A/N
I decided to publish this chapter earlier than I had planned. No reason behind this.
Actually, there is one. My exams for eleventh grade are due in two months. So, I am trying to update as fast as I can.
No, I won't stop updating the story completely, but updates won't be this frequent. Maybe one chapter per ten days? That okay with you guys?
Also, I am in need of some suggestions for the events that take place while Percy is staying in the hunt. So, if anyone would like to help, it would be highly appreciated.
Anyway,I got some reviews asking to reduce the number of people in the harem. Well, fine with me. I took 8 by default as it is my lucky number. But if you feel that I should reduce it, please comment or P.m me.
Or rather let's do one thing. Comment or P.M me the number if people you want in the harem. The number that gets most votes will be finalized.
One thing that I would like to make clear is that I am completely impartial while managing the polls. I do not increase or decrease any character's votes as per my choice. Think about it this way, if I would want a certain character to be fixed in the harem, I would have just done so. It is my story after all. I can do anything the heck I want. So please stop P.M ing me asking whether I deliberately increased or decreased a character's votes.
Now onwards with the story.
Last time:
A smile graced his lips as he suddenly looked nostalgic. "Yeah. Your father. The greatest immortal I have ever seen. A perfect combination of Power, humility, authority, discipline and love. My self-proclaimed big brother. You look just like him, you know. Heck, you even act like him. "
I nodded, knowing that my birth father and adoptive father were very close friends. More like brothers. I knew that whoever my father was, he was incredibly powerful. Even ridiculously more than my adoptive father, who was one of the strongest Olympians, if not at the top.
I bid goodbye to my dad and asked him to tell mum as well. After ending the IM, I removed my shirt and changed into some boxers, deciding to get a small nap before lunch. Afterall, today's lunch was going to be long and tiring. I had to explain my heritage to thirty adolescent man-hating girls.
Closing my eyes, I thought,' Man, it has already been a long day, and it isn't even afternoon yet.'
Present time
Place: Hunter's camp
Percy POV
Out of all the ways the hunters could have woken me up from my nap, they chose the easiest and dumbest one. Throw a bucket of ice cold water on me. While it may have tingled me a bit, it was ultimately still water. All it did was freshen me up.
Giving a sigh of contentment, I opened my eyes to see four hunters standing around my bed. Out of the four, I recognized three. Two of them were blondes with soft blue eyes, the daughters of Apollo- Sophia and Atalanta. The third one was a muscled red-headed girl. Her eyes were a dark brown colour, and gleamed with a harsh light. Her name was Phoebe, I remembered. This was the ring leader of the hunters who had tried to prank me earlier.
The fourth one was someone who surprised me. She had brown hair, but a pair of moss green eyes that I knew very well. She looked exactly like her mother. I would have easily mistook her for her mother, but fortunately, I didn't make the mistake as I saw that she lacked the authoritative look in her eyes like her mother.
My stare must have made her nervous, as she shuffled on her feet for a few moments. Phoebe nudged her sharply, which caused her to snap out of it and glare at me instead of shuffling. Before they spoke, I asked her, "You are Rhode's daughter, aren't you?"
She seemed taken aback by my question and froze for a second before nodding. "Yes. My name is Chloe, and I am indeed the daughter of Rhode. How did you know it?" She asked suspiciously. The other hunters got the same suspicious looks and started glaring at me with a higher intensity. Sigh. Answering to paranoid, suspicious man-hating virgins. Just what I needed when I woke up.
"You have her eyes and hair. Heck, you look just like her. Except for the glint in your eye."
Her eyes widened comically before she spoke, "How do you know her? You speak like you have met her a thousand times."
"Well, I have actually met her a thousand times. As to why and how I know her, I will tell you about it after lunch. By the way, is lunch ready? I am starving right now." I replied.
Phoebe snorted while the other three hunters gave out short laughs. "You slept through lunch, boy. It is time for dinner. So, get your lazy male ass out of the bed and come out for dinner, if you do not want to be turned into a-"
"Jackalope by lady Artemis." I cut her off, completing her sentence. "Yeah, yeah.I know. Tell milady I'll be out in a couple of minutes. "
Phoebe looked mad that I had interrupted her sentence, but she nodded stiffly and signalled for the other hunters to follow her out of the tent. Chloe gave me a last curious look before exiting the tent.
Once they were gone, I got up and stretched my body a bit. After making sure I was presentable, I exited my tent and closed the flap. As I neared the dining tent, I could hear the hunters chatting. Let me tell you, these girls had very loud voices. Concentrating on the voices, I could decipher that they were asking Lady Artemis about me.
The noise stopped abruptly when someone banged the table. For the next five seconds, it was so quiet that I could literally hear the chirps of the birds that were settling into their nests for the night. Then a voice spoke, "Girls, I know that you have many questions regarding the boy that is currently present in the Hunter's camp. Your questions will be answered by him when he comes here. But one order that I have for you is that under no circumstances are you allowed to kill him, or even injure him severely." I deciphered that the voice was Artemis'.
The number of groans I heard made me give a tired sigh and a groan myself. A hunter blurted out, "But why, milady? He is a boy. Aren't we supposed to hate boys?"
Artemis immediately shot back, "Yes. Do not mistake my order for a reason to keep the boy safe. I myself am not at all fond of the boy, and wouldn't mind killing him, but for a reason that you don't need to know, he has to stay alive for now."
That seemed to quieten the hunters as the talking died down to whispers. Deciding it was the right time to make my presence known, I entered the dining tent. The next moment, thirty one pairs of eyes were on me, glaring at me like I kicked their puppies.
I noticed that Zoë's glare was more of annoyance than hatred. So was Lady Artemis' . Hmm. That could be counted as progress. At least I had moved from the hatred to the major annoyance phase for two of the biggest man-haters on Earth. Only twenty nine more to go. Piece of cake, right? Well, no.
I bowed to Lady Artemis before moving towards the corner of the table. The table was one that could be used for family dinners. It was huge and could easily fit thirty six people. So, I was sitting at the corner, opposite to Lady Artemis. The seats beside me were empty. To be honest, I preferred it that way. There were many pointy objects on the table and I didn't want to lose an organ just because I was distracted by a piece of food. Judging the hunters, they were itching to pick a knife and cut off my dick or throat, maybe both.
I saw that a plate of rabbit stew and a glass of water was placed before me. I had never tasted rabbit stew. But seeing the Hunters'
expressions, I knew that I had to yet answer a million questions before I could start eating. But before it all, I got up and picked my plate. Moving towards the campfire, I dumped a small portion of my food into it and spoke, "For Lord Poseidon and Lady Amphitrite. Also, for Lady Artemis. "
I turned around and went back to my seat. The hunters watched my movements and followed to do so. After this all was done, I sat down and placed my hands on the table, intertwining my fingers. "So, I get it that you girls want to know about my true heritage, right?" I asked.
They tried to nod with a nonchalant expression, but couldn't push away the slight glimmer of curiosity from their eyes.
"For starters, my name is Perseus. I am the adopted son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Crown prince of Atlantis. Slayer of Leviathan."
I wished I had a camera to capture the shocked expressions the hunters had when I finished speaking. Twenty nine dropped jaws. Twenty nine wide eyes. Haha. It was too funny. I couldn't keep my control as I burst out laughing. This earned a groan from Zoë and a snort from Artemis.
My laughter caused the hunters to cease laughing and try to regain their posture. Once they did so, they went back to glaring at me. Sigh. Need to get used to this is I am to stay with them for a month.
Chloe was the first one to speak, "So that's how you know my mother. " Her expression reminded me of the image of Archimedes that Aphros had shown me. It was of the famous 'eureka' moment that the ancient Greek philosopher had. Seeing the wierd looks the other hunters were giving her, she blushed with embarrassment and shrank down in her chair.
"Yep. That's pretty much how I know your mother. She is my elder sister. Adopted, but eh, that's just a technicality." I said, waving my hand dismissively when I said the word technicality. This earned another nod from her. I noticed that the suspicious look that she had before was now gone. That was good as I really did want to know my niece better. Heh. My niece is centuries older than me. Weird, right? Well the whole Greek mythology is messed up, so this is actually quite normal.
