as sandy, if not more so, than her face. 

She groaned again as she got to her feet, arms clutching at her torso in the hopes of easing the pain of her broken ribs. She looked like a mess. Her body felt like one big bruise and her clothes were torn. Maybe she’d take Rhodes up on that offer to go shopping. New clothes were desperately in order. Or maybe she could borrow the Fleece. Could you make clothes from it? It sounded like a very good way of staying healthy. 

Looking around, there was sand everywhere, not that strange for a beach. Blue water lapped at it in small waves. In the distance, further up what was most likely some kind of island, she could see trees. With a lack of alternatives, she started making her way up the slope. 

Walking up gave her time to think. At least she knew what Grover was doing now, even if she never thought cross-dressing was his thing. That might’ve been a survival mechanism, though, similar to how a fish might try to swim away from a dolphin. Not that it was similar in any way. Fish didn’t wear clothes. 

About halfway up, she found a small road made of round stone leading up. She followed it, walking past a few pens filled with pigs. They came running up to her as she got closer. 

“Stay back! I can drown you and am not afraid to do it!” Stupid pigs. They ranked below every sea animal. At least those were clean. You couldn’t say the same for pigs, always covered in mud. And that stupid incessant grunting. At least cats made cute sounds. If only they didn’t hate the water. The one time Sephie had tried to convince one that the water was perfectly fine, it had scratched her in the face. She hadn’t seen it after that, sadly enough. Its fur was very soft and it purred loudly, as loud as these pigs grunted. 

She gave them another suspicious glare before walking away. Stupid pigs. You couldn’t trust them at all. Always looking with their humanoid eyes. 

She ended up wandering the roads for some more minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet. For all that it was obviously inhabited, it wasn’t that bad. There was no one to be seen, and she felt better with every step, the pain in her ribs slowly fading. Not completely, but enough that it didn’t send shots of pain through her body. 

Eventually, she stumbled upon a large manor, surrounded by gardens. What she’d smelt on the beach must come from here, since there were flowers everywhere, along with what she guessed were herbs. She didn’t know enough about plants to be able to tell what kind. Maybe if they’d been some kind of seaweed, but those were not as interesting as sharks. 

Maybe she should visit the aquarium again, and see if that one shark was still around. Would mortals kill a shark if it bit someone’s leg off? It wasn’t the shark’s fault he’d fallen into the aquarium. Not that it had been the boy’s fault either. Still a bit harsh to expel her, though. She could hardly be blamed for a lever that would send the entire thing careening open being so accessible. 

“Ah, here you are. It took so long to find you. Lady Circe is waiting for you.” Sephie focused back on the real world, taking in the woman that stood in front of her. She was wearing one of those old Greek dresses, a chiton she thought it was called. “Please follow me.” The woman turned around and walked into the mansion, leaving Sephie standing in the middle of the gardens. It felt like a trap, but she supposed she didn’t really care. Circe did magic, right? The ocean was much better, but magic wasn’t that bad. 

The mansion was open, built from white marble and covered by stunning tapestries. Each one portrayed some moment in mythology, from heroes fighting monsters to heroes fighting gods to heroes standing in impressive poses. There were a lot of heroes in Greek mythology. “Beautiful aren’t they?” The woman suddenly asked. 

Sephie looked up at her. “I guess. It’s a bit repetitive.” 

“I suppose so. These halls were made centuries ago, so they are filled with only Greek stories. Lady Circe likes collecting from all sorts, however, and has filled the less busy halls with other kinds. Though every mythology has its repetition and once you’ve seen one tapestry with a sacrifice, you’ve seen them all.” 

“Sacrifices? Like bulls or sheep?” 

“Humans.” The woman’s tone never changed from something bored and distant. “The Aztecs would tear the hearts from the chests and offer them to the gods. At least ours aren’t like that.”

Sephie was pretty sure the gods had demanded human sacrifices more than once, but maybe she was remembering wrong. She wasn’t an expert on the Greek gods, though, so she could be wrong. 

The mansion was large enough that walking to wherever Lady Circe was waiting took a while. By the end, the pain in Sephie’s ribs had returned to the point that she was holding them again. “Are we nearly there yet?” She grumbled.

“Certainly.” 

They weren’t, at least not by Sephie’s standards. It was another five minutes before they finally arrived at a room with a large stylized door. “In here,” the woman said. She opened the door for her. Sephie went inside. It was large and similarly open as the rest of the mansion. These walls were covered with frescoes, though, not tapestries, even if the theme stayed the same. Heroes everywhere, doing all kinds of things. Sephie ignored the door closing behind her in favour of walking further into the room. It was a living room, she thought, as there were couches and chairs and tables everywhere, though without making the room feel crowded. Her ribs twinged in pain as she took some steps. Maybe this Lady Circe could help with that. Sephie had the strangest feeling that the water here wouldn’t do anything, held tight by entities much more powerful than her. 

She went to sit down on one of the couches, only for a velvet tone to stop her. “I would prefer it if you didn’t sit there, dear. Cleaning those couches is absolutely miserable work. My handmaidens never fail to cry when they have to do it.” Sephie turned around. 

Even if she had never met Lady Circe before, and had no idea who she might be, there was no doubt that this was her. Her skin was flawless, olive-coloured, somewhat similar to what Medusa had looked like. Green eyes glinted, carefully taking Sephie in. Sephie felt slightly self-conscious, suddenly all too aware of her torn and dirty clothes. She hadn’t seen her reflection, but she did not doubt that it was not a vision. 

Lady Circe sighed. “Goodness. I don’t think there is anything to achieve with you. My apologies, but this will be over quickly.” 

Sephie frowned, pain forgotten. Her hand went up to the shell in her hair. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you have been so torn up that giving you a makeover is far too much effort. Besides, I need to refill my pens. They have been growing worryingly empty with all the action lately. To think that Chrysaor would ever leave the Meditteranean. And Polyphemus is preparing for a party. Why, I even got an invitation from him. Can you imagine?” Circe lifted her hands, odd lights sparkling around them. “Now be a dear and stand still, will you? This will only take a second.”

Sephie immediately ducked behind one of the couches. Ominous lights flitted over her head. “Rude!” She shouted, her trident appearing in her hand. “I’ll kill you for that!”

“Dear, I was born of two gods. Even if I am not one myself, Ichor flows through my veins.” Circe’s footsteps were hard to hear due to the carpet, but not completely deafened. Sephie readied herself to pierce the woman’s chest. “Now, if you would kindly stop running? It is a much easier life as a pig, I can assure you. All the food you could ever want.” Circe kept rambling, but Sephie ignored it. After so many enemies that she couldn’t fight, Circe was a breath of fresh air. This was an enemy that wasn’t a god and wasn’t an invulnerable monster. Neither was she family, which might have something to do with an inability to fight them. 

Sephie shot forward the moment that Circe stepped around the couch. Except there was nothing there. She whirled around to find her standing exactly where she’d started. “Dear, I’ve been a sorceress for thousands of years. Do you actually believe that I could not create an illusion?” The lights shot forward, forcing Sephie to roll away. Her chest throbbed as she did. 

She looked around wildly, desperately trying to figure a way out. “Are you sure you want to do this? My mother will be very upset.” 

“I’m sure I can handle your mother, dear. Gods tend to forget about their children after a few decades, even the particularly favored ones.” Light started circling her hands again. Even in the middle of the battle, Sephie couldn’t suppress the urge to give them a short glance. It was entrancing, the way the light danced around so elegantly. 

“My mother is the queen of the sea, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Sephie responded, tearing her gaze from the woman’s hands. She gripped the trident tightly. How was it possible that she was forced to talk again? Shouldn’t she be able to fight her way out of every situation?

“The queen of the sea?” Circe stopped moving her hands. She was frowning. “I did not know Amphitrite had a child.” 

Sephie shrugged. “How about you let me go?”

Circe looked at her closely. “Ah, I see,” she whispered. “Though this is quite unfortunate. I can hardly anger my father. He will be so upset with me if I manage to ruin Rhodes’ mood.”

“Your father? And what do you mean about ruining Rhodes’ mood?” Sephie asked. Her arms were starting to hurt slightly from holding up the trident. It really was too heavy for her. 

Circe waved it away, lights fading as she did. “Nothing to worry about. How about we go clean you up? I can hardly let my guest wander around like that. It would be ever so rude.” 

“What are you talking about?”

“As I said, nothing to worry about. I have simply changed my mind about turning you into a pig. Only bad things can come from that.” She walked towards Sephie. “And wouldn’t you like a nice bath? I have no doubts that that will help your ribs as well.” 

Sephie lowered the trident. “Yeah, I guess. Still confused though.” 

“Oh, I do not doubt that. That is a theme in a demigod’s life, I think. So many things happen that you can simply not grasp. One foot in our world is not enough to be a part of it, I’m afraid. Now come along, dear. Let’s get you all fixed up.” 

An hour later, Sephie found herself in clean clothes and no longer covered in sand, sitting in front of a mirror with one of those tables for makeup and stuff. 

Circe stood behind her, pulling Sephie’s hair this way and that. “A daughter of Poseidon,” Circe said. “Who would have thought.”

“I told you, I’m not Poseidon’s daughter!” She’d been trying to convince Circe of this for a long time, but she hadn’t succeeded at all. Circe insisted that Amphitrite would never have demigod children. 

“She doesn’t like landwalkers, dear. She’d never even consider letting one of them touch her or to touch them. No, you are most certainly a daughter of Poseidon.” Circe shook her head. “Quite a shame. I really do need more pigs. The risk is not worth it, however. Spells can have such weird effects on your kind. Your father’s fault, no doubt. He is ever unpredictable.” 

Sephie started to shake her head, but Circe kept a strong hold on her hair. “Please sit still, dear. I can hardly fix your hair like this. Normally I would simply use magic, but…” 

“I’ve never heard of magic not working on me.”

Circe rolled her eyes. “Few people use magic nowadays. Even my handmaidens are completely useless at it. Always looking at spears and swords,” she tutted. “You have likely not met someone who can use magic.”

“There’s some children of Hecate at camp. I think.” 

Circe burst into laughter, putting a hand over her mouth. “They could not turn a weed into a flower if they had mother’s support,” she said, still chuckling. “Magic is an art. To truly master it, you must spend thousands of years learning. Demigods do not have such lifespans, unfortunately.” 

Circe didn’t sound so sad when she said that. Sephie didn’t think she cared at all. “Then you’re a daughter of Hecate?” She asked instead. 

Circe smiled. “Indeed. The daughter of Helios and Hecate. Not a god, mind, but close enough. Much more than a mere demigod.”

“Isn’t Helios Rhodes’ husband?” 

Circe laughed. “Of course he is, but gods don’t care about wedding vows.” She gave Sephie a look. “They don’t care about vows in general. But you would know all about that wouldn’t you, daughter of Poseidon.”

“I’m the daughter of Amphitrite,” Sephie grumbled again. 

Circe shook her head. “Amphitrite, everything her husband could never be. I don’t blame you for wanting her as your mother rather than that old bore. It would have made my job easier as well, though I suppose there’s something fun in doing the makeover the mortal way every once in a while. Now please sit still.” Sephie wasn’t good at sitting still, but she did her best. Circe was very distracting, humming as she grabbed bits of Sephie’s hair and… did things with them. Frankly, Sephie didn’t know enough about makeovers to understand what she was doing. 

“You must be on a quest,” Circe said, stopping her humming to say it. “Demigods never take the time to look good when they are on a quest. Quite a foolish thing, mind. Some quests are remembered for centuries, especially when Hephaestus is convinced to film it.” She looked into the mirror to meet Sephie’s eyes. The mirror was lined with gold, suns and strange symbols carefully drawn into it. “Looking good while finishing a quest makes the gods like you more.” 

Sephie swallowed. “They film the quests?” 

“I wouldn’t worry. Your father will not allow you to be humiliated. And neither will I.” She waved her hand, golden smoke appearing around it and billowing out. “See? I may not be a god, but I’m still immortal. And few have my understanding of magic.” She snapped her fingers and a hairbrush appeared in her hand. “They will never be able to scry my island, I make sure of that.” She started brushing Sephie’s hair. It was a very nice feeling, the brush’s bristles massaging her scalp somehow. It made her feel like a cat, to her eternal horror. Cats liked being brushed, too, though Sephie didn’t feel the urge to pur. 

“Now, what to do, what to do. It has been a while since I haven’t used magic to do this.”

“I thought you would turn me into a guinea pig.” 

“Oh, I normally would. I did tell you I had a lack of pigs. But, as I said, Children of Poseidon have such weird reactions to transformative spells. The last time I tried, the man found himself capable of shapeshifting, even if only to a degree.” She frowned. “He had to know the animal to turn into it. It was just my luck that he had beekeeping as a hobby. Ended up flying away.” She shook her head. “If only I had known. I could have just charmed him into turning into a pig. It’s quite simple to stop someone from transforming.” Sephie didn’t doubt that what Circe saw as simple was incredibly difficult. It was probably like Kymolopeia, who found it easy to create storms that could swallow continents. It wasn't such a simple task for a demigod, even one that would become a god one day. 

“I can assure you Athena will not consider turning Scylla and Charybdis back, by the way.” 

Sephie gave a flat look, though her reflection showed it was closer to a pout. “I thought you didn’t like spying.” 

“I don’t like being spied on, I never said I didn’t enjoy doing it myself. And can you blame me?” Circe spread her arms. Sephie had the strangest urge to just jump into her arms and hug her. A quick shake of her head got rid of it. “There is no one here to talk to. The handmaidens are useless and the pigs can only grunt. Chrysaor comes around every few months now, but he’ll only drop off some of the slaves he’s made. It’s a good deal, mind, it only takes me a few minutes to turn them all into pigs and he pays me handsomely for them, but still. Nothing ever happens.” She moved back to brushing Sephie’s hair. Why that had to take actual minutes, she had no idea, but apparently, that was necessary for some reason. She had to admit it hadn’t shone like this ever before. 

“If you turn me into a monster, I’d be happy to come around every once in a while. I could tell you how I’m a scourge of the seas!” Sephie tried to raise Circe’s mood. 

Circe started laughing, a tinkling sound that made Sephie laugh as well. “You are precious, aren’t you? Unfortunately, I don’t know what kind of monster you would become. And if you dislike the outcome, turning you back is quite impossible.” 

“Now, let’s see what we should make of you, hmm? You should take better care of yourself, though I suppose I tell every demigod that I meet that. Your kind gets into trouble too often.” 

“It’s not my fault! Kymolopeia attacked me.” 

Circe tutted. “Have you never heard of de-escalation, dear? Though I suppose you can’t be blamed. Kymolopeia seems deaf to anything that isn’t a storm on her best days.” She tilted Sephie’s head slightly, moving her hair this way and that. “Normally I’d have my handmaidens do this, no matter how useless they are. They wouldn’t be up to the task, too scared about messing up somewhere. They would, of course, but expecting to fail is the first step to failure.” 

“What do you mean?”

She looked Sephie in the eye, eyebrow raised. “Why expecting to fail is the first step to failure?”

“No, why they’d be scared to fail?”

Circe nodded in understanding. “I’ve met quite a few of your siblings, dear. They all seem to pass through the Sea of Monsters eventually. Each of them is less predictable than the last.”

“I’m plenty predictable! I want to become a god, and that means I do the things to become a god. That’s why I’m on this quest.”

“You are, I suppose. Your siblings not so much. Though, what about Grover?” Circe asked, finally putting the brush down. “I thought you wanted to help the poor dear.” She gestured with a hand and a comb appeared. Sephie resisted the urge to groan. 

“How do you know about that?”

“I know everything that happens in the Sea of Monsters. It is the closest thing I have to a domain. I knew your friend would come here the moment he could. Just like every single satyr before him. The Fleece tempts them, you see. It feels just like they might expect Pan to feel.” 

“Pan?”

“The god of the wild. If you assume that his wild is the only one in existence.” She put the comb down and started braiding. Why did combing her hair take so much less time than brushing it? 

Another question rang more strongly, though. “There are more wildernesses?” 

Sephie flushed when Circe laughed. “There is more than one type of wild, Sephie. Just like Ares and Athena share the domain of war, so too does Pan share his domain of the wild. Rarely is something so simple that a single god can keep it. Your father shares the ocean with Oceanus, for instance. So too does Zeus share the heavens with Ouranus and does Hades share the underworld with Tartarus.”

It sparked a memory. The other two were primordial gods, but Oceanus wasn’t. “Wouldn’t it be Pontus instead of Oceanus?”

Circe smiled proudly. “Few remember Pontus. He controls only the deepest depths where mortals will never go. Ancient things lurk there. If you ever feel that the surface is too boring, go down into the Milwaukee Trench. If you are lucky, Oceanus will feel kind enough to lend you the strength to go deep enough to feel Pontus.”

“The pressure?” Sephie asked. It was hard to pay attention. Having her hair braided like this was very soothing. She didn’t think she’d ever been as calm as this before. 

“Yes. Down there, Pontus’ sheer presence would squash a human until there are not even atoms left. Only Oceanus’ blessing would keep you alive. The risk would be worth it though.” She finished braiding her hair, then looked carefully at it, tugging this way and that to see if it was all symmetrical. “Imagine the creatures that still exist down there. Animals that have gone extinct millions of years ago. Monsters that have never seen the light of day. Pontus isn’t the oldest god in the world, but he comes close.”

“Gaea is older, right?”

“Among others.” She pulled up her eyebrows. “You didn’t think the Greek gods were the only ones that exist, did you?” 

Sephie opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. “I never really thought about it.”

Circe smiled, her white teeth barely visible between her red lips. “Few demigods do. That you are willing to consider it shows promise. Come, I want to show you something.” Sephie followed her out of the room, but not before looking in the reflection for a last look. She looked strange, the braids completely different from what she was used to, especially combined with clothes she would never wear otherwise. Shaking her head, she jogged to catch back up to Circe.

Chapter Text

The braid swayed back and forth as she walked, hitting her back every so often. It felt weird, so used was she to have the hair actually touching her neck. Now, it didn’t do that. It felt weirdly empty, maybe similar to how a warrior felt naked without their weapon. It also didn’t itch, something that she must have grown used to as she kept having the urge to push her hair away from it. 

Circe walked a few feet in front of her. Her braid was similar to Sephie’s, albeit more complicated. Did she use magic to make it, and had she not wanted to risk Sephie turning into an awesome monster? She wouldn’t have held it against her if it happened, though not being able to turn back into a human would have been a letdown. 

Except gods could freely change shape. She would become a god one day, so she would be able to do it then. What stopped her from being able to turn back into a human now? It’s not like she’d know whether she could do it now. Her body was human, after all. She’d never had the chance to turn back. Not unless she’d actually turned into a monster at some point and her mom had hidden it from her. That would be so like her, hiding awesome from Sephie!  

“Your mind is strange,” Circe suddenly said. “You convince yourself that the strangest things are true and then see the world from that.”

Sephie stared at the sorceress’ back. She could vaguely make out muscles moving beneath the white cloth. She should probably answer. “Mr D said the same. He might’ve called me mad, too.” Though she wasn’t sure about that. Mr D had said quite a lot of things from what she could remember. Or maybe because she couldn’t remember everything he said, she thought it was a lot. Either way, he was weird. 

Circe laughed. It still tinkled like bells, high and clear. She was still not looking at her. It was slightly difficult to hear what she said, what with her looking away from her while talking. “That does not surprise me.” She didn’t say which part didn’t surprise her. Did she agree with Dionysus that she was insane or did she think that Dionysus often said things like that? She wanted to know!

“Where are we going?” She asked instead. The tapestries that hung on the walls were still Greek. At least, she thought so. For one, all the men were naked. She was pretty sure that the Greeks had been very keen on naked men, though she had no idea why. What was so interesting about them that they were always put on art and stuff like that?

“I don’t wish to spoil the surprise, that would be crude. Just have patience, dear.” Circe looked over her shoulder and smiled at her. “Perhaps look at the tapestries. I hung them up to liven up the hallways. It helps with inspiration.” What kind of inspiration? Turning them into pigs? 

“Are there different kinds of pigs?” 

Circe looked over her shoulder again, a confused look on her face. “Yes, there are. Though I’m not sure why you’d want to ask that?”

“I thought they might inspire you to try and turn people into different kinds of pigs.” 

“Oh, I follow a simple scheme. If they are warriors, I turn them into swine. If they are cute, they become guinea pigs. All the others become normal pigs.” Circe shrugged. “Scars on swine don’t look out of place as much.”

“What were you planning to turn me into?”

“All demigods are warriors, so a swine. Though I suppose you do clean up well. Or I do, at any rate. Perhaps a guinea pig?”

“Shouldn’t I be a normal pig since I can take both parts?” More and more, Sephie felt that prophecies were just random words scrambled together until they sounded mysterious. Why was a discussion about pigs relevant to the quest? 

“What parts?”

“I’m beautiful and a warrior!”

Circe sighed, shaking her head. “That is not how it works, unfortunately. I think it is the sorceress genes, as weird as that sounds. Your mother isn’t a daughter of Hecate, is she? That would explain the beautiful part.” She huffed. “Then again, Poseidon is quite handsome, even if he has a brain like seaweed. Either way, you are quite young. Cute fits you better. You would have made a good guinea pig.” 

“What would you have tested on me?” Sephie asked absent-mindedly, still half-caught up in musings on prophecies. Why did they need a prophecy anyway? They hadn’t done anything with it. Maybe there was something wrong with the fates? They were very old, she was pretty su-

It should be noted that the Fates are the worst enemies you can make. They control every aspect of your life, every choice that you make is discerned by them. Except… Is that really a bad thing? There are millions upon millions of people that exist within their purview. The Fates, while greater than any other being alive, still have limits. They cannot decide for everyone. If you catch their attention, they will personally make sure your life has value. Curse the fates and you can be sure that it has meaning, even if you’re left crying and screaming at the sky in the hope that they might leave you alone. 

It is the curse of every demigod. They are like the stars, shining bright and short. Every single one is relevant and noticed, and every single one dies young. The question then becomes, what is Sephie Jackson? 

“A demigod. We will shape her life to the best of our ability,” one voice says. 

“A god. Her life cannot be shaped,” another says. 

“She is both, straddling the line between imperfect immortality and neverending mortality. We must do both,” the third says.

Sephie Jackson wasn’t the first, nor would she be the last. It was the beauty of an era of change. Not even the Fates knew what would happen, their other aspects doing their own thing, snipping lines here and letting them run out there. Perhaps the Fates do not even know what they are doing. Who stands above them and what came before fate? Life? Death? They did not know. If there is something above them, however, it does not care what the Fates do. It has not given them a manual to follow. 

