"Is he breathing?!"
"I don't know?!"
"How don't you know, you're a satyr! Meant to be 'one with life' and whatnot!"
"I could say the same about you, 'daughter of wisdom'!"
"Whatever! We should put him in the Heimlich, and begin CPR, now!"
"What's that?"
"Urgh! You're useless! Fine. I'll start CPR then."
"What, like, mouth-to-mouth?"
"What other way is there?! I'm not gonna let him die."
The voices got quiet, and I had no idea what was happening, my eyes and mouth seemingly fixed shut. I wanted to tell them I was conscious, but I couldn't bring myself to.
I felt small hands rest above my heart, and they began to press down vigorously, like it was life or death, and it probably was. They pumped three times, before stopping, and I could feel whoever was on top of me leaning in, their hair brushing on my face...
And that's when my eyes decided to jolt open.
I was met with the sight of Annabeth's soft lips about three inches above mine, her eyes closed and her falling around her face. She looked incredible. But this seemed like something that would only happen in a dream.
"He's fine!" Grover called out from the side, just as our lips were about to connect, and I glared at him with the corner of my eye subconsciously, and he grinned back.
Annabeth's eyes darted open and she fell back clumsily, her face flushed and avoiding my gaze. She seemed pretty embarassed.
"Thanks Grover." There seemed to be some passive-aggression in her words, but I couldn't, for the life of me, think why.
"Glad to help." He laughed to himself, and I sat up from the ground, dusting myself off and looking around. I was right next to the bed of the river, on the grass and stuff, and I could see the St. Louis Arch nearby, literally burning at the top as emergency services surrounded it.
"What the fuck happened here?" I murmured and Annabeth shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"That's what we wanted to ask you. All we know is you tricked us into deserting you, and by the time we reached the bottom, we saw you fall out of a hole at the top. But before you splattered everywhere, the river reached out to you, it was crazy. And for some reason, you're not a human donut anymore." She sounded bewildered, and honestly I felt the same.
"Yeah, but before you decided to jump off a building, there was a huge surge of energy. Like, it was massive. And even though it should be impossible, we think we know why." Grover began but I groaned, everything coming back to me now.
The fight with Achelous, my free-fall from the Arch, my meeting with Amphitrite. All of it.
Just to confirm though, I looked down at my hand, and sure enough, Maelstrom was still there, existing as a ring. I could feel the pouch of pearls in my pocket too, but something that was new was a pendant around my neck.
It fit the general theme of my other gifts, a silver chain connected to a deep, azure trident which had a glowing emerald in each of it's prongs. Tentatively, I opened up the pendant, and I felt some tears come back instantly.
It was a miniature, golden conch shell, barely as big as my fingernail, but with it came a small note. I opened and read it, but as quickly as I got it out, I put it away, not in the mood to be emotional in front of my friends.
It read:
"I'm proud of you, son."
I wiped away my tears quickly, with my sleeve, playing it off as something in my eye. Grover didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't show it. But Annabeth seemed a little more suspicious, thankfully she didn't bring it up.
"Percy, this may sound stupid, so bear with me. But did you happen to, well, kill Achelous?!" Annabeth hissed, and I shrugged.
"Yeah. And?"
Grover and Annabeth both facepalmed, looking at each other with disbelief, probably thinking 'Who is this idiot?'.
"Are you SERIOUS?! There is no WAY you could be this d-" Annabeth stopped herself, grabbing her head like she had a migraine before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and calming herself.
"Y'know what? Whatever. I'm not gonna waste brain cells on this. But I have to ask. Why were you in the river for so long? We only found you because you basically got spit up again."
"Did I take that long?" I asked, scratching my head.
"Dude. We came here at like 10AM. It's 6PM now." Grover showed me his analogue watch, which I'd never realised he'd had before.
"Ah. Right. Well, I wasn't conscious for most of it. I don't remember that much of actually being in the river." I sighed and Annabeth grunted.
"That's great. Helpful." She sarcastically muttered and I shrugged.
"I didn't say that I didn't remember anything though. It's actually kind of a crazy thing really." I began and Annabeth took a side glance at me and Grover leant on a nearby tree, looking at me.
