Percy had let Anemone drag him to where the seawing council and didn't try to stop her when she begged her mom to let Percy sit by her. After a whole lot of asking and pleading, she finally won the right to have him next to her.
The place where the queen and her council ate was beautiful. The floor was studded with pink pearls that reflected the light that came through the canopy above, making the floor seem like it was actually illuminating light. There were pools in the middle of the room and Percy saw that each pool had words in front of them with the jobs that the council did and dragons would sit in there and eat while they talked about stuff that Percy didn't care about.
He got to sit in the war counseling pool since there were no wars to worry about. While dragons were talking to the queen, Percy was stuffing his mouth with all kinds of meat fish, squid, and a really slimy thing that tasted like pepperoni. Tsunami sat next to him, looking as bored as Percy felt when Annabeth gave him an hour long speech about architecture. Also, don't ask Annabeth about architecture.
"Percy, so a demigod is half dragon half god. What is a god", Anemone asked when she plopped in the pool next to him. "A god is a great and powerful being that is like the king of a certain thing like Zeus is the god of the sky". "I don't know Zeus, but that is cool. Who is the god of… Um", Anemone looked around for a little. "Who is the god of the sea"? Anemone finally asked. "Poseidon", "Water"? "Still Poseidon". "Fish". "Look Anemone", Percy said, "Anything that has to do with oceans, rivers, or anything with water in it is Poseidon". "Wow, Poseidon sounds really powerful. Then who is the god the dead"? Anemone asked, clearly interested in the gods now. Percy even saw Tsunami listening to the conversation. "The god of the dead is Tantalus, but he is not very powerful. The guy that rules over him is Hades, the god of the underworld which is a place where spirits of the dead go, but trust me, you don't want to go messing with Hades. I have done that a few times and I barely got away alive, luckily I usually had Annabeth, Grover, and Nico, even though he did betray me".
Anemone continued asking questions about who was the god of what. She asked so many questions, it was beginning to give Percy a headache. "Wow, there are so many gods. What are you god of". Percy almost laughed, "Oh I'm not a god. If I was, I would be the god of stupid ideas. No, my father is a god. Demigods are made when a god falls in love with someone and they have kids with that someone". "So who is your godly parent if you are a demigod"? "Poseidon", I answered her and the room went silent. Anemone, Tsunami, even a few of the council that got bored and started listening to the conversation all stared at me like I suddenly turned into diamonds.
"That is so cool", Anemone squealed, "Can you control water, can you understand fish, will you rule the sea someday"? " Yes, kind of, and no, Poseidon is immortal, he cannot die and he wouldn't just hand over the throne to me, Triton is next in line since he is immortal. Demigods are not usually heirs, they are just really powerful snacks for monsters, or pawns for gods. Most of us usually die early, but some get lucky and live a long life. Others suffer through endless monster attacks, but if you are as lucky as me, you get to fight beings that want to destroy the gods. I've done that twice and trust me, fighting giants, titans, Gaea, or Chronos is not fun".
Tsunami patted Percy on the shoulder, "it looks like both of our lives suck. I had to be raised in a cave by very grumpy dragons, only to fulfill a prophecy that was a total lie". "That sounds like my life, except I had my mother. I was raised in a small space, my old apartment. I had to live with a grumpy person, Smelly Gabe. Then I had two prophecies I had to help fulfill, one involved Chronos, the other involved Gaea".
"Who is Chronos, tell me about what you did to him", asked Anemone and the council stopped and looked at Percy curiously. Percy began the story about Luke and his plan to destroy the gods. Percy told them about the quests he had, the river Styx, the battle of Manhattan, and how Chronos was defeated.
"Wow, you did all of that"? Asked Anemone after Percy finished the story. "Yes and a little more with Gaea, but I'm going to save that for another time". Then the queen spoke up, "Well if you are almost invisible, why were you bleeding when Anemone clawed your wings and back". "The Achilles thing was washed away in the little Tiber, but trust me, I think it was better off that way. Some monster would find my weak spot eventually and then I'd probably die". The queen glared at him, growled, and ignored him for the rest of the time
The council asked a few more questions before it ended. Anemone was called over to try on a new harness which Percy didn't understand, so he was lead away by Tsunami. "Do you get bossed around a lot? I know I have by older dragons, Starflight, and Glory who is now queen of the rainwings and nightwings. I was born for the throne, not Glory. I should get something, its so unfair", Tsunami complained as they walked along a dark hallway, their scales illuminating the space in front of them. "That does sound unfair", Percy agreed, not wanting to argue with Tsunami. "Ugh, I know right, it is so annoying. I have to be the general of the rainwing army, how unfair is that. The dragons are completely harmless other than their venom spit", she continued and Percy put on his I am listening face that he used for Annabeth when she got into talking about something and his mind was somewhere else. It gets him out of a lot of yelling most of the time, but sometimes she asks a question about the information he wasn't listening to and he gets a big smack in the face and another big explanation.
"Thank you for listening Percy. You know, you are a good listener. Come, I have an idea. I want you to meet my friend Riptide". Percy was surprised, "There is a dragon named Riptide". Tsunami gave him an "are you stupid look". How did he recognize that look on a dragon? Annabeth gave him that look too often. "Riptide is a seawing name, of course that there would be a dragon named Riptide somewhere in the sea. Now Percy is an unusual name, is that some kind of fish that I don't know about". Percy answered, "I am not named after a fish, I am named after Percus and it is coincidental that my sword is named Riptide". Tsunami gave Percy a confused look, "I don't see a sword and what is a sword".
