Started With A Dare - A POTHENA STORY ✔

Finally, The Explanations

ATHENA POV

"Ares! Stop it right now!"

We all flinched and turned around. Behind us stood not one, not two but four people. Surprisingly enough, the voice belonged to Hermes. Around him was the iconic trio - Wilbur, Tristan and Elijah.

"Hermes. What business do you have here?" Ares didn't let go of Poseidon, which was becoming concerning. Poseidon's face turned a horrible shade of beetroot red as he choked again and again, desperate for air. I was about to do something myself when Hermes walked over and closed his hand around Ares' wrist.

"Let go now. You know who's watching us."

In a strength contest, Ares would definitely win Hermes. In fact, the only person who could probably overcome Ares' strength was Zeus himself. But whatever the reason was, Ares' grip loosened and he seemed to have a moment of panic. Hermes took advantage of that moment, kicked Ares in the gut and spared Poseidon's life. I grabbed him, backed away and let the two gods duke it out themselves. Poseidon looked dazed and barely unconscious, so I helped him lie down to give his poor lungs a rest.

"Hand over the items," Hermes ordered, stretching out his hand. "The weapons, the Fleece, the prophecy. Hand it over."

Ares could've easily beaten up Hermes and taken the items away, but whatever his plan was, it had probably already failed on the spot. Hesitantly, he grabbed his gigantic backpack which was snatched from me during our conversation and handed it to Hermes. "You have an explanation to give," Hermes told him coldy.

Ares didn't reply - he stared Hermes back dead in the eyes. Hermes stopped for a few seconds to stare back before tossing me the backpack, which I barely caught. I checked inside - everything that'd been taken from us was still safely stowed inside. I breathed a sigh of relief as I attached the necklace around my neck again. Then I grabbed Poseidon's pen and threw it behind my back, knowing it would immediately go back into his pocket.

I turned to the two gods and realised Ares was gone. "He's back at Olympus. I'll give you guys the explanation soon, but for now..."

He looked straight at me and seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. Oh yeah, I'd love to go back to Camp Half-Blood immediately, but these three have some explaining to do to us as well and that might be better off done in private. He sighed and waved his hand dismissively. "Ten minutes. No physical fights, please. You'll be automatically transported back when time's up. Oh, and I expect extra offerings tonight."

Tonight? As much as my memories came back like a flood, I still couldn't remember everything and I'd been dying to return to Olympus as soon as possible. I secretly hoped I'd be on my throne peacefully reading my book by tonight.

Hermes looked at each of us, his eyes lingering longer on Tristan. Then he nodded briefly and vanished.

Poseidon finally sat up, seemingly in a much better state than when he was being choked to death. "Alright," he grumbled, his eyes wasting no time to pinpoint Wilbur, "Explain."

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Wilbur took a deep breath. "First, can you tell me if...you're my father?"

Poseidon looked dumbfounded for a second, but then he put a hand on his neck and sighed. "Let's discuss that later. For now, there's something we all deserve to know."

"I...I was the betrayer. Well, we were. I stole the prophecy. Elijah switched the Fleece. We took Ares' warship to find you guys..." Wilbur seemed to want to keep it short.

"We have ten whole minutes," I offered with slight annoyance in my tone. "You have plenty of time to explain the entire process, with roughly 2000 words if that sounds good to you." It was immensely satisfying to show off my mental calculation speed so passively.