Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Triton lounged with me in the river, lazily curling his fingers to guide the trash into a pile for me to remove.

I was glad to be home, glad to be in my river. It was filled with trash but I would clean it again and it would be mine.

“We’re looking into it,” Triton said finally, answering my question. “How Thalia returned… currently just about everyone is baffled by it. We’ve even received reports that some of Kronos’ forces are investigating. None of us saw it coming…”

I flicked my fingers in acknowledgement, rolling over in the water to send a wave curling around trash and piling it together.

“I can’t say I’m disappointed,” Triton said. “As wary as I am of another child of Zeus on the field, I am glad that you are no longer the prophecy child. I- I would prefer someone else be at risk.”

I wasn’t sure if I preferred that, but I was glad that I no longer had the weight of the world on my shoulders. It was terrifying to imagine being the one to save or destroy the world, I didn’t envy Thalia for her fate.

“Of course, the how is still a mystery. She wasn’t technically dead, simply transformed. But the increased strength of the barrier came from her life force, from her sacrifice. The fact that it remained even when she didn’t… It’s very strange.”

“Maybe it’s because the Golden Fleece is there?”

“No, no,” Triton said, twisting to watch me gather the trash, “that wouldn’t heal her.”

“Not for healing,” I clarified quickly. “But for how the barrier stays as strong. The Fleece is a very valuable artifact isn’t it? Maybe it’s like… an offering in place of her life?”

Triton mused over that as I sent the trash onto the bank.

“That’s possible. It is a powerful symbol…” he shook his head. “We’ll figure it out, but right now the important thing to note is that Thalia is alive and well.”

I nodded, remembering Annabeth’s tears of joy, her clinging to Thalia, Thalia’s confusion but relief at seeing Annabeth.

Thalia was alive and Annabeth was with her again.

OO OO OO OO

Shopping for the school year was fun these days. It didn’t used to be, not when we had to carefully check prices and determine what I needed most and what I didn’t need. I still enjoyed it of course, it just… was more careful planning and less getting to pick my favorites.

Now I got to pick my favorites!

I got to pick out Avatar: The Last Airbender binders and get lots of pencils and pretty highlighters and mom even let me get some hair stuff.

She was happy to help me figure out what I needed for my hair, going off of what I learned at camp. I’d have to ask for more info later, and there was maybe some sea stuff I’d need, but overall it was fun!

Mom even braided my hair and told me stories about her childhood, it was fun!

The Lotus Card was the best thing ever and I was so so glad I’d taken it.

Mom even helped me label my notebooks and organize my books and got me audio books for them too. And a new set of headphones to listen to them with.

I even got some new clothes and tennis shoes, mom said I’d grown a bit and needed them.

OO OO OO OO

Zoey, Nikola, and I met for lunch at Zoey’s house, her parents were out running errands, so we had the place to ourselves.

“Okay, so explanation time,” Zoey declared, having finished supplying us all with hot chocolate. “What happened with the- the things that attacked. And the snake. And the blood-“

I took a deep breath.

“It’s a long story but uh… the short answer is-“ I licked my lips “-I’m a demigod.”

Both stared at me.

“I- my Metua- dad, my dad is Poseidon. I uh… I learned that I had powers when I was eight or nine I think. Then later I met Triton, who’s my brother. He taught me a lot and once I learned about the Gods and that I was… probably the kid of one, he taught me even more.”

Nikola opened his mouth then closed it. Zoey was staring at the table with wide eyes.

I chewed my lip, “I went to a camp for demigods when I was twelve, it’s where I learned who my dad was.”

“You’re a demigod,” Zoey said.

“What the fuck,” Nikola whispered.

“La…. Yeah.”

“You have powers?” Zoey asked.

I nodded.

“Show us?”

Zoey framed it as a question, but it sounded more like a demand. Which was fair, I wasn’t sure if I would’ve believed someone just saying that.

Dutifully I flicked my fingers and lifted the hot chocolate out of all of our cups, twisting it into spirals then stars then waves of hot chocolate that twisted into little twisters until all of our cups were full again.

“What the fuck,” Nikola whispered again.

“So uh- the ones that attacked the school were terrors- or uh- monsters a lot call them. They were laistrygonians.”

“Why were they attacking you?” Zoey asked, leaning forward with wide eyes.

“What,” Nikola whispered.

“Terrors- they often eat demigods. So they attack us a lot for food.”

“Is Tyson a demigod?” Zoey asked.

I flinched, closing my eyes.

They didn’t know.

“Tyson-“ I cleared my throat “-Tyson is… wasn’t one, no. He-“ I took a deep breath and a sip of my hot chocolate “-he was a kyklopes. Another child of Poseidon and… he- he died.”

Nikola’s eyes widened, and Zoey gasped.

“What?” Zoey squeaked. “What happened!?”

“We went on a quest to save the camp for demigods and Tyson- he… he died during it.”

My fingers curled around the watch on my wrist. The watch Tyson made me.

“No,” Zoey gasped. “Oh no- I’m so sorry- I-“

She looked ready to cry and Nikola looked shell-shocked.

I swallowed, “We had a funeral for him, sorry that you- that you couldn’t come.”

Zoey swallowed, “It’s- I’m glad he got one. I’m so sorry.”

I swung my feet, clutching the hot chocolate. I didn’t really want to think too much about Tyson being dead. I’d accepted it, I understood it, but I didn’t want to linger on it. He was gone and I wouldn’t see him again. I didn’t need… I didn’t need to think about it over and over.

I would remember him, but I didn’t want to remember him being dead.

“But ta- yeah. That’s um… that’s it.”

“What about- Kai and Klara and Acantha? They were fighting too. Are they demigods?”

“Oh,” I shook my head. “No they’re- they were guards Triton sent. He was worried about me after someone tried to kill me at the end of last summer.”

“What,” Nikola spluttered.

I waved my hand, “It’s okay, I’m fine.”

“Triton, the God, sent guards,” she said wide eyed. “Wait have you met other Gods?”

My lips twitched up, “Yeah. Lord Dionysos is the head of the camp I go to. And I fought Ares once.”

“What the fuck,” Nikola whispered.

“I might be able to introduce you to Triton,” I added. “I mean, if you pray the Gods are still present in their own way of course. But like- I can introduce you to like… his physical form. I dunno if you’ve prayed to him before, if you do he might recognize you but-”

“Introduce me to-“

Zoey fell out of her chair.

Nikola glanced down at her fallen form then looked back at me.

“What the fuck.”

OO OO OO OO

I didn’t have a big party in the ocean this year, though I did still have to make an appearance. It was a bit fun, I got to see my merfriends.

Elei insisted we train together more often, I was quick to agree. I needed to get better at fighting with the war coming. Rosa wanted to learn how to fight a bit too so joined in on our planning.

Samoa had been all but vibrating off to the side while Elei and Rosa talked with me and the moment they were done all but tackled me.

“I got the apprenticeship!”

It took me a moment to remember, Samoa hadn’t spoken of the apprenticeship she wanted again since my last birthday. She didn’t want to say anything about it until who got it was confirmed.

It clicked then exactly what that meant.

“You got the apprenticeship with Tuluvas-fu’vak!?”

I hugged her tight as she squealed in delight.

“I did! I did! I got the confirmation just the other mahur and I’m just- I’m- I’m just so so excited- I didn’t think I would but toi spoke with us the other day, me and Avl I mean- and another person but I don’t know them as well—and basically interviewed us. I don’t know why I was picked over Avl but- but I did it!”

I beamed and hugged her again.

“That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

“Congratulations,” Fetu chimed in, swimming over. “That’s a great accomplishment.”

“A really great one,” Lagi agreed. “You’ll have to work hard but it will absolutely be worth it.”

“Oh wow, that’s gonna be hard,” Masina said. “But hey, if you ever need places to practice I know some currents in need of a little bit of purification.”

Samoa beamed as the others chimed in, congratulating her and offering any support she needed. Rosa offered her a hug like I did and Elei tapped their tails together.

There weren’t any others present this year, except for family of course. Metua said that he wanted it to just be something I could enjoy without having to put on airs or anything. I did kinda wish that Kai and Klara and Acantha had been invited, but I didn’t think Metua knew that I was close with the guards Triton put on me.

That was probably something I needed to talk about, but another day.

Presents were offered up of course, since presents were a thing for birthdays. I still wasn’t quite over that, presents were so nice. I know Triton sent them presents for me during the summer and I did my best to remember during the year, but I wasn’t the best at it (Triton always had a backup present for me to give them though, he was great like that). I’d never really had to until Triton.

Samoa’s was first, and I found it very funny how Hippolyta settled on my shoulder to peer down at the wrapping paper as soon as I reached for the presents.

She loved shiny things, spoiled little octopus.

Samoa’s present was a set of interesting shapes that I turned over curiously for a moment.

“They’re for Hippolyta. I know you mentioned before that she didn’t get to play as much on land cause her tank doesn’t have a bunch of variety so… I got some stuff she can play with.”

Oh! That was so great. I offered Samoa a bright smile.

“That’s great, I’ll definitely put them in her tank later.”

“And you can like- switch them out so she can play with different ones, so it doesn’t get boring.”

“Good idea!”

I let Hippolyta claim the wrapping seaweed (as she tended to) before plucking up the next gift, labeled from Lagi and Fetu both.

They got me a nice set of medical poultices. Things that would numb pain, stuff to draw out poison, stuff for specific types of injuries, purifying salves for polluted waters, a few common antidotes- it was a lovely and very good set.

Ugh, I would need to learn how to use it all. Maybe Annabeth- well she was probably busy. Maybe Leilani would learn with me. It was more fun when I was learning it with someone, and these would be helpful.

Masina gave me a set of spiral toys (one of which I gave to Hippolyta who delighted in twisting it all around). They were kinda like… fidgets? And you could practice fine control with them. Apparently, their parents had them get some because they weren’t very good at fine control in their current work, and they thought I’d enjoy playing with them cause I was good at fine control.

Rosa got me a guide to rare, endangered, and extinct sea creatures. That looked interesting, I’d definitely enjoy reading it. It even had pictures! Maybe Hippolyta would like to poke at it, she enjoyed the picture books.

Elei’s present was actually tickets to the Riaptel Av Iyaniv. It was a series of events, competitions, and tournaments with all kinds of booths. I’d heard about it from Elei, she was normally there because her parents competed.

I’d never been, though I was curious about it. Triton didn’t like it and hadn’t attended in a long time, no one asked him to attend either. I thought that was a bit odd cause I’d received invitations last year and I knew Metua and the rest of the family did too.

But not Triton.

Regardless, that would be fun. I was definitely looking forward to that.

“Ugh,” Khrysaôr muttered. “I should’ve thought of that.”

Amphitrite-nai got me a portrait painted of me, with Hippolyta curled in my hair. Hippolyta looked comfy and I was smiling, a hand reached up to let one of her tentacles curl around it. I smiled and bit back a laugh when Hippolyta on my shoulder reached out a tentacle to poke at the tentacle on the painting.

“It’s you,” I said.

She considered it for a long moment in that way she did. She rarely used words but I could get a feel despite that.

She promptly climbed up to my head and settled in my hair again.

Kymopoleia dropped a present in my hands before I could get distracted by Lyta being adorable.

“Open mine now, it’s taking too long.”

I bit back a laugh and opened the present to find a set of… tokens?

“They’re tokens for various divine chains around the world,” she explained. “You always end up in interesting places during your quests, so if that happens again you have the tokens! They can be used for a service or support in different places. Of course, different coins have different uses so you’ll need to learn that… but I thought it might be helpful!”

I perked up, that could be helpful for sure.

“And if not helpful, you can always spend them on fun stuff.”

And there was that too.

I beamed, “Thanks!”  

I grabbed another, from Herophile. Inside were two plushies and I gasped in delight.

“Appa! Momo!”

“Isn’t Appa your Hippocampi?” Masina asked in confusion.

“I named my Hippocampi after Appa,” I chirped, holding up the stuffed version of Appa.

“What is that,” asked Lagi, leaning forward.

“A stuffed animal!”

I hugged the stuffed animal tightly.

“Thanks, Herophile!”

“You’re welcome,” she beamed.

I tried to move faster through the presents, cause I did want to spend more time with my friends even though I had to at least thank everyone for the presents first.

Rhodos got me a set of earrings, with a variety of sun and moon designs and Benthesikyme got me matching hair pieces. The two of them seemed to like group gifts.

Triton’s was next and as usual it was great.

He got me a new charm for my bracelet, this one was a turtle. He informed me it would summon the armor keyed to it (which I would still have to do, but Triton assured me he’d teach me how) to me. But it wasn’t immediate, so I wouldn’t just get my armor no matter where I was. It would take longer the further from my armor I was.

Was definitely gonna be helpful, I was always forgetting to grab my armor.

I opened the one from Metua next and had to pause because it seemed… like slightly off water?

“Pick it up,” Metua suggested, a gleam in His eyes.

I did as he said and realized it kinda moved like… fabric?

“It is a cloak made of ocean currents,” Metua said, seeming a bit proud. “It will allow you the comfort of the ocean while on land.”

Okay, that was kinda cool. I wondered how it would look on land… I’d have to try it out sometime.

“Thanks!”

I carefully folded and wrapped it again, cause it was practically invisible in the water, then reached for the next one.

This one was from Okeanos-ari and Tethys-ran. It was… rather similar to Metua’s?

I picked up the bundle of misty light, that reminded me of the vents in the deep sea. It was also a cloak, I realized quickly, but different in material.

Triton looked amused, “I see they matched again.”

Metua was scowling, but I just thought they were cool. I’d have to thank Okeanos-ari and Tethys-ran sometime.

Khrysaôr was all but vibrating as he skipped over.

“Mine now!”

I opened his present, unable to resist holding back a grin. I had a feeling it would be something I wasn’t allowed to keep again, but would probably be kinda funny.

I blinked at the… harpoon gun?

“There’s something else there too,” Khrysaor chirped, nudging the paper.

I pulled out… a jar of something. Probably alcohol.

“What is that,” asked Triton in a very polite ‘die’ tone.

“Moonshine! I made it myself, though I’m not certain it’s the best. But it was one of my first attempts and I just had to share it with my darling little brother.”

He hooked his arm over my shoulders, grinning at Triton who looked about ready to toss him out of the ocean.

“I don’t think my mom wants me drinking moonshine,” I said, hiding a smile.

“What’s moonshine?” Fetu asked with a frown. “I mean, it has moon in the name so it’s probably fine, right?”

Khrysaôr’s grin was positively shark-like. “Yeah, Triton, it’s got moon in the name!”

“It’s alcohol, and no he may not have it.”

“What about the harpoon-gun?” Khrysaôr whined. “I picked it out just for him from the one’s I stole!”

“… is he going to get arrested on land for having stolen property?”

Khrysaôr and Triton fell into a long debate over me keeping or not keeping the harpoon-gun.

I was just glad that they seemed to be getting along at least a little.

OO OO OO OO

Fetu led me off after the party, bringing me to the lovely coral gardens. He had a pouch in his hands that he was twisting near frantically.

“I wasn’t sure entirely how to ask,” he started. “I mean, you are more than welcome to refuse this gift but… I did want to ask.”

I blinked at him, wide eyed and curious.

“You got me another present?”

He nodded, stiff and formal.

“Yes, but it is- well, it’s personal so-“ he took a deep breath and held out the pouch to me “-well, just here.”

I accepted the pouch and opened it curiously. My eyes widened as I got a glimpse of what was inside.

“This is-“

“You can refuse,” Fetu rushed to assure me again. “But well, I would like to officially begin courting you.”

I knew I was blushing, my cheeks were probably stained green from my blush. But- he wanted to court me? I didn’t-

Oh Gods had he been flirting with me all those times-

Oh nooooo- I was so oblivious-

An absolute disaster, how could I not notice-

The bracelet was lovely, of course it was Fetu had retrieved it. I didn’t know if he’d retrieved the scales himself, they were nearly the same shade of blue as my velaru around my neck. They had a dusting of something glittery on top of them, delicate and soft, just barely catching the light.

I swallowed and twisted the bracelet, admiring the workmership. It was beautiful.

“I understand if you wish to deny me,” Fetu said softly. “I simply wanted-“

“Yes,” I said quickly. “Wait no- I mean, I accept the courtship.”

I knew I was absolutely green in the face, but Fetu was all blue and looked so very delighted so I didn’t feel too embarrassed.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do-“ I slipped the bracelet on “-thank you.”

He reached out and took my hand, admiring the bracelet on my wrist, the opposite wrist from the one where Triton’s charm bracelet rested. This was the first time someone not family had given me a bracelet.

“It looks good on you,” he murmured. “Nearly as lovely as you, minha pérola.”

I decided I rather liked birthday’s after that.

OO OO OO OO

My party on land was pretty different from the one in the ocean. For one, it had birthday cake. For another, it didn’t have someone asking to court me.

My mom made the cake herself. It was blue inside, obviously, with the symbols of the elements in Avatar decorating the top.

Zoey, Nikola, and I watched movies and ate my moms amazing cooking and ate birthday cake and just generally had a good time.

When they were gone I opened the presents from them (an official Avatar the Last Airbender cook book and a some Avatar the Last Airbender Posters) then the gift my mom got me (an Appa backpack!).

Then I got to sit with my mom on the couch and curl up against her and listen to her tell me about the book she was plotting and about her classes and about her work and it was nice.

OO OO OO OO

The new school year started off easy. We got introduced to all of our teachers, got our assigned seating, and Nikola and Zoey slowly relaxed after the reveal of me being a demigod.

Though Nikola still looked somewhat faint if we talked about it too much.

Zoey used the opportunity to badger me about anything and everything about the Gods, which I suddenly felt woefully uninformed on. I knew a decent amount, but I did not know Zeus’ favorite food or if Apollo liked her poetry.

It took some time to assure her that her relationship with them wouldn’t be the same as mine, and even if I could ask them to their face I still probably wouldn’t get a full answer.

Nikola had chimed in, finally breaking out of his wide-eyed stare.

“The Gods contain multitudes, They have many aspects. Just because Percy knows one doesn’t mean he knows all.”

I nodded quickly in agreement with Nikola.

“Your relationship is yours, I only know Them through my relationship with Them.”

Zoey got more comfortable after that.

What did catch my eye about the new school year was that my guards had returned. I wondered at it, if they were planning on guarding me again this year.

OO OO OO OO

Zoey and Nikola were still as much fun to hang out with as ever. We still went to skate parks together and compared notes on our religions and planned holidays together. We still got snacks and hung out at the library and giggled over Zoey’s drawings. We still found comfy napping spots and talked about life.

Things slowly returned to normal, just now… there was a gap.

Last year there was also Tyson, who showed us cool spots he found and who we taught new things to. Tyson, who people were usually wary of but was a sweetheart and always pointed out the pretty sights or offered us flowers or little toys he’d find or make.

Nikola and Zoey definitely felt his absence. Sometimes we talked about him, talked about what he did with us. I did, over time, tell them more about his time at camp and his death.

I eventually told them he made my watch, they thought it was beautiful.

I’d missed them, I was glad to spend time with them. It was safe with them, normal even. They were mortal but still worshipped the Gods (or well, Zoey worshipped the Greek Gods and Nikola the Norse Gods).

But it was comfortable, especially now that I could be honest about my demigod experiences.

Zoey found them all fascinating, she always a dozen new questions for every answer I gave. Nikola always just seemed a bit awed, a bit overwhelmed, a bit lost.

But neither held it against me or didn’t believe me. They both listened and believed me and supported me- they were curious or shocked but not… not jealous or suspicious.

I was able to introduce them properly to Annabeth via IM, she was staying at camp this year (because she didn’t want to see her dad, because she was in charge of the temple build, because Thalia was there, and she wasn’t leaving Thalia again-).

To absolutely no ones surprise, Zoey had a few dozen questions.

Thalia... was present.

OO OO OO OO

Euphemia was back with the new school year. She had a whole new set of lessons for me too.

I’d decided I didn’t want to do the studies on medical stuff anymore so naturally this year she declared we’d be focusing less on history and more on biology and science in the ocean.

Which meant I got to learn all about the biology of different mer and sea creatures. And learn to identify safe plants and dangerous plants. And learn how to make basic poultices, tools, and supplies for any given emergency. And of course learn how metalworking, cooking, and other various crafts worked underwater so I wouldn’t confuse it with the land stuff.

More of our lessons would be in the ocean this year, rather than on land. A lot of what I needed to learn needed experience apparently. But for now she was going to be focusing on what could be learned while on land (aka: biology ugh).

This was absolutely unfair.

OO OO OO OO

I did spend some time in the ocean, mostly with Triton and Herophile and Kymopoleia but a fair bit with Fetu as well. Rhodos was busy with work more often than not, and Benthesikyme usually preferred deeper water. Both did still spend time with me, telling me stories and sometimes just sitting with me while I studied. But Triton, Herophile, and Kymopoleia were the ones I had fun with.

Triton was familiar of course, he mostly taught me and brought me places and let me shadow him sometimes when he worked. I could talk to him about anything and he always had advice to offer or a shoulder to lean on. He helped me take care of Lyta and Appa

Herophile didn’t have any really “official” duties anymore, not since people stopped really visiting her as an Oracle. That meant she was almost always free to just hang out with me. She loved playing games and doing puzzles. I was still trying to figure out the puzzle toy with a prize she got me for my birthday.

Kymopoleia enjoyed taking me out (much to Triton’s frustration). She usually brought Herophile with, but sometimes it was just the two of us. She brought me to plays, to markets, to spas, to parties. It was fun, it was always interesting. I got to meet the people, got to experience things with them, got to see the culture first hand.

One time, Okeanos and Tethys were visiting, discussing some details about the war with Metani from what I understood. They didn’t like to talk about it too much in front of me, said I was a child and shouldn’t have to worry about it anymore than I was forced to.

But while they were there I asked them why they sent the sea serpents.

“We spent a long time debating,” Okeanos-ari said slowly. “We made our choice of which side of the war we would stand with after long discussion, but interfering is… something we’ve not done before.”

I nodded, that was a well-known fact. The fact that Okeanos had actually picked and supported a side was major. It was unprecedented.

“We waited until the camp made their decision,” Tethys-ran said. “When you were given the choice to surrender. We wanted to know your decision before we acted. But once you decided… well, that was that.”

“We weren’t going to let you- any of you that is- die,” Okeanos-ari continued. “That Luke had already tried to kill you you once, I wasn’t going to risk it happening again. But had you surrendered… we would’ve allowed it to happen.”

I considered His words. They made sense, if we had surrendered then the war would’ve been practically over in one move.

It was rather scary to think of how one decision could decide our Fate.

OO OO OO OO

Zoey, Nikola, and I wanted to spend time with my guards again. They were guards but… they were still our friends.

So, we had a sleepover, at Nikola’s house. He had the comfiest bedroom.

It was a bit awkward at the start, the guards were a bit hesitant with me knowing about them and then Zoey and Nikola revealing they knew too, but we slowly grew comfortable.

We played card games and turned on TV (Legend of Korra wasn’t as good as the original ATLA, but it was still fun to watch, and had cool waterbending moves). We talked about school and teachers and tests and our plans for the year coming up.

We talked about family too.

Nikola was annoyed with one of his cousins who was being a pain and might end up staying with them for a bit.

Zoey was arguing with her parents over reading more “educational” books and less fantasy.

Klara had a younger sister who really looked up to her but was upset that Klara was away. Klara had gotten into some fights with her before coming on land.

Acantha was an only child and her parents were insanely proud of her, but she felt a bit stressed trying to live up to their expectations.

Kai was the youngest of four and was trying to outdo his siblings’ records, all of them were pretty studious.

I didn’t have much to complain about, my step-dad was dead, and my immediate Godly family was pretty good overall. Plus, I wasn’t sure I was supposed to talk about any complaints I had with my Godly family with the guards. They were subjects of my Metua, if I complained it could reflect badly on Him.

So, I didn’t complain about family at all, but I did complain a bit about how I missed Annabeth. She was spending a lot of time with Thalia and we’d barely IMed since I left camp. We were already a few weeks into the school year, last year we IMed at least twice a week.

