I settled onto my bed with the rainbow stone out once more.
First, I was gonna message the Aphrodite cabin, I did promise to get in contact with them… Probably should've done that sooner.
I flicked an aurova at the rainbow, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please show me the Aphrodite cabin."
The rainbow cleared to show Silena doing her makeup at one of the vanities.
"Silena," I called.
She jolted, spinning around to see me. Her lipstick had smeared when I'd called out for her, but she didn't seem concerned.
"Percy!"
"What?" called a voice from the side.
"Did you say Percy," asked another.
"Hi," I said with a wave, nervously fingering my necklace with my other hand.
"You're alive!" Lapis said as she leaned into the view of the Iris Message.
"Yeah, I'm alive-"
"Where are you?" Lapis asked urgently.
"Are you really under the sea?" asked another as they shoved their way into view.
"Did Luke actually-"
"Are you hurt-"
"-attack you and-"
"-badly?" Valentina asked.
"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Silena questioned.
"-try to kill you?" Mitchell asked
"What's your dad-"
"Those are cool arm bands." Lapis added.
"-like?" the other asked.
I leaned back as they all talked over each other, "Hang on- give me a sec."
They went silent, watching me expectantly.
I took a moment to try and parse out what they all said. "So uh, Luke…"
"Yeah," Silena asked with a worried look. "Did he actually- Did he-"
I nodded, rubbing my palm where the scar remained.
"Yeah… he… he did."
"What happened?" one if them asked gently.
I took a breath, wrapping my arms around my tails.
"Wait—woah," Silena leaned forward. "Are those tails?"
I blinked, "Huh? Oh- yeah."
"That's so cool," Mitchell mumbled.
Valentina's eyes were sparkling, "Is it because you're a child of Poseidon? Can anyone turn into something like their parents!?"
"Uh- no I don't think so? I mean… maybe? I've never tried-"
"I'm going to become a dove," Lapis swore.
I couldn't help but grin, "Go for it. But yeah, I have a special charm that lets me have tails. Triton gave it to me."
"That's amazing," Silena declared before shaking her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, please continue."
I nodded, "Luke brought me out to the woods, said he wanted help retrieving Alabaster's cards that he borrowed… Then he had us stop in a clearing and-"
I bit my lip and remembered the way he'd spoken, the way he'd claimed to be saving everyone while he'd also been planning to hurt them, to let them be hurt. He hadn't asked any of them what they wanted, he was deciding for them. And then he'd sicced the pit scorpion on me and…
"Are you okay?" one of them asked softly.
"Yeah… I'm okay… he told me his Lord was offering me a place with them and revealed that he was the one to steal the lightning bolt."
Silena gasped.
"I refused to leave, and he summoned a pit scorpion."
"What's a pit scorpion?" Valentina whispered.
"It's from Tartarus," I murmured, feeling the way the air seemed to twist at that. "It can kill mortals in sixty seconds and make immortals very ill for a few days at least. Its antidote takes two hours to prepare, it's extinct on the surface and can only summoned through a specific ritual. Luke would've had to have completed the ritual before summoning it to kill me or have someone else do it for him."
"How did you survive if it kills in sixty seconds?"
"I had a poturu from Triton, it brings the user straight to Him. I used it and well… the taohu had been teaching their apprentice how to make the antidote just the day before… I got lucky."
Silena sniffed, clutching her charm bracelet. "I'm so sorry Percy."
"It's not your fault," I reassured her. "Luke is the one at fault, he's the one who betrayed us and…"
"Are you coming back to camp?" Valentina asked as another kid hugged Silena.
"Not till summer. Triton isn't happy with the camp for letting me get hurt but I managed to convince Metua to let me return."
"That's good," Mitchell said. "But we're still good for Iris Messaging?"
I grinned, "Yep! I'll be heading back to my moms home for the year, attending school and all."
"That's near Drew, right?" Valentina said with a frown.
"Yeah, I'll call her after we're done."
"Maybe we can meet up for the Autumn equinox," Lapis said with a grin. "You could come to camp, or we could go to you for the other holidays."
"Other holidays?" I wondered.
"You haven't celebrated these?" Valentina asked. "Well there are a lot of holidays we could meet up for, like Proerosia or Oskhophoria, and of course the Autumn Equinox… Well, the rest of the holidays aren't really meet up ones… there aren't as many in the fall."
