Hi again. Sorry it took so long to put this up. I have trouble getting motivated... :) Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace.
As opposed to the comment on my haiku... Oops. I guess I'm worse at writing Haikus than Apollo, if possible... :) But no worries! I learned how to write them, how many lines and syllables and such. Now they're just going to suck. But they'll be properly written. :D
Aside from my improperly written haiku, I hope you liked the last chapter! This one is going to get into the action more, now. And as for the Athena/Poseidon relationship, I'm probably not going to go into a romance with them. But then again, I might just do it. This isn't a romance story (not my department), but it is Aphrodite's favorite day to pair people up...
Anyway, chapter two!
CHAPTER TWO:
Aphrodite was having the time of her life.
First, she had Eros shoot a couple of people, making them all fall in love. Then, she started doing some of her own love magic, bringing people together in the cutest ways. She spotted Zeus and Hera actually spending time together, and Hera looked less angry than usual. Aphrodite gave them an extra magical nudge, making sure Hera and Zeus were well in love today.
Athena was exhausting her, though. Every time she tried to talk to the wisdom goddess, she's somehow disappear. If Aphrodite didn't know better, she'd say Athena was purposely avoiding her. But that was ridiculous. Athena wouldn't do that.
Either way, aside from her Pothena attempts, as Aphrodite liked to call Poseidon and Athena (despite Athena's threats to send her to Tartarus when she called them that), everything else was going perfectly. It was an exhausting but satisfying morning; she'd already done so much. -And it was only 9:00 AM!
She stretched after checking her watch, and decided to go find Ares for a date. He'd offered to spend the day with her, but she'd told him she had to oversee other blooming romances, and wouldn't have much time. But they were going to meet for breakfast, maybe lunch, and definitely dinner. And perhaps they would spend some time together later in the night...
With that happy thought, Aphrodite skipped off towards the restaurant she and Ares were going to meet at. She took a shortcut through an alleyway.
As she moved along, hardly paying attention to the way, her mind wandered. Which is probably why she walked right into a trap without realizing it. The net sprang, reminding her of the time Hephaestus had caught her and Ares, and she yelled in surprise. She tried to get free, but could not.
After lots of struggling, she decided to call for help. She pulled out a drachma, and in some miraculous way, happened to have a rainbow sparkling in a puddle from melted snow. She tossed in the drachma, and said the first person to come to mind.
"Athena."
The tall, dark-haired goddess appeared, standing next to Apollo and Poseidon.
"Help!" Aphrodite yelled. Athena whirled around.
"Aphrodite? What's going on?" she asked.
Before Aphrodite could respond, the mist was cleared away by someone's hand waving through the image, and Aphrodite's only hope disappeared.
"Hello," said the man, stepping forward with a smirk.
"Why did we sneak into Hephaestus's workshop again?" Poseidon asked.
"To use his tracker," Athena replied, feeling quite cranky. "It's used all the time to track immortals down. Hmm..." She typed a few things, and a bunch of symbols popped up on the screen.
"What are those?" Apollo asked.
"..."
Athena and Poseidon turned to stare at him.
"Uh... numbers?" Athena said.
"Really? That's so cool! What do they do?" Apollo replied.
"Are... are you serious?" Athena asked.
"Well, duh. We can't all be geniuses like you."
"Even Percy Jackson can recognize numbers, and he's definitely not the brightest person."
"Hey!" Poseidon said. "He's not so dumb. He's like me!"
Athena raised an eyebrow. "Wow, in that case, his IQ level has gotten even lower than what I remember if it's the same as yours," she muttered. "Anyway, these should be the coordinates as to where Aphrodite is. Let me check a map and I'll tell you-"
"The middle of the Pacific," Poseidon said boredly. "I think it's on an island."
"How do you know that?" Apollo asked. Poseidon felt quite proud when he saw even Athena looked mildly impressed.
"My secret," the sea god said. It wasn't much of one, though. The island was in the pacific, and so it was natural Poseidon knew what was going on in his realm.
"Well, I guess we better head west then."
"Wait... isn't that against the rules?" Apollo asked.