That is when Phoebe spoke out aloud, "He is definitely lying. No boy can kill the Leviathan. He must have seen a sea serpent and thought it was Leviathan. He is just like those other male pigs. Deceitful, arrogant and a rapist." She sneered at the end.
I could tell that she was trying to intimidate me with the glare she was giving me. To be honest, her glare was really scary. But it didn't even compare to my mom's glare. Trust me, my Amphitrite's glare could immediately turn Poseidon from the king of the oceans to a whipped puppy.
So, I wasn't really that affected by it. I met Phoebe's gaze for a second. I had seen earlier that her brown eyes had a harsh glint in them. I had been told by many mermen that I got the same glint in my eyes when I got really angry. I can still remember the time when I first got to know about it.
Flashback Start
Percy POV
It was about a month after the Leviathan incident. I was jogging around the streets of Atlantis when I heard a lady cry for help. The next moment, I was sprinting in the direction of the sound. When I reached the location, the scene I saw made my blood boil. A naked mermaid was crying and struggling helplessly as three (fortunately) dressed mermen were holding her down. It didn't take a detective to decipher what was going on there.
Two of them had the woman pinned down by her hands while the third one, who I guessed was the leader, was fumbling around with the button on his jeans. By then, it looked like the poor mermaid had given up on trying to escape and had resigned herself to this monstrosity.
The mermaid saw me first and gave a sigh of relief. Her eyes shone with a sparkle of hope. What? How could she possibly be reassured by the presence of an eleven year old boy?Was it was because I was at least a glimmer of hope in the hopelessness she felt right now? This just made me angrier at the men.
Walking forward, I brought out Riptide in pen form and spoke calmly, but in a cold voice filled with steel, "Hey shitheads, don't you know it is really not nice to force a lady into doing something that she doesn't give her consent to?"
The three men jumped in surprise before looking at me. They stared at me for a few moments before they busted out laughing.
After they stopped laughing, the leader scowled at me and spoke, "Get out of her punk. This is none of your business. Go and play with your little toys. Has nobody ever taught you that you should not pork your tiny nose in other people's matters? Now shoo."
He waved in a manner that you would use to shoo a street dog away.
The mermaid tried to escape again, but the leader anticipated this. He slapped her hard on the face, causing the mermaid to lose her consciousness.
This caused my anger to burst out. I uncapped Riptide and sprinted towards the three pigs. The leader pulled out a sword from beside him and tried to stab me. I sidestepped and kicked him on his back, causing him to lose balance and fall on his face. Meh. Just like those arrogant assholes, thinking of themselves as 'manly' , while they can't even fight if their lives depended on it.
The leader was really fat and completely bald.
But I didn't have time to think about this as the other two goons, who had unsheathed their own swords, charged me together.
I parried the blade of the first goon before slashing his thigh open. He fell to the ground clutching his bleeding thigh.
The third goon was a little late skilled than the others as he managed to parry my strikes for a few moments. But seeing an opening, I feinted a slash to his chest before stopping mid strike and stabbing my whole sword through his stomach. I made sure that it went through skin, not killing him. I wanted these assholes to suffer much more.
Then I moved back towards the leader, who by now had got to his feet. I grabbed his arm and cut across it with the help of my sword. He screamed in agony and pulled back his hand. Using his sword hand, he pommeled me with the hilt and then kicked me away. I landed on my back and spit out some blood. I slowly got to my feet, my temper getting out of control. I could feel myself losing in to my anger.
Giving out a roar, I lunged towards him. The next moment, my sword was at his genitals while his sword was lying ten feet away, broken into two pieces. He looked scared out of his mind, but for some reason, it was not because his genitals were in danger. He seemed to be scared of my eyes. Finally, he managed to squeak out, "What the fuck are you? Let me go, you fucking monster."
He had pissed his pants . Confused, I moved my sword and checked my eyes in it's reflection. What I saw shocked me to the core. My eyes weren't normal anymore. They had changed to vertical slits like those of a snake. The eyeball remained blue, while the slit was yellow in colour. Honestly, it freaked me so bad even I wanted to piss myself. I couldn't even imagine how scary it was for the merman in front of me. Speaking of it, the merman hadn't moved even though my sword was no longer at his genitals.
Looking up, I saw that the man was still looking fearfully at my eyes. He was sweating by now. His teeth were chattering nervously, and he seemed to have lost control over his body. The reason behind his condition struck me like a thousand volts of lightning. He was paralyzed. Not the Medusa type turned-to-stone paralyzed, more like the Leviathan style.
Amazed, I dipped my sword hand and closed my eyes. I focused on turning my eyes back to original. Once I lifted my eyelids, I saw that my eyes were back to normal. The leader immediately snapped out of his trance and tried to kick me. Dodging, I imagined my eyes as slits again. Immediately, the merman froze again.
I questioned him, "What is your name? "
He answered "G..G...Gabe."
"Do you know that the punishment for rape in Atlantis is direct beheading?" I asked him.
He seemed even more scared and replied, "Please sir, let me go. I swear I will never do anything like this again. Please, kind sir."
I raised my eyebrows at his terrible acting skills. I put my finger to my chin in a thinking pose. "Hmm. Let me think. How about...no?"
I spoke and in a quick swipe, I cut of his dick with my sword. He screamed in agony and fainted. The other two goons had already fainted due to excessive blood loss.
I made my way towards the unconscious mermaid and fed her some ambrosia. Her eyes snapped open and she immediately punched the air around her. Or at least what she thought was air. Her punch hit me straight on the nose, effectively breaking it. I sat back on my butt and exclaimed, "Oww. That isn't any way to thank your saviour, is it?"
She looked around her and saw the three unconscious men who were lying in a pool of their own blood. Then she saw me clutching my broken nose and gasped loudly. The next moment, she was bowing to me and apologizing profusely. "Forgive me, milord. I didn't look where I punched and I accidentally hit you. Now you are probably mad at me and going to kill me. I am so sorry. Please forgive me."
I signalled for her to stop by raising my hand.
"If I had wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have saved you from them. Do not worry. I am not going to harm you. But please do refrain from hitting me again."
She let out a breath she seemed to be holding for quite awhile. "Thank you milord. How can I repay you for this? I will forever remain in your debt ."
I handed her the clothes that I had found lying nearby. I turned around while she put them on. Once she was done, I spoke, "Oh. Don't worry about that. I don't want anything from you. I just hate it when anyone innocent is oppressed by goons like them. By the way, can I know your name? Also, how did these assholes catch you?"
By now, the bleeding from my nose had stopped and I was happily munching on ambrosia. I know that consuming large amounts of ambrosia can disintegrate a demigod, but apparently I was different. I could consume any amount of ambrosia without any consequences. The reason behind this I didn't know, but who cares?
She happily accepted the godly food and spoke, " My name is Sally, milord. I am a worker in the bakery nearby. I was crossing the street when one of these men acted as a lame man. I helped him cross the street and that is when they captured me and brought me here. " She let out a strangled sob at this. Not knowing how to comfort her, I pulled her into a hug. She was short for a grown woman. She was about twenty one years old, but only 5'5, which was just an inch taller than me. She had brown hair and similar warm brown eyes that held kindness and compassion in them. She had that homey feeling around her which made you forget all your stress.
She instantly hugged me back before sobbing her heart out. I waited patiently and patted her back continuously. After about ten minutes, her sobs died down and she fell still. Separating from the hug, I saw that she had fallen asleep on my shoulder. Sighing, I lifted her up and placed her in my back in a piggy back style.
Then, I use the water to bind the three goons and brought them near me. Pulling out a drachma, I threw it into the water near me and sent a prayer to Triton, asking him to teleport me back to the palace. The next moment, I felt a bright flash around me before I landed on the smooth floor of my dad's palace. I had landed right in the middle of the throne room, where a meeting was going on. Great. Now all eyes were on me.