"Proerosia? Oskhophoria?"
"Proerosia is devoted to Demeter, we honor Her for the harvest and stuff, leave out some offerings for Her," Valentina said. "It's something that's mainly the Demeter cabin, but the rest of the camp still leaves something out. There's also a focus on Apollo and His oracles that day, so the Apollo cabin makes an offering to Him as well."
"Oh, cool," I hadn't heard of that holiday before.
"Yeah, we're able to go out for it if we want, we get the day off. And some people come to camp for the day to celebrate." Mitchell said helpfully.
I nodded, "That sounds fun."
"It is!"
"And of course," Silena added. "Oskhophoria is a holiday for Mr. D, and sorta Athena as well. We have a big meal that night with lots of grapes, and everyone gets watered down wine, and we all add an offering for Mr. D. It's about thanking Him for the grape harvest in the old days but uh, we don't grow grapes but also He can't have wine now so…"
"We're pretty sure he just really misses wine, so everyone gets some so they can offer it to him," Lapis giggled.
I couldn't help the small laugh even as I realized that it probably wasn't fun for him. Being cut off from the thing you ruled didn't sound fun, but it was kinda funny to imagine him making sure the whole camp celebrated the holiday to get around his restrictions.
I couldn't imagine being away from water for a long time, it sounded miserable.
"Maybe I can come for that," I mused.
"It would be cool," another kid agreed. "We mainly thank him for the strawberry harvest nowadays, since he's the reason it's so good."
"Makes sense, what do you do on the Autumn Equinox?"
"A big feast!" Lapis beamed.
"Mr. D arranges cooking areas for all of us, beyond the tiny ones that the bigger cabins have, and we all get to plan foods to make," Silena said with a grin. "The Harpies still make some of the big stuff, but we make a bunch of the side stuff."
"And then we all get together," Lapis said with a grin. "And we don't have to sit at our cabin tables, and after the normal offerings we eat!"
"And we light candles on our windows," Mitchell added. "Because it's the time when the nights become longer than the days."
"Are the candles for Apollo then?" I wondered.
"Yep. Because He's the one moving the sun, so we honor Him as the days grow shorter, though I think they used to honor Helios more for it?" Mitchell frowned for a minute. "But He's not been seen in ages so... Plus, some offerings to Demeter as the harvest draws to a close, and as thanks for the feast too."
"Don't forget the honoring of Phthinophoron, the Horae of Autumn," Halia added.
"Yeah," Silena agreed. "We have a lot to do on the Equinox."
"Wow," I murmured. "I did some research when I was younger but only really knew about the food aspect."
"Well," Mitchell paused. "A lot of this is more… custom? Like, a lot of people have their own practices for honoring the Gods. At camp we just have a system in place, with our style of doing it. Some campers also do extra stuff, some cabins too. But the camp as a whole has holidays it celebrates and has for a long time, so it's pretty well set up."
"Oh cool," I paused remembering something I'd read one time. "Wait do we celebrate Samhain?"
Silena shook her head. "No, that's a Celtic holiday originally, and then the Wiccans picked it up and changed it some. But it's not Greek. The closest we have to that in Greek holidays would be Genesios, which was actually like… a week or so after you left."
"How do you celebrate that?" I asked.
"Oh, it was lovely," Mitchell said. "I'd never been to one before, but we had this large meal and barely cakes. We made some offerings to Ares for those that passed in battle, and Hades for those in His kingdom. And then we all gathered around and traded stories of those that have passed."
"It's a very sweet holiday," Lapis agreed. "I really enjoyed it too."
"Wow, that sounds nice," I murmured.
"It is," Valentina agreed. "But anyways, we can try to meet up for one of the holidays, that would be really fun."
I grinned, "For sure."
"Now then!" the other kid chirped. "We have to get to dinner, and you have to call Drew and tell her how you're doing. We'll IM all the other cabin members and let them know."
I relaxed, "Yeah, thanks. Talk to you guys later."
"Bye!"
"See ya."
"Stay safe."
"Goodbye!"
"Of course," Silena gained a wicked smile. "Anything for our dear nephew. Bye Bye!"
I groaned as the Iris Message faded away, their laughter lingering in the air.
"They're never gonna let that go," I grumbled as I flicked another Aurova into the rainbow to call Drew.
