Obviously, Percy lied.
He didn't think of himself as a liar, but he'd be deluding himself if he didn't admit that he'd been a lot more dishonest lately as a result of all the secrets he had to keep. For a while, he had been feeling guilty about it, as if he were living a double life, but as he said goodbye to his mom to embark on a fictional quest for Apollo, he didn't so much as spare a thought as to the fact that he had so brazenly deceived her. The way he saw it, there were some things she was better off not knowing.
He did have a task in mind, however. He summoned a hippocampus steed in the Manhattan Bay and steered it in the direction of the coordinates Kook had given him. He was pretty satisfied with the work he and the water spirits had done to consolidate the trash, but they were starting to get restless. More garbage kept trickling in, and he wanted to get as much of the disgusting filth out of The Wasteland as possible so that it wouldn't just go back to the way it was. To do that, he needed to get it to this volcano.
The trip was quick, even though it was hundreds of miles. Hippocampi were extremely efficient modes of transportation. After not long, the hippocampus plunged underwater, causing Percy to scramble to take his shirt off. His arm got stuck in one of the sleeves, and after a few seconds, the blinding pain set in, but it only took him a moment longer to rip the shirt off. Panting, he yelled at the hippocampus, "Don't do that! You have to warn me first."
The creature whinnied mournfully, and, feeling bad, Percy patted her mane.
"It's okay. I'm sorry for yelling."
He could see the volcano looming in the distance. The surrounding terrain seemed barren, but past the volcano, Percy was surprised to see twinkling lights that suggested towns interspersed across the landscape. They were fast approaching now, and the volcano loomed wide and black.
Suddenly, an enormous head like a boar's emerged from around the side, and Percy's stomach did a somersault. Behind the familiar creature's head stretched an impossibly long whale body. Percy was struck at how much the leviathan could resemble both a dragon and a whale at the same time.
He cursed in Ancient Greek under his breath. "Not this guy again."
It shouldn't have been possible, but here he was. The creature rounded the volcano and swept his massive eyes from side to side, catching sight of Percy and emitting a low, mournful call, which spooked Percy's steed, who sprinted away as soon as he dismounted. Shaking his head, he drew his sword, though he knew it would be of no use.
There was no turning back now. "Ketos!" he thundered, raising his free hand. "I come in peace!"
The creature turned his head to face Percy, studying him for an agonizing moment. Then, he did something that shocked Percy: he bowed his head.
Son of sea god, he boomed, his voice different than Percy remembered,Ketos expects you.
The demigod blinked. "You–you do?"
Lord Azaes warned Ketos of your arrival, he said, and Percy noticed that this monster was covered in soot and had chunks of cooled lava rock stuck all over his back, like a stegosaurus's scales.
Percy lowered his sword. "Do…you remember me?"
The behemoth slowly nodded his gargantuan head.You trick Ketos's brother. You betray sea god. But he tell Ketos not to eat you.
Percy detected a hint of disappointment in the great whale's voice, but he felt secure that the beast wouldn't disobey a direct order from his father. Well, pretty sure, at least.
"Uh, that's right," he said, "I'm here in service to the king."
To the king, this Ketos echoed, nodding so fervently he created currents that blasted forth. Were Percy anybody else, he would have been thrown adrift, but he diverted the water around his body.
Percy knew it wasn't important, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Are you Ketos? Or was the one I met in the Sea of Monsters Ketos?" he asked.
The beast nodded again, more slowly.Yes, Ketos here. Ketos there. Many of us.
"Ah." Percy felt a little unsettled at the thought of the sea being full of many of these creatures, especially since he had gotten off on such a bad foot with them. "Well, do you have a name?"
Ketos.
"I mean, a name of your own?"
We are Ketos.
Percy decided to give up.
"Um, I need to burn some stuff in the volcano," he said awkwardly, not sure of how to get past the behemoth.
Ketos know, he responded.Son of sea god burns trash in Ketos's volcano.
