Chapter 2
Due to the unexpected late-night visit, I overslept. Waking up with a throbbing headache didn't help things. I had fallen asleep with my head resting on the hardcover book Athena had blackmailed me with. Combine that with a stiff neck and I was not having the best of days. The bunks were empty, all neat and orderly as all children of Athena were. Judging from the clock, I had missed breakfast, which was unfortunate, seeing as camp food was one of the best things about camp. I briefly wondered why no one had woken me up, but thought little of it. Still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I hastily threw on my camp t-shirt and stomped out of the cabin with my large book under my arm. I had contemplated leaving it behind, but I figured that I might need it. Cabin 6 was supposed to be having archery practice with Chiron, and he hated when anyone was late. Sure enough, as Chiron caught sight of me, he cantered over disapprovingly.
"You are late." A simple statement, not even a question.
"Couldn't help it. Mom showed up." I grumbled.
Chiron's eyebrows arched in surprise.
"I'm guessing that huge book you are carrying has something to do with it?"
I showed him the cover.
"Well, leave it to Athena to concoct such an ambitious project. Hopefully, you are up to the task. Now, come join your siblings, I want to see how much you have improved."
As I took my place in between Annabeth and Malcolm, they glanced at me with worried looks.
Athena wasn't exactly the nicest one to get a visit from. Also, I think I still had charcoal on my nose.
"Thanks for the wake-up call guys."
"It sounded like you had a rough night," chuckled Malcolm.
"Tell me about it... she threatened to feed me to the hellhounds," I complained.
"What's that about?" Malcolm gestured towards my face with his chin, I picked up my bow with one hand and with the other rubbed my nose. The black stain on my hand revealed how much charcoal was still on my face.
"She turned me into an owl," I brought the hem of my shirt to my face, wiping off the offending stain, "I couldn't speak so I borrowed some charcoal to write a message."
Malcolm nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world to hear.
"Whose charcoal?" Annabeth now.
"Uh, yours?"
In the heat of the moment, I had momentarily forgotten and slipped up.
Annabeth's face remained calm, but her bow hand was unsteady and her shot missed the bullseye. Malcolm and I both knew that it wasn't because Annabeth was a terrible shot, she was mad. Annabeth was scary when angry because she didn't ever hold back, ever. She had just one golden rule. Don't touch her stuff. No exceptions. Not for Percy, or even her own siblings. Malcolm lowered his bow in alarm, getting ready to step in if something happened.
"I'll buy you another pack," I said quickly, hoping a bribe could appease the head counselor. "But to be fair, it's not my fault!" I continued, "Mom turned me into an owl and I couldn't communicate telepathically cause all I could think of was rats. I was writing something with charcoal on my beak and..."
Annabeth's look shut me up. She looked straight through me with her piercing storm gray eyes, she hesitated for a moment and then notched another arrow. The corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk. She sank the next shot no problem. Malcolm relaxed next to me and continued firing arrow after arrow. I picked up my own bow and warmed up. Archery practice continued on in silence, the rhythmic twang of bows reverberating throughout the hot summer air. After a few minutes, Chiron trotted over.
"Xavier, are you ready for a test?"
I nodded once, notching three arrows simultaneously. We had been working on rapidly firing volleys for a while now. While Cabin 6 was nowhere near as talented as Apollo's children, due to our above average intelligence and ADHD, the course of static targets and moving targets wasn't difficult to beat. Chiron stomped a hoof and suddenly a bunch of targets appeared. The wooden forms of a hydra, giant, hellhound, manticore, and minotaur target soon bristled with arrows.
I was doing pretty well until my last volley of arrows at a 30 mph target missed completely, almost skewering an Apollo camper. My body was set to autopilot as I was thinking about the events of the previous night. My concentration slipped as I thought I would have to figure out how to document that. She yelped in surprise, quickly taking off in the opposite direction lest I do it again.
"Sorry!" I yelled after her. I looked up sheepishly at Chiron.
Whoops.
"Uh, so did I pass?"
He stomped a hoof, stopping the moving targets and checked my shots.