The image cleared after a minute, to show a pretty bedroom with glittering pink walls a big white bed with dark pink bedding. Drew was laying on the bed with a school book and a notebook open in front of her.
"Hi," I called.
Her head shot up, hand drawing a dagger from under her pillow before she saw me.
"Percy!? Oh, my Hades you're okay!"
I waved awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"We were all so worried when you vanished before the going away lunch. And then most of us had to leave anyway and the cabin IMed me and said that Luke had almost killed you and you were in the ocean and- are those tails?"
I laughed, pulling one of my tails up. "Yep."
"That's so cool, by my mother. I want a tail, actually I want wings, can you imagine having wings?"
"I think Zeus would kill me so I'm good."
She laughed, "Fair… but really, you're okay?"
"Yeah," I relaxed. "I'm okay now, Triton made sure of it."
"That's good." She studied me for a moment. "So you're at your dad's palace?"
"Yeah, Atlantis."
"What's it like?"
I hummed and considered the question.
"I like it. The city around the palace is really pretty, and most of my family is really nice. I'm not sure about Khrysaôr… Triton seems ready to strangle him every five minutes."
She laughed, "Do the Gods fight a lot?"
"Only really Khrysaôr and Triton, and well, Triton and Kymopoleia too. Kymopoleia took me to a spa though!" I faltered. "… Carl is mad at me for going to a spa."
She snorted, "He really doesn't like them, does he? I remember the time over the summer that he almost jumped out of the tank when I said I'd take you to a spa."
I nodded, "He has some trauma with spas. Says they're evil and stuff… he won't tell me what happened though."
"Strange, maybe you can take him with you to one? Like exposure therapy?"
I tried to think for a minute on how that would work and had an image of him completely flipping out.
"Uh, I don't think that's the way to do this…"
She shrugged, "Hopefully he gets past his fear of spas at some point." Her eyes lit up, "There's this really nice one near me, they have the best massages, and oh their facials are perfect. I love their hot stone massages, you'll have to come with me sometime."
I grinned, "That sounds fun!"
"It is, it's absolutely lovely- are those earrings!?"
I flushed, touching me ear where the silver crescent moon earrings from Fetu were. "Um, yeah, I got my ears pierced when I was out with Kymopoleia."
She grinned, her eyes sparkling as she bounced in her seat. "That's awesome! What kinds of earrings do you have?"
"I have these, I got them from Fetu. And I have a few pearl ones, and some silver ones I think."
"Ooh I'll get you more fun ones some time. We can go shopping together!"
I grinned, "Yeah, that would be fun."
I still had money saved so I could buy a few small things.
"Anyways," Drew said with a shake of her head. "What else have you done?"
I chewed my lip as I tried to think of anything else interesting, "I had a birthday party."
Her eyes widened, "Wait when was your birthday?"
"Er, August eighteenth…"
"Why didn't you tell me!? Now I need to get you a birthday present, what do you like? Wait I know what you like. Okay, books, and you know what…"
She studied me for a moment, "You have the family eyes so matching the color would be hard for fabric…"
"What about fabric?"
"Nothing, nothing, are you coming back on land? We'll need to meet up."
I blinked, "Oh, uh, in a few more days, four or five."
"You'll have to visit me, when does your school start?"
"I'm not sure, mom didn't say. I'll have to ask."
"Most schools start in just over a week, I'm finishing my summer homework now."
I nodded, "I'll be back in time if my school does that too."
"We should meet up before school, grab ice cream and stuff."
I brightened, I'd never had a land friend to do that with!
"That sounds great! We'll have to set it up when I'm back on land."
She stiffened as a knocking noise rang out.
"Drew, honey, you are working on your summer homework, aren't you?"
"Gotta go," she whispered. "I'll call you later, so we can plan our meetup. Happy late birthday."
"Bye," I whispered back.
She turned to the side, "Yes mom, I'm working on it now." She swiped her hand through the rainbow a moment later.
"Well why don't we go over what you have so far-" the voices faded away with the image.
I shook my head, reaching for another aurova. Only two more calls to make, thank Pontus Triton gave me more than enough aurova to call everyone. What was I gonna do with the other forty?
I paused as I realized that the Aphrodite cabin was at dinner so that meant everyone at camp was.
Ugh, I'd need to wait to call them…
I jumped when I felt something moving on my tail and looked down to find Hippolyta there.
I laughed, "Hey Lyta, how are you today?"
