AN: Just a quick heads up, I might not be able to update as frequently for a while, as you might have already begun to notice. I have a lot going on right now with a job search, helping my parents get the house ready to go on the market, and I'm a little writing drained right now. Seriously…look at how much I've been updating.

Wisdom of the Waters

Chapter 9

-Percy-

"Are you three ready to go?" Chiron asked them as they double checked their bags near the border, Argus waiting patiently by the van as the rest of their friends were there to see them off.

"I'm pretty sure we're good Chiron," he said with a weak smile as he was still mentally processing what all had happened the day before when he discovered the Great Prophecy "and if not we can always improvise.".

"That doesn't exactly reassure me." Chiron pointed out blandly as he gave a weak chuckle.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly "will you be able to control Goldie Locks?".

"Must you call her that?" Chiron asked exasperatedly "You're only going to make her angrier.".

"She's the one who can't take a hint." Clarisse said with an uncaring shrug as he remembered what had happened the previous day after he had finished crying with Clarisse and Lou, something that had both promised to keep to themselves…he almost thanked them before they told him it was for blackmail.

-Flashback-

Still slightly shaky, he walked up the steps onto the porch of the big house with Clarisse and Lou as he saw Chiron, Dionysus, and Grover waiting there for them. "Is your situation…resolved?" Chiron asked as they walked over to the trio.

"We drilled it into his head that we weren't going to abandon him." Lou said with a nod from his right as she laced her fingers with his as Clarisse did the same on the other side.

"Good," Dionysus said with a nod "he's one of the few demigods here that isn't a pain in the ass so I'd rather he didn't become a depressed mess.".

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He grumbled before flushing when Clarisse and Lou kissed his cheeks.

"Anyway," Chiron said with a smirk "you still need to decide who is going to go with you on the quest. I would assume that your lovely ladies here have proposed?" when he nodded the centaur continued "Well the Hephaestus Cabin have volunteered, as well as the rest of the Ares Cabin, Grover here, and-".

"Wait, wait, wait," he held his hand up for silence as he turned towards his Satyr friend "you volunteered to go on a quest? I thought you didn't like fighting.".

"I may not be the best in a fight but I figured that it would be good to at least have someone you can trust on your backup option list." Grover said with a shrug as he nodded in agreement.

"AND!" Chiron interjected with a small scowl as he and Grover grinned sheepishly at the Centaur "We did have…one other volunteer.".

"Ugh," Clarisse groaned "please don't tell me…".

"I'm coming," Annabeth said with a small scowl as the girl apparently took off a Yankees cap that made her invisible "I've been waiting too damn long for a quest and you aren't taking this from me. Athena may not be a fan of Poseidon but if you're going to be trying to save the world then I'm the best chance you have of not screwing it up.".

"Okay," he said with a scowl as he held his hand up with silence and tried to reign in his temper "I have two words for you in answer to that. Piss…off." And failed dramatically at said attempt.

"Excuse me?!" she demanded affronted.

"You've been nothing but a pain in my ass since I got here and started showing you up," he said with a snort "which also just disproves your whole 'you need me to not screw up' logic as I've outperformed you since I got here. I wouldn't want you on the quest as I wouldn't trust you to change a roll of toilet paper, let along to watch my back in a life threatening quest. I'm taking Clarisse and Lou, end of discussion.".

"Why you little-!" Annabeth began before Chiron cut her off sternly.

"Annabeth," the aged centaur reprimanded "it is his quest and, as such, his choice.".

"But I've been waiting for a quest for five years!" the blonde protested as she looked at Chiron as if the ancient teacher had betrayed her "I've earned this! You can't let them take it from me!".

"You never had it to begin with," he said with a snort "nobody will want to have you on a quest if you just go around and act like you're superior to everyone in everything, refuse to accept when someone beats you, and act like the world owes you something.".

With an angry scream the daughter of Athena threw her hands down and stomped off the porch, storming over to her cabin as he could hear the door to it slam shut from the big porch, "I'll talk to her after you leave," Chiron promised with a sigh "for now you three need to go prepare.".

-End Flashback-

"Be that as it may," Chiron said with a frown "you're only further worsening the situation.".

