Chapter 3.

A shark gives me an ocean tour

When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by sharks.

All around me, I could see sharks of various sizes and species. Smaller Mako sharks darted around excitedly, while larger hammerheads and great whites swam about lazily. Several tiger sharks circled around me, looking for all they could eat- I spotted one chewing on a tire while another two ripped apart a large moose plushie. I had no idea how that ended up in the water, but I guess people dumped literally anything into the ocean.

Above the sharks, I could see dark layers of water, a seemingly endless sky. Several smaller species of fish and rays darted above me.

I moved my head, and a cloud of dull gray sand rose up, disturbed by my motion and clouding the water around me.

Wait. Sand? Wasn't that on the ocean floor?

I was on the ocean floor.

I quickly sat up, which was a bad decision because now I was covered with sand and couldn't see anything beyond the gray haze. I should be dead- everything logical said so. But then again, yesterday had been anything but logical.

I had not taken a breath in yet. I had to wait on holding on to my breath till I cleared the water and breached the surface- if I could do that- but the sand had other ideas.

A few small grains entered my nose, and of course, I had to sneeze.

"Achoo!"

I sneezed with enough force to blow the dust away, and I gasped, taking in the water…and not dying?

Somehow, I was breathing normally, even though it didn't make sense.

Then I remembered what Hermes said about demigods. They gain some of the powers of their parents.

That made sense now. Maybe that was one of my powers. Water control, and breathing underwater. And staying dry as well, apparently, because though I was several tens of feet deep in the ocean, I was dry as if I was on land. And while I never paid excessive attention to geography, I was pretty sure that this deep the pressure was supposed to kill me- or at least I should have felt it crushing me.

But I felt nothing.

Perhaps being a demigod wasn't all that bad.

As soon as I awoke fully, my mind was bombarded with mini messages.

"My prince, are you alright?"

"The son of Neptune is awake!"

"That's not a child of the sea- he smells weird."

"Welcome, little lord!"

"What-" I sputtered, and the sharks immediately turned towards me.

The largest of them, a great white shark nearly nine feet long, swam towards me. Its eyes were sizing me up, curiously. Its body was lined with numerous scars, and its serrated teeth lined with blood and debris from past kills. Several copepods swam along, attached to its body. The other sharks parted before it, as if it was their leader.

The shark swam up, before lowering its snout, in respect, following which, the other sharks did as well.

"My lord, I am Caspain, the leader of this pack. You honor us by visiting."

I gasped as random thoughts entered my head. I guess this was the shark talking to me- I didn't know sharks to speak English. But I was glad they did.

I didn't know what do say in response, because they hadn't covered Talking to Sharks in English 101, so I simply stuck to the basics. "Hi. My name is Percy. I'm thirteen years old. It's nice to meet you, could you help me get back up?"

"Do you mean back to the surface, lord?" asked the shark, intrigued. I guess it was confused as to why I was taking a nap on the ocean floor, but honestly I was more concerned about what was going on above the surface of the water.

I nodded.

"Then swim straight up, and then due East for fifteen knots. North for another five. And west for another six."

For some reason I understood everything the Shark said. I knew exactly where in the Ocean I was, but for some reason, I knew this shark was giving me more than just direction to any random piece of land. It was probably where I needed to head next.

Then I realized that I was talking to a shark.

"Holy shit- you're a shark!"

Caspain gave me a no shit, Sherlock look. "Are you alright, my leige?"

I nodded, embarrassed. "Yes. I was just, uh, surprised."

My mind took in what Caspian had told me. I looked up over the murky waters, seeing the undersides of rays skating through like planes in a stormy sky. The ocean was huge, and the distance he had mentioned was quite a way to travel. I certainly was too tired to cover that in one stretch.

"My pod is at your service, son of the sea," added Caspian, as if reading my mind.

"Thank you. Might one of you…give me a lift?"

"Of course, my Lord! I shall!"

A huge whale shark swam up gracefully. It was the length of an entire school bus, and its mouth itself was bigger than I was tall.

"Wha-what's your name?" I asked. To be honest, the shark was quite intimidating close up, especially considering how large it was.

"My name is Tiny Tim."

Oh.

"Nice to meet you," I said, before my mouth got me into trouble.

I grabbed a hold of Tiny Tim's dorsal fin, before waving to the other sharks.

"Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated!"