I was a bit jealous of Thalia.

But the sleepover itself was fun, we all supported each other and agreed that all complaints were so entirely valid.

Kai even had fun gossip from school!

OO OO OO OO

I didn’t really spend much time with Khrysaôr on our own, Triton didn’t like Khrysaôr taking me off and Kymopoleia usually came along if Khrysaôr was doing anything. But this time Khrysaôr picked me up from school with a grin on his face, neither of them anywhere nearby.

My fingers ran over my choker, the scaled one that blocked my senses from being overly sensitive, as Khrysaôr led the way to the river.

“This is gonna be fun,” he assured me. “You got a pirate ship, right?”

I perked up, “Yeah, or well, I had one. I don’t know where it is now, we had to ditch it.”

Khrysaôr waved his hand, “I had my people pick it up, don’t worry. I’m gonna teach you how to sail it. Properly.”

I lit up, “Really!?”

He grinned, that sharp vicious one that usually meant that Triton was going to appear out of nowhere to shriek at Khrysaôr again.

“Yep! You definitely need to learn to sail. You’re a child of Poseidon, sailing is a necessity. Mind you a ship that size usually needs more people, and I’ll teach you with a crew first, so you know what needs to be done. But you’ll be able to control the ship itself with a bit of practice.”

Oh, that was going to be so much fun.

OO OO OO OO

It had been so much fun, though Triton did appear after a few hours to shriek at Khrysaôr for kidnapping me. I didn’t mind, Khrysaôr made sure I was okay. We got to sail around for hours in the ocean!

He said he’d teach me how to fight aboard a ship another time, since you had to adjust to the rocking of the ship and stuff.

“One day I’ll teach you how to really move on a ship, no matter the state of the ocean. It’s so much fun.”

Triton brought me home shortly after, Khrysaôr needling him as we left.

OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

I sighed as I sat next to Psamathe. She’d decided to strike up a friendship with me recently, though I suspected it wasn’t of her own desire.

Metu thought he was so clever.

“I thought you were supposed to remove the guards from duty,” Psamathe said as we relaxed.  

I schooled my expression into something mildly curious, “Oh, I did. They no longer have to guard Persi, no official quest and all.”

“Yet they’re still there.”

I hummed, “Oh, I think they just liked the land. Must’ve decided to keep hanging out there.”

“You’re not subtle,” she warned. “You might feel clever, playing at technicalities, but everyone knows they’re technicalities. If you cross the Fates-“

“It’s fine,” I assured her, not saying that I would cross the Fates for my brother. “They’re just spending time together, being friends.”

She sighed, “Triton, I know you care. But you know that the ban is not on us being around our children for no reason.”

I studied the stars, I didn’t actually know overly much about it. I knew the basics, but I didn’t know much of why they were in place. I’d never cared, or thought it mattered. Persi wasn’t my child, he was my brother. So, what did it matter?

“You do know why, don’t you?”

I shrugged, “So we don’t break Fate and possibly bring ruin to the world?”

She was silent for a long moment.

“Keeping us from being willing to break Fate because of our attachment is one reason,” she said softly. “But the primary reason… you know that this law as it is now is fairly recent over all, yes?”

I nodded, it was maybe two thousand years old, if that.

“Helios and Selene were said to have had demigod children, roughly the same age. They were very close, just as Selene and Helios are. They died, together. During- I cannot recall the war but one of the ones the mortals held in Europe. Selene and Helios didn’t… they didn’t take it well.”

I listened carefully, trying to imagine Persi dying.

I didn’t think I’d take that well either.

“They did their duties still for a time, but there was a noticeable lack of effort. The sun was dimmer, the moon was slow to rise and slow to fall. It was… it was a rough time. That was when Artemis and Apollon stepped up, as they had sometimes before, to help. Helios and Selene… they simply faded away, fell asleep. Eos likely knows where they are but- but they’re sleeping, somewhere, sleeping away the grief.”

She turned to face me then, gaze intense.

“We love our children, we do. But we cannot-“ she swallowed hard. “We cannot allow ourselves to love them too much, to grow too attached. When we lose them… when we lose them the whole world feels our grief. The world cannot take that.”

I swallowed, staring at the moon above.

“The world needs us,” she said softly. “It’s why we rarely stay with mortals for too terribly long. It’s why when we feel grief we have our immortal family to hold us and remind us of what we still have.”

“He’s-“ I took a deep breath “-I love him. He’s my little brother, how can I not adore him? If he died-“

I didn’t want to think about that. I rather imagined I would not handle it well at all.

“This is why,” she said softly. “You’re too close, you love too deeply. We all felt your grief when Pallas died, the sea still hasn’t recovered, and it’s been thousands of years.”

My jaw clenched at that, grief aching in my chest at the reminder.

“You can hardly expect me to stop caring now,” I whispered. “He’s my brother.”

“I know,” Psamathe murmured. “You love him dearly. But at the very least you can pull back a little, protect yourself and the ocean from your grief. Because you will grieve in the end. He is mortal.”

He didn’t have to stay mortal though.

I didn’t think I could handle grieving for Persi.

Chapter Text

We had another sleepover, I’d decided sleepovers were really fun.

This time we played never have I ever, which I’d never played before. Though we played it with soda instead of alcohol. It was kinda hard to come up with stuff sometimes.

Other things the others totally cheated on.

“Never have I ever been on a quest,” Zoey chirped.

Everyone but Zoey and Nikola drank, shooting her dirty looks.

“Never have I ever… eaten raw fish,” Nikola drawled.

Everyone drank that time, including Zoey which made Nikola blink at her.

“What, you’ve heard of sushi surely?”

“Oh yeah!”

“Never have I ever been the child of a God,” Klara threw in.

“Oh, come on,” I whined as I was the only one to drink, “that one has got to be cheating.”

“Never have I ever been the center of a fight between two deities on who was going to be my parent,” Kai said proudly.

I glared and drank.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Zoey said. “What.”

Nikola got that look of ‘what the fuck’ again.

“Not important,” I said quickly. “Never have I ever been sent on a quest by Triton to protect his little brother.”

The three scowled and drank.

“Never have I ever… had a fish tail.”

“All of us refused to drink.

“Oh, come on, you’re merpeople! You have fish tails!”

“I’m so insulted,” Kai sniffed.

“They’re not fish tails! They’re entirely different!”

Zoey looked doubtful.

Kai launched into a biology lecture.

Zoey nodded solemnly at the end of it and said, “Fish tails.”

“Never have I ever pulled an all nighter.”

Everyone but Nikola drank, much to his smug delight.

“Never have I ever… started an official courtship,” Klara said smugly, eyeing my wrist where Fetu’s bracelet sat.

I flushed and drank.

“Wait!” Zoey shrieked. “What!?”

“La… a friend of mine asked me out-“ I paused, uncertain as to what I was supposed to call Fetu. “I guess boyfriend? Um… yeah. So we’re… together.”

Zoey shrieked and hugged me, “Oh my stars, congrats!”

“Good for you,” Nikola said, a fond little smile curling his lips.

I ducked my head, twisting my charm bracelet. I’d never had a boyfriend before. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it all.

“What’s he like?” Zoey demanded.

“He’s- he’s got a pretty tail,” I offered. “And he’s really good at Siren’s Song. His uh- his parents are both pretty powerful too. He’s a twin, and has really bright yellow-goldish hair, it’s pretty.”

“Oooh,” Zoey cooed. “That’s so cool! What’s Siren’s Song?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, relaxing at her familiar questions. I explained Siren’s Song, then answered the follow up questions on more sea magics, then nudged her back to the game, Kai’s turn was up.

“Never have I ever pointed a spear at a teacher because they announced a pop quiz,” Kai said, eyeing Klara.

“That was one time!” Klara whined as she drank.

And thus, the game continued.

OO OO OO OO

Fetu invited me on a date with him for the first official one and I had no idea what to do.

Of course, I knew the basic rules of the courtship, and I knew he was inviting someone to come with so I invited Herophile to join me. Then I got worried because what if he didn’t want me to have a Goddess with? Was this okay? Was that too much? Was I supposed to invite another mer? But we had the same friends and I wasn’t sure if it was proper to invite one.

I had no idea what to do about it.

“Okay, here, let me do your hair,” Kymopoleia said, making me sit. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Fetu is gonna love it and Herophile is gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun. You’ve got a cute boyfriend, it’s gonna be great.”

I was still so so nervous. I didn’t know if I was supposed to act different if we were dating, or maybe was supposed to bring something? You brought flowers on land, was there an equivalent in the sea?

“Stop freaking out,” Kymopoleia chided. “This is gonna be fine, you were friends first. Just be yourself.”

Myself was freaking out. Dating made no sense.

“This is fine,” I said, letting Kymopoleia swish around me, adjusting my hair and arm bands.

“Okay! All set for your date! Herophile, you ready?”

“I am! Are you—five letters, prepared-“

“Ready?”

“Yeah!”

Herophile gleefully tugged my hand, guiding me through the hallway and towards the exit. I was doomed.

OO OO OO OO

Okay so the date actually went well. Once I got over my nerves it was fun, I enjoyed spending time with Fetu and Herophile and got to meet one of Fetu’s friends (Haru).

The play was very cool, the special effects emphasized with magic as they told the story of how Susanoo got his wife. The battle scenes were amazingly choreographed, and Fetu whispered extra information to me about the tale and told me what was changed to fit in the ocean better.

It was nice, and Fetu got me a comb like the one in the play that Susanoo turned his future wife into.

OO OO OO OO

Classes continued to go well, though it was definitely different without Tyson. Matt was still around, still a jerk, but he was also still scared of the mer guards (which… made sense in hindsight). So, he mostly left us alone.

Portuguese class was still a struggle for me, but Fetu was always happy to help me with my homework so I was getting better. Slowly but steadily.

“Did you do yesterday’s homework?” Zoey asked, flopping into the seat next to me.

Nikola groaned, not lifting his head from the table.

“Yeah,” I said, politely ignoring his suffering. “The translation was hard but Fetu helped me—”

“Ooh,” Zoey said, grin curling over her lips. “How is Fetu?”

I flushed, “He’s good, mostly focusing on his studies at the moment. Both of his parents are- are being called upon to help prepare for the war.”

I lowered my voice for the last bit, not wanting to draw attention to it.

She nodded, “I hope they stay safe.”

“They’re both strong, I’m sure they’ll be okay.”

“Still, it must be scary.”

I couldn’t disagree with that. The sea was not officially at war yet, but tensions were high with people choosing sides on levels never before seen. The fact that Okeanos-ari picked a side in this war had shaken a lot of mer. If the Neutral God had picked a side, what did it mean for shelter and safety?

No one was really sure how the cards would fall, even without taking into consideration other pantheons getting involved. The Greek pantheon had enough sea deities to do damage on its own.

“It’ll be okay,” I assured, as best I could. “Everyone is getting prepared.”

“Hmm, yeah…” she dug out her homework with a frown. “Well, do you think we could meet Fetu sometime?”

I considered it for a moment, “Maybe? I’ll have to ask. Maybe over winter break we could all go to the beach? It’s easier to meet them there.”

Nikola’s head rose, “Yes.”

Zoey beamed, “Perfect! We’ll do that then.”

“Do what?” Kai asked as he slid into their seat.

“Just making vacation plans,” Nikola yawned.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Kai wondered.

“Ugh.”

Zoey and I shared grins as the teacher drew everyone’s attention.

OO OO OO OO

Drew and Lacy had dragged me off to the mall for a “late birthday present”. We mostly wandered around and looked in stores with cool stuff.

We didn’t actually buy all that much, though Drew didn’t even let me pull out my wallet (mom had given me the Lotus card to use while out with my friends). They bought whatever food we got, and then insisted on buying me some books and a few Avatar posters as birthday presents.

I wasn’t sure why the Aphrodite cabin was so big on not letting me spend money, but they did it to each other and everyone else too from what I could tell so I didn’t mind too much.

And we tried on outfits and judged each other’s looks very dramatically so it was fun.

OO OO OO OO

Euphemia had charts spread out around my room, letting me study the dozens of different merpeople on them. All of them were different in some way.

“The different pantheons all have different merpeople. You’ve studied up some on the most common type of merperson in the local waters, though there is a fair bit of diversity. What do you notice is different from say, this one?”

She pointed to a chart with a merperson that had spines down their back.

“Most mers in these waters don’t have spines on their backs?”

“Very good. And what about this one?”

She pointed to one that had a tail that seemed more like a shark than a fish.

“The tail is more shark-like? But I’ve seen several like that!”

“The shark-like tail has become more common in recent years, but it is still not nearly as common as the traditional fish tail. Do you also see how it affects the other parts of the body?”

I nodded, studying it. The shark tail had the gills more on the tail itself, rather than at the ribs and neck like most mer (even ones without the fish tail) had.

“It’s little details like that that healers must know when healing various mer.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna be a healer,” I said sheepishly. “I’m not very good at biology.”

She inclined her head in understanding, “be that as it may, you should still come to understand the basic differences between different merpeople. Previously we have focused on rulership, right now we are focusing on biology, and later we shall focus on culture and language.”

I nodded, settling in comfortably as she continued her lecture.

“Now, what will likely be most relevant to you is the difference between Greek and Roman merpeople.”

“Greek vs Roman? I didn’t think either spoke much of merpeople.”

“They don’t, but the Greeks and the Romans view the sea very differently, and the merpeople of the two different pantheons are influenced by it. You will find that appearance wise there is not much of a difference. But there is a difference in behavior.”

I tugged my notebook closer, confused.

“Is that biological?”

“It’s in their nature, which for beings of the wild is effectively the same as it being biological. A rabbit acts as a rabbit because it is born one, and because it is raised one. It can act different if it is raised different, but it will still have the instincts of a rabbit. A mer is a mer because it is born one and because it is raised one. But a Greek mer is different from a Roman mer.”

“What’s different between them?”

“For the Greeks, the ocean is both protection and threat. The ocean is kind and cruel, and the mer born of the Greek pantheon reflect that. Poseidon-ore is kind and cruel alike, capable of calming the waves or whipping them into fierce storms.”

“The Romans don’t like the ocean,” I remembered.

“They did eventually learn to sail,” she agreed. “But it cost them many lives, and sailing has never been their strong suit. So yes, they don’t like the ocean. The ocean is dangerous, wild and uncontrolled. And the mer born of the Roman pantheon are more wild, more inclined to be dangerous, than the mer of the Greek pantheon.”

I nodded, scribbling down notes carefully.

It was interesting, that ones instincts and nature were considered biology. I didn’t know if human biology worked that way, though I had heard about nature vs nurture? Maybe there was something like that?

“Now then, let us discuss the Egyptian mer.”

OO OO OO OO

Herophile hummed happily as she let Hippolyta curl her tentacles over her hands. I smiled, laying on my bed with my math homework in front of me.

Herophile liked to come visit, since she wasn’t really active in any war preparation. So I got to see her the most of my Godly siblings at the moment. I missed Triton a bit, but he’d assured me that he would be bringing me to Riaptel Av Iyaniv with Elei.

“Have you ever been to the Riaptel Av Iyaniv?” I asked her curiously.

She nodded, “Yeah! It’s a lot of- three letters-“

“Fun?”

“Mhm! It’s a lot of fun, with a bunch of important mer… means joining in?”

“Helping?”

She shook her head.

“Participating?”

“Yes! Lots of important mer come and participate! From- lots of places.”

That sounded really cool.

“I know there’s Hippocampi races, and some exhibition matches.”

“And game tournaments! And- a type of contest- with a best-“

“Competitions?”

“Yes! With plants, and magic, and all kinds of things!”

I grinned, that sounded fun. I was super excited to see it all.

“It’s a shame that I can’t bring any of my land friends,” I said, thinking of Annabeth. She’d love it, she always loved learning more about the ocean.

“Who would you- six letters, encourage to-“

“Invite?”

“Yes, who would you invite?”

“Hmm, Annabeth would be my first pick. She’s been really busy with Thalia lately, so we haven’t spent as much time together. But maybe Leilani, or Drew, if Annabeth was busy.”

Drew was probably my best friend at camp, other than Annabeth and Leilani.

“That would be nice, maybe another time?”

I nodded, maybe another time. It would be nice to spend time with Elei and Triton anyways.

OO OO OO OO

I flopped into a chair with book on curse breaking in my hands (specifically focusing on how to undo curses on oneself, the weave style, without exhausting oneself). Zoey was drawing on her sketchpad. Nikola was playing a handheld game, muttering insults to whatever opponent he was facing in it.

It was nice, just spending time with each other. I didn’t get to do it nearly as often as I liked to. It was peaceful, comfortable. Just us doing our own things, together.

“Stupid obnoxious little- die already!”

I bit back a laugh as Nikola shook his game, glaring at his enemy. Zoey didn’t bother to hold it back, giggling as she pulled out her colored pencils.

“Oh, shut it, Zoey.”

OO OO OO OO

Drew was always happy to spend time with me, even with Annabeth busy I still had friends. Drew was also always happy to drag Lacy, and sometimes Rachel, along with her.

Rachel and her still bickered constantly, but Lacy always seemed to find them “cute” so I figured it wasn’t malicious or anything.

An interesting fact, to me at least, was that Rachel definitely saw something when she looked at Acantha, who’d joined me today.

She kept looking over at Acantha with narrow eyes, staring at her legs in particular.

“See something?” Drew asked her after the tenth time.

Rachel quickly shook her head, “Nope, nothing at all. Sorry, just tired.”

Acantha quirked an eyebrow at me but I just shrugged.

Weird.

OO OO OO OO

Kymopoleia’s expression as I figured out how to make a storm about the size of my head was one of pure delight.

The storm was still shaky, rumbling lightly with clouds whisping away before I managed to straighten it up again, but it was a storm.

“This is great! Now we just need to get you to learn how to make one big enough to cover all of you in rain and then we can move onto making it have thunder and lightning!”

That sounded like it would be hard, but Kymopoleia looked excited and well- she had taught me to do this much. I was sure that with a bit of practice I could learn how to mix in lightning and thunder… after the storm was actually capable of staying in place.

OO OO OO OO

Khrysaôr’s POV

“It’s a shame Perseus can’t bring any land friends,” Herophile chirped as I directed the sailors of my ship to finish cleaning up the remnants of our last battle.

“What?” I asked, tilting my head towards my sister.

“To the Riaptel Av Iyaniv,” she said. “He doesn’t get to- to- four letters, display-“

“Show?”

“Yes! He doesn’t get to show them the sea very much, but they show him the land.”

I hummed, I didn’t particularly care too much. He lived in both worlds, like me, but tended to prefer the undersea, unlike me. I quite liked my balance of ships.

“I know he misses that one girl, Annabeth? I don’t remember her… but he misses her. Shame she can’t come.”

I paused, my fingers stilling on the astrolabe.

“Annabeth?”

“Yeah, his- five letters-“

“Friend,” I said, a slow smile curling over my lips. “And you’re right, that really is a shame. Say, are you planning to go this year?”

“Hmm, oh, no? Are you?”

“Well I wasn’t, but wouldn’t it be nice to give Perseus a little surprise? I could bring his friend down and surprise him there!”

She lit up, “Oh! That would be so fun! You can have my ticket for it!”

I graciously thanked her, allowing her to chatter on about how nice that was and how much Perseus would appreciate it while doing my best to hide my glee.

Triton was going to be furious.

Chapter Text

I was wiggling excitedly as Triton smoothed a hand over my hair, tucking a loose strand into the complex bun it had been put in.

I was dressed nicer than I was used to, nearly as nice as I had been for my coronation thingie. My arm bands were in place, the bracelet from Fetu on my wrist, with a pair of platinum hoops in my ears.

I swished my tails, waiting impatiently for Triton to decide I was all set to go to the Riaptel Av Iyaniv. Triton had been dithering, double and triple checking that I had my bracelet on, my knife at my side, my bladed hair comb tucked into my fancy bun.

I had two pouches hooked on me, one with several medical potions and a container of ambrosia and nectar and the other with snacks. I wasn’t sure exactly what had him so tense, no one seemed to want to discuss it, but a lot seemed surprised that Triton was joining me.

“Can we go now?” I asked as he paused, looking me over.

“Are you sure you have everything?” Triton asked, tails twitching and hands fluttering over my arm bands.

“Yes, Triton,” I said.

“Your weapons-“

“Trident on my bracelet, knife at my side, comb in my hair,” I assured him.

“And medicine-“

“And food alongside it.”

Triton’s expression was pinched but he let out a slow breath.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

I beamed, flicking my tails swiftly as I led the way to where our Hippocampi were waiting for us.

This was so exciting!

OO OO OO OO

Khrysaôr met us at the event with a surprise.

“Annabeth!” I darted forward and hugged her.

“Hey!” she hugged back, a grin on her face. “Surprise!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I thought you might enjoy showing off a bit of our culture to your friend,” chirped Khrysaôr, who was looking at Triton rather than Annabeth or I. “Since this is such a big event down here.”

Triton’s eye twitched, his tails curling tight. “How… nice.”

Khrysaôr smiled that smile he always did when he was about to drive Triton absolutely mad.

“Wasn’t it the nicest of me? I mean, I considered inviting some of his other friends. Those mortal ones of his might’ve fainted if I’d invited them though, and I thought I should go with a demigod this time. And Annabeth is his best demigod friend.”

“Indeed,” Triton gritted out. “How considerate.”

“That’s me,” Khrysaôr all but cooed.

“They don’t like each other much, do They,” Annabeth whispered to me.

“Nah, they’re always like this,” I assured her. “They seem to like messing with each other. But how are you breathing underwater?”

She held up her wrist, a gold bangle on it.

“Lord Khrysaôr- wait sorry that’s not His title in the sea right?”

“Khrysaôr-aia,” I explained. “Prince Khrysaôr.”

“Right, so Khrysaôr-aia lent me this bracelet. He said it would allow me to breathe underwater and protect me from the water pressure and understand Halmaheran and stuff.”

“Oooh,” I studied the bracelet, recognizing the designs on the bracelet as ivuisav but not sure exactly what they meant or did, other than the obvious. “That’s really cool!”

“Yeah! I’m really curious about how it works, like is it just a divine item-“

“It’s the ivuisav on it,” I said, catching her wrist and pointing to the lines on the bracelet. “These designs, they’re ivuisav- er, the oldest written language in the sea. They’re imbued with the power of the sea; the English equivalent is generally considered runes.”

She brought the bracelet close to her face, squinting at the lines.

“Wow, I had no idea. Can anyone learn them?”

I shrugged, that wasn’t something I’d really thought about before.

“Maybe? I’d have to ask.”

“Now then-“ Khrysaôr cheerfully interrupted, Triton and him apparently done with their chat “-shall we go in?”

Triton took another moment to double check I had my weapons, looking rather like he wanted to put armor on me too, before nodding.

“Yes, let’s go.”

OO OO OO OO

It was so fun.

The first thing we did was go to the Hippocampi racing. The Hippocampi were much older than my Appa. They were sleek things, with shining rainbow scales.

Some of them were more silvery, some darker shades, some even pastel. But all were shining brilliantly in the light of the manisi potaio that lit up the path.

It was a complex path, floating high above us and spiraling down.

Hippocampi racing came in many forms, there were the long-distance races that spread far into the ocean. We weren’t watching that one, since we wouldn’t be able to see most of it. Instead we were at one of the agility races, where the Hippocampi had to spiral down and around and through dozens of obstacles.

It was beautiful, incredible to watch as the rainbow streaks whipped around twisting currents and drifting nets, elegant rock spirals reflecting rainbows as the hippocampi whipped past.

“They’re so pretty,” Annabeth whispered, eyes wide and shining as the winner was announced and the mer perched on its back waved to the crowd.

“Yeah! I’ve never seen this kind of race before,” I chirped.

“The hippocampi train for years to be able to make those kinds of turns at those speeds, a lot of the fastest and most skilled hippocampi and hippocampi riders are amongst my messengers,” Triton explained, floating behind me.

