You Should Bow to the Sea God

Chapter 7: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

"How did it go?" Noa asked as soon as Percy walked out of the grand doors of the Council Hall. The magnificent entrance suddenly didn't seem so welcoming anymore.

"Bad," Percy said grimly. "It was like a trial. They are voting to see if I'm fit to rule Atlantis. If I'm ruled out, one of them becomes my supervisor. Translation, that person takes over and rules for me instead."

"What?" Noa gasped, her jaw dropping open. "But can... can they do that?'

Percy shrugged, dumbfounded himself. "Apparently they can," he said. "And Naguel was pretty hopeful on getting me voted out."

Noa frowned at that. "That old prick, I always thought he was up to no good," she said. "He's one of the oldest on the Council," she explained. "Lady Serena is technically the oldest and the one who started the Council for Poseidon but Naguel started to belittle her as soon as he arrived. He began to take charge and became the leader of the Council, stealing Lady Serena's spot. I even heard merpeople say he started to become a little crazy and delusional ever since Triton joined the Council and Poseidon made Triton the leader instead. Naguel hates Triton, says he doesn't trust anyone but himself. He once picked a fight with a giant octupus, saying the octupus was performing black magic, hence the scar."

"Well he does sound a little crazy," Percy shuddered. Naguel indeed scared him a little, especially with the long scar that marred his face. "Can we eavesdrop?" Percy asked after a short silence, staring at the doors. "Is it possible?"

Noa hesitated. "The doors are sealed to avoid eavesdroppers but…"

"But?" Percy asked. He then added after a short silence. "Come on, Noa, I want to know what's going on inside." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Don't you want to know?"

Noa bit her lip and sighed. "Fine, you can't hear it like this because there is magic on the doors to avoid eavesdroppers but there is a way. You can control the sound waves through the ocean to you, push the water, technically the sound waves towards you."

Percy's eyes widened in fascination.

"Just concentrate," Noa said. "Feel the waves and push them towards you, calmly," she said, stressing the word calmly. "We don't want Naguel finding out that we were eavesdropping on him."

Percy closed his eyes, feeling the water waves around him. He felt a familiar but now comforting tug at his gut as he gently willed the waves towards him, as careful and gentle as possible to not catch the attention of the council.

Immediately, voices floated into his ears as the waves slipped through the small gap between the doors. They were soft and inaudible at first but then it became clearer and Percy could hear everything clearly as if he were inside.

"He is just a boy! How can he rule the seven seas? And rule over all of us?" Immediately, Percy recognised Naguel's deep, haughty voice. 

"Give the boy a chance, Naguel," a calm voice answered. 

"Serena is right," Triton's voice came next. "The boy has been chosen by Poseidon himself. Plus he did defeat Gaia and Kronos…"

"Kronos wasn't killed by him," Naguel snarled. "And Gaia isn't dead."

"Naguel," Lady Serena said. "The boy has proven himself."

Percy frowned in distaste. "I hate how they keep calling me boy."

"Shhhh," Noa hissed, eyes wide shushing him.

"I want you all to remember," Naguel said. "That this boy you want to become king is way younger than all of us sitting here, way less experienced than all of us and has never stepped foot in Atlantis for more than five days! He does not belong in Atlantis nor is he a child of Atlantis, he doesn't even understand the rules of the ocean. Is this the person you want ruling our seven seas? Controlling us?" he cried.