Sorry for the late update. Between school and work, it's been a crazy week.

I do not own PJO/HOO.

…..

Querencia ~ a place from which one draws their strength, where they feel most at home, and where they can be the most authentic.

…

I was starting to get the feeling we weren't going to get as lucky as we did back in Chicago. I even tried 'accidently' bumping into random people, and none of them turned out to be a seer, or made my arm burn inexplicably.

Things weren't looking great, as we navigated the streets of Seattle. The weather seemed to reflect our moods; overhead, it was all cloudy and overcast, with the threat of rain seemingly imminent.

Alek said what everyone was thinking. "Well, we're getting nowhere."

"And we only have two days left to find… you know, them," Erica chimed in.

I kicked a rock with my shoe. "I assumed it would be like Chicago- that Athena would be a bit helpful."

"That's the gods for you," Erica said as she shoved her way through hordes of pedestrians. "Causing more problems than they usually fix, or bother to help with."

"Maybe this was stupid of me to think, but I figured Athena and Poseidon both would be a bit more… accommodating to me, because- "

"Why?" Alek asked, "Because you're their grandkid? The son of the chariot and all that?"

"…Maybe?" I responded weakly, shrugging my shoulders in an innocent fashion.

"If only you could be so lucky. Athena once sent your own mother, her favorite daughter mind you, on a practical suicide mission." Thunder rumbled with some rather foreboding timing. Alek just grunted in response. "Yeah, yeah- like I said, we aren't getting any help from your grandmother, Luke."

It was as if Athena all of a sudden wanted to spite Alek, when we all saw it flying towards us.

"Um," I stuttered, "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?"

"It can't be-" Carolyn said, "In Seattle?"

"In broad daylight too."

"Are we sure it's not just a ginormous pigeon?" Alek sounded a bit put off.

I shot him an amused glance. "Dude, I think we all know an owl when we see one."

The typically nocturnal creature flew over us, and as it did, a small piece of paper floated down over our heads. I caught it before it reached the ground, and hesitantly examined it.

Two words were written on the parchment. Seattle Aquarium.

"Well… this is awkward," Alek remarked, rubbing his neck.

"The aquarium," Erica read out loud, "That's by the bay, right on the beach practically."

"Should be easy to find then," I said, stuffing the paper into my pocket for safekeeping.

"Almost too easy," Alek pointed out, but hardly loud enough for anyone to care.

…..

"What exactly are we looking for?" Carolyn asked, as she examined a small crab scurrying about the bottom of a large tank.

"The seer, Tiresias," I replied.

"And what does he look like?"

I… don't know."

"And I thought the gods were supposed to be the unhelpful ones."

She responded to my glare by sticking her tongue out at me like a small child. I rolled my eyes, and then refocused on scouring the aquarium for any signs of a seer. When we had arrived at the aquarium, Erica had suggested splitting up to cover more ground. I had felt a bit uncomfortable being paired with Carolyn, considering what had happened earlier that morning. So, in order to prevent myself from thinking about it, and making things awkward, I put all of my focus into searching the aquarium.

Only the approach of Alek and Erica proved to be worth my attention.

"We've searched every nook and cranny of the 'Marine Mammals' and the 'Pacific Ocean' exhibits, and not a single sign of anything 'seerlike'." The daughter of Hermes wrung her oddly damp hair out. "Only thing we found was an extremely splash-happy seal, so please tell me you two found something."

I shook my head despondingly. "Nothing in the 'Atlantic' exhibits, or 'Birds and Shores'. Also- 'seerlike' is not a word."

Both of the girls groaned.

"I can't right now," Erica waved her hands in the air in frustration. "Is there anywhere we haven't checked yet?"

"Uh, there's the 'Underwater Dome' exhibit," I replied, scanning the map of the aquarium.

"Great, let's go. Hopefully, we'll either find this seer, or someone to put me out of my misery."

