Started With A Dare - A POTHENA STORY ✔

A Possible Son Of Mine Bullies Me

POSEIDON'S POV

  Chiron read us the prophecy of our quest and had us join our children and the other campers for dinner and the sing-along around the campfire. I didn't sing because I was in a deep discussion with Percy about the usage of tridents. Athena said it was only because I was too busy stuffing my mouth with food, but what does she know about me. (Actually, she was right...I was too busy stuffing my mouth with food.)

  That night, I couldn't sleep at all. Naturally. I would like to see anyone sleep properly on the first night they suffer from amnesia and learn that they are a very famous and important god. That wasn't the only reason I couldn't sleep, though. It was something to do with the missing prophecy. I had a bad feeling about it, a feeling so bad that I was convinced I had to meet my worst enemy. But who else could my worst enemy be other than some big-headed bully? I was a 14-year-old. Maybe it was all a prank and I would wake up tomorrow to meet my actual friends from middle school and realise that I was never the sea god.

  Then I thought about Athena. She seemed so familiar like I knew her in my past life...but I didn't have a past life, did I? If I really were the sea god, I would've been immortal...until now. She made me believe that there was a slight chance that Chiron wasn't lying and Athena and I were actually gods from the Olympians. She always boasted about her cleverness when we were trying to find our way to Camp Half-Blood. If she really were that clever, would she have an answer to all my questions?

  Tired out of my mind, I pushed the 'if' questions as far back into my mind as I could and tried to sleep without twisting and turning.

-----------

  "Argghh!" A cold splash attacked me out of nowhere and I woke with a jolt, sitting up in bed as if I was just doused with ice and cold water. Which I had. My cabin mates of Cabin 11 laughed and high-fived as I attempted to brush hair out of my eyes so that I could see the little culprits of this incident.

  The three boys looked no more than 12 or 13. They giggled as I slowly got up with a grunt and glared daggers at them. "Wh-Was that seriously necessary?!" I asked, my face red from embarrassment.

  "The Hermes cabin tradition," the boy with jet black hair told me. "Clarisse made one of pushing new campers' heads into toilet bowls. We decided to take the reference." As he finished, the two boys next to him, one ginger and the other blonde both laughed.

  I rolled my eyes and shut them, sarcastically willing myself to dry off so that I wouldn't have to go through all that mess of wiping myself before putting on new clothes. That was when I heard a gasp from my right and two more in front. I opened my eyes. "What?"

  "You're...dry."

  I immediately looked down after the ginger's statement and tugged at my PJs. I was completely dried off! I peered at the bucket the blonde was holding, and to my absolute horror, it was empty. It was as if the ice and water vanished. Without a trace.

The three boys ran off immediately. I could hear one of them yell from afar, "CHIRON! WE NEED CHIRON! THE NEW GUY CAMPER HAS POSEIDON POWERS!"

------------

  "Now?! Chiron, you can't be kidding us. This is impossible! We haven't the slightest idea what we're supposed to do!" Athena cried in dismay.

  We were in the Big House. After my powers were discovered, I had three seconds to brush my teeth, comb my hair and get changed, then engulf my breakfast (pancakes with a little nectar mixed in syrup; it's actually good and I surprisingly survived it). Chiron decided that we had to set off right now, even though we haven't prepared at all before any of the campers discover our true identity that even we ourselves had doubts about.

  "Athena," Chiron explained patiently, "I had orders from the lord of the universe in a dream. He ordered me to get you two going as soon as you're ready." By the look of Athena's face, she wanted to snap back that we weren't ready, but she didn't get the chance to. "We have no more time. We must get the missing prophecy as soon as possible before it starts to happen. It could occur anytime! We simply cannot take any more risks."

  Athena and I shared a concerned look. We were two amateur teenagers who didn't know what we were. Going out on a quest would probably kill us in two seconds flat.

  "The prophecy you two received is not the only reason you are the best choice. According to Leo's description, Poseidon doesn't attract monsters," he regarded me with a glance, "so I'm guessing neither do you, Athena. It may be easier for the two of you to journey through the Sea of Monsters, aka the Bermuda Triangle."

  "The...what?! You mean the seas my son had to cross to complete his quest when he was 13?" I asked, horrified. Chiron's eyes widened. He questioned, "How did you know? Are your memories coming back?"

  You know this moment when everyone looks at you expectantly as if you've got some cool trick to show when you're like uh...N/A? That was what it felt like. "Um, no, Percy mentioned it when he taught me to use the trident."

  Chiron nodded in understanding, though I saw the moment of disappointment his expression flashed. "Understandable. That is right - the prophecy mentioned something gold that would revive someone, so I'm guessing the Golden Fleece would give you a lead. We have it here right now, but it was originally stored in the Sea of Monsters and..." he looked nervous as he said the next sentence. "An undetermined camper from the Hermes cabin told me about his dream two nights ago. He saw two people, one male and one female travel among the Sea of Monsters with the Golden Fleece in hand. It was probably the two of you."

  Athena's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he mentioned the Fleece. "But sir, the Fleece is a great responsibility. I'm afraid..."

  Chiron's face shifted to a deadpanned expression. "We do what the prophecy says. There is no hiding from it. You can take the Fleece on your journey, but you must be careful. Now, you may go and pack things up - I have some special weapons to give you once you're done. You would have to start from Sicily, Italy through the whirlpool of Scylla and Charybdis. Therefore, you would need a ship. The king of gods has prepared a ship that belongs to Poseidon near the shore for you to sail there."

  Athena seemed to understand everything he said. Me, I decided to make a mental note on studying the world map more.

  "One last question," I told Chiron, "who was the camper that told you about the dream he had?"

  "That would be Wilbur. He's still undetermined, but he's already at the age of 14. Some campers claimed to have seen him have special powers related to water, though, so we suspect him to be a child of...yours."

  "How does he look like?"

  "He has jet black hair with aqua blue eyes - a classic look for children of Poseidon...you. He hangs out with Tristan and Elijah a lot. Tristan is blonde and Elijah is ginger. You've seen him?"

  I sighed. "I haven't just seen him, I got doused with ice water by him this morning."

(A/N: Yes, I'm so sorry for being late! I'll try not to do this ever again. The amount of homework we had yesterday was astounding.)