4Hi, this is another sweet treat for all of those people who have had to put up with waiting for my stories. I wanted to make it up to them. I know some of you are getting irritated with not enough fluff in PJATDM, and I'm sorry about that, I just wanted to build up the tension. Percy's slowly starting to discover his feelings, and just a little bit of info, Annabeth has already accepted her feelings towards Percy, but refuses to tell him, thinking that he doesn't like her back. Hope that makes a little bit up to you.
Just to let you know, Percy and Annabeth are not together at the beginning of this story.
=) review.
Waking up Someplace Strange
I'm still not completely sure what exactly was happening, all I really knew was that it was wet, and it was dark. But of course, I was used to these kinds of things happening. I mean, I am the one and only son of Poseidon. I fight monsters on a daily basis. I live at a demigod training camp over summer so I don't get killed, not that I can't protect myself, I just prefer to not worry about watching my back every second of every day.
But let's focus back on the dark, wet place I was stuck in. Let's just say, I wasn't sure if the place I was in was extremely humid, or if I was underwater, because either way, my lungs didn't let water in or feel pressure. It's just the way I was born.
I could probably figure it out if I was just able to move my arm. With that thought, I smacked my forehead. Why hadn't I thought about that earlier instead of just lying here? And with that swift movement, I immediately knew that I was underwater.
I quickly stood up and hit my head hard. But being the invincible me, my head just bounced off with a dull thud, and I felt a slight stinging sensation that probably would have been 100 times worse if I wasn't invincible.
I went down on my knees and began looking around; not that I could see anything. I didn't sense any sea-creature's mind with my own.
"Hello?" I asked, and my voice echoed out though the water. "Anyone there?" I waited for a minute but there was no answer.
"Just great." I said to myself before I started crawling to who knows where. I felt sand and tiny shells under my hands, so I knew that something had to live down here somewhere. And by the taste of the water, I could tell it was salty, so I was either in a salt water lake, or in the ocean, but I'm pretty sure that if I was in the ocean, my navigational skills would tell me where I was at.
Once again, I smacked my forehead. I hadn't even tried to think about where I was. I sat down and thought about where I was and the coordinates latitude 33.267398-longitude118.814392 popped into my head. Great; I was across the country again. How? I didn't know, and I still didn't know how to get out of here.
I took a deep breath and thought about what Annabeth might do. She would most likely try to find a current that could possibly lead her out of here. So that's what I did. I waited for a current, any type at all, and finally, I felt one. It was going against me, so I continued crawling.
I crawled for what felt like ages before trying to stand up again. Luckily, I didn't hit my head again. I was able to stand and walk. It was a good thing too because I was starting to get bored of crawling. I walked for another unknown amount of time before I saw a speck of light.
That was when I started swimming. I swam as fast as I could to that speck of light, and when I say swam fast, I was probably faster than a torpedo thanks to my water abilities. The speck of light slowly grew to the size of a golf ball, than a soccer ball, and finally it was the size of a large exit way. A smile came across my face as I exited my own personal underworld, even though it was nothing close to the actual underworld.
I swam out into the bright water. I was finally able to see my surroundings. I had been in a very deep underwater cave. The water I was in was cold, but not as cold as the North Atlantic Ocean that was on the other side of the country, where I should be right now. This brought up more questions on why I was over here instead of at home or school.
Without being able to see how far away from land I was, I couldn't answer any questions, so I shot up to the surface and looked around. From a distance, I could see land, but I wasn't sure, so with my water controlling powers, I raised myself up to a two story height. I saw land, and where there was water that met land, there were boats. I started swimming.
With each stroke, I the water getting shallower and shallower. My navigational skills started to fade a little bit, yet I was still happy. I wanted to be on land and to go home, if Zeus would let me take a plane. In my head I heard sarcastic laughter. No, no he wouldn't.
As soon as my feet touched ground, I was walking. I could feel my consciousness ebbing away slowly. My body wanted to rest; my mind wanted to shut down, but I couldn't let it do that yet. I had to get all the way on land. Step by step, my brain shut down just a little bit more, and by the time I actually reached shore, I was nothing but an empty, thoughtless shell and I dropped to the ground in exhaustion.
I was startled awake by a door slamming. My eyes had flown open and I had almost fallen out of the bed I was now in. Still unaware of where I was at, I was just happy to be somewhere near civilization. I pushed myself out of the bed and made my way over to the door. Just as I was about to open it, the handle turned and in walked a young girl carrying a wet cloth. She was maybe around 9 or 10. She had dark brown hair and green eyes along with fair skin. When she saw me, she smiled, exposing a large gap in between her front two teeth.
"You're up!" She said and turned quickly. "Papa! He's up!" she yelled in excitement.
A man that had the exact same hair and eyes as her came running into the room. "Oh, goodness. You are awake. I was afraid that Cindy here was trying to pull my leg again." He said with a smile.