"Oh, it's yours?"
The beast raised his head, as if in pride.Ketos is guardian of Mount Methana, he boasted,protector of valley.
Percy nodded slowly, taking in once again the chunks of cooled lava that clung to Ketos's serpentine whale form.This volcano must be active, he thought. "Does Mount Methana ever erupt, Ketos?"
Sometimes, big explosion, the beast said,but Ketos is bigger.As if to prove his point, the great whale sucked in an impossibly enormous volume of water, creating a vortex nearly as strong as Charybdis, and blew it out his blowhole. Percy marveled at how much water he was able to fit in his mouth–surely enough to battle even a volcanic eruption. Suddenly, he had an idea.
"Ketos," he said urgently, "Can I get your help?"
Ketos not help traitors. Ketos not betray.
Percy grimaced. He had hoped they were past this. "No, I'm not a traitor either. I don't want to betray the king. I need your help serving the king."
Ketos's gigantic eyes narrowed. He hesitated.Help the king?
"Yes, help the king," Percy said. "I need you to help me move the trash."
The whale shook his head violently, as if in slow motion.Filthy! Ketos not like!
"Me neither, Ketos," Percy said glumly, "me neither."
Ketos will get sick.
"Not if I help you clean out your mouth afterward," Percy said. "I can get all the gunk out of there, and I can clean the lava rocks off your back while I'm at it."
Ketos dirty.
"Not for long," Percy promised, "if you help me."
Ketos blinked slowly.Help son of sea god?
Percy smiled reassuringly. "Help the king. And you'll be taken care of."
Ketos thought for a long time, then blew a stream of ashy water out of his blowhole. Percy took that as a yes.
The trip back to New York was much, much longer. Percy had forgotten how slow a Ketos moved. The incredible distance his body was able to propel made up for some of it, but it still felt to Percy as if they were moving through honey. He rested against Ketos's neck and took a nap.
When he awoke, he saw the underwater shore in the distance, thankfully. He sat up and patted the beast on the neck, though he was certain he couldn't feel it.
"Good job, Ketos, we're almost there," he said.
Ketos do good.
"Yeah, Ketos do good."
The sea god and his children love Ketos, the monster said proudly.
Percy rested his head against the creature's neck, then pulled back, wiping soot off his face. "Do you know my brother Azaes, Ashy?
Ketos serve Lord Azaes. Protect his people from lava.
Percy grinned, petting the boar's fur that grew behind the Ketos's ears. "That's cool, Ashy. You're a hero, like me." The beast didn't seem to have anything to say to that. "So, Lord Azaes warned you I'd be coming?"
Ashy Ketos emitted a low, mournful whale call, and in the distance, Percy could see people start to materialize out of thin water and wave at them.Lord Azaes tells Ketos to expect half-blood. Half-blood does important job for king, then goes to governor.
Percy's smile faltered. "Go to the governor? You mean Azaes?"
Lord Azaes says to expect half-blood, Ashy insisted.
"But does he expect me, personally?"
Son of sea god goes to volcano, then governor.
Percy could tell Ashy was growing impatient, so he dropped it. He felt almost excited by this revelation, although he was apprehensive as well. It was always dicey to have one's presence requested, or even merely expected, by a god. However, Kook had been so friendly to Percy thus far that it was hard to imagine him doing something awful; he had been mortal once, after all, so he seemed relatively down-to-earth. Part of him dared to hope that they could even become friends.
They were closing in on the coast now, and several nereids came over to greet them, shouting welcomes and swimming up to the Ketos's side to pet him. The great beast seemed to love all the attention, beaming with his great, wide mouth and emitting whale calls that sounded as close to joyous as a whale call ever could. Hedia swam right up to Ashy's face and sat on top of his snout. Calli swam up his side and perched herself in front of Percy on Ashy's neck, facing him and sitting as if side-saddle.
"I see you made a friend," she giggled, wiping soot off of Percy's face with her thumb.
He looked around at all the girls fawning over the leviathan. "Wow, you guys really love this dude," he said.
Calli's eyes sparkled. "Ketea are loyal protectors of sea nymphs. They've always defended us."
"I'm sorry, what did you say? Keet–kete-uh?"
She laughed harder this time. "Ketea, Percy. Like one Ketos, many Ketea."
"Ah, I've heard there are many."
They were approaching the Bay now, and just as Percy had instructed, the nymphs and the guardians had moved all of the compressed trash barges to this corner of the island's coast. Across from Queens, the garbage that the East and the Hudson had deposited at the tip of Manhattan stood like two mountains of waste. Ashy began to slow and shake his head.
"Hey, it's okay, buddy," he said, patting his neck, "trust me."
Percy surrounded himself with clean water and pushed it outward, encompassing Ashy's entire enormous head. Hedia and the other nereids took their distance, but Calli stayed, turning her back to Percy and straddling Ashy's neck, situating herself against Percy's torso. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kept patting Ashy reassuringly.
The clean water protection seemed to calm the beast somewhat, but Percy could tell he was nervous.
Ketos not like trash, he said distrustfully.Nasty. Smell bad.
"Yeah, I know it stinks, buddy," he said. "We're going to get through this so fast, trust me."
Trash is dirty.
"No, no, Ashy, look," Percy said, leaping off Ashy's neck and propelling himself in front of his face. He summoned a loose aluminum can to his hand through the water, and showed the behemoth how the can turned mostly clean to his touch. "See? When that trash touches this clean water, it's going to become clean. It's much, much safer."
The beast lowed mournfully, and Percy thought for a moment he was going to get eaten.You wouldn't trick Ketos, would you?
Percy stared straight at his new friend, deathly serious. "No, I promise, I would never trick you."
Percy directed a hesitant Ashy toward the garbage at the base of Queens, where the monster dutifully opened his mouth and allowed Percy to propel all of the garbage into it. Even for Ashy's gigantic maw, the trash from all of The Wasteland still took up a lot of space. Ashy stretched his head into the bay as far as it would go, but he was so large that Percy didn't want to bring him all the way in, lest he be too big and bulky to get back out.
Trash gross, Ashy said sadly.
"I'm sorry, buddy," Percy said sympathetically. "You're doing great. Just a little bit more."
He directed Ashy to face Manhattan and funneled the mountains of garbage into Ashy's open mouth. It was a lot to transport, and not all of it was densely packed together, so Percy directed a large volume of water into Ketos's already full mouth along with all of the trash. The poor beast gagged.
"I'm sorry, Ashy!" Percy said.
Mercifully, all of the trash fit inside Ashy's jaws. When he finally closed his mouth–at least, as far as he could with it stuffed so full–a cheer rose up from the nereids and guardians watching from a distance. Percy patted Ashy on the snout supportively.
"Let's go dump this shit," he said.
Calli was suppressing an amused grin when he sat back down behind her. "You nicknamed the Ketos Ashy?" she said teasingly.
"Well, he needed a real name," Percy said. "I think it fits." He picked up her hand, which had been resting against the beast's neck, and showed her the soot smudges on her skin. Sighing, she scrubbed at her hands in the water.
Calli rode with them as far as she could go, then kissed Percy on the cheek and slipped off. He stayed awake for the entire trip back, speaking words of encouragement in a calm, steady voice to the uncomfortable monster. Ashy sometimes stopped and retched, as if he were going to dump all of the waste into the open sea, and Percy had to disembark a couple of times and give him a pep talk face-to-face. At one point, Percy had to get behind the great animal and push as much water into him as forcefully as he could to prod the Ketos forward. Slowly, haltingly, they found their way back to Mount Methana.
Once the volcano was in sight, Ashy picked up the pace, eager to offload. The water was broiling so close to the volcano, and any normal human or merperson would have been boiled alive, but Percy merely felt hot and sweaty. Ashy wasn't bothered at all, making a beeline for the top.
"Alright, Ashy, bombs away!"
The great whale spewed all of the garbage in its mouth into the volcano, and Percy forced it straight down with currents of water. The trash met the lava below with a great roar and huge splashes rising up like geysers. The very mountain rumbled.
"We did it, boy," Percy said, patting his friend's neck. "Time to get you clean."
Percy and Ashy landed on the far side of the mountain, and Percy examined the beast's skin.
"We might need cleaner water for this to work," he said, noting the dark, ashy water around them. It seemed to be getting worse by the second. Perturbed, he looked up and was alarmed to see tendrils of boiling ash water shooting up like jets from the volcano's mouth.
"Oh, fuck, Ashy, I think it's going to blow!"
Ashy raised his head and puffed out his chest.Ketos protect valley.
"That's right," Percy agreed, springing to action. "You shoot water at the lava, and I'll see what I can do about all that ash."
Percy willed himself straight up so he could look over the top of the volcanic opening. The lava was bubbling, and occasionally, geysers of molten rock and ash would shoot straight up. The lava would fall back down, but the ash continued to rise and disperse, polluting the surrounding waters heavily, the black cloud of soot spreading in all directions. Percy looked behind him at all of the twinkling lights in the distance and gritted his teeth.
Ashy inhaled a huge gulp of water and spat it straight into the volcano, causing the lava to cool a bit with a loud hiss. Bubbles and ash rose in the water. Percy commanded the water above the volcano to swirl in a vortex, dragging in as much of the black and gray water as possible. He could sense that the water was boiling, longing to release the toxic vapors, and he got an idea.
He looked up. They were so far below the surface, he couldn't even see it. But it had to be possible. He commanded the swirling vortex to shoot toward the sky, and he shot himself up alongside it, travelling at blinding speed. His skin felt like it was peeling off his face. He could barely squint.
Finally, he crashed through the surface, rising up in a personal water tornado, and the funnel of ash that he had created erupted beside him. The boiling water vaporized into the air, creating plumes of smoke that smelled horrendous–like the worst sewage Percy had ever smelled in his life. He kept the funnel open and bade the fumes through until nothing more came out, pulling his shirt from his back pocket to cover his mouth, nose, and eyes. He couldn't stop coughing, even after it had dispersed. He decided he needed to be back in the water.
He dove down, propelling himself like a torpedo all the way back to Mount Methana, where Ashy had blocked several currents of lava that had oozed down the side of the mountain with his body. He was spitting water at them to cool them, and to Percy's amazement, it was working. He arrived at Ashy's side as the beast was trying to extricate himself from the newly cooled lava rock, and Percy drew his sword and swam the length of his body, slashing at the rock to free him.
Thank you, son of sea god, the great whale said.
"Don't mention it, Ashy," he replied, creating a pool of clean water around the two of them–or at least, himself and the top third of the beast. "Alright, time to get you clean."
The work was laborious. Cutting the chunks of lava rock from the beast's hide was easy; pressure-washing the soot off of him was harder. Percy also cleaned out the monster's mouth, as promised, even going so far as to walk inside and pick up or dislodge any loose trash he could find. The entire process took ages.
Finally, the beast spurted water from his blowhole in rapturous glee.Ketos is healthy! Ketos is clean!
"Yeah, very," Percy said, sitting on the ground and resting his head against his knees.
Ketos take half-blood to governor, now.
Percy lifted his head up, forcing his eyes open and blinking heavily. "Azaes? You'll take me to him?"
Yes. Go now.The beast lowered his head, and with a weary sigh, Percy climbed aboard. He collapsed against Ashy's neck and fell asleep almost instantly.
When Ashy woke him, it had not been long enough. Percy wished more than anything he could curl up on a seaweed bed somewhere, but he forced himself to perk up. His brother wanted to see him. His brother, who had cleared his name. His brother, who said Percy reminded him of himself. Percy wondered what talking to Kook would be like as a free man, whether he could start over and make a different impression on his family, a better one. He felt the overwhelming pressure of the debt he owed Kook for clearing his name and wondered how he could ever make it even. The pressure felt enormous.
Percy took one look over the beast's side at the cityscape below, and all of his worries momentarily disappeared. Atlantis spread out beneath them like a beautiful underwater garden metropolis, full of soft, twinkling pearl lights, colorful coral, and underwater greenery creeping over seemingly every surface. Directly beneath Ashy's head, Percy observed what looked like closely scattered villages and merpeople milling about in the streets. Up ahead, the sight of the sprawling capital city that was the heart of Atlantis took Percy's breath away.
In the distance, he could just barely make out his father's palace, which he knew marked the center of his father's kingdom. Between Percy's gargantuan ride and the palace sprawled a bustling undersea metropolis full of impossibly tall buildings hewn from sea stone and coral, highways that stretched across the city from miles off the ground, and merpeople in colorful chariots being pulled by hippocampi. Percy gawked in awe at the scene as they approached, unable to take it all in at once. Everywhere he looked, he saw new wonders: a merman lift up his daughter and swim up from the street to an awning on the twenty-sixth floor of a coral-hewn building Percy dubbed asurface-scraper; a dolphin in battle armor lead a squad of highly decorated stingrays past a reverent school of fish; two nereids dance on a balcony over a square while a giant crab played steel drums in the garden below. Ketos slowed down and turned to swim parallel to the edge of the city, landing on what looked like a huge tarmac.
Ketos go no further, he said wistfully as Percy slid off.Ketos too big.
"I'm sorry, buddy," Percy said, patting the animal on his enormous snout. "Thanks for taking me all this way."
Ketos do good.
"Ketos do good."
The monster grinned, lifting his face up in glee.Lord Azaes has temple. Half-blood can speak to him there.
Percy perked up, looking out at the city before him. "A temple, huh? I'll find it. Thanks, Ashy."
Ashy slowly lowered his face and thrust his snout languidly into Percy with affection. Chuckling, the demigod clung onto his nose in an embrace.
Goodbye, son of sea god, Ashy called back as he swam off, leaving Percy face-to-face with the busy capital outskirts. Blindly, he plunged in.
He was surprised to stand out less than he thought he would. Nearly every vaguely humanoid creature, it seemed, was shirtless or scantily clad–all of the merfolk, most water guardians, even a Cyclops every now and then. It was a little awkward to him to be around so many bare-chested people, but he told himself it was a blessing in disguise so that he wouldn't have to feel so out of place. He just tried to force himself not to stare at the mermaids.
Still, people noticed him. There weren't too many people with legs, so he didn't really pass as a water guardian–and definitely not as a Cyclops. Plus, the gaping wound on his chest became much more apparent once people got close to him, causing someone every few minutes to do an exaggerated double-take as they passed by. From doorways and windows, people would whisper, their eyes trained on him, hands covering their mouths. He crossed his arms over his chest and kept moving.
He was so busy looking around him that he accidentally ran smack dab into a seahorse who was bustling distractedly in the other direction. Percy apologized profusely, but the seahorse merely stuttered, his eyes growing wide.
A-are–are you–he eventually managed to get out.
Percy held up his hands. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I'm just trying to find the temple."
Oh, th-the temple, the seahorse said, glancing Percy up and down.Forgive me–before I go on–are you…him?
Percy's eyes narrowed warily. "Um, my name is Percy Jackson."
My lord!the seahorse cried, dropping into a bow.Forgive me, son of the sea god! I thought so, but I couldn't be sure–I don't want to give directions to a common criminal, of course–forgive your servant.
"Oh, it's fine," Percy said uncomfortably. "Do you know where the temple is, then?"
The seahorse rose.Of course! The Temple of the King is near the palace. I can take you there, my lord.
"Oh, no, not that one," Percy said. "I mean the temple to K–to Lord Azaes."
The seahorse shook his head.Of course, right this way.
He led Percy quickly down several broad avenues and busy roads, Percy struggling to keep up. He felt less conspicuous now that he was walking with purpose, at least–or perhaps, he suspected, he simply did not have enough time now to notice people staring at him. Soon, Percy's marine guide stopped in front of an ornate white building hewn out of sea stone with intricate pearl detailing. With a bow, the seahorse took off in haste, leaving Percy to enter alone. It felt almost irreverent to enter a temple without a shirt on, but he figured if the merfolk could do it, then it was fine.
The temple was lined with columns all around, and Percy was surprised to notice that it had no ceiling. He gawked at the bustling water above him as a school of fish led by a different seahorse swam by overhead. Each column of the temple had a lantern with fire burning inside, and at the far end, there was an airlocked furnace in front of a larger-than-life realistic marble statue of Kook himself, flexing while completely nude. Even though he and Percy didn't look quite the same, the resemblance was enough to make him self-conscious nonetheless. In the center of the temple was a fountain, also airlocked, adorned with a smaller statue of Kook riding a surfboard. Percy wandered up to it and glanced inside the pool of water.
He was shocked to see his father staring back at him. Percy jumped back, then, haltingly, peered over the edge again. He was himself, but the water began to bubble, as if boiling. Steam rose in a steady hiss, clouding up the bubble of air that surrounded the fountain and obscuring the entire thing. People around him began to whisper; he glanced around and saw eyes looking at him sideways from all directions, fingers subtly pointed, people muttering behind hands. He commanded the water in the fountain to cool back down, bidding the mist to dissolve. When it did, he started; he was staring face-to-face with the statue himself.
"Percy Jackson," the statue of Kook said with a grin, straightening up on his surfboard, "welcome to my temple."
A flurry of whispers passed over the room, followed by hushed silence. Ignoring the dozens of eyes he felt on himself, he bowed to the fountain statue. "It is an honor to be here, brother."
"Oh, please, rise," statue Kook said playfully, "the pleasure is all mine."
Percy stood and found himself surprised yet again; every person and creature in the room was kneeling before him. Well, him and Statue Azaes, he reminded himself.
Percy swallowed. "I came here to speak to you. The Ketos told me that you wanted me to find you."
The statue grinned. "Ah, good, you've met the Mount Methana Ketos. He's a chill hang, once you get on his good side."
Percy nodded, smiling fondly.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to get with you. Now that you're done with your little side project on the coast, I have a task for you."
Percy straightened up eagerly. "Absolutely, anything you need. Where can I find you?"
"Ah, good question," the statue said, gesturing to the water below. Percy looked down as the surface of the water rippled outward, shimmering with light. When it settled, he saw a scene of Kook, in dry air, doing bench presses at a gymnasium.
"It looks like I'm at my gym," the statue said, stretching out a finger and pointing. "Due east, five blocks. It's in the north wing of my palace, you can't miss it. Just let the guards know who you are when you get there." He turned back to Percy and looked him up and down. "Actually, that probably won't even be necessary."
Percy nodded. "Okay, copy that. I'll go find him–er, you."
The statue nodded in satisfaction and once again froze in the same pose as before. All around him, the temple-goers remained kneeling. A bowing dolphin in a priestly robe by the sacrificial furnace looked up at him, and Percy gave him a nod, hoping he would rise, but the dolphin merely nodded back and bowed deeper. Uncomfortable, Percy willed himself upwards, out of the temple through the top, giving him a bird's eye view of the city.
He gazed out in the direction the statue had pointed. Not too far away, he saw a large manor, somewhat like what he imagined a West coast mansion was like, in a valley surrounded by a coral reef. A flag waved in the current above the mansion bearing a symbol that looked like a curled wave with a star in the middle. He propelled himself toward it at top speed.
