Started With A Dare - A POTHENA STORY ✔

Zeus Gives Us A Bad, Bad Punishment

POSEIDON'S POV

  I tried to keep my cool, but with her intimidating grey eyes and troublesome expression, it was hard with Athena.

  "Okay," she replied with a calm tone, but her slightly shaking voice gave her away. She started playing with her hair and looking around, doing anything to avoid my gaze. "Go on, Poseidon."

  I was ready to spit everything in her face, tell her how gigantic a headache all this that was going on had given me. I realised that I couldn't even speak.

  "What...just happened?" I asked nervously, strangely hoping that I had misunderstood the situation. "With you...and Ares."

  She glanced at me, showing a flicker of her grey glowing eyes, then replied, "That's what I'd like to know. He just approached me and kissed me. What for, I have no idea."

  That was a bold reply. I expected her to dodge the question with her amazing use of words, but she just told me. And from the way her voice was on edge, I could tell that she was telling the truth.

  Suddenly, without warning at all, she looked at me straight in the eye, almost giving me a heart attack. My throat let out a small scream/hiccup/gasp that she hopefully didn't hear - I had forgotten how intimidating yet...beautiful those eyes could be.

  "Why'd you want to know?" Her tone sounded like she was a police officer asking a prisoner for information - demanding. I suddenly felt two feet tall, standing in front of the Athena whatever statue.

  "I-no reason." I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. Stupid Poseidon, stupid Poseidon. I waited for Athena to give me an annoying comeback but it was interrupted.

  At the nick of time, Zeus showed up, breaking the awkwardness and tension in the room. That was the good news.

  So you want the bad news? Well, he didn't look like Christmas came early at all.

  He studied the two of us as if we were two victims he was deciding the order to kill.

  "You...need to make an announcement, Father?" Athena guessed. "Should we get the other Olympians?"

  I eyed Athena when she said 'we'. When she wanted to do something important, she usually offered to do it alone - she never trusted any of the other Olympians for help. She eyed me back but neither of us said a single word.

  Zeus knitted his eyebrows and tilted his head a little, a habit of his when he was deep in thought. Finally, he decided, "No, it would probably be better if only the two of you knew about this."

  I didn't know what to say next, and surprisingly, neither did Athena. She just looked at her father sceptically.

  "The prophecy of the next great hero was stolen," he told us straightforwardly. "It was discovered missing yesterday. It was still in Camp Half-Blood two days ago."

  "Don't get my son or...her daughter to do the quest, Zeus. They've suffered enough." That was surprisingly the first thing that came to my mind when he finished his sentence. I touched my throat lightly - since when did my voice become so gruff?

  Mischief sparkled in Zeus' eyes. "I never planned on getting Perseus or Annabeth to finish another quest, Poseidon. The one thing I know is that your dates had upset the other Olympians and me greatly."

  Athena's mouth dropped open and I had just figured out the same conclusion she exclaimed a second later. "You want us to-"

  "You have until tomorrow to enjoy being a god. Now-" he suddenly stopped and gritted his teeth as he checked the time on a wristwatch I never noticed on him before. "Ah, I have exactly 30 seconds until Hera comes and kills me. Good day!" He rushed off before we could do or say anything else. We shared a sceptic look and finally agreed with each other the first time - the king of gods was nuts. What was with that 'good day' statement?!

  A part of my brain told me to start protesting to Athena and blaming her for everything, but the rest of my brain snapped at me to stay silent. Athena opened her mouth to speak before I could decide what to say.

  "There's a traitor. Again." She didn't look like she wanted to shout at me. Instead, she looked deep in thought. "Like that time when Kronos awakened, Luke Castellan helped him."

   "How do you know for sure?" I asked her suspiciously.

  "Chiron told me that the defences felt stronger in Camp Half-Blood this month. He couldn't figure out why, but he was positive that no monsters could've breached in," she replied.

  I didn't answer. For once, I was trying to work things out. All that time watching my son fulfil quests and get admired by everyone else, I never thought I would have the chance to do the same thing, except as a punishment I didn't deserve.

  "Poseidon?" Athena glanced at me, her eyebrows slightly creased.

  "Athena." I looked up, trying to meet her grey eyes which showed strikingly scary thunderstorms. "I think it's time we pay my son and your daughter a visit."

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  It was a school holiday for Percy and Annabeth, so we had no trouble finding them in Camp Half-Blood. They both looked equally bothered about something when we approached them in the big house, discussing something. They were strangely the only ones inside the house - neither Dionysus nor Chiron seemed to be around.

  "D-dad!" Percy nearly jumped when he saw me. "I-I mean Poseidon."

  "Greetings, son." I gave him a sad smile as I greeted him. I greeted Annabeth as well, who looked completely shocked by her mother's visit.

  "Are you here for the incident that happened lately?" Annabeth asked us. She looked almost exactly the same as Athena when she creased her eyebrows. "The missing prophecy. We could barely remember parts of it."

  "I honestly didn't even know that you received the prophecy about the next great hero," I muttered under my breath. "Yes, we are here for that. Did you two happen to have retrieved the prophecy for our-I mean, the prophecy for the heroes that will be embarking on this quest?" I asked them.

  Percy's expression immediately hardened when I brought that up. "Yeah. Rachel had...quite a hard time telling us the prophecy." He shared a concerned look with Annabeth.

  Annabeth sighed deeply. "I suppose you'd want to know what the prophecy said. Come with me."