invisible string | f. zhang

xxvi. trust

chapter twenty-six. trust

APHROS LOOKED LIKE HIS BROTHER, except he was blue instead of green and much, much bigger. But, Maribelle had seen and dealt with scarier creatures, she wasn't going to be intimidated.

"Is that why they named you Aphros?" Leo asks as they glide down the path from the cave, "Because of the Afro?"

Aphros scowls, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Leo says quickly.

"So what are you guys, exactly?" Maribelle interrogates.

"Ichthyocentaurs," Aphros replies.

"Uh, icky what?" Leo asks.

"Fish centaurs. We are the half brothers of Chiron."

"Oh, he's a friend of mine!" Leo speaks.

"The one called Hazel told us this, but we will determine the truth. Come."

Maribelle loops her arm around Leo's and follows the fish centaur through a massive forest of kelp. They drift between rows of kelp as tall as apartment buildings.

Finally, the kelp forest opens up. Leo gasps beside Maribelle. They were standing at the summit of a high underwater hill. Below them was an entire town of Greek-style buildings on the seafloor. The roofs were tiled with mother-of-pearl, which Maribelle appreciated silently. The gardens were filled with coral and sea anemones. Hippocampi grazed in a field of seaweed. A team of Cyclopes was placing the domed roof on a new temple, using a blue whale as a crane.

"It's a training camp," Leo speaks up, "You train heroes, the same way Chiron does?"

Aphros nods, a glint of pride in his eyes, "We have trained all the famous mer-heroes! Name a mer-hero, and we have trained him or her!"

"Oh, sure," Leo says, "Like . . . um, the Little Mermaid?"

Aphros frowns, "Who? No! Like Triton, Glaucus, Weissmuller, and Bill!"

"Oh. You trained Bill? Impressive," Leo says and Maribelle giggles.

"Indeed!" Aphros pounds his chest, "I trained Bill myself. A great merman."

"You teach combat, I guess."

Aphros didn't like that assumption, "Why does everyone assume that?"

Maribelle glances at the sword on his back.

"Uh, I don't know."

"I teach music and poetry!" Aphros says, "Life skills! Homemaking! These are important for heroes."

"Absolutely. Sewing? Cookie baking?"

Maribelle slaps him on the chest, "Those are important!"

"Yes. I'm glad you understand," Aphros smiles at her, "Perhaps later, if I don't have to kill you, I will share my brownie recipe. My brother Bythos — he teaches combat."

"So, great. This is Camp . . . what do you call it? Camp Fish-Blood?"

Aphros frowns, "I hope that was a joke. This is camp . . ."
He makes a sound that was a series of sonar pings and hisses.

"Silly me," Leo says, "And, you know, I could really go for some of those brownies! So what do we have to do to get to the not killing me stage?"

"Tell me your story," Aphros says.

Leo hesitates, but not for long. Maribelle listens as he starts at the beginning — how Hera had been his babysitter and placed him in the flames; how his mother had died because of Gaea, who had identified Leo as a future enemy. He talks about how he had spent his childhood bouncing around in foster homes, until he and Jason and Piper had been taken to Camp Half-Blood. He explains the Prophecy of Eight, the building of the Argo II, and their quest to reach Greece and defeat the giants before Gaea wakes.