Looking around, I saw Triton smirking evilly at me . I shot him my newly learned snake slit glare, which caused him to gulp. Satisfied with the reaction I got out of him, I turned my attention back to my father, who was currently staring at me intently.
Once he noticed that my gaze was on him, he cleared his throat and spoke, "So Perseus, what is the reason for you to disturb this meeting?"
I gave him a short glare for calling me by my real name, but nodded nonetheless. Gesturing to the three mermen lying on the floor, I spoke, "These three men tried to sexually assault this lady. " Here I gestured towards Sally, who was still on my back. My father took notice of this and snapped his fingers, and a bed materialized beside me. I nodded my thanks to him and tried to disentangle Sally's arms from my neck. But she didn't budge and just held on tightly.
Finally, after a few moments of trying, I was able to separate her arms without waking her up. I set her down on the bed and stood straight beside it. My father signalled for me to continue. "Fortunately, before they could defile the lady, I put a stop to it and umm... disposed them off."
My choice of words earned me a few chuckles from the Atlantean generals. They could all see the wounds I had inflicted on the three mermen. Every male in the room cringed when they saw a newly made eunuch, aka Gabe.
My father nodded at me with a stoic expression, but I could see the pride in his eyes for my good deed. The same went for my mom.
Father then announced, "As we all know, the punishment for rape or even attempt to rape in Atlantis is beheading. So, these three scum are to be beheaded the moment they wake up. Meeting dismissed for now. Gentlemen, we will speak more in the next meeting. Thank you." Saying so, he stood up and extended his hand for my mom. Once she took it, he nodded at me and flashed out.
Triton did the same, but with the three men who were to be beheaded. That left me alone with a sleeping woman. I sat down on the bed as far away as I could from Sally. Didn't want to get my nose broken again. You gotta take safety measures, right?
Anyway, I don't know how long I sat there for, but after sometime, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I turned around to see my mother standing behind me with a gentle smile on her face. I quickly gave her a side hug which she returned happily.
"You did a great thing today, Percy. You saved the dignity of a woman. Your father and I are really proud of you." She spoke.
I smiled at her and nodded. Just then, I felt the bedsheet move slightly and saw that Sally was waking up. I stood up quickly, not wanting to scare her after what happened earlier today. She opened her beautiful brown eyes and looked around. Noticing that she was in an unknown place, she quickly jumped out of bed and started scouting her surroundings for any threats.
Once she saw me, her shoulders sagged in relief . She started to approach me, but stopped abruptly when she saw my mother. Without wasting time, she got to a knee and spoke, "Milady Amphitrite, it is an honor to meet you."
Mom nodded to her and signalled for her to get up. "Hello Sally. I see that you are awake now. How are you feeling?"
Sally looked shocked at my mother's kindness and spoke, "I'm f..f..fine milady, just mentally exhausted and affected by today's events."
Mom nodded towards her and spoke, "Come dear. Let me get you some good clothes and something to eat." Sally nodded obediently and followed my mother. But as she got near us, she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
"Thank you milord. I am forever in your debt."
I nodded and gave her a smile. She returned the gesture and left with my mother. I don't really know what happened later, but my mom must have liked Sally , because she gave her an offer to work in the palace as her personal assistant. Well, at least that's what she called it. They are more like best friends.
Flashback end
The glint in her eye was something that I saw everyday in the eyes of the Atlantean military generals. The glint of war. I could tell that Phoebe was a daughter of war. That would also explain her hot-headed nature.
I casually pulled out my throwing knives, which caused some hunters to stiffen. The ones whose bows had been broken by these knives.
Turning to the daughter of war, I spoke coolly, "Well, Phoebe, daughter of Ares, where else do you think I got this indestructible celestial bronze? And trust me, even Hephaestus cannot make something like this. The only ones would be the elder cyclopes, but they have faded centuries ago."
But being the competitive daughter of war she was, she didn't back down. "It still doesn't prove that you killed the Leviathan. You could have gotten the metal from anywhere. I firmly believe that no eleven year old boy can kill a creature that not even the big-three could kill together. Heck, not even Lady Artemis can kill it herself. No offense, milady." A lot of hunters agreed with her and Lady Artemis assured her that she hadn't taken any offence to the statement as it was true.