"I met somebody. Down there I mean." I gestured towards the river.
"Your dad?" Annabeth rose her eyebrow.
"Nah. He's busy with, well, y'know." I pointed up towards the dark storm clouds that covered the sky, hiding any signs of the Sun behind lashes of wind and rain with rumblings of thunder.
"Right."
"Yeah. But he sent somebody. And I was pretty surprised."
"Get on with it."
"It was Amphitrite! Like Queen Amphitrite. My dad's wife." I enjoyed the shocked look on their faces, knowing I probably did the same thing when I saw her.
Grover snapped out of it first, looking really worried. "Did she try to kill you?"
I made a face at that, confused why he would say such a thing about a woman as nice as her. "No! What the fuck?! Why would you think that?"
"Well, think about it for a second, Seaweed Brain. You're the son of her husband. And another woman. Hera-"
Annabeth paused to allow the sky to thunder slightly.
"Hera hates all of Zeus' children for the same reason. She literally made Heracles kill his own family out of spite. Didn't you think Amphitrite would do something similar?" Annabeth blankly looked at me, and I blinked.
Now that I thought about it, it was a little weird that she didn't smite me on the spot, let alone give me gifts. Oh well, doesn't matter now.
I shrugged. "Not really. Anyway. Do you wanna know what she told me or not?"
They both leaned in a little, and I took that as a yes.
"Well, she was basically telling me about why she was there and stuff. Speaking about my dad, y'know. But then, she gave me some gifts, from Dad. Should be pretty useful in our quest." I heavily abbreviated the story but I didn't think to mention any of the sappy stuff, it would just be awkward to say.
"So where are these gifts?" Annabeth asked.
"She gave me three, well, basically two. And I have them with me." I pulled out the pouch from my pocket, which was miraculously dry considering I'd just came out of a river, but I didn't give it much thought. They stared unimpressed.
"What is it exactly?" Grover asked.
I shrugged again. "Apparently, Zeus-"
Thunder rumbled.
"-Hades and my dad gave each other some pearls or something. They have three each. The pearls help them escape each other's domains whenever they want." I pulled out the pouch, and Annabeth gently took it from my hand, looking at it with wonder. She took a peek inside but probably didn't expect the pearls to be so bright, and she almost dropped them.
"Why would they ever do that?" She muttered and I shrugged.
"My dad never got to use his, so he's just giving them to us. Should be helpful when we try to leave the Underworld."
Annabeth looked like she was about to speak up, but shut her mouth before sound came out, looking troubled instead. I wanted to ask her more about it but Grover took my attention.
"Great! That's perfect!" He bleated. "Anything else?"
I nodded and pulled up my hand, pointing to the new ring on it. "Yeah. She gave me this."
"Right. And why is that helpful?" Annabeth asked and I grinned.
"Look."
I closed my eyes and visualised my armor to form around me, and grinned when I heard the miniature gasps they both gave me. I opened them again.
Sure enough, the armor was around me, overlapping my clothes but leaving them completely dry at the same time. It added no extra weight, if anything, it made me lighter.
"Cool, huh?" I smirked, feeling maybe a little too proud of it.
"How?! It's solid water!" Grover stared.
"Ice is solid water."
"You know what I mean!"
"Well, my dad made it for me. It's a material called Cerulean Titanium. It's basically as good as Celestial Bronze, it's just lighter. Which is cool." I smiled.
"Did Queen Amphitrite say anything else?" Annabeth asked.
I nodded. "Yup. She mentioned something about what happened to Achelous. Apparently everything could feel it. So she just warned me that every monster and god available is gonna want to meet with us."
Annabeth groaned to herself, crouching on the ground and putting her head in her hands.
"But."
She turned to me with new hope.
"We don't have to care about any of the lower tier monsters. Amphie put a nymph's blessing or something on it. Basically, we only gotta worry about stronger ones."
Grover whistled with impressment. "A nymph's blessing, huh? That's pretty damn good."
I grinned. "Hell yeah."
"And the third?" Annabeth asked.
"Huh?"
