Brotherhood

Chapter Six

A/N: Hey readers! Just want to say, please send me PM's on what battle scenes you want to see, I need ideas.

Enjoy!

Poseidon's realm was completely different from what I saw the last time I was there. There were still a few buildings that I recognized, but a lot of signs of destruction were now around. Clam shells that were used for graves for dead mermen were scattered around the perimeter of the palace. A bunch of construction material was lying around, as if waiting to be used. Everywhere I looked, mermen and mermaids were running around, carrying building supplies, weapons, and refreshments for those who worked.

"Dad," I said, "the war with Kronos cost you a lot, didn't it?"

Poseidon nodded grimly. "Yes. But it's not your fault, Percy. We saved Olympus from falling." But then his face darkened, as if he was regretting it.

His words brought me back to the war with the Titans. He was under heavy attack by the old sea Titan Oceanus, but I was able to persuade him to come help us. He did, saving Olympus, but his palace was completely destroyed in the process. Luckily Oceanus still fled, for fear that he too would be destroyed like the other Titans.

Then I realized why Poseidon looked as if he regretted saving Olympus. His brothers didn't exactly appreciate his help as much as he would want. Zeus himself was very reluctant to thank Poseidon. That made me pretty angry.

As we were heading to the currently-in-construction palace, I saw some more stuff that I hadn't noticed before. A battalion of mermen were arming themselves near a building that looked like a barracks. A few underwater creatures were patrolling a certain area, alert and looking as if they were expecting an attack to come soon. A huge army of humanoids were armed and standing at attention, like they were awaiting orders from a commander.

"What is this?" I asked, waving my arm to indicate all of it.

"War," Dad said, looking grim. "We are preparing for war, Percy."

I glanced at Brad; he looked as if he was about to faint. His eyes were full of fear and anxiety. His whole body was shaking. I couldn't tell if it was the scene of the battle preparations that scared him or the thought of the impending war.

I put my arm around him to try to reassure him. "Don't worry, bro. It'll be alright."

I was lying. I knew it wasn't going to be alright at all. First off, we were facing Zeus and Hades, two gods you definitely wouldn't want to have as enemies. Secondly, I'd probably be fighting my friends in what could be the bloodiest war in history.

I suddenly felt a wave of guilt. I left Camp Half-Blood with no warning. None of my friends knew that Brad and I had left for our father's realm. I grew more upset as I remembered the faces of my friends: Annabeth. Chiron. Thalia. Nico.

Nico. I hadn't heard from him in a long time. I didn't want to fight that kid. Despite our arguments over the years, we really were friends and I knew we could be even better ones.

And Thalia. I couldn't fight her either. We'd been through a lot. It didn't matter if we didn't always along, we were still great friends. I wondered if Artemis would even join the war. It was possible she would stay neutral, but it didn't seem likely. Anyway, Thalia was a daughter of Zeus, so she would probably fight anyway.

Chiron. That old centaur was the best teacher I've ever had. He was even my Latin teacher to start with, and he eventually became my teacher in everything else. I was glad he was going to be neutral. And I was sure he would fight by my side, if it came to it. But he had to help his centaur cousins before anything else.

Annabeth. I would seriously miss her. She's my girlfriend, and my best friend besides. The day we met flashed into my mind. The only thing she'd managed to say was that I drooled in my sleep. If I had to fight her, I would probably break down, and I knew she would too. Her mother Athena isn't exactly Poseidon's best friend. In fact, they're pretty much rivals. Considering this and that Zeus was Athena's father, no doubt Athena would join him. My heart sank at that depressing thought.

Water filled my eyes. I was crying — as well as you could cry underwater, anyway. All these thoughts were seriously depressing.

Then I remembered all of my other friends: Katie Gardner. Connor and Travis Stoll. Will Solace. Jake Mason. Grover.

What was I going to do if I had to fight them?

Poseidon's voice brought me back to reality. "We're here."

I looked ahead and saw a building the size of a gymnasium. The building was mainly bright blue, making it almost camouflaged by the clear water. The door was lined with pearls the size of basketballs. The door was a twenty foot door plated with gold. It looked great.

A group of mermen and mermaids guarded the door with tridents that radiated enough energy to power a cruise ship. As we walked in, the guards bowed. We stepped through the doors. The sight was amazing.

The floor was shiny, sea-green marble that could probably blind you if you shone even the dimmest light onto it. Pillars of gorgeous coral lined the sides of the hall. In between the pillars were either statues of ancient sea creatures or paintings of them. The ceiling was a clear view of the ocean above. I could see all sorts of creatures swimming about over our heads.

We walked through the gigantic hallway and I found myself looking upon humongous doors the size of an elephant. Poseidon opened them easily and led us in. Inside was a bunch of beds.

"What's this?" Brad asked.

Poseidon turned. "This is where your siblings stay."

"Where are they?" I asked. "Are they training or something?"

"Yes. They should be back soon."

I counted about fifteen cots in all. How were we going to fight a war with just fifteen people?

"There's more than you'd think, Percy. You'll be amazed by how many siblings you have." Poseidon told me, as if reading my mind.

Suddenly, a teenage boy ran into the room, looking as if he was being chased. A girl trailed in behind him, her sword drawn and her face thunderous.

"Caitlyn, it was a joke!" The boy said.

The girl scowled. "You crossed the line, Colin!" She had a slight British accent.

Finally, the girl caught up to Colin, tackled him, and twisted his arm behind his back. Colin started squirming around, yelling, "STOP!"

"Wow," Brad muttered.

Caitlyn and Colin both got up. Colin was dusting his knees and rubbing his elbow. Caitlyn was just smirking.