I sighed. This was going to be long. How can I prove that I am speaking the truth?
' Umm. You know that Artemis is the goddess of hunting right? So, ask her to sense the origin of the creature that your knife has been obtained from. Also, she can sense the latest person to have killed the beast.'
Ikol said this like this was the most obvious thing in the world.
Dumbstruck, I just gave him a mental nod. However much he acted like a moron, he sure did have a lot of knowledge. That I had to admit, even if my ego was hurt a teensy weensy bit.
"Well, then why don't you ask Lady Artemis to check for the creature that my knives have been obtained from. Being the goddess of hunting, I believe she can do so. Also, she can also check for the last person to have killed the beast. "
When I finished speaking, all the hunters except for Zoë were as dumbstruck as me when I had first heard it. Zoë and Artemis seemed surprised that I knew this.
The hunters looked towards Artemis, who nodded in consent. I handed her a knife from my belt. She held it in her hand and closed her eyes. She seemed to be in deep concentration for a few moments before she slowly opened her eyes and handed me back the knife.
She turned to her hunters, who were looking at her with eyes filled with curiosity.
She nodded her head and answered their unspoken question. "The boy speaks the truth. He has indeed slain the mighty snake monster ."
The hunters had a mix of expressions on their faces. The elder hunters like Phoebe looked pissed that they had been proven wrong. The Roman hunters looked at me with genuine respect, nothing else. But the five huntresses that were really small, about seven years old, looked at me with awe. Chloe seemed to be smiling at me.
Uneasy with this unnecessary attention, I cleared my throat and asked, "Can we start our dinner now, milady?"
Artemis nodded her head in affirmation. I dipped my head in a slight show if respect before trying the rabbit stew. The moment I took my first sip, I felt like my tongue was on fire. It was so spicy that my tongue was literally begging me to curl up in a corner and die. The hunters started laughing as I got up and frantically started to search for water. Oh wait. I can just conjure some. I mentally face palmed at my stupidity. I summoned some water and drank it. When I felt better, I saw the hunters laughing. This caused me to blush with embarrassment.
Zoë gave me a smug grin. Oh right. She was the one who had cooked it. Dang it. Now she was one up on me. I need to get back at her soon. But first I really need something sweet. Oh yes. I pulled out the small piece of ambrosia I had kept in my pocket if things got ugly. (Things are bound to get ugly for you if you are a guy sitting with a bunch of man-haters.)
The familiar taste of Sally's blue chocolate cookies filled my mouth and I gave out a sigh of contentment. After this, I decided to just have some ambrosia for dinner. While I was eating, Atalanta, the daughter of Apollo asked , "If you are mortal, how are you able to eat this amount of ambrosia and still survive?"
I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "Honestly, I don't know. Maybe it has got to do something with my true parents. Only my adoptive father knows about my real parents. But alas, he has sworn an oath to the creator that he will not reveal anything to me till he is given permission."
Atalanta nodded and went back to eating her dinner. The other hunters had almost finished their stews. Only lady Artemis and Atalanta were still eating. It was not long before my ADHD took over. I started tapping the table in Morse code. The code had been taught to me by my awesome ichthyocentaur teacher from Camp Fish-blood.
I was genuinely surprised when Chloe tapped back to me in the same code. Looking up, I saw a smile on her face. She then typed the code for, "I am guessing that you have good control over water?"
I replied in affirmation. She was silent for a moment before tapping again. "Meet me at the lake after dinner ."
Taken aback by shock, I nodded numbly and went back to fiddling with my rings.
Timeskip to after dinner
After dinner, the hunters went off to their own places to do whatever they do in their free time. I was heading to the lake when I was pulled aside by two petite, but incredibly strong arms. The next moment, I was standing at the business end of Zoë Nightshade's hunting knife. Letting out an involuntary gulp, I tried to move myself as far away from the knife as possible.
Her entrancing onyx black eyes bore into my royal blue ones. I know that this is probably not the best time to say this, but damn, she looked hot. I shook my head to clear it of these thoughts. They would just get me neutered or killed, nothing else.