“Wow,” Annabeth murmured. “Does that mean the hippocampi here are your messengers?”

“Many of them,” Triton confirmed, lips pursed as he eyed her.

“You’ll find a lot of important people are here today,” Khrysaôr added. “It’s one of the biggest events in the sea. niteariv, fehuav, feparuv, imoteorav, and more from all over the ocean come to participate. I have often joined in the battles before.”

I had no idea it was so huge. I mean, I knew it was a big event but to know so many came to it. It was a lot.

“Is the Hippocampi we road on the quest, what was her name? That fast?”

“Belle!” I chirped.

“She is,” Triton confirmed immediately. “Belle is my personal hippocampi, for when I have messages to deliver personally. She is the fastest and most agile hippocampi in the ocean.”

Annabeth’s eyes were wide at that, “Oh- I had no idea- she was very beautiful. And a huge help on our quest.”

He nodded, “Yes, she informed me.”

I flushed, ducking my head. Triton had not been happy about that quest. But at least we had adult supervision (sorta).

“Come on,” Triton said as the races ended. “We’re meeting your friend Elei and her parents at the café.”

OO OO OO OO

Elei’s family consisted of Elei, her papua Marula, her metu Ringo, her mevu Katriana and her mevua Ialo. Her mevua was also a top niteari in my Metuano army.

We joined them at the café, enjoying tea in the taipanuv and various sweet treats.

Introductions went well, Annabeth introduced with minimal tension… except Khrysaôr gleefully explaining how he just had to bring her over, because really, she was my friend and he just really wanted me to have more friends down here.

I offered Annabeth one of the treats, smile strained slightly with the tension Elei’s parents held.

Annabeth found them all fascinating and was questioning me intensely on how we cooked undersea. I didn’t actually know too much about that, I’d never cooked and most of the food I ate wasn’t cooked. It probably involved magic or those undersea vents.

Elei was side eyeing Annabeth but had fun chatting with me about the hippocampi race and told me about the chariot race she watched. I didn’t know they could do chariots undersea! But that made sense, Triton tended to prefer riding our hippocampi, but a lot of artwork showed my Metua in a chariot.

Annabeth likewise had loads of questions, so I got to learn a whole bunch about how chariot racing worked in the ocean. Apparently, they didn’t use wheels (which made sense) but had fin like additions and what was kinda like a boat’s rudder. Or maybe a fish’s back fin was a better description.

Elei knew a lot about it, since chariots were often used by the niteari when they were directing battles.

I was super excited to see Elei’s mevua in the gladiator matches. Niteari were basically the highest rank in the sea military, earning it required a lot of skill in battle, strategy, and politics. Her mevua was undoubtedly a fierce fighter. Elei was incredible herself, so I knew it would be amazing to see.

But it wasn’t for a few hours still, so we joined Elei’s family in exploring the vendor stands that filled the area’s in-between the stadiums.

Annabeth found everything fascinating, which made me wonder if that was how I was when I first started coming underwater.

Probably.

But it was really cool here. There were all kinds of stands and shops, selling food and jewelry and toys and tools and even the odd bit of clothing. I barely knew where to look myself, so I was happy enough to follow along with the others.

Annabeth didn’t actually have any money of her own, at least none that would be accepted at the markets. She didn’t think to bring any drachmae with her, but Khrysaôr (in the spirit of annoying Triton based on his expression) was delighted to supply her with plenty. That meant that she wasn’t going to be left out of the buying that was definitely going to happen.

Triton muttered something I was pretty sure was an insult in Thalozan.

Anyways, I ended up following Annabeth around, letting her tug me by the hand to anything she found particularly interesting. It also let me chat a lot with Elei, catching up on how she’d been and drawing Annabeth into conversations on the various stands we passed. Annabeth was always delighted to learn more, and she was pretty good at finding interesting stands (though that may have been because all the stands were interesting).

One of the really cool stands she found was selling books from all over the sea, both preserved land books and ones crafted in the ocean. The difference was pretty obvious, just from the texture of the book covers and pages. The land ones were kept in special cases to protect them from the water (which had to be purchased separately).

Annabeth’s fingers were twitching over them, but she didn’t exactly speak enough Halmaheran to read any of the books.

While the first book stand didn’t have any in languages she did know, one of the other ones had a larger variety of languages.

And she apparently spoke Spanish pretty well and there were several undersea crafted books in Spanish. Annabeth spent over half her Khrysaôr-supplied-money purchasing two of them on the history of the undersea and its culture and one land book on naval strategy.

“This is so exciting!” she whispered, clutching the books close (she would have to get the land book out of the water or into a protective casing within two pyev or the magic protecting them would wear out, it would restore in four pyev time).

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” I said curiously as she shoved them into her backpack.

“Yeah! I learned at camp, I can speak a few languages decently, though I struggle with languages a lot. But we have a lot of campers that speak Spanish, it’s the most common language besides English and Greek in camp.”

That made sense, it was the most common language in America besides English I was pretty sure.

“So, I decided to learn it, so I could talk to some of the campers that weren’t very good at English yet. Languages are hard though, I mispronounce things all the time… but I’m pretty could at reading and writing it!”

I felt that so so much, “I have the same problem with Portuguese. It’s so difficult to pronounce things when you’re used to one way of pronouncing things.”

“Exactly!”

And then her attention was caught by something shiny in a stand and we headed off to it.

A jewelry stand resulted in Elei buying a few hair pieces and Annabeth asking two dozen questions about them. Elei slowly warmed up to Annabeth while explaining the different purposes of them and why Elei was picking the ones she was.

Naturally Elei was picking them for their ease of application when entering battle, and one because it would be a good emergency weapon.

Annabeth ended up buying two coral hair ties (they were intricately braided and expanded and contracted in a really cool way) and I ended up buying one of them too. They were more common in Eastern waters, so not many shops in Atlantis sold them.

I also pointed out the hair pins that Elei got would be good for Annabeth too, because her hair was longer and curlier than mine, so it would probably hold the hair pins well even on land. She ended up buying one.

At a different stand, mostly selling various beads, Annabeth ended up buying about a bunch. She muttered something about wanting to try to include them in her weaving, but I had no idea how that would work.

They were really pretty, some gems some stones some coral. The two prettiest were probably the matching opal beads she got, a dark background with rainbow blend of colors on them.

She also bought a few meant to be put in one’s hair, the mer running the stand had several sparkly ones shining in her hair. Annabeth said that one of her siblings would love them.

I didn’t buy as much as Annabeth—it wasn’t my first time in the ocean after all—but I did get a necklace for my mom (or well, Triton bought it for me because he had all the money) and some gifts for various friends.

One of the stands was selling delicate sculptures that we paused to admire for a while and Triton ended up buying two (one shaped like a mer I didn’t know but looked a lot like Annabeth but with tails that looked like mine and the other an intricate treasure chest with a black pearl shining in the center).

I was pretty sure the mer was important, and dead based on the words of mourning offered to Triton. But I’d never seen her before. Triton definitely knew her though, he looked sad.

I spent a few minutes swimming close to him, unsure what to do to offer support in such a public setting but wanting him to know I was there for him.

We stopped by several more stands along the way. We got a few snacks, I got Triton a sparkly hair pin that he seemed to like—with Khrysaôr’s money this time, which sparked another argument between them—and Annabeth bought a few pairs of earrings before tucking the little bit of money left away (Khrysaôr really was just tossing money at her, Triton’s eye had gained a twitch).

I really did need to get money of my own, I felt bad letting them buy me everything. Kymopoleia always dragged me everywhere and seemed to love spending her money on things. She was big on supporting the local businesses, so I at least felt okay with it, since she wanted to spend money on them, so they’d have more money. And Herophile was always so curious about things so it was okay. But Triton just bought things I liked and Khrysaôr was picky with his money.

I felt bad having them pay but I wasn’t sure how to get undersea money of my own that didn’t come from one of them.

I’d have to think on that.

OO OO OO OO

That gladiator matches were starting soon so we left the vendors area and headed towards the arena that Ialo-nee would be battling in.

The stands floated in a large loop around the sparring area, which was close enough to the ground to utilize it in the match if they wanted but had enough space for them to battle in the true three-dimensional style of the undersea.

It was incredible to watch, far more skilled than the matches I watched on the training fields in Atlantis.

Many of the ones battling here were masters of their craft, so it was no surprise that they were more skilled. I usually only watched otiarte or piteara in Atlantis. But the temaia, vatiera, and niteari, were so far beyond them it wasn’t even funny.

Watching the way they dove under, flit above, blades and tridents and nets clashing and catching and the swirls of water from the occasional bit of tahuhu being thrown in was awe inspiring.

Khrysaôr and Elei kept explaining what they were doing and why, though their commentary could barely keep up with the fast-paced matches.

I was drawn in, awed by their movements. I had no chance of matching that at my current skill level. It was so far beyond me, or any of the campers really. Annabeth seemed just as awed, she’d never seen any battle like it.

Land battles just weren’t the same as battling in the ocean.

I jolted when Triton rose, hand pressing on my shoulder as he leaned close.

“I have to go check on something, stay here, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, be safe,” I offered him a bright smile, he was still so tense, and I didn’t really know how to help.

He smiled back before turning to Khrysaôr.

“Keep them safe,” he said.

“You act like I can’t babysit four kids,” Khrysaôr grumbled.

“I wouldn’t trust you to sharksit much less babysit,” Triton snipped.

“You’re soooo overprotective, you’ll be gone like ten minutes. What could happen?”

“I’m serious,” Triton hissed.

“Yeah, yeah, they’re safe with me, run off and do your job, Taliv Aipria.”

Triton shot a nasty glower at Khrysaôr for the snark and flit away.

“What was that,” Annabeth whispered. “The thing Khrysaor called Triton? The bracelet didn’t translate it.”

“It’s uh- a really fancy title for Prince basically,” I muttered back. “Like Divine High Prince basically? It doesn’t exactly translate to English, so I guess it doesn’t translate it? He was using it in a snarky way though.”

She nodded, “Makes sense. A lot of the titles of people don’t seem to. And a few of the words that I think are for things specific to the sea.”

OO OO OO OO

Elei’s mevua, Ialo-nee, had only just swam into the arena a bare ten minutes after Triton had left, when the water shifted.

My breath caught, even with the velaru around my neck I had been feeling things all day, there was just so much going on that it slipped through. But this- this was on an entirely different level.

This wasn’t feeling, this was- this was consuming.  

The water rumbled, twisting currents, sliding salt, cracking scales, course barbs- my head was spinning as I bent over. My fingers tangled with my charm bracelet, tangled with seaweed and kelp and pressed against a wall of iron, and I grit my teeth against the feelings. There was so much, so much layered and twisting and combining- rising and rising and growing stronger by the second-

“Percy!?” Annabeth called, hand landing on my arm.

I hissed, recoiling with burning skin, fire dancing through my veins and flickering in front of my eyes. I blinked back tears. What-

“Don’t touch him,” Khrysaôr said even as I was vaguely aware of Elei panicking next to me. “What do you sense, Perseus?”

“Too much,” I gasped. “So much-“

And then they didn’t need my explanation.

The sensations were stronger, so strong I felt they would consume me.

“Areo!” Khrysaôr hissed. “Perseus get up, now.”

I barely had to lift my head to realize what was happening.

Above us, in the open water above the stadium, an army of sea terrors was lowering. And not only sea terrors, but fehuav too.

My skin burned and ached and twisted but enemies were above us and Annabeth had no experience battling underwater and the crowd was full of mer who didn’t fight-

I needed a stronger velaru. I needed to be better at dealing with these feelings.

I needed my skin to be my skin and not the skin of countless other things, scales and fur and blades and iron and-

And then someone behind us tried to stab Khrysaôr and the water erupted into battle.

Khrysaôr’s blade flicked through the water and blocked a strike from one mer, before he kicked out viciously and knocked them back.

My fingers fumbled, tangled with kelp and seaweed that wasn’t there but was as I drew my trident. I hadn’t even finished before Khrysaôr struck down three more mer, his blade sliding through the chest of another even as my trident took form.

He whirled past me even as I blocked a strike from a mer, biting back a hiss of pain as quills seemed to dig into my skin. Khrysaôr’s blade slipped through their side before flicking out like a snake to cut down another mer.

Annabeth used her knife to block a mer’s strike but their tail slammed into her leg and she tumbled in the water.

My hand flit out, guiding the water to catch and steady her even as it was wound tight with sea salt and current threads. She wasn’t used to this kind of battle, we had to-

Elei’s blade snapped over her, taking down the mer attacking before they could follow up on their strike.

My trident flicked around, blocked a strike coming from above and I flicked a pulse of water out, knocking back several that tinged with iron and steel and ripples.

Power knocked back at me and I grit my teeth, tangling currents strong and demanding even as I weaved the water around me into a shield and pushed back. Currents battled against my control of water as me and the Imoteora in front of me battled each other.

I struggled to focus on the tahuhu battle I was facing, my attention drawn by the sensations I couldn’t ignore. I had to knock another enemy away from me even as Triton’s familiar calm and smooth waves washed over my skin, light turning something to shining gold dust, but my attention wavered.

A blade of water flit through the weakness in my barrier and into my side. I hissed, the barrier solidifying once more.

Blades clashed behind me and Khrysaôr spun past once more, stiffness and gold in my mouth mixing with the blood whirling around his form as his blade cut down enemy mer.

My gills ached from filtering the water. My body ached from filtering the sensations I faced.

I snarled and snapped my trident down, thrusting as much raw power into the act as I could to send the water crashing down onto the Imoteora. Their tails worked overtime as they whipped the currents into a shield, giving me a brief respite which I used to send a surge of ice blades after them.

The ice blades hit their mark, unexpected in such a fast paced battle.

I didn’t get a respite, however, as Annabeth crashed into me with a shout.

My hands caught her arms as my tails tangled with her legs.

My side blossomed with pain.

The water bled red.

Annabeth’s eyes widened.

Grey locked with mine.

And then Khrysaôr was on top of us as the water became still.

OO OO OO OO

Triton POV

I wasn’t very pleased to be called away from my brother, especially not at this event. It was like a blade in my chest to be here, like watching my daughter Pallas die all over again. I hadn’t been here since that- and to sit watching the duels-

I didn’t want to let Persi out of my sight, but the guard was right that this needed investigating.

The entrances between the arena seats had been closed off by a mage, that wasn’t supposed to happen. While the mer could easily swim above the arena seats, the entrances were to always be available if needed for some reason.

In addition, several guards were missing from their posts.

It was suspicious, and I wasn’t about to let anything pass me by when my little brother’s safety depending on me.

But I’d only gotten as far as analyzing the barriers in place when we learned why they were in place.

An attack.

Enemies were on us before we could blink, the water filled with battle as sea monsters filled the water above the arena.

It was a kill box.

My trident was in my hand in an instant and I struck down the few enemies foolish enough to come near me.

One shouted something, a warning for others near them, and one of the sea monsters lashed out at me.

Light burst from my trident as I blocked it and responded in kind, the monster dust in an instant.

My lips twisted into a snarl and I started towards where I’d left Persi. I couldn’t leave him alone, I couldn’t leave him undefended. I didn’t trust Khrysaôr to keep him safe, especially not in this mess.

The water was stained blue and green with the blood of mer, both ally and enemy alike. My gills worked overtime to filter the blood, bringing clean water into my body. If this battle continued too long the water would become dangerous to breathe in.

I stabbed one mer, struck down another sea monster, and whipped past two matai defending a tovhu desperately trying to heal a downed child.

The water was chaos incarnate, up and down holding no meaning in the aim to kill.

I struck down two more sea monsters, sending my power through the water to hit one of the deadlier ones even as I flicked over a foolish mer thinking to strike at me, sliding my trident through their chest before they could steady themselves.

I was near where Persi and his friends should be, I just needed to find-

The enemies scattered at the force of my blow and my gills froze.

Golden hair splayed out in the water, twin tails with curling fins, red red red red-

Golden hair stained red.

Pallas’ tails tangled with tan legs.

Athena’s dark hair.

Pallas going still, Athena cradling her form as if she had the right to t o u c h h e r-

Gold covering their forms.

The water was still. The crowd frozen. Even the blood  

Pallas

And I came undone.

The ocean swelled and swelled and tore and raged in the way only I could, a calm so still and deadly- the water frozen to the point that no gills could breathe, no water could be controlled- a calm before the storm, the calm in the center of the storm, the calm that came with death and death and death. There was nothing, nothing at all. A storm of calm and rage and no no no no no nononono-

I couldn’t tell who was screaming, if anyone was, if I was. The water crumbled with gold and gold and blue and green and gold dust filling my lungs-

She was dead dead dead dead-

I couldn’t- I wouldn’t-

My form twisted and unraveled, light and dark and waves and tides and calm waters so calm that nothing lived within.

The ocean as a whole stilled with me, ever inch caught in the moment of her death, she was dead, dead dead dead dead-

Metu’s waters rippled, Metani rose, enemies and allies through all the waters turning towards my frozen form, all that I was, frozen waters so still-

Death filled the ocean.

And Persi’s voice reached me.

Chapter Text

Unknown POV

The sea rumbled to life in a surge. Waves crested and crashed and sprayed free. Tides rose and fell. A ripple echoed through the water, the last of the sun sinking below the encircling river and returning to the Sun Palace.

The sun was set, the heavens lit only by stars. Even the moon was unseen, the Eye of Selene resting on this night of broken trust and shattered peace.

It was a night to be wary, a night to be afraid, a night that would be eternally remembered. Retemav Piruva'ku, Vako Povinir, Ert Pohur Waoit Tukaler.

Never before had a place of neutrality been so thoroughly demolished. Never before had the sea suffered losses on such scale.

Never before had the sea’s Aipria-re’aia let his grief be felt to such a degree.

It was a day of firsts, a night of grief, a time of war.

I felt for those that suffered, those that fell, but this was war. War on an unprecedented scale. There was no such thing as neutrality, not anymore.

Not everything had gone according to plan. Divinities had been sent to counter the few that were traditionally there, but Triton-re’aia had been unexpected.

He hadn’t been to the Riaptel Av Iyaniv since the death of Pallas.

Triton was not only a fierce warrior and Airpria-re’aia but also an immensely powerful, if often underestimated, God.

There had never before been devastation on such scale as He wrought this day. He was a God that knew to be at peace, one which kept His power on a tight reign. His power was something dangerous in a very different manner from His Metua and Wanrila. Poseidon-re’ore destroyed with fierce storms, shaking Earth, and unquestionable might. But Triton-re’aia… His power was insidious, consuming, inescapable.

And the sea had faced it on this night, Ert Pohur Ert Moare Valitavir.

Things may not have gone according to plan, but death and destruction was still wrought to the many generals, high ranking warriors and mages present. The declaration of war was declared loud and clear. And the attack had made a clear statement, if the Moare Taio of Neutrality was no longer neutral… well, there was no such thing as neutrality in the Ocean any longer.

War had come, and this was just beginning.

OO OO OO OO

Percy POV

My eyes opened to the ocean roiling. It wasn’t the stillness that had stolen my breath, had frozen my chest, had clawed at Khrysaôr’s shielding. had made me pray desperately for Triton to save us.

The ocean rumbled, water swished, the light of the surviving monisi and ponisi caught on shimmering gold dust, rippling gold blood. The water looked like stained glass, melted glass, rippling in golds, blues, greens, and reds. It was beautiful yet-

Yet I felt pained.

Yet I reached out, hands fumbling towards the figures drifting in the shifting colors.

Yet I knew that this beauty came from death.

I reached out and I ached. I hissed, hand dropping to my side. Annabeth groaned, low and weak, on top of me.  

I peered down, blinking at her, and noted the blood.

Red blood stained us both. But mer didn’t bleed red. Khrysaor definitely didn’t, he bled gold. Why was there red blood?

My head ached, my gills ached, my tails ached.

My side hurt the most, a throbbing that consumed my torso.

I blinked, sank into darkness, and dragged myself back up.

The water was filled with movement. Figures swimming to and fro, with a familiar band on their arms. Blue stones around their wrists, silver bands around their upper arms-

“Per- Persi-aia,” wheezed a familiar voice.

I rolled my head to the side, trying to follow the voice. Elei was sprawled nearby, several dead opponents around her. The water was too blue around her, strikingly so.

“Elei-“ I coughed, my fingers scrabbling to catch Annabeth’s form as she slid off me, tumbling to my side.

I blinked, the world dark, the ocean rippling and crashing. Crystals shone in the light of the moon. The sky blinked, stars twinkled.

I reached out to catch the falling forms.

“Stay down,” Khrysaor hissed, hands pushing my shoulders down as I tried to push up.

I blinked at him, gold and bright despite the battle.

“Tatu-“ I caught his hand, his forearms covered in bracers. They shone like stars.

Was it him I saw?

“Stay down, Tafahuv are coming.”

“Elei,” I mumbled, blinking as forms lowered towards us. “Elei-“

“Hush,” Khrysaor said. “Hush, it’s fine. Just stay down and let the Tafahuv work.”

My head lolled to the side, his fingers tightening on mine. I drifted off to the sight of Annabeth’s golden hair stained red.

“Persi, soha amrama, it’s okay, you’re okay-“

My eyes found His, green glowing. He was otherworldly, divine in a manner I was unfamiliar with.

Everyone was moving, hair drifting, tails swishing, armor and supplies clinking faintly in the water. But Triton, floating right above me, didn’t seem to exist on the same plain.

His hair was still, His tails frozen in place, His eyes locked on me.

Yet all I knew was that He was here.

I was safe.

When the darkness tugged me down again I didn’t fight it. I slipped away, letting visions of swirling currents, shining crystals, and deep caverns fill my mind.

It was okay now, Triton would fix everything.

OO OO OO OO

I woke to a familiar room.

Ponisi shone softly on the walls, the ceiling intricately detailed with depictions of Tafahuv and Tovhu. The water felt strikingly clean, pure in a way that was rarely felt outside of Tovhuv rooms.

My gills drew in fresh water and oxygen, my lungs filling. My gills fluttered and I turned my head to look around.

“Good morning, Persi-aia,” said a gentle voice. A mer I knew, but couldn’t place, swished to my side. “It’s good to see you awake.”

“Wha-“ I cleared my throat, licking my lips. “What happened?”

She swept a taipanu into her hand and offered it to me. I sucked the tea from it slowly, letting it soak into my lips and tongue.

“What do you remember?”

“The tournament, match- then…” I tried to remember details, but it was all a bit of a blur. “An attack.”

I knew there was an attack, I remembered battling someone, I remembered- pain. Pain and Annabeth’s cry.

“Annabeth,” I mumbled. “Is she okay?”

The Tovhu offered me a comforting smile, “She’s still being treated. Her injury was pretty bad, but she is expected to make a full recovery.”

I blinked, “injury? How was she-“

I remembered her crashing into me, my side aching, her cry.

Did she… did she push me out of the way?

“I need- I need to see her-“ I tried to push up but the Tovhu quickly held me down.

“Persi-aia, you must rest. You received a bad blow in your side during your battle. We’ve healed much of it but you must let your body rest so the rest can heal.”

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not, there was some internal bleeding from it. We’ve fixed that, but it would be easier for you to suffer a relapse still. Rest, let the Tovhuv do their jobs.”

I slumped in my bed, unhappy with this.

“What about- the others-“ I tried to think about who else was hurt. I remembered Khrysaôr over us, and- maybe Elei?

“Where’s Elei?”

“She is doing well, most of her injuries were relatively easy to heal, just cuts and bruises.”

I relaxed. Cuts were easy for healers, I remembered that from my lessons. The bruises would be harder, but knitting the skin back together was one of the first thing tovhuv learned.

Elei would be okay.

I just had to hope that Annabeth would be too.

“Rest, Persi-aia, your Metua and Papuav will be here soon.”

I let the darkness claim my vision once more.

OO OO OO OO

I woke to a hand trailing through my hair.

Sleep stuck to my eyes but I blinked them open stubbornly, peering at the figure above me.

“Triton,” I mumbled.

“Persi,” he murmured, “Hello.”