The sharks began to swim around in circles, like dogs chasing their tails. I wasn't sure what this was supposed to be, but I guess it was their way of wishing me luck. Tiny Tim headed off, and I cruised along with him, mostly lying on his back while he cut through the water.

Shark scales are unique because they all point towards the tail. If you asked me how I knew that I'd probably say it's a son of the sea thing. This meant that as long as Tiny Tim swam forwards, I was riding on the smooth back of a whale shark.

But if he stopped or took a turn, my skin brushed forward against his scales, and it was like getting a hundred paper cuts all over my body.

Fortunately, the water healed me, and I learned to just hover over Tiny Tim in the water when he was slowing down or turning.

I processed what had happened yesterday in my head, and still wasn't able to understand what the heck was going on. I felt like I would cry anytime soon, so I just settled for thinking about things that I liked. Like my mother, blue food, and swimming pools, while Tiny Tim continued to swim mile after mile in silence.

I didn't really know what to talk to him about. I was pretty sure he wasn't up to date with NFL scores and I doubt he cared about who played Spiderman best. So I settled for the occasional question or two when I saw an interesting sight in the ocean- and there were loads.

After what seemed like an eternity, we broke over the surface of the ocean, and I breathed in the morning air. I could see land ahead. I wasn't sure what to make of it- since I had spent the whole night underwater and the Sun was only rising up now- but it seemed to be densely foliated.

The sun rose behind me, coloring the waters shades of golden and pink. A morning haze lay over the entire land in front of me, but I could see the distinct outline of trees rising above the fog, numerous dark green projections that stood like sentinels of the shore. In front of the trees was a small rocky beach, against which the waves crashed to create a deafening spray. I thought I saw a few shapes slinking about in the darkness, but I wasn't sure. Either way, I steeled myself to face other monsters.

"What brought you to the bottom of the ocean, little lord?"

I shook my head, startled, before realizing Tiny Tim had spoken to me.

"Uh…I was fighting a bull-man. A Monitor or something. It knocked me over and-shit! I forgot my pen!"

"Pen?"

"Yeah. A special pen dad- Lord Poseidon, that is- gave me. It was in my pocket-but the monster pushed me off-"

I reached into my pocket, and gasped when I found the pen there. I was more relieved than confused, but I still was confused.

"Wait…I lost this pen at the beach. How did it come back?"

Tiny Tim shrugged- or rather, he raised his flippers, his whole body undulating with the motion. "I do not know, lord. Perhaps it is magical and is enchanted to do so."

Well, considering what I had gone through today, a magical pen-sword wasn't the wildest thing I had come across, so I nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

I uncapped riptide, and the sword glowed a bright yellow in the murky sea breeze. It seemed to be right in its element. It truly must have been a sword of the sea. I capped it and it returned to its pen form in my pocket. I was really glad I had at least some form of weapon.

"We are nearly there, my lord. You can get off and swim now, I cannot swim any closer for risk of stranding."

I quickly jumped off Tiny Tim and into the water, swimming up towards his massive head. I rested my palm on his snout. "Thank you, I will remember your service."

The whale shark nodded- and then sneezed, spewing water and snot all over me-before disappearing into the black water.

I willed the ocean current to push me towards shore, squinting to see what I could make out.

Most of my view was hindered by several large rocks that created a border between the ocean and the pebble beach behind it, but I used the water to push me over the rocks and onto the pebble beach, where I managed to land.

Once the sun began to rise, I could see that I was in a heavily forested area. Large clusters of evergreen trees dominated the landscape. Birds flew from one tree to another, and the ground was filled with leaves, deer poop, and footprints. Several birds called from deep within the forest, and I could hear other noises as well- heavy foot prints, cries of deer, and deep guttural howls and snarls.

The gravel crunched under my sneakers, reassuring me until the edge of the beach, where it was replaced by dirt.

It was a stark contrast- the white pebble and the dull brown earth. A stark reminder that I was leaving the sea and the safety of my father's domain.

But I couldn't really do anything. Mom didn't raise quitters. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, only to nearly trip over a footprint.

Kneeling down, I studied the print.

Now, I wasn't a wildlife expert, but even I knew those were the foot prints of a wolf. But what I couldn't figure out was why they were three times the size of a normal dog print I'd seen at parks as a child.