"Doth thee bethink i am an clotpole? i knoweth the m'rse code v'ry well. If 't be true thee tryeth aught comical with chloe, i shall gut thee liketh i gut all those oth'r male pigs, und'rstand?" She spoke in a threatening voice.
(Do you think I am a fool? I know the Morse code very well. If you try anything funny with Chloe, I swear I will gut you like I gut those other male pigs, understand?)
I nodded, not at all interested in getting gutted by this crazy man-hater.
Satisfied, she broke her grip on me, turned around and jogged off towards the campsite.
Wiping the sweat that had gathered around my forehead, I shook my head and resumed my walk to the lake. I reached the lake to find Chloe sitting at it's banks, her feet submerged in the water. Her eyes were closed, and it looked as if the water was supplying her energy. Considering her parentage, it probably was.
Making no noise in order to not disturb her, I quietly walked towards her and sat beside her, making sure to leave a respectable gap between us so that she knew I wasn't going to try anything funny. Which of course I wasn't. I mean she was my niece. Me trying something funny with her would be really, really gross.
Sensing a presence near her, her eyes shot open and she looked around. Once she saw that it was me , she relaxed her body and turned around to face me. She spoke, "You know, I haven't really had anyone to teach me how to manipulate water. Zoë did try, buy couldn't do so. The hunt has never had a daughter of the sea in it's rank before me. So, I was wondering if you could perhaps teach me how to unlock my hydrokinetic powers. Please?"
I could sense the sincerity in her request.
Also, I couldn't deny this. I may not have known her for long, but she was still my niece. Also, Rhode had never treated me badly just because I was adopted. She loved me as much as she loved Triton. So, I could do this as a thank you for my sister.
I nodded at Chloe and spoke, "I would love to teach you. Let's see, every evening we will practice for one hour after dinner, okay?"
Her face lit up with an excited smile as she lunged forward and hugged me. "That would be fabulous. Thank you Perseus."
I cringed at her usage of my full name.
"Okay. First lesson. Never call me Perseus. Call me Percy. Perseus makes me feel really old. And believe me, I am anything but old, like you, old woman." I spoke the last part with a mischievous tone.
Her smile turned into a playful glare as she smacked me on the back of my head. "I am not old. I am just three hundred and twenty three years old. No more, no else."
I gave her a deadpan look. Sensing that she couldn't win this argument, she groaned and signalled for me to start the teaching. "Okay, Percy, now would you please start teaching me, or will I have to persuade you ?"
The way she said 'persuade' with an evil tone made me gulp and give a nod.
Yeah. I admit it. My niece was scary.
We spent the next hour practicing water manipulation. Being the third generation in the Poseidon family, her water manipulation was not as strong as mine, but it also was a fact that I had trained water manipulation for pretty much six to seven years. But she was a fast learner. That should have been expected as Rhode had got the genes of mom. And believe me, mom was really smart. Dad, not so much. Guess whose genes Triton got? If you guessed Poseidon, you get a cookie.
Oh sorry. Got distracted. Anyway, she learned pretty quick. By the end of our session, she was able to control about twenty gallons of water for one minute without breaking any sweat. But it also exhausted her much faster than it did me.
By the end, she was literally drenched from head to toe in her sweat. Her breathing was laboured and she was stumbling in her steps due to exhaustion.
Giving me a scowl, she spoke, "You are even worse than Lady Artemis. At least she lets us have breaks. You are a complete slave driver."
Raising my eyebrows, I answered, "Well you see, what you went through now, is nothing compared to Triton's training. If anyone is a slave driver, it is him. You should be happy I didn't punish you for disobeying me and letting go of the control over water. I had to run five miles if I did that."
Her jaw dropped at this and she gave me a quick apology. Smiling, I patted her shoulder and spoke, "There is no need for that. I am just happy that you didn't let your prejudice come in between this teaching lesson. You haven't treated me as inferior in any way . So, take this as a thank you from me."
She returned my smile and replied, "Well, I do not really have any deep hatred for men.