“She insulted us. We should punish her,” one says. 

“She is a child and does not know any better,’ another says. 

“She is a child, but she must learn,” the third says. 

“She will learn in time,” the first says, “for she is young and has time.” 

But if they were old, maybe they were ancient, which meant that they were right back to wrong in a good way. Everyone knows that truly old people, like… older than fifty, are wise due to experience. Maybe even some forty-year-olds! 

Sephie frowned. That didn’t make sense for gods, though, since she was pretty sure that there were no wise gods. Which meant the threshold for other gods had to be different. Circe seemed pretty wise, though. “How old are you?” She threw out without considering the question.

Circe for her part just kept walking, leaving Sephie to sigh quietly in relief. She didn’t want to upset her, she was too nice. Similar to Medusa, actually. A fun aunt. “Old enough to remember your great-great-great-grandmother, dear. She was quite a lot of fun. A bit… ah, promiscuous, however.”

“What does that mean?”

Circe laughed. “She got around. Now, we’re here.” She gestured at a doorway. It led to a balcony, albeit one that had glass where it would normally be open. Seashells covered the walls, creating a kind of round stone effect that reminded her of the aquarium she had been to in New York. She got a strong feeling of nostalgia out of nowhere. Maybe she should go back there? 

The room was quite large, with a small fountain in one of the corners. It seemed to be carved into the wall, which covered a small part of it. The water spat out from between the seashells, creating a slight waterfall effect as it plummeted down, some mist left behind which slowly spread out until Sephie couldn’t see it, too spread out into the room. A bed stood next to the window, opposite to the fountain. Circe spread her arms as if to show off the room. “Well, what do you think, dear?”

“It’s nice?” Sephie said, trying to avoid making it a question. She knew she failed the moment it left her mouth. “Why are you showing me this?”

Circe smiled at her, teeth glinting between the lips. “You could be so much more,” she began, voice quiet. Sephie had to strain slightly just to hear it. “So much more than you are now. Look.” She pointed at a mirror. It had a similar feel to it as the rest of the room, surrounded by all kinds of seashells. 

Sephie looked at it. She saw her reflection. It wasn’t her, though, not really. She looked older, stronger, and, dare she say it, more beautiful. Her hair was in an elaborate braid just like Circe’s, and there was a glint in her eye that hinted at unearthed secrets and complicated schemes. She wore a dress like the handmaiden’s that she’d seen before, but just like the braid, it was more elaborate. Golden threads were woven through it, creating patterns that reminded Sephie of waves and the ocean. “This is who you could be,” Circe said. 

“An immortal, standing so far above all those silly demigods. That is what you want to be, don’t you? All your dreams could come true.” Circe continued in that vein, beautiful words spinning a perfect picture, one in which she would be more than just a god. She’d be a sorceress, beautiful beyond comparison. 

Sephie stared at the reflection, taking it all in. The smile with teeth barely glinting from between lips, the lights flashing between her fingers. The lack of muscle on her arms and legs that she’d painstakingly got from training with Triton. The lack of calluses on her hands from holding the trident. She couldn’t see beneath the dress, but she was sure the scar on her chest from fighting the bulls would be missing. 

It wasn’t her. She swallowed. It was just a caricature, lacking every single experience that she’d gained the past year. Perhaps even many experiences that she’d had throughout her entire life. This was not someone who would become a god. This was not someone that would wield a trident, fighting against bulls, cows and junkies. This was not the kind of person who might get a tattoo of a shark to symbolize her own awesomeness. 

This was not her. 

“No,” she said, interrupting Circe who had been saying all kinds of things aimed at convincing her. “I won’t do it. I don’t want this. This isn’t me.” 

Circe’s smile evaporated like a puddle does in a summer’s sun. “It could be,” she said, an edge to her voice. For just a split second, Sephie was tempted. It was just a moment. 

“It couldn’t,” she said, pain in her chest. Circe stood there silently, as Sephie watched. She was beautiful, even if she was ancient. She must have aged well. Sephie could see herself being content here. It would take time, but eventually, she’d get used to the ebb and flow of life. 

“You are making a terrible choice, dear.” The dear felt different now, condescending, whereas before it was filled with affection. “The weight of the world will grind you into dust. Better to stay here as my apprentice.”

Sephie shook her head. “I’m leaving,” she said firmly. “Thanks for helping, but I can’t become this person.” 

“Then I suggest you leave now before I do something you will regret.” Lights sparked around her hands.

Sephie didn’t bother responding, instead turning around and leaving the room. It was nice, perhaps the nicest room she’d ever been in. But it lacked something. The perfect walls, the beautiful symmetrical fountain, it was all wrong. Even the little painting of a sailboat on the wall felt weird now. Though it did remind her of something important. “I don’t suppose I can borrow a boat or something? I don’t think I’ll get off the island otherwise,” she asked, turning around. 

Circe rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “The harbor. Now get out of my sight.” 

Sephie quickly left, leaving Circe behind, looking out over the sea. She was lonely, maybe. Completely alone. 

It was not Sephie’s job to fix it. 

Chapter Text

Floating on a barrel in the middle of the sea made you change your religious priorities. Nothing made you change who you prayed to like having perfect weather at a time you needed it. If it had still been raining, Clarisse didn’t doubt that she’d have gotten hypothermia by now. At the same time, too much sun and she’d look like a crab and probably feel like a thoroughly cooked one. Fortunately, the weather was perfect. There was some sun to make sure she didn’t freeze, but not so much that she’d get sunburnt. “No clue if this was intentional, but thanks anyway Lord Apollo,” she muttered. It might upset her father a bit, but he’d just have to deal with it. Shouldn’t have made her go on this quest if he wanted her to stay loyal to him. Nothing like going out into the wide world to realize other gods existed. 

She spared Tyson a glance, and, realizing he’d fallen asleep again, sighed. What kind of self-respecting person fell asleep in a dangerous situation? Hell, what child of Poseidon couldn’t swim? having to keep a Cyclops afloat was not her idea of a fun time. It was probably Sephie’s fault. Spending even a summer with that absolute mess was enough to make you wonder whether up was down, let alone a year. Maybe she should be thankful he listened to her when she told him to stop moving. She slumped down onto the barrel. Always look on the bright side of life, right mom? 

At least they were still alive. And the sun wasn’t burning them, the storm had settled, neither of them were even wounded. Forget Tyson being unable to swim, what kind of self-respecting monster couldn’t wound a demigod when they outnumbered them ten to one? 

Curse her luck. Forced on a quest, shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean, and not even a good fight. Tyson wasn’t that bad, but babysitting wasn’t something she planned on doing anytime soon. Not even if Silena and Charles got one. They were lovey-dovey enough for it. She quietly cursed Sephie for the fifteenth time. No doubt it was her fault somehow. If only she were here. Clarisse still had a dagger. She could put some holes into her to get rid of the stress.  

They kept bobbing up and down in the waves. It was the perfect motion to fall asleep to, but Clarisse had rules. In particular, don’t fall asleep in a place where a monster can get you. It had led to many sleepless nights in the past, but it had worked. About a dozen Telkhines could attest to that. Would they be back yet? The last one she’d cut down had sworn on the Styx he’d eat her face one day. Clarisse smirked. Sucked to be him. Coach had been more than happy to swear to the Styx that he’d turn her into a tree when she died. If they were lucky, he could do it in sight of the Telkhine. He’d get a good laugh out of the noob getting murdered by the Styx. No face to eat if she was a tree. 