“It’s good to see you awake,” said another voice, strikingly familiar though not one I heard often.

I turned my head to find my Metua sitting on my other side, watching me with keen eyes.

He offered me a soft smile, “How do you feel?”

I licked my lips, taking a moment to catalogue my body.

“Achy,” I decided. “My side feels… raw?”

“They had to heal your liver, it was damaged by the blow you received in your battle with the Imoteora. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.”

I nodded, then stopped nodding and pressed into Triton’s hand when he started to pull back.

“What happened?” I asked again. “I remember an attack but- but I thought the Riaptel Av Iyaniv was a neutral event?”

Poseidon’s gaze flicked away from me, over my head to Triton for a moment, before dropping back to meet mine.

“What do you know about how neutrality works in the ocean?” Metua asked.

I frowned, “It’s… a big part of several holidays and events. No one breaks it or they’re punished.”

“You’ve learned a lot of the sea traditions, but one thing that Euphemia hasn’t focused on with you is the realms we Gods of the Sea rule in the Sea. You’re learning a lot about what the Gods rule on land, and that’s generally enough.”

I nodded, that was something Euphemia said was fine for me to learn on land.

“There are differences?” I asked slowly. “I mean, I know Triton rules the tides in the sea but not on land-“

“Yes, the tides fall under his command just like calming the waves do, in the sea this is known. On land it is commonly associated with Kharybdis, if it is associated with anyone.”

“So, neutrality has something to do with that?”

Poseidon nodded, expression grim.

“In the ocean neutrality has a God. Okeanos has ruled neutrality since the time of my Father’s rule.”

My Metani, Kronos.

“He has always been neutral, has enforced neutrality when it was involved. And in the more minor instances of neutrality the mer would enforce it in his name. Neutrality in events such as the Riaptel Av Iyaniv has always fallen under Okeanos’ purview to enforce. He is the neutral God of the Ocean, He who is eternally apart. Yet now…”

“He sided with us,” I whispered. “So He’s not neutral-“

“And thus, in a war where neutrality cannot truly be enforced by him, because he has chosen a side… well, it appears the other side has made their opinion on it clear. There is no more neutrality, not so long as this war wages.”

I felt sick, horror clawing up my throat.

Neutrality, periods of peace where battle is not allowed, have been an intrinsic part of several oceanic holidays for thousands of years. If neutrality could no longer be enforced- what would happen?

There was no time, no place that was safe now.

“What do we do?” I asked, hoping my Metua would have an answer. “The attack- did it succeed?”

Triton sighed, making me twist to look at him.

He didn’t look like I recalled from before I was here. He no longer felt- felt so otherworldly. So beyond everyone.

“What the exact purpose of the attack was isn’t certain, but we do know that they were aiming to take out many of the high ranking and powerful figures. Those were the first targeted in the attack. They… well, there are survivors, but not as many as we’d like.”

“We weren’t expecting them to attack, not then and there. Our security was more to ensure that no one broke the rules rather than to protect from an attack,” Metua said. “But they didn’t expect Triton, so he managed to run them off in the end.”

I remembered that, I thought. It was- it was distant, frozen. I didn’t think I was remembering it clearly. I remembered praying though.

Triton hummed, fingers carding through my hair.

“Yes, they ran after I-“ he cleared his throat “-don’t worry, I handled it.”

“Oh, you handled it alright,” drawled another voice.

I pushed up, Triton fussing over me and adding pillows behind me to let me lean on them.

“Khrysaor?” I said, realizing that he was leaning against the wall next to another bed.

A bed with a familiar head of hair splayed out on it.

“Annabeth?” I squeaked, swinging my tails off the bed, only for Triton to put a hand on my shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be moving yet,” he chided. “Stay in bed.”

“Frankly, it’s a miracle you’re alive,” Khrysaôr chirped. “You’re welcome.”

“Khrysaôr,” Triton murmured, a subdued version of his usual annoyance. “Enough.”

“What? You went full fledged true form and wiped out hundreds in an instant, the only reason he’s alive is because of me. I think I’m owed a thanks.”

“You were thanked,” Metua said dryly. “Several times.”

“I think I deserve a thanks in front of my cute little brother.”

“Thank you,” I said. “For saving us both.”

Khrysaôr faltered, blinking at me.

“There you are,” Metua said, lips twitching. “Now, why don’t you update Perseus on his friend’s state.”

He shook off his confusion and let out a dramatic sigh, but did as told.

“She was stabbed through the back, puncturing an organ or two, and had to have emergency treatment. Lots of internal and external bleeding, but they managed to mostly fix her up. She’ll need to take it easy for a few weeks and will need some physical therapy, but she’ll be fine.”

I relaxed. It was bad to hear that she got hurt, especially since I suspected that she got hurt protecting me, but at least she would be okay.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I- she knocked me away from the attack and-“

Triton grimaced, looking away.

Khrysaôr smiled brilliantly, “Good thing she was here!”

“Khrysaôr,” Poseidon chided.

He hummed, smiling sweetly at our Metua.

“So, we know what they’re willing to do now,” I said hesitantly. “What do we do?”

“We’re officially at war,” Metua said softly. “You will continue to learn, and remain on land-“

“I want to help,” I said immediately. “I don’t want to stay on land!”

“The ocean is no longer safe for you,” Triton murmured. “Traveling to and from Atlantis is no longer safe for you.”

I swallowed, sinking into my pillows.

“But-“ I faltered, my voice coming out as a whisper, “This is my home too.”

Poseidon closed his eyes for a long moment.

“There will be things you can do,” he said finally. “There’s quite a bit you can do, even. But right now, while we prepare for war and create safe currents to travel in… it would be best for you to stay on land. There are enemies there, but you do have the camp, and you won’t have to travel like you do to get here.”

I chewed my lip, fingers twisting my bracelet.

“But I can still come down again, soon?”

“Soon,” Poseidon confirmed, “Just not immediately. Once you return to land you’ll need to stay there until we can confirm that your route to return will be safe. You can always pray, or even Iris Message if you really need to talk to us.”

I nodded, not happy but at least I wouldn’t be kept out of the sea entirely, just for a little while.

“I’ll check in on you,” Triton promised. “And I’m certain that Kym and Herophile will as well.”

“And me,” Khrysaôr chirped. “Don’t forget me.”

Triton let out a slow breath, “And Khrysaôr.”

“Don’t worry,” Metua soothed me. “You are a Prince of the Sea, this is your home. Right now, we just need to keep you safe.”

I nodded, reluctant but glad that I wouldn’t be kept away.

“Okay,” I murmured. “Just- just tell me what I can do.”

“Stay safe,” Triton said. “Stay safe, out of danger. We will handle the war for now.”

I let Triton wrap his arm around me, tucking close to him.

“Poseidon-re’ore,” called a voice from the door. Metua rose, nodding to me and pausing to squeeze my shoulder as He swept out.

“Come Khrysaôr,” He called, and Khrysaôr followed after with a huff.

“I can’t lose you soha amrama,” Triton murmured softly in the silence. “So, stay safe.”

“I’ll do my best,” I promised him. “You too. You have to stay safe too.”

“I will.”

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth and I were safely delivered to land by Triton and several guards. Both of us were a bit tired, and had strict medical directions, but we were as recovered as we could be right now.

Herophile had tagged along as well, and when Triton and the guards left to return to Atlantis she insisted on taking us to get some ice cream.

It was nice, Annabeth and I got to chat with Herophile a bit and relax. Annabeth leaned close to me and stole some of my ice cream, asking about treats in the ocean.

She was a bit withdrawn, a bit quiet, ever since she’d woken. But we’d talked, several times, while recovering and she seemed okay.

I’d told her some of what I’d found out, mostly the big deal of the attack happening and the fact that the ocean was going to be at war now.

She was worried about it, so was I. There was so much going on, war on land and sea. I was afraid of where else war would spread. What else would this war take?

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, she got to meet Fetu and Lagi when they came to visit. Fetu had hovered over me while I explained my injuries to Lagi and him. They’d both been polite to Annabeth, overly so even. I hadn’t expected it, not with how most of the sea tended to view Athena and Her kids.

But then, most were treating her far better than I expected. I had a suspicion that her pushing me out of the way had something to do with it.

Fetu and Lagi seemed worried too, I wondered what their parents were doing in the war. Both were important figures, from different kingdoms too. Depending on the sides taken- well, we didn’t yet know who was on who’s side yet.

They tended to stay in Atlantis while their parents worked as ambassadors. But that could change depending on how the war went.

I shook my head as Annabeth tugged me to the front of the line and we ordered, Herophile insisting on paying.

It was tasty and relaxing. I was glad to get to spend time with Annabeth, even with… everything.

“Do you think your mom will mind driving me to camp?” Annabeth asked for the third time.

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “My mom’s excited to meet you outside of an Iris Message. She said she’s making us lunch, it’ll be great.”

I was excited, Annabeth had only been over once before, after the mess at the end of the last school year.

And… oops. I hoped my mom had come up with an excuse for why I was out for a week, or maybe Triton handled it. I’d completely forgotten about school-

Avero, I still had gym, but I couldn’t do anything in there for another week without my tovhu getting mad.

… I’d figure something out.

“What’s she making for lunch?” Annabeth asked, sticking a spoonful of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream into her mouth.

“I dunno, but she’s a great cook so it’ll be good no matter what.”

“Her food is very good,” Herophile agreed, gleefully eating her chocolate with chocolate and extra chocolate sauce on top ice cream. “I like the- um… eight letters- has beef and pita-“

“Fattah?” I wondered. “Wait no- that doesn’t have eight letters… uh- oh wait, hawawshi?”

“Yes! Hawawshi. It was tasty. Will she make that?”

I hid a grin at Herophile inviting herself over. She did that a lot, so mom tended to make extra. It helped that Herophile made groceries appear periodically to cover the extra cost of food too. She liked to add little treats for us on top of whatever our normal groceries were.

“I dunno, maybe. She might just make pasta or something though.”

“What’s hawawshi?” Annabeth wondered, tilting her head. “And fattah?”

“Hawawshi is kinda like burgers? But they’re like- Egyptian burgers. They’re beef and stuff put into pita, it’s super tasty. Fattah is a rice dish, with beef or lamb and pita and a sauce- we don’t have it super often, mom tends to make it for special occasions, but I like it a bunch.”

“Ooh, your grandma was Egyptian right?”

“Half,” I agreed. “And half Native- uh, Cherokee, specifically. Mom has her cookbook, which was my great grandad’s I think. Don’t know much about them, mom was really young when my grandma died, but we do have their cookbook! It’s mostly Egyptian recipes, but I think my great grandmother added a few in.”

“That’s really cool. It sucks you never got to know them, but having their cookbook is nice. Yewande liked to share her dad’s recipes with us, she said that food was a good way of connecting to people.”

I grinned, “Yeah, it’s nice. How is Yewande? And the others in your cabin?”

Annabeth hummed, poking at her ice cream.

“Yewande is off at college now, she’s probably not coming back to camp anymore. Most don’t once they go off to college. Ava and Malcolm are doing good though. Ava has been spending a lot more time on her crafts, and she and Thalia are getting along. I think she’s been showing Thalia how to add decorations to clothes.”

“Oh, that’s fun,” I said brightly.

“Mhm! I’ve checked in on the Fiona and Carl too, even though they’re not year rounders. With everything happening- I want to stay in contact.”

I nodded, that was fair. I probably needed to check in on Leilani more often. I was her camp counselor and all. I’d IM her later.

“I’ve IMed Carl a few times. He said he did a ghost tour.”

“Those are popular in Savannah,” Annabeth confirmed. “It’s called the most haunted city in the United States and a bunch of the buildings have stories of ghosts. I’ve never been but Fiona likes to tell ghost stories.”

“There’s a bunch of cool stores there, I kinda wanna visit sometime. He got some cool books from a store there, Olfactory?”

“Oh, Fiona mentioned the store. She doesn’t shop there though, cause it’s mostly focused on magic stuff and related. Wiccan and witchcraft stuff, which is against her religion I’m pretty sure.”

I nodded, “I don’t know much about Judaism, most of what I know I’ve learned from her and Valentina and Aria. I can’t imagine having to figure out my religion after learning my parent is a Greek God.”

“No for real, Fiona had a really hard time when she first arrived at camp and still hasn’t figured it out. She said she was going to try to talk to a rabbi about it this year I think. I hope she figures things out, it must be hard. Especially for a Hasidic Jew, they’re really observant and strict about their beliefs. The Greek Gods is a big thing to deal with for her.”

“It’s such a mess, I’m surprised our parents would get with people over other religions. I didn’t think that was something they did from what Triton told me.”

“Oh they don’t,” Herophile piped up. “But sometimes they convert after or- um, three letter word, loss-“

“Die?” Annabeth asked with a grimace.

“Yeah, die. Then the kid is taken in by family.”

“That’s what happened with Fiona,” Annabeth said. “Her mom and dad died- uh, one was a step-parent. But they died when she was like three? So she was raised by her aunt and grandparents for the most part. I don’t know the full family situation, but her parents weren’t Hasidic Jews, or I guess converted from that to a different denomination? I don't know, Fiona hasn't told us a huge amount about that.”

“That makes more sense. Religion is so complicated.”

“So complicated,” she groaned. “I’m glad I didn’t have to worry about figuring all that out.”

“Same,” I agreed.

Annabeth stuck the last spoonful of ice cream in her mouth then stood to toss her cup.

“Ready to go?”

I nodded, tossing my own cup as Herophile rose.

“Off to lunch!” Herophile chirped.

OO OO OO OO

Lunch did actually end up being hawawshi, which I thought was funny. It was just as delicious as usual, and Annabeth enjoyed it a lot. Herophile was absolutely delighted and lavished my mom with praise for the hawawshi.

And of course, mom made blue cookies too, the best cookies ever.

Herophile left shortly after, letting me and Annabeth hang out. I showed Annabeth around a bit better than before, letting her actually see my room (and cute little Hippolyta, who was glad to see me. Mom made sure she was fed while I was gone which was a relief).

She asked questions about my altars and I asked questions about what she did at camp and it was nice.

Mom didn’t actually have her own car, but our neighbor was super nice and didn’t mind us borrowing his car the few times we needed to drive further than was preferred with a taxi. As long as he didn’t need it, at least.

Mom must’ve gotten permission though because we had the car and Annabeth and I claimed the back seats.

OO OO OO OO

Mom waited in the car as I walked with Annabeth up to the camp. I was supposed to pass along some official communication for Metua and Triton, and Annabeth was staying in her cabin.

It was a lot emptier in the winter, something I knew from last year but felt all the more striking now with the war going on.

The walk to the big House felt quieter than it should’ve been, longer too. But Lord D was sitting outside, lounging with a can of Diet Coke in His hand.

“You’re late,” He drawled as we climbed the stairs. “Where have you been, Annabell?”

“Hello, Lord D,” I said, pulling out the aipone from my Metua and Triton. “There was… an incident.”

“An incident?” He asked dryly.

I offered the aipone to him.

He sighed grandly but accepted them, His eyes scanning the thin stone slabs quickly.

“Well that certainly is an incident.”

I nodded, “I apologize for returning Annabeth so late.”

“Her injuries have been treated?”

“Yeah,” she said, chiming in. “I have to take it easy for a few weeks but I’m mostly better now.”

“Better?” asked a voice from behind us. “Better from what?”

“Hey, Thalia,” Annabeth said, turning to face the voice. “There was a thing in the ocean and I got a little injured, but I’m okay.”

“What do you mean a thing?” the girl asked, eyes narrowing on me.

“There was an attack,” I said. “And people got injured-“

“Annabeth got injured?” she asked, her head swiveling to Annabeth. “I thought you were just going to see a show?”

“A tournament,” I corrected, frowning. “And it’s more like a festival than just a tournament.”

“There was a lot of cool stuff,” Annabeth agreed. “Just sucks it got cut off. But I’m okay now! They healed me up.”

“But you were injured,” Thalia emphasized, eyes narrow. “Why didn’t that guy who brought you protect you?”

“Khrysaôr,” I corrected her. “And he did, but there were a lot of enemies.”

“He did his best,” Annabeth agreed. “He saved both of our lives.”

“Yeah,” I said. “And Annabeth saved mine too-“

“What?” Thalia interrupted. “She saved yours? Is that how she got hurt? Protecting you?”

Thalia’s eyes narrowed and her fingers sparked.

“Thalia, it’s fine, really. Percy and Khrysaôr-aia did their best to keep me safe and their tavhu fixed me up really well. I wouldn’t be alive if they hadn’t done that.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if they’d taken better care of you!”

Thalia stomped up, snatching Annabeth’s wrist and scowling at me.

“Come on, I’m having the Apollo kids check you over.”

I bristled as Annabeth was dragged off by Thalia, trying to explain what happened the whole way. She barely managed to throw me a goodbye before Thalia had pulled her out of earshot.

“Well,” Lord D said, “that went well.”

I huffed, “What’s her problem?”

It wasn’t enough that she got Annabeth all the time? Now she had to drag her away when we were spending time together?

“She’s been a bit… overprotective since she woke up,” Lord D said delicately.

I glared in the direction Thalia took Annabeth, “I think that might be an understatement.”

“Don’t let her get to you,” He said with a wave of His hand. “All the Gods have heard a bit about what happened, Triton made waves… or I supposed he stopped waves from being made. Caught a lot of attention. I knew something had gone wrong.”

I pursed my lips. Everyone had been a bit tense around Triton lately, I wasn’t sure what had happened when everything went still. I didn’t realize it was noticed outside the ocean.

“Whatever, she’ll get over it. You did your best, it wasn’t your fault that the war broke out when it did. Go home and don’t cause me any problems till summer.”

My lips twitched against my will and I nodded to Him. “I’ll do my best.”

“Shoo, I get to be the messenger for the ocean today.”

I bowed and hurried off to the hill. It was time to go home and figure out what to do about school.

OO OO OO OO

Poseidon POV

I waited, Amphitrite by my side, until Triton was sitting in my office.

This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation, but it was one that had to be had. What had happened couldn’t be allowed to happen again. Triton was clearly not handling his closeness with Perseus very well.

“You needed something, Metu?” Triton asked politely.

“Yes, we need to discuss what happened during the invasion.

Triton watched me patiently, simply raising an eyebrow as if nothing was the matter.

“What happened?”

“You made the sea still, drowned hundreds of sharks, endangered millions of sea creatures all over the ocean, killed most of the invading forces, killed several allies, and caused a dozen tsunamis of varying danger. You completely lost control, Triton. That cannot be allowed.”

“Others have done worse,” he dismissed quickly.

“Triton,” Amphitrite chided. “It is not common something of such scale is done, and certainly not for the reason you did such.”

Triton studied us both, eyes sharp.

“It was unintentional.”

“We know,” I said. “But it cannot happen again.”

“It shouldn’t.”

“It will,” I corrected him, grim faced. “It will so long as you cling so tightly to Perseus.”

Triton raised his chin, only my long experience with my son allowing me to notice his tension at that.

“Triton, this is why we do not get too close to our kids.”

“He’s not my son.”

“Yet you love him as much as you did Pallas.”

He looked away, lips pursed.

“Triton, this cannot continue. You cannot let yourself be consumed by all of this- it’s not safe. Not for you and not for the world as a whole. We have a duty.”

Triton let out a huff, “He’s my brother.”

“He is mortal,” I said, unable to keep the pain from my voice. “I love him dearly myself, but this is why I cannot spend too much time with him. If you get to close this happens- and you are too close.”

“I can’t not be,” Triton snapped. “Look at him! Look at what he must face!”

“The Thalia girl is back, the prophecy may be on her-“

“You don’t believe that,” he whispered. “I’ve seen the way you’ve been consulting the Noimio Imotev. He is the one that the prophecy clings to.”

“Only the Fates could know,” I said, though my son was right.

The Noimio Imotev couldn’t see every possibility, but the various ones I’d spoken too all saw a war with Perseus leading. The daughter of Zeus had a role to play, but it was Perseus who commanded the battlefield.

The prophecy had identified it’s subjects. It was not something that could be avoided, not without our active interference.

And we could not interfere, not with Fate. Not with our children’s Fate especially. They had to live their lives, they had to be free to make their own decisions.

“He will stay on land for a time,” I said, unhappy with the solution I’d had to settle on. “And you will stay in the sea.”

“I said I’d check on him,” Triton said, eyes wide.

“And you may, periodically. But Triton, surely you must understand.”

His eyes narrowed.

“This cannot go on,” I said softly. “I’m glad you care for him, I’m grateful you took care of him when he needed it. I’m relieved you were there to save him… but the world needs you to be a God, not his brother. It is the tragedy of divinity.”

“Then make him a God.”

“I cannot, you know it as well as I.”

I could not make my son a God lightly. That was something done rarely. It was slightly more common, once upon a time. But still not common at all. And after several incidents with Ares trying to slide his kids a path to immortality, Zeus had put a law in place against it. The council had to make a full vote approving it and then Zeus had to approve it as well. There was no chance the council would, not with the prophecy.

It was a shame because I was fairly certain that Zeus would if it meant we could delay the prophecy more. He knew it was inevitable that it would come to pass, but it was His duty as the King of the Gods to do all He could to protect us as a whole. And the prophecy held ill tidings for our continued position on Olympus.

Triton was swimming back in forth, no longer sitting.

“Triton,” Amphitrite said. “We don’t want to separate you from your brother, we know you care deeply for each other. We are glad that you have found another to care for, after Pallas we thought-“

“I know you’ve worried,” he said. “But- Mevu, Metu- I cannot-“

His voice was cracking, grief lingering in his tone.

“I can’t lose him,” he finished in a bare whisper.

Amphitrite and I shared a grim look. The sea did not like to be restrained, and Triton had always been one to love with his whole being. He loved the sea, he loved our people, he loved his family, and now he loved his little brother.

I did not know how to keep him from collapsing in grief when Perseus would eventually pass. He was mortal, unless he managed to do something to gain immortality he would die. It was the fate of all mortals.

But I wasn’t sure that Triton could exist with that.

And I worried as well for my kingdom, for so many had come to love the youngest prince. I hadn’t given a mortal child of mine such a title in over a thousand years, and Perseus was already far more beloved than Katherine.

Perseus had made a place in the hearts of his people, in the hearts of his siblings. Even Amphitrite has softened towards him greatly since her original anger at my hiding him.

Many would grieve his death, he had more contact with the Gods than any child in a long time.

It was by necessity, by chance of Triton’s actions, by the nature of his dream swimming… but it had led to him being loved by many.

And it would lead to the world feeling his death.

Something would have to be done.

But I didn’t know where to begin.

Chapter Text

Neither Leilani or I were at camp for the year. She was home, with her dad, and I was obviously with my mom.

Leilani was always happy to chat, and we often used Iris Messages in the evenings, before or after dinner, to talk about our days. School was rough for us both, though I did have some good friends. Leilani had made a few tentative friends too, but she was still getting to know them.

Leilani had transferred schools this year, so was once again a new kid. I was for once staying at the same school and had a solidified friend group. But I would be moving to high school next year, so would need to find a new school. And, of course, I had to deal with the applications and tests and all that nonsense, mom was stressed about it too. I wasn’t sure what program I wanted to apply to.

I was considering Music, or maybe Environmental Engineering? I did also consider Politic stuff, cause I figured that would help me with my stuff in the sea. Mom told me to remember that I had land stuff too though, which I did think politics could help me with. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do but something with activism sounded right. Music wouldn’t help much with that but Environmental Science or Politics could.

Annabeth was very confused when I vented to her about it all. The camp didn’t worry about all the program stuff, the campers just had to take the required classes and then could focus on what they wanted. She was helping Thalia deal with all that right then apparently, which made me sour a bit.

Leilani, in turn, was living in Florida now. She took advantage of the nearness of the beach to really work on her sand powers, I was pretty sure the invasion and her friend’s death were getting to her.

I could understand that, I was constantly working on my powers in the river.

Her school system didn’t have anything like mine though, she sounded a bit horrified by how much work I had to put in for a good high school. I was also going to have a harder time of it, since I wasn’t white. A lot of the good schools didn’t have many non-white students.