"Your third gift. You said you were given 'three but basically two' gifts. I'm assuming your third one is intangible. What was it?" She crossed her arms.
"Uhm-"
"It's something to do with your new pendant, isn't it?" She pointed at the ornament on my neck, and I awkwardly shrugged.
I stood up from the floor, dusting myself, but I got questioning looks from the others again. "What?"
"When did you get so tall?" Annabeth pointed out, and Grover bleated.
"This has to be something to do with whatever happened down there." Grover muttered.
I looked down, and sure enough, I definetly felt higher than before, and my frame was definetly longer, with my pants showing off my ankles and my shirt a little too tight on my body. I wasn't short before, I was still about six feet tall, but now I felt like a whole NBA player. If this is what LeBron James felt like, I could understand why he was so cool. My friends, Annabeth in particular, felt much smaller than me, only reaching my shoulder, but in Annabeth's case, even less than that.
That wasn't the only physical change I had though. I always considered my body like a swimmer's build, lean and tall but not necessarily bulky. Well, that changed.
I was still tall and lean, but my chest and shoulders had filled out a lot more, giving me more of an athletic frame, like a quarterback in football or maybe a power forward, a bit like Giannis but a little bit shorter.
"How are you so buff too? Did she give you steroids down there?" Grover pointed and I was speechless.
Thankfully though, Annabeth spoke for me.
"It doesn't matter right now, we'll speak about it on the way to Las Vegas. Because if you hadn't noticed, the police are questioning everybody in the area about that."
She pointed at the burning Arch.
"And we can't afford to miss our train." She got up from her seat as well, dusting herself off.
I sighed. "You're right. Let's go."
___________________________________________
The train felt a lot more uncomfortable now, with all my limited leg room.
Annabeth was nice enough to shift her legs over so I could take some of her space, but I was still cramped and manspreading like crazy.
When we were about an hour out of Missouri, and some of the older passengers went to sleep, Annabeth nudged me and kicked Grover in the shin to get our attentions. We both winced and looked at her harshly but she didn't care.
"Look. We need to talk about what happened to you, Percy. What did Amphitrite do specifically that made you look like this?" She jabbed at my bicep and I jolted a little in pain.
"Ow! I don't remember exactly what she said, but after she gave me the pearls and Maelstrom-"
"What?" Grover asked.
"My armor."
"Right."
"She had this crown thing in her hands. It was glowing like crazy in the water. But she was saying a few things and it kept getting brighter." I began but was cut off.
"What things? I know you don't remember specifically but we need to know, this is a weird change and I need to know if I need to worry about it." Annabeth said.
"Worry about what?" I asked.
"She's worried about you!"
"Shut up Grover." She kicked him in the shin again, but I noticed the slight pink on her face. Must be embarrassment.
"Well, uhm, it's actually a funny story." I scratched my head, thinking of how to say it.
"How could this possibly be a funny story." Annabeth wasn't even asking, it was just a statement.
"OK, maybe it's not that funny. But basically, she had the crown, and put it on my head. She called me the Prince of the Seas. I can't remember anything after that. And now I'm tall. Well, tall-er."
"And buff." Grover added.
"Thanks man."
"Any time."
"Did you just say 'Prince of the Seas'?" Annabeth muttered quickly and I nodded.
"Yup. Why?" I didn't like the calculating look she had.
"Did she say anything else? Specifically, was the word 'heir' used anywhere at all?"
I nodded again. "She said I was the 'Heir to the Earthshaker, Stormbringer', which I'm guessing just means my dad because she said I was the heir of him too."
Annabeth's lips opened, gaping like a fish while she sat back in her fabric, train chair, shaking her head in her hands. "You're only a demigod! How the hell...?"
She stopped herself mid-sentence and guffawed, like she shocked herself again.
"Do you even know just how insane it is to be the heir to an Olympian? Seriously? That's, like, the highest honor that could be given!"
"What is it?"
"It's the Olympians' way of showing their favor to those below them."
"That's cool."
"It's more than cool, Seaweed Brain! It's fucking insane is what it is! Being the heir to an Olympian means you unlock their domain, it's like being a god without the immortality. That's why it's usually only given to other immortals though, like Triton..." She trailed off.