The exhibit was surprisingly empty, save for a couple random employees milling about. It was exactly what you'd imagine an 'underwater dome' would look like. Half of the room was sphere-shaped, and made up of small windows, with which you could observe the marine wildlife swimming about just on the other side of the wall.

And of course, so sign of any seer, or anything unordinary for that matter.

"Dang," Erica complained, "Missing on both counts."

"So what now?" Alek asked, "Did we just get conned by the only owl in Seattle, who just so happened to be flying around during the day?"

"Seems unlikely."

"Then what on earth are we supposed to be doing here?"

I was in no mood to listen to one of Erica and Alek's arguments, so while they exchanged pleasantries, I decided to get my money's worth at least. I moved to the observation wall, and leaned a shoulder against it, content to just stare out at the vast landscape submerged in water.

Why would Athena bring us here- bring me here? Surely, she wasn't trying to awaken some connection between my father and I?

A single fish inexplicably came to my window, and just stared at me. Any other day, I would've been elated, and probably stood there for hours.

Instead, I shooed it away with my hand.

Not thirty seconds later, it was back, and it brought a friend. There were now two fish staring at me. I decided to just move windows. As it would seem, the fish really were interested in me for some reason, as I found them staring at me through my new window. Worse yet, there were even more now.

Pretty soon, I had a whole school of fish following me wherever I went.

"Um, guys," I said, though it went unheard over the sound of Erica and Alek arguing. "Guys!"

All three of the others snapped their heads towards me.

"Watch this," I said, and then moved from one end of the wall to the other, and back again. The fish followed accordingly.

"What the- " Erica exclaimed, as she took a step closer. "How are you doing that?"

"I don't know!"

"Are you talking to them? Are they saying anything to you?"

"No, and no."

We all just stared as the school of fish stared back, their beady little eyes fixated on myself. It was probably the strangest thing I had ever experienced, and that was saying a lot.

"I'm gonna ask an employee if this happens a lot," Erica then turned, but stopped halfway. "Umm, guys- where are the employees that were here earlier?"

Scanning the room, we saw nothing. No one else. We were alone.

Turning back to the fish, I suddenly saw a new emotion in their eyes, and watched in horror as they quickly began to disperse, fleeing as if a shark were about to attack. My skin grew cold, and the hairs on my arms and neck stood up.

"We need to get out of here," I said, but before either of us could move, the lights went out.

Next thing I knew, something hard and crushing connected with the back of my head, and I collapsed on the ground.

….

My dream started off with voices flooding my head, each one different and unique, with only two of them being even somewhat recognizable. I don't know how I managed to make out everything that was said, it all seemed to be random, with no continuity. I saw nothing; only listened and heard.

'Where is he?!'

'She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here.'

'Who?'

'Her boyfriend. A guy named Percy Jackson.'

'Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is.'

'Gods, I never thought—'

A sound like an anvil hitting the ground interrupted everything.

'If you ever leave me again, I swear to all the gods—'

Oddly enough, laughter broke through the threat.

'Consider me warned, I missed you, too.'

Then the voices all melted away, and I felt like I was on an airplane.

There was a constant dull drone, and some random creaking noises coming from all around. When I looked around, I saw mostly darkness. What little light came through seemed to be coming from the floor, which was odd to say the least. It smelled an awful lot like the barn I had woken up in last time.

From where I was hidden, I could see two dark figures entering the dimly light room. Unsurprisingly, I could only make a mess of raven-haired bedhead, and a cascade of golden curls.

"A glass-bottomed boat?" The boy asked, as the girl grabbed a blanket from the nearest stable gate and spread it across part of the glass floor.

'Sit with me,' she said. They took their spot on the blanket, with their backs turned to me. "Leo built the stables so pegasi could come and go easily. Only he didn't realize that pegasi prefer to roam free, so the stables are always empty."

"What do you mean, come and go easily?" he asked. "Wouldn't a pegasus have to make it down two flights of stairs?"

