Watching | Athena

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The picture is Athena.

Athena was taking her weekly walk through Manhattan, stopping at her favorite bookshop, having lunch at a small café. It was an average Tuesday afternoon.

Not many would very much enjoy walking through Manhattan, of all places, but Athena wasn't the many. She also wasn't the few. She was...grey, is a nice way to put it.

She enjoyed being amongst the mortals, seeing their progression, all the things they'd achieved over time.

She did not appreciate the catcalls she received, though. Her main thought on the matter was, I know I'm attractive, you needn't tell me.

You'd think that they'd get used to her over time. After all, she walked the same route everyday, went to the same shops, the same café, even wore damn near the same thing.

She couldn't help but wonder what was so attractive about jeans, a white blouse, and a leather jacket with combat boots.

The only thing she could figure was consistency. She definitely liked things that didn't change.

She stopped her thoughts on the matter as she gained distance from the weekly perpetrators, and turned the corner onto Madison Avenue.

As she got closer to the Mount Sinai Hospital, she began to pick up a scent that she dreaded. She only smelled it at Council Meetings, and now it was infringing on her day off.

"Poseidon." She growled. She stretched her focus to find out how closely he was following her, but was shocked to find out that he wasn't even in New York.

The smell of sea salt grew stronger as she reached the entrance to the hospital.

She put up a spell and walked in, tracking the scent in order to find what she assumed to be a cyclops or telekhine.

She found herself in the maternity ward, and not thinking for a second that it might be a demigod, her stomach clenched. She immediately readied her knife.

She found herself in a room full of bassinets, the place where the scent was strongest. She was confused when she didn't find any monsters, and kept following the smell of the sea to the far side of the room.

Her eyes grew wide, and her dagger slipped from her grasp. It seemed like ages before it made contact with the floor.

A baby, with green eyes and black hair, and dark olive skin. Poseidon spawn.

She studied the boy until she realized that he wasn't gazing off into the aether, he was looking directly into her eyes.

She checked her spell, it was still up. He must be very powerful to see through my magic. She thought. It couldn't be argued otherwise, she wasn't using the mist. She employed the magic of Circe and Perse and Hekate.

It still boggled her as she reached down and lifted the boy from the bassinet. He gurgled and reached up to touch her face.

"How can you see through my spell, little one?" He blinked at her. She sighed and put him back down, then picked up his chart.

Perseus Achilles Jackson She gave a snort.

"Trying to gain points already?" She asked. He gurgled again, and then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

She read the rest of his chart, then looked back over him.

She didn't realize she was doing it until it was done, and she wouldn't know why she'd done it for years, but she placed a spell over him that would suppress his scent.

It would have to be reapplied often.

It was easily disguised as performing her sacred duty. She was, after all, the Protectress of the Innocent.

But while she could fool everyone else, she could not fool herself.

She'd taken an interest in Perseus. And she'd just given herself a reason to return to him.