Song: Victorious by Panic! At the Disco

26 January 2024

Camp Half-Blood, New York

1700

"Alright, we need to figure out the rest of this prophecy, clearly the first parts are already happening." Annabeth says.

Sarina and I just finished explaining what took place in the clocktower, after giving the full debrief to Director James.

"I agree, two secrets bring the call of death meant Percy and Sarina being kidnapped by Thanatos, I would assume" Chiron adds.

"Well," I start, "what do we think the next part means?"

The room goes silent for a moment.

"Veterans unite the missing scrolls, the lost city holds the grave, at skyfall the earth crumbles..." Clarisse trails off ominously.

"Wait. Ella!" Annabeth exclaims.

My eyes widen in realization of what she means.

"Oh my gods. Tyson will not like this. And if Octavian were alive he would so be wetting himself right now."

Everyone looks at us in confusion, and Sarina cocks an eyebrow at me.

"Hey Bondo and Bookie, care to explain what the Hades you're talking about?"

"Hey, don't use my dad's name as a curse!" Nico says indignantly.

We all ignore him and continue the conversation around the ping pong table.

"A couple of years ago I was on a quest. Some gorgon's blood shots later, we rescued a harpy who had apparently seen the Sibylline books before. The ones that are supposed to have like every prophecy ever in them. That was Tyson's girlfriend, Ella."

"Wait, what if the second and third lines are connected? Like the missing scrolls are in a grave in a lost city?" Will asks.

"Of course! Will you're a genius. So, anyone know of any lost cities?" Jason replies.

Reyna gasps, and we lock eyes. "Atlantis. The most famous lost city to exist!"

I shake my head no, "No, my father's palace is in Atlantis. It can't be lost."

"Seaweed brain, how do you not know?" Annabeth looks at me incredulously.

I bristle at the use of my old nickname, we aren't close anymore. "What do you mean, oh great wise one?" I snark back, tired of being made fun of for not being a know it all.

Annabeth looks a bit taken aback by my tone, but continues explaining nevertheless.

"When Atlantis sunk it was never rebuilt. It was made to be on land, in the sun. I believe Helios even had a temple there. When the Titans fell the first time the city sunk and Poseidon didn't care enough to locate it. He just built his underwater kingdom and named it Atlantis to spite the Titans."*

"Oh, okay. So there's reason to believe that the Sibylline books are in the lost city of Atlantis in some old crusty tomb. Joy." I respond.

"We must issue a quest at once! Who shall lead it though?" Chiron voices.

"Well, we're gonna need Ella since she's seen them before. If Ella goes then Tyson is definitely coming. Then the prophecy says 'the veterans unite the lost scrolls,' so I would say Myself, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Reyna, and Sarina. Maybe Will and Clarisse, oh and the Stolls and Katie too."

"Okay, so that's seventeen people who would all have to be able to breathe underwater. Actually, fifteen since we don't have to worry about you and Tyson. I know your powers have grown and all, but you can't keep all of us alive for however long we need."

"True, if I don't sleep then I could probably keep about nine people alive underwater for two days or so without getting too tired."

"Do we have any other ways of keeping people alive underwater?" Will asks Annabeth.

"Wait, of everyone named and Thalia, who would actually want to go? We can't just leave both camps defenseless while we disappear for who knows how long looking for books that have been lost for centuries." Reyna states.

"I think I should stay behind, I'm not really a fan of being underwater for an extended period of time." Nico says.

"I have to agree with Nico," Jason says, and Hazel agrees as well.

"Same here." Thalia, who had been relatively silent until then adds.

"I need to remain at Camp Jupiter as Praetor. Also, I have spent enough time at sea in my life." Reyna says.

"I should probably stay here too, Travis and I were planning on announcing this later, but I'm pregnant. Surprise!" Katie laughs nervously.

A round of congratulations goes around the table, and Travis says he's staying here with Katie, and Connor can't bear to be away from his brother for that long.

