The Twins Of Poseidon

I'm Officially A Wanted Criminal

I would have loved to think, as I was falling to my death with my brother, that I was ready, I had been through to much and I was okay with this. But realistically my only thought was: OH MY GODS! OH MY GODS! OH MY GODS! The river raced toward us at the speed of a truck. Wind ripped the breath from my lungs. Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision. 

And then: Flaaa-boooom!

A whiteout of bubbles. We sank through the murk, sure that we were about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever. But it didn't hurt, hitting the water. Still holding Percy's hand we were falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through our interlocked fingers. We settled on the river bottom soundlessly. 

At that point, I realized a few things: first, we had not been flattened into a pancake, so I was right about my theory. Second, We had not been barbecued. Last, We were alive, which I was happy to say was a good thing. Percy seemed confused, at this point he was confused about everything. Percy let go of my hand and started touching his shirt, realizing it was dry, then touched mine and of course, it was dry too. He looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter. He flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi. 

I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry I handed it to Percy, and pointed to the lighter, he got it. He lit it with no problem. As soon as he let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag. 

"Are you okay Percy?" I asked seeing as he was very confused. 

He jumped in surprise, "How can you, how can I? Wait what?" He said very confused. "How can we talk underwater, and breath?" 

I laughed at this. "Percy have you just forgotten who our dad is, even though that Ant Eater lady told us like two minutes ago who he was?" I stared at him. 

"Ohhh." He said dumbfoundedly. 

I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled. Percy stood up shakily too holding on to me. 

We should've been dead though. I should have been dead.

I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit what I though my mother sounded like:

Percy, Alex what do you say?

"Um ... thanks." Percy said still confused 

"Thank you ... Father." I said honestly also confused. Who is this woman. Was it really Mom?

No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the color of butterscotch.

Why had Poseidon saved us? The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. So I'd gotten lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance. Those poor people in the Arch were probably toast. I couldn't protect them. I was no hero. I didn't deserve this quest. Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders while Percy continues the quest by himself with our friends. 

Fump-fump-fump. 

A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above us, swirling the silt around. There, not five feet in front of bot Percy and me, was each of our swords, both gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud.

I heard that woman's voice again: Percy, Alex, take the swords. Your father believes in you both. 

This time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar.