Under the Water(Fem. Percy)

Chapter 1

Some nightmares never seem to end, and you wake up to something just as bad. Or--my eyes crack open--a hand wrapped around your throat. It's a light pressure, fingers pressing into the sides. My eyes dart to the side. Can't make them out.

Heart racing, I curl my fingers around Riptide. I don't know if it'll help, or if I can act before they decide to tear out my throat. Razor claws could have me bleeding out in a few minutes. Teeth would cut that time either further. All I have to do is move my hand down without them noticing.

It smells like seaweed. A sea creature? I figure Porky decided to send some after me as punishment for ruining his exhibits; most sea creatures like me. A cold draft brushes my skin. The window's open. Did I leave it like that? Or did it break in? Nothing happens with the hand on my neck for over a minute. The red glow of the clock reflects on a scale covered arm. I try to keep my breath steady, try to make sure it won't know I was awake, and I try to bring Riptide towards me.

Nails scratch my flesh, jagged and sharp. Then the hand falls away. "Percy?"

I blink. No way. How is he---Why is he here? The how was too obvious to finish the thought. Lightning flashes outside the building, a long rushing streak. Either the meteorologists need to get new equipment, or Zeus is upset at something again. I almost laugh at the silent joke, both are equally possible. But the brief flash of light allows me to see Triton. 

"Do you want to tell me why you were choking me in the middle of the night?" I hiss. The walls are thin. Mom needs her sleep, and Paul has to go to a school meeting at seven. I can't afford to wake them up or I'll never hear the end of it.

"Would choking you have been any more welcome at noon?" Unlike me, he doesn't fear keeping his voice down. He doesn't need to fear anything at all. Neither Mom or I are dumb enough to scold a god on something like this. Zeus could start belting dirty songs at the top of his lungs in a funeral and I wouldn't yell at him. There are certain things not worth taking risks for. This is low on the list of things I would.

"Any hour that you can divide by sixty is off limits for choking." I slip Riptide back under my pillow. "But seriously, why are you here at"--I peer at my clock--"one seventeen in the morning? And couldn't you have done it as a dream instead?" As much as I complain about demigod dreams, at least I still got to sleep through them.

Triton breathes out through his nose. "Are you always this insufferable?"

Insufferable? He's the one who broke into my room and had his hand around my throat, and I'm the one who's insufferable? Even as I stare at him, he refuses to answer why. Lightning flashes again, followed by booming thunder. I cover my ears. He rests his hand on my head, looking out the window. It's such an affectionate gesture that I almost die from shock, and I stop breathing when he gently brushes my hair off my forehead.

I have to be dead. That's the only explanation for why he's pretending to like me. But my heart is still fluttering like a bird in my chest and my lungs keep expanding my ribs. "Why are you--"

He hushes me, still looking through the screen. Another gust of wind means cold water mists over my skin. It warms within moments, slowly beads, and runs down the curve of my arm. A minute goes by, then three---the numbers on the clock mock me. He drops his hand.

"It's stupid to sleep with this open." Triton walks around my nightstand to slam the window shut.

"If a monster is going to kill me in my sleep, I don't want it to get the wrong door and get Mom and Paul. Besides, it's not like a piece of glass is going stop a monster. It probably wouldn't even stop a mortal. Didn't stop you."