I just looked at them, hoping that they would explain some things.
"Oh dear. Where are my manners? I'm Thomas, and this is my daughter Cindy. I was out walking when I found you passed out on the beach. Thank goodness you were still alive, I brought you back here to my house in hopes that you would wake up."
"I'm Percy Jackson." I started out. "Um, I'm not really sure where I'm at. All I remember from before this is swimming. But I am from New York." I explained.
Thomas looked at his daughter, who turned to me and smiled again. "Well, Percy. You're on Catalina Island, the farmer's area of course, but Catalina none the less. You're lucky that you washed up here by our house because there's nobody out for the next 15 miles either way." She said in a matter of fact voice. Her father snapped out of his state of surprise.
"You're from New York? As in New York City? The city with the Empire State building?" He asked.
I nodded. Where was he getting at with this?
"How did you end up all the way out here?" He asked.
I had to come up with an excuse and quickly. Fell out of a plane? Went on a very long swim? Visiting a friend? Yes! That was the one.
"Um, I was visiting my friend Annabeth in San Francisco. We were going on a two week excursion in her family's boat when I fell out around a mile off the beach. I wasn't sure where we were at, but I saw land and just started to swim."
Thomas accepted my answer, but he didn't show belief in his eyes like he should have. Cindy smiled up at me and took my hand.
"We should get you something to eat." She said dragging me down a wooden hallway. Most likely to the kitchen. Thomas followed behind quietly. When we walked into the kitchen, I noticed that it was dark out. Thomas seemed to as well.
"Cindy, it's time for you to get some sleep." He said. She frowned.
"But Papa…"
"I'll make you pancakes tomorrow." He bribed. I saw her struggle to decide. She turned to me dejectedly and said goodnight before traipsing off down the hallway.
Thomas turned to me and offered me a seat at a big wooden table. I sat down and he started talking as he moved around the kitchen gathering things.
"So, Percy. What really happened?" He asked.
"What?"
"Don't play daft. I know you're a demigod." He said while sitting down. I immediately tucked my hand into my pocket where Riptide was hidden.
"How do you know about Demigods?" I asked carefully ready for him to turn into a monster at any time.
He put his hands up, palms facing forward. "I'm a son of Hermes, and I know a demigod when I see one."
"A son of Hermes huh?" I asked. He smiled and nodded.
"Yes, I lived in Manhattan for the first twenty years of my life, fighting monsters and helping other campers. But then I met Cindy's mother and I moved out here to be with her. I don't see many monsters out here, but when I do, their dangerous. I have to work hard to keep my world hidden from Cindy, but there was one time where I failed…" He said looking down at the pans he had in his hand sadly.
"What happened?" I asked, already half knowing the answer.
"It was 6 years ago, Cindy was 4, and we were out having a picnic on the beach. It was a perfect day, that is until a Hydra decided to show up. My wife, she was a daughter of Aphrodite. But she wasn't able to fight very well due to that fact that she was trying to protect Cindy. I on the other hand had a sword in hand ready to defend them until the end. That wasn't the case. The Hydra got too close and I had allowed one of its head's to open its mouth… then there was fire." He took a little while to contain his emotions. "Even though my wife and I were both half bloods, Cindy is full human and can't see through the mist, so what she thought happened was a plane was passing by and it dropped some hot pesticide on her. It's possible, because people go to the hospital from pesticide burns all the time."
"I'm sorry." I offered. He just smiled at me and continued on his way through the kitchen.
"So, focusing back on you. I haven't been involved in the demigod world in 12 years. I do know that Poseidon and Zeus were fighting a few years ago, but I'm not sure why. Care to explain some things?"
"Well, let me start off by saying that I shouldn't be alive."
"And why is that?"
"I'm the son of Poseidon, there's also my cousins Thalia and Nico who are the daughter of Zeus, and the son of Hades, but I was the first discovered to actually be alive."
He looked surprised, but motioned me to continue talking. I showed him Riptide and proved to him that I had control over water. About what was going on at camp and about all my friends. I told him about my dip in the river Styx and then to finish it off I told him every detail about the war."
"My gods. I've been blind these past few years." He said. I smiled, but then yawned and so did he.
"Well, we should get some sleep. You can stay in the room you were in before." I thanked him and put my dirty dish in the sink and like I always do at home, I used my water skills to clean it. He watched in amazement. I smiled sheepishly at him before walking off to go to bed.
The next day, I woke up to Cindy again. She had run in the room carrying pancakes. I thanked her and ate it gratefully. I washed it while they weren't looking and Thomas gave me a pair of boots to wear.
"We're going to work today but as soon as we get back, we'll see about contacting this friend of yours."
"Annabeth?" I asked. "She lives a few days away, so can I call my mom too?"
"Sure." He said as we walked out of the house.
As soon as we were outside, my mouth was hanging open. The farm that he lived on was huge. I saw so many different animals and crops.
"We're one of the main suppliers for this side of Catalina. But luckily we have people to cut all these crops for us. We gave them the week off though, so we've got to do some of it today."
I nodded as we continued walking down to a truck. Cindy was already sitting in the back wearing a pair of bright pink boots and hat.
Thomas whispered: "Just cause I'm the son of Hermes doesn't mean I like to steal. What really took over my demigod part of life is my hospitality, as you can see. Whoever needs a place to stay for a little while, has one here." I nodded in understanding.
He drove us first over to the animals. We got out and went over to the stables, and I started to get excited.
"I hope you know how to ride a horse, cause that's what we're going to be doing for the next 13 hours." He smiled over at me. He knew perfectly well that Poseidon was the creator of horses, and saw the excitement on my face.
In the pen, there were 10 horses. Cindy immediately ran up to a white one, and Thomas chose a chocolate brown one.
"Go ahead and choose one. We've got several tamed ones in here as well. There's the white mare over there, and then the gray one over there. But I would stay clear away from the black stallion over in the corner. He still has a bit of an attitude."
I smiled on the inside as I walked along the row looking at all of the horses. Some didn't see me, but when I came across those that did, they did their best to bow. I mentally thanked them when they did. Finally, I came to the black Stallion. He was facing the other way eating hay. I stopped and waited.
He decided to turn after a few moments and as soon as he saw me, he was bowing. 'My lord. I apologize for not seeing you.' He mentally said.
I folded my arms and looked at him. 'I hear you're a trouble maker…'
'Hercules.' He said. Hmm, a fitting name.
'Hercules. Thomas told me to stay clear of you. Why is that?'
'My lord, they do not know how to ride me right. I am a stallion, I love to be free, but they try to put saddles and ropes on me. Bareback is the way to run." He said in almost a poetic way. I nodded in understanding and came closer.
'Would you let me ride you bareback?' I asked.
'But my lord, you will be hurt. My back is hard.'
'I've been in the River Styx. You cannot hurt me.' He nodded and I opened the pen and led him out. He followed me over to wear Thomas and Cindy were, where they looked frightened.
"You're not really going to ride him are you Percy?" Cindy asked.
"I am." I Said. I turned to Thomas. "This is a stallion, they like to be ridden bareback, so that's what I'm going to try today." I said.
I put one of the metal bits with the leather rope in his mouth and he bit down on it. 'Let's go.'
We did so many things today, but one of my main jobs was to water every bit of the crop that there was. With my help, we were done 3 hours early.
Heading back to the stable, I was having a conversation with Hercules. 'Now Cindy is only 10, so she can't ride you bareback. If she wants to ride you, let her ride you with a saddle. You can handle that every once in a while. But if Thomas rides you, let him ride you with at least a padded blanket. He's only mortal.' Hercules agreed and I put him in his stable. He bowed again and I thanked him before walking off to the house with Thomas and Cindy.
"Let's contact that friend of yours." He said. He lead me to the kitchen and to a phone that was sitting on the counter. Thomas motioned for me to get it and he took Cindy out to the truck to get supplies for tonight's dinner.
I dialed Annabeth's Phone and on the third ring she picked up. "Hello?" She asked. I could detect a small hint of worry in her voice.
"Annabeth?" I asked, and I heard her breath hitch.
"Percy! Where are you? I've been going mad trying to call you? Your mom called yesterday saying that you didn't come back from your visit with Chiron like you said you would. Where are you?"
That's right, I had been visiting Chiron, then I was walking out to my car when I was knocked out.
"I'm at Catalina." I replied.
"Catalina Island? What are you doing there? You're such a Seaweed brain."
"Annabeth, I'm not exactly sure how I got here. All I remember is walking out to my car after visiting Chiron, then waking up in a very long, very dark cavern at the bottom of the Ocean. When I surfaced, I was a mile off the shore of Catalina."
She sighed. "So, I'm guessing you want me to come and get you?" she asked.
"Please? I can't take a boat unless I have documents or a person takes me in one of their own, and I know you have one in the harbor."
"Fine, I'll get my dad to drive us down there. Which side?"
"South West."
"Alright, be there in about a day or two."
"Thanks." I replied. But just then, a hellhound broke through the window.
"Oh my gods!" I yelled. Thomas ran in.
"What's going on!"Then he saw the hound. "We need to get out of here."
From the phone, I could hear Annabeth yelling, asking what was wrong.
"There's a very large hellhound in here." I yelled back, to be heard over the noise. "You might want to hurry and-" I was cut off by something hitting my lower back and I screamed bloody murder. The phone was wrenched out of the wall. No more connection. Whatever had hit my back was gone now and I was fine.