And that was why she wasn’t gonna die in the middle of the sea. How was Coach supposed to get her body if she’d sunk thousands of feet? She nudged Tyson. “Let’s go,” she grumbled. “Two hours of paddling, then we’ll rest again. We’ll find land eventually.” 

Tyson had a fearful look on his face. He started to say something. Then stopped. Clarisse sighed. “What?” 

“What if we go the wrong way and end up in the ocean?” He asked, face pale. 

“Then we swim to fucking Europe, board a ship and sail back. Now start paddling!” Tyson whimpered softly but did as she said. Clarisse made sure to whisper a prayer of thanks to her mom. In the army, the drill sergeant was god and her mom was the best in the world.  

They floated in the water for about a day before something finally happened. Clarisse had made sure to keep an eye on her surroundings at all times. Constantly looking around meant you’d see the enemy coming, which gave you a much better chance to fight back. Sure, it wouldn’t do much if some weird sea monster decided they looked like an appetizer, but Clarisse was a daughter of Ares. She’d go down fighting, nothing else was acceptable. Dying young would be a letdown, though, so she’d prefer to live. 

As it approached, she changed her mind. It was the most obnoxious ship she’d ever seen. It was covered in gold, which should make it too heavy to sail, something that Annabeth would have all kinds of annoying reasons for. The large sail with a medusa-like head - which was also gold - somehow caught enough wind to send it practically flying towards them. As it got closer, Clarisse could make out the crew. They made weird chattering sounds as they got closer, making her think it was some kind of insect that manned the ship at first. They were practically on top of them when she realized they were dolphins. 

A rope was thrown down into the water. Clarisse looked up at the dolphins. “We’ll stay in the ocean, thanks.” She was a daughter of Ares, not an idiot. 

The sound of arrows being drawn made her start climbing the rope. She was a daughter of Ares, not an idiot. If she had to step into an obvious trap to survive a bit longer, so be it.  

The deck was similarly golden. It shone in the sun. “How have you not been blinded yet? What kind of self-respecting captain would use such an ugly ship?”

“One that has nothing to fear,” a man said. A man. Not a dolphin. He wore Greek armor, and had a medusa-shaped helmet on his head and a golden sword at his side. A medusa-shaped helmet was on his head and a golden sword at his side. “Now, what are your names? I’d like to know them before I forget you exist.” 

“Who’s asking?”

The man walked up towards her. Ten feet. Nine feet. “Your master,” he said. Clarisse spat on the ground. Eight feet. Seven feet. He stopped. “You do not agree?”

“I’m not a slave or a servant.”

Six feet. “Are you sure? Your siblings are always used to the leaders’ whims.”

Clarisse started. “How did you-”

“Know that you’re a daughter of Ares?” The man scoffed. “Everyone knows about your little quest. Where is my sibling, though? I thought she’d be with you.”

“We split up,” Clarisse said. Still six feet. 

The man took a step forward. Five feet. “Split up? And here I thought questers should stay together. Strange.”

“You know a lot about quests, then?” 

“Enough to know that when questers split up, it never ends well. Some Cyclopes ate one of the three after I captured the other two. They fetched a nice price, though. Circe is always looking for new handmaidens. They’re never good enough. Considering these two were fighters, well… They likely ended up as pigs, swine or dummies. For target practice.” Some of the dolphins laughed. It made Clarisse dislike the man more. Four feet. 

Clarisse dashed forward, pulling her dagger from its sheath at the same time. Tyson shouted something and she vaguely realized he was moving behind her. The dolphins chattered. In the back of her head, Clarisse realized that they were cheering. 

The man sidestepped, somehow reacting quickly enough. He pulled his sword from its sheath and she barely managed to parry his attack, a wicked slice which would have cut her stomach open. And then she was disarmed. Just like that. On the second exchange. The dagger clanged to the ground. “Impressive,” the man said. “It’s been a while since someone managed to parry an attack. A daughter of Ares you are without a doubt.” One of the dolphins grabbed the dagger and offered it to him. He gestured at Clarisse. 

The dolphin walked up and held the dagger up again. She grabbed it from his hand. Should she kill him? There was no way he would react in time. The man watched. 

A daughter of Ares. 

She put it back in its sheath. The man was smiling no doubt. If only he couldn’t put his money where his mouth was. Then she could dislike him to her heart’s content. 

“What is your name,” the man asked again. 

“Clarisse.” 

The man nodded. “And the Cyclops?”

Clarisse glanced at Tyson. The dolphins surrounded him, spears pointed at him. “Tyson.” His scared look made something twinge in her chest, but she ignored it. 

The man had ignored the Cyclops before, but now he actually looked. “Why, hello sibling. I did not expect to see you here. Does he even count as a member of the quest?”

Clarisse shrugged. “Who are you?” 

The dolphins started chattering again. It was a cacophony, reminding Clarisse of the Pirates of the Caribbean, where the pirates shouted as the captain introduced himself. If Clarisse had been a weak, blushing maiden they’d probably be throwing her around by now. “I am Chrysaor, son of Medusa and Poseidon. The greatest pirate of all time!” He shouted over the roar. 

“I’ve never heard of you,” Clarisse muttered. 

Chrysaor laughed a short laugh. “Of course not. Nobody has. Storytellers have ignored me all these years in favor of others. I should have been one of the greatest heroes of all time, known in the same vein as Heracles and Perseus. Instead, I am forgotten. Me! The first user of Enchanted Gold.” He scoffed. “A flying horse is better known than me. No, it doesn’t surprise you that you haven’t heard of me.” He sheathed his sword. “Doesn’t help that I've been stuck in the Mediterranean all these years.”

“You’re not stuck now,” Clarisse observed. Four feet. Was it worth trying? 

Chrysaor caressed the pommel of his now-sheathed sword. “A deal Poseidon made with my mother. I’d be free to leave the Mediterranean and go where I please. This is the first time I’ve seen the new world after only hearing of it in tales and seeing it in pictures. If only I’d been during the Golden Age. All the gold and silver I could have taken, the ships I could have captured, the slaves I could have sold. Mortals were so much more barbaric back then. All would have known my name.” His shoulders slumped. “But we can’t change the past. I can only make up for the centuries lost,” he finished quietly. 

“How hasn’t a god killed you yet?” It made no sense. He’d even admitted to attacking other demigods. No matter what, a god would not have let that go. 

“And risk my father’s anger? Besides, I’m no simple demigod or monster. I’m much more. My mother was mortal when I was created, but she was a monster when I was born. All the advantages of both, none of the disadvantages.” Chrysaor waved his hand. “Bring them to the hold.” Clarisse touched the dagger’s hilt as they walked down, comforting herself slightly. Tyson had calmed down after Chrysaor had talked to him. Still pale, though. 

The hold was dark and damp, exactly what Clarisse expected from a pirate ship. What she didn’t expect was the two dozen or so scared people inside said hold, all chained to the walls. Some of them were bruised and one seemed to be nursing a broken arm or something similar. One of the dolphins walking behind her chattered something that Clarisse didn’t understand, but could guess. She walked into the massive cell and sat down at one of the metal bars which had been fastened to the wood. A chain was moved around it, then tightened to her ankles. She wouldn’t be moving from here. The dolphins did the same to Tyson and then left, the door through which they had come slamming shut. Clarisse closed her eyes and put her head against the wall. 

“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll be out here before you know it.” Clarisse opened her eyes to look at the man who said it. He had a shaky grin on his face. 

“Yeah, and Captain America is gonna be the one to save us,” she scoffed. She closed her eyes again. It had been a long day and she was stuck with the monsters anyway. Might as well get some sleep. Maybe she’d get some of Sephie’s luck and Chrysaor would suddenly come to like them. She chuckled, no doubt startling and confusing the mortals. 