"I hate to say it, but McShizzle kinda relies on fire to fight. I'd be really out of my element." Leo says, referring to himself in third person and bouncing in his seat.

"Okay, so that leaves Tyson, Myself, and Frank who can breathe underwater unaided, along with Ella, Annabeth, Piper, Sarina, Will, and Clarisse. Now how are we gonna get six people to breathe underwater for a few days?" I ask the audience.

"I have an idea." Sarina says, grinning evilly.

"Is this one of your ideas that will help immensely but also cause all of us to suffer?"

"Do I have any other types of ideas Sharko?"

I just sigh, waiting for her to continue.

"Okay so it tastes nasty, but there's a plant that will let you grow gills for a time. You'll have to eat some every few hours though. I spotted some growing in the Demeter cabin." She clarifies.

No one had any better ideas, so we decided to meet up in the morning to set out for the quest.

-Time Skip-

27 January 2024

Camp Half Blood, New York

0600

"Gods! This is revolting!" Piper gags.

"What is this called?" Annabeth asks unaffected, after you drink fire nothing can really phase you.

"Gillyweed, you should all start growing gills and webbed fingers momentarily. I brought enough for all of us to last a week underwater, so that better be enough or we're screwed." Sarina says.

"Okay everyone, when we jump in follow me. I'm gonna propel us to my dad's Atlantis to meet up with Tyson and Ella and ask my dad to try to locate the lost city."

Everyone nods, then the ones who ate the gillyweed start choking and jump into the water. We're just at Camp's beach.

Frank and I smirk at the water before smiling and jumping in, Frank morphing to have a shark head as he does so.

I laugh at all of their faces as they feel their respective gills, and Sarina punches me in the shoulder.

I roll my eyes and then focus on my dad's palace, propelling us to it.

Frank laughs at every fish we pass that says "Milord" to me, apparently he can speak fish when he's part one.

"Do they all do that to you Perce?"

"Sadly." I sigh. It's just like when Blackjack calls me boss.

Soon enough, we reach the palace.

The merman guarding the door looks nervous before he recognizes me. "Prince Perseus and friends, would you like to seek an audience with the King?" He bows.

"Please don't bow, I'm not my father or my stuck up brother. But yes, we would like to see my father."

The merman straightens, swishing his dark purple tail nervously. A hammerhead shark swims by us, nodding its head at me, as we swim inside the palace.

I laugh at the looks of awe on my friends faces, and noticing Sarina's grimace I grab her hand in mine.

Her nervousness seems to ebb a bit, and she smiles up at me. "Nervous about meeting my dad?" I ask.

She laughs, "That and the fate of the world."

I laugh at her, but don't let go of her hand as we make our way into the throne room where my father and Triton are talking to Tyson, examining what looks like a new trident. Ella sits on Tyson's shoulder.

"This design is great Tyson! Do you think you can add some wave and shark designs on the handle for me? Oh, and the Kraken!" Poseidon says excitedly to Tyson.

"Sure, dad!" Tyson exclaims, giving him a huge smile. Triton just looks bored.

"Your highnesses, I present to you some guests." The merman says, interrupting their conversation that seemed to be over anyway.

"Huh? Oh, Percy! How are you son? I haven't seen you in two years. Is this the girl I've heard about?"

He came for my mom's funeral.

"I'm good dad, yes this is Sarina. Unfortunately we're here for a quest though."

"Oh, well what do you all need?" He says, his huge smile dropping from his face as he steps back from the bear hug he gave me.

Annabeth speaks up this time, "Well, sir we were wondering if you happened to know where the lost city of Atlantis rests? The one from the old Titan days. We need to go there for a quest, we're trying to prevent World War III."

Poseidon looks a little miffed and shoots her a glare, but drops it after seeing my neutral expression.

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache.

"I assume you're referring to the new prophecy. Yes, I know where everything is in my terrain."

"What do the likes of you hope to find in that dump?" Triton asks.