Thomas came back in the room. "Cindy's hidden." He said, before looking for some sort of weapon. I stood back up immediately and pulled out Riptide. The Hound snarled.
"Yeah, you go ahead and snarl all you want. It's not going to make a difference." I yelled.
The hound lunged at me, but with a quick blast of water, it was against the wall and soaked. It stood back up and shook itself before coming after us again. This time after Thomas. Before it could even reach him, I threw Riptide and it went straight through it. The hound disintegrated into yellow dust.
"That was a good shot." He said as I went to go receive Riptide.
"Thanks." I replied, just as we heard several loud howls come from outside.
"Not good." He said.
"Get Cindy. Quickly. We need to get to the ocean." I said. We started running down the hall before we heard another crash come from the kitchen. Cindy was hidden in a closet. We started running as soon as she was out.
The beach was about half a mile away from the house. Cindy was hyperventilating and we were freaking out.
"Keep going, I'll fight them off." I said turning around.
I had fought of a lot of the Hellhounds, but there were at least 5 more and they were bigger than the first. I had lead Thomas and Cindy to the beach and without explaining anything, lead them into the water. They were confused at first, but when their feet didn't get wet, Thomas started to understand. Cindy long ago started to tell herself this was a dream, and we just went along and told her it was.
We've now been sitting in a giant bubble about 50 feet underwater for around 5 hours now just talking. Cindy had fallen asleep and I was replenishing air every 20 minutes. Hellhounds wouldn't come in after us.
"This is pretty cool Percy."
"It comes in handy sometimes." I replied.
"Do you think they're still up there?" He asked.
"I wouldn't doubt it." I replied.
We just sat there talking until I heard a scream from above.
I stood. "Somebody's up there." I said. I replenished the air in the bubble, then left them there to stay safe as I ran above to see what was going on.
The first thing I saw was Annabeth. She was sitting on the sand with a frightened look on her face. The next thing I saw was that she was surrounded by the hellhounds.
Anger boiled up in me. There was no way they were harming Annabeth. I ran at them with Riptide and brought up as much water as I could out of the ocean and destroyed each and every one of the hounds, making sure not a drop of water touched Annabeth. I had at least enough water to fill twp lakes fall on the hounds and when I forced all the water back into the ocean, Annabeth was sitting there wide eyed, and completely dry.
I heard Cindy and Thomas come up onto the rocks and sand, but I focused on Annabeth. She stood and launched herself at me.
I didn't think that I would ever like the feeling of crushing lungs, but I did. Annabeth was crying into my shoulder in a way I've never seen her cry before.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I thought you were dead. You're invincible Perseus Jackson and if you scream like that ever it usually means that you were hurt, and the only way for you to get hurt is to get hit in the back. I thought that you had been scratched there and had died like Achilles! Don't ever do that again! I can't lose you!"
"I had been hit in the back, but soft enough that it went away quickly." I said, just as my mind registered what she had said. "Wait, did you say that you can't lose me?"
She blushed and started stammering. "What I meant is… um… you're my friend- but maybe more- no. You're my-." I cut her off with my lips.
"I like you too Wise girl." I said. She blushed and her beautiful gray eyes sparkled.
"Really?" She asked.
"Since that day at the volcano actually." I said rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.
She smiled and hugged me tighter than before if that was possible.
"Well, I'm guessing this is your friend, right Percy?" Thomas asked.
"Um, this is Annabeth, Annabeth this is Thomas and his daughter Cindy." I introduced, putting an arm around her waist. "He's a son of Hermes." I whispered in her ear, so Cindy wouldn't hear. She nodded.
"It's good to meet you."
Cindy yawned, catching the attention of Thomas. "I think we should get you into your dream bed young lady." He said.
Annabeth looked at me confused. "She thinks she's dreaming." I explained.
Annabeth and I were sitting at the scratched and banged up kitchen table talking. Thomas was putting Cindy to bed.
"How did you get here so fast?" I asked.
"I took my dad's plane." She replied. "he taught me how to fly it over winter break. I can fly you back to San Francisco and from there we can get you a train or something."
"Thanks wise girl. But we still don't know how I ended up out here."
"You don't think it was Hades do you?" She asked.
"No, it's only his minions that attack me now. He doesn't do anything to me personally."
"Ares?"
"No, he stopped bugging me."
A flash of bright pink caught my attention. I looked up to see Aphrodite. She had a smirk on her face and when she saw me looking she winked, and then she was gone.
Annabeth squeezed my hand when a grimace came over my face. "Do you remember who it was?" She asked.
I nodded, But I didn't want to say her name. It was like a bad word that left a bad taste in my mouth. But her name was the answer even though I didn't remember how she did it. But I do know why she did itnow, since the proof was sitting across from me holding my hand.
"Well?" Annabeth asked. "Who was it?"
"Aphrodite."