January
Triton got to school earlier than usual. It was the start of the swimming season at school and he's already been placed as the captain at tryouts before winter break.
It was his last year and he scored higher than everyone else which surprised no one. He's very well aware that he's the best of the best and that's not his pride talking.
He still liked to come to school early to practice even though he knew he didn't need to. It brought him comfort that he's doing all he could to maintain the number one position on the team.
After a half of an hour passed of swimming laps he climbed out of the pool and grabbed the towel before heading off to the locker room.
The locker room was empty as it usually was this time of morning, which is one of the reasons why Triton preferred practicing in the mornings as no one is there.
He rinsed off in showers before drying off and changing to his regular clothes. His belongings such as his backpack and his water bottle stood on the bench where he left them. He gathered his things before exiting the locker room.
To his relief, Luke wasn't lurking around. It was the first day back to school since winter break, and he really hasn't seen him since the fight that happened during the last week of school before break.
The growing suspicion of Luke knowing about his grandfather hasn't left his mind. He's still doesn't know what to do about it as it's just hints and not actual commissions.
The five minute bell rang on the intercom signaling that class is about to start in five minutes. Triton shook the thoughts from his mind and headed to first hour.
Percy walked into the cafeteria not knowing what to do now as he didn't have anything to do before school started.
"WE GOT A B!!!" Percy turned his head around to see Annabeth charging at him.
He braced himself not knowing what she'll do. She surprised him as he didn't expect her arms to be wrapped around him in a bear hug. He stood there with his arms pinned down at his sides staring at her in shock.
She broke the hug off with a giant grin plastered to her face, "Since I got 100 percent on all my assignments since the beginning of the semester, the project didn't really affect my final grade. I still passed with an A, and I still have a record of being a straight A student".
"O-okay?" He stuttered not knowing what else to say. He continued to eye her as if she grew an extra head.
Annabeth not noticing or not caring for Percy's bewildered expression, collapsed into one of the chairs Percy was standing by in the cafeteria. "I'm so glad that this is over, and I survived."
Percy followed her suit and sat down in the chair next to her, "Oh you have no idea." He mumbled glad he wouldn't be in her crossfire of fury anymore.
She raised a brow, "Did you say something?"
"Nope".
She shrugged as she unslung her backpack from her shoulders. She was dressed in her usual attire; t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. The only difference is her hair is down when it's usually tied up.
"Did you get anything special for Christmas?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
"My dad bought me a cabin."
She blinked slowly, "Sometimes I forget that you come from a rich family. A whole cabin?"
Percy rolled his eyes, "Yes it's a whole cabin. It was going to get demolished anyways, but the mayor decided to do something else with the taxpayers money. I've visited this cabin many time when my mother-"
He swallowed painfully, "When my mother came up to visit me in the summers, she would rent out that cabin for two weeks during my father's custody of me."
Annabeth wrinkled her brow in a curious matter, "Didn't it break the custody agreement?"
Percy shot her a look, "How would you know if it did? Anyways it didn't. My father would join us for those two weeks, well he did before he married my stepmother."
She held her hands back in surrender, "I have been friends with Thalia for almost my entire life. You know how she is, a blabber mouth when it comes to drama. I do have my fair understanding of custody agreements since I been involved with one for over a decade."
He couldn't really fault her when it came to Thalia. Thalia is a magnet when it comes to drama, and she loves to spill it to whoever will listen.
"What about you, did you get anything for Christmas?"
Her whole face lit up, "Yes! I got the whole The Mortal Instruments series. I'm already on the last book."
Percy held back an eye roll, of course she would be ecstatic for books. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Thalia dragging her feet.
"Ughh.. The two weeks are too short." Thalia groaned as she and Jason joined us at the table. Grover and Piper were trailing behind the duo.
Today is the first day back from break, and he didn't think any of them are happy, well perhaps Annabeth is.
Grover opened his bag to pull out an apple, "Does anyone have any changes in the schedule?"
It isn't uncommon to have a period change after a semester to accommodate the one-semester only classes.
"I have woodwork class in fourth period now" Percy grumbled. He isn't a big fan of carpentry or anything that has to do with power tools. You can say it isn't his cup of tea.
Annabeth snorted, "You don't seem particularly happy about that class."
"It's not my first choice, but I rather have that than take drama class."
Thalia rolled her eyes, "Drama class isn't that bad."
"Didn't you have to memorize the whole prologue to Romeo and Juliet?" Jason asked.
"Well yeah, but it isn't long. Just a few paragraphs."
Percy snorted, "You know woodwork class doesn't see as bad now. Thank you! I don't need to contemplate my choices in electives now."
The bell rang indicating first hour was about to start in five minutes. They all reluctantly got up from their chairs and headed into first hour.
2nd Period
Triton tapped his pencil on his desk drowning out Mr. Phineas going over the amendments.
He took a sip of his water bottle and recoiled at the taste. That's strange, he recalled changing the water out this morning, maybe that was a false memory and the water is just stale?
He shrugged it off and tuned back in to his government teacher. Within a few minutes he was struggling to breathe properly.
He knew immediately what was happening as it happened before. He consumed something contaminated with olives as he was deathly allergic to them. He grabbed his stuff and exited the classroom quickly without saying a word to the teacher.
Triton's thoughts were racing as he sped walked to the nurse's office. He knew his breakfast wasn't contaminated and he didn't eat anything else, so where did he come in contact with olives?
He bursted through the nurse's office door and sat down on one of the chairs going through his backpack to search for his epipens.
"Do you have a pass?"
Triton ignored the nurse and found the epipen in one of his side pockets of his bag. He grabbed it and stabbed his inner thigh with it.
"Courtney call 911! We have a student going through anaphylactic shock." The nurse called out.
He leaned back in his chair waiting for the medicine to do it's work. To his dismay the epinephrine wasn't kicking in his system as soon as what he remembered from the last time he had an allergic reaction.
It was still difficult to circulate air. Maybe it failed? He had another epipen for this reason if it failed.
His head felt like it was filled with air as he rummaged through his bag again to find his second epipen.
"What are you doing? You should lay back until the ambulance gets here."
He felt his tongue get tight in his mouth and his eyelids swell as he gripped the second epipen.
"No! I should be the one who administers it, it's school policy to do so. Technically I was supposed to do it the first time but I didn't know what you were doing until it was too late."
The nurse ripped the epipen out of his hands and administered the second round of epinephrine for him.
If Triton wasn't in a life or death situation and was able to react properly, he would've mouthed off the nurse. School policy his ass.
Not having the energy to fight the nurse, he sat back waiting for his airways to open back up. As time ticked on, he began to panic as his breathing grew more difficult with no improvement.
He used two epipens and at least one of them should've taken effect. Yet his face continued to swell and his breathing was still labored.
"Hmmm. The epinephrine should have taken effect by now. Is it easier for you to breathe?"
Triton glared at the nurse trying to convey that the epipen didn't work, as he couldn't talk even if he wanted to.
"Phoebe the paramedics are here!"
Triton barely made out the shout that came from a separate room in the nurses office as his attentiveness was on his breathing.
"He had two epipens administered and he's still not breathing right." The nurse informed the two paramedics that wheeled in a gurney.
"Two?" The female paramedic questioned.
"Yes. I administered the second round a couple of minutes after the first."
The male paramedic glanced at the female paramedic silently asking her a question.
The female nodded before speaking, "We will try giving him a third dose. The third time is the charm."
Triton's vision began to darken around the edges, his breathing was coming in through meager gasps. He disassociated with his environment to the point he didn't even feel the stab of the third epipen.
The paramedics stood by watching him, soon enough his breathing became more stable.
"The third time really is the charm." The male paramedic said pulling out a flashlight, "Alright, I need to look into your mouth to check the swelling."
He did what the paramedics instructed wanting nothing more than to go home. He was very disappointed to learn that he wasn't going home but to a hospital.
The paramedics put an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose as soon as they got into an ambulance. The male paramedic sat down next to him as the female paramedic drove them the short distance to the hospital.
Within ten minutes they were wheeling him through the hospital doors. Breathing was much easier than what it was earlier, but he didn't feel the swelling go down on his face.
"We have an eighteen year old male who went into anaphylactic shock. At our arrival his O2 sat was at 84, it is now at 93 but it continues to increase. The school said he administered two epipens before we arrived but both of them didn't take effect. We administered a third one and it opened his airways." The female paramedic relayed to the waiting hospital staff.
"Let's administer 80mg of Benadryl to take some of the swelling down." A doctor instructed the nurses surrounding him.
The staff wheeled him into a separate room and started to find a vein for an IV.
"What are you allergic to?" A nurse asked finding a vein and inserting the needle into his arm.
"Olives."
He winced at the sound of his own voice. It was rough and scratchy.
Nurses and Medical staff moved around him, checking his vitals and pestering him with simple questions. They never stayed around for more than a minute or two, the only exception was the familiar doctor that stood by his bed.
"Little cuz?"
From what Triton could see through his swollen eyes; Apollo stood by the door with a clipboard in his hand flipping through papers.
"Where did you come into contact with olives?" Apollo asked taking his eyes off the papers.
"I don't know."
"What's the last thing you ate?"
"Cereal. It had no olives in there as we don't have any olives at the house."
"Well you needed to consume something that was contaminated with olives in order for an reaction to occur."
Triton shrugged not knowing what to tell him, "I only ate the cereal and drank some water."
Apollo pointed to his backpack the paramedics transferred over, "Is that your water?"
Triton nodded and watched Apollo set down the clipboard and grab his water bottle before he opened it.
Apollo paused staring at the water inside the bottle, "You had no knowledge of the several olives in your water?"
"There's olives in there?"
"There's at least nine in there. I need to know who put those in there and when you last drank from the water bottle?"
"I don't know who put them in there. The last time I drank from there was shortly before I had the reaction… That's probably why the water tasted weird."
Apollo screwed the top back on to the water bottle and set it down, "Did you drink the water anytime before that?"
Triton scrunched his eyebrows. He swore he changed out the water earlier this morning.
He got ready for school, drove to school, and was about to change into his swimsuit but he took a sip from his water bottle.
"I did drink from it earlier this morning and had no reaction."
"It probably didn't have olives in it then. Did you see anyone touch it afterwards?"
"No, but I left it unoccupied in the locker room. I guess someone could have messed with it there?"
"That's most likely when they were put in there. I need you to write a list of who could've put-"
A buzz and a light came from Apollo's white jacket. Apollo fished out a small device from his pocket.
"At least one of your parent's is here. I'll go bring them back, but in the meantime think of anyone who could've known about your allergy and would've put them in your water."
Triton watched Apollo leave and he mulled over his thoughts. No one knew about his allergy except his parents and Percy. He didn't get along with Percy, but he knew wouldn't stoop so low to put olives in his water. Maybe someone looked at his school records, which did list his allergy in there in case of an emergency. There's several students who didn't like him, the top being Luke. He didn't think Luke will risk putting him in a near death experience as he never pulled a stunt like that before. The other students he couldn't tell as he never got to know them personally.
Poseidon sat besides Bessie's tank. She has been here for over three weeks and she was due to be released in the next two weeks.
Poseidon dropped the rest of the manatee's food into the tank, watching as the sea cow munched on the food.
"What a beauty she is. I'll admit I'm going to miss her when she leaves." Delphin said after checking her.
"Beauty? She's the freakiest thing we have here. Manatees have a face of a walrus, minus the tusks, the body of a seal, and the tail of a mermaid." Nerus snorted.
"You take that back old man! Bessie is not freaky! And I'll have you know that having a mermaid's tail is cool!"
Poseidon rolled his eyes as his colleagues bickered. He knew better than to get involved between any argument the two of them got in.
Poseidon's phone interrupted their argument, as it started to ring.
"For the love of the gods, please tell me that's not a rescue call!" Nerus pleaded.
Poseidon checked his phone and frowned.
"No, it's not. It's my wife." Poseidon said answering the call while heading towards his office.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Did you get a call from the school?" Amphitrite asked out of breath.
"No, I haven't. Was there another fight?" Poseidon asked sagging into his chair with his hand rubbing his forehead.
"No. Triton had an allergic reaction, and is on the way to the hospital via an ambulance. It's school policy to do so."
Poseidon sat up straighter. "Now? It's the middle of the morning! He shouldn't have eaten anything unless someone else gave him food that was contaminated, and even then he should've known better than to eat it."
"I don't know what food he ingested that was contaminated? The school didn't give much details. All I know is he is heading towards the emergency room closest to your aquarium. I'm about twenty five minutes out if traffic isn't too bad, I know you'll get there sooner."
"I'm on my way. Triton always carries his two epipens, he should be fine." Poseidon tried to comfort his wife while grabbing his keys.
"I hope so."
"I'll see you when you get there."
"I'll see you. Bye."
Poseidon hung up, shrugging his jacket on before strolling out of his office.
"Not good news then?" Delphin asked.
"Somehow Triton consumed something that was contaminated with olives. Nerus can you take over?"
"Yes I can. Your sons have the worst luck, Poseidon."
"Don't I know it." Poseidon muttered while exiting through the door.
He took out his phone and texted Percy to let him know the situation. He hit send as he was sitting down in the driver's seat in his car.
He took off as soon as he put the seatbelt on.
"Hey, I just heard that my son was sent here after having an allergic reaction." Poseidon said to the lady who was at the front desk.
"What is the name and age of your son?"
"Triton Olympion, he's eighteen."
The lady's nails clicked on the keyboard as she typed.
"I'll need your ID, Sir."
Poseidon grabbed his ID from his wallet, and handed it to the lady. She took a glance at it before handing it back.
The nurse tilted her head at the screen, "Hmm, there's usually not someone dedicated to inform you about the patient. However, your son's file has a note that Dr. Apollo Olympion will be the one to inform you about your son's condition. Again that's not usual, and I assume there's a connection based off the last name?"
Poseidon wrinkled his brow confused on why it mattered, "Apollo is my nephew."
"I see. I'll send a page and he'll be here shortly."
The lady typed a few more details while Poseidon sat down waiting for his nephew to show.
Poseidon's hope didn't rise upon seeing Apollo. Apollo's face was set in a frown while his pace was urgent.
Apollo gestured for him to follow. Poseidon got up to his feet and walked towards his nephew. Apollo opened the door to his right and gestured for him to enter.
Poseidon entered but stalled by the door, confused to why he was in a closet, "Why are we in a closet? Where's Triton?"
Apollo shut the door behind him, "I needed to talk with you alone."
Poseidon gestured for him to continue.
"I talked to Triton when he arrived. He said he hasn't ate anything besides his breakfast he consumed hours ago, which he was sure it didn't contain any olives. He said the only thing he consumed in school was his water."
Apollo let out a breath, " I checked his water and it had several whole olives in it. I asked Triton about it, and he had no knowledge of the olives in there. He said no one touched his water that he knows of, but he left his water bottle unattended while he practiced swimming."
Poseidon frowned, who would put olives in his water? No one really knew of his allergy, and it's not a normal thing to slip olives into someone's water.
Apollo stood on his toes fidgeting with his hands, "Uncle P, both of his epipens failed."
Poseidon snapped his head to fully look at Apollo, "What do you mean it failed? We just picked up his prescription six weeks ago as his old ones expired. Those are new, they shouldn't have failed. Is he okay? Did he get the medication on time?"
"The ambulance got to the school on time. They were the ones to administer the epinephrine as his failed. He will be fine and recover. Now all of the doctors are shocked as to why both epipens failed and is looking into them. Though I have a theory, which is why I pulled you aside."
