Storm Rising

Chapter 17

Percy's POV

I spun around to find a man with dark hair drifting behind me. He had dark tanned skin, almost like a sailors, and piercing green eyes. His slightly frizzed hair was almost to his shoulders and a dark brown almost black color. He wore a set of golden armor.

"Do you not remember me without this?" He said pulling out a golden helmet shaped like the head of a gorgon. The face of Medusa was even more horrible than the one on Thalia's shield Aegis. Suddenly it clicked. The way he greeted me like last time, his accent, the helmet, and the color of his armor.

"Chrysaor," I growl, grabbing riptide in my pocket. Why must my old enemies always plague me?

"Peace, brother. I mean not to harm you," He said in his middle eastern accent that haunts me. It wasn't the fact that my dad had kids with a lady who was later turned into a monster. It was the fact that I couldn't beat him and save my friends.

"What do you want?" I ask, fingers still curled around riptide.

"After the war, everyone guilty of aiding Gaea was tried in a court case. Most were thrown into Tartarus. But I got lucky. With the reconstruction of Olympus, they need more money. They already are asking for money when people are going into Hades' realm, the underworld. Up on Olympus, Zeus makes a lot of money off taxing venders selling stuff. The only place the Big Three didn't make money was in Poseidon's realm. If you enter Atlantis from Long Island Sound, there is no taxing. But from anywhere else, some price must be paid. No minor god wanted the job. They were going to make you do it, if you became a god. They needed a child of the sea, so they stuck me down here for eternity, getting money for the gods."

My rage boils. They were going to trap me down here. And poor Chrysaor, so misjudged. "I don't have any money. What can I give you?"

"Oh, practically anything. Some people give up food, animals, spare clothing, supplies, and even powers."

"Powers?" I ask skeptically.

"Yes, Perseus, I know of father's betrayal of you. I am deeply sorry. I have walked the same road you stand on. Poseidon is a terrible father. After I was born, I came to visit him and he threw me from the palace doors. That is why I bear my mother's mark, not Poseidon's. You can give up you powers from Poseidon."

"How would I make it to Atlantis then?"

"You carry the blessing of the Styx, correct?" Chrysaor questioned.

"Yes."

"Then since you have power of the Styx, you can still breathe under water. Swimming will become harder but you can still do it. If you wish to do this, simply say, I, insert first and last name, give up my powers from name of godly parent," He explains.

I take a deep breath. "I, Perseus Jackson, give up my powers from Poseidon." The ocean began to churn violently and I suddenly felt weaker in the ocean.

Chrysaor nodded. "It is done."

I shuddered. "I have to go now. And please, call me Percy."

"I wish you great luck, Percy!" Chrysaor calls after me.

The barrier holding me back breaks and I begin to swim slowly down. It is an agonizingly slow process. The ocean even feels to be pushing me back. Is this how mortals feel when they swim? Normally when I swim to Atlantis, it takes maybe five minutes. Now it was taking at least thirty minutes.

Finally, the city of Atlantis comes into view, Poseidon's palace at the heart of the city. I sigh in relief when I see Amphitrite's blue tower still standing. I walk through Atlantis, the streets silent and abandoned. This isn't the old Atlantis that is full of life, laughter, and voices. It's dead silent. I pull up the hood on my black sweatshirt when I realize Poseidon may have told the merman and mermaids to watch out for me, then to report me if they saw me. Just before I do so, a merman with a brown beard peeking through a window sees my face. He ducks behind the window frame, before poking his head back out. He looks from side to side nervously, almost like crossing a busy road. Checking the empty street one more time, he beckons me toward him. He opens the door and yanks me inside.