Horizon's Point: The Rise of the Lyre (Jason Grace)

Chapter 6: A prophecy... yay?

All I remember was the roaring crowd, blood rushing in my ears, coughing and spluttering everywhere, forgetting how to breathe, the excruciating pain in my stomach, blood. So much blood. All coming from me. People screaming. I saw Jason closely followed by Percy and Annabeth, running. They jumped out of the stands. Then... nothing. Unconsciousness. It's odd, I felt like I was just in a deep sleep. Just, with a dream. A disturbing dream. A demigod dream.

I was underwater, there were cyclopes everywhere, guarding the entrance to every structure. They were wearing little armour and were armed with spears and clubs. Some were talking amongst themselves, murmuring things that I couldn't catch, their one eye cautiously looking around as they spoke. Others were deathly serious, tall and menacing.

The buildings placements would have annoyed Annabeth. It was all random and unorganised; they were of the same grey rock that the Poseidon Cabin's fountain was made out of, with brighter roofs, coral maybe. However, she would have loved the plaza. The floor was a tiled pale blue with a gradient to a darker blue stone on the edges. Marble was sculpted into a grand statue in the centre of this plaza of Poseidon (my dad) himself.

This must be his Kingdom, there was even his palace. Oh, the palace. Now, that was a sight to behold. Polished marble pillars supported this white-stone structure. It was so tall, airy (if that's possible underwater) with all its balconies overlooking the city. The entrance path was flanked by a bed of dragon's tongue algae, how did I know that? Anyway, it was vivid, immense and breathtaking.

But something felt off here, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, just a gut feeling that I was going off. Ichthyocentaurs trotted around, I knew these. Leo had told me about them, they didn't want Percy in their home because of political conflict between them and Poseidon. So why were they here?

I watched as a couple of them -flanked by around four cyclopes- dragged a struggling girl with short dark hair, electric blue eyes and a strong punk look about her. She had no weapons on her because they were being carried by one of the cyclops, there was a spear, silver bow, two hunting knifes along with a shield with Medusa's head in the centre. There was a bubble of air around her head so she didn't drown.

They threw her onto the ground at the feet of a larger cyclops, I noticed that she was bound in rough, tight iron chains.

"This is the daughter of Zeus?" It asked, peering down at who must be Thalia Grace, Jason's older sister, the one who was turned into a pine tree. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, although I did know that no one could see or hear me. Why was she here? Where was my dad? This was his Kingdom after all? Wait, what did the cyclopes do to him and Amphrite?

"Yes, sir. She is a lieutenant of Artemis as well, sir." One of the bowing Ichthyocentaurs informed him.

"Good, are those hers?" He grabbed the weapons and shield out of one of the cyclopes' arms and examined them. "A replica of Aegis I see. Throw her in with the others, we'll kill her publicly in five days. Give Poseidon and his wife a chance to surrender."

"Yes, sir." The others chorused as they dragged a weak -yet screaming- Thalia by the chains into the palace. Maybe that palace wasn't so nice after all. And that is when I woke up, Thalia's screaming ringing in my ears.

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I was panting when I awoke, immediately sat bolt-upright. I stared around the infirmary, trying to catch my breath. Everything looked the same: clean white walls with potted hyacinths on the windowsills.

"Hey, hey calm down. You're alright. You're ok." Jason told me soothingly "You just had a nightmare, but it's gonna be ok, alright?" He was crouched at the side of my bed while Percy was sorting out my pillow to make me more comfortable.