"Lord Azaes is just through these doors," said the mermaid guard who showed him the way. Percy thanked her, and she bowed her head in response and left him there. Bracing himself, he walked inside–and immediately had to put on his shirt.
Kook's gym was huge, boasting tons of weightlifting equipment, a full track loop, an indoor field for javelin throwing and pole vaulting, and a soccer field. The speakers were playing classic rock, but Percy could have sworn he could hear the sound of waves crashing into a shore underneath it, somehow. Percy wandered around, looking for his brother and taking in all of the amenities. He found Kook slamming battle ropes in the weight room. The godly boy continued his workout, as if not noticing Percy, until a timer on his watch sounded. He dropped the ropes and grinned at Percy, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Hey, Perce," he said, slightly out of breath, "nice of you to stop by."
"Oh uh, yeah," Percy said. "It's nice to see you again, Kook. Wait, can I call you that?"
The god laughed amiably. "Well, that's my name, isn't it?"
Percy wasn't sure how to answer that.
"Hey, come here," Kook said, motioning for Percy to follow him as he took off deeper into the gym, "I need you to do me a favor."
Eagerly, Percy followed. Kook took him to a rack with a barbell and a bench.
"I want to see how high I can go with a close grip," the god explained. "I need you to spot me."
"Oh," Percy said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, sure, of course."
He'd never spotted somebody lifting weights before, but he'd seen vaguely how weightlifting worked in one of his old military academies, and he figured part of it was just intuitive. Kook had him stand behind the head of the bench with his hands hovering beneath the bar, palms upward, while the godly governor maxed out on the bench, which was ever so slightly inclined upward. Kook positioned his hands close together, as if forming a diamond, then gripped the bar and lifted it off the rack, bringing the barbell down close to his chest, then pushing upward until his arms were fully extended. His breathing was heavy and very controlled. They went through the motions twice, since Kook decided the first time was not heavy enough. The second time around, there was a moment when Kook was fighting to raise the bar that Percy was worried he would not be able to do it, and he hesitated, hands poised under the bar just a hair's width away, wondering if he should intervene. But then, digging deep, Kook pushed the bar up with a mighty grunt, then noisily racked it and sat up.
"Yes! New PR!" he yelled, pumping his fists. "And I didn't even use water to cheat."
"Congrats," Percy said, "that's pretty cool."
"Do you want to try?" Kook said, standing up and gesturing toward the bench.
Percy hesitated. "Sure, if that's alright."
Percy lied down on the bench and positioned his hands like he'd seen Kook do. His brother took some of the weight off of the bar and got in position to spot Percy.
"This is probably the right weight for you, based on the look of you," Kook said, and Percy wasn't sure what to make of that. He also wasn't sure how good at this he would be. He was pretty strong, of course, but he'd never lifted weights before. Taking a deep breath, he pushed on the bar–and wasn't even able to lift it off the rack.
Kook's hands twitched under the bar, as if trying to hold back from taking it himself. Percy finally stopped straining and gave up. "Here," Kook said, moving Percy's hands, "try doing a normal grip. Close grip is harder."
He moved Percy's hands until they were about shoulder width apart. Gritting his teeth and taking another deep breath, Percy tried again. This time, he was able to lift the bar off the rack, but he was shocked at how heavy and unsteady it felt. He thought it was going to topple sideways, pulling him along with it.
"Hold it steady," Kook said in a calming voice. "Just focus on doing a controlled motion, pushing evenly with both hands." He lightly rested his fingers under the bar, and Percy felt some of the pressure alleviate. Kook helped him lower it to his chest, then push it upward again. They did it one more time, Kook gradually removing his fingers from the bar until he was hovering again, and Percy completed the motion on his own. Kook helped him rack the bar once more.
"That's challenging," Percy said, sitting up.
"Yeah, not as easy as it looks, huh?" Kook said, cracking his knuckles. "Have you never lifted before?" Percy shook his head. "Oh, shit, Perce, you've got to get on that. You're too old to be weak. How old are you now? Ten? Sixteen?"
