Raging Seas [pjo au] || 1

δεκαπέντε

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
( A GOD GETS HIS ASS
BEAT BY TWO PRE-TEENS )

IT SOUNDED BAD, BUT Kali was grateful for the disaster in L.A. It saved them from having to explain much of anything. The people in the Coast Guard boat that picked them up were too busy and distracted by what happened to question why four kids, in street clothes no less, were in the middle of the bay. Or even how. Their radios were jam packed with distress calls that never allowed them to really pay attention to the four of them, except to make sure no one was seriously hurt.

The Coast Guards ended up dropping them off the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and then sped off to save more people. Silently, Kali prayed that whoever was in the water when the earthquake hit was okay; that, if they were around, maybe her Neried aunts could help if someone needed it.

Each of them were sopping wet. Kali didn't dry herself off with a flick of the wrist, and Percy willed himself to stay soaked too; it would've raised questions if they didn't. What also would've raised questions were Grover's hooves. But Percy gave him his shoes, and now walked barefoot – and with no backpack.

On the boat, Kali had forced Percy to take a break from carrying it and then picked it up before he could once they got the pier. It was heavy like carrying a bowling ball.

After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach. On the shore at one side of them, the waves were calm. A false calm. Nearly still with off rhythm, small waves because of the quake. Unassuming. She knew beneath the surface that the undercurrents were strong and unpredictable, though. On the other side the city burned against the sunrise, and Kali refused to look at it directly.

How much of it had she caused? Most of it had to be Hades' fault, but Kali allowed herself to snap and knew some of the quakes belonged to her. She just...didn't know which ones – if there were a lot or not, if they were strong or not.

If they were destructive or not.

Annabeth's voice tore her from her thoughts. "I don't believe it. We went all that way–"

"It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey," she warned.

"You get it, don't you?"

Her anger faded and she casted her eyes down. "Yeah. I get it."

"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody–"

"Percy..." Annabeth said, "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."

He acted as if he didn't hear her.

Kali spoke up to change the topic, "You know how the prophecy said we'll face the god who has turned? It was right. We were just wrong about it being Hades. He didn't even want war among the Big Three. Someone else did it."

He nodded. "Yeah. Someone else Zeus' master bolt and Hades' helm, and then framed me and you because we're Poseidon's kids. Meaning Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there might be a three-way war. And we'll be the cause of it."

"Not if we get there in time," Kali muttered, a bit of determination setting in her tone. Other than not liking how she was framed for something she didn't do, she didn't want a war to start that would indirectly effect Naia's and Makoa's lives.