Leilani sympathized. She was the only Hawaiian at her school and dealt with some looks and comments that made her uncomfortable. For some reason people were really into her hula dancing.

Which, she could do the hula. She practiced it some evenings and had told me what a lot of the motions meant. But like- she didn’t like her classmates asking her about it. They didn’t do it nicely.

I was a bit jealous of Leilani, she got to go to the ocean every day. But it also wasn’t the ocean she grew up in, so I could understand how it wasn’t the same to her. I missed the ocean as a whole, not being able to go into it since the attack.

 It was good to talk with Leilani, I missed her.

OO OO OO OO

Zoey had a lot of fun grilling me about sea divination. Mind you I wasn’t great at a lot of it, I was really good at dream swimming but hadn’t dabbled in any other sea divination. I didn’t know a lot about it except that it wasn't an uncommon skill, one that my friend Rosa was pretty good at.

But what I was good at Zoey found fascinating.

“I don’t do any dream divination, it seems so difficult. I never remember my dreams.”

Hippolyta was curling in my hair as we chatted, messing with my bun.

“I mean, they can be fuzzy and confusing,” I said. “A lot of the time I’m not sure what I’m seeing.”

I nudged Hippolyta away from my ear when she moved, but she was bound and determined to reach my earring (again).

“Yeah but it’s still really cool! Shame that you’re not good at the land divination stuff. Maybe it’s just that you’re good at sea ones and not land ones?”

She reached out for Hippolyta who was trying to pull out my earring. Hippolyta resisted her grasp, grumbling and clinging to my face. Zoey was giggling as she tried to peel Hippolyta’s tentacles off my face.

I shrugged at the idea of not being good at land divination, but I was disappointed. Though Hippolyta was doing her best to distract me it seemed, I’d really wanted to learn divination stuff with Zoey, even if I wasn’t the best at it.

“I still think that runes are the best,” Nikola interjected. “They’re nice and simple.”

He was holding out a shiny stone that Hippolyta was now eyeing, clearly debating which shiny object to hold onto. I hadn’t realized octopi liked shiny objects so much, though it might’ve just been a Hippolyta thing.

“I don’t think Runes are very simple,” I argued. “They’ve got so many interpretations!”

“Simpler than tarot cards,” he pointed out, smirking as Hippolyta lunged for the rock.

“I don’t know,” Zoey said. “I’ve been dabbling with this one set I got, they’re pretty easy to understand.”

“Treason,” Nikola grumbled.

I laughed, accepting Hippolyta back with her new shiny rock. She was very smug.

OO OO OO OO

Mom handed me the knife, so I could cut the onion while she chopped the chilis and jalapenos. This was a recipe her grandmother had learned from a friend, at least according to the notes in the recipe book. Apparently, it originated in Mexico!

While we worked, mom told me about the book she was writing.

“So, then I’m going to have her gain a last name,” she said. “Her first one, but only the first of many.”

I nodded, “And the more names one has the more important they’re considered?”

“Well, it’ll depend on the name but for the most part yeah. I dunno, I just think it’s an interesting play on titles.”

I nodded eagerly, handing her the quartered onions.

“It is! It’s really fun, how you can earn names that basically titles. What do you think she’ll do next?”

Mom handed me the chicken stock to put in the pot while she pulled out the chicken.

“Well, I’m thinking she’ll go on a journey to learn about herself and her family. Since she doesn’t know who her parents are, I’m thinking their names will be the last ones she gains.”

“That would be cool! She’d get all these important ones and then end with her family.”

“Exactly, I think it’ll tie the whole story together.” She came over with the chicken, “Grab the other ingredients?”

I hurried to collect the onions, tomatillos, poblanos, and jalapenos.

Mom dumped the chicken in, along with all the cut ingredients, then added salt and oregano. She put a lid on the pot and lowered the heat before turning to start cleaning up.

I hurried to wash the cutting boards and knives we used while mom wiped the counter down.

“What do you think she’ll face on her journey?” I asked curiously.

“I think there will be some sort of temple she needs to reach that floats in the sky, I kind of want to give her wings but I can’t decide if that’s a bit too overpowered.”

“Maybe wings that take a lot of energy for her to summon?”

“Hmm, maybe. Or using some sort of charm that has a cool down time.”

I nodded, “Maybe an amulet?”

“I like that idea, she could earn it on an earlier part of her journey,” she washed her hands after I finished. “Okay! Preheat the oven to 350?”

“Got it!” I did as she asked.

Mom had grabbed a bowl and started collecting the ingredients for our cake.

“Can you peel the apples, Percy?”

“Yep!” I quickly grabbed the two apples and a peeler.

“Will it just be one book?”

“Probably not,” she said. “Though I haven’t finished plotting it all out yet, so I’m not sure how to split it up yet. Maybe a trilogy?”

“A trilogy would be cool,” I agreed. “The second book could have the sky temple thing, and you could have her on the cover with wings!”

Mom laughed as she started mixing the dry ingredients together to add to her bowl of other ingredients, “That would be cool. What should be on the front cover of the first book?”

“Maybe her at her naming day ceremony?”

“That might work, it definitely would be interesting. How about book three?”

I frowned, beginning to cut up the apples. “Maybe… her with wings facing a big threat with two shadows behind it? Or maybe not a threat but it’s not clear on the cover?”

“Hmm, well I was thinking of adding this deity character that patrons her but also causes problems ‘cause they don’t want her to have people other than them?”

“That would be good!”

“And I guess you want the shadows to be her parents?”

I nodded, “Yeah!”

I started chopping the walnuts for mom as she thought on it.

“I like that idea. I’ll bring it up later in my class.”

I grinned as she started collecting the apples and walnuts to fold into her mixture.

“How is your class going?”

“It’s going really good,” mom said with a warm smile. “I’m really enjoying it, and I’ve made some friends with my classmates.”

“Yeah? What are they like?”

“Well, Paul is an assistant teacher in the class, he’s got a lot of advice for how to write a book. And Claire is a classmate, we sit together a lot. She’s good to bounce ideas off of, she brings cookies to most classes. There are a few others, but I talk to those two the most.”

I felt something curl over my shoulder and turned to find Hippolyta. She’d been in the small fish tank we kept in the kitchen for when she wanted to hang out with us, but apparently had gotten bored.

I huffed but smiled. “Hi, Lyta.”

“Ah, she’s joined at just the right time, time to put the cake in the oven and work on our three sisters salad!”

I perked up, hurrying to grab the squash, corn, zucchini, beans, onion, and green pepper.

“I’ll make the salad!”

She laughed, I always liked to make the salad.

Mom put the bowl in the sink to wash and pulled out a smaller pot for the stove so she could work on the dressing.

In the meantime, I cut the squash and zucchini, got the corn off the cob, sliced the onion and green pepper, and measured out the beans. Once that was done I dumped them all in a bowl and mixed them all together.

Mom came over with the dressing and poured it over the salad, finishing it off.

“Now, we just need to finish the chicken and the cake should be ready by the time we finish eating.”

I went to work cleaning the dishes in the sink so that mom didn’t have to later while mom strained the chicken and other stuff in the big pot and transferred the solids to the blender and added the garlic and stuff into it.

Hippolyta tried to help clean with the soap but slipped on the bubbles, making me laugh.

I started to pick up the rest of the kitchen, putting up the leftover ingredients and cleaning up the counter, before gathering bowls and silverware so I could set the table.

Mom was nearly done with the chicken stew by the time I finished so I brought the salad to the table and poured our drinks. Then delivered Hippolyta back to her tank and put some clams in for her to feast on.

“And, dinner is ready!” Mom chirped, bringing a large bowl to the table.

OO OO OO OO

Euphemia-oro was holding up cards with pictures of medicinal plants in various waterways, though most focused on the ocean.

I took notes quickly, though I’d be allowed to keep the flash cards at the end. Hippolyta handed me a pen to underline one of the plants which was poisonous as well as medicinal.

“So, do the plants fall under specific rulership?” I asked curiously.

Euphemia-oro paused. “Well, that’s something a bit more complicated. Some of the sea Gods claim rulership over the plant life as well as the sea life, but in some cases, such as our own pantheon, agriculture Gods of the land also apply to the sea. Some belief this is a hold over from the earliest days of Olympus, the days which hold rumors of Demeter-tev and Poseidon-re’ore being together.”

I paused and tried to figure out how that worked.

Euphemia-oro took pity on me and elaborated further.

“In the time before the Bronze age collapse, which heavily influenced many of the pantheons along the Mediterranean, Poseidon-re’ore went by another name, Posedao. He was known for having two Queens, though also had Amphitrite-re’nai who was known by the name Posedeia. Demeter-tev and Persephone-tev’iva, by the names of Damate, Sito Potinija and Despoina.”

“Huh, so Demeter comes from Damate?”

She nodded, “Yes, an earlier form of her name. Despoina is still used for Persephone today as an epithet, along with a few other Gods now. But what it covers is that at that time, the three of Them ruled together, covering some of the most important realms of the material world. As a result, they were known together. Though they were not together in the same manner that Amphitrite-re’nai and Poseidon-re’ore.”

“Huh, that’s really interesting. So it’s a holdover from that time? That Demeter-tev rules agriculture in the ocean?”

“Yes, though it should be noted that Pan-tul’tev is considered the ruler of the wild plants of the sea, of which there are many.”

That was definitely getting complicated, but then… there did seem to be a lot of nature deities on land too. So maybe that was just the norm?

“Are there any sea specific deities of the plants?”

“Oh, several. There is Apseudes, who rules general plant life on the surface of the ocean, Eudora who rules the fine gifts, or medicinal plants and coral, Ianassa who rules the plants of deep water, of which there are few, Neomeris who rules plants of the shallow waters, of which there are many, and Thaleia who rules the blooming sea, or flowering sea plants.”

I scribbled all those down, just in case.

“Now then, let’s continue discussing the plants you might find on the shore-“

OO OO OO OO

I laid on my stomach as I talked with Fetu on the IM. Hippolyta was playing on my back with some rocks as we talked about how things were going in the ocean.

The war had not yet hit a peak, no invasions nor any large-scale battles, but there were a fair number of hit and swim attacks. There had been some deaths as well, but no one I knew. Fetu knew one of them, someone who had worked with his parent.

We talked about other stuff, not just the war. We talked about the full moon celebrations, talked about upcoming holidays, talked about possibly having another date.

Fetu couldn’t come to land, not with the war and him being a fairly high value target. I couldn’t go to the sea, for the same reasons. But we could maybe do something over IM, though it would be a bit difficult.

But Fetu still smiled, still suggested maybe watching one of my land shows over IM, suggested both eating fish so it would seem like we were together. It was sweet, made my face warm just a bit as I agreed.

Mom could supervise, I supposed.

OO OO OO OO

I was in science class when I heard the noises outside. My guards who totally weren’t still guarding me, they swore, all stiffened.

SCRAWK!

“Ow!”

SCREECH!

It sounded like somebody getting attacked by possessed chickens, reminded me a bit too much of the Stymphalian birds from the previous summer.

Other than my guards, no one really seemed to notice the commotion, which might’ve been because of the lab we were doing.

I politely excused myself from Nikola, murmuring that it was demigod stuff, and he nodded, letting me go to clean out my beaker.

I peered out the window and found a girl in the alley with her sword drawn.

A familiar girl.

Clarisse.

She was hacking at a flock of… ravens? There were feathers sticking out of her clothes and she was bleeding from a cut over her left eye. As I watched a bird shot a feather like an arrow, lodging it in her shoulder.

I could hear her cursing through the window as she sliced at the bird.

I wasn’t sure what Clarisse was doing in the city, she was a year-rounder and Annabeth had confirmed that she was at the camp this year. But, it was clear that she was in trouble. She wasn’t going to last too much longer at this rate.

“Mrs. White,” I called, “can I go to the restroom? I feel sick.”

Mrs. White had absolutely no patience for sick students, to the point that she never even checked up with the nurse. And since this was the last class of the day, I was free to disappear.

I darted through the halls, digging my water skin and knife out of my backpack. I hooked both in place, one on my hip and one over my shoulder.

My shoes slapped against the linoleum loudly, the sound changing to a dull thud as I hit the concrete outside. I got to the alley just in time to see Clarisse swing the flat of her sword into one of the terror ravens like she was swinging a bat.

The bird screeched, hitting the wall with crooked wings before landing in a dumpster.

I sent water snapping out, freezing it in a heartbeat and sending it slamming into one of the terror ravens.

“Percy!?” Clarisse yelled, head whipping around to find me. “What are you—”

She was forced to duck as a volley of feathers shot over her head and impaled in the wall.

“It’s my school,” I called, raising a thin shield of water and pushing it out, drenching several of the terror ravens.

Clarisse took advantage, lunging forward with her sword.

I wasn’t sure what happened to her spear, she only really used her sword in practice. Regardless, between my water and her sword the terror ravens were dead or fleeing in just a few minutes.

I was uninjured, though Clarisse was scratched up. The ground was covered in feathers that shone rather nicely. I wondered if I’d get a moment to collect some, they seemed like good offerings… and decorations.

I dug into my backpack and pulled out a bit of ambrosia, offering it to Clarisse. She chewed the piece slowly as she pulled the feathers out of her clothes, cuts and bruises healing thanks to the Godly food.

“I didn’t need your help,” she grumbled once she had recovered. She brushed off her leather jacket, sheathed her sword, and turned away. “See you.”

“Hang on!” I said, stepping in front of her. “What’s going on? What are you doing here? What were those birds?”

“Orinthes Areioi,” Clarisse said, answering my last question first. “And it’s none of your business.”

She tried to push past me, and I stepped aside neatly, frowning at her.

“You nearly died outside my science classroom and expect me to just let it go?”

“It’s not your concern.”

“It is now.”

She took a deep, if shaky, breath, looking away from me.

I got the distinct feeling that despite how much she might want to punch me, she was also scared and in trouble.

“It’s my brothers,” she said, shoulders slumping. “They’re playing a prank on me.”

I tilted my head, “Which one? Sherman? Mark? Akram?”

“No, not my cabin mates.” She sounded…. Afraid? “My immortal brothers.”

I blinked, confused. Her immortal brothers? Maybe it was like Khrysaôr? From what I’d heard, and seen, Ares was a good dad. So… why would her siblings?

“Which ones?”

“Phobos and Demios,” she said.

OO OO OO OO

We’d found our way to a park to talk, away from the school.

“So, basically,” I started. “You got told to take out the very special chariot for a joyride and… lost it.”

“It’s a war chariot, not a special chariot and He told me to take it out! It’s- it’s a thing He does for His kids after our first quest. We get to spend a day riding His chariot, He can’t join us obviously but- He does it for every kid that does a quest. It’s like a reward.”

“That’s pretty cool,”

“Yes well, apparently my immortal brothers… don’t like it.”

“So, They chariot-jacked you.”

“They’re… His regular charioteers. I guess They don’t like someone else getting to drive it so They stole it and chased me away with those stupid Orinthes Areioi.”

“Your dad’s pets?”

“They guard His temple, and one of the islands that is sacred to Him or something.”

“Have They done this to any of your siblings, er… your mortal siblings.”

“I don’t know, if They have none of my siblings have admitted to it. I can’t ask them for help- it would be an embarrassment. And if I don’t have the chariot by sundown-“

Her face twisted and she blinked quickly.

She was upset, and I couldn’t blame her. If that had happened with a chariot my Metua had trusted me with- well, I’d probably have asked Triton for help. But Clarisse didn’t have Triton.

“I’ll help,” I said.

She squinted at me, “Why?”

“I- well, your siblings aren’t being very nice. I don’t think that’s right, so… I can help out.”

“You won’t get in trouble with your guards?” she asked drily.

“Technically they’re not allowed to be guarding me anymore, my Metua said so.”

“Technically?”

“Well, officially they’re here because they like school and want to finish it off.”

She snorted, I agreed.

“Well, fine… I guess. You can help. As long as I don’t have to deal with your little guards.”

“So… any idea where the chariot is?”

She shrugged.

Well, that was a problem.

OO OO OO OO

Neither us had much investigative skills. I was already aware of that on my end, I had thought Okeanos was my Metua after all.

Clarisse, she just didn’t have experience in investigating.

We started with where she had last had it, several streets over. It wasn’t there anymore but there were lots of people.

“Maybe we can ask some about it?”

“Ask some?”

“The people,” I explained. “I mean, what kind of car did the mist show the chariot as?”

“I have no idea.”

“It’s probably a nice car, I mean it is Ares’ War Chariot.”

She agreed with that, so we asked if anyone had seen a nice car around, because she was “supposed to meet her brothers here an hour ago but hasn’t been able to find them anywhere”.

A person confirmed that they’d seen one, a fancy red Porsche Boxster. Well, actually, they less confirmed it and more went: “Oh! Was it your brothers with that gorgeous Porsche Boxster, it’s the newest model right? Is it the S? Did they get the seven-speed dual-clutch automated transmission? It really is so-”

Once we’d managed to move him from elaborating on just how amazing the car was, he said it had headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge.

“It could be anywhere,” Clarisse bemoaned. “We’ll never find it.”

“Actually, this is good,” I said, brightening. “If they went over water then some fish may have seen something. They might have clues!”

She blinked, then straightened, “Seriously?”

I nodded eagerly, “The fish love to gossip, they’ll know if Gods went over one of their bridges then every fish within ten miles will know.”

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

OO OO OO OO

The fish at the Brooklyn bridge did know about the chariot and were absolutely delighted to gossip about it. Clarisse was rather baffled when an entire school of fish, several crabs, Eli the Eel, and several seagulls showed up for the gossip.

According to the eclectic collection of sea creatures and birds the chariot had gone over the Brooklyn bridge, and then Verazzano-Narrows Bridge. One of the seagulls was quite proud to tell me that they’d followed the chariot allllll the way to the Staten Island Zoo before coming back to tell everyone.

I did so love the gossip in the sea sometimes.

Clarisse was relieved, and baffled, and was side eyeing me for asking Eli how her date went.

Technically it wasn’t a date, but Eli had found a suitable male eel that she’d been considering for mating or something.

“How are we going to get to Staten Island Zoo in time?” she wondered. “The island is a long ride from here.”

I looked across the water, to where the island was.

“Well, I have one way.”

Clarisse squinted at me, “We’re not going to be riding on the back of sea turtles or something, are we?”

“No, something better.”

OO OO OO OO

Clarisse did not deem me calling my brother’s hippocampi to be better, but really that was a her problem. Belle was a sweetheart.

I, on the other hand, slipped into the water and turned into my mer form.

“You’re a mermaid,” Clarisse said flatly.

“Tame,” I corrected, “in Halmaheran.”

“I’d heard you could grow tails but-“ she shook her head.

“Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

OO OO OO OO

Swimming through the waves was a relief, a comfort. It had been too long. Belle was right alongside me, though staying above for Clarisse.

It took only twenty minutes to reach Staten Island at that speed, way faster. It would’ve been even faster without all the boats and other stuff we had to be careful about.

“So,” I asked as we got out of the water by Broadway, “anything specific I should know about your brothers?”

“Yeah, avoid Deimos.”

“Deimos?”

“Phobos you- you can fight Phobos. He’s fear but- but you can fight Him. Deimos… He just makes you freeze. You can’t think, can’t process anything- it’s just… raw terror. My siblings have talked about the difference before and if you’re going to fight one of them… you want Phobos. He’ll be more personal, but you can actually fight.”

Well, that sounded fun.

OO OO OO OO

It was nearly four by the time we reached the zoo and we had less than hour before it closed. We bought our tickets and headed in.

“So, where might it be in the zoo?”

“Well, the aquarium is right in front of us. Maybe one of the fish saw something?”

“You just wanna gossip with the fish more,” she scoffed, though was grinning. “Their dating life really that interesting?”

“More interesting than yours,” I drawled.

“Well, certainly must be more dramatic. Selina, Beckendorf and I are all settled.”

I rolled my eyes, wandering through the aquarium and eyeing the interesting reptiles. Those snakes looked very huggable.

“Found it,” Clarisse said, staring out the doors of the reptile exhibit.

I followed her gaze, finding a lovely red and gold chariot tethered to four black horses in front of the children’s area, beside the otter exhibit.

“Huh, yeah that’s it.”

It was a beautiful chariot, shining in the afternoon light. Details wrought finely in gold and wood painted a sharp red. The horses coats were sleek and well cared for, deep black and beautiful. And also surrounded by coiling smoke from their nostrils.

“Do all his horses breathe fire?”

“It’s a thing,” she agreed.

The mist was definitely working overtime though because the only camouflage was a handwritten note that we read as we neared. OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE it said.

“Where are your brothers?” I asked, looking around and fiddling with my necklace. I couldn’t see them anywhere.

 This was suspicious.

“It’s definitely a trap,” Clarisse muttered. “Can you talk to the horses like you did the fish?”

I neared them carefully, “Hello.”

The horse eyed me disdainfully.

“I’m Percy, do you know where your normal charioteers are?”

Clarisse inched towards the reins as we spoke.

“Around,” one snorted. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just wanted to offer them some chocolate,” I said. “Gods like chocolate as an offering, right?”

Clarisse reached for the reins and the horses reared up.

“Oh, we love chocolate,” chirped a voice, leaning over the top of the chariot to grin at me. “What kind you got?”

I nearly fell over stumbling over as one of the horses slammed his hooves down right on me.

“Milk?” I squeaked.

“Oh, I love milk,” one with shining red eyes chirped.

“I hate milk,” huffed one with deep red eyes.

I didn’t know which was which, but their mere presence made my heart race.

“I think I have dark chocolate covered almonds too?”

“I do like almonds,” he amended.

“Great, in exchange for chocolate can we have the chariot?”

Clarisse made a strangled noise of anger, “Percy!”

I did have to try asking nicely.

“Oh, that’s adorable,” the one with the shining red eyes chirped, my arms stung in a way that reminded me of Ares’ blades. “You’re making friends with the kiddo who beat dad in one-on-one combat.”

“How loyal to your family,” the other sneered. “Cuddling up with that kid.”

“I dunno, he’s offering chocolate. I’d betray you for chocolate.”

“On the other hand, she’s cuddling up with the one who pissed off dad right after dad gave her a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Oh, that’s true. Kinda shitty of you, isn’t it lil’ sis?”

“In her defense, I shoved my way into this.”

“So sweet of you,” cooed the mildly nicer one. “Sweet as chocolate. Speaking of…”

“Chariot or no chocolate, Phobos,” snapped Clarisse.

“Or, we could just leave,” Deimos drawled.

And with that he whipped the reins, the horses rearing once more, and then charged straight at me.

I threw myself to the side yanking for the otter exhibit’s water to drench the horses. Clarisse charged forward with a war cry, sword drawn, as the horses reared and whinnied.

Phobos cursed, leaping free as she tackled Deimos. I sent a flood of water over the chariot, sending it and the horses washing down the path as Deimos and Clarisse rolled on the ground, her sword fallen to the side.

Phobos turned to face me and I bolted, drawing the water around me and flinging it back in an arc of ice blades.

There were several places I could go, but I figured that the aquarium had the most water so back into the building I went.

There was a lot of screaming and people running at this point, I wondered what they saw. I just hoped I didn’t get blamed for it.

I could hear the faint sound of blades crashing as the door swung shut behind me, Clarisse and Deimos must’ve grabbed their blades.

“Come on, kiddo. You can’t expect to beat me? You managed one hit on my dad, which is impressive, but you’ve gotta know that’s not a real win.”

I slipped past the last of the reptile exhibits and into the aquarium.

Prince!

Princeling!

Little lord!

I readied my waterskin and the water curling around my form, and then faltered when Triton strolled right past me.

What.

“Phobos, how are you doing?”

What was Triton doing here?

“Triton, how nice to see you again. I’m just dealing with some kids that think they can play with our things.”

“Ah, well, carry on then. I was admiring the fish here, they do have an interesting collection.”

