THE TUNNEL RAN ALONG…covering his eyes, mouth, and nose.
Poseidon closed his eyes as he felt Percy's claustrophobia envelop him. He slung an arm around Percy's shoulder who gave him a small smile.
"I'm not claustrophobic anymore, dad and nor am I scared of drowning." He assured him. Poseidon nodded.
"Yeah but I don't like that you had to go through it in the first place. Can't imagine how stressful it would've been." He said and Percy couldn't help but smile wider.
Phorcys stopped in the middle…he's descended from Poseidon?"
"Its actually not as much of a secret as you would like. Especially among gods and especially among those who are children of Gaia. And after your quest in Alaska-" Hermes shrugged "-Such details just don't remain a secret anymore." He said
"Well, that's not surprising." Frank sighed. "Somehow, everybody knows everything." He said.
"Not everything. Just your parentage and who you're descended for. It's probably important for your enemies to know about which demigods are going to end up being a pain in the ass for them." Ares told him with a light chuckle and Frank snorted in amusement.
"Well…" Phorcys shrugged…You promised me answers."
"Okay, imagining a pissed off Percy saying that sounds terrifying in my head." Connor said, holding his palms in front of him.
"Because it probably was." Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"I hope so. The aim was to warn him." Percy frowned.
"You looked like you were going to beat the crap out of him if he didn't give you answers." Frank informed him.
"Well, if he thought that too, then maybe he would have given us answers." Percy pointed out.
"Fair enough but that would make anybody else shit their pants." Frank shrugged.
"After the VIP treatment, yes…spawn of Poseidon in captivity.
The sea gang growled. This was not helping in decreasing the anger that were feeling towards Phorcys and Keto.
"Oh, I'm going to be having more than a few words with him." Poseidon said as his eyes darkened.
"Yeah, well, they're in trouble then." Demeter said with raised eyebrows.
"See, one thing I don't get is why all these guys insist on calling me spawn. Its like they don't know my name or are just not willing to use it. Like, is it so hard to call me Percy Jackson or Perseus Jackson or Perseus or . Ask me! I'll give you multiple names to call me by. Its always, spawn or sea spawn or Son of Poseidon or son of Neptune. I have a name! Peter Johnson also works. At least get close. I sound like some video game character when they say spawn." Percy said, throwing his hands up in exasperation while trying to lighten the mood. Everybody burst out laughing at that mini-rant including the sea gang who had been seething a few moments before.
"Honestly, I don't disagree. Whenever somebody says 'spawn', it just sort of reminds me of respawning and my mind goes places. I mean they're threatening somebody and I'm thinking of my inventory in Minecraft or my latest game in Roblox." Rachel snickered. All the demigods nodded in agreement.
"I know right!"
"Technically, Perce, even you recognize gods as 'father or mother of so and so." Apollo pointed out with a snicker.
"Hey, that's just for guessing the god. At least I say their name once I do recognize them with their parentage. Like, I did say, 'you're Clarisse's dad, Ares' to Ares." Percy defended. "These guys don't even do that. The only time he used my name is to tell me that there was a bounty on my head. I'm surprised that the bounty was in my name in the first place." He pouted and every single person was snickering at that.
'Demigod Terrors'—yes…love your new home."
"I'm trying to understand why he thought that Percy couldn't just shatter the tank if he wanted when they imprisoned him." Dakota mused.
"The tank was demigod-proof." Nico reminded him
"Demigod proof in general but I don't think they see a lot of kids of Poseidon coming in." Triton said.
"Well, even he's strong in water." Katie pointed out.
"So is Percy and then it'd be two on one with Percy and Frank against Phorcys. I think even Phorcys is underestimating Percy despite any information he got from Gaia. I'm guessing that he's probably thinking that Percy can't do much with water and I'm not sure if he'd even know about Frank's shapeshifting because its very rare that dad gives such a blessing in the first place." Triton shrugged.
"It was enchanted water or something." Percy said and everybody froze.
Over Percy's head, the glass…fear out of his voice.
"Don't be scared, son." Poseidon said with a small, reassuring and supportive smile.
"I'm not." Percy said with a smile and Poseidon chuckled.
You can't imprison me…Sue me.
Everybody chuckled.
"Quick thinking works." Ares said with a grin and fist bumped Frank.
I'm having a telepathic…three tridents, a sword, and a speargun.
Everybody stared at Percy in astonishment.
"A spear and speargun I understand, but in Tartarus did you manage to break three tridents?" Amphitrite asked open-mouthed.
"The tridents weren't very high quality. They weren't like the ones that dad uses or anything. That could have broken the tank and honestly, fates know what the hell that tank was made out of." Percy shook his head.
"Well, the good thing is if you're ever trapped again, you'll be able to use your trident to break out." Triton sighed.
"That's right! Look at the positives." Percy said with a grin and Triton punched him lightly in the shoulder.
Finally he tried to control…plastic treasure chest.
Poseidon swore violently in Ancient Greek at Percy's situation and because of the curse, forgetting that every single demigod in that room could also understand Ancient Greek and especially the swear words. They all looked at him with wide eyes and he looked slightly sheepish once he realized.
"That's the best you can do?" Nico grinned finally.
"Yeah, not very effective, dad. Go for something more next time." Percy said. "Something like-" he started and swore even more violently, making all the demigods and younger gods roar with laughter and Hestia and Chiron face palmed. Poseidon looked at his son with sheer amusement and one could easily see some amount of pride in his face.
"Really swears like a sailor, this one." Hades shook his head finally.
"He does!" Poseidon said, trying but failing to keep the happiness from his voice, increasing the laughter. Amphitrite smacked his arm lightly.
"Do not encourage this!" she chided but even she was trying not to laugh.
Well, that's it…gods were all incapacitated?
"Now now, don't get all depressed. Now is not the moment for that. Think about practical and logical things later. Right now, you gotta be your usual crazy." Thalia said to Percy.
"I have never been more motivated." Came the dry reply.
Bacchus might be able to help…gag himself with a Monster Donut.
Dionysus and his kids frowned at Percy who grimaced.
"Sorry." He apologized.
Look! Frank said…admired the stadium seating.
"I totally forgot he was there too." Triton said, having renewed hope for his brother and Frank getting out of this message even though he knew that they already had.
Outside the glass, Keto…enough to attract attention.
"Gleeson has the ears of a satyr. He'd be able to hear that even if it wasn't loud enough for you." Grover assured Percy.
"We're honestly lucky that he was the one there at that time. If there was another demigod, we'd have either gone with Percy and Frank or not have heard the commotion they were trying to create." Annabeth shook her head.
"Yeah well, for all his unserious threats, don't take Gleeson lightly." Clarisse said.
Percy's heart sank…then a mask of calm
Chiron smiled slightly.
"Say what you will about Gleeson but when it comes to wanting to protect you guys, he's going to do everything he can. You're like his own children." He said to the seven, Nico, Reyna and Clarisse all of whom smiled.
"Yeah, well, he really did take care of us on the journey. When you think about it, he did do the chaperoning." Jason smiled.
Before Keto could notice…Keto crumpled to the floor.
Everybody cheered and the sea gang had never been more grateful to Coach Hedge.
"There seems to be a lot of getting hit by hooves." Nico said amusedly.
"And that's exactly what Percy thought." Grover snickered as he read the next line.
"Great minds think alike." Percy stated and the two brothers exchanged fist bumps followed by their secret handshake.
Percy winced…Keto on the head forever.
"Would have been kinda fun though." Grover muttered.
"Wow, goat boy developing violent tendencies, are we?" Percy teased and Grover chuckled.
"Well, you, Thalia and Annabeth aren't the most peace-promoting influences." He joked and the three mentioned demigods grinned sheepishly.
"Guilty as charged." Annabeth said.
Since she was immortal…a language the satyr knew well.
"Well, it is universal." Ares grinned.
Percy hefted another giant…more than that.
"You used the water." Tyson grinned excitedly and Percy smirked wickedly. Triton whooped and gave Percy an excited side hug.
"Proud of you already, little bro." he said and Percy high fived him.
He called on the water…hated to be trapped, just like Percy.
The sea gang all but squealed and everybody else cheered loudly.
"The sea-" Poseidon started but Amphitrite stopped him.
"I think this time Percy deserves to say this, my love." She said and Poseidon grinned widely and they all turned to look at Percy. All the others in the room also looked at Percy. Everybody could see the happiness that his cousins, Annabeth and Grover had on their faces for Percy. He'd not said that line much and they knew this meant a lot to him. Percy's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
"No way." He breathed.
"Yes way." The rest of the sea gang grinned.
"Come on. This is your official initiation." Triton encouraged. Percy cracked his knuckles and grinned widely.
"The sea does not like to be restrained." He said and the sea gang grinned and laughed as they engulfed him in a hug and everybody else also chuckled, clapped or cheered. Grover clapped Percy on the back and the demigod grinned at him.
"Wreck hell on them, son." Poseidon said to Percy, pride shining in his eyes.
He thought about getting…down his ugly throat.
"You tell him." Thalia grinned.
"Make it painful." Nico nodded.
"Would've been fun, for sure." Percy sighed sadly.
Fifty thousand gallons of water…into her like it wanted a hug.
All the demigods cheered and hooted. Even the younger gods joined in and the sea gang's eyes and faces shone with pride with Percy with smug smiles. All the other gods looked at Percy in awe. His anger and his ability to use that to use his powers never ceased to amaze them.
Coach Hedge spit salt water…they gave no sign
"Wait, did you already go back to the aquarium and rescue them?" Triton asked Percy who grimaced.
"Grover, Mrs O'Leary and I did go in the night after the war but we were only able to somehow get the telkhines out before the alarm went off so we just took them and left. If we would have stayed longer, Phorcys and Keto would have found us." He sighed. "Sorry." He said but the Amphitrite, Triton and Poseidon just grinned.
"You tried. You kept to your word. That's what matters." Poseidon said to Percy and clapped his shoulder. "Thank you." He said to Grover who grinned.
"Don't mention it." He said.
Over the sound system…ran for the exit.
"Chapter's done." Grover announced.
"I'll read." Artemis volunteered.