There was sound, like knocking on glass. "These are bay doors, like on a bomber."

"You mean we're sitting on doors? What if they opened?"

"I suppose we'd fall to our deaths. But they won't open. Most likely."

"Great." He didn't sound excited about the prospect at all.

The girl laughed, and I watched as she scooted even closer, her voice dropping down to practically a whisper. "You know why I like it here? It's not just the view. What does this place remind you of?"

The boy was silent for a moment, as he carefully took in his surroundings. "That zoo truck, the one we took to Las Vegas."

The girl didn't respond, but I got the feeling that wasn't a bad thing.

"That was so long ago," He said. "We were in bad shape, struggling to get across the country to find that stupid lightning bolt, trapped in a truck with a bunch of mistreated animals. How can you be nostalgic for that?"

"Because, Seaweed Brain," She replied once again with the odd nickname, "It's the first time we really talked, you and me. I told you about my family, and… it reminds me how long we've known each other. We were twelve, Percy. Can you believe that?"

"No," The boy admitted. His tone then turned to a cockier one. "So…you knew you liked me from that moment?"

"I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. Then—"

"Okay, fine." He interrupted, much to the amusement of the girl.

Said girl leaned over and kissed him, muttering a few words that I barely registered before the dream faded into the void.

"I missed you, Percy."

Then, it was gone. For some reason, I felt a since of longing, like there was so much I needed to know, but I didn't. My chest began to battle once again, and this time, I absolutely hated it. I didn't want the division, or the struggle between my identities. At first, it actually felt natural, like it was how things should have been.

But now, it felt wrong, and I had this aching deep within myself. It seemed to come from a place of melancholy, but it only brought anguish. I woke up, and found myself practically on the verge of tears.

I wanted to scream, to tell the dream to come back, because for once, I felt like I was getting somewhere. Back to a place where I had once been, but had long since been removed, and the repressed feeling that I would never get back there again.

Unfortunately, the place where I actually was at the moment, was nowhere near what I had hoped for. I was surrounded by water, and my first instinct was to panic.

"Woah, easy there," I heard Alek say, and a firm hand grabbed my shoulder. "Don't freak out just yet."

Hearing him talk underwater was surprising, but even more so, was the fact that I could breathe. "Wha-what? How am I- "

"Beats us," I heard Erica say, and turned to see both her and Carolyn sitting with their backs to a wall. "Best we can guess is some sort of magic."

Once I overcame my fear of accidently sucking water, and became comfortable with the idea of being able to breathe, I started taking in my surroundings. From what I could tell, the room we were in was some sort of cell. Prison bars covered the one tiny window, and it seemed there was practically no door at all.

"Where are we?"

Alek shrugged. "A prison of some sort- an underwater prison."

"I got that," I replied facetiously. Suddenly, my head started pounding, and I groaned, placing rubbing my forehead. "How long was I out?"

"At least six hours," Carolyn said.

That got my attention. "Six hours?!"

She nodded her head. "Probably more. I was the first to wake up, and then Alek, then Erica."

"That's not good. What if it's been a whole day? Two days? A freaking week?"

None of them had an opportunity to answer, because at that moment, the cell began to rumble. We all turned to see a section of the algae-covered wall disappear, and three figures entered.

"Okay," I whispered to myself, "No big deal- we've just been captured by mermaids."

"Mermen," The foremost half-fish, half-dude said. "I figured you of all people would know better… nephew."

My eyes widened, and my jaw became slack, as the merman who had spoken stepped forward into the light. His body was chiseled, with green tint to his skin, and long, flowing black hair. Unlike his companions who accompanied him, he had two fish tails, instead of one. I really hoped he had been joking about the whole 'nephew' thing.

"I am Triton," The merman announced, "Son of Poseidon, and your father's brother."

….

Wow, I'm feeling generous- second straight chapter with a dream.