"So you did my child, though perhaps you may have to apologize to someone in the meantime" his eyes glinted with a bit of mirth. Annabeth and Malcolm burst out laughing.
After archery led to some scheduled time at the forges, which I spent trying to draft a way to make the Greek Mythos fit on my person. Eventually, I just put in an order for Jake to make something up. He had made my celestial bronze tonfas change into the bracelets I wore all the time now, so I trusted his judgment. Lunch came and went without a problem, and while I had been keeping my eye out, I wasn't able to find the Apollo girl who I had almost killed.
I had free time after lunch and so I decided to take the book with me and begin the arduous task of filling it in. Looking at the table of contents, I could see a good number of them would be able to be completed within the safe borders of Camp Half-Blood. I decided that a safe one would be the naiads. I took a stroll over to the lake, where a few campers were out in the middle canoeing. The still water was clear and blue, giving a clear view to the bottom. From my vantage point on the bank, I could see the naiads at the bottom of the lake.
I opened the book to the naiad section, hoping that I would be able to start filling in the entry for them. They seemed to be playing a serious game of cards, with around eight naiads were clustered around a flat rock. I couldn't figure out what they were playing, but their hands moved in a blur, and every so often they would slap the cards in the middle.
On one of the pages, under a box labeled Recreational Activities, was a rainbow. As I touched the rainbow, a fountain of mist came out of the book, creating a small rainbow above the book.
"O Fleecy, do me a solid and take a video of this," I intoned, "And also, put it on Athena's tab."
I didn't have any drachma on me, and I decided that this was the least she could do to help with something of this caliber. Most campers still called Iris, but I gathered info on this secret shortcut from Annabeth. Though it probably didn't make much of a difference. A small red dot appeared in the corner of the IM showing the connection was established. I leaned closer to the lake, holding the book out in front of me so the mist could get a clear shot of the card game.
All of a sudden, something collided against my head, launching me into the lake face first. The last thing I felt before darkness clouded my vision was my body being claimed by the water.
***Line Break***
Someone tapped my head. It made a hollow Thunk thunk thunk sound as it brought me into consciousness. The tapping wasn't helping my raging headache. Groggily I blinked open my eyes and saw a pair of cyan and sea green eyes staring back. Heterochromia, so beautiful... my addled brain thought hazily. My vision was still blurry but I tried to sit up. Slender, manicured hands pushed me back down gently and I noticed that gravity seemed to have slowed. I was lying down on a smooth flat rock, and above me, I could only see rays of light poking through. Noticing this, my brain was jump started. Hit in the head, probably by a volleyball, concussion or worse and blacking out... As my brain quickly started connecting the sequence of events, I realized I was underwater.
How am I not dead?
The naiads!
I glanced at the owner of the hands that had pushed me down. I had never really communicated up close with any of the nymphs before. I've heard stories about them but never had a chance to meet them up close. They had become more of a backdrop to the fantastical adventures of other, more modern demigods. My savior had jet black hair that flowed behind her, riding the gentle undercurrent in flowing waves. Her mismatched irises made it hard to read her eyes, and they seemed to shimmer under the light that filtered down from the surface. Her face was pale, yet had a tinge of blue to it which made her blend in with the surrounding waters. I looked down and her dress seemed to blur in and out as if reacting to the waves, I tried to take in my surroundings, which I thought were blurry because I was underwater, but it was just my oxygen-starved brain starting to panic. I shot up, desperate for air, bending my knees to my chest to push off the stone I had been laying on. Before I had gotten too far though, the beautiful naiad's hands grabbed my ankle, dragging me back. I wasn't going to make it. There weren't any legends of naiads drowning demigods were there? My brain was hazy and I could feel the darkness creep into my vision. I could just picture my obituary. Xavier Holmes, dead at 17, cause of death: volleyball to the head...
Soft lips enveloped mine and I could feel my lungs beginning to expand with oxygen. My head cleared and my headache slowly disappeared. I relaxed, the kiss made me warm and fuzzy inside, which helped with the growing cold I had noticed deep underwater.
"You can't leave" she whispered in my ear as she pulled back.