"Since when do we follow rules?" Athena replied.
"Good point."
"Uh, if we get caught, we'll be in MAJOR trouble," Poseidon said. "Like, in trouble with the fates. We'll be breaking Ancient laws. Let's just get some demigods and go have coffee."
Athena scowled. She would have agreed with Poseidon if not for two problems: one, she would have to agree with Kelp Head, and her pride would never allow that, and two, she already had her mind set, and so it would be very hard to change it now.
"I agree with Poseidon," Apollo decided, looking timid.
"Chicken," Athena muttered. "You both are."
"I am not!" Both men protested.
Athena grinned. They were so gullible. They walked right into a trap she hadn't even realized she was setting.
"Prove it."
Apollo sulked at the backseat of the Sun Chariot. It was currently in the form of a convertible, though not the one he usually drove, as this one had a backseat.
The reason he was sulking was because his bossy sister (no, not Artemis, though she was bossy too), was driving his baby. He was also scared out of his mind, though he'd never admit it to anyone (well, maybe Hermes...).
The sky was gray with clouds, and getting darker, which made the trio a little concerned. Poseidon rode shotgun, gazing down at the ocean below, and sighing longingly every now and then. Athena would whack him over the head just for the hell of it every time he did, and Apollo was singing a really bad song (and off key, of course), making the other two even crabbier.
"Are we there yet?" Poseidon asked unnecessarily.
"You tell me," Athena snapped. Poseidon remained silent for about thirty seconds.
"Are we there yet?"
Athena's knuckles went white as her clutch on the steering wheel tightened as her anger level rose rapidly. "I'm going to throw you off this thing," she growled.
"Please do," Poseidon said. He sighed dramatically. "I still don't know why we have to ride this thing."
"Because I'm not going in the ocean," Athena replied.
"Why? Scared?" Poseidon asked smugly.
Athena snorted. "Yeah right," she said sarcastically.
Poseidon sighed.
Thunder rumbled, and lightning crackled.
"Dad's really cooking up a storm," Athena mumbled to herself. "I hope he hasn't found out..."
Poseidon gulped. "This is weird. Usually, I have control of the storms over the ocean."
"Suck it up, Fish Boy," Athena replied coolly.
Poseidon stuck his tongue out. "Don't you think that would be bad, though?" he asked. "I feel like someone else is wrestling me for the control." He closed his eyes, focusing.
Athena felt a bit concerned, but said nothing. She turned her attention back to driving. Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed.
"D-do you think dad found out we did this?" Apollo whispered to Athena.
She looked around, her grey eyes darkening and becoming stormy, like the sky. "I really hope not," she mumbled. Lightning flashed once more, a bolt of electricity arcing across the sky, narrowly missing the sun chariot. Apollo let out a girly shriek.
"Daddy, save me!" he screamed.
"Idiot," Athena muttered. "He's probably the one aiming at us anyway."
"Whyyy?" Apollo asked childishly.
"Why do you think?" was the response.
"Uh, guys? I have bad news," Poseidon said.
"We've got enough bad news as it is," Athena replied. "Might as well add yours."
"Well, I think Oceanus-and other sea spirits-have teamed up, and, uh, well... sorta... you know...overthrewme," Poseidon said, quickly mumbling the last part. But the Wisdom goddess caught it.
"They overthrew you? How?" she demanded.
"Well, teamed up, they're more powerful than me, and so... I can't control the ocean at the moment."
Silence settled between the companions, and the only noise was the ocean waves churning, and the sound of the wind and approaching storm.
Finally, Athena spoke up in a small voice. "But... you make hurricanes and ocean storms, right?"
"Storms come from the ocean," Poseidon pointed out. "And my brother has control over the storms, though. But I do make the hurricanes."
"So it won't be Oceanus or someone like that making this storm?" Apollo asked, voice high-pitched.
