Storm Rising

Chapter 18

Percy's POV

"What are you doing here?" Triton growls at me, eyes flashing.

I try to speak, but the trident is so tight around my neck, it's hard to be. Normally, if I had my water powers, I would fight Triton. But under the ocean without water powers, I don't stand a chance.

"Triton!" A woman in a flowing blue dress that matched her eyes stormed over. "Do not hurt Perseus."

"Why not?" Triton asked, still not relaxing his grip or taking his eyes of me.

"Because, I think I may have asked him to come," Amphitrite said timidly. "Do not overreact, Triton. Let us talk this out."

Triton growled but removed the trident from my throat. I followed Amphitrite into a lovely room shaped like an omega, if you took the ends of the omega and pushed them in till they were parallel. In the center of the room, there were soft tan couches and arm chairs. The room was shaped so that a fireplace was next to the sitting area, so it was kind of like a circle with a part pushed in. On the right, there were two beds, a green sheeted one, presumably Triton's and a blue bed for Amphitrite. In one of the little circular alcoves there was a decent sized kitchen with all the appliances you could ever need. From where I stood, I could barely see the other alcove, but it seemed to hold a dining table.

Amphitrite walked down the few steps, her dress and black hair flowing behind her, and took a seat gracefully on one of the armchairs. I walked down to join her and Triton followed me, trident still in hand. Amphitrite sighed.

"I don't know where to start. I guess I could say it started just earlier this day when I was having a dream."

"But gods don't have dreams," Triton protested.

"That's the funny part. I felt like a being much older than the fates or Morpheus was pushing this dream towards me."

"Wait a second, fates push dreams?" I ask. Amphitrite nods. "Now I know who to slap whenever I have bad dreams."

"In the dream, I was sitting on the window seat over there, looking down at the ocean. Poseidon was down there with a few Cyclops. They were looking over a blue print. A wrecking ball was beside the tower as it has been for the last two days. I began to yell at Poseidon why he was doing this. He was going to destroy my tower with Triton and me in it to please his new son and wife. Then as the wrecking ball started to swing, I saw Perseus and cried out to him. The dream went black," Amphitrite explained.

"I had a similar dream just a few hours ago," I confirm. I turn to Triton. "Triton, I know how you feel now. I'm really sorry if I ever acted like a jerk to you. I'm sorry I was born because it caused you great unhappiness. As soon as we get Amphitrite and you out of here, you are free to kill me if it would make up for Poseidon's lack of attention to you.

Triton looks deep into my eyes, searching for any false claims. His eyes soften. "It's okay Perseus. It was not your fault you had been born. The fates decreed it and we can't change fate. You were born for a reason, but this Brandon, he was born simply to fulfill Poseidon's wants," He then rubs his mother's hand, soothing her. "I will not kill you, but Brandon, well I'm not promising anything."

"I might be helping you with that," Triton smiles at me and for the first time in my life, I feel a brotherly connection connect between Triton and I.

"My friends and I ran away from camp and have a cave up in the mountains. We can't teleport in there, but we can go outside of it."

Amphitrite nods. "Only one problem, Poseidon made the tower so I can't teleport out and neither can Triton."

I look down at the watch that Agthis gave me so I would know how much time I had left. "We need to hurry, the gathering won't last forever."

Amphitrite runs over to her bed and pulls out a blue backpack. Triton grabs his green one from the hooks above his head. They both throw a few pieces off clothing and some food in.

"How will we get out of the tower?" Triton asked as we headed down the stairs. "Poseidon sealed it."

I pull the flaytos out of my pocket. "This should do the trick," Their eyes widen at the sight of the blades.

"Pure Styx, of course. The door is immune to celestial bronze, imperial gold, and abalone weapons," Triton says. We reach the bottom of the stairs and I set to work on the door. The part of the door I had previously cut out has reconnected to the other parts of the door. Triton takes a flaytos and helps me cut away at the door.

With a final cut, Triton and I push the door over. Triton jumps over the door, and extents his hand to his mother to help him over the door in her dress. I leap over the door and with together, Triton and I put the door back into place.

The door has just begun to reseal itself, when a shout rings out. I whip around to merman soldiers in white shirts swimming towards us with their long mermaids tails. Only now do I wonder why Amphitrite and Triton don't have their tails. Too late now.

Amphitrite yanks me to the side. We take off down an alleyway, the soldiers close behind us. I leap over a box thats in my way.

"When will we be able to teleport away?" I yell at Amphitrite as we run.

"If they are to close to us, they will be able to tell where we go," She calls back, struggling to run fast in her long dress.

We make a precarious turn, whipping around a corner. Amphitrite's foot catches on a shell sticking up out of the shell stoned street. She falls and cries out. The mer soldiers close in on us. Triton turns around and reaches for our hands, just as the mer soldiers are upon us.

Bianca's POV

After Percy left, everyone started getting agitated. We got out of the pool of water and sat by the fire to dry our clothes, seeing as Percy wasn't here to dry them. Roughly fifteen minutes later, the doors to the cave slid open and Hazel and Frank walked through.

"Ivory, I have Arion up in the room above. Do you think you can possibly shrink him so he will fit in the cave?" Hazel asked the other girl.

"Probably, but he will probably have to stay the smaller size for a while," Hazel nodded and the two girls made to leave the room.

Nico stood up to follow them, but Ivory pushed him down. "Oh no, mister. You're still recovering. You're staying here for a while," Nico pouted but relented.

Hazel and Ivory disappeared through the doors and. Frank unslung the bags from his shoulders. He unzipped the bag and began pulling some stuff out.

"We got a deer and skinned it, so all we have to do is cook it. Hazel picked a lot of berries and some different plants we can eat."

I got up and walked around the cave. Pulling some rope from my bag, I found a good spot in one of the corners to string it across. Ricky, sensing what I was doing, got up and helped my string up the rope. Frank nodded in understanding.

The doors slid open again Hazel, pulling an angry dog sized Arion, and Ivory walked through.

"What's the rope for?" Ivory asked.

"Hanging up the live food we get so it preserves longer," I explained to her.

Hazel looks around the room frantically. "Where's Percy?"

We begin to explain to her about Percy's dream and how he went to save Amphitrite. By the time we are done telling the story, Hazel has created a small rock pen for mini Arion.

"I wouldn't go save Persephone," Hazel says in response to our story.

Nico laughed. "Thats exactly what," Nico stops abruptly in mid sentence. His face is frozen and very pale.

"Nico? Nico?" Hazel asked. She looked to me, but at that exact moment, I feel what Nico must be feeling in his gut.

A person, someone very close to Percy, has died.