Percy pulled out his pen and uncapped it. Tsunami watched in amazement as the pen elongated into Percy's celestial bronze sword, Riptide. "How did you do that"? Tsunami asked, trying to touch the glowing blade. "Its magic. Just uncap it and it will turn to this, and check this out". Percy put the cap back on and threw Riptide into the dark tunnel where he heard it skitter away into the darkness. Tsunami gave him another "are you stupid" face until Percy pulled the pen out of the pouch around his Camp Half Blood necklace.
"I have to agree, that is cool, But can you meet my Riptide now". "Ok, now show me".
Tsunami grabbed Percy's arm and jumped into a pool of water that lead out of the palace. She lead Percy through as many tunnels as the Labyrinth had, but he was relieved when it finally ended and they burst out into a field of kelp.
beyond was the wide, open waters of the ocean and the vast, colorful plants on the coral reef. The water was dark and the only light was the silver light of the moon, rippling along the rocks as water rolled around above. The sea was mostly asleep, but fish swam by, avoiding Tsunami, but swimming by Percy as the current pushed him along behind Tsunami. When she finally stopped he found that there was not much reef below and a great white shark swam by Percy and nuzzled his arm. "Well what now"? Asked Percy and Tsunami whirled around in surprise. "What, I'm the son of Poseidon, I can talk under water and sharks like me", Percy said and patted the shark before it swam away. Tsunami gave Percy a curious look and then remembered what she was doing.
Tsunami waved her web talon and for some reason, Percy understood perfectly what she was going to do. He turned around quickly as Tsunami lit up all her scales at once. The light was so bright, it lit up the ocean floor and Percy could see his shadow through the light. After a little while, Tsunami turned off her scales as a dragon swam towards them.
When he stopped in front of them he looked at Percy and flashed his scales. For some apparent reason, Percy knew what the scales meant. "He says hello and who am I. Hi I am Percy". The dragon swam back in surprise, then eyed Percy suspiciously and looked at Tsunami. They seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other, Percy knew all about silent conversations, he had them with Annabeth or Chiron. When the two were done, they swam to the surface and popped out on a sandy island nearby.
"How did you do that"? The strange dragon asked. Now that he was out of the water, Percy could get a clear look at the dragon. His eyes were baby blue and his scales were a darker shade of blue, but they were still light colored. The only thing that didn't match his scales were his horns, which were cobalt, and the claw marks on his nose, or what looked like claw marks. The dragon was handsome in a way, but he seemed kind of nervous and fidgety.
"Riptide this is Percy Jackson. Percy, this is Riptide, the dragon", Tsunami introduced, ignoring Riptide's question. "But how could he talk underwater. That doesn't make sense", said Riptide, clearly not letting the subject go. "Its kind of a Poseidon thing. I can breath and talk under water. I can also control water". "Now this dragon controls water? Is this one of your animus brothers Tsunami? Why does he have the name Percy and who is Poseidon"?
Tsunami looked at Riptide in disgust, "Gross, he is not my brother and I don't know where he got his name. He says Poseidon is the god of the sea and Percy is Poseidon's son". "I have dad's trident to prove it", said Percy, showing off his trident stripe. Riptide looked at it for a minute and decided to change the subject.
"So how has it been Tsunami? Are you alright without me"? Riptide asked in a calm, and smooth, Percy could totally tell that Riptide was flirting with Tsunami. Do dragons even flirt? "Ok, um, I will go stand over there so you two can talk", and Percy trotted away from the couple.
He sat well away from the two dragons and Percy looked over the sea. Then he remembered the stars, and wondered how many were up there without the pollution that humans have filled the sky with during the centuries. When Percy looked up at the sky, he almost had a heart attack. There were so many stars in the sky that the sky was practically made out of them. Percy could see every detail of the night, the purple streak of a galaxy, he didn't know if it was the Milky way or not. He saw clusters of stars, constellations that were familiar to him, and the moon. Not one moon, but three, scattered on the night sky, two of them full and the other a crescent. Their light shimmered on the water as they blazed silver in the dark sky.
"Percy", a voice called out and Tsunami and Riptide bounded to his side. "What's wrong? We heard you yelp". "The stars. I have never seen so many in my life. I knew that there was more of them without pollution, but wow". Riptide sighed and shook his head. He was about to say something when Tsunami spoke up, "The stars here are pretty, aren't they. I've never really stopped to look at them like this, but now that I am doing so now, it is amazing". Riptide turned his head towards the sky and his shoulders calmed a little, letting the starry net catch his eyes too. "Zoe would've loved this", whispered Percy to himself as he stared at a familiar constellation of a huntress, firing her arrows in the sky.
"PRINCESS", yelled a voice from the water and a panting, wet seawing guard bounded out of the waves lapping against the shore. "Princess. You. Won't. Believe what happened", the guard panted, "Gill, your father, has come back from the dead".
Uh oh. That doesn't sound good. Oh well, only the next chapter will reveal how this plays out. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying this so far, I know I have. Review, follow, favorite. Do what you want and keep dreaming my friends.