Percy Jackson and the Adventures of A Sister

3. The Young Mage

The next morning Percy woke up smiling. He got out of his little patch of seaweed and began to swim toward camp. When he reached the camp he noticed everything was silent. He suddenly realized that he had woken up early. He decided to kill some time. Yesterday's lesson with Aphros had interested him heavily in the art of sea magic. He walked to the building where he had met Aphros. He went over to a bookshelf in the room and pulled out a book of songs written in Samoan. He flipped through it. He finally found what he was looking for. Faamalolo, Laʻu Uo. Samoan for heal, my friend. By the look of it, the song was composed for an ailing friend or relative.

He began his work. He quickly memorized it. Yesterday, on his way out of Aphros's classroom Percy had noticed some sick sections of coral in the reef outside. He swam over to the reefs and began. He began singing the song he had just memorized and poured as much magic as he could into his words. Slowly but surely the color of the reef changed from a dull brown to a bright orange. The reef began glowing. Just after he finished healing the reef, Percy stumbled back. He was very exhausted. Calling your friends nearby with a magic you never used is one thing, and curing an entire coral reef of a disease using the same magic is another thing.

Percy heard clapping behind him. Aphros walked to him and patted him on the back. "Bravo Perseus. Never have I seen someone learn to use sea magic this fast. Granted the magic you used is very basic. Now let me tell you a secret. Healing with mere words with magic in them is something that needs a lot of power. There are different methods used to heal, conjure things et cetera. They take less energy to do." Aphros said. "Then why teach this? Why not directly go to the other methods?" Asked a puzzled Percy. "Think of magic as weight lifting. To lift a small thing you need not use much strength. Now it would be easier to lift a ton with a crane than using your hands. But first you have to build the crane. Likewise it would be easier to do more taxing tasks with other methods they would require heavy concentration and would not be as straightforward." Explained Aphros.

Percy now understood the process. "I can teach you more about this if you want." Offered Aphros. Percy was giddy. "Well someones excited." Aphros said grinning. "Call me a kid, but who can say no to magic!" Replied Percy. "Okay. We still have about three and a half hours to use. I think I'll teach you something different. I'll give you a hint. It's similar to chemistry at first glance." Aphros said. Percy's eyes widened. "Wait WHAT! You have potions under here?" said a stunned Percy. "Yep." came the answer. Aphros led Percy to a place that looked like the lab of an evil witch. "Let us stick to the theory for now. Don't want you to blow things up, do we?" he said. He led Percy to a desk. Tossing a description of ingredients on the desk and giving his pupil a pen and a piece of paper he said, "Using the descriptions write down the nature of the ingredients." Percy went to work.

Soon he noticed that there were 4 types of ingredients. First there were the ones that were the base of a potion, like water. Then there were the heavily reactive things which liked to blow up in your face. They react with almost anything they could find. The next type was of things that were really really antisocial. You would have to be very careful if you want to use them in a useful way as it takes a mini-explosion to get them to do stuff. Finally there was the stuff used to make reactive things less violent. When Percy told Aphros what he had deduced, Aphros grinned. "That is true. Now the first type is known as Sitepu Maa. The next type is known as Vevesi. The third type is known as Antisosofia. The last type is called Filemu. Now bear in mind these are the basic natures of potion ingredients. Some ingredients are of two or more natures. For example, the eye of a lion fish is mostly Filemu in nature but it is also Vevesi in nature. So it does react with almost everything, but it will not be violent. Now categorize some more ingredients and remember what they do. Lion fish fin rays make your potion poisonous and others do the opposite. Remember things like that. At the end of the three hours Percy had memorized the properties of over 2000 ingredients.

The day flew by. Jack managed to pick up more magic. It was clear he was not as good as Percy but he was very good. Soon the lesson was finished. It was free time for both Aphros and Percy. They went to the 'Evil Witch's Lair' as Percy liked to call it. "Okay Percy. It is time for you to move on to the practical aspect of the art." After that, Aphros gave Percy a brief rundown on the equipment needed to make a potion. Percy wore his protective clothing and turned to his teacher. "Let's start simple. Make me a potion that can make someone drowsy. Percy set to work.

He grabbed an oneria fruit and crushed it with the flat of his blade. Percy squeezed the juice into the cauldron filled with water. Now came the irritating part. Oneria fruits were toxic. If you manage to avoid the toxins then you have the risk of going to sleep for months. Percy added five glasses of nectar. It was diluted so no one had to worry about burning up. He added some giraffe fur. This reduced the sleeping spell of the fruit. The potion was meant to make you drowsy, not put you to sleep for an entire day. The nectar got rid of the toxins. But there was a problem. Giraffe fur was Antisosofia in nature. So he added some hydra claws, and some hydra poison. Voila. A nice little explosion does the job. Percy took out a vial and left the rest in the cauldron.

Aphros tested it on a nice little fish who had volunteered. After a small conversation it was enough to tell the potion had been made spectacularly. Percy was very happy. The next few hours consisted of making more and more advanced things. it was clear that within a week Percy would be a master. smiling Percy went to his patch of kelp and slept.