The faint hum from her was soothing.
She was too young to give proper words and the like so I mostly got impressions of emotions and flashes of images. Triton said a lot of older octopi did that on purpose, preferring to be unknown rather than speaking clearly.
I liked it though, she was really sweet.
I bent down to scoop her up, her deep red tentacles curling over my fingers.
"Having fun?" I asked as I poked one of her tentacles.
I blinked at the flash of her little nest, a very comfy area in the corner of the room where some sea grass was. She'd snuck quite a few shiny bits from around my room into it, I'd have to retrieve that necklace.
"Do you wanna play?" I asked gently
She pushed up, her tentacles pushing out as she latched onto the ceiling.
I grinned and flicked up to catch her only for her to shoot off the ceiling and right into Appa.
I yelped and threw my hands up to avoid hitting the ceiling.
Appa flicked up, Lyta attached to his face.
"Lyta you can't hit Appa, he's not as strong as you."
I grinned at the smugness that she radiated as Appa drew himself up.
I'm very strong princeling!
I laughed, "Of course, Appa. But Lyta is the fastest octopi ever so-"
His tail flicked sharply as determination radiated from him.
I can swim faster, watch.
With a nicker he shot off… and promptly crashed into me. I yelped as we tumbled into my bed.
"Appa!" I cried.
Oops.
He looked at Hippolyta, who was curled around the mirror on the vanity.
"Don't look away," I grumbled, but couldn't keep the smile out of my voice. "Come on, let's get up. Do you wanna go for a swim?"
He pulled himself off with his hooves, head perked up and his fish tail flicking.
A swim!
"I guess that's a yes. Do you wanna come, Lyta?"
Hippolyta seemed to consider, tentacles curling and uncurling from the mirror, but she came down after a moment and settled on my shoulder.
"Awesome, let's go then!"
I led them out and wandered through the halls until I reached the outside, where I turned to the livery.
"Do you wanna practice me riding?" I asked Appa. "Or just wanna swim free?"
Appa twisted, head turning towards me, before he flicked away from the livery.
"Okay, free swim it is," I grinned as Appa swam towards the paddock.
The paddock was formed of super large curling kelp that had braided entrances all up and down and around the area. It was a large area with plenty of swimming space for the Hippocampi.
It was where Metuano Hippocampi trained, plus the other ones that worked at the palace. The manège was where I worked with Appa, but for free swims the paddock was fine.
With Lyta on my shoulder Appa and I swam in. Appa immediately took off like a swordfish to my amusement. I swam around to find one of the floating benches to settle on.
Lyta quickly started exploring the area around me.
I relaxed watching Appa explore the paddock, swimming up and down to look at the kelp walls.
It was really interesting how they grew, there must've been magic involved in it. Maybe I could ask Triton about it later.
I grinned as Hippolyta got stuck in the kelp, squeezing through small openings to get to a more comfortable spot.
Appa started swimming patterns in the water. He looked very graceful out there.
This was nice, relaxing. I was glad I got to come down here and would get to come back. It was very… comfortable. It felt like home.
But I still missed mom.
I was excited to go back to her, to have blue cookies and a hug and best of all, no Smelly Gabe.
I closed my eyes and leaned back.
I'd never had a year without Smelly Gabe. It would be nice… I thought so at least… well it certainly couldn't be worse than when he was around.
And mom would be happy.
I jolted at the sudden push that nearly shoved me off the bench.
Appa peered up at me, big brown eyes staring.
"Sorry," I scratched at the base of his mane. "I was thinking."
He nuzzled my arm, nickering softly. His curiosity and worry clear as wamaresia.
"I'm fine, just missing home."
He settled against me, Hippolyta drifting over as well to settle in my hair. I huffed as she got comfy and messed up my hair but continued to pet to Appa.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I stretched before grabbing another aurova. The break was nice, and very relaxing, but it was time to get back to calling my friends.
I flipped the aurova back into the rainbow, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbows, show me the Demeter cabin.
The rainbow cleared after a moment showing Suki stretching out her legs with a grimace as she hooked her cane on the bunk bed.
"Hey Suki," I called.
She jolted, wincing as she faced me.
"Percy? Oh, my stars you're okay! Silena said you were but-" she paused studying me. "I'm glad you're alright."
I nodded, "Yeah, Triton made sure I was okay. How are you?"