I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice was quickly submerged by water pouring in. I must look like an idiot, trying to speak underwater. Who did I think I was? The naiad noticed and giggled, her eyes shone with mirth. She motioned to some other naiads, who had been watching with some amusement. They brought over a small clump of what looked like a dense cake made out of various plants. She popped the small sphere in her mouth and leaned in again. Again our lips touched, and I resisted a little when I felt her tongue try to force something in. Once I started to run out of oxygen, I stopped fighting it. Her tongue passed the cake ball from her mouth to mine, and I swallowed. After a few seconds, I felt a slight tingling on my neck.
"You should be able to breathe now," the first naiad said softly. I took an experimental breath through my nose, the water entered my lungs, which was disconcerting and quite uncomfortable, but I could tell that whatever I had just eaten had let me breathe underwater. It took me a few more seconds to get used to the feeling of what my brain thought was drowning, but I quickly adapted.
"Did you have to do it that way?" I asked, a little taken aback.
"Oh, was my kiss too much for you?" she grinned back.
I knew that naiads were known to be especially flirty, but this wasn't so much flirting as stealing first base.
I blushed slightly, but quickly hid it with a question, "What do you mean I can't leave?"
"We tried, as soon as you interrupted our game by floating down and spilling all our cards. We tried to push you out onto the bank, but we couldn't lift you above the water. Something is stopping you from leaving." the naiad explained.
"It's because of this thing!" another one exclaimed, holding my book high in the air. I swam closer. It didn't appear wet, which was lucky as that would have completely destroyed the book. I guess it must have magic protecting it. All the other naiads started gathering around the one with the book.
"Greek Mythos: the Monsterpedia?"
"Hey! There's a section about us!"
"That's pretty cool, is that what we look like from above?"
"Hey let's take a selfie!"
The clamor of the nymphs became louder and louder as they examined my magic book. The one with the mismatched eyes turned to me as I approached.
"You have some explaining to do."
***Line Break***
Marina-the one with heterochromia- listened intently as I described the events leading up to my predicament. We were sitting on the rock where the naiads had been playing cards. It was somewhat awkward as I recounted my owl transformation and Athena's threats.
"That's a pretty amazing quest she's given you" she finally remarked.
Hearing this I nodded in agreement, still thinking bitterly about how I was treated by Mother. The nymph from before had finally returned my book and I hurriedly flipped to the naiad section. A moderate amount of information was already present.
Monster: Naiad
Type: Humanoid
Naiads are daughters of river gods, and there are multiple subclasses based on what body of water they inhabit. Naiads are closely connected to their bodies of water which they draw both their life force and their power from. Not to be confused with Nereids, which are their cousins that inhabit salt water.
Combat: ?
Diet: ?
Power: May impart oxygen to non-water breathers through mucosal contact
Has a vast knowledge of underwater plants and animals
Increased strength and agility
Power increases depending on the water quality
Various water control
Recreation: [ 4]
Breeding: ?
Fetish: ?
Cup size: 32B-36D
Height: 4'5-5'6
Weight:?
I sighed and closed the book. If what the naiad from before had said was true, then I would have to fill out a lot more of the book before I could leave. At least Athena had been right, things in my automatic vicinity were able to be recorded even if I was unconscious. Marina eyed me carefully with her cyan side, then spoke softly.
"There's a section on breeding you know."
I coughed uncomfortably, "Ummm.. yeah. Don't worry though, I don't think it's required." I responded, choosing my words carefully.
Marina edged closer to me. Placing her hand on mine before leaning into me.
"I don't mind showing you... how we.. breed," she whispered directly in my ear.
I would be lying if I said I didn't fantasize for a minute. To have the beautiful nymph writhe beneath me, our bodies locked together in the pleasures of the flesh. But I knew this was just her being flirtatious, and I decided to have a little fun of my own.
I turned to look at Marina, her forehead pressed against mine, our noses almost touching. I lifted the hand that was under hers and slowly trailed it up her arm. Marina peered at it, her breathing getting a little flustered. When I reached her shoulder, I pushed her down abruptly, shifting myself so that she was pinned under me. She let out a cute yelp, getting even more flustered.