Colin had the original-son-of-Poseidon features like me. Same sea-green eyes, same slightly curly black hair. His face had a bad case of acne and a mischievous smile. He wore a blue t-shirt that said It's All in the Water and had a winking fish on it. Something was attached by his hip. It looked like a sheath, but it seemed too small to hold even a knife. There was a hilt sticking out of it, though.

Caitlyn had brown hair and blue eyes. Her eyes darted around everywhere, as if she needed to process everything in sight. She had a long sword at her hip, and she wore a plain purple t-shirt.

"Hello, Father." Caitlyn bowed.

"Caitlyn, good performance." Poseidon smiled.

She grinned, then pointed at me and Brad. "Brothers! I'm glad we have more for the battalion."

The Colin dude looked up, and despite his pain, he smiled. "In good shape too," he remarked.

"Percy Jackson," I introduced. "And this here is Brad."

Caitlyn laughed. "Hey! Perseus was a son of Zeus, and we're fighting Zeus with our very own Percy, the son of Poseidon. Ironic, huh?"

I'd never thought about that. "Yeah, pretty ironic."

Brad was looking nervously around. "So, you guys are my… brothers and sisters?"

Colin walked up and nodded. "That's right. We're your family now. In fact, you've got eighteen more siblings coming in. They're still in training."

Eighteen more siblings? That meant twenty in all. "Well, when do we meet them?" I asked.

Caitlyn shrugged. "Probably at dinner. We're all scattered around the palace, training by ourselves."

I nodded and turned to my dad, but he was suddenly gone. I faced my three siblings again. "Well, why don't we train together right now?"

"Sounds good," Colin said. "I was about to before I played my trick on Caitlyn." He grinned.

"Don't make me twist your arm again," she warned.

I laughed. It was good to have siblings that understood the situation we were all in but could still be a little light-hearted. We all had the same easy-going attitude. I guess it's a kid-of-Poseidon thing.

"So, where are we going to go?" I asked.

Colin smiled. "I know a place."

We walked (or swam) out of the building and went further west. On our way, we passed by the army of humanoids I saw earlier and I saw that they were all Cyclopes. Suddenly, I remembered Tyson. I hoped he was here. I wanted to see the big guy.

Colin led us to a half-destroyed building a few miles away from the palace. It looked a lot like a colosseum, the Roman ones. The building wasn't in good shape. It was big, but its entrance was blocked by a huge slab of rock.

Caitlyn moved forward and tried to push the slab away. It wouldn't budge.

"How do we move it?" she asked.

Colin pointed towards a small hole at the side of the rock. He walked up to it, stuck his hand in, and grunted like he was pulling something heavy.

Then the rock moved out of the way, revealing a tunnel. Colin motioned for us to move in.

Caitlyn shook her head. "Heck, no. You know me and dark places, Colin."

"It's only a tunnel. It leads to the training room," Colin promised.

"How do you even know about this place?"

Colin shrugged. "Long story, and a pretty boring one. But let's just say that I stumbled into it, literally."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but he walked in before I could ask. I decided to go in with him. Brad and Caitlyn hesitated, but eventually followed us.

The tunnel was dark, but a row of dim Greek fire torches led the way. If I wasn't listening to Colin's footsteps, I wouldn't have noticed that he stopped. I looked up and saw that he was looking at a flight of stairs leading down. We descended the stairs and stopped at a door.

"Alright, guys. This place may be disturbing at first. It was for me," Colin said. He looked anxious to get in, but at the same time he looked as if he wanted to bolt.

Colin opened the door. The first thing I saw was a flag with a sea serpent on it.

"Oceanus," I said, remembering the picture I saw of him. He'd been holding the same sea snake. "You found one of his headquarters."

Brad kicked at a stick, looking around the place. "But how is it disturbing?"

"Oceanus destroyed our father's palace last summer," I told him.

Colin nodded. "But it was a good place for me to train. There were dummies in here. And this is where I found this." He pulled out his sword — well, he pulled out the hilt, at least.

There was no blade on it. It was just a handle.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a Phantom blade. In fact, its name is Phantom," Colin said, swinging the handle.

Caitlyn stared at it. "There's no blade, Colin."

Colin grinned. "That's where you're wrong." He moved up to a dummy and swung the hilt from about three feet away. Suddenly, the dummy fell to the ground, sliced in half.

All of our eyes widened. Caitlyn stammered, "Colin — it's an invisible blade."

"A phantom blade," Colin corrected her. "Don't worry about not seeing the point. If you look closely enough, you can see a bit of a line. A really faint line. That's where the point is."

Sure enough, he was right. A small line was etched into the air, moving as Colin moved the sword.

"Colin," I said. "Is it safe? I mean — you found it here. In Oceanus' headquarters."

He frowned. "Of course. I've had it for three months now and nothing's happened."

Brad grunted. "Well, I guess it's okay then. But come on, I want to train now."

We all agreed. As we unsheathed our swords, Colin stopped us. "There's an arena right outside that door. It's more open and safer to be in. Besides, it's outside."

Outside was the word the convinced me. I wanted to get out of the place. It gave me the creeps. As we got out, I noticed that we'd stepped into an actual colosseum arena. The place was huge. I didn't understand why it didn't look so big on the outside, but its size was deceptive.

Caitlyn got out her sword. "Well, Jackson. Let's see you fight first."

I took out the pen. I was about to reveal Riptide when a conch horn sounded, three times.

Caitlyn and Colin paled.

"What is it?" I asked.

They didn't have to answer. I heard an explosion, then another. There was really only one explanation.

An invasion.

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