"Who's Triton?" I asked, scratching my head.
"The son of Amphitrite and Poseidon. How the hell don't you know this? He's your half-brother." Annabath remarked.
"But now, I don't think he'll appreciate you too much, now that you've basically been giving his title. I mean, he was never the official heir to Poseidon, but everybody just kind of expected he would be. So this is pretty surprising." Grover added.
"I mean, I don't really care about all that. It's nice and all, but it's not that important. I'm more focused on getting the Bolt and my mom back." I shrugged.
Grover blinked. "Percy, you might just be the only demigod ever to say that. Seriously."
Annabeth groaned with exasperation. "Percy, you're an idiot. This is big, way bigger than you realise. People were already looking your way when they thought you stole the Bolt, and they were looking at you when you killed three of the most legendary monsters consecutively. They were looking even more when you KILLED an immortal, and now you're the Prince of the Sea. What do you think that means for how many monsters, and maybe even Olympians, we'll see from now on?"
I blinked. "I'm guessing it's not good."
Annabeth stared at me, disbelieving. She was really pretty when she was annoyed. I hate that I just thought that.
Grover coughed awkwardly, cutting the silence. "I'm gonna go find something to eat. Are you guys OK with hotdogs and fries?"
"Yeah man."
"Whatever."
"OK, cool." He left the table and began walking off, and I glanced back at Annabeth, who was now facing away from me and staring out the window.
She seemed annoyed, and I think it was because of me. I didn't know what I did, but I wanted to rectify it.
I waited for a couple of seconds, thinking of what to say, but eventually decided to just say what I thought.
"Are you mad at me?"
Annabeth was still for a couple of seconds, before turning back to me, but her eyes were slightly misty. I think I could see a tear collect at the end of her eye. She hesitated before clearing her throat, but her voice sounded a little hoarse.
"Percy... don't die. Please. Just don't die."
"I'll try my best?"
She chuckled before lightly punching my shoulder. "I'm serious, dummy. You're a good guy. Selfless. Brave. Loyal. But just don't let that be your fatal flaw."
"What's a 'fatal flaw'?" I asked and she just shook her head, letting her blonde ponytail sway behind her.
"Doesn't matter. My point is, I appreciate all your efforts on this quest. Really, I do. And I know I seem uptight, but I get that way when I'm nervous and stressed and tired and sc-"
"Thanks. For appreciating my efforts I mean." I laughed, cutting her out of her rant and she grinned.
"Whatever. I'm just saying, I don't want you going out of your way to save me anymore. Not that I'm not thankful for that, what you did for me with Achelous and Medusa is something I can never pay back, but I want you to have some concern over your own safety. As harsh as it sounds, your life is more important to this quest than Grover's or mine." She paused, waiting for me to respond, but I didn't, just looking down at the table in front of us quietly.
"Well? Are you gonna be a little less selfless now?" She guised it as a joke but I could tell she actually wanted a confirmation from me. It would probably make her feel a little better.
But I couldn't accept that.
"Nah. I'm still gonna save you every time, it's just the way I work." I grinned. She sighed but smiled.
"Fine. But just because you're a prince now, it doesn't mean I'll be your damsel-in-distress." She pretended to flex her biceps but it looked so stupid that I couldn't help but laugh. She laughed as well, and soon enough, we were just giggling for a couple of minutes.
When I caught my breath though, I looked back at her and grinned. "Yeah, you're right. Damsel-in-distress isn't enough for you, is it? More like a princess."
Annabeth laughed into her hand for a moment, but when her giggles faded away, she simply smiled, and I smiled back. We locked eyes for what felt like forever, staring into her gray, and she was staring into my green.
I realised things about her that I hadn't before. She had a light dusting of freckles over her cheeks, but they were barely visible through her tanned skin. Strands of hair fell over her face, framing it well, but when she tucked them behind her ear, she looked even better.
And her lips too. I never really noticed them before. They were perfectly pink, like she was wearing lipstick but I know for a fact she wasn't, all of her beauty was natural. But they looked soft as well. They were shaped so well, almost too well.