Triton- was just chatting with Phobos? Who was trying to kill me? Why would he- why was he even here? The fish here weren’t really that interesting of a collection. In fact, they were practically common in aquarium terms.

So why-

And he was- just walking past-

Why would he do that?

My stomach was twisted into knots and I peaked out, peering out my brother chatting with Phobos about fish.

Why would he do that?

Why-

“Interesting fear you got, not many fear their Godly family ignoring them.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, whipping around to find Phobos crouched behind me with a grin.

“Most don’t have enough interaction with Godly family to have that kind of fear. More are afraid of their families wrath.”

I had a hand on my chest and another curling the water around me as a shield.

“Do you just- like to sneak up on people?” I asked, definitely feeling his fear aura by now.

Phobos laughed, eyes bright and grin wide.

“Yes,” He said.

My heart was racing and my body tense. I bit back the instinct to attack with every ounce of the training I gotten from Triton.

“That’s not Triton,” I managed. “You’re doing- Godly things.”

Phobos seemed ridiculous amused by that “Godly things,” He repeated. “That’s a delightful thing to call my position as a God of fear utilizing my realm.”

“Hey, while we’re chatting, why are you mad that Clarisse getting the chariot?”

“That’s cute, you think we’re just chatting,” He cooed. “I’m actually getting a good read on your fear, you’ve got a lot more control than most people.”

I pulled out a bar of chocolate.

“But you know, we could chat, just a little,” He snatched the chocolate from me.

“Clarisse?”

“She’s gotten all high and mighty,” He said. “Was soooo proud of it all. But she didn’t really do that quest, she would’ve failed miserably too, if not for you and the Athena kid.”

“She did good-“

“Pleeeaaaase, we all know the two of you could’ve handled it on your own. She just brought it to the final destination. It’s not worth a prize of any sort, much less this one. She took all the credit without doing any real work.”

“She got us to the Wasare av Tetek! We wouldn’t have made it without her.”

“Oh please, you could’ve used your hippocampi, would’ve been slower but you still would’ve made it.”

I scowled at him, “It might’ve been too late.”

“But we’ll never know,” he sighed dramatically. “’Cause she turned the project in and so gets all the credit. And dad is oh so happy for the honor, but she didn’t do anything worth awarding. So we’re not letting her be awarded.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment to Annabeth and me or if He was just insulting Clarisse.

“She was important to fighting the Kyklopes,” I continued. "And retrieved the fleece."

“You’re so cute, pretending like she did anything useful.”

I glared, he grinned.

“Come oooon,” he cooed. “You’re so protective of someone who is at best not an outright bully to you.”

“Clarisse is-“

“A brat?”

I scowled at him again.

“I think that’s all the chatter the chocolate bar earned you,” he added cheerfully. “I’m gonna go back to trying to kill you now.”

“You could instead not,” I offered.

“Unfortunately, cute as you are, you are siding with my brat of a little sister so-“

And then the pipes in the ceiling exploded and water crashed down on the God in front of me. He didn’t get a chance to shout, water drowning and encasing him, surrounding him as I let my emotion, the fear he’d driven into my chest, drive the water with more force than I’d normally offer it.

My trident was summoned in an instant and I drove it into the water, and through Phobos’s stomach.

His red eyes caught with mine for just a moment, shock and pain in them, and then His form started to glow, and I threw myself back. I closed my eyes, curling up as He released divine energy and vanished.

My skin tingled, my heart raced, fear stabbed into my chest.

But He was gone, and I was okay.

He definitely did live up to His title as God of Fear.

I let out a breath and pushed myself up, returning my trident to its charm form. I still needed to check on Clarisse.

Taking just a few steps out made it pretty easy to see where Clarisse and Deimos had been.

There were animals running free, fences knocked down, grass on fire.

It was actually rather impressive, I didn’t think either of them had anything for setting grass on fire or knocking fences that large over.

I paused to pet an otter that curled around my legs, purring a greeting.

Then I started running.

I followed the trail of destruction until I came upon the petting zoo, which was technically the barn area. There Clarisse was on her knees, breathing hard, and Deimos was nowhere to be seen.

“Clarisse?” I called.

She didn’t answer. She didn’t turn her head. She didn’t so much as flinch.

“Clarisse,” I called again, slower and careful as I moved forward. “Can you hear me?”

I was within arm distance of her and still no reaction, and nothing in her surroundings.

I touched her shoulder and the world transformed.

The grounds were burning, the sky was black with smoke, and surrounding us were towering figures, Kyklopes.

Clarisse was on her knees still, gasping for breath, several bodies of Kyklopes on the ground around us. Blood stained the ground, hers, the Kyklopes, and those of the mortals around us.

“Clarisse,” I said, shaking her shoulder. “Clarisse, stand up.”

“There’s no point,” she whispered. “I can’t fight them all.”

“There’s nothing to fight,” I said fiercely. “There’s nothing here. It’s all Deimos, it’s your brother.”

She gasped for breath, “No they came- they showed up- he fled- it’s not-“

“It is,” I said fiercely. “I couldn’t see them till I touched you. Stand up, fight back.”

“Ruining my fun,” snipped a voice. “You had your own fight, don’t interrupt mine.”

“Clarisse,” I snapped, “Fight him.”

“She can’t,” He said smugly. “She’s frozen in terror. People always freeze, or collapse. She fought longer than most, but she’s given up all the same.”

I considered him for a long moment, eyes narrow, then slipped water from my waterskin.

“Gonna attack me?” He mocked. “You’ll lose.”

I dumped water on Clarisse. She shouted in shock, then anger, then spun to glare at me and faltered.

“He’s over there,” I said, pointing to Deimos who was spluttering in shock.

The following fight was quick and brutal, Deimos fled when her blade came a bit too close to his chest for comfort.

“Well,” I said, the world to rights, “this has been fun.”

“So fun,” she agreed. “Now I just need to get the chariot to the temple.”

“Where is the temple anyways?”

“Pier 86, the Intrepid.”

“Oh, that museum thingie?”

“You’re a pain, you know that?”

“Thanks!”

She rolled her eyes. “Want to come with?”

I shook my head, “I have to get home before my friends start to worry. Get there safely.”

“I will,” she said. “Try to avoid trouble.”

OO OO OO OO

I sat with Benthesikyme, Rhodos, and Kymopoleia as we celebrated the full moon, sharing cookies and cakes and relaxing after the prayers.

“How are things in the sea?” I asked after a long time spent admiring the moon and stars. It wasn’t anywhere near as clear as in the ocean, but we could still see.

“There haven’t been many more deaths,” Kymopoleia said, “but things are heating up.”

“It won’t likely turn into full fledged war for some time,” Rhodos murmured. “Right now both sides are testing, only we have not been able to identify the base of operations for our opponent.”

“Most of the Gods on their side do not have a base, not like Okeanos-ari does in the deep or us in Atlantis. They will be more mobile, which makes war harder.”

“Is it going to go on for a long time?” I asked hesitantly. “Will- will I be able to help? Can I come down?”

Kymopoleia threw an arm over my shoulders, tugging me close, “Hey, we’ve got this. It isn’t the first war in the ocean, just… a bit different from normal.”

“It may seem dark right now,” Benthesikyme added, “but the moon always come out again.”

“There is hope, it will be rough, but we will be ready,” Rhodos said. “Take the time to rest on land, we are not in the practice of having children fight our battles.”

I looked up at the moon, leaning into Kymopoleia. I could only hope that the war ended quickly.

Chapter Text

I sat awkwardly in the car, Thalia on one side and Annabeth on the other.

My mom was driving us up to Maine, to a school there. I’d long since forgotten the name of it, I just knew that Grover needed us there to handle a monster who had infiltrated the school and to extract the demigod kids he’d found… if possible.

The car ride was over seven hours one way, so we were really glad that my mom was willing to drive us. It was near Bay Harbor, Maine, I remembered that much.

We’d chatted for parts of the ride, slept for other parts, and Annabeth had read a book for a while too.

I fiddled with my bracelet, running my fingers over the charms. A conch-shell, my trident, the mer stone, the turtle, and the octopus charm. It was soothing to run my fingers over them, knowing that I had what I needed to protect myself if need be. It also soothed the discomfort of being pressed in-between the two.

It was awkward being stuck in a small space with Thalia, we still didn’t… exactly get along. But we did our best to stay polite while in the car at least.

“Do you have any more chips?” she asked, as if my thoughts had summoned her voice.

“Let me check,” I dug through the bag of snacks we’d gotten at a gas station, originally holding several drinks and snacks, and handed her the last bag of chips.

“Thanks.”

And the awkward silence resumed.

Annabeth nudged my arm and shot me a smile, before burying her head back in her book. I was pretty sure that was one of the ones she got while in the ocean with me, something about strategy.

I’d have to ask her about it later.

We’d been in the car for what felt like forever, and it was definitely not the most comfortable ride. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

“We’re almost there,” mom said cheerfully, her hands tight on the wheel.

We’d rented the car for the trip, cause we didn’t own one after Gabe’s- er… overturned. It was a good car for the ride, and camp had chipped in some money, so mom didn’t have to cover it all.

“Don’t forget that I’ll be at the motel, it's less than ten minutes away, Cromwell Harbor Motel,” she said. “But if you need I can wait by the school.”

We were driving back with my mom too, the car had three rows for just that. Which is why I didn’t understand why I had to be squished between the two.

“We’ll be fine, Ms. Jackson,” Thalia assured. “We’ll meet up in the morning like planned.”

I wasn’t so sure about that myself, something felt off.

“We’ll call you if we do need you sooner,” Annabeth offered. “Percy has your number and in an emergency, we can use an Iris Message.”

Mom nodded, “Right, of course.” She drummed her fingers on the wheel.

“Thank you for the ride.”

“Yeah, this was a big help,” Thalia added.

The car came to a stop before a large building.

“That’s the place?” I asked.

“Westover Hall,” Mom confirmed. “It overlooks Cromwell Cove.”

I nodded, though mom wasn’t looking, and twisted my bracelet some more.

“This will do, thank you!” Thalia chirped.

“Thanks, mom,” I said as I slid out after Thalia.

“Thank you, Ms. Jackson,” Annabeth added, getting out on the other side.

There was an awkward pause as Annabeth came to join us, Thalia and I studying the snow.

When she was safely around the car mom waved and we waved back. I let out a breath as she drove away.

I was glad that she was away safely, away from the danger we’d be facing.

Each of us had a backpack, Annabeth and I had packed our water bottles and magical lunch boxes just in case. I had my oceanskin and my knife at my side. Annabeth had her knife strapped to her arm.

She looked much better, though I couldn’t see where she’d been stabbed with her shirt hiding it.

But she was moving better, easier, and seemed comfortable enough as we stood there. I was glad, we’d seen each other since the attack but only over IM. It was hard to get a feel for if someone was better over IM.

“Okay, let’s get inside,” Thalia said. “It’s cold.”

I blinked, then remembered that cold was a thing people dealt with. Annabeth was already shooting me a faint grin as she led the way through the snow.

I hadn’t dealt with the cold like others the last few winters, I suspected it had to do with my ocean heritage. Many in the sea were built far more for the cold than for the heat, and I didn’t find it very cold in the ocean anymore.

I shrugged and stepped on top of the snow, pressing my power into it to harden it and make it strong enough to hold me.

“Show off,” Annabeth teased as I caught up easily.

“I could help you too, if you wanted, but I thought you’d enjoy the snow, since you’re a southerner and everything.”

“I’m from Virginia, we get snow.”

I grinned, “but not snow like this.”

“This is insane snow.”

“Can you just let us step on top of the snow too?” Thalia demanded, annoyance sparking from her… literally.

I huffed and flicked my wrist, willing the snow in front of them to harden.

Thalia’s foot hit it and she yelped as she toppled over. Annabeth stepped up, well used to my powers by now, and offered Thalia a hand.

Her shoulders were shaking faintly so I knew she was holding back a laugh, I hid my grin and moved over to her side.

“Sorry, forgot you weren’t used to my powers,” I offered innocently. “You okay?”

Thalia scowled at me, “I’m fine.”

We walked over the snow to the doors, pushing them open and slipping inside with a burst of hot air.

“It’s so cold out,” Thalia grumbled, pulling her jacket and backpack off and stashing them near the door. “What is the point in it?”

I wasn’t sure where Thalia had been from, it never came up. But I suspected it wasn’t a place that got a bunch of snow. She was not a fan.

Annabeth and I copied her, shedding our warmer clothes and backpacks and shoving them behind a pillar, hopefully out of sight.

“You should probably ditch your… water thing,” Thalia added. “It’ll draw attention.”

I frowned, not liking the thought, but Annabeth seemed to be considering it too.

“If only you could hide it like your trident,” she said. “Maybe you can make it look like a belt?”

We wasted precious minutes allowing Annabeth to try to adjust how it looked, then giving up and stashing it with the bags.

I felt naked without my water skin, but I still had my trident and knife. And of course, Annabeth was here to watch my back. That did reassure me.

Plus, if we went outside there’d be plenty of snow to help too!

“What are you kids doing out here?” demanded a voice, making all of us jump and whip around.

In front of us were two people, a man and a woman. The woman’s hair was pulled into a tight bun and her clothes looked very professional, military like. The man had a military hair-cut, buzzed short, with two colored eyes of yellow/gold and blue.

I shivered, he watched us with an almost… gleeful gleam in those eyes.

I didn’t like that look.

I didn’t like the feeling he had either. My fingers reached up to run over my necklace, wondering if I should’ve taken it off. I wouldn’t right then, but… later. Before any fight.

“You don’t attend this school-“ the woman was cut off as Thalia stepped forward and snapped her fingers.

“We do attend this school, we were just running an errand for another teacher. I’m Thalia and that’s Annabeth and Percy.”

The man looked entirely unimpressed, but the woman’s eyes practically glazed over.

Was that-

“Oh yes, I forgot, my apologies,” her voice was almost distant, like she was floating. “Why don’t you run along to the dance now?”

“Now hang on-“ the man started.

“It’s fine, Dr. Thorn, they were just running an errand.”

“What errand?” he demanded.

Thalia faltered, and I stepped forward, “We were just checking the generator, because of the snow.”

“Oh yes, of course,” the woman nodded. “I remember now.”

Dr. Thorn only looked more unimpressed, “We don’t have a generator.”

“Yes, you do,” Thalia said.

“Yes, we do,” the woman agreed.

“It’s new,” I added.

Dr. Thorn looked entirely ready to argue more when Grover came galloping down the hall, forearm crutches working overtime.

“You made it! You- uhhh-“

“Mr. Underwood,” Dr. Thorn said. “They made it? They are apparently students here, so what would they have made?”

Grover gulped, “They uh- well- they made- uhh- the punch! Yes, they made the punch! It’s delicious.”

“And what were you doing running down here?”

“I wanted to see where they were! They were taking so long-“

“Sorry, we got delayed checking on the generator,” Annabeth said.

“Yes,” Grover said. “They were taking a while with the generator.”

Dr. Thorn scowled but the woman nodded easily.

“Run back to the dance,” she said. “Don’t want to miss it. The punch really is delicious.”

We nodded and said quick thank yous as we scrambled off.

“Thank the Gods you made it,” Grover said when we were out of earshot, though I wasn’t quite sure if that was true for the man.

I glanced back, my eyes locking with his for just a moment, before I turned away.

Maybe it was just my instincts from the sea, where bright colors and many colors were often a warning… or maybe something was up with him.

“Who’s the monster,” I asked. “The one you mentioned.”

Grover blinked, turning to me, “Oh, well, you just met him… it was Dr. Thorn.”

I thought as much, this wasn’t going to be fun.

And on that cheerful note we headed into the dance.

OO OO OO OO

The room looked like any low-effort school dance. Not that I’d actually been to any, but it had some streamers set up and some tables clearly taken from other rooms that had cloths on them. Punch and snacks were in the corner and there was a place open in the center for dancing.

Kids were dancing, but there were also a lot hanging off to the side bouncing basketballs and chatting.

“So, uh,” I glanced at Thalia as we lingered by the door. “Did you use the Mist on them, back there?”

“Yeah,” she glanced at me. “What? You never learned that?”

“No,” I said, biting back a scowl at her nearly smug look. “I just learned ocean magic.”

“Ocean magic?”

“Guys,” Annabeth said, cutting in. “Where are the kids we’re here for?”

Grover nodded quickly, “Over on the bleachers.”

Our eyes went over there to find a boy and a girl, both with black hair and olive skin. The girl was older, with an olive-green hat tugged over her hair and sleeves covering her hands. The boy was younger, with a card game in his hands that he was motioning to as he spoke to his sister.

The two were set apart from everyone else, with no one really bothering them. They didn’t seem to be paying the party too much attention.

“How old are they?” Annabeth asked softly.

“Ten and twelve,” Grover said. “They’re pretty private, it was hard to get near them. What’s the plan?”

It made my stomach twist unpleasantly when Grover looked not to Annabeth or me, but Thalia for an answer. As if she’d done this before or had been around in recent years. This was just as new to her as the rest of us.

And Annabeth and me had been doing way more planning lately.

Maybe it was petty, but it felt like people kept turning to Thalia despite her not knowing things going on these days yet. Things have changed, and she’d never been to camp.

Thalia studied the room, “Well, right now we’re sticking out like a sore thumb. I doubt Dr. Thorn is going to cause too much trouble publicly. Let’s keep an eye on the kids as discreetly as we can. If there’s an opening let’s go over to them, but no one is around them, so we’d stand out going over there now.

Grover nodded, and I frowned.

It wasn’t the worst plan but approaching now would save us the trouble of something happening.

My eyes were drawn to the door by the bleachers, where Dr. Thorn was entering. I didn’t get the chance to speak before Thalia continued.

“But really, who chose this music?” Thalia grumbled. “Green Day is so much better.”

“Green Day?” Grover asked. “How would you dance to that?”

“Ugh, just come on, goat boy.”

And with that she dragged Grover onto the dance floor.

“Dr. Thorn is in here too now,” I murmured to Annabeth.

She followed my gaze and pursed her lips, “Right, we need to keep an eye on him.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, I wasn’t quite certain if Annabeth wanted to dance to keep an eye on him like Thalia said. Her gaze was lingering on Thalia.

“It’s good to see her having fun,” Annabeth said. “Even if it’s on a rescue mission.”

I glanced at her, “How have things been at camp?”

She tucked a loose strand back, “Things have… been I guess. There’s still all the tension because of- of Lu- Luke-“ she cleared her throat “-but Thalia is fitting in pretty good. Malcolm, Ava, and she are getting along well.”

“That’s good,” I agreed, though I wasn’t sure what I thought about it. Malcolm and Ava were both Athena kids I was pretty sure. The Athena kids didn’t really like me. “Good to know she’s doing okay.”

Annabeth smiled at me, “Yeah, I mean- it’s been an adjustment for her but… she’s adjusting. Silena has been helping her some too.”

“Silena is good at that,” I agreed.

“She really is,” Annabeth agreed. “Thalia still hasn’t quite adjusted to me being… you know, older, much closer to her age than when she saw me before… but we’re working on it.”

I could’ve guessed that bit on my own, what little I’d seen of the two of them together had Thalia pretty protective of Annabeth. She hadn’t quite grown used to me from what I’d seen, wasn’t my biggest fan. Ever since the attack undersea-

Well yeah, I couldn’t say I was her biggest fan either.

“So, uh- should we move around? Or away?”

I let my gaze slip across the room, careful not to linger on Dr. Thorn who was eyeing us suspiciously.

“Yeah, we should probably get into the crowd at least a little…”

“So uh-“ I paused and mused on what to say as we drifted further into the crowd. “Do you know how to dance?”

Annabeth laughed, “I mean, I know the basics. But I’ve mostly learned Greek dances at camp for the festivals and stuff. You haven’t been around during a lot of those though, have you learned any?”

I shrugged, I’d joined a few lessons for dancing, but land dancing was harder than in the sea. Though I did enjoy watching them at the few festivals I’d been to. Dancing was pretty big in Greek culture, that reflected in the sea too.

“I’ve mostly learned how to dance in the sea,” I said. “Triton dragged me to lessons a few times and I was taught the history of those dances.”

“Oh?” Annabeth looked curious. “You’ll have to teach me some sometime. In the meantime, I can try to teach you some land dances.”

I grinned, even as I angled to eye Dr. Thorn who was doing the same thing to me. I didn’t like the way he was eyeing the two of us.

“So, should we dance?” I asked hesitantly.

She grabbed my hand, “Yeah, sounds like a plan. Not sure this music works for any of the Greek dances I know though.”

I laughed as she tugged me along, I felt clumsy trying to dance on the floor. Swimming felt so easy, but this felt clumsy and awkward.

But Annabeth didn’t seem to mind, easily tugging my arms into position and guiding me through the steps of a simple dance.

The music wasn’t anything I’d normally listen to, but I recognized it from Grover’s playlist. Something more piano and Michael Jacksony. Not something I’d expect for a dance, but Grover did like it.

And it worked for more slow dances I supposed, which Annabeth was guiding me through right then. Whispering the steps for me to follow.

“Do you think the camp will ever accept what Luke did?” I asked as we swayed with the group, alternating who was keeping an eye on the kids and Dr. Thorn.

“I don’t know,” she said, lips pursing. “I mean- some have, and some seem to have accepted it but think he did it for a good reason. But… some still- they’re all just in denial.”

“I… I was surprised you accepted it so quickly,” I said hesitantly, bringing up something I’d wondered in the hours between dusk and sleep.

“I didn’t at first,” she said. “But I listened in on the conversation Mr. D had with the mer that came to talk to Him. And I tried- I tried to contact him and… People don’t just go out of Iris Message range, they’re cut off. Something has to hide them… he wouldn’t have been able to do that on his own.”

I nodded, “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, “it’s been over a year. I mean- I’m not… I’m not happy. It- it’s a betrayal I’m not sure I’ll ever really get over. But… he made his choice… he chose to abandon us, to betray us.” Her eyes flashed, fury gleaming in them. “I’m not going to forgive that. But I don’t want to linger on it.”

I hummed, turning with her as the music continued and Grover stumbled over Thalia’s dancing, his forearm crutches swinging as they moved.  

“You know,” she said after a moment of silent contemplation. “I don’t think Grover is meant for mortal dancing.”

I snorted, giggling with her as we both eyed Grover nearly stepping on Thalia’s toes and his right forearm crutch whacked a neighboring

“It’s the goat legs,” I said solemnly, lips creeping up. “He always struggles to move like us with them.”

“Maybe we should’ve pointed that out,” she suggested with a grin.

“I dunno, Grover might’ve taken offense. He’s very proud of his human disguise.”

Annabeth laughed, turning us in the dance as the two vanished into the crowd, followed by the grumbling of those attacked by Grover’s forearm crutches.

“Maybe he should’ve tried putting those down for the dance,” I suggested. “Or Thalia could’ve tried including them.”

“Yeah,” she giggled. “Definitely something to work on for future-“ Her gaze locked onto something over my shoulder. “We’ve gotta move.”

I twisted, following her gaze and finding Dr. Thorn speaking to the kids we were there for.

“I’ll get Thalia and Grover,” she said, pulling away and disappearing into the crowd.

I turned to follow her but faltered, uncertain of which way she’d gone. I turned back to the kids, wondering if I could just stay near them, but they were gone.

I swept my gaze around the room, landing it on the door near the bleachers. Dr. Thorn was ushering the siblings out, ignoring whatever they were saying as he closed the door behind them.

My eyes narrowed, Annabeth would understand. She and the others could catch up, but we couldn’t let the kids disappear or worse: be killed.

My fingers tangled with my necklace, unhooking it and shoving it into my pocket.

The room sparked with lightning, whispers of trees swaying and olive oil on my tongue. The room seemed warmer and darker, something soft on my fingers.

I took a deep breath, steadied myself against the surge of sensations, and pushed through the crowd to follow them.

Chapter Text

I trailed after the siblings, following the sense of something soft on my fingers and the moments of cool shadows that dusted my skin. A buzz was in the air, growing strong as I went in the right direction.

Were the shadows and softness from Dr. Thorn? I wondered at a terror being so gentle feeling.