“What are you laughing about,” Tyson asked. His voice didn’t echo here, unlike in the metal ship. She’d constantly had to tell him to be more quiet else they all go deaf. That wouldn’t be necessary here, but he was quiet anyway. Clarisse looked at him. 

“How likely is Sephie to randomly show up and somehow convince Chrysaor to let us go?”

Tyson blinked. It was difficult to see in the sparse light, but just enough came through some smaller cracks in the hull that she could barely see it. Seeing someone with a single massive eye blink was a bit discomfiting. He wasn’t aggressive though, too scared to even participate in the fight. A good thing, since that cruise ship crew had already been hesitant to board. How bad would it have been if there was a Cyclops happily swinging a massive steel bat at them?

Clarisse waited a bit longer, but once it was clear he wouldn’t answer, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She’d been awake for way too long. She needed sleep. 

—

The door being swung open left large amounts of light to stream in. Clarisse blinked disorientedly a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness. A few dolphins walked in, carrying bread and water. Clarisse ignored them in favor of Chrysaor. “Do you ever take that helmet off?” She asked him. 

“Would you if you were surrounded by enemies?” 

“You don’t trust them,” she asked, nodding at the dolphins. 

Chrysaor chuckled. “I’d trust them with my life. They’ve been with me for thousands of years. They also know what happens if they mutiny, and they would not regenerate.”

Clarisse gave the dolphins a closer look. They looked like what she’d expect a disciplined crew of pirates to look like. Cutlasses, many of them gold, a pistol here and there. One carried a spear and shield on its back. She forced away memories of her spear. Gods, she loved that spear. She’d killed her first monster with it. And her second, third, fourth and sixth. “They’re not monsters then?”

Chrysaor sighed. “We kidnapped the wrong person.”

Who could turn an entire crew into dolphins? It had to be a god. And Clarisse was quite sure that she knew which one. “Mr D then? He threatens Sephie with it often enough.”

“Quite. I was lucky, it faded away over time. For them, well.” One of the dolphins chattered something, making nodding motions as it did. “Exactly. Of course, not many of them die. Even the most terrible fighters become passable if they have thousands of years to train. Not that it matters. They didn’t even fight back,” he said, gesturing at the other prisoners. 

“They’re bruised though,” Clarisse observed. 

“Let me put it differently. They were so terrible at fighting that they would have been better off not fighting at all.” 

“What do you want, pirate?” It was the same guy as before. He was shaking. Clarisse shook her head. 

“You again?” Chrysaor sighed. “Are you even worth the effort? Maybe I should just throw you overboard. Perhaps like the Romans used to, sown into a sack.”

The man paled. Tyson whimpered. “So where are we going,” Clarisse asked quickly, pulling Chrysaor’s focus back to her. 

“Where we always go. Circe will pay a good amount for them. As for you… I don’t suppose you’ll join my crew? I’ll even let the Cyclops in.” There were many things she’d expected. That wasn’t one of them. “Don’t give me that look. You’re good. It’s rare to find someone that can fight back. I’ve no doubt you could take on some of my crew in a fight.”

“I’m not a pirate.” 

One of the dolphins chattered something, making Chrysaor laugh. “Indeed. We are not pirates but high-risk traders. A big difference.”

Clarisse shook her head in disgust. “Stuff it.”

Chrysaor clicked his tongue. “Shame, but not unexpected. You children of Ares will serve loyally, no matter what the cause is. If you change your mind, I’m only an Iris message away.” The dolphins put the last meal down and start to leave the room. “You should probably know. My little sister will be joining you soon. Circe is none too pleased that she’d refuse her offer. Of course, she won’t risk her island getting flooded. I don’t have that issue. Father knows to let us fight among ourselves.” 

“And here I thought Sephie was a child of Amphitrite,” Clarisse said sarcastically. 

Chrysaor scratched his head. “Father is an idiot. Thought he’d get away with it again and again. Lady Amphitrite simply got her justice for it.”

“You don’t care then?”

“Why should I? It doesn’t change anything for me. In fact, it’s helped a lot. Those two are fighting over custody constantly. That’s what let me out of my prison.”

“Why are you talking to us?” Tyson asked suddenly. His voice was tense. 

Chrysaor looked at him. “Why not?” He simply said. “I have nothing to lose from being kind to you. Even if your companion is easily beaten, she’s still a daughter of Ares. If she decides to escape and I’m occupied elsewhere, she could deal quite a bit of damage to my crew. I’d rather avoid that.”

“And being kind is the easiest way to do this,” Clarisse finished. 

“Exactly. If you treat your captives well, they are less incentivized to risk their lives. Of course, they don’t know what awaits them.” He nodded at the mortals. “Polyphemus, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, has been sending around wedding invitations. He needs even more pigs now.” 

“Polyphemus the Cyclops?”

Chrysaor nodded. “He’s the odd fish out. Not the most colorful one either. All he does is stay on his island and care for his sheep. Just feeds them all those pigs he gets from Circe.”

“And that makes him the black sheep of the family?”

Chrysaor scoffed. “He does nothing. Doesn’t have an Arena, doesn’t eat everything that passes by, he’s just… useless. The odd fish out.” He shook his head. “At least your friend has some ambition. Maybe too much, turning land into water is really something you should work up to, but still.” He started walking out of the hold, still muttering to himself about the failure. Clarisse ignored him. There was something more important to think about. 

What did Sephie want to turn land into sea?

Chapter Text

Sephie had noticed that, as she became older, she sometimes regretted not learning things that others advised she did. Her mother’s advice to not say exactly what she was thinking was the main one, as simply saying anything often got her in trouble. This time, though, it was Chiron’s suggestion of control. She was more than capable of creating storms and waves and such. She was not capable of keeping them small. 

Only when she was several hours from shore did she realize the small sailing boat she was in was not made to handle the heavy waves and winds she created to have it move. Eventually, the hull started creaking and cracking. Then, the cracks became large enough to form holes. Soon after, water flowed into the ship, making it sink slowly. As much as she attempted to force the water out, it made the problem worse, since she lacked the control to do this only through the existing holes, making them grow ever larger and more numerous. 

As the hours passed, the ship lay lower in the water. By the time the sun had passed its highest point, it had sunk, leaving Sephie holding onto a single plank once again. 

It wasn’t hard to make the correct conclusion from there. “I shouldn’t be on boats. They’re just not sturdy enough,” she said to herself, ignoring the light grumbling of her stomach. “They should make them from water. Water won’t break when getting hit by some waves.” Sephie continued grumbling to herself for a long time, slowly drifting away from the original cause of irritation to other things. Because it was obviously Clarisse and Tyson’s fault that the ship sank. They were there for sailing, then she could make plans. If they hadn’t gotten lost, the ship wouldn’t have sunk. She’d have to be very clear when she found them. 

They probably wouldn’t be on the ship sailing her way, though. It was a nice ship, even if all that gold was over the top. Why did her wooden ship sink while this golden one didn’t? Was gold somehow less sinkable than wood? Maybe the value of the material made it less sinkable? That didn’t seem likely, though, because otherwise, every rich person in the world would make their house out of diamonds. Or maybe they would once Sephie had recovered the sea from the land. 

A rope was thrown overboard as the ship slowed down. Sephie didn’t waste time grabbing it, anxious not to languish on a plank for longer. She clambered up even as the rope was pulled up, making everything go quickly. 

“Thanks!”

“You are quite welcome, Captain.” 

Sephie blinked up at the absolutely massive dolphin that was somehow walking on two flippers and also covered in armor. “I have questions.” 

A man, an actual one, walked up towards them. “You can ask them some other time, dear baby sister. My crew has better things to do with their time.” 