I am in the hunt because my father had died in war and I was left orphan. Lady Artemis had taken me in at the time. So, I wholeheartedly worship her and support her. Actually, my past is a quite happy one, compared to some other girls in the hunt."
The last part she spoke in a depressed way. This made me wonder about the atrocities that the girls had been through. I knew about the crimes that occurred against women in the mortal world. Heck, even my dad had raped some women in the past.
But at least he did regret it now. But some pigs, like Zeus and Ares just ignored this and kept on with it. If the girls from the hunt had suffered abuse and were still not broken, they had gained my eternal respect.
I may have had an easy life, but from the stories I had heard, I knew that the life of a demigod was really hard. My mom had told me that the gods usually ignore their demigod children and only saw them as tools. Only a few gods like Apollo, Hermes, Athena, dad and Hades even cared about their demigod children.
I decided that I would change this. I would change the way the gods worked. I would try to make the life of demigods easier. I don't know how, but I would. It may be hard and seemingly impossible, but the results were worth a try.
I was snapped out of my musings by someone pushing me into the lake. I was taken by surprise, thus I could not will myself to remain dry.
Looking up, I saw Chloe laughing at me. Seeing her laugh made my heart warm.
My heart burst with joy when I felt the sibling relation start forming between us. That's when I vowed that I would protect my niece to the best that I can.
Using the water to propel myself, I landed beside Chloe. Seeing that she was still sweating, I placed a hand on her shoulder and willed the sweat to dry off.
She seemed surprised, but gave me a nod of appreciation. I nodded back and we started walking back to the hunters camp, talking and laughing all the way back.
By the time I got back to my tent, I was extremely tired. I changed to my pajamas and removed my shirt.
As I was about to drift to sleep, I thought,
"Maybe my time with the hunters won't be so bad after all. Well, let's at least wish it won't be. Though I will have to find out what Zoë's problem really is. I haven't personally offended her, yet she seems to want to make my life a living hell."
"Huh. Let's worry about this tomorrow."
A/N
So, how was it? Heh. I knew that I couldn't have Sally as the way she is shown in Canon (as Percy's mom), because that arc wouldn't fit in this story. So, I made her a mermaid that Percy saves.
Comment me about what you would like to see her as. No, I will not show that Amphitrite turns evil because it wouldn't be justified. Also, I kind of like Amphitrite. You see, uncle Rick himself described her as a cool step mother. Never in any myths has she been shown as cruel and ruthless. There are no incidents where she took out her anger on one of Poseidon's demigod children.
Also, she remains faithful to Poseidon and is a good mother to Triton. What more could you ask from someone?
For the number of ladies in the harem, you guys have voted as such:
five members- 8
four members- 8
three members- 1
eight members- 25
six members- 8
two members - 2
ten members - 1
seven members - 3
eleven members - 1
Heh. Look at the massive difference.
On to other matters,
The current standings of the poll for the members in the harem are:
Artemis- 64
Hestia- 60
Thalia - 50
Athena- 44
Zoë- 52
Calypso- 38
Nyx- 46
Reyna- 37
Aphrodite- 34
Annabeth- 21
Bianca- 18
Piper - 39
Hera- 23
Rhea- 15
Khione- 10
Gaia - 13
Hazel - 5
Bellona- 4
Rachel - 4
Nike- 2
Lupa- 7
Selene- 2
Clarisse- 2
Rhode- 4
Hylla - 1
Hecate- 3
Silena- 8
Leto - 2
Drew - 1
Hebe- 1
Kymopoleia- 1
Vote fast if you want any changes. The final standings will be declared after i start writing his quest to find the master bolt. That is something like two chapters from now. The max number of girls in the harem are 7 or 8.
Current standings:
1_ Artemis- 64
2_ Hestia - 60
3_ Zoë - 52
4_ Thalia - 50
5_ Nyx - 46
6_ Athena - 44
7_ Piper - 39
8_ Calypso - 38
Yeah. Piper was the people's favourite choice for this week.
Next update will be either on 10 Jan or the day after that.
Thank you
Until next time
Peace out-
Darkgamer2004