I slowly pushed the door open, just far enough to peer through. As I found only shadows beyond the door I carefully slipped through, closing it gently behind me. I crept forward as quietly as I could, wishing for a moment that I was in the ocean with waters I could force calm around me, so my movements wouldn’t make a stir.

The hallways I was in split at the end, but I followed the trail of cool shadows and softness down the left path until I reached another door.

This one was grander than the previous one, looking like it led to someplace special. It also looked heavy, and it turned out it was as I pushed the door open with force. The door squeaked on hinges in desperate need of some oiling as it opened, and I cringed at the noise.

It was really too much to ask that the door was quiet, wasn’t it?

This room looked akin to a church, though I’d never been in one. It has long seats like in the shows, and stained-glass windows of doves and a cross across the room, above the… altar? I was pretty sure it had a special name, but I couldn’t recall it.

At the end of the line of seats stood Dr. Thorn, his hand around one of the siblings’ throats.

The boy, Nico? Looked very scared as Dr. Thorn held his hand around his sister’s throat. Bianca was her name, I thought.

“What a pleasant surprise,” purred the terror. “I hadn’t expected them to send so many famed demigods, but it is an excellent opportunity for me to get my hands on you as well.”

I stepped forward slowly, eyeing his hand on Bianca’s neck. There was nothing soft or gentle about that or the implied threat, despite the softness at my fingertips that grew stronger with proximity.

“There’s no need to hurt them,” I said carefully. “Wouldn’t that displease Lord Kronos?”

Dr. Thorn laughed, “I’m not here on Lord Kronos’ orders. But even so, while killing you might be off the table… killing these two-“ he grinned down at the children “-is very much an option.”

I bit back some choice Halmaheran words and glanced around the room as discretely as I could manage.

“Indeed, it shall be a grand occasion upon my return, My Lord will be quite pleased with my commander and myself.”

There wasn’t much that would help me if we battled here, if Dr. Thorn decided to move locations, then I might be able to do something on the way though.

“So what? You want me to go with you?” I asked, buying time and trying to think of options. If only I had my waterskin. “Why would I do that?”

“Cause if you don’t, I’ll kill one of these two and just take the other with me. Any demigod is good enough.”

The smile Dr. Thorn offered was anything but nice, teeth gleaming too sharp and eyes nearly glowing in the dark room.

The siblings looked terrified. I couldn’t let them get hurt. And maybe this would work out better if I went along with it for now.

“Alright,” I said. “Alright, I’ll go with. Don’t hurt them.”

“Excellent,” he purred. “Now, you’re going to do me a favor and go to that door there-“ he motioned with a free hand to a door at the side of the church… chapel? “-and open it.”

“Why?” I asked, not eager at all to put my back to this terror.

“I’m certainly not putting you behind me, or out of my sight,” he crooned. “So, you go open the door like a good little boy and I’ll follow with these two.”

I bit back a scowl, knowing seeming at least somewhat agreeable would work more in our favor, and moved slowly to the door. I didn’t know what I could do to get help, no one knew exactly where I was, just that Dr. Thorn had taken the kids. And there had been the split in the hallway, they could go the wrong way.

I thought furiously as I pushed the door open, and dutifully checked for anyone around as Dr. Thorn ordered. I took my time looking all around and pushing my head out further to check behind the door, and even above it.

Dr. Thorn was not impressed, “Who would hide above the door?”

Above-

My mind went to the Kyklopes, Polyphemus. But more importantly, it went to Grover.

Grover who had made that… empathy link thing. We’d never discussed it, but it shared emotions, right? He said it was easiest in dreams but maybe…

I tried to feel worried and afraid as strongly as I could. I was more frustrated than afraid, so it was a bit hard, but I was scared for the kids, so I focused on that. I wasn’t exactly sure how to let Grover know, so I just tried to push all my feelings towards him.

Wasn’t sure if it was working but it was a start.

“Alright, go,” Dr. Thorn ordered, and the boy, Nico, was shoved into me. “Get walking.”

I steadied Nico before stepping outside. I nearly froze on the spot. Not because of the temperature, no I didn’t mind that at all though Nico started shivering immediately. Rather because… I’d nearly forgotten we’d be surrounded by snow.

My waterskin may have been at the entrance, but snow worked just as well for me.

I kept moving though, for I needed to get Bianca away from Dr. Thorn before I could act.

“Are you okay,” I murmured to Nico as we moved forward, following the directions Dr. Thorn gave to tromp through the snow towards the cliff.

“I’m okay,” the boy confirmed, his face still rather pale. “Did he say you were a demigod? Like Hercules?”

“Herakles,” I corrected automatically, “and yes. Like that.”

“Cool,” the boy whispered, eyes wide and sparkling.

Well, at least he seemed okay despite the situation, other than the cold. It was Bianca I needed to worry about now.

“What do you expect me to do now,” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at Dr. Thorn. “We’re in the freezing cold with no one else around. Do you need to keep threatening her? Where am I going to go? Who would hear me yell?”

He seemed to consider my question as I tripped over a rock hidden in the snow.

“True enough, you don’t seem capable of being much trouble right now. But if you even think of trying something… well, just know I don’t need to be near one of the kids to kill them.”

My mind raced as I tried to figure out what that meant. It didn’t sound like a lie or an empty threat. He must have some sort of long-range weapon, or ability? Fire breathing? No, there was no sensation like fire. And the cool shadows and softness on my fingers didn’t give me any real hint of what he could do. I wished he had a more distinct presence, something more like Medusa would be nice. Something I could get a hint from.

Dr. Thorn ordered us to the edge of the cliff, Snows Point it was called if I remembered correctly. I could hear the ocean behind us, I could sense it not so far below. Was he really providing me with so much assistance?

Did he not realize what I could do?

He then pulled out a phone which made me blink. Terrors used phones? I didn’t even have a phone!  This was unfair.

He typed something into the phone then tucked it away again, smiling at us. The smile made me want to smile back, all teeth and threat as ‘twas in the sea.

“Why are you taking us? What is the point?” I asked, hoping to distract him.

His smile turned distinctively condescending even as I spread my focus to the snow around us, slowly gathering it under my command. I’d not done many great feats with my control of water before, the glacier facing Medusa being the greatest one. But right now, I would need to command the snow to a fine and powerful degree. A few snowballs wouldn’t be anywhere near enough I feared.

“Things are stirring, little sea prince,” Dr. Thorn crooned. “Things are rising which have not in thousands of years. It is the rebirth of ancients.”

I frowned at him, thinking of all the dreams I’d had of ancient days, of the Titans and their mother. Were other Titans rising?

I made note of what he said, the snow building up into layers as I readied myself to turn it to ice. I needed him to keep talking.

“Sure, like Okeanos-ari. Oh, but He’s on our side.”

Dr. Thorn’s smile turned into a sneer. “Do you think having Him on your side will save you? He isn’t the only God of the sea we could ally with! He will regret betraying His family for Poseidon and all you brats. Kronos will rule once more and you will regret opposing him! If you live that long that is.”

The cruel smile curling his lips as he finished speaking made me bristle. Okeanos-ari had His reasons for the side He chose (and I was glad it was ours). To act as if He was weak was a grave insult though. And more importantly, Kronos had made promises.

“Didn’t Metani make promises?” I asked as sweetly as I was able, doing my best to hide my offence. “I heard Lord Kronos was very against wide scale death. Something about wanting something to rule when He took over?”

Granted it was more Metani saying He didn’t want to kill demigods, not much about anyone else… but close enough… some extrapolation perhaps.

“And you think you’re worth His time?” Dr. Thorn demanded. “No, you’re just one little brat, not worth much in the long run but for now you can be useful. But He doesn’t need you.”

“You said you weren’t here on Metani’s orders,” I reminded him, “so why do you care so much about His rule?”

“I am here to prove my might! And my capabilities to Him when I deliver not just two promising demigods, but the Prince of the Sea, the Son of Poseidon Himself, the boy who ruined two of My Lord’s plans so far.”

Well, hopefully Metani wasn’t too bitter about that. It was a war after all. And He’d seemed to understand when we’d last spoken.

“You seem more mad about that than He is,” I pointed out. Because really, what a temper.

A noise was scratching at me, the whump of blades in the air.

I recognized it, I’d heard it before. I turned to look, and saw a speck in the sky, heading towards us.

“Ah, our ride,” Dr. Thorn declared with a sickly-sweet smile. “Only a few more minutes.”

… was he seriously planning to put me on a helicopter?

I was NOT going on a helicopter! Did he want us to get struck down? Zeus let me live once in the sky and I wasn’t about to test His generosity, that was just asking to die!

“Yeah, okay I’m not doing a helicopter ride,” I said flatly.

And then I struck.

Snow rose and rose and crashed over Dr. Thorn, turning into ice blades as I focused on freezing it. Snow swirled and rose before us as I crafted a frozen shield at the same time, pulling both of the kids behind me as well.

I grit my teeth, feeling the ice shatter and shake as the ever-present buzz, a feeling I’d tuned out, rose in a crescendo before shattering with the icy attack.

With a roar Dr. Thorn rose… and rose… and rose…

He was taller than he had been, by a significant degree, but was also on four legs, with sandy fur covering his form. His haunches stood where his head had prior and a fluffy deep burnt red mane sprouted around his neck. His eyes gained a cat like shine that almost seemed to glow in the dark, locked on us.

A vicious tail uncurled, spikes spanning the entire thing like thorns upon a rose stem. The tip gleaming a sharp ivory white and poised to strike.

I swallowed and reinforced the shield that I no longer believed would be much help.

Bianca screamed and Nico whimpered as we faced a manticore.

Okay, I maybe did not think this through entirely.

“You think some snow will stop me?” growled Thorn, his voice strangely staying the same. “I am no puny cat.”

“Uh- cats don’t like water, right?” I asked, deciding that he was definitely a cat.

The manticore opened his mouth, rows of sharp teeth flashing, and I decided to move to plan B.

The snow and ice on and around Dr. Thorn melted into slurry, then freezing cold water in an instant.

I could feel the strain of freezing then melting so much water so fast, especially the melting in such cold temperatures, but I didn’t have a choice. I kept melting the water.

He roared, shaking violently. But this wasn’t normal water, it was my water. So, I kept it on him, wrapping around his tail and neck and trying to shove it over his face.

He thrashed, water spraying wide as he splashed through the water on his face, tail lashing out in our direction. Every bone in my body burned and my instincts screamed.

I yanked both the kids down, hitting the snow with them as the ice shield I’d raised shattered; something tumbled over us and hit the snow.

A large spike was sitting in the snow beside us.

Oh.

He could throw those.

Yay.

That was awesome.

So cool.

I loved that so much.

I did not want to scream at all, nope, this was fine.

I shoved every bit of ‘Mayday Mayday Bad Scared Help’ that I could at Grover.

“What is going on,” Bianca whispered, voice shaking with terror.

“He’d be cooler if he wasn’t trying to kill us,” Nico added in a whimper.

Mood, I thought.

“Run back towards the school,” I whispered. “Try to find a blonde-haired girl, with grey eyes. She’ll keep you safe.”

“What about you?” Nico whispered.

“Someone needs to distract him,” I said grimly. “Now go.”

I pushed myself up, ignoring Nico trying to say something else, and whipped my hand out.

The snow twisted and formed spikes, freezing rapidly. It was easier to freeze than salt water, and I took full advantage of that as shot spikes of my own at the manticore.

“Cool!” I heard from behind me, I did my best to ignore it and the sounds of crunching snow as the siblings fled.

Dr. Thorn snarled and lunged, and I yanked my trident free, growing just in time to keep him from ripping my face off.

He growled, dodging back as I thrust at him; we stared each other down.

He slowly lowered himself, tail twisting, and I recognized the motion from the neighbors cats.

I threw up as strong a wall of ice I could and threw myself back just as he pounced, slamming into and shattering the wall though it cut his momentum and he stumbled landing. Lips twisted into a truly menacing expression he lashed out at me, his tail lashing in turn.

Pain seared over my arm as my bones burned once more, numbness curling through it. I nearly dropped my trident.

A cry came from behind me, not one of pain but of horror. I didn’t turn to see which of the two siblings made it and instead lashed out with my good arm and trident to get some space. Not that that helped much with the manticore able to throw his spikes.

He readied himself to lunge once more when I heard a shout from behind me and the air crackled with power.

Relief filled me as I recognized that presence. Grover got my message.

I dropped instantly, feeling the ozone in the air as a bolt snapped over my head with a crack followed swiftly by a boom.

My ears rang as I pushed myself up with my good arm, hissing as my blood stained the snow.

“How’d he block that?” Demanded Grover with a squeak in his voice.

I’d never been so relieved to hear his voice.

I lifted my head and found Dr. Thorn uninjured, with burnt remains of… something on the ground.

The top spike on his tail was reforming and it clicked. He’d used his spikes to block the bolt.

I returned my trident to its charm form, and instead readied myself to utilize my water bending, that would be more use in this battle with one arm out of commission.

Thalia was already charging in, her spear crackling and sparking, lightning skittered over my skin as her power made itself known. Her shield was raised, a shield I’d never seen before which held the face of Medusa on its front.

It made Dr. Thorn skitter back, snarling and tail already lashing forward.

I took advantage of his hesitation to freeze the snow beneath his feet once more, ice chilling in my veins as he shouted, stumbling and throwing his spikes off target.

Something nudged at my senses as I swirled up more snow to freeze and send rocketing at him, trying my best to ignore my injury.

Something hummed under my skin, a whisper of light too soft to truly feel. A string running over my fingers and the brush of feathers on my cheek.

I resisted the urge to touch my cheek, but I worried what that meant. Were there more terrors coming?

Thalia shouted and stabbed at Dr. Thorn, catching him on the flank but being knocked back by his paw. The claws scraped against her shield, keeping her from harm even as she tumbled over.

He crouched low, ready to pounce.

And then the horns started blowing.

Horns filled with wild energy, dancing off the trees and thrumming through the air. I took a deep breath, and the air rang clean and pure. The moon above shone bright.

I realized what was coming a moment before anyone else.

“No!” Shouted Dr. Thorn. “Tis not allowed!”

My chest thrummed with the hunters horn and it felt like dawn rose as shafts of gold streaked from the forest and at the manticore.

He roared, lunging for Thalia as if to take at least one prisoner, or kill at least one demigod, when Annabeth entered my vision. She leapt forth with a shout, knife in hand, and plunged it into Dr. Thorn’s neck, clinging to his mane with a fierce expression.

“Annabeth!” Thalia cried as more arrows struck true.

“Hold your fire!” called a voice from the woods, and I glimpsed many girls and women coming to the tree line.

It was too late however. Dr. Thorn roared once more and then, with Annabeth still clutching to his mane, leapt for the cliff.

Cold filled me as I realized what was happening and I lunged myself, reaching for the water below and yanking with all my strength.

Water surged up and and up and up and- there was nothing. Just cliff face and empty air.

Dr. Thorn never hit the water.

And neither did Annabeth.

Chapter Text

Grover pulled me away from the cliff side as I tried to direct the water to search the cliff side, trying to find Annabeth.

“Annabeth-” Thalia called, turning angrily to Percy. “Where is she? Did you catch her?”

“She didn’t hit the water,” I said, pale and shaken. “She- I’m searching the cliff side-”

“They’re not there,” said a voice, gentle and soft.

Soft light shimmered on my skin, feathers brushed my cheek and fluttered over my arms. I turned to see a figure I knew, instinctively, from the artwork and weaves undersea, to be Artemis.

I swallowed, terror for Annabeth warring with awe for Artemis-telv.

Artemis-telv shone under the moonlight, her auburn hair like the wild leaves of autumn. Her smile sad and soft and skin like moonlight personified. Her eyes gleamed, silver and bright and put the moon itself to shame. It was the shimmer on ocean water and the flash of silver scales.

I let Artemis guide me away from the cliff, let her direct me to her hunters who were setting up a camp.

“I welcome you,” she said, “take shelter with the hunt tonight.”

I accepted, swallowing hard. I really wished Annabeth was here so I could just be excited- this was Artemis-telv.

I had a drink and a pouch of jerky pressed into my hands as one of the hunters, Zoya she introduced herself as, directed me to sit on a rock nearby while the hunt set up the camp.

Nico was given the same instructions and food and drink and settled next to me, staring around with wide fascinated eyes.

Thalia ignored the hunters attempts to settle her, speaking furiously with a huntress that wore a circlet upon her head. Black hair, curls visible even in the tight braid that trailed down her back, seemed to almost glow in the night.

She was different from the other hunters, I could tell. Something about her drew my gaze, something like the taste of dusk on my tongue.

Bianca settled next to Nico, peering uncertainly at me, and I offered her the best smile I could. Dread curled in my stomach and I wondered if Annabeth was okay.

Dr. Thorn had spoken of stealing us, of taking us elsewhere to some general. That meant that Annabeth could still be alive, just imprisoned.

No one had found the disappeared demigods yet, but Kronos had said he wanted them alive. So maybe- maybe I could get Annabeth back.

After all, there was no real benefit to killing her, right?

“So we’re demigods, right?” Nico said. “I mean, that’s what Dr. Thorn said. Does that mean your parent is a God? Which God? Do they have power levels like in mythomagic?”

“… what” I asked.

“Dr. Thorn was a manticore right? They have 1,100 attack points which is pretty good for a monster card and it’s one that can attack the opponent directly as long as the opponent has no active shields!”

I stared baffled.

“Who’s your parent? The God one I mean. Unless your mortal parent is important? Oh is that a thing? Is your other parent a princess or a prince?”

“Uh- my mom’s a writer,” I said slowly. “My dad is Poseidon.”

“Why would Poseidon fall in love with a writer?” Nico wondered. “Wouldn’t a fisherman make more sense?”

I didn’t like Nico.

“Nico,” Bianca scolded. “Sorry, he’s excited.”

“It’s… fine,” I said awkwardly. “This is a lot to take in I know. It was pretty wild when I first learned.”

“When did you learn?” Nico asked excitedly. “Did you turn into a fish when you got to the ocean? Can you breathe underwater? Have you met your dad?”

I tried to keep track of the questions, “I was, I dunno, eight? Nine? And yeah I’ve met my Metu.”

What were the other questions?

“How did you learn?” Bianca asked. “Did- did you get attacked too?”

“What’s a Metu?” Nico asked nearly on top of his sister.

“No, well, yes but that’s not how I learned. I ran into one of my Godly siblings, Triton. He figured out I was his brother and taught me. Metu is my dad.”

“Wow!” Nico said excitedly. “Who’s our Godly parent? Dr. Thorn said we were demigods too, right?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “And yeah, you’re demigods.”

“How do you know that,” Bianca demanded. “How- how do any of you know any of this?”

“Terrors can smell the divine heritage,” I explained. “So can satyrs, like Grover. Satyrs go around to find demigods before terrors can get to them. And well, most mortals can’t see terrors so…”

“Wow!” Nico all but vibrated. “Why don’t you know who our parent is?”

“You have to be claimed. I don’t think you’ve been claimed yet so… until your parent lets us know who they are we don’t know.”

Bianca pursed her lips.

A throat cleared, drawing us away from our conversation. It was the huntress from earlier, who was arguing with Thalia.

“Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee,” she said.

“All of us?” Bianca asked.

“Yes. The two of ye were present longer and know more of the manticore,” she turned to me. “While thou has context to understand more of what the manticore spoke of with thee.”

I nodded, she really did feel so familiar, what was it?

The three of us followed the huntress to a pavilion, a large tent covering the space that shimmered as if woven from moonlight.

We trailed after the huntress and I couldn’t help but peer around as we entered.

The space was covered in furs of all kinds. Of mortal animals and divine alike. Deer and bear and tiger and manticore and minotaur and a massive snake skin- I didn’t know enough monsters or animals to identify them all.

In the center of the pavilion a hearth was dug, fire crackling within.

“Please, sit,” Artemis-telv said with a motion to the space around her.

The huntress sat near Artemis-telv, settling on her knees. Her silver hunting gear gleamed in the firelight, sparkling oddly, like a mirage.

Despite the shine to it I had a suspicion that it would be very hard to see her in the forest unless she wished to be seen.

“Perseus-aia,” Artemis greeted me. “Bianca, Nico-”

“Why’d you call him Perseus-aia? What’s aia? He said his name was Percy?”

I mourned quietly even while part of me was very excited that Artemis-talv knew my name.

“My full name is Perseus,” I said to Nico, “and aia is a term in Halmaheran, the language of the sea. It means prince, basically.”

“Woah! You’re a prince!?”

I shifted awkwardly, “Yeeees.”

Artemis-talv smiled gently, unbothered by Nico’s excitement.

“Perseus-aia is the son of Poseidon and recognized as a Prince of the sea-”

“Are those two different things? If Poseidon is king of the sea-”

“Nico,” Bianca hissed. “Shush, you can ask questions later.”

He pouted but nodded.

“Thank you,” Artemis-talv said. “I apologize for how we’ve met. I know it can be quite shocking to learn of your heritage like this.”

“Shocking is… one word for it,” Bianca murmured.

“It was so cool! Percy went woosh- and wam- and then he summoned his trident and it was like- wapow-” Nico waved his arms excitedly as he explained the battle and I felt my cheeks warm.

Artemis-talv just looked amused, “I’m sure he battled fiercely. He did well keeping you safe.”

I ducked my head, trying to hide my grin.

“Now, I wish to learn what occurred and what the manticore said. You two have known him as a teacher, did he show any signs of his nature before he tried to take you tonight?”

Bianca shook her head. “They- I mean they were a bit odd at times but-”

“Dr. Thorn goes by they!” Nico said excitedly. “They’re uh- non-binary or something like that? I don’t know, the other teachers thought it was kinda stupid but Dr. Thorn would give detention if you didn’t call them they so everyone did.”

Artemis-telv inclined her head as I blinked. Terrors could be non-binary? I supposed that made sense…

“Thank you for informing me. Is there anything else you know?”

“They offered extra help to any students that needed it,” Bianca said. “But they graded really harshly… I don’t know, I don’t know what might be relevant.”

“That’s alright,” Artemis-telv soothed. “What about you, Perseus-aia?”

“You can call me Percy,” I said, uncomfortable with Perseus. “But um… they didn’t give much when I tried to question them but they did say- they said they weren’t here on Metani’s orders. A commander of some kind was ordering them around. They wouldn’t say who it was though.”

Artemis frowned, “That is concerning. If there are factions within Kronos’ forces then they may act more sporadically than expected.”

“There was also a helicopter. I don’t know where it went.”

“He called it with a phone,” Nico added.

“They also mentioned- things were stirring, ancient things,” I continued. “They said it was the return of ancients.”

“The rebirth,” Bianca corrected. “They said rebirth, specifically.”

“Hmm,” the Goddess pursed her lips. “That is concerning. We have noticed an increase in certain monsters and beasts- ones not seen in many years. Even Dr. Thorn themself- well, they’re not a monster I’ve seen in over four hundred years. And before that nearly a thousand years.”

I drew a sharp breath.

“I can prepare the hunt, M’lady,” the huntress said. “We can be ready to track the worst of the beasts shortly and sent notice to the other hunts to do the same.”

Other hunts?

Artemis-telv shook her head, “No I… there is one beast in particular I have been worried over. Rumors have started of its return. This is not a beast I can bring any other to track, I will need to hunt for it myself.”

My eyes widened and the huntress looked quite concerned.

“However, after the attack last summer- and with this targeting of Percy-aia and other demigods, I would be remiss to leave the hunt on their own…”

I blinked, what did that mean?

“I will have this hunt go to Camp,” she declared. “Ensure its safety while I hunt. Who knows what the Titan’s may do.”

Oh my Gods.

The hunt of Artemis-telv was going to Camp-

I bit back a grin and a squeal and felt another pang at the thought of Annabeth not being here.

“What about Annabeth?”

Artemis-telv turned to me.

“I mean- she- she was taken.”

“She is not the first,” Artemis-telv murmured. “Nor will she be the last.”

I bit my lip, not happy with that.