His saying that just increased the number of questions she had. “Why are you not a dolphin? It would make you a lot better and more interesting, you know.” 

The man scoffed, face hidden behind a helmet that vaguely reminded her of Auntie M. “Yes, yes, I’m sure being inhuman would make humans much more terrified.” He walked closer to her, standing mere feet away. “But isn’t it terrifying that I manage to control such beasts?”

“That is quite rude, Captain.” So he was the captain, too? Did that make them co-captains?

“Enough. You, Jackson, are going into the hold. Circe will be happy with another handmaiden, and I’ll be happy with the payment.”

“Circe? I left her this morning.” 

“You what?” He leaned forward, his helmet nearly touching her nose. “Why the fuck would you leave Circe?”

Sephie shrugged. “I’ve got better things to do.” 

“Demigods,” the man said, disgusted. “Get her in the hold. I’ll figure something out.” 

“Sure thing, Captain.” The dolphin said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “To the hold we go, Captain.” 

“And don’t call her captain for gods’ sake!” 

The dolphin looked at her and rolled his eyes. “The Captain is always high-strung. I blame his inferiority complex. Being compared to your famous horse brother your entire life doesn’t make for a healthy mental state.” 

“Horses are much better than people for the most part,” Sephie said, nodding. “I don’t blame him for feeling lesser. It’s just a fact of life.” 

“That’s not what I meant.” 

Sephie shrugged. “You’re not the first to tell me that. What is inside the hold?”

The dolphin opened a door, revealing a room with metal bars, lots of people and-

“Clarisse, Tyson, I found you guys!” 

Clarisse didn’t waste a second before raising an eyebrow. “You mean Chrysaor found you?”

“Who found me?”

“The captain’s name is Chrysaor,” the dolphin said. “My name is Theodore.”

“Tell that stupid dolphin to talk in plain English!” 

“How rude,” Theodore said. 

Sephie frowned at Clarisse. “That’s rude, Clarisse, apologize!” Tyson nodded in agreement. 

“Mr. Dolphin didn’t do anything wrong!”

“He’s the one who chained us up! Oh, whatever. You,” she said, pointing at Theodore, “leave.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” Theodore said, head turned away and arms crossed. Sephie made a noise of agreement. 

“You shouldn’t take orders from someone that’s rude to you,” Tyson added. “That’s bad practice!” 

Clarisse groaned loudly. “Why am I stuck with you guys?”

“Actually, I think you’re only stuck with Tyson since I’m not tied up.” 

“And neither is Theodore,” Tyson added. 

Theodore nodded in agreement. “I do believe that the Captain must have been mistaken in putting you in the hold, this is no place for a lady. I will find an alternative place for you to stay.” He left the room, shaking his head. “Children of Ares nowadays. I blame Father, absent as he is, always wallowing in self-pity,” he muttered as he walked away. 

Sephie watched him go. “I think he might be your brother, Clarisse.” 

“I don’t want to know. You have your sword, right? Break these chains,” she said, gesturing at the ones at her legs. 

Maybe Clarisse did have a reason to be rude to Theodore. Being chained to a metal pole didn’t look very comfortable. She uncapped her pen and shattered the steel, quickly doing the same for Tyson. 

“Wait,” one of the men suddenly said. “Can you break ours as well?” 

Sephie frowned. “Why would I do that?” 

“They’re pirates, girl! Surely you don’t think you can get out of here on your own. A sword will do you no good against guns!” 

“What guns?”

“I think the mist makes them think it’s all guns,” Clarisse whispered in her ear. “We should do it. They’ll be a good diversion as we escape.”

Sephie shrugged and broke the other chains as well. “You guys run first. I’m sure they won’t kill you.”

The spokesman gasped. “Of course I won’t let children run in front. What kind of person do you take me for!” He narrowed his eyes. “Now follow me.” 

They slowly made their way up the stairs in a group, Sephie, Clarisse and Tyson all forced into the middle. Sephie wasn’t always the most strategically inclined of people, but it seemed like the mortals made stupid plans. Did they think they were bulletproof? The lack of guns meant they technically were, she supposed. They just weren’t steel-proof. The mortals in front suddenly stormed forward onto the deck. It took the dolphins by surprise at first, but even then they outclassed the mortals, rapidly pushing them back. Sephie was forced to suppress some cheers. Certainly, she wasn’t supposed to be on their side, but really, how couldn’t she be? They were wearing armor, chittered as they fought, and even used tridents! If not for the fact that some seemed to be missing thumbs, she would’ve been tempted to see if she could turn into one. 

Chrysaor stalked onto the deck, sword in hand. “What was your plan, Daughter of Ares?” He said mockingly. “You are outnumbered, outskilled and metaphorically outgunned.” 

“Give me a sword and I’ll show you skill, Golden Boy,” Clarisse taunted back, even as she pushed one of the mortals out of the way. 

He scoffed. “Now why would I do that? I’ve been alive for thousands of years and fought for all of them. What would a toddler do to me?”

“Sounds like you’re scared.” 

“It really does,” Sephie agreed. “If you’re so much better, shouldn’t you easily beat her?” 

He leaned against the mast. “I can, but why should I?” He nodded at the dolphins, forcing Sephie to suppress another cheer as she saw one of them wrestling a mortal to the ground. “They can simply force you down.”

“You told me I’d wreak havoc on them,” Clarisse said. “Guess loyalty doesn’t go two ways, huh?”

They all went quiet at that. The dolphins not fighting, which was most of them at this point, started whispering amongst themselves. “That was really smart,” Tyson said, awed.  

Clarisse smirked. “I have my moments.” 

“If only you’d done this with that ship that attacked js,” Sephie added. Clarisse stomped her in the side. “Rude,” she muttered, then grabbed the pen from her pocket. “If you’re gonna fight, you should have a sword.” 

Clarisse looked down at her, eyes softening ever so slightly. “Thanks, shorty.” 

“I’m not short, just-”  

Chrysaor sighed loudly, rudely interrupting her justified rant. “Fine. If you wish to be humiliated, so be it.” He drew a sword, golden as the ship they were on and the armor he wore. “Come then, Daughter of Ares. Let’s see if you live up to your ancestry.” 

Clarisse uncapped the pen, celestial bronze shining in the sun. It looked much better than the gold that Chrysaor used. 

She charged forward, sword at the ready, even as Chrysaor walked. The blades went faster than Sephie could properly follow, clanging loudly every time they hit. It rang in her ears. 

Then they separated. “You are of some skill. Not a complete disappointment to your father, then.” 

Clarisse didn’t say a word, stepping forward to attack. A feint, then a real strike, only for it to be parried. Chrysaor counter-attacked, leaving Clarisse to parry in return. It didn’t matter, the sheer force of the attack broke her guard and sent her stumbling. Riptide flew onto the deck seconds later. 

The dolphins cheered, their captain victorious once again. Sephie didn’t like them anymore, and her dislike was clear in the sea, the ship rocking slightly. “None of that,” Chrysaor grunted, holding a hand out to calm it down. “Don’t be ashamed, Daughter of Ares. It has been countless years since someone beat me. You held better than most.” He kept talking for some reason, reminiscing about some past battle against another Child of Ares. 

Sephie found her hand grabbed. She looked behind her, to find Tyson holding it. He pointed at the side of the ship and put a finger over his lips. She nodded and glanced at Clarisse. 

She was standing again, a look of utter disgust on her face as Chrysaor espoused his own skills. She wasn’t even the only one, as Sephie saw Theodore have a remarkably similar look on his snout. It was good to see that loyalty didn’t leave him blind to their captain’s faults. Maybe she could convince them to join her crew? Once she had one, that is. Maybe she could sail around the world to protect the sea from the Dutch. Certainly they did such horrendous things in other places than the Netherlands?

