'No Percy, you've got to feel the water in the plants, not the plant, you can't control those.'

'I know, Mr. D, but it's hard.' Said the son of the sea god. He was exhausted.

They were in Dionysus' room in the big house. Near the god and the demigod stood a plant of grapes.

'Saltwater is so much easier…'

'It is, but I can't bless you with my powers, otherwise the gods will notice the blessing and wonder why a child of the god of wine needs to be blessed with powers he already is supposed to have.' The god sighed. 'Now, now, Percy, we must make people think you indeed can grow grapes, or at least move them.'

'I know…I know' said Percy and tricked the sweat off himself. He stood up and proceeded to try and bend the plant before him. It didn't work.

Still, Dionysus looked pleased. If some things he valued, it was determination.

'Ah well, our time is up anyway, I have things to do, Johansson.'

'It's Jackson.'

The wine god smiled. 'Whatever.' But Percy did see that he was joking light-heartly.

'I believe that you have a meeting with a certain someone near the beach, make sure no one will see you.'

Percy was impatiently waiting on in the water. He tried to stay at the beach, but then saw to demigods on a date and decided to not interrupt them. The life of demigods at camp half-blood was peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could be. He wondered if Chiron or the gods couldn't organize a city there, at camp, for the older ones. As Percy heard, not a lot of half-bloods survived long into adulthood.

Suddenly he was awoken from his thoughts by a light current. A cool breeze, wind under the sea. Suddenly a beautiful Nymph stood before him. Or a goddess. He couldn't quite place it. Surely something divine.

She had dark coffee skin, full lips, and strict, thin, almond-shaped eyes. Her nose had a bridge, and she had a long dragon-shaped, coral piercing, it was laced with gold and pearls, going all the way to her ear. Her hair was a blow-out, a lighter shade than her skin and long and wavy.

'Ara'mu Kussera'

'Uhm…excuse me?'

The deity shook her head. 'Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, a child of the king does not know of the sea tongue, the mother tongue of his own kin, that of shall not do.'

Percy felt embarrassed. 'I-I am sorry.'

'Do not be, youthful one, the fault does not lay with thee, but to that father of thine.'

A cold protesting breeze came their way and Percy felt as if a child was hurt by these words, but the deity only rolled her eyes. 'Kussera Poseidon-heri, does not like when he is questioned, but he will not be all that reluctant, do not worry, youthful one.'

She behaved with such elegance, such grace that her whole being felt ancient and divine. Her voice was like treasured and expensive fine wine that even Lord Dionysus would be jealous of. Her posture, the way she held herself was unreal. Only then Percy noticed that her eyes weren't dark blue as he first thought, but purple, deep purple.

She was definitely not a simple goddess.

'W-who are you?' he regretted it as soon as he said it. He wasn't very formal. But the goddess just smiled, and again, her laughter was like a light cool breeze.

'My name is Rhodes; Poseidon is my father. Or was it Okeanus?' she smiled as if forgetting who her father was. Shouldn't that be obvious? 'My mother is Amphitrite, or was it Aphrodite?' again…she didn't know her parentage…? Suddenly her form changed a bit, not her physical appearance, just her aura, now she felt more like a more goddess and less like a nymph or nereid.

'My apologies, youthful one, for that I did not know in which form my soul might take in front of thee. My name is Rhodos, Goddess of the island Rhodes in Greece, as in the Rhode Island here, in Turtle Island. My mother is Aphrodite-heri, my father Poseidon-heri. Pleased to meet you, Perseus.'

Percy noticed that she said Perseus as Pher-seh-us.

'What did you mean that you didn't know your own parentage, Lady Rhodes?

'Well, little one, thou see, we are what the folk believes we are. Being a god, the source of a god comes from two things; domain and believe. As long as people believe in me, or my domain is intact, I am immortal. But as soon, as one of those things vanish, I can fade. But it also defines who I am. If people believe I am the daughter of Amphitrite-heri, I am the daughter of Amphitrite-heri, if people believe I am the daughter of Aphrodite-heri, I am her daughter.'

'And who are you really the daughter of?'

She smirked. 'Oh, humans, no that is not how it works, little one. I am the daughter of whoever I am the daughter of. Do not put anything in a box, life is fluid! Akema ari Saisaret!' she smiled again; Percy could see how her mother was Aphrodite. 'Now little one, I am informed that I need to teach you some, come to my place!' she stretched out her hand and Percy grabbed it. They both flashed away.

'La, ley bez lat haipoi, Poseidon-keka, kaz megah aret?' (No, I don't understand, Poseidon-bitch, you have a son?'), cried the queen of the seas.

'Amphitrite-rua, Niahua, ekata sa'ley, megah nu'et sia hai'ley arey!' (Amphitrite-darling, please, listen to me, have mercy on my son!), begged the king of the seas. 'Ley haipoi hai'ley tai'ey.' (I understand my fault).

The queen calmed down a little, but she still was furious. Not for cheating, but for not telling; the child was unprotected from monsters for twelve years. That did not do.

'Poseidon, you must understand, I have little love for him, but you need to understand, he is a child! Mia mali novu'a! (An innocent little child), he needs to be protected, and you hid him.'

'Calm down, mama, now we know!' stopped Triton her 'Rhodes is already with the child, he'll be okay! Just Niahua, stop throwing a takana!'

'Excuse me? I am not throwing any tantrums! You should be on my side, Triton.'

'I agree with mama, 'said Benthesikyme, 'Papa did a κακός thing, you know it!'

'Dear, Benthy, I know, but still, was a tantrum necessary?'

'Son, it wasn't a tantrum! It was a reasoned anger outlet.'

Triton raised an eyebrow but sighed. 'Maybe you're right mama, let's just be thankful that papa didn't claim his son.'

Amphitrite, Benthesikyme, Herophile, Proteus and Kymopoleia nodded.

'At least that.'

'Do we have any protection on the child?' asked Kymopoleia.

'Well, Aphrodite-heri knows of him and she agreed to stand for him in case needed.' Poseidon informed, 'If my brother ever has any rage, Aphrodite is a good alliance to have. She said that protecting him was her responsibility as a sea-goddess.'*

Helia nodded, 'Indeed, she has many aspects, but now not on that.' The Nymph grabbed her embroidery list. 'We still have the matter with the lightning bolt. I am afraid I still don't know what to do with that.

Everyone silenced by her words. The matter was hard, and no one quite knew what to do. Suddenly Herophile perked up. 'We could fake a prophecy.'

Everyone stared at her.

'What do you mean?' asked Benthesikyme 'We can't just fake a prophecy! And for what?' reasoned the goddess of depths and waves.

'Just like that,' answered Herophile, 'I am a prophecy goddess, am I not? We can fake a prophecy were a child of Dionysus-fa or just a child that defeats the minotaur will turn back what was stolen. I don't like asking little Perseus to do it, but do we really have a choice?'

Everyone was silent.

No, they didn't.

'W-where are we, Lady Rhodes?' Percy was amazed. This place was huge; it looked like 500 floors of video games, boardgames, VR sets, arcades, cinema's and much much more.

'We are in the Lotus Hotel & Casino. But we are not meant to be here, let us go this way.' She grabbed Percy by the hand and lead him to a small door on the side. She opened it and Percy was met by a much smaller room. As soon as the door closed the cheers from the Casino stopped.

'Thou are wondering what that was?' Rhodes smiled. Percy nodded and waited for an explanation. 'That was a trap, Perseus. The Lotus Hotel & Casino lures in innocent children, just like you, and then proceeds to keep them, forever.'

'What do you mean, Lady Rhodes?'

'It traps folk in time, making them forget who they are. That we do not want with thee, do we?' she smiled, and Percy find himself agreeing, being trapped in time didn't sound fun.

'Now thou are probably wondering, why we are here, Little one.' She turned the light switch on and Percy could see the room well. Though it wasn't exactly a room either.

They stood in a cave, lightened by fireflies and lamps. It was beautiful; a pool of clear water surrounded them in a crescent moon shape. It was so clear that Percy could see countless of fish swimming at the bottom. The gentle light also enlightened the collection of stones and gems at the bottom, it was beautiful.

'What is this place?'

'A time pocket.' Percy turned to the goddess.

'A time, what?' she smiled and laughed.

'A time pocket; time pockets are places where time is different from what it really is. For example, the place we just left was a time pocket, but there it goes hundreds of times faster than in the normal pace, in contrary of here, where time goes slower. We don't have very long, Perseus, so I decided to make the time longer. Thou will be training normally at camp half-blood, but when thee will be supposedly asleep, thou will be actually here. A day in the real world is a month here. Dadda informed me that thou will have around fourteen days until a quest starts-

'A quest?'

'Yes, a quest, but let me finish little one. Thou will have fourteen days, each time being asleep, being here, meaning that thou will have roughly seven months of preparations for the quest. We cannot let thee actually have going on a quest without training, little one.'

Percy was glad about the "let's not make a child with no training go on a quest" part, but he was not happy with the "let a child go on a quest" part. Well, he couldn't have both, could he?

'Okay, when do we start?'