Apollo lowered his voice to a whisper and stepped closer to Poseidon. "Did you get any more letters from grandfather?"
Poseidon instantly felt ill. He didn't forget about his father, but he was hoping that it was the one instance. Poseidon's gut told him this unexplainable event had to be caused by his father, he didn't need a letter to tell him that.
Poseidon shook his head, "I didn't see one."
Apollo nodded, before directing him back into the hallway.
"Now I must warn you, he's very swollen. It's one of the most severe swelling I've ever seen. The doctor's have given him a generous amount of Benadryl, but it hasn't subsided the swelling quite yet."
Apollo stopped before a closed curtain and gestured that this is where his son was held.
Poseidon nodded, "Amphitrite should be coming in the next five minutes. Can you wait for her and bring her back when she arrives?"
"Sure thing, Uncle P! The nurses are literally around the corner if Triton relapses."
Apollo walked off towards the main entrance to wait for Poseidon's wife. Poseidon took a breath before drawing back the curtain.
Apollo wasn't joking about the swelling. Triton's face was swollen to the point his eyes were almost swollen shut.
Poseidon winced at the sight. "Hey Triton, I see you're not having the best of days."
Poseidon couldn't tell if Triton was glaring at him or not due to the swelling.
"Are you feeling better with the Benadryl they administered?"
Triton groaned, "Not at this moment, no."
Poseidon winced again at the sound of his hoarse voice. He sat down on one of the chairs next to the bed.
Poseidon rubbed his hands together "I need to ask some questions as it's very unusual to have olives inside of a water bottle. Did you see anyone put olives inside of your water bottle?"
"If I did I wouldn't have drank out of it."
"Did you see your grandfather at school today?"
"No."
The curtain drew open as Apollo and Amphitrite stepped in. Amphitrite was pale as she held what looked to be a letter envelope in her hand.
Amphitrite held out the envelope to her husband, "I parked next to your car, and this was under your windshield wipers."
Poseidon felt the color of his face drain, his gut already told him the culprit, but to actually have your suspicions confirmed in your hands was something else.
Poseidon nodded and took the envelope from her hand. He stood up, "I'm gonna make some calls, I'll be back."
He exited the area and opened the envelope.
My ungrateful son,
You're predictable. Have you not learn anything I taught you? You pretend everything is fine, and yet you hide from me. You cannot hide any longer Poseidon.
Your eldest happens to have a severe allergy to olives, doesn't he? It will be a real shame if someone would put half a jar of olives in his water bottle, wouldn't it? Maybe I'm being silly, who would do such a thing?
Your youngest just lost mommy dearest, wouldn't it be a shame if he would follow suit?
Give your sons over to me and I'll finally be the guardian that I should be. My children never bowed down to me, if it wasn't for your damn mother...
Let me have custody over your sons, Poseidon. I'll raise them right, to have them bow down to me. If you don't hand over custody, than we might have one or two less members of the family.
You wouldn't want that, do you? Hand them to me, or if you decide not to be a coward, fight me.
I'll be watching you
-Kronos
Poseidon folded the letter in anger. That's what he wants, custody?
He wouldn't let his father have it anyways, as the main reason for it is to fuel his ego. Kronos was always a nasty narcissist whom craves power above all people.
Who's to say if he did, and his sons don't comply, that they would be any safer? No, he rather to have some control than none at all.
Poseidon bit his lip, he was here. Poseidon was at the hospital for fifteen minutes, and within those minutes his father knew what car he drove and placed the letter.
His father was stalking him and his sons as he somehow got into the school to place the olives. He stomach turned as he still had one son at the school.
With that thought, Poseidon scrolled through the contacts to find his brother who also have his two children there.
Olives - In Greek Mythology the Feud Between Athena and Poseidon comes from the City of Athens. Poseidon granted the people salt water while Athena gave the people an Olive Tree, and the people chose Athena as their leader. Triton is allergic to them as olives symbolizes the defeat towards Athena. Percy is not allergic but intolerable to olives (as he's a half-blood).