"Yeah, this is really comfortable," I agreed, meaning every word. It felt like I wasn't wearing anything at all! They bowed their heads and disappeared into a mist. Amphitrite smiled at me again, walking forward and taking my arm.
We made our way out of the palace, where a chariot with two seahorses was waiting for us. I held the door open for Amphitrite and went to move in to sit when a yell got my attention.
"Percy! Perce, where are you going, man?" A man's voice called, and I looked over to see Triton, dressed like John Lennon, running down the steps of the palace, an electric guitar in his hand. He tripped over the third one, tumbling down the rest of them. He got up as if nothing had happened. His grumble followed, "Stupid glasses."
"Lord Carcinus invited our family to dinner," I said, smiling in spite of myself. Triton wasn't what I'd expected at all, but I appreciated the attention to detail he'd put in with the round, dark glasses and his hair tumbling down his neck.
"I'm accompanying Lady Amphitrite."
"Sick, mom's in there?" Triton grinned widely, peeking his head into the chariot. "Mom! What's up?"
"Hello, Triton," came her scathing response. "Come to embarrass your mother even more, now, have you?"
"Bah," Triton said, waving it off, but I could tell he was a little hurt. A small frown formed on my face, but he continued talking to her excitedly. "You're missing out! I have a great lineup for tonight. You should really listen to me perform one of these days, Mom. You said you would."
Amphitrite made a noise of disgust. "Percy, can you please climb in and close the door? I believe we're getting late, now."
"Yeah, sure," I muttered, hopping into the chariot.
I saw Triton's grip on his guitar slacken a bit. I looked back at him, and Triton's grin had died, but he still looked into the chariot. He forced himself to give us another grin, "Ah, maybe next time, right?"
"Definitely," I promised him, shooting him a thumbs up. "Knock them dead for me, brother. Maybe if we get back in time I can catch a song or two."
Triton's smile was back. "You got it, Perce. Take care, man."
I held my hand out for a fist bump, and he grinned again, giving me one enthusiastically. "I'll wait for you to get back."
"Sounds good, man," I said as nicely as possible, waving to him. "See you soon! Have fun!"
"You too," I closed the door at his reply, and the seahorses started moving automatically, tearing down the streets of Atlantis.
"I truly wish your father had never convinced me to bear his child," Amphitrite said venomously, her hand clenched into a fist as the city flew past us.
"What really happened?" I questioned, and Amphitrite took a deep breath.
"When Poseidon first sought my hand in marriage, I fled his advances, and hid at the far ends of the earth," Amphitrite recounted, her voice angry and quiet. "The dolphin god Delphin eventually tracked me down and persuaded me to return to wed the sea king. I got there, only for Poseidon to not show any interest in me at all."
"Why did he look for you so intensely, then?" I asked, my interest piqued.
Amphitrite sighed. "He wanted…a contract. At the time, he was deep into battle with Oceanus. He wished for a way to protect his main base of operations, and he wanted my help to do it. Contracts, as you may or may not know, are like mana conditions, but for more than one person. They are about self-imposed limitations on the use of the potentially gained, but shared power."
"So, you two essentially combined your power?" I put two and two together, and she nodded grimly.
"We did. As such, the shield of protection was erected around Atlantis, where it stands to this day," Amphitrite finished for me, and I looked out of the chariot window to sneak a peek of it. There it was, like always. The gigantic, prism-like dome of energy constantly pumping around the city walls.
"I thought it was just my father who powered it."
Amphitrite hummed. "That's what he or any other member of the city will tell you. History is always altered, Percy. You'd do well to remember that."
We exited the city, and I once again felt a slight pressure on my chest, almost like there was a kitten or some other small animal on it. The light of Atlantis faded behind us, and the outside of the walls was so dark I couldn't even see in front of me.
"Is that why the myths are so different?" I asked, attempting to gain more information. The darkness outside the chariot was beginning to unnerve me. "Ever since I've been introduced to this world, I feel like no one and nothing is how I expected or learned it to be. Sometimes the myths are completely off."
"Right on the dot, Percy," Amphitrite said in a moment of seriousness. "The gods don't like mortals trying to meddle in their affairs. They paint themselves in a manner completely different than they truly are so that if a mortal were to try to intervene, they'd be sorely overmatched."
Delta was right, then. His entire spiel about gods wanting nothing more than to keep the rift between themselves and humans large was as accurate as possible—this was all coming from the mouth of one of those deities, herself!
"Including demigods," I muttered under my breath.
Amphitrite laid a comforting hand on my knee, but I couldn't help the bubbling resentment that had been growing in my chest for a while now. The existence of demigods in itself is such a morbid concept. We shouldn't exist.
I guess back in the day, getting to be a demigod would've sounded cool. Fun, even. Compared to the boring life I used to live, the old me would've jumped at any chance to be extraordinary in any way, shape, or form.
This, though? It's great and all, yeah, but it also sucks. I'm in constant danger, and every single good experience I have feels like a waste of time because soon it'll all be for nothing.
I was a mistake in every sense of the word. My entire existence is wrongdoing, proof of Poseidon's inability to follow the simplest of rules that he himself agreed to.
And now, what? I'm being trained to one day put my life on the line and possibly leave it all out there. I never asked for any of this.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to get my emotions under control. It wouldn't do well to be in a bad mood once I reached the dinner.
Little did I know—a bad mood was going to be the least of my problems soon.