Ancient History(PJO)

Chapter 4: Percy

"Please! Poseidon, I beg you, save them! My children fell in the river and got swept away!" Immediately after hearing the man's words my powers rose. The familiar tug in my gut was urging me to step forward and help. I practically hear my mother's voice urging me to stay kind no matter what the world threw at me. So, like the hero Chiron trained me to be, I did as my instincts were urging me to.

I moved quickly to his side, "Show me where." I practically demanded as I dragged him to his feet. He stumbled a little but quickly turned and started running toward the edge of the island, not letting go of my hand as he did so.

Once we reached the swift flowing river he turned to me. "Will you truly be able to save my Hali and Zale?" I smiled reassuringly, "Poseidon has answered your prayer. I'm an excellent swimmer!" I dove into the water without waiting for his reply. We'd already wasted enough time.

I swam with the current. Encouraging it to direct me to the children. I hoped that they would be alright until I got there. People who lived on a bunch of islands surrounded by water could probably swim, right? Then again, with the current flowing as swiftly as it was it would've been difficult for an adult to navigate, let alone young children.

I pushed myself to swim as fast as I could without arousing too much suspicion. With that I quickly reached open ocean and spotted the children; they were both floating on their backs, though I could see the older looking one had their arm under the younger. A good way to help the smallest stay afloat and ensure they wouldn't get separated.

"Hey!" I called out as I reached them. The older one, who I could now tell was a girl, gave me a wide eyed look. The younger boy turned to his sister for looking scared and confused. In my mind's eye I could see another pair of dark haired siblings staring at me, wide eyed and terrified.

I shook the image away as I reached out to them. "Hali, Zale, its okay your father sent me." This relaxed them both as they allowed me to pull them into my arms. I frowned slightly. No one would believe I could swim against such a strong current with my arms full.

"I need my arms to swim." I told the girl, "So I need the two of you to hold onto me or my armour, can you do that for me?" I asked. One half of me felt concerned about the fact that they were probably already tired out while the other half was silently hoping no one would notice that heavy armour like mine would've dragged any normal person down before they even reached the children.

The girl nodded firmly. She shifted to get behind me and I assisted her in moving her brother into place too. I could feel her gripping the straps of my armour tightly. In the same motion she pinned her brother between her and my back. His slim arms wrapped around my neck. He held on loosely enough that he wouldn't choke me but still tight enough that it helped to keep him in place.

I quickly started to head back to where I left the man on the shore. It wasn't difficult to swim against the current. In fact the current seemed to want to bend around me, but I made sure to make it seem like every stroke forward took tremendous effort. I didn't want to blow my cover on my first day in Atlantis. 

When we neared the shore I saw many people had gathered there. They were obviously waiting to see if Poseidon had answered the man's prayers for a saviour.

As soon as they'd caught sight of me, with the children on my back, they started cheering. Quite a few of them were thanking Poseidon. Which was great; it gave me a convenient cover. I was more than happy to give my father credit for tis one.

The man stood at the very edge of the island. He was beaming at us, even as tears down his face. I heard the children calling out to their father from their positions on my back. The little boy loosened one arm from around my neck to wave excitedly.