"Actually, we'll need Ella for that. She has after all seen what we're after." Frank says, attempting to be diplomatic and cutting off Clarisse, Sarina, and I's respectively snarky and pissed responses.

"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, to reach sixteen against all odds, Nike prevails at the breaking of a wave." Ella chirps out, looking directly at me.

Poseidon pales drastically as he realizes what Frank meant.

"You don't mean that they have been there the entire time..."

"What are you all talking about?" Triton looks annoyed.

"The Sibylline Books." Will answers for us.

Triton pales too. "All this time," he whispers and trails off, suddenly looking less smug.

"Okay, I will show you the location of the first Atlantis. It was originally built as a temple to Helios, but he faded with his sister Selene. Come, look at this." He makes a table similar to his setup during the second titan war. It's a map of the ocean.

We all walk, or well, swim over to it. We surround it, Tyson walking over with Ella recognizing that he needs to be there.

"Okay we are here," he points to a spot on the map. "And Atlantis is here." He points to none other than the Mariana Trench.

"Seriously? Please tell me it isn't at the bottom." I groan.

"Oh no, it's directly next to the trench though, precariously on the edge. I'd be careful otherwise you may cause the entire city to fall into the trench."

"Well, this should be a challenge." Clarisse says.

"You can say that again." Piper groans.

"I'll get some dolphins to carry you all there."

"Thanks dad, I'll try not to stay away for this long again."

"If you do, just step into any body of water and I'll know you're safe at least." He gives me a supportive fatherly smile, then winks at Sarina.

"Keep him out of trouble for me?"

"No promises." She responds slightly laughing.

One gigantic bear hug, and a three day long dolphin ride later, we arrive at the edge of the Mariana trench.

"Thanks for the lift Alice, Fred, Marvin, Joel, Kristy, and Fantasia. We won't keep you any longer." I say to our dolphin companions, who nod in thanks and swim away from the trench as fast as possible.

"I really hope this is over soon, if I have to eat any more gillyweed I'm going to vomit up my seaweed dinner." Will groans.

"Well, hopefully we can just find the tomb with the scrolls in it and then get the hell out of dodge, preferably without tilting the city off the edge of the trench." Sarina responds.

"Okay, I've been analyzing the lines and I have two options for us. Either a graveyard or the temple of Helios." Annabeth says.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I say we try the temple first, since that will most likely require less searching and possibilities of knocking ourselves into the deepest point on earth." I say.

"Where do you think the temple is?" Clarisse asks, as we swim into the abandoned city.

"Maybe that really big sun statue over there?" Frank points out a statue dangerously close to the edge.

"That's probably it." Piper responds.

Suddenly Ella goes rigid, and her eyes begin to glow. "I have been here before. What you seek lies within the temple of Helios, but trials await you if you seek to remove them from their resting place." She goes back to her normal self again, and looks afraid, clutching Tyson.

"Ella?" Tyson asks concerned for her wellbeing.

"I don't like it here. Bad." She responds.

"Okay, well that wasn't ominous at all. Let's just go in and hope for the best." Sarina says.

We all look wary, but continue on anyway.

"It's so weird being in this ghost town. It just looks abandoned." Piper says.

"I'm still not over the fact Chiron allowed a nine person quest." Will attempts to lighten the mood.

"Eh, after the seven I think he just decided to go with it. We all somehow survived." I respond.

Eventually we make it into the temple, and there just so happens to be a crusty Greek style Egyptian sarcophagus in the center.

In ancient greek a plaque reads "Here lies the Lord of the Sun. May he rest in peace and sunlight for eternity."

"This architecture is so advanced for its time, there's even a sunroof!" Annabeth marvels.

"Well, I guess we could just try to open it." I shrug, before attempting to lift the lid.

As soon as I touch it however, my mind is transported somewhere else. There's a white flash of light, and a woman clad in silver appears in front of me.

I look around for a moment, but am surrounded entirely by white. If I didn't know better I'd say I'm in Elysium or the Christian Heaven.

