God this has been written and gathering dust on my laptop for quite awhile. But I finally found it! Anyway, I'm thinking of rewriting the first few chapters to fix some mistakes and maybe add some more detail. What do you think?

A Drop in the Ocean
Chapter 8
Nereus

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Triton grumbled, falling in step with the demigoddess. They had hitchhiked to the city and he was still unnerved by the interest the guy who picked them up had showed in Percy. It was irrational, he knew that, but it didn't help the fact that his blood had boiled at the sight of that guy (Tom, he had introduced himself as) ogling at the demigoddess like she was a piece of rich chocolate cake and he – a starving man.

"Yes" Percy gritted out, the foul stench surrounding Nereus' residence already making her nose itch. She caught the exact moment Triton smelled it as well. His face screwed up in disgust and he visibly shuddered.

"Yeah, that's the right place." He agreed finally, automatically grabbing her forearm to help her navigate between the homeless, who had taken up most of the pier as their home. The further ahead they walked, the stronger the smell of rotting fish became until Percy was sure it was etched so deep in her nose that she would never smell anything else in her life.

Suddenly Triton stopped, pulling her to a halt as well. Ignoring her questionable look, his eyes scanned the pier until finally they zeroed in on one of the homeless men snoring against the wall. "That's him."

Percy made to move in Nereus' direction, intending to maybe capture him unawares, but Triton's grip on her shoulder stopped her. "What?"

"Let us try a more peaceful approach this time, hm?" Not waiting for her answer, the sea god was already walking. Percy let out a huff and jogged a little to catch up with him. Curse the gods and their long legs.

The old man opened his eyes at their approach, frowning up at Triton through his bushy eyebrows. Before his eyes shifted from the god to the girl standing on his right, widening in recognition.

"You!" Nereus howled out, pointing his dirty fingers in her direction. "Have you come to torture me for information again?" Percy almost stumbled back in surprise, though his reaction, considering their last meeting, was not totally unexpected.

"Grandfather-" Triton started uneasily, glancing around. The other people on the pier, awakened by Nereus' yell were stirring and standing as if readying themselves for a fight. But all his speaking did was draw the old man's attention back on himself.

"And you! Spawn of that upstart Poseidon!" Nereus grumbled, no less angry much to Percy's surprise. "Did he send you here to bother an old man for his secrets? It wouldn't surprise me if he did." His rant ended with angry muttering of which Percy, as she listened closely, could only make out a few curses with Poseidon's name thrown in between. From the way Triton's jaw clenched she could guess Nereus had nothing nice to say about their father.

"Okay, listen to me." The demigoddess stepped forward, hoping to give Triton a moment to calm down. "You don't like dad, I get it. But do you really want to repeat the scene from the last time? I managed to catch you alone and now there are two of us. You can't escape. So just tell us what we want and we will leave you in peace to-" She paused, looking around at loss for words. "-do your thing."

Nereus, shocked at the interruption, stared at her through narrowed eyes, though it was obvious he was thinking over her words. His gaze quickly shifted to the sea, his usual escape from unwanted visitors, but was met with Triton's knowing smirk.

Realizing he was defeated, the old god snarled and crumbled back against the wall. "Fine." He gritted out after a moment of silence. "But you know the deal – one question only."

Triton and Percy shared a look. The demigoddess gave a nod and Triton stepped forward. "Where is Poseidon's trident?"

"Oh, that's easy." Nereus exclaimed. "The Labyrinth, of course."

"The Labyrinth?" Percy asked but the old man was already rushing past them and into the water, probably afraid they would try to get more information out of him. "Does he mean the Mino-"

Triton placed a hand over her mouth. "How many times do you have to be told not to throw names around?" He grumbled, pulling back when Percy made to bite his palm. "Let us get out of here first and then we will talk." He added, meeting the suspicious stares of the other people on the pier.

"Do we really have to share a room?" Percy complained, dropping her backpack on one of the two single beds occupying the hotel room they had rented for the night. Thanks to the money (or rather the unlimited credit card) Poseidon had lent them for the quest they were able to afford a room in one of the nicer hotels in San Francisco, which was absolute luxury compared to the ones Percy had slept in on previous quests. Well, there were perks to being on quest given directly by a god, especially if said god was your father. Plus she found it somewhat hard to imagine Triton agreeing to sleep in some dirty roadside motel, even though he had been alive before running water and electricity.

Triton glared at her from across the room, collapsing on the other bed. Absently she wondered if he had slept at all last night. Did gods require as much sleep as humans did?

"Do you really want to separate now? When we are obviously being hunted?"

Grudgingly admitting his point, Percy sighed and started rummaging through her back for clean clothes and her toothbrush. "I'm going to take a shower." She announced finally, skipping over to the bathroom door before he could reply.

Once behind the safety of the closed door, she allowed herself to relax fully, just now realizing how tense she had been. Placing her clothes and toiletries on the counter, the demigoddess peered at her reflection with a frown. Three days on a quest and she already looked like death warmed over. Her hair was in total disarray and despite the fact that she had slept, there were dark bags under her eyes. But there were good things to be said about being on a quest as well. The constant moving and sheer exhaustion had kept her nightmares at bay so far, despite her fear it would be the opposite. And she honestly couldn't bear the thought of waking Triton up during the night with her screaming. He already thought she was weak and she would be damned if she gave him more ammo.

Tearing herself from the mirror, Percy did quick work at pulling her dirty clothes off, wincing at the sight of the already fading bruises littering her back. Here and there, she could see pale lines of old scars, which had remained even after her dip in the river Styx. Once she had been self conscious about them, but as she grew up, so did her self esteem. They might be ugly to some but they were part of her, a proof of what she had been through and what she had done.

The water was scaling hot when she stepped under the spray but the demigoddess didn't mind as the last of the lingering tension drained from her muscles. With military like swiftness (which she'd had to acquire during her time in cabin 11) she washed off the grime and dirt accumulated on the road and wrapped herself in one of the fluffy white towels hanging in the rack.

After drying herself (she preferred doing it manually, rather than using her powers) Percy slipped into a loose T-shirt and slacks, absolutely refusing to sleep in the silky shorts and tank top combo Aphrodite had sent her for her 18th birthday in Triton's presence.

When she walked out of the bathroom, braiding her wet hair so it would be manageable in the morning, she found Triton fast asleep on his bed, drooling a little on the opened map underneath his head. He had obviously been in the middle of something before he fell asleep, which made for an adorable and surprisingly human sight.

Rolling her eyes, Percy approached the softly snoring god, carefully pulling the map from underneath him so it wouldn't get wrinkled during the night. He didn't even stir until she tried to wrestle him under the covers and even then he was more asleep than coherent.

"Quest… We should speak-" He managed to mumble, obviously fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Shhh…" Percy hushed him softly, turning the lights off. "We'll speak in the morning."

Triton murmured an agreement and soon his breathing deepened again and he was back asleep.

"Well, that answers the question about gods and sleep." The demigoddess muttered under her breath, absently reaching to push away a few strands of jet black hair that had fallen over his face. He's actually handsome when he's not scowling at everything in sight, she thought absently, studying his moonlit profile. She almost giggled at the thought of what his reaction would be if he could hear that thoughts. More scowling probably. Even a sneer or two, if she was lucky.

Chuckling to herself, Percy slipped in her own bed, wrapping her hand around the dagger she kept under her pillow by reflex. It didn't take long for sleep to claim her conscious and soon her body melted into the mattress and her breathing deepened.

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