"Mostly okay, there's a storm coming outside of the barrier and it's causing a flare up, but the Apollo cabin gave me some ambrosia to help so I'm good."
I nodded, those days always sucked for her. Some days she could move around just fine, without her cane and sometimes even without her brace. Other days, not so much. Today seemed to be a bad one.
"How's Katie?"
Suki smiled, "She's fine. Right now, she's dealing with the Stoll brothers. They tried to steal the Athena cabins books from the Apollo cabin and now both cabins are trying to kill them."
I laughed, "They made a mistake getting in-between the Athena and Apollo cabins' rivalry for books."
"Oh yeah, the Apollo cabin is trying to shoot them and they're cowering in some trees."
"Poor them, at least the dryads are keeping them alive."
"How else are the dryads going to get their supply of dr pepper?" she said with a grin.
I snickered, "They must protect their supplier."
"Well, enough about them. What are you- is that an octopus?"
I blinked, noticing Lyta was curling around my shoulder again. I'd gotten used to her doing that so hadn't noticed.
"Oh yeah, this is Hippolyta. Triton gave her to me for my birthday."
"That is absolutely the cutest thing ever," she declared. "You are absolutely bringing her by sometime."
I grinned, "Absolutely. Lyta is the best."
There was a crashing noise.
"I'm sure that's fine," she said mildly. "So anyways, did you get anything cool for your birthday, other than Hippolyta?"
I brightened, "Yeah, I got these cool earrings-" I leaned over to show her them "-and I got this necklace-" I pointed at the necklace from Tethys-ran that gleamed in the light as it did it's job of keeping the sensations out "-and I got this cool- Ran come over here."
I held out a hand for the little glass sea serpent to land on, holding it up to the rainbow.
"Oh, that's so pretty!"
"Their name is Ran, they were a birthday present too."
"Amazing," she murmured. "I'll have to make sure to grab you something for a birthday present. Anything you really want?"
"Um… I'm not sure. Maybe a pretty plant? We just got a new apartment, so it would be nice to add some plants."
"Sure! I'll find something nice."
"Suki, I grabbed your shot from the Apollo cabin, and two ice packs."
Katie came into the picture, waving vaguely at me without looking, "Hi sorry, it's Suki's shot day so we've gotta go."
"See you, Percy," Suki said with a wave. "I half-hoped you'd forget, Katie."
Katie jolted, "Percy!? Okay I'm definitely calling later but Suki's treatment comes first. And Suki I know for a fact that you have an alarm set and have it marked on your calendar."
"Yeah, but the shot huuuurrrrtttsss."
Katie sighed, "I know."
Suki smiled at her, grabbing a pillow to hold under her arm. "Thanks for helping me Katie, and happy late birthday Percy!"
"Bye!" I called as I waved my hand through the Iris Message.
"Where do you want it this time-"
I sighed, plucking up the last aurova set aside for this. Hopefully Suki got lots of rest.
Now then, it was time to call Annabeth.
I flipped the aurova into the rainbow once more, saying the words to call her.
The image cleared after a moment to show a dining room. Annabeth was sitting at the table, her gaze on her food and a frown on her face. There was a man I assumed was her dad, a woman, and two young boys also sitting there.
"MOM!" One of the boys yelled staring at me. "There's a boy in a rainbow!"
Annabeth's head snapped up, "Percy!?"
Were they all gonna react in complete shock?
"He's a mermaid!?" One of the boys cried.
"No, shut up," Annabeth snapped. "Percy are you still at your dad's palace? Are you okay? Did Luke actually-" she faltered there, biting her lip.
"Annabeth don't snap at your brothers," the woman chided.
"His skin is green !" the other boy said loudly.
"Only a little," the first boy argued. "It's more brown than green."
"I'm still in Atlantis, yeah," I said, deciding to ignore the boys. "And I'm fully healed up. Just have to do a bit more physical therapy and I'll be going home."
"To camp?" she asked.
"Why is he wearing earrings?" The first boy asked. "Those are for girls."
"Cause he's a mermaid," the second boy declared. "So he's a girl."
"Girls are she's, not he's."
"Well then she's a girl."
"Will you both shut up?" Annabeth snapped. "And girls can use he if they want to."
"Annabeth," the woman chided again.
"Are you really a mermaid?" the man (her dad?) asked. "How fascinating."