Looking back towards the woman, I realize who she must be.

"Lady Selene?"

"You are correct young Perseus. You wish to see the Sibylline books and disturb my brother's body?"

"Well yes and no, I need them because I'm trying to stop my friends from dying in another war. I'm tired of innocent people being caught in the crossfire of wars they shouldn't have to fight."

Selene studied me, looking into my eyes. Her silver ones seem to gleam in a new light.

"I know of your history of heroism young one, but what you seek comes at a price only you may be able to fulfill."

I look at her warily, tired of proving myself to random deities. "What do I have to do?"

She smiles knowingly at me. "The only way to open my brothers tomb is for it to see the sunlight again. And he will grant you the books if he can remain in the sunlight."

"Do I have to move the whole city or just his temple? Cuz I don't think I can move a whole city above water without passing out halfway through."

"I'll leave that for you to decide young hero. I look forward to your successful endeavor."

With that, she disappears as the white light somehow glows brighter, reminiscent of moonlight during the full moon.

I blink a few times, and am back in Atlantis surrounded by my concerned friends.

"You okay Perce? You just kinda phased out for like ten minutes."

"Yeah, just got a visit in my head from another deity. You all aren't gonna like what I have to do."

"And that is?" Sarina asks.

"Remember when it was up to me to Raze or Preserve Olympus?"

"Yeah..." Annabeth says.

"Well, its time to raise Atlantis, or at least this temple."

The looks on everyone's faces are hilarious.

"You have to what now." If looks could kill, Sarina would have murdered me years ago.

"I have to bring this temple back to the surface, so the sunlight can reach the tomb and Helios will give us the books that will hopefully stop World War III."

"So like should we move or what?" Clarisse asks bluntly.

"I would like to live, I need to get back to Jason." Piper says.

"I second that, this doom and gloom is reminding me of Nico." Will agrees with Piper.

"Well, you may want to-" I get cut off by the sound of a growl not too far off.

"Okay, so you all go fight that monster. One of you stay with me and watch my back while I pull a Nico and raise the dead."

Suddenly a wail I can identify as the Kraken makes its way to my ears, and I feel the world around me shake.

"Okay Tyson, Ella, Will, Clarisse, Frank, and Piper come with me to distract this monster. Sarina, I assume you'll be okay with keeping Percy alive. As soon as Percy is above the water we all need to meet up at the surface away from this monster." Annabeth says.

"Good plan." Frank says, and the requested people follow after her.

"Well Sharko what are you waiting for? Raise the roof. I'll protect ya from the big bad monsters. I swear, if you drop me into this trench I will haunt you for the rest of your immortal life."

"Okay, okay, I'm on it. Geez woman."

In the distance I hear a faint battle cry of "Peanut Butter."

Taking a deep breath, I focus on the ground beneath me with my earthshaker powers and cause a rift to form in order to move this huge building.

I focus on a ball of water around it and, with a loud groan and a sharp pain in my gut begin to slowly move it to the surface.

I hear my friends fighting below me, and I break into a sweat in about five seconds.

The feeling is similar to when I held the sky, and I scream as I try to speed it up a bit.

After what feels like an eon, I reach the surface and focus on just making the island float. I lay on the ground and use my senses to pinpoint where the closest landfall is.

Soon enough, the other seven appear on the surface and swim along side me, where Sarina jumped into the water since they all still have gills.

Frank, Tyson, and Ella sit on the now floating island with me.

"You okay babe? You look pretty constipated." Sarina says.

I respond with a middle finger and let my legs soak in the water to reenergize a bit.

"I'm passing out as soon as we make landfall. Anyone have any more food? I'm starving."

Will tosses me a piece of gillyweed, and I respond with yet another middle finger.

*Please note that I made all of that up to fit my story, please don't yell at me for inaccuracies.

So I know I was gone for like months, but does a 3200 word chapter make up for it? No? Oh well.

Stay awesome, my lovely badasses.