November

I gripped the railing with one hand and had my other hand on the wall for support. Physical therapy did help with the prosthetic, but it's a struggle for me to get used to it. I slowly took a step down on the stairs, Mrs. O'Leary treaded carefully by my side. I still use my crutches for support, but I'm trying to wean off it. I took another step and silently cheered myself on, oh the small victories.

Triton cleared his throat behind me, "Could you go any slower? It's not like we have places to be." Triton mumbled sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes and took my hand off the wall and held on to the railing with both hands to give him room to pass me. Mrs. O'Leary still is planted by my side, not giving room for Triton to pass.

"The beast needs to move as well." I rolled my eyes once more before whistling at her, she followed the command and trotted the rest of the stairs down. Triton followed Mrs. O'Leary's lead while tying his long hair up.

I slowly finished my way down the stairs, grabbing my crutches and backpack. Again I still need crutches for support, but hopefully won't need them for too much longer. Triton looked back annoyed but continued his way out the door. I huffed while slinging my backpack on to my shoulder, and followed him out the door.

It wasn't long before I was sitting down across from Annabeth at our table in the cafeteria. Annabeth's and I have been meeting up here every morning before school since late August to work on Miss. Dodd's project.

"Alright did you understand last night's homework?" Annabeth asked not glancing up from her stacks of paper.

"Uh, about that-" I stopped as she slowly lifted her head and gave me an unimpressed look. She sighed and vigorously erased some markings on her paper.

"I don't know why I still have hope, but I do. Well the homework problems last night are similar to those on section 9.A, question numbers are 450-465 on our project. Since you didn't do your homework, did you at least understand the lesson yesterday?" She swiped at the eraser shavings off her paper onto the table.

"Somewhat, but I kinda of lost focus twenty minutes in."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I think you spend too much time in the aquarium. Is your brain filled up with seaweed?"

"No."

Annabeth sighed and mumbled something under her breath.

I frowned, ever since August I thought we were making some improvements with our - uh, what's the term? Companionship, yeah that sounds about right. Anyways this past week has been rough between us, every step I take forward, she pushes a step back. Perhaps it's because of my prosthetic? I've been taking up more time trying to get used to it than working on schoolwork.

I sighed. "Truly I don't understand why you are throwing a fit if I missed a couple problems-".

Her head shot up faster than I could say 'fire'. She glowered, her eyes as dangerous as an owl stalking their prey.

"No you don't understand. I don't expect you to even get close to a fragment of acknowledgment of the pain and the work I go through. I spend day and night working, studying, memorizing for the past decade. All those years of sacrificing social events, sleeping, and most of all having a normal life, is going to the trash. I have dreams you know, college. I'm not going to let a sad D-average student mess me up."

"They got apples man." Grover hurriedly sat down with a bag of apples in his hands. He probably heard the escalating tension between us, and tried to put a stop to it before it got to out of hand.

I shot her a glare and open my mouth to roast her, but before I got to articulate any sound, an apple is shoved in my mouth. I wasn't expecting an apple to block my airways, so I start to choke and cough.

"These Granny Smith's Apples are delicious, don't you agree Percy?" Grover said, totally oblivious to my struggle trying to breathe.

"Geez Perce, settle down. You okay?" Jason and Thalia sat and joined the many eyes staring at me.

By the time I was able to catch my breath, I became aware of the fire set upon my face, and the wet tear tracks on my cheeks due to strain.

I leaned my head back accepting the gasps of air.

I could hear Grover meekly ask between my eager gasps, "Does anyone else want an apple?


"Percy do you mind if you go and get the stingray's food from the cooler?" My father ask me somewhere to my left.

I was currently on my knee cleaning the top of the jellyfish tank. I glanced up and looked over to wherever his voice came from. He stood in a wetsuit holding a bucket of some kind of meat. I nodded and stood up, stretching my leg and grabbing one crutch, before going into the cooler.

The cooler was essentially a closet filled with shelves of food. I hurried to grab the tray labeled stingray and got out before I could freeze to death. There stood two older men outside of the cooler's door. This is an employee only area, and I didn't recognize these men. I frowned in confusion, I didn't hear anything about two new employees.

"You must be Percy. Ah, I didn't imagine you would look so straggly." The man on the left said.

I frowned even more, "Excuse me?"

"I agree. Nice to meet you Percy. Atlas we have to go. See you later." The other man said as they took their exit through one of the doors in the back.

I stood there in shock not really processing on what just happened. I wrinkled my brows in confusion, who are they?

I already memorized their features. These men looked to be in their late sixties to early seventies. Their hair turned grey, and they wore ordinary work clothes. What really struck me as odd were their eyes. The man on the left, the one who insulted me had eyes of gold. The other one to the right had these grey-blue eyes, an unnatural shade of blue like the ocean during a storm.

I look back at the door they exited from. That door lead out to the parking lot for the employees.

I shook my head and proceeded to go over by the stingray tank with their food. My dad and Triton are already there, waiting.

"Took you long enough." Triton muttered and took the tray from my hands.

Poseidon turned to look at me and frowned, "Did something happen? You look troubled."

"I-um. Did you hire two new employees?" I asked hesitantly.

My father frowned even more, "No. Why do you ask that?"

"They were two older men by the cooler. They knew my name but I didn't recognize them. They already left to the parking lot, anyways."

Triton threw me a weird glance over his shoulder, and my father looked even more confused.

"Stay here and help Triton. I'll be back." My father then left us alone.

I sighed and stood there awkwardly, I leaned onto my one crutch for support as I watched Triton dump the tray of food to the stingrays. Both of us stayed quiet as we did our rounds with the tanks. It was when we got to to the turtles, our father made an appearance.

"Alright so I asked every employee around, and no one saw those men. I checked the security cameras by the cooler and I did see them on the cams. They are not employees, ask them to leave if you see them in the future. Now our security cameras quality is terrible, so I couldn't make out their appearance other than their clothes and that they have grey hair. Percy you said that they knew your name. Are you sure you don't recognize them?"

I furrowed my brows again in thought. I shook my head, "I would have remembered if I seen them before. I never seen eyes like that before."

"Eyes like what?" Poseidon asked.

"One of them has these deep blueish grey eyes, the other man has the color of gold."

Both Poseidon's and Triton's faces drained of color simultaneously. Triton even dropped the tray of food he was holding.

Poseidon cleared his throat. "I take that back, if either one of you see them in the future, do not confront them, find me immediately then leave. Now what exactly did they tell you Percy."

I became very uneasy. Both Poseidon and Triton recognize this description, and judging from their reaction, these men shouldn't be pleasant. "The one with the gold eyes said I must be Percy and I looked more straggly than he imagined."

I glanced over to Triton figuring he would find it humorous for another to call me that, but he still is deathly pale, and there are no sign of humor on his face.

I cleared my throat and continued, "The other one with blue grey eyes agreed, and said he would see me later. They left after that. I'm guessing that you both who know whom I'm talking about, don't you?"

Poseidon nodded. "Percy that was your grandfather and his brother Oceanus. It is very important that either of you do not make contact with them. They are not friendly people, they seek to harm, and harm shall come if they get close to you. I'm not quite sure how they knew who you were, but it isn't good."

Poseidon sighed. "I need to make some calls. Go finish your rounds for now. Do not split up, stay together, until I figure out what to do.

I frowned at that request. I found it more alarming that Triton didn't even protest, but nodded in agreement.

My head started to spin. Who is my grandfather, and what has he done?


I hope y'all enjoyed!