We continued looking at each other, staring, and I had no idea what she was thinking, but I knew I was enamored by her beauty.
SLAM
Grover slammed our food on the table, knocking me out of my weird trance, and he sat down with a sigh. Annabeth jolted in surprise, before straightening herself and darting her gaze away from me. For some reason, I could feel my body lose any sort of warmth after that.
"Eat up." Grover bleated and I looked down as to what he brought back. There was definetly a hotdog, but it's bun was insanely soggy and the actual dog was dripping with grease.
That would be disgusting, I could just tell, but at least the chips would be g-
"Oh come on, man! Flame grilled steak?! Really? You know I hate that!" I moaned and Grover just shot me a grin.
"I still haven't heard a 'thank you'." He crossed his arms. I groaned.
"Fine. Thank you." I had venom behind my words.
"It's fine, Percy. Have mine instead." Annabeth nudged me, passing me her chips. Ranch. Awesome.
"Thanks Annabeth!" I passed her my old chips before digging in, well aware of how hungry I was. I beamed at her and she gave me a small smile in return.
Grover gave her a look which I didn't understand. "Are you sure about that, Annabeth? I thought you hated ste-"
"Well I like it now." She interrupted indignantly. "Taste buds change every seven years, Grover. Maybe you just don't remember."
He smirked. "Whatever you say."
I stopped eating for a second and glanced at Annabeth, who was prodding at her hotdog with her finger. She looked just as hungry as me.
"Well, if you want, we could share?" I offered her the unopened packet of chips, and she gave me another smile.
"I'd like that."
___________________________________________
KICK
I jolted awake with a kick to the shin, instantly clutching onto my leg in pain.
"Ow! Fuck!" I cursed, looking up at whatever kicked me.
It was Grover.
"Hey, what the fu-" I was interrupted quickly.
"We're in Las Vegas." He blankly stated.
My eyes widened in surprise. "How long were we sleeping?!"
"Long enough to get to Las Vegas from Missouri. Wake Annabeth up." He told me, and I looked to the blonde, only to find her leaning on my shoulder, her hair untied now, and falling onto my arm. I gave her a nudge, and thankfully, she woke up, albeit, slightly groggy.
"What do you want, Percy?" She murmured, still half-asleep and slurring her words.
"We're in Vegas."
That seemed to be the switch to getting her fully awake, jolting at that and getting her head off of my shoulder, back straightened and eyes wide.
"What?! How long did we sleep?!"
"That's what I asked!" I added.
"Like twenty hours straight, you guys were exhausted." Grover shrugged.
"Fuck! Move, Percy!" She yelled, moving over me to get into the aisle and to get our stuff from the overhead luggage carriers.
I stood up to help, but I had a strange moment where I forgot how tall I now was, and felt a weird sense of vertigo due to how high I was.
Once we got everything though, we joined the rest of the passengers on the train out towards the exit, waiting for the doors to open so we could leave.
We didn't speak until they began to open, a sense of nervousness for the new city overcoming us. But when the doors did open, nothing could have prepared for what was on the other side.
It was a man, standing alone in front of the door despite the busy station platform, but still maintaining space around him.
He had leather pants and a leather jacket, his rolled up sleeves and sunglasses giving him a biker aesthetic. He had a spiked belt, a black and red undershirt, big, strong boots and the meanest mohawk you would ever see. He was tall too, and buff. Physically imposing. Scary.
He looked like he had a constant scowl on his face due to his defined jawline and cheekbones, but he was definetly grinning directly at us.
"Hello kids." He smirked. Annabeth gasped, I could practically feel and hear her heart racing.
"Ares!"
___________________________________________
AN:
Word Count: 4,203
Overall Word Count: 35,266
How about this chapter? Like it or not?
I know it didn't have much plot in it, but I wanted to just get everybody on the same page about what was happening if that makes sense. Also Percabeth. And Ares. So there's that as well.
Grover might be a little OOC right now, and if you don't like that, I'm sorry, but I wanted to give him a little more characterization than just being scared of everything. He'll probably be like this for the rest of the book. Again, if you don't like that, I'm sorry, but you should probably stop reading here then.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter!