Daughter of Poseidon, the Girl Who Lived

31. Poseidon does some parenting

If I were to tell you that the top of Mount Olympus was floating in the air above Manhattan, would you believe me? Well, that was exactly what we found when we stepped out of the lift. A whole city looking like an improved version of Athens back in the ancient world, was built on it. It was a marvellous sight. If Harri and Severus hadn't been so eager to deliver the trident as fast as possible, I would have delightfully explored all the Greek palaces, the parks, the streets bustling with minor gods and creatures.

Harriet led the way to the Olympian gods' throne room.

Usually the gods would not be gathered until summer solstice almost two weeks from now, but just as Triton had said, the Olympians had gathered early.

Twelve people, each around 20 feet tall, sat on their thrones, loudly arguing about the current situation. They spoke above each other, yelled insults and a young girl shot an arrow above a blond guy's head as a warning.

I guess diplomacy is not a well known concept among the gods.

"Remind me to never complain about a staff meeting ever again," Severus muttered.

I understood him.

Harri took a deep breath and walked through the room, ignoring the screaming gods around her. That was certainly bold of her. Normally you do NOT want to be anywhere near an angry god and here was twelve of them. This all felt like some form of godly temper tantrum that you would not want to get in the way of.

I made an attempt to follow her, but Severus stopped me.

"She'll have to do this by herself."

The gods one by one got quiet as they saw Harriet walking towards the far end of the room, where I could see Poseidon was seated on a throne right next a man I assumed was Zeus.

Leaning against Poseidon's throne with his arms crossed over his chest stood Percy Jackson. Maybe he had come to show his support for his father.

He had inherited most of his father's features, just like Harriet. A stranger would never be able to tell they were only half siblings. Percy's expression was sour like he was completely done with all this nonsense around him, but it immediately softened when he saw Harri.

As Harriet kneeled in front of the sea god, she had all the Olympians' eyes on her.

"Father."

"Ah! Has your little witch come to admit to her crimes?" Zeus eyed her like a hyena ready to attack.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, brother," Poseidon told his brother. "There's no reason to believe my daughter has done anything wrong."

"You say that despite the fact that she is holding the very thing you reported stolen nearly three weeks ago!"

"And that she was sent on a quest to find," my mother chimed in. "Let her tell her story. I'm sure you will get a scapegoat to punish soon enough, father."

Right! Athena was Zeus' daughter! I hadn't really thought about my family tree on my mother's side yet up until now, but that meant Harriet was my mother's cousin, which was weird considering she was younger than me! Well, only by approximately two months, but still! And another cousin of my mother's had been teaching potions at school! Harri and Severus was cousins with twenty years of age difference. That girl who fired and arrow just minutes ago was probably also a daughter of Zeus and therefore also my aunt. Zeus himself was technically my grandfather. And if I remembered it correctly, all the twelve Olympians was either his siblings or his children, except for Aphrodite, who would be his aunt if you tried to fit her into the tree. I was related to everyone in this room, even Mr. D over there! It was perhaps a good thing not to think much about my family tree...

And now was probably not a good time for that anyway. Sorry, got sidetracked.

Harriet told the story of how we had traveled from camp towards Portland but ended up in Hades and then sailed from Camp Jupiter to the Sea of Monsters through the Panama Canal. As she spoke she handed over the trident. It grew bigger and shone in a faint green light as Poseidon grabbed it.

When Harri told her father who was behind all of this he sighed.

"Now I never thought Triton capable of such treason," he said. "But sadly I cannot say I'm surprised, either. I shall order my soldiers to search for him and capture him."

"I hope you realize, brother, that merely capture him will not make up for his crimes," Zeus said. "If Triton really intended to start another war against us, I would prefer to see him thrown down into Tartarus."

Harriet moved uncomfortably.

"How did he manage to steal the trident to begin with?" Percy asked. "Immortals can't steal from one another without help, can they?"

His eyes swept around the room, judging by the glances the gods shared, he was right.

"Indeed, Perseus," the arrow girl confirmed. "This needs to be investigated further, we cannot let a mortal who has managed to steal from the gods once already run free. They must be prevented from committing more crimes."

The other gods murmured in agreement.

"Of course," Poseidon said. "There seems to be a lot to be discussed, but before that, I would like to speak to my children and their companions more privately." He stood up and looked at each of the other Olympians. "If everyone is okay with that?"

Nobody objected.

Poseidon shrunk down to the same size as when I had met him in Boston. He motioned for his son and daughter to follow him outside. As they passed us he gestured us to come along.

Harri looked grim when we stepped outside. Poseidon took notice of this and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. The show of affection seemed to surprise her as she looked up to meet her father's gaze.

"Harri, you should not feel guilty about this, Triton alone is responsible for his own actions." He planted a kiss on her hair. "You've done great, my child, and I'm proud of you. Know that."

Harri nodded slowly but stayed quiet.

Poseidon turned to us.

"I suppose I owe you a thank you, for helping my daughter out."

I'm not sure if he meant that kidnapping part with the furies or the whole quest in general, but I nodded courtly. The god switched his focus to Severus.

"And I'd also like to say sorry to you, Severus. I guess we had quite a few immature quarrels back in school that I never got to apologize for."

Severus looked like he wanted to snarl at him or something but kept shut.

Poseidon ignored the lack of a response and addressed his son.

"Percy, could you go with Draco and Severus to prepare some Pegasi to ride back to camp? I'd like to talk with Harri alone for a moment."

"'Course, dad."

I heard Poseidon behind me as we followed Percy to those Pegasi.

"Now, tell me what's on your mind?"