I quickly dug into my pocket and pulled out riptide, uncapping it. The already familiar weight of the sword in my hands felt good. It was always a good feeling to know you were armed when venturing out into the wilderness. I knew I wasn't proficient with riptide yet, but Hermes had told me demigods were hardwired to battle, and that they had instincts and superhuman reflexes built in, like super soldiers. I hoped those reflexes would kick in, because I wasn't planning on being wolf dinner today.

I walked into the forest, looking around me.

The dense foliage made seeing anything beyond five meters nearly impossible. I was surrounded by trees on all sides, their leaves intercrossing creating a maze of sticks and foliage. The air was humid, and a heavy mist obscured the ground ahead of me. It was early morning, and the smell of fresh rain meant I could feel the earth squelch under me. Several puddles lined the narrow trail I was following. I had no idea why, but something about the trail told me to follow it.

It ruined the new pair of shoes mom had got me for Christmas, but I kept walking.

A few miles into the trail, I was regretting the decision.

I wiped sweat off my forehead and exhaled, tired by the walk. I'd covered a good bit- I was surrounded by trees as far as I could see- but still nothing.

I don't know what I was expecting. But a lemonade stand would have been a good start.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl behind me.

I spun around, riptide already in hand as my reflexes took over.

It was a wolf.

The mutt had a dark grey coat, with a single white stripe at the middle. Its eyes were a murderous yellow, and it snarled, reveling rows of sharp, white teeth. Layers and layers of corded muscle underlined its taut skin, and it snapped its canines together with a click, before jumping towards me.

I ducked, and swung riptide.

The wolf leaped into the air I stood at a moment ago, before riptide connected with it. It yelped as the sword scored a deep gash along its stomach, before bleeding. The blood splattered over my face, hair, and even my shirt, but I was too scared to wipe it off.

A few feet past me, the wolf stumbled a few steps, before collapsing and fading into golden dusk.

My heart was beating so quickly I felt it would pop out of my chest. The air smelt rancid, like cheese gone bad. I was wondering about it, till I realized what it was.

I tried to hold back vomit as I looked down at my shirt. Once green, with a Yancy Academy Swim Team emblem on it, the shirt was torn in several places, and now covered in wolf blood. A lot of it.

"Well done," chuckled a female voice, "but that was a lucky shot."

I whirled around- and nearly dropped riptide.

Behind me was a huge wolf. Easily close to six feet tall- she was so big, the previous wolf seemed like a chihuahua. A large, deadly chihuahua, but still small compared to her.

Chocolate-brown fur lined her flank, and her eyes were silver. Her teeth were bared into a feral grin, and the wolf smiled as she spoke to me.

She seemed to emanate waves of power, just like Hermes, but they felt different. Not as powerful, for one, and of a different nature. Hermes aura was more raw and powerful, but hers was sophisticated and refined. I knew I stood no chance in a fight against her.

"Do you know who I am, son of Poseidon?"

I shook my head, swallowing back spit. The amount of power she emanated could mean only one thing.

"You-you're a god?"

The wolf snapped. "Think harder. How many wolf gods do you know?"

This was the first time my life depended on a pop-quiz, but at least, I didn't fail. I knew the answer. Hermes had told me.

"You're Lupa. The Roman god who trains heroes. And the leader of the wolves."

Lupa chortled. "Not all wolves, but you are correct. And now you, as misfortunate a soul as you are, would seem to be a member of my pack- that is how it has been decreed."

I frowned. "Zeus told you to take care of me?"

"I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ZEUS," she snapped, her eyes glowing with rage, and I stepped back, scared for my life. "I am a Roman god. And while I do heed Jupiter, I care far, far more about Rome. You are prophesied to save Rome- or destroy it. I will raise you to save it. And end you if you destroy it."

I nodded, still scared. "Ancient Rome? Or like, another Rome? Because I'm pretty screwed if-"

Lupa snarled. "Do not interrupt me, demigod. Now, follow me."

Lupa bounded off into the woods, and I ran as fast as I could. There was no other option, because I did not fancy staying in the woods for much longer.

I ran after Lupa, tripping over fallen logs and bushes, often falling but not quitting. But I could tell she was going to outrun me, easily. Her long and powerful bounds were easily faster than mine, and my vision was already going woozy as the adrenaline from the fight wore off.

"Lupa!" I panted, "I cannot go any faster."

The she-wolf stopped, turned back and waited for me.

"Look at me," she snarled, when I reached her. "I have gone easy on you because you are a child of Neptune. Show me weakness again and I will kill you myself, and the pack will devour you. No child of Rome shows weakness."

She bounded off, though at a slightly slower pace, leaving me stunned.

I don't know what made me do it, but I still ran after her. Part of me knew that doing so would seal my destiny in a very different way, but I kept running, ignoring the voices in my head shouting that I was Greek and she was a Roman goddess.

When Lupa finally stopped running, I found her waiting for me with an expectant expression.

When I reached up to her, I looked around to see the trees part to give way to a large, semi-circular clearing. Towards one end, was a large lake. It was tranquil, its water a dull green, full of algae. It looked like no one had taken a swim in it in ages. On the opposide side of the lake was a large, curved mansion, seperated from the lake by a large but gently sloped knoll of grass.

It was clearly abandoned.

While I'm pretty sure it looked like a lumberjack's dreamhouse at one point, it currently wasn't even a house. Roughly hewn logs and red-and-Grey slabs of stone jutted out in all directions, creating a large cabin with many floors. The mansion had two wings- one on each side. A dark aquamarine slated roof slanted over the building. Several broken windows had shards of glass attached to them. The others were just openings through which moss and plants grew.

Strangely enough, the front door looked good as new. A small butterfly flew towards it, landing on the doorknob, which disintegrated. I assumed the door was equally worn out.

"This is where you will sleep."

I looked towards Lupa, who was scanning me, looking for my reaction. I was pretty sure the mansion failed nearly every safety protocol I knew of, but failure was not an option.

I would not fail her. I kept a neutral face, nodding. "Yes, Lady Lupa."

The wolf-goddess smiled. "Good. You are learning. Now before anything else, I must ask you, are you ready?"

"Uh…for what?"

Lupa looked at me seriously. "You already know. You are a child of Poseidon, a Greek god. Yet I will bring you up as a Roman. If you choose to train with me, you will be a Roman, but if you refuse, I can send you back to a safe house for demigods, where you can continue to live safe. It would be the better option- I will not go easy on you."

I swallowed. "Would it make any difference that I am a Greek demigod?"

Lupa nodded. "Indeed. Though if you accept my offer, you will not be purely Greek for long, I suspect. Who knows, perhaps this is how the fates have decreed it. I have never known a demigod of such sources before."

I nodded. "I will train under you, Lady Lupa, if you will have me."

My decision had been made long back. All the way back when mom had sent me off with Hermes. I could not fail her, she was the only reason I tried to do anything. It had always been the two of us, and no one else. There was no one else I thought higher of, and I could just imagine how proud she would be of me if I took the hard path.

Lupa smiled proudly. "Yes, Perseus. I accept you as a child of Rome."

As she said that, I felt my guy clench, as if a foreign power was entering me. I felt dizzy, and quickly sat down because everything around me was spinning. When I came to, Lupa was looking down at me with a pleased smile.

"What happened?"

Lupa motioned me to stand, and I did.

"I accepted you as a child of Rome. It was not mere words- what you felt was the change that made you a Roman. The spirit of a Roman demigod lives in you."

"So…I'm fully Roman now?"

Lupa closed her eyes. "No. Even now, I detect traces of your original Greek nature. Suppressed, of course, but still there. You will always have a part of Greece with you, sadly."

I nodded, though I didn't really find it sad.

Lupa ran off before I could ask any more questions. I assumed she wanted me to follow her, so I did.

As I ran after the Lupa, I quickly raised the first question I had.

"How many children of Poseidon have you trained?"

"Including you? One."

Oh.

Well, at least I didn't have a lot of competition.

Lupa led me towards a large cliff, before waiting for me to catch up.

The sun rose to meet the cliff, bathing the grass with a deep yellow hue. The trunks of the trees behind scattered the suns rays, their branches creating a maze of shadows behind. I walked up to the cliff, before my jaw dropped.

The cliff overlooked a beautiful valley. A large river flowed through the centre, surrounded on either side with fields of green grass. Small vegetation grew along the river, but for the most part it was a flat land.

The valley was surrounded on all sides by a sharp wall of rocks. The slope was too steep to even consider climbing- the only possibly entrance to the valley was a narrow gorge between two of the walls of rock.

The valley was also filled with wolves.

There were more wolves in the valley than I had ever seen in my life. There were adult wolves, old wolves, and even pups. Their coats had so many different colors I lost track of them.

As I stared, agape, at the valley, Lupa snorted.

"Welcome, Perseus Jackson, to the wolf pack."