"Could be," Poseidon said witha shrug. Before the others could respond, a bolt of lightning shot toward them. Athena tugged on the wheel, causing the car to swerve away, and the lightning flew so close, the electricity made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She slammed her heel on the accelerator, and the chariot shot forward, straight toward the ocean. Apollo shrieked, and Poseidon joined in, screaming right into Athena's ear. she bit down on her lip so hard she felt ichor start to flow out, but kept her eyes forward. Lightning struck once more, this time, Athena wasn't fast enough, and it hit the hood of the car.
The electricity spread through the metal, sending a jolt and electricuting the trio. Athena let go of the steering wheel from the shock. It didn't matter much. The Sun Chariot was out of her control. It spiraled downwards through the stormy sky. Poseidon screamed something about water and fish, Apollo was screeching like a little girl, and in her panic, Athena turned into an owl. Unfortunately, she was wearing a seatbelt, and couldn't fly. She was still going down with the car.
They braced themselves for the impact. The car collided with the water, jarring the three gods. Athena turned back to human form, and unstrapped her seatbelt, swimming for the surface. Her head burst out of the water, and she took deep gulps of the air. She looked around, and Apollo appeared next to her.
"That's the sun that just sinked!" he yelled.
"Sank," Athena corrected him, and realized now probably wasn't the most appropriate time to correct Apollo's grammar. Her mental response to that was "it's always an appropriate time to correct Apollo's grammar."
Poseidon swam out of the water as well, looking horrified. "I can't breathe under there," he said worriedly. He had shed his metal armor, so he could swim above the water. Athena still had hers on, and Apollo's armor was leather. "How is that? It's supposed to be my element! I even have gills!"
"TMI, Uncle P, TMI," Apollo said.
"Huh?" Athena and Poseidon asked.
Apollo rolled his eyes. "Get with the times you two. TMI means Too Much Information."
"Oh," the other two said simultaneously. They looked around.
"What do we do?" Apollo whined. "We're gonna die!"
"We're immortal," Poseidon said.
There was a moment of silence as Apollo thought about this. "We're still gonna die!" the sun god sobbed.
"Pull yourselves together! We're not going to die! We'll get to the island, find Aphrodite, and get back to Olympus. We'll get Poseidon's power over the ocean back, and your car, Apollo, and everything will be fine," Athena said. "So calm down."
Apollo sniffled. "When she puts it that way, it seems so simple," he said.
Poseidon sighed. "Might as well get going," he said.
"To where?" Apollo demanded.
Athena looked around. There was no sun to use now, or stars. She pulled out a compass. "Well, we're closer to the island than land. It shouldn't be far. Maybe a few leagues west. So start swimming."
Apollo and Poseidon stared at her, open-mouthed. "Are you crazy?" Apollo asked. "There's no way we can swim that far!"
"It's our only chance!"
"Can't we flash out of here?" Poseidon asked.
"Already tried it," Athena replied. "For some reason it's not working. My guess is we passed some barrier, something that surrounds the island, and neutralizes our powers." She started to disappear under the water from the weight of her armor and Aegis, but Poseidon pulled her back up.
"Maybe we can find the exit to the barrier?" Apollo asked.
Athena shrugged. "We might as well-" and was submerged under the waves once more. Poseidon pulled her back up. "-give it a try," she finished. "I hope we don't end up swimming in circles."
The waves were getting rougher, and it was getting harder and harder to keep their heads above the water. Poseidon and Apollo were being pulled down too, though they weren't dressed as heavily. A huge wave crashed over them, sending them back under the water.
They surfaced once more, Poseidon dragging Athena by the straps of her armor.
"You might want to get rid of the armor!" he yelled over the wind. They were submerged once more, but Athena pulled off one strap of her breastplate, and Poseidon helped her slip the body armor off completely. She refused to give up Aegis though. She put it face down in the water, and the three leaned on it, using it to help them stay above.
Apollo started sobbing. "We're gonna die!" he kept saying over and over again.
They floated along, soaked to the bone, cold, and altogether, just very un-godlike.
"I told you!" Apollo yelled. "I told you should have gotten demigods to do this! Then they could have died instead, and Percy and Annabeth would come save Aphrodite, and we'd be safe and sound on Olym-"
Another huge wave crashed over them, and Athena's vision went black.