"Uh, in the ocean the term would be mer, or mernix for genderneutral. Or tame if you want to go by the word in Halmaheran…"
The man's eyes lit up.
"Okay," Annabeth said. "Me and Percy need to talk so you guys can leave now."
"But I wanna talk to the mermaid."
"Merman," Annabeth snapped. "He's a boy ."
"But she's wearing earrings!"
"Boys can wear earrings too!"
"Earrings are really common for Mer's to wear in the ocean," I added helpfully. "Jewelry as a whole is in fact. It's a status symbol, and kinda replaces clothes, we don't need those underwater."
"But jewelry is for girls ," one of them insisted.
"No, boys," the man said. "Anyone can wear jewelry if they want, it's just that a lot of people think it should only be for girls. Really anyone can wear it though."
The woman pursed her lips.
"Can you bring your… friend… to another room? Rather than us leaving mid-meal?"
Annabeth huffed but stood, shoving her chair out with a screech.
"Sure." She left the room, the Iris Message followed her to a living room where she angrily pushed toys off the couch so she could sit.
"So, you're back home," I noted.
She sighed, "Yeah… I thought I'd try it again, see if I could spend time with my dad…"
"How's he doing?"
She chewed her lip. "He doesn't necessarily side with her… but he also doesn't really tell her to stop. And I don't really like his wife. She's… judgy of things. She won't let me veil in the house, or out of the house, and I wasn't able to celebrate the New Moon properly."
"Oh?" I frowned. It was such a strange contrast between land and sea really. It confused me when the camp was celebrating it. "What didn't she let you do?"
"I couldn't leave out the offerings on Hekate's Deiopnon, though she did let me clean. And on Noumenia she threw out the flowers I set around the house and wouldn't let me make the honey cakes and wouldn't let me make a Kadiskos to honor the Gods. And she definitely didn't let me pour anything out for the household spirit on Agathos Daimon."
I scowled, "But that's our Gods! Your mom!"
"I know," she huffed. "I'll do my best to do it discreetly, but…"
"Are you gonna go back to camp?"
She bit her lip, "I don't know… I don't… Camp is… it's filled with memories and after Luke-"
I nodded, "After he betrayed the Camp…"
"I tried to call him," she murmured. "But it wouldn't go through. I don't- that wouldn't happen if he was innocent. It's just… it hurts."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. He made his choice, he left us, not the other way around." Her jaw clenched, "If he hates us that much then that's his choice. I won't-" she sniffed "-I won't stand by him when he's just gonna drop us like this."
I wished I was there so I could hug her. I just wasn't sure what to say to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth. I… I wish I could do something to help."
She rubbed her eyes with a scowl. "It's fine, I'm fine, I just… I need to be away from Camp for a bit. Maybe I'll go back for the Heliogenna Festival on the Winter Solstice and just stay for the rest of the year. School here looks boring anyways, this is stuff I learned when I was eight."
I grinned, "Well then at least you'll have lots of free time."
She huffed, a small smile tilting her lips. "Yeah, lots of free time. But what about you? What are you doing for the year?"
I hummed, "I'm going back to moms, gonna spend the school year at the new school."
"That sounds nice," Annabeth murmured. "So what-
"Persi," called a familiar voice. "I need to talk to you about the full moon-"
Triton faltered as he saw the Iris Message, with Annabeth staring back at him.
"Ah, sorry, I guess you need to go," Annabeth said.
"Yeah, talk to you later!"
"Bye," she waved before swiping her hand through the IM.
"Who was that?" Triton asked.
"Annabeth," I said. "She's the person that went on the quest with me."
"Is she…" He paused staring at the blank rainbow. His face was a light green, paler than his normal shade. "Is she a daughter of Athena ."
"Yeah…" I mumbled, shifting.
"You should avoid her," He said firmly. "Children of Athena are all the same. None of them can let go of their pride, and all of them take after their mother in harming those that they claim to love."
"Annabeth wouldn't," I said quickly. "She's great, I like her a lot. She's a good friend."
He stared at me, his gaze intent. "Pallas loved Athena and that didn't stop Athena from running her through in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match."
I swallowed, "Annabeth wouldn't-"
"Athena always swore she wouldn't either. But she went to attack Pallas with deadly force when they were supposed to be showcasing their sparring skills. Despite Pallas' distraction, Athena did not halt her strike. The fact that the force had the potential to be deadly at all, and was aimed at Pallas' one-"
He took a breath, his hands shaking. "She aimed right at Pallas' weak spot, knowing it was her weak point. Athena knew and she aimed there and Pallas died."