“Nonetheless, I will keep an eye out during my hunt. If I find any sign of the missing demigods I will send notice and attempt to free them.”

I relaxed at that. If anyone could find them it would be Artemis-telv, the Huntress and All-Seeing Eye.

“And of Bianca, M’lady?”

“Yes, best to discuss this now.”

I blinked, tilting my head. Nico looked between Bianca and the two in confusion.

“Bianca Di’Angelo, I wish to offer you a place in the hunt.”

Bianca blinked. “What?”

My eyes went wide. Oh. That- That was a big deal. I knew a little bit about the hunt thanks to camp and talking to others. They were open to any women, and offered a form of immortality to its members.

“I… what would that mean?” Bianca asked. “I wouldn’t- this is an interesting offer I would… I want to learn more of the world but-”

The huntress leaned forward, “The hunt would train thee , and you would have M’lady’s blessing to aid thee in battle. The hunt tracks down and slays beasts and monsters for the betterment of the world. We hunt where there is overpopulation, protect endangered species, and track down dangerous monsters before they can target other demigods.”

“Oh,” Bianca murmured. “Wow.”

“I-” I cleared my throat. “I know it’s a great honor, to join the hunt, but- remember that you did just learn about this world. And um… I heard that you can’t really rejoin if you leave the hunt, right?”

“We have other programs, the maidens and the pack, ye could join those… but as Percy-aia says, once thine vow is severed to Lady Artemis ye cannot redo it.”

Bianca chewed her lip, “I- I wouldn’t be against joining? But… I’d like some time to think…”

“As the hunt is heading to camp, you have plenty of time to consider and spend some time getting to know the hunt,” Artemis assured. “Once I return we can discuss options in more detail.”

“I would be okay with that,” Bianca decided. “I’d like to make sure- I mean, I don’t want to just leave Nico either.”

“Camp Half-Blood would keep him safe,” the huntress said.

I nodded quickly, “We would. But yeah, I understand wanting to make sure your little brother is safe before making a decision.”

“You have a brother?” Bianca asked curiously.

I thought of Tyson, my hand closing over the watch on my wrist, above my charm bracelet.

“I… I had a brother.”

Bianca’s eyes widened, “Oh- I- I’m sorry.”

I swallowed, looking away.

“There are dangers,” Artemis-telv murmured. “I would not lie and say there are not. But the hunt at least is a family. I protect my huntresses and they in turn aid me. Take the time to get to know the Camp as well, and see how they will aid and protect your brother.”

Nico was frowning a little but he seemed relieved that Bianca wasn’t leaving him.

“Is that all?” Nico asked. “I mean, how are we getting to camp? Are we traveling as a group?”

“My mom was planning to drive us back,” I said hesitantly.

“There is no need to trouble your mother,” Artemis-telv assured. “I will call my brother to transport everyone. But for now, you should rest. It is late and you will have an early morning.”

The huntress rose, bowing briefly to Artemis-telv, and then turning to us.

I hurried to my feet, Bianca and Nico following as the huntress led us out.

I wondered what her name was, it felt awkward to ask now. I would have to listen and see if someone else called her name.

“You may sleep here,” the huntress said to me, having dropped off Nico and Bianca already.

“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate the help.”

She studied me, “Tis our duty.”

“Still, thank you.”

She inclined her head. “Lady Artemis will find your friend.”

I blinked, stopping in reaching for the tent. “I… I hope so.”

“None are better,” the huntress assured me. “She will not fail.”

I smiled, feeling some of the tension leave me. “It’s to be expected, I mean… she’s Artemis-telv.”

“Precisely,” the huntress said. “Rest, we have much to do on the morrow.”

I took a deep breath and slipped into the tent. I needed to be ready for whatever came tomorrow. I didn’t put my necklace back on and took a few moments to pray for guidance in my sleep. Hopefully my dreams would show me something useful.

OO OO OO OO

OMAKE: How Percy wishes he could be

Percy: Oh my Gods that's Artemis
Percy: This is Artemis
Percy: ARTEMIS
Percy: this is so exciting!!!!
Percy: I can't believe I finally get to meet Artemis!

OMAKE: The hunt with Percy

Hunter 1: it's a sea kid <3
Hunter 2: They're always so well behaved love them
Hunter 3: He might murder the kid there tho
Hunter 2: But he'll be very cute doing it
Hunter 1: don't encourage that!
Huntress (TM): Have you finished putting up the tents yet?

OMAKE: Grover in the background

Grover: Annabeth fell to her death oh no oh shit why does every retrieval end like this ????
Grover: but also AHHHH it's the hunt this is so exciting!!!!
Grover: but oh no Annabeth Percy looks so upset-
Grover: BUT THE HUNT AHHHHH

Chapter Text

I dreamed.

I dreamed as I ever did, tumbling through visions I knew not. The world a whirl and a blur as I swirled from current to current.

Snatches of whispers, of war, of the rippling darkness that fills the deepest pits of the sea. I saw endless halls and dark corridors.

Broken snatches and snippets, a single thread in a massive tapestry.

Gold blooms across my dream, eyes burning into me. I saw gates locked tight.

And then I saw Annabeth.

I fought the current, fought to see her longer, to see what happened to her.

It wasn’t enough, not long enough. I was not practiced at navigating the currents of dreams. I swam them often, but not willingly.

But it was a moment, just enough to see her.

To see her curled up in a dark room, stripped of her weapons and chained to the wall with a type of metal that gleamed dully. Something about it made my chest twist, but I hadn’t the time to focus on that.

She looked unharmed, despite the darkness of the room and the chains. Her blonde hair caught the light from a window in the door, a small one. Just large enough to see a hint of a spear and a strange shape.

It wasn’t human, that was certain, but I didn’t know what guarded her.

She was alive.

And imprisoned.

The currents swept me away, swirling through the river of dreams and into more uncertain sights and visions.

I rested though, relieved to know she lived.

If she was alive she could be saved.

OO OO OO OO

I was woken up before dawn by a hunter calling to me. I stumbled out of the tent (which was from Artemis-telv ) and into the snowy clearing. It thrummed with winter air, with the brush of fur and thrum of a bow string against my finger tips.

The Huntresses were packing the last of the tents and supplies, including my own now that I was out of it, and clearing signs of their presence there.

The fires were out and buried, the animals fed and gathering in groups, and one I saw was gathering the morning food scraps to take away as they had last night. I saw a few Huntresses putting sticks and rocks and pine-cones back where they’d been before setting up the tents.

By the time I finished eating warm buttered bread and beef jerky for breakfast the area looked like no humans had ever been there before.

Other than the humans all there at the moment, of course.

Artemis-telv (and now that I knew Annabeth was alive and could be saved it was a little more present that this was Artemis-telv ) stood at the edge of the cliff, just out of sight of the school. She watched the dark sky, with just the barest hint of dawn to be seen in the way the sky was no longer pitch black.

I carefully moved closer, trying to stay out of the way of the Huntresses.

Bianca was talking with the Huntress in charge, the one whose name I never got.

Another called to her, but just called her ‘Lieutenant’ which did not help me learn her name. Oh well, a battle for another day.

I wished someone had told me the name of Artemis-telv’s current Lieutenant. That would make things way easier.

I continued towards Artemis-telv.

She radiated such power, such presence, it made me feel as if I wore wings upon my arms. I felt the light scratch of claws from a beast beyond my knowledge, the brush of grasses upon my legs. Bark rubbed my back, and the forest pressed against my chest. The moon was in my eyes as I stepped next to Her, and I wondered how I couldn’t have noticed all of this last night.

Artemis-telv didn’t look down when I drifted closer, keeping Her eyes on the horizon even as She spoke.

And then, like a door shutting, the feelings of the Goddess before me dropped back to what I’d known the night before.

“Good morning, Aipri-tou,” She greeted me.

My cheeks flushed.

“Artemis-telv,” I said, raising my hands to greet Her properly.

“It has been some time since I’ve spoken with a child of the sea on land,” She murmured, almost in apology. “It’s always a pleasure. You were taught well.”

I tried, and failed, to bite back a smile. She was… containing her presence, it seemed. I was thankful, for I was terrible at pushing aside such a power presence. I needed to work on that.

“Thank you, Triton was a good teacher. And so is Euphemia-fu’oro.”

“I am sure,” She agreed. “Are you doing well?”

I nodded, “I’m worried for Annabeth still, but I know she’s alive now and if she’s alive we can save her.”

Artemis-telv raised an eyebrow, “You are? I have been unable to find her location since she was stolen away.”

I blinked, remembering how often my dreams snuck into places they weren’t meant to.

“I dreamed of her,” I said. “I uh- I’ve been told my Hioipihaiho are… very widespread. I can’t control it though.”

“Interesting, that is good information to have. I will do my best to find her while I hunt.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I- I hope your hunt goes well.”

Artemis hummed, smiling at me, “I do as well. It will not be an easy hunt but, my Father be with me, it will be swift.”

I supposed it made sense that Zeus was the God that other Gods would turn to. He was the King. But I’d wondered before, who Gods would pray to.

“I informed your mother that I would be handling your return home.”

“Oh!” I’d planned to IM her when the sun rose. “Thank you.”

She nodded, turning back to the distant sunrise.

“My brother should be here shortly,” Artemis said as dawn crept upon the sky in earnest. “You ought to join the others. His arrival can be… warm.”

I nodded, though I was uncertain if she saw, and moved back to join the Huntresses, Bianca, Nico, Grover, and Thalia.

Thalia was scowling and standing as far apart from the others as she could. But Nico looked excited and Bianca curious. Grover was still sneaking peeks at the Huntresses who didn’t seem to be sparing him a second glance.

But the Lieutenant nodded to me and a few others offered me a quick smile as light speared through the air.

I squinted, raising a hand and realizing belatedly that uh, the sun was bright. And Artemis-telv’s brother was Apollon, whom I knew drove the sun chariot while Helios slept.

Which meant that our ride might be… the Sun.

I quickly turned my head, covering my eyes, and realized many of the Huntresses were doing the same.

As the light came forth, so too did the heat that boiled my skin. So too did a bow touch my fingers. Further more I felt as if I were ill, not dangerously so but clearly unwell. My head spun and I gasped.

The light became brighter and brighter, the heat melting the snow around us, before dimming all at once.

I blinked, squinting towards the glowing chariot sitting on the cliff before us with four pure white pegasi. Yet, I couldn’t help but think they weren’t quite pegasi. Their shape was different, subtly. Clearly horses still, and yet… their legs perhaps a touch too long? Their hooves shaped a touch oddly? Their wings appeared more akin to rays of sunlight, sharp and straight rather than smoothly feathered.

They were like no horses nor pegasi I had ever seen, even without considering how their form seemed composed of the brightest and fiercest of light, the occasional spark of blue or red rippling over their forms.

They were far older than any horse I had ever seen or heard of.

I remembered the bits that Annabeth had read of the horses of Helios. I had asked her how He had horses if my Metu had created them and she hadn’t known.

I knew now.

They were horses in name only.

My head spun, I felt as if I were recovering from the Pit Scorpion again, in the hospital bed under the sea with a fuzzy head as I was forced to drink another concoction. My eyes continued to wander the sight before me regardless.

The chariot was just as incredible to look upon.

It was composed of what looked like molten gold. Shapes flowing through the molten metal in surges. The sun formed on the chariot, the rays unfurling then refurling, horses running across the top edge then leaping down to the base, waves curled over the bottom then retreated and a desert stretched wide and empty-

I tore my attention from the molten gold as a figure stepped off of the chariot.

My face was warm, and not only from the heat.

The figure, looking much akin to Artemis-telv in age, was beautiful. There was simply no other word for it.

Artemis-telv was wondrous, crafted of the wildness of nature, the light in the dark.

Apollon-tiom wasn’t sunlight embodied, though the crown upon His head shone with twelve rays of light that hurt to look at for how brilliant they were. Apollon-tiom was as if the most beautiful of the world, that which shone in the light, was brought together into one being.

His skin was warm, a deep bronze. His hair was a gentle flame, the soft pale yellow of candlelight. His eyes were pools of blue, like the water which healed, the reaches of the heavens which watched over all, the softest of blankets that I clutched as a child. His smile was so brilliant I had to look away.

Even His clothing seemed crafted of the finest of materials. The khiton on Him tied loose at the waist, seeming more for modesty’s sake than for anything else. It was held in place much like how Annabeth had worn a khiton once, pinned at the shoulders with a pin shaped much akin to the sun; crafted of molten gold of course.

His hair, beautiful and soft and curled like many waves, was pinned up in a clean style that I’d seen Silena wear before. Though Silena did such with a copper diadem while Apollon’s was bound by the crown of sun rays.

I rubbed my cheeks.

Artemis-telv, no matter how wondrous, was the kind of wondrous that was unreachable. You admired Her, you adored Her, but you did not Look at Her in any way of intent. You knew She was beyond you.

Apollon-tiom… He was beauty that rivaled Eros the time I had met Him.

He was the most brilliant of the world.

I didn’t hide my face, but I dearly wished to.

And dearly wished Annabeth was here, she’d be laughing at me but… it would be worth it.

“Artemis!” Apollon-tiom chirped, prettier than a songbird. “I’m glad to see you are well.”

“You saw such yesterday,” She chided lightly. “And do contain yourself, lest you overwhelm any here.”

“And I will see tomorrow as well, Fates willing,” He said, hugging His sister.

Like when I had walked up to Artemis, the overwhelming sensations of Apollon-tiom seemed to swing shut, locked away. I could still feel the edge of them, but it was a background sensation. Something I could ignore easily enough.

I hadn’t realized the Gods could do that, but it did explain how They weren’t constantly tracked down in the ocean.

She huffed softly but hugged Him back, and I blinked at the thrum of safety that seemed to radiate throughout the clearing even as the light of Apollon seemed covered by the safety of Artemis.

They pulled apart and Apollon looked over at all of us. I tried very hard to not flush.

“Well then, I suppose these are the children I’m taking?”

“To Camp Half-Blood, if you could,” Artemis said.

“All of them?” He asked, sounding as if He were confirming something He already knew.

“Yes. My Huntresses will be assisting in increasing security while they are at Camp. This is a hunt I must undertake without them. It will bring me far afield, I fear.”

Apollon touched her wrist, concern swirling like a cloudy sky in his eyes, “Be careful, sister. What you hunt is elusive. And your foe cunning.”

She clasped their hands, “I will be careful. If my hunt enters where I fear then I will call upon those loyal to me within.”

He nodded, pleased with Her words, and turned towards us once more.

“Now,” He clapped His hands, “All aboard the chariot!”

Thalia, whose own face was rather flushed (I hoped mine wasn’t obvious) raised her hand, “How are we all going to fit?”

“Hmm?” Apollon glanced back at the chariot. “Oh yes, let’s make that a bit more mortal friendly, shall we?”

A pulse of power, of sunlight that burned my skin so intensely that I looked at my arms, expecting a sunburn.

Yet, there was nothing, and when I looked up I saw what that power Apollon had released did.

The chariot, molten and ever shifting, had shifted further. Rippling and pooling, spreading out in a wave that crept up and up and up until… an oddly shaped… bus? Stood before us.

Still a chariot in spirit, it had no top that I could see. But it was otherwise enclosed, with the horses still in front. All of it was still made of the molten gold, yet as a door shaped and then rippled away, leaving an opening, I could see that the inside seemed hardened.

As if the gold had solidified.

“Now, all aboard,” He flashed us another of those brilliant smiles.

I followed the Huntresses onto the bus-chariot. Eyeing the not-horses as I passed them.

I didn’t dare to touch them, they were so brilliant and bright and surely fiery. But they were beautiful all the same.

I stepped onto the sun chariot and was surprised to find it… a pleasant temperature. It wasn’t freezing, like the outside, nor burning, like the sun chariot seemed it should be. It was as if you were curled under a freshly dried blanket, warm and toasty and comfy.

I felt I could fall asleep in here easily, kept safe.

A hand ruffled my hair, “Satisfactory?”

I flushed, gaze flicking up and catching Apollon’s brilliant eyes.

“Yes,” I squeaked, then I coughed and nodded. “Yes, it’s incredible.”

He smiled, “I’m glad. Take a seat now, it can be difficult to keep your feet the first time riding.”

I hurried to a seat next to Grover, trying to keep my blush down.

Apollon’s eyes swept over the people on the chariot, ensuring all of them were seated.

“Excellent! Looks like we’re all set to go. Please stay seated at all times, do remember that this is a burning, incredibly hot, and incredibly dangerous chariot and none of you should try to jump out, take the reins, or goad the horses. Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads or murmured no.

“Then off we go!”

I peered at the wall next to us, realizing there was no window. But even as I had the thought, the molten gold thinned, becoming near clear and allowing me a view.

Artemis-telv watched us, even as Apollon stepped forward and retrieved the pure gold, and solid, reins from the front.

She continued to watch as Apollon snapped the reigns, the only command He needed give as the horses cantered forward.

She only turned away as my stomach jolted and the horses hit the air, smoothly pulling the chariot and everyone within into the heavens.

I only got one glimpse of her, a beam of moonlight, a leaf in the wind, as she vanished along with the cliff.

I turned to peek at Apollon, standing steady and at ease in the front, shining brilliantly. He was amazing.

The chariot galloped across the heavens and the Earth passed beneath us.

“Aren’t Maine and New York in the same time zone?” I wondered. “Is sunrise really that far behind?”

The Lieutenant, whose name I still didn’t know leaned onto the back of my seat from behind me.

“Tis actually nearly thirty minutes behind Maine,” she said. “I have heard some wish to change the timezone that Maine has, officially with the government.”

I blinked, “Whoa, I didn’t know that.”

“I believe tis called UTC time.”

“Huh, cool,” I murmured.

“Admiring the view?” asked the Huntress sitting next to the Lieutenant.

“You can see so much,” I agreed, peering out of the window once more to watch the Earth pass beneath us. We seemed to be moving so fast, yet sunrise always seemed so slow in the morning.

The Huntress giggled, “Not the view I was thinking of but yes, you really can.”

“Lakshmi,” chided the Lieutenant.

“Sorry,” she said, not seeming terribly sorry.

I blinked in confusion.

“How long do you think the ride will take,” Grover asked, leaning towards them.

Both of the Huntresses leaned away once more.

“I would say no more than twenty minutes total, perhaps closer to fifteen now,” the Lieutenant said.

I peered back out the window, watching the land pass us by. It was so small.

“Thou art looking at the wrong window,” the Lieutenant said.

“Huh?”

She pointed above us and I looked up.

My draw dropped.

The Earth below us was, in a way, a familiar sight. I’d seen plenty of pictures before.

But I’d never seen anything like what I saw above us now.

It wasn’t the stars, or darkness, it wasn’t the blue sky or clouds, it wasn’t even space.

No, what was above us was light.

Nothing like the sun, everything like Triton, and Mevu, and Metu. Like Apollon and Artemis and Zeus.

It was like Olympos, the heavenly light the Mount seemed steeped in.

It was divine. It was beautiful.

I had no true words to describe it, the golden shimmer, the silver sheen, like oil on the tarmac yet that was far too rough to describe the effect. The beauty this held. The indescribable aspect.

I gaped above, watching the heavens, never seeming to change the way the Earth did below, eternal and beautiful and filled with light and light and more light.

“Aither,” the Lieutenant said. “Tis always a treat to see.”

“Beautiful,” I whispered, hearing the soft ‘woah’ from Grover.

I spent the rest of the ride watching the heavens.

When the chariot dipped out of the heavens, crossing into the blue sky once more, I mourned. I didn’t know if I’d ever see that sight again, but I hoped so.

In the meantime, the chariot lowered itself down and down, until clouds passed us by and I wished to reach out and touch them.

Finally, on the beach where the battle had taken place, we landed.

“Thank you for riding with me,” Apollon chirped, turning to face us. “Remember to gather all your belongings, I will send them with a collect fee from Hermes if you leave anything behind. And no hiding under the seats for another ride.”

The Huntresses laughed, and several ribbed one of the girls, with similar features to all the Apollon children I knew.

We climbed out, the familiar crackle of electricity settling over me as I stepped out even as Thalia nearly collapsed on the ground. I hadn’t seen her during the ride, had she stood up?

A handful of campers were gaping at us; including Eliza. I flushed as I stood near the chariot.

“Don’t let them silence you,” said a soft voice.

My gaze snapped up, finding Apollon looking at me.

“Continue to speak the truth, it has a way of proving itself eventually.”

I swallowed and nodded, “I will.”

He smiled and I knew I flushed as He ruffled my hair once more.

“Tell my kids I say hi and look forward to seeing them at the Winter Solstice meeting.”

“Okay,” I squeaked.

Apollon said goodbye to the Lieutenant and the Huntress He’d teased. Another blast of power surged out as He did so and the chariot shrunk once more, becoming a chariot for one again. I licked my lips, they felt chapped.

He waved towards the campers nearby and climbed on the chariot.

Everyone looked away as it took off again, running upon the waves for a few moments to build its momentum.

OO OO OO OO

I led Bianca, Nico, and Lakshmi to the Big House with Grover. Thalia had gone off to speak to the other campers about the Hunter’s staying.

Lord D was sitting on the porch, sipping a Diet Coke.

“Do you plan to wander around without your necklace the whole time?” He wondered aloud as I stepped onto the porch.

I touched my neck.

“I- Maybe? I need to practice so…”

He hummed, not commenting otherwise. I suspected he could tell how present everything was for me. He ruled the domains that surrounded such… feelings. Most of the camp considered Him one of the primary Gods of mental health.

“And these are?”

I motioned Bianca and Nico forward.

“This is Bianca and Nico Di Angelo,” I said. “The demigods we were sent to retrieve. They’re unclaimed.”

He nodded, gaze intent even as His pose displayed boredom.

“Welcome to camp, and all of that. Grover, show them the introduction video.”

“Where does a manticore rank on the scale of monster introductions to being a demigod?” I wondered. “I fought an Erinyes and a Minotaur and didn’t need it, they faced a Manticore-”

Lord D snorted, a faint smile curling His lips, “If they’d fought it themselves I might’ve waved it off. But they didn’t.”

I wondered how He knew that already, but didn’t know their names.

“I wanted to inform you that Bianca was invited, and accepted, to stay in Cabin 7,” Lakshmi said. “She is currently a camper, but is considering a position in the Hunt. As such, we are showcasing what it is like.”

“Kay,” Lord D said with a dismissive wave of His hand.

She bowed then turned to wait at the bottom of the porch.

“Did you need something further?” Lord D asked.

“Annabeth was taken,” I said.

“Unfortunate,” He mused. “Diet Coke?”

The God held out a fresh can for me.

“No thanks,” I said, voice tighter than I intended. “I’d like to go rescue her. I know she’s alive, I saw her in my dreams so-”

“No.”

“But she’s there and-”

“No.”

“If I just had a quest-”

“Not happening,” Lord D said firmly.

“Why?”

“That’s another child gone, on top of Evans and Abel disappearing recently-”

“Ethan and Alabaster,” I corrected, remembering hearing of that.

“Right, yes, we can’t afford to risk more campers going after another.”

“But-”

“And we are certainly not risking you. Might as well gift you with a bow to the Titans. Last thing we need is them to claim a potential prophecy child.”

My heart sank.

“But I went on the other quests-”

“Necessary acts.”

“So is this!”

“No matter how fond you are of her, her being gone is not a world or even camp ending threat.”

“Can no one else-”

“We will not risk them,” Lord D said firmly, eyes flashing in warning as I continued to push.

I bit my lip, looking down with my fists clenched.

I heard a sigh, a Diet Coke was pushed in front of me.

“Drink,” He said. “Drink, mourn that she is gone, and focus on what you can do here. She wouldn’t have wanted you to die for her.”

“She saved me,” I said, voice cracking. “She saved me so-”

“So honor her act,” He interrupted. “Honor what she did, thank her, and make her sacrifice worth it.”

I bowed my head.

I knew Artemis-telv would search for her, but what if she was entirely separate from the monster?

I hated it.

But I had no choice.

Lord D’s word was final.