"I still don't think it's a good idea for you to go down there so early," Hestia said, her voice soft but firm as she patted my cheek. Her mouth was hidden behind her brown shawl, but the frown in her eyes made it clear how she felt. Hestia was usually so bubbly and warm that it didn't take much to notice when something was bothering her —it was like watching the sun dim on an otherwise bright day. "Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble."
"I will," I promised. After just a few short weeks, the time had finally come for my vacation-slash-training trip to Atlantis. Hestia was acting as my convoy so we could circumvent some of the Ancient Laws, and her job was to hand me off at the banks of the lake by Camp Half-Blood.
According to my dad, the lake was connected to the ocean somewhere down the coastline. All I had to do was go deep enough, and everything else would work itself out. Allegedly. Riptide and my new spear, Malice, were strapped to my back in an X position. The ratty bow that I snagged from the camp armory when no one was looking was sitting somewhere in my inventory, along with a bronze dagger, and a few ninja stars.
The rest of my summer had been pretty eventful. I got to level up my attributes a bit more, and I learned how to use a couple of different weapons. Malice, for example, was a parting gift from Clarisse—my ever-soloving teacher—after I demolished her in a one-on-one spearfight. According to her, my best friend Ares had been the one to give her the spear, and it was made out of some conductive material or something. I didn't pay much attention to her explanation. All that really mattered to me was that I could channel fire into it and stab things. My powers let me use fire underwater, too, since anything I touched remained dry, so it worked out great and would continue to work out great in Atlantis—or so I hoped.
"I will watch your mother. I believe Aphrodite paid her a visit a while ago, to help her move some of the furniture," Hestia continued, an amused expression forming on her face at my look of disbelief. The only sound for a few moments was the sound of crickets chirping somewhere off in the distance, followed by the soft crashing of waves on the shore.
"Aphrodite helped her move in?" And she wasn't afraid of chipping a nail? Or getting her designer clothes dirty? Well, to be honest, Aphrodite probably just levitated all of the stuff while trading embarrassing stories of me with my mother. Not that she had that many—if any. My mother, on the other hand, was far more dangerous on that front. The last time I brought a friend—a female friend—over, I went to use the bathroom and came back to the two of them laughing over one of the multiple baby albums of me. That would've been fine, normally, but my mom had albums of literally every single thing I did as a baby. The picture in question they were looking at was a childhood recreation of the birth of Aphrodite with me on a couch cushion wearing Chuck E. Cheese sunglasses and a fedora. I had no doubt that if Aphrodite ever got her perfectly manicured nails on it, she'd never let me live it down. Still, I'd prefer that over the Nymphs and Satyrs photo—let's just say I've never looked at action figures the same way since.
"She did. I believe she provided a wonderfully crafted painting from Florence as a welcoming present," Hestia confirmed, drawing me out of my thoughts. This time, I saw her eyes crinkle. "She's in good hands, my champion." I nodded.
Sincerely, I said, "Thank you, my lady. I should be off. I don't want to keep father waiting."
"You should," Hestia repeated, wrapping me in one final hug. She squeezed my arms. "Be safe."
"I will," I promised, waving at her as I started to walk into the water. Despite the chill of the night, it felt pleasant against my body. She called after me, "See you in a month!"
My head dipped under the water. I walked down into the shoals. I marveled at how I could see through the murk. The water didn't even feel like water. It felt much more like air but denser. I didn't feel the wetness or the liquid-like properties of the sea, but rather, it swirled around my entire body, writhing and churning around me like an invisible vortex.
It was a truly otherworldly feeling. I mean, I guess I was technically in another world, but still. I could tell where everything was. It reminded me, oddly enough, of this one time I downloaded aimbot on a Call of Duty game. Just without the oddly colored squares around things.
Everything just seemed highlighted to me. The world down here was so vibrant, so beautiful. It was like I spent my whole life looking at the world through smudged lenses, but now I had an HD filter on. I could sense the rolling texture of the bottom. I could make out sand-dollar colonies dotting the sandbars. I could even see the currents, warm and cold streams swirling together. I felt the well of power inside me grow as I continued deeper into the murk. I felt something rub against my leg.
I looked down and almost shot out of the water like a ballistic missile. Sliding along beside me was a five-foot-long mako shark. But the thing wasn't attacking. It was nuzzling me. Heeling like a dog. Tentatively, I touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little as if inviting me to hold tighter. I grabbed the fin with both hands. It took off, pulling me along. The shark carried me down into the darkness.
Offhandedly, I felt the warmth of Thalia's protection slowly dissipate from my bones as the ocean chill settled in—monsters could attack me at any moment now. I steeled myself, glancing around at the ocean as the shark carried me lower and lower. A few more moments passed, and it deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sandbank dropped off into a huge chasm.
It was like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon at midnight—not being able to see much, but knowing the void was right there. I felt the call of my father from down in the cavern. If I really strained my vision, I could make out a small light in the depths. Sort of a blinking green light. I couldn't tell if it was getting closer or brighter.
A woman's voice called, "Percy Jackson." The voice came from the light, which was now clearly getting closer. The glow faded a bit, and I could make out a vaguely humanoid form inside the darkness of the ocean. As she got closer, her shape became clearer. She had flowing black hair, and a dress made of green silk. It glistened in one of the few rays of moonlight that somehow made its way down here.
The light flickered around her, and her eyes were so distractingly beautiful I hardly noticed the stallion-sized sea horse she was riding. At first, anyway. It's sort of tough to keep consciously ignoring something like that. She dismounted. The sea horse and the mako shark whisked off and started playing something that looked like tag.
The underwater lady smiled at me. "You've come far, Percy Jackson. Well done."
"Thank you, my lady," I said respectfully, dropping my head. Hestia drilled some of the Atlantean customs into me before I got down here for situations just like this. My best guess was that this woman was a Nereid—a spirit of the sea. They served in my dad's court, which I guess technically made me their master, but I wasn't about to lord over people just because I could. A little respect went a long way.
Plus, the last thing I want is to piss off some sea spirit so much that they make my life hell down here. I've heard some scary stories about what pissed-off water spirits can do to unsuspecting people.
"It has been many years since a child of the Sea God has been born," The Nereid smiled softly. Her seahorse pal returned, the mako shark still swimming alongside it. "We have watched you with great interest, prince."
"I can only hope I haven't disappointed," I replied politely as she got back on her seahorse and beckoned for me to join her.
"On the contrary," She replied smoothly, grabbing reigns on the seahorse that I hadn't even noticed before. "You've got yourself quite some fans. Come. Your father awaits."
I climbed on its back, my brain trying to work out how it could handle all this weight, when suddenly, it shot downwards, blazing through the ocean at speeds I could barely register. There were a few minutes of silence as we went streaking down into the ocean, the light of the moon disappearing behind us. Pretty soon, the only light in the vicinity was the light that the Nereid was giving off. How did she even know where we were going?
"Brace yourself," the Nereid warned. Before I could ask what she meant, the water around us shimmered, and out of nowhere, a massive dome-like structure appeared in the distance. It looked like it was made of turquoise glass, its surface catching the faint glow of the ocean's depths and refracting it in mesmerizing patterns.
The structure loomed larger as we approached, its size and complexity becoming more apparent with every second. Intricate carvings spiraled across its surface, forming shapes and symbols I couldn't begin to understand.
It felt ancient, powerful, and completely alien, like it didn't belong to this world—or maybe like it was the world, just a part I'd never been privy to.