I clutched at the pillow on the bed.
"Triton- I- Annabeth wouldn't-"
He swallowed, "Athena even now mocks Pallas' death, every child she has is a mockery of it. All of them look so similar to Pallas-"
I blinked, "What?"
His tails lashed, "Pallas had golden hair, it shone even in the darkest water. Her skin was like burnished bronze, and her eyes a stormy green. Athena practically models her children after Pallas, except the eyes. It's a mockery, she killed Pallas and acts as if she can do anything in Pallas' memory."
My eyes widened, I hadn't known that.
"Athena's crimes can't be held against her children though," I whispered. "Annabeth hasn't done anything to hurt me, and I don't believe she would."
He scoffed, "Not yet she hasn't, but I don't want you to find out what she would do. I don't want you getting hurt. Athena's children have a history of causing harm, just look at Daedalus who killed his own nephew for the secret of immortality."
He shook his head, his power clear to me even with the necklace muting it.
"Or how about Sarah-Mae Williams, a serial killer who started with her own husband. She was the cause of dozens of demigods deaths before she was stopped. And Diokre Athenide, a pirate in the Aegean Sea who challenged Khrysaôr over and over and sacrificed her crew to escape him. Or the Ancient Ptolemic con man, Joshua, who led many families to bankruptcy with his plated gold bars, and then blamed his family for it. Even now, Thomas Streak has bankrupted thousands to fill his own pockets and he still hasn't been caught by mortal authorities."
"Triton- those aren't, sure there are bad ones, but-" I clutched my tails, a twisty achy feeling in my gut. I didn't like this. "Not all are bad," I whispered.
Triton's gaze softened slightly, "I don't mean to upset you, Persi, but Athena and her children… Even if this Annabeth doesn't hurt you, Athena has a history of targeting children of Poseidon who get close to her children. Not to mention that she tends to ensure that her children don't like those of the sea. It's… I don't want you getting hurt."
I stared at the bed, "I know, I just… Annabeth is a friend, I wouldn't have managed the quest without her… I just… I can't hold her parentage against her any more than she did mine."
He pursed his lips but nodded, "I won't stop you from… interacting with her. It is your choice. But… be careful. Don't follow blindly and…" he shook his head. "I'm sorry for upsetting you, I just worry."
I pushed off the bed, throwing my arms around him.
"I know," I mumbled. "Thank you for taking care of me."
He hugged me tightly, "Of course."
We paused for a moment, before he pulled back.
"Now then, we need to go over what we do for the full moon tomorrow."
"It's a blue moon on the land calendar," I said helpfully, fiddling with my bracelet.
He smiled, "The land calendar isn't accurate, the sea calendar is the proper one for the moons. Blue moons happen once in a century practically, not every year or two like on land."
I nodded, "Right, they're a big deal."
"Exactly. But this one is a normal full moon," he straightened. "Your first in the sea. So now we'll be going over how full moons work in the sea."
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I swam to Metuano office. He'd sent for me after Triton left. Triton seemed tense still when he'd left, did he tell Metua about Annabeth? Was this about Annabeth as well?
"You wanted to see me, Metua?"
"Yes," Metua smiled at me. "Sit down, please."
I settled on one of the cushions as Metua finished setting aside some aipone and airomo and focused on me.
"So, I talked to your mom."
I straightened, "You did?"
He nodded, "Yes, we needed to plan your tutoring for the year and you coming to the ocean."
"Oh," I fiddled with my bracelet. "So it's been decided then?"
He pulled one of the aipone out, the thin stone slab covered in notes.
"You'll be spending the first and third weekend of every month at Camp Tetomoa, and the fourth weekend of every month… the land months I mean, not the undersea ones."
I nodded, "Right."
"Right, well, the fourth weekend of every month here. The second weekend is for time on land of course, along with the weekdays," he paused to mark something on the aipone. "On the Autumn Equinox, the Day of Passing, the New Year, Moon Fall, and the Spring Equinox you'll be here as well. You may choose if you want to come for other holidays and the full moons."
"Okay, that makes sense. So, is the tutoring being done over the weekends?"
He shook his head, "No, you'll have a tutor living near you. They'll teach you on Mondays, Wednesdays, and if you have no other plans Fridays, but that will be up to you."
I nodded again.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Who's my tutor?"
"Her name is Euphemia. She's an expert in the history of the sea and cultures, highly accredited. She's younger than a lot of teachers, but her teacher was equally skilled and knowledgeable. She should do well in teaching you your history and the culture of the sea, and possibly some other things."
I nodded, thinking about any other questions I might have… oh.
"How will I be getting to Atlantis and Camp Tetomoa?"
"A Hippocampi will be waiting for you at the river. They can bend space around them as they swim, or well, the older ones can. It's a learned magic of theirs. They'll get you to the Camp or here within twenty minutes."
"Oh, that's cool," I paused again. "Oh yeah. One of the kids at camp, Leilani, got claimed by Psamathe, you know, the Goddess or uh, Nereid I mean, but yeah, the Nereid of the Sand Beaches."
"I'm glad to hear that," he said with a nod. "It's been awhile since Psamathe had a child."
I chewed my lip, "I was wondering if Leilani could stay in the Poseidon cabin."
Metua blinked, staring at me in confusion for a second. "You want… another deities child to stay in my cabin?"
"Well she's in the Hermes cabin right now," I said. "And that's not fair to her cause it's packed full of all the children of Gods that don't have cabins. She's a child of the sea though, so it would make sense for her to stay in your cabin because you're the God of the Sea…"
He considered me for a moment, "You really want her there?"
I ducked my head, "I think she should be in a cabin for the sea, and then she won't be so cramped in there. Plus… it would be nice to have a roommate beyond Carl…"
He hummed, "Yes you don't have any siblings to share a cabin with right now."
Right now?
"I'll allow it. I'll send Dionysus a notice about it."
I beamed, "Thank you!"
He nodded, "I'll speak to Psamathe about sending a gift, is she thirteen yet? If so she'll need a weapon…"
RIPTIDE! I couldn't believe I forgot about the sword again, ugh. But oh yeah, her age.
"Uh, she's eleven I think."
He nodded, making a note.
"Was there anything else?"
"Yeah, I just remembered, Khiron gave me a pen sword thing, it's a uh… it's a beings power? It's called Anaklusmos."
"Ah, yes that sword. It belonged to a nymph, one of the Hesperides. She was wiped from history around the time Herakles went through, and I haven't heard of what became of her. Anaklusmos was found washed up on the shore a few years later. Without Anaklusmos, the blade forged of her immortal power, she would not have survived long though. The blade is now for those of the sea to use to protect themselves, so use it as you have need."
"What was her name?" I asked, thinking back to the blade.
How had she lost it? What happened to her? Why was she wiped from history?
"Zoë," he murmured.
I nodded, I'd remember her.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Okeanus POV
I settled next to Tethys on the bed. She was twisting her hair into a long braid,
"Taeae," I murmured.
"Are you ready to discuss what you did at the Tapohu?" she asked as she grabbed one of the coral hoops to thread her hair through.
I hummed, "Yes, thank you for your patience."
She raised an eyebrow at me, waiting expectantly.
"Kronos spoke with me."
"How is he doing?"
"Our little brother is… much more like himself."
She finished her hair and turned to face me, "And?"
"He is planning to start a war, but wishes for it to be quick."
"What would it mean for us?"
"He asks for us to guard his ships. He plans to attack Camp Half-Blood by sea and take it quickly with minimal losses."
She smoothed out the sheets, a frown on her face. "Is he certain of his victory?"
I sighed, "He believes that he'll succeed regardless of our age and well, he no longer seems mad. It's like his mind has been cleared once more."
She shook her head, "I am glad to hear that, but… war? We have always strived to stay out of the wars. Even against our father-"
"I know," I sighed. "Even when our father went mad we stayed out. But this time… this time it does not seem like either side is mad. Zeus is as stubborn as ever, and he seems…. Not quite as he was at the beginning… but he isn't mad… neither is Kronos."
"You think this is a war where we could actually pick a side?"
I studied her grimly, "I don't think that we have a choice. The sea is getting worse every year, the wild as a whole is. Something needs to change, we can't keep going on like this. I think it's time for our neutrality to come to an end."
She sighed, "And what do you believe is best for the ocean?"
I let my gaze drift to the glowing ponisi on the wall for a long moment before I told her my decision.