"Then show me..." I trailed off, staring directly into her eyes. I saw multiple emotions welling up behind the irises. It was a mixture of surprise, coupled with some arousal, and what could be a little bit of fear and uncertainty of what was about to happen. I could feel the stares and the bated breath of some naiads who had noticed what was happening. We held eye contact for a few seconds, and I started to close the distance between us. Right before our lips met though, I broke off the stare and whispered,"...some other time, because I have a girlfriend."
The look on her face was priceless, shock, anger, and disbelief flashed across the nymph's face as I got off of her. She seemed to lay there for a split second, before quickly getting up herself.
"By the gods! What was that? I seriously thought that we were going to... that you were gonna..." Marina spluttered, unable to comprehend what had happened.
I grinned at her, "Aw, was that too much for you?"
Marina flushed, not wanting to acknowledge that for once, she was the one that was being led on. The naiads who had seen us giggled amongst themselves, glancing at both myself and Marina.
"In all my years, I have never had someone do that to me" Marina confessed.
"My apologies if I offended you" I offered, partly in jest.
Marina was fanning herself at this point, trying to calm down.
"You are quite the interesting demigod Xavier," the amusement in her voice let me know that she wasn't too mad about what happened.
"Look, all jokes aside, I need your help. If what you said about not being able to leave is true, I'll need to finish the entry, and fast."
***Line Break***
It took the better part of three hours before I finished filling in the data. Most of that time was spent interviewing some other naiads and gathering more information. I learned that Marina was actually the oldest one there, so in a way she was their leader.
Speaking of Marina, I thanked the gods I had met her. She was really helpful, as were her sisters, Lynn and Brooke. They resembled their elder sister, with the same beautiful silky hair, but they didn't have different eye colors. Lynn had her sister's cyan blue, and Brooke had the sea green.
Lynn was the smallest of the three, but she had graceful curves which accented her more petite body. Though she was the youngest, it seemed as if she was the most mature. Whereas her older sisters seemed more full of energy and boisterous, she was more laid back and subdued.
Brooke was the wildest, constantly teasing me with her body, brushing against me with her ample chest or backing up against me with her bubble butt. Brooke flirted with me unabashedly all the time, but Lynn didn't seem to share her sister's enthusiasm.
My last task was filming their process of creating the water breathing seaweed cake thing, which was fascinating. They gathered a bunch of plants that I couldn't even name, pounded the collection of herbs with a mortar and pestle and molded the paste into small balls to bake out in the sun.
"So after we create the paste, we use our hands and make these little balls and then we let them rest in the sun for about half a day." Marina finished, showing approximately the proper procedure to roll the paste. The recording finished and I closed the book.
I stretched myself, a little tired of holding my big ass book for so long.
"Hey, let's play a game!" Brooke proposed.
"Well, the recreation section could use some more entries..." I conceded, "Alright I'm in, what are we playing?"
"Strip Poker!" exclaimed the middle sister, a pack of cards materializing in her hand. I was about to protest, but the enthusiasm of the trio of sisters drowned out my complaints and soon we were deep in the middle of strip poker.
Monster: Naiad
Type: Humanoid
Naiads are daughters of river gods, and there are multiple subclasses based on what body of water they inhabit. Naiads are closely connected to their bodies of water which they draw both their life force and their power from. Not to be confused with Nereids, which are their cousins that inhabit salt water.
Combat: While most naiads are friendly to demigods and the like, the most basic rule is to avoid fighting them in the water. The water is their domain, and they control it well. They will melt into the water before appearing elsewhere or drown you if you pose a threat. Getting a naiad to leave the water is an almost impossible task, though if you do, they are significantly weaker the further away from their body of water they are.
Diet: As beings whose very lifeforce is tied to the water, naiads actually do not need to consume organic matter to survive. They are able to consume certain plants to extend how long they can stay out of the water.
Power: May impart oxygen to non-water breathers through mucosal contact
Has a vast knowledge of underwater plants and animals
Increased strength and agility
Power increases depending on the water quality
Various water control
Recreation: Card games, flipping canoes, flirting
Breeding: [processing...]
Fetish: [processing...]
Cup size: 32B-36D
Height: 4'5-5'6
Weight:?