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

Chapter 7: Mum, I miss you

"Ok, firstly, you all need to tell me all the lines, and don't hold anything back." Annabeth glared at Percy on that last part, like she was expecting him to retain some crucial lines in an attempt to not make her so worried. "Abi, why don't you say it. I don't trust the boys." She smiled at me sympathetically, probably remembering her very first quest; how they were all new to it but I will be the odd-one-out, the baby in the corner, the damsel in distress waiting for two boys to finish all of the dangerous stuff for me. No, I wasn't going to let that happen. I'm strong with a trident and scimitars - I am not about to be the weak one in this quest - especially not because I haven't been on one before.

"Also, just before you say it, are you two holding hands again? And how can you be laughing right now?" Percy questioned, eyeing Jason up suspiciously, but stopped when Annabeth punched his arm (not forcefully, just enough to make him look at her with a 'what was that for?' look) and she told him to not intervene or question a good mood.

I smiled gratefully at Annabeth. When we first met, I thought she was terrifying, I spoke to Leo about that and he told me that she was alright really and that he too had seen her as an incredibly scary girl. But, once you get to know her, she isn't so bad. At the time, I couldn't see her as kind or supportive, but now, I saw her as a beautiful, patient, gentle daughter of Athena. I really appreciated having her with us.

"Alright, first line: 'Sea and sky's children must trek,' that's obviously us three. Then it says 'To the destroyed Kingdom'"

"Poseidon's Kingdom?" Annabeth guessed and we all agreed that we were supposed to go there, "What's the next line?" she prompted.

"'To free the Gods, to sever the neck,' We have to free a God. Poseidon maybe?"

"But it says Gods, that means that we have to free more than one. I'm sure we'll know who to free when we get there. What's next?" Jason explained to all of us.

"To- 'to experience most painful death.'" I forced out, avoiding Annabeth's eye. How would she react? I heard a deep, shaky sigh and Percy muttered that we should probably skip that line, the rest of us agreed to this request gladly, so I continued onto the next paragraph: "'Unless the trident is freed, From the lyre's hands, A ceremony from his greed, Will be held in the conquered land.'"

"Well, your dad is famous for owning a trident... Maybe Apollo stole it?" Annabeth nodded at Jason's suggestion; it seemed like the only logical answer to those lines. But the next two... what could they possibly mean?

"A ceremony from his greed will be held in the conquered land." Percy mused, spinning Riptide around his fingers (in pen form, he's not that stupid) looking off into the distance outside the window, as if the horizon would give him an answer. "If we are going off what Jason said, then Apollo will hold a ceremony in Poseidon's Kingdom."

"Basically, what you're saying is that if Apollo gets Poseidon's trident - and you three don't retrieve it in time - then he will have conquered that Kingdom." Annabeth knitted her eyebrows at the thought, like something didn't quite make sense, "What I want to know is why. Why would Apollo, the sun God and God of many other things, want to rule over Poseidon's Kingdom, underwater."

She let that thought hang in the air for a while before I broke the silence, explaining that we should probably start to prepare for the morning. Then, I caught my brother's eye as he was about to stand up, "Um, Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that you could, perhaps, teach me?" I glanced at the salt-water fountain to let him know that I meant to control my Poseidon, water powers. He understood the message and gladly agreed.

"Let's go to the beach then" he declared before walking out, smiling slightly, leaving me only to follow. (But not before saying a quick goodbye to Jason and Annabeth).