They edged their way to the side, walking slowly enough that the dolphins didn’t notice. 

It should be noted that, in fact, the dolphins very much did notice. A cyclops, even if just a baby, is in no way stealthy, though some do gain the skill through years of training. One particular cyclops that insisted on being called Ma even created a school which went by the name Ma’s School of Stealthcraft and Sneakery. Tyson, unfortunately, hadn’t gone there. Neither had Sephie, who had never been stealthy in her life, no matter what she said. Perhaps needless to say, many things Sephie thought about herself and others should be taken with a grain of salt. 

Luck was on their side, though perhaps parentage is a better word for it. The dolphins were, as their shape suggests, part of the sea, meaning that Poseidon had some control over them. Not having gills, they could still be drowned, and Poseidon would certainly drown them if his children were harmed. 

Clarisse, unfortunately, was a Daughter of Ares, meaning they had no such feelings for her. She was also, however, a Daughter of Ares. 

Sephie watched as Clarisse glared at Chrysaor and slammed her knee into his crotch. She supposed he must not have armor there because he went down immediately. Clarisse didn’t bother watching the result of her actions, instead running to join them at the side of the ship. “That was really cool,” Sephie told her. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We jump,” Clarisse said. “It’s not like he can fish us out of the ocean.” 

“He’s a son of Poseidon, too,” Tyson noted.

“That means he doesn’t like fish either, so he won’t fish us out.” Sephie realized. “That’s genius!” 

“Actually, I think he’s not very in tune with his water powers. It took him a lot of effort to stop the waves you created.” 

“I will kill you for that,” Chrysaor shouted behind them, voice so cold that it went right around to furious. 

“Jump!” Clarisse shouted, grabbing Sephie’s arm as she did exactly that. 

They hit the water hard. She immediately created waves to push the boat away. 

Someone tried to grasp the waves, but she forced them away. It wasn’t long before there was a sizable distance between them and the boat. 

“What about the mortals,” Tyson suddenly asked. “They were nice.” 

“So?” Clarisse asked. “If they didn’t jump overboard when they could’ve, that’s their problem.” 

“Who cares about mortals,” Sephie added, yawning. “How’s it possible that I’m in the water again? This is the second time today.”

“Have you been floating around ever since the storm?” Clarisse asked. 

Sephie tried to shrug, though the water made it difficult. “Nah. I got on this woman’s island where she tried to turn me into a witch. I refused, though, and she gave me a boat. It’s your fault it sunk.” 

“How is it my fault that your boat sank?” Clarisse growled. 

“You weren’t there to sail it. I don’t know how to sail a boat.”

Clarisse rubbed her temples, treading water the entire time. “You are without a doubt the worst child of Poseidon I’ve ever seen.” 

“I’m the only child of Poseidon you’ve ever seen.” 

Clarisse looked pointedly at Tyson, then in the direction of Chrysaor’s boat. 

“Fine, you’ve seen a few others. But there’s no way Chrysaor sails his ship himself! He needs the dolphins to do that.” 

“In comparison, Scylla and Charybdis probably did sail a ship when they were human, meaning you are still on the lesser side. And do you really want to be similar to Chrysaor?” 

“Not really,” Sephie muttered. “Fine, I’ll learn how to sail a ship without breaking it.” 

“How did you break the ship?” Tyson asked. 

“It couldn’t handle slightly bigger than normal waves.” 

Clarisse sighed. “I don’t want to deal with this,” and started swimming away.

“Where are you going?”

“Wherever I need to finish this quest. I’m sure your father can help us on our way.”

Chapter Text

Olympus was chaotic at the best of times, but millennia of seeing it happen had made it feel normal. Hermes was handling seven calls simultaneously while upside down in the chair. Athena was glaring at Poseidon while Poseidon glared right back. Zeus was shouting at someone, nobody knew who, while Hera was shouting at him. Ares was busy shouting at a screen showing European football - Hestia had finally managed to get through to him after a century. Yes, they may live in the United States, but that didn’t mean they had to pick up the weird things - calling them grass munchers and softies. Apollo was half asleep listening to music while Artemis fired arrows at him. 

It never failed to impress how good her favorite niece - though she’d never tell Athena that - had become. Every shot was perfectly between the hairs. Apollo’s hair being slightly curly today, well, Hestia was slightly worried what would happen when he tried to leave his throne. How likely were the arrows to tangle in it?

It was a rhetorical question. This wasn’t the first time it happened, neither would it be the last, and while it didn’t seem to be as painful as the seventeenth time, it would also not be as painless as the eighteenth. Hestia had learned to spot these things over the centuries. It was a requirement to keep the peace, just like knowing when to intervene and when to stay silent. How does your voice remain strong if you always speak? How does it not weaken if you never raise it? It was a balance and one she managed well.

She looked back at the hearth, moving a block of wood just so. It quickly caught fire. The atmosphere grew less tense, and raised voices calmed down. Artemis relaxed the string and put the last arrow back in the quiver beside her throne. 

There was a flash as Dionysus arrived, late as always. He already had a cup in his hand. She raised an eyebrow at him and snapped her fingers. The cup turned into a glass, and the dark liquid into water. He sighed but didn’t protest beyond that. He’d learned when to protest and when to let go as well. “Do you know where Hephaestus is?” She asked him quietly. 

He shrugged. “At his forge. Since this meeting wasn’t mandatory, he didn’t feel like coming.” 

A balance, just like a fire. Become too small and the spark fades. Too large and it burns the surroundings down. Everything had a balance. Nemesis might be the domain’s goddess, but Hestia had known about its existence for much longer. 

She clapped her hands. They settled down. “I believe you had something to tell us, Aphrodite?” 

Aphrodite looked confused for a moment, tapping a perfect finger against a perfect face. Red hair, pale skin. It reminded Hestia of a girl she’d met in Ireland. Perhaps she should look into her lineage, see if there were any still around. They hadn’t starved then. Would they have starved later? It had been many years. “Right! Poseidon, when were you gonna tell us about your new daughter?” 

“My new daughter?” Poseidon asked, confused. They all ignored Athena’s mutterings. “You mean Sephie?”

“Probably. Unless you have other daughters I don’t know about?”

“Sephie isn’t mine,” Poseidon said. They all looked at him. 

“It’s been a year, Hentai Games,” Ares said. “Do you really believe we’d believe that?” 

He shrugged. “Amphitrite claimed her. And Hentai Games? How does that even make sense?” 

“It’s not you,” Aphrodite responded. “The shirt is just really tacky.” 

They took a moment to look at the monstrosity. Hestia had to admit she wasn’t entirely sure what they were looking at. Tentacles surrounded a woman wearing a bikini, some going into strange places. It must’ve been dirty since she saw Artemis making a disgusted face in the corner of her eye. “Arrows don’t solve all problems, dear.” 

She was already spinning an arrow on her finger. Flicking around and around, it was vaguely hypnotizing. “It might solve this one. I’ve heard you lose your libido with it.” The arrowhead pointed straight at Poseidon’s crotch. 

He glared at her. “I’ll have you know Amphitrite enjoys my so-called perversions.”

“I didn’t really need to know that,” Dionysus murmured. 

Artemis rolled her eyes. “As if you don’t do similar things.” 

“I’ll have you know that Ariadne and I have a nice vanilla sex life, thank you very much.” He took a sip of water. “Not that there is anything with Poseidon’s tastes, mind, I just didn’t need to know them.” 

Artemis scowled. “Disgusting, the both of you.” 

“Maybe you should have some fun with your huntresses, baby sister. I’m sure some of them would love to.”