"Uh, fourteen."
"Alright, I was close. You should definitely be weightlifting." Kook grabbed a water bottle that was resting on the floor and took a long swig. "Walk with me."
Percy followed him out of the North wing to the main mansion. They walked through the foyer and down a main hallway, where the walls were adorned with glass-covered paintings of famous surfers.
"All brothers and sisters of ours," Kook said with a grin. He glanced back at Percy, who was now shirtless, and seemed to really take in that fact for the first time, but he didn't make it obvious.
Percy gawked. "Did you meet all of these people?"
"Yeah, if they're on the wall, then we were tight," Kook said. "I like it when the new half-bloods take after me. I take an interest in those ones."
Percy smiled to himself. He wondered if he could one day make it onto the wall.
Kook brought him to a room sealed off with large, golden double doors. The god placed a hand flat against the entrance and waited. After a moment, the doors creaked open with a groan. Inside was a large table that was shaped like a slice of a pie chart with the inner corner chopped off. It was covered in a tile mosaic, like the kind that had covered the walls and floors of his father's council chamber. Near the narrow end of the table, it looked like the cityscape that Percy had just travelled through. The wide end was dotted with a few mountains and not much else. Tiny spots dotted the mosaic: some in purple, most in green, a couple in red, and one in gold.
"This is a map of my territory," Kook explained, tracing his finger along the edge of the table. "There are ten of us, and Atlantis is split into tenths between us in a circle, like a wheel, with our father reigning over the palace city in the center. Atlas, the oldest, reigns over the slice that points due north, and everyone else's territory is ordered in descending order of age clockwise on the wheel. That works for me, though; my territory points toward New York." Kook grinned at Percy across the table. "It pays to be close to the action."
"Yeah, I bet," Percy agreed, grinning back. "Is that Mount Methana?"
"Yes, it is," Kook said approvingly, as if a teacher encouraging a student. "And this gold dot is my house. All of these other dots represent military bases, trading posts for weapons, training camps, stuff like that. With war on the horizon, I've been organizing and taking stock. It's good to know who's in your corner."
He looked at Percy expectantly. Percy nodded. "So, I guess the green ones are good to go," he began.
"Yeah, the green dots represent generals that are unquestionably loyal to dad," Kook explained. "The purple represents those that are in doubt."
"Oh," Percy said, frowning. "And the red–"
"Don't worry about the red for now," Kook said with a wave of his hand. "I have a special mission for you, Percy." Percy straightened up, alert. Kook tapped a purple tile out near the mountains. "There's a fort out here where soldiers go to train. The general who runs it has been acting strange lately, and most recently, she's stopped sending messages. I'm concerned that the Great River's propaganda might have gotten to her. We can't afford to lose a whole camp of soldiers, especially given the location."
"So close to New York," Percy murmured.
Kook nodded. "Exactly. We don't want the bad guys to control the waters around where our heroes live and train."
The importance of this task settled in. Percy understood now what was happening: his brother was telling him how he was going to repay the debt Percy owed for him clearing his name.
"So, you want me to go find out whether she's turned against Dad or not?" Percy asked.
Kook grinned. "Be diplomatic about it at first, sure. Figure out where her loyalties lie. But if she has turned, then I want you to take control of the fort from her in my name."
"Ah. I understand."
Kook walked around the table and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder. "War is all about power, Percy. We have to show strength here. We have to demonstrate that dissidence will not be tolerated."
Percy nodded fervently, struck by how serious and smart his brother seemed right now. He had thought that Kook was only a goof, but he was clearly wrong. Seeing all of this only made Percy like him more.
"I won't let you down," Percy promised.
His brother beamed, causing Percy to do the same. "I know you won't." Kook walked over to a gold surfboard resting against the wall and picked it up. "Here, I'll even let you take my ride."