Julie is going to be completely honest right now.

If Poseidon doesn't come meet her at the surface in her cute little speedboat, she is going to throw the greatest temper tantrum Olympus has ever seen.

"Rosa, we're going to have to dive down. He might not even know that we're up here," Jason reasons, floating just off the edge of the boat, dripping wet dress shoes brushing the lazy waves which are rocking it from below.

Juliette crosses her arms and sinks further into her uncomfortable plastic chair, stubborn. "No! I've had enough of swimming these past couple days!"

Jason pinches his nose. "Okay. Fair. But-"

"Nope! He can come to me!"

"Juliette, we're talking about a god. Why would he do anything we ask of him?" huffs Jason.

Julie pushes her borrowed (stolen from Lester's backpack earlier) red sunglasses up from her nose to see him better, brushing her finally untangled strawberry blonde hair off her forehead with them. She frowns at her boyfriend quizzically.

Bitterness is a new look on him. She isn't sure how she feels about it.

She answers his question anyway.

"I dunno! But I do know that I am not going down there." She crosses one leg over the other decisively and glares at the surface of the ocean.

Fifteen miles off the coast of Santa Monica, Tyson had said. Welp, they're fifteen miles out on the proud new addition to the fearsome New Rome Navy (a rickety one-seater speedboat with a sloppy painting of a monkey across one side and the words '#1 Jungle Cruiser' scrawled on the other).

Jason sighs and floats to her side, settling down to sit on the front of the tiny thing like some sort of business-casual-clad merman figurehead. He nods. "Okay, okay. I'm not gonna push you."

Julie huffs. "Good."

"But that still leaves the question of how we're going to get an audience with Poseidon," He reminds her.

Juliette scowls.

Stupid gods. They always seem to be the main problem these days, don't they? First Apollo, and then Hephaestus, and then Apollo, and then Hades, and then Apollo, and now Poseidon-What's next? Is Hera gonna show up, turn Julie's new boat friend into a cow, and then fly away blowing a raspberry?

Honestly, Jason might have a point. The cow thing seems more likely than Poseidon being willing to come up here just to lend a helping hand to a heathen like her.

Julie groans and pulls her hands down her face, about ready to begin that temper tantrum she's been holding back. She is so tired of her hair being wet.

"We're gonna have to dive, aren't we?" She whines.

The guilt-ridden purse of Jason's lips says it all. Julie lets out a dramatic wail like a banshee and slides bonelessly to the floor of the boat.

"nnnnnnooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"I can try to keep you dry the whole time-"

"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"I'll make you a bubble so that you can just float to the bottom-"

"-OOOOOOOoooooooooo!" Julie bonks her forehead on the metal wall, carrying on like a toddler.

Jason just watches awkwardly, sympathy radiating from his translucent form. He scratches at his still rain-drenched hair as she begins a boxing match with the boat's life preserver.

"We can still go back to New Ro-" He starts hesitantly.

Julie's tantrum freezes, and the filthy glare she throws his way shuts him right up. The flash of relief and happiness that Juliette picks up from him is motivation enough for making herself stand on two reluctant legs to redirect her ire towards the stupid, post-winter, freezing cold waters of the Pacific.

She hops on the balls of her feet, hyping herself up.

"Okay. Okay, I'm good. I'm great. More than great. I'm fantastic. I'm Michael Phelps in a C-cup."

Jason's barked out laugh ends up muffled by the waves as Julie leaps off the #1 Jungle Cruiser and canonballs down towards Atlantis.

The kids at Camp Halfblood have an unspoken rule: Nobody talks about their weird god-in-laws unless it's a matter of life and death. That being said, Percy has divulged a few juicy tidbits about Poseidon's side of the family over the years that she's known him. Now, Julie just has to figure out how to puzzle those offhanded comments together so that she can keep from getting herself zapped down to the Underworld and facing Hades' never-ending stream of 'I told you so's.

Tidbit #1:

Poseidon, like most upstanding Olympians, is married. But by Percy's mere existence, Juliette can imagine that marriage comes with its fair share of disagreements.

"It is ridiculously cold down here," Julie mumbles, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

Jason doesn't acknowledge her complaint. He's too focused on the pocket of air he's molding around them as they sink deeper and deeper into the depths of the Pacific. Juliette glances around and chews on her lip.

A funky, two person bubble hovering down to the ocean floor like a makeshift magical submarine.

She squirms, trying to keep from looking around her. This is very, very uncomfortable.

She's depending on Jason right now. Entirely. They're far enough below the surface of the sea that she can't see anything but the dim, blue glow of his form close behind her as he guides them slowly down towards the slippery slope of the continental shelf. When he catches her anxious gaze, he gives her a reassuring smile, but Julie catches the tightness he's failing to conceal in his jaw.

There are silvery beads of sweat forming on his translucent skin. His eyes are narrowed on the swirling walls of wind guarding her from the pressure of the water.

It is very, very dark down here. Dark and cold. They need to get done with this quickly.

"If what Tyson said is right, there should be a barrier coming up here soon," Julie recalls. She finds herself whispering even though there's no one around but them. For some reason, it feels necessary. "And, I guess, once we pass through it...It'll just...take us to Atlantis?"

Jason glances at her. Julie's mortal point throbs in her chest at the strain in his eyes. His arms are shaking where they're held out against the walls of the air pocket. He's hovering close enough over her shoulder that his chest is partially phasing through her back, and it's sending icy chills through her thin SPQR shirt.

"How close do you think we are?" He grits out.

Julie has no idea.

"We're definitely almost there," She lies with an anxious smile. "Just hang in there. You're doing great."

Jason nods and closes his eyes. The air around them buzzes a little louder from the push he gives to the bubble. Guiltily, Julie picks up the pace, glancing around the pitch black waters in a vain attempt to see anything more than two inches from her face.

Fifteen miles off the coast, Tyson had said. They should have found it by now.

They're going to have quite a few more problems on their hands if they ended up in the wrong spot.

"So..." Julie begins, pushing her damp hair behind her ear. Why does she feel so awkward right now? This is definitely not the strangest thing the two of them have been through together. Well, other than Jason being currently...not...alive.

Okay, it's definitely up there.

"What have you been up to the last couple months?"

Jason glances down at her in bewilderment. His eyebrow twitches, a smirk forming across his pale lips.

He clears his throat.

"Well, um...You mean other than escaping the Underworld?"

"Obviously. I was there for that."

He grins. "Nothing nearly that exciting."

Juliette rolls her eyes. "'Exciting.' Yeah. That's the word."

Jason leans down to peck her on the cheek. She doesn't feel it, but her cheekbone gets a flash of iciness. It ends up blooming hotter than the entire rest of her body as she ducks her head bashfully. It's hard not to grin with him after that.

Holy moly. What is wrong with them? Jason is literally dead.

That's, like, bad.

Yet they're both smiling like idiots anyway. Has it really been that long since they've seen each other?

Julie decides it's high time she gets to brag about the drakon she fought that one time. She turns her head ready to spill out the story in her smuggest tone of voice.

Her words get caught in her throat, though. They come out as a hamster-like squeak.

Jason glances her way. "You okay?"

No words. No thoughts. Only squeak.

While her boyfriend pauses their sinking to look at her in confusion, Juliette maintains eye contact with the single glowing pupil locked onto them by a creature far bigger than any drakon she's ever imagined.

Jason has never been thrilled by the dark.

He spent his earliest years running around the wilds of California practically by himself, three years old and hunting for an entire pack of Lupa's wolves. He learned the meaning of courage before he knew how to read or write - it's alright to be scared just so long as your job still gets done. So, Jason let himself indulge in keeping a lamp on at night in his dorm growing up. But when it came to rescue missions, fighting cyclops in the rain and pitch black night, he pushed away any need of a nightlight and kept his sword up high.

Fighting through his fear made it easier to manage. It stayed that way even once he'd forgotten his years of training. If he kept moving, he'd forget he wanted to freeze.

So, that makes this situation really, really suck.

"Jason," Juliette says slowly, eyes locked onto something behind his back. Her voice is coming out three octaves higher than usual. It sends his stomach plummeting to the ocean floor. "Maybe we want to speed things up...?"

The hair on Jason's neck stands up. He stares at her, heart frozen in place (it might have been like that before) and fingers feeling like heavy blocks of ice on the ends of his arms. There's a deep red light illuminating their bubble now. Brighter than Jason's ghostly blue presence.

He never thought he'd be so unsettled to have the dark washed away.

This is no time for nightlights, though. He reminds himself to breathe (does he even need to do that anymore?) and pushes his power back into fortifying the perimeter of their submarine.

"What is it?" He whispers.

Juliette's lips twitch like she's trying to form a nervous smile. She fails.

"It's...um...big...? Very, very big."

Shit.

"And...looking at us...or...me...?"

"Okay," nods Jason, a plan forming in his head. "You ready, then?"

She doesn't glance at him, still staring at whatever is casting red light on them from behind where Jason is floating. Her mouth moves, though, so some part of her must be listening. "Ready for...?"

"This."

At his cue, Jason swings his arms down, and the submarine shoots towards the bottom of the ocean. Juliette was apparently not ready. In a less dire situation, Jason would feel guilty about her howling form flattened with her back against the roof of their bubble. Unfortunately, though, he's focused right now on making sure she doesn't end up some sea monster's breakfast.

The pocket of wind rockets downwards, shoving tons and tons of water out of its path as Jason pushes everything he has into keeping it sturdy. The red light is following close behind. He can feel the ripples its source is making in the ocean around them.

Whatever it is, it's way too big for either of them to handle alone. And, although she could probably whoop him in any other environment, Jason isn't sure how much help Juliette will be in a fight under the sea.

So, he relies on Tyson's vague explanation of where the barrier into Atlantis lies off the coast of Santa Monica. Tyson seems reliable.

Gods, Jason hopes they're in the right place.

"HOLY GORGON SHIT!"

Juliette's screech warns him just in time to make a near ninety-degree turn of their air bubble before they can crash straight into a gargantuan chunk of marble. A stab of guilt hits Jason as his girlfriend goes tumbling to the left side of their subaquatic hamster ball, but he has no time to wince. Not when their path is being blocked once again.

A tentacle slams into Jason's wall of wind, its impact like they've been struck by a bus. He grunts in frustration as its puckered skin slaps their vessel backwards.

If they were going fast before, it was nothing compared to this. The whole bubble is tearing across the ocean faster than a torpedo. What few surroundings he can see are blurs.

Juliette is screaming, now pressed against the front of the air pocket right alongside him. Jason can see the dizzy little harpies circling her pupils. He swears her face has turned a bit green.

Jason is doing his best not to panic. He has got to keep the bubble in one piece. Curse of Achilles or not, she still can't breathe underwater. And she did not come this far to end up flattened against the California coastline.

With what dregs of strength he can muster, Jason tightens the winds in around them and tries his very hardest to pump the breaks.

The water is rushing by so quickly. He sees flashes of seaweed. He feels kelp slap against the pocket of air. He feels silt spray it like shrapnel and mentally apologizes to the school of fish they've turned into bugs on a windshield.

The pressure down here is insane. It's heavy, overwhelming. It's dragging a steady battle cry out of the bottom of Jason's lungs, making his muscles ache.

It hits him just how out of his element he is right now. He's a son of the Sky in Poseidon's territory. Jason is an unwelcome invader, and the sea is letting him know just how it feels about that.

The weight of these waters is like nothing he's ever held back.

But he does. He holds them back. With a painful jerk behind his belly button, Jason digs his intangible feet into the ocean floor and screeches their hamster ball to a stop.

Just in time for Juliette to throw up all over the wet sand. He cringes, but definitely does not blame her.

She groans and sits up, pushing damp hair off her pale forehead, and frowns up at him miserably. "That was so bad."

Jason winces and kneels down to steady her. He scowls as his hands pass right through her shoulders, and she shivers. "Sorr-"

SSSSCCCCRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Jason's stomach drops. He whirls back around to peer outside the bubble.

Like a hellhound stalking its prey, the red light from before is growing larger. And this time, Jason can see its source.

An eye, bloodshot, glowing, with a square pupil that's locked onto the two of them from afar. Five dark tentacles as big around as subway tunnels. A shelled back - like a crab shell - dull and cracked and littered with harpoons, cannonballs, and even undetonated torpedoes. Jason swears he can make out the US flag on the side of one. It makes his mouth go dry.

This creature must be larger than a city block. Two city blocks. And he gets the feeling that it's more ancient than any monster he's yet encountered.

Juliette swears under her breath, and Jason is inclined to agree. He isn't sure this is a fight they could pull off on dry land. At the bottom of the ocean...

"Well, this is gonna be a pain."

He frowns and turns behind him. Juliette is getting to her feet, stretching out her limbs.

Jason stares at her, heart pounding.

She reaches her arms behind her back, cracking her spine and sighing in relief. Then she raises them up to card her fingers through her hair.

He continues to stare. Adrenaline is making his mind zip. The monster approaching them makes angry clicking noises.

They need to get out of here. Jason needs to get her out of here. Yes, he wants to finish this quest, but not at the cost of her getting hur-

"Oh, shit!" She suddenly gasps.

Jason nods, feeling a bit relieved she understands the gravity of this, and opens his mouth to tell her to hold tight while he takes them back to the surface.

But Juliette just groans and drops her hands to her sides. "I forgot to bring a hair tie."

SCCRRRAAHHH!

Two enormous tentacles coil around their bubble. Agonizingly, they begin to squeeze. Jason finds himself quickly occupied with making sure they aren't crushed as Juliette sighs and starts to twist her long rose-gold hair into a braid over one shoulder.

"Rosa, we need to get out of here!" He snaps.

Juliette hums in response, focused on the pattern she's weaving her hair into. "Hang on, I'm almost done. Then we can switch off."

Jason's patience is thinning. "Switch off?!" He questions sharply, glaring back at her. "What are you talking about?! We need to-"

"Babe, chill," She snorts, tucking the end of her braid into the neck of the t-shirt he lent her. "Just keep this bubble going, okay, sparkplug? I'll handle the rest."

She has the nerve to poke a finger through his cheek on her way striding past him. If Jason were a less patient man, his temper might have blasted her up to the surface like a rocket by now, regardless of her feelings. He grits his teeth and shouts his protests. "Juliette, I don't want you dying for me!"

She twists around to gape at him over her shoulder, offended. "What?! I'm not gonna-I can totally take that thing!"

Is she seri-"Are you insane?!" He barks back. "No, you cannot!"

"I can too! I'm cursed, remember?!"

"You're-!"

"Or, I have the curse. I wanted the-You know what I mean! I'm invincible!"

"You are not invincible. Achilles and Luke both died!"

"Percy took out a flying pig like twice this thing's size!"

"You aren't Percy," Jason snaps.

Juliette's face drops. Her eyes narrow, and a hint of guilt twists in Jason's gut. It's drowned out by fear, though. The creature's cries are getting louder. They only have seconds.

"Hang on," He mutters, looking upwards.

Or, he thinks it's upwards. Everything is so dark.

SSCCCRRAAAWWW!

Okay, if he's standing on the bottom, that means above his head is the surface. Unless they fell down a trench, but that's a risk he's going to have to ta-

SCCRREEAAAAWWWW!

Screw it.

Jason grits his teeth, balls his fists, and begins pulling the air in tighter around them.

Just in time for the points of sharp weapons to pierce it from four different sides.

"Halt!"

SSSCCCRREEAAA-whhhhooooossshhh!

Jason watches, wide-eyed, as the creature releases them and rears backwards. It tumbles to the sandy ground, sending a plume of dust into the water above it. Its tentacles scuttle along the seafloor, backing way swiftly as four humanoid shapes with gleaming gold weapons advance on it, driving it backwards.

Frozen in confusion, Jason flicks his eyes in the direction the order sounded from.

Between several more sharp tridents currently boxing Jason and Juliette in, steps...swims a bearded man with twin tails, blue skin, a military dress uniform, and a gleaming gold and coral crown upon his brow. He addresses only Juliette, seagreen eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"A demigod encroaching on Atlantis' sacred borders," rumbles the merman. "I should smite you where you swim."

Juliette crosses her arms, still scowling, and raises a challenging eyebrow that brings Jason right back to the verge of panic.

"Excuse me?" She scoffs. "And who exactly do you think you are?"

Jason wants to strangle her. Considering the man is wearing a crown and flanked by guards, he could hazard a guess that he's-

"I," sneers the man, blue, scaled lip curled. "Am Triton. Son of Poseidon. Prince of Atlantis, and High Lord of the Seven Seas."

He leans down to glower over Juliette's stubbornly glaring form.

"And you, little half-breed, are trespassing."

"So, let's go after her."

Percy stares down at the necklaces in his palm. He's chewing his lip raw. Once again, Annabeth pokes the bottom one gently with the pad of her finger, drawing him out of another anxious spiral. He takes a deep breath and looks up at her. Her blonde hair is swaying in the breeze that's brushing across the top of the canoe lake.

It's been a bad day. For both of them. Between the nightmares that have kept them both up for days lately and whatever is going on with Jules...

"I don't know where she is," He mumbles miserably.

Annabeth sighs a little in sympathy, scooting closer on the dock so she can take his right hand in hers. Percy can't get his focus to shift off the cold locket in his palm, not even with Annabeth's warm fingers petting comforting lines over the skin of his other hand.

"What about Nico?" She suggests.

Percy shakes his head, glaring down. "Avoiding me."

"Piper?"

"Can't IRIS."

"Have you talked to her other siblings yet?"

"Yes." He groans. Percy pulls his hand out of hers so he can press both into his eyes, fighting the exhaustion that's threatening to pull him under. What a Hades-forsaken year this has been.

He lets out a sharp breath, lungs burning.

He kicks at the surface of the lake and shakes his head.

"I should have just gone on Apollo's quest," Percy mutters, defeated. "I should have never said no."

He can feel that Annabeth wants to protest. She doesn't get the chance, though. Before a response can be made, the ripples from Percy's kick of frustration grow deeper.

The surface of the water rumbles. Annabeth gasps, pulling her feet back onto the dock and gripping her knife. Percy leans forward and furrows his brows, muscles tense.

The rumbling grows deeper. Something is approaching. He dips his hand into the lake and focuses in on the vibrations as they approach.

Here it comes.

Five.

Four.

Annabeth's knife unsheathes. Percy stows the necklaces into his jeans pocket.

Three.

Two.

Riptide's cap hits the dock. Any second now...

One.

...

One-half.

One-quart-

A head crashes through the water. A multicolored, very familiar head of a friend they haven't seen for way too long.

Percy grins. Annabeth gasps in delight as Rainbow the Hippocampus whinnies at them in greeting.

"Hey, buddy!" He laughs, leaning forward to throw his arms around the horse's neck. "Long time, no see!"

Rainbow tosses his mane.

'My Lord! You follow!'

Percy frowns and pulls away. "Huh?"

"What did he say?" Annabeth asks urgently, kneeling to pet Rainbow as well.

The hippocampus' eyes roll back a bit as she scratches behind one of his scaled ears. He still finds the strength of mind to repeat his message, though.

'Follow, Lord!'

"He wants me to follow him," Percy relays.

Annabeth's hand stutters. She seems to freeze for a moment. Percy's heart aches as he watches her try to hide away her panic. "Oh. That sounds...important."

He takes her hand and squeezes. "It's not."

'Important!' Rainbow insists.

Percy ignores him.

"You're important," Percy continues. "I don't want to go anywhere without you."

Annabeth smiles warmly and leans in. She kisses him, soft and sweet. Percy nearly falls off the pier when she ends it.

"We can't be tied together forever, and the ocean is your thing," She says, laughing lightly. "We need to be able to function apart still. Even after..." Her eyes go a bit distant. Percy kisses her again until they're clear.

"I like being tied to you," He reminds her.

She laughs again and pushes him back by his shoulders until he's forced to part from her. She's smiling now, so it's easier this time. "I'll be alright, Seaweed Brain. Go see what's happening in fathoms below."

'Fast, Lord! Follow!'

"Alright, alright," Percy groans. He collects his shoes from behind them and pecks Annabeth on the cheek one last time. "I'm comin', man. No need to lose scales over it."

He hops off the dock and floats beside it for a moment, gazing up at the beautiful girl who will still be waiting here for him - here, not in Tartarus - when he gets back.

"Love ya, Wise Girl. I'll be back soon."

Annabeth sheathes her knife and raises an eyebrow. "You'd better be. I love you too, Seaweed Brain."

As long as Annabeth is still threatening him, the world must be in one piece. Hopefully, that means that Percy can handle whatever this is quickly enough to not get his butt kicked when he gets home.