"If she insists on acting like a child then she's going to be treated as a child," he said bluntly "if she wants to be treated like an adult then she should start acting like an adult. She can't have it both ways, that's not the way the world works.".

"Just drop it Chiron," Dionysus instructed as the ancient horseman looked ready to continue "they're teenagers…you can't truly win an argument with one as they're too stubborn to ever give up. Anyway, do you three have enough weapons and items to handle the quest?".

"Yeah," he said as he flexed his fingers, still trying to break in his new gloves from his dad while his cuffs rubbed against his skin "between three things I have, Clarisse's spear, and Lou's magic I think we're pretty good.".

"Three?" Chiron asked in surprise "I know about the gloves from your father and the chains but what else do you have?". In way of answer he pulled back his jacket to show four small gourds, two on each hip, that were pitch black with sea green wave designs on them as he, once again, thought back to the previous day and how he had gotten them.

-Flashback-

Sighing he sat down at the beach as he looked at the night sky over the ocean, the surface of the water reflecting the shining, shimmering, splendor of the heavens as he listened to the sounds of the camp. Normally the Harpies would eat any camper outside of their cabins after dark but he had been given permission to take a walk out that night so he could clear his head.

"Dad," he said softly as he gazed out at the ocean "are you there?". Almost instantly the water began to swirl and rise up as it formed the floating head he had seen before. "Hey Pops," he said softly as the head turned into a waving hand "I…I just needed to 'talk' for a bit. I…I learned about the Great Prophecy today.".

At those words the water his father as controlling shimmered and collapsed for a moment before reshaping into a panicked face. "The Oracle gave it to me," he explained "and…well I tried to leave the girls when I found out…key word tried…they didn't exactly agree with my reasoning.".

The water face turned into a full body which shrugged helplessly as if to say 'what can you do?'. "They both swore to never leave me," he continued as he gazed once more at the heavens without seeing them "they swore on the Styx.".

The shrugging water man turned into a pair of clapping hands and he got 'good choice there son'. "Yeah, yeah." He said with a playful scowl at the water "Anyway, I'm scheduled to leave on the quest to get back Zeus's bolt tomorrow and I wanted to ask you a few question about what sort of things I can do with my powers.".

The water quickly turned into a man with glasses and a notepad as he face palmed at how big of a smartass his father was being. "Anyway," he said as he leaned back against a sand dune "I know that I have powers over water and I would guess with Horses, storms, and earthquakes?". The water man turned, once again, into the head which nodded happily. "But what about other equines like Zebras? He asked, Sea life? Other liquids? Ships? What about-" he stopped when the water turned into a pair of waving hands as if to say 'slow down'.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly "you need me to repeat?". The head shook its'…head in the negative as it went through the items by making water impersonations of them next to a nodding head, although it was rather odd when there was just a misshapen blob of water for 'other liquids'. "So basically anything to do with liquid I can do?" he asked as the head nodded happily.

Yawning softly he smiled at the head and continued "Well I have to head to bed in a minute dad, kinda got a big day tomorrow after all, but I do have one more question. What about sand? Like from a beach or the bottom of the ocean. Can I control that?".

In response the water turned into a detailed smirking face before he saw a flash of emerald and, when he finished blinking the spots from his eyes he saw four gourds on the sand in front of him, all pitch black with sea green wave designs, and a note which read 'two contain sea water and two contain sea sand…both expanded greatly so they hold a lot more…have fun. P.S. Please be careful on the quest and don't make me a grandfather'

-End Flashback-

"Well," a blushing Lou said as she shot a glance at the gourds "at least we know where you get your…unique sense of humor.".

"It could be worse," he said with a shrug as he gave 'bro hugs' to Grover and Beckendorf while shaking hands with the rest of the Ares and Hephaestus cabins "I could be like Chase.".

"Don't even go there." Clarisse scowled playfully as he chuckled.

"Alright, alright," Chiron grumbled "enough out of you three. Good luck and Percy…here's a little parting gift from myself and Dionysus.". Seeing the ancient teacher toss something at him he reacted instinctively as he reached out and caught it before staring at it blankly.

"Why the heck did you give me a ball point pen?" he asked in confusion.