Daughter of Poseidon, the Girl Who Lived

13. I'm probably dyslexic, but everybody is so it's fine

Annabeth helped me pick out my own celestial bronze sword the next morning. Two guys from the Hephaestus cabin named Leo Valdez and Harley Keener modified it after they "got inspired", so I could keep it in a hidden cavity, working kind of like a pocket, in one of the web shooters on my wrists. It was actually a rather practical function for when I was not using it.

Everyone of my half siblings had helped me back a bag with things they deemed necessary. Like a map covering all the fifty states of America, were all the best places if you needed shelter for the night was marked out. I gotta ask Annabeth how she managed to fold it enough for it to fit in the bag, it was really big. I also got a first aid package, two sets of extra clothes, three bottles filled with nectar and twenty drachmas.

Before we left Camp Half Blood I noticed a statue about 40 feet tall that stood at the top of the Half Blood Hill. It resembled a woman in armour, holding in her palm a smaller woman with wings. Mother.

"That's Athena Parthenos, looks pretty cool, huh? Annabeth says it actually resembles your mother really well. But I have never met Athena, myself, so I can't really tell."

I turned around and found Harriet smirking at me. What surprised me was what she was holding.

"You already found Poseidon's trident?"

Harriet glanced at the giant bronze fork in her right hand. Then she laughed.

"No, the original is a bit bigger than this. Τσουνάμι is my own smaller version of the original trident."

"'Τσουνάμι', 'tsunami'. Do people here usually give their weapons names in Greek?"

"Mostly, my brother's sword is called Anaklusmos."

"'Riptide'." I frowned. "How come I understand Greek words when I have never studied that language?"

"That's because we're Greek demigods. It's in our blood. Almost everyone of us also has dyslexia as a result, since our brains are hardwired for Ancient Greek instead of English."

"We have what now?"

Harriet raised an eyebrow.

"Dyslexia? You know, the learning disorder?"

My turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to imply, that I, would have some learning disorder of any kind? I am aware that you are friends with Granger, Potter! But if she wasn't around, I would be the smartest in our year, I am smarter than you! I do not have a problem with learning, Potter!"

The message didn't seem to go through, as she returned my look as if she was looking at an idiot who was not worth the effort.

"Do you know what dyslexia is, yes, or no?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"Dyslexia, is a disorder that affect your reading and spelling skills. Basically, it causes the letters to float around all over the place, making it almost impossible to separate an A from an E."

I stared at her as if she just grew a second head.

"Do you mean to tell me," I said slowly, "that's not normal?"

"No." She said, sounding like she was slowly becoming frustrated. In hindsight, I don't blame her for that.

Before I could question her further, Severus joined us.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you have dyslexia, Professor Snape?"

He halted in his steps.

"Do I have dyslexia? As the majority of all demigods, yes, I do. Now, are we ready to go, or do you have more irrelevant questions?"

"I- um... I have no more questions, Professor."

"Good. Then you can take out that map you were given, and we might be able to decide on a route."

I did as I was told.

Apparently Severus had done some research. Right now as we spoke, three different hurricanes was heading towards the east coast. One from north-east, one from south-east, and one from east.

"These hurricanes are most likely caused by the power radiating from Poseidon's trident. We can't know for sure whether or not they're intentionally created by the thief, but we can safely assume that he or she can be found in the eye of one of these storms." He pointed out the location of each of the hurricanes on the map.

"But we can't know for sure which one?" Harriet asked.

"We can not, I'm afraid. But as the prophecy says we are to go north, it is best to start looking there, then continue down south from there to, hopefully, return to New York via Florida Keys, with Poseidon's trident in our possession."

Harriet pointed out a place located in The Pine Tree State, or Maine. The location was a city called Portland.

"How about we aim for this place, then? Percy and I went there two years ago to help a satyr lead a demigod to camp, so I know the city quite well. We should be able to get on a boat or similar there."

"That would make a good travel plan. We can take a train from Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. You wanted to pay Sally and Paul a visit before taking off, right?"

Harriet nodded.

"Good, Argus should be here with the van any minute now."

As he said that, a van with a logo that said 'Delphi Strawberry Service' drove up and stopped right next to us. A guy with very many eyes got out and opened the door for us to get in.

"Thanks, Argus! Can you drive us to Jackson-Blofis apartment? Thank you."

Harriet smiled at the guy, Argus, and jumped into the vehicle. I quickly followed her to avoid meeting any of Argus' eyes.

As we drove off back to Manhattan, I decided to try my luck with questioning Severus.

"So, most of all demigods have this dyslexia?"

He looked at me, looking somewhat suspicious.

"Yes, I have it, my brother has it, Harri has it, almost every other demigod I know personally has it. Why?"

"Um, well, Potter described the symptoms for me, and..."

"You wonder if you might have it like everyone else?"

"Yes..."

Severus rolled his eyes.

"I would not be surprised. I have seen how you struggle reading my instructions in class."

He analysed me to see if I was going to object. I didn't.

"I proposed the idea to have you tested for the diagnosis after your very first potions class, but your father refused to acknowledge the possibility of any imperfections with his offspring."

He turned his head forward, indicating that the conversation was over. I, however, pounded over this, yet another thing my father had failed me with. A potential disorder of some sort. The possibility had been pointed out to him, but he had dismissed it. But at least this wasn't weird according to statistics.

This took up most of my mind until Harriet announced that we were there.