Poseidon's Daughter

Chapter 34

Rhea POV

I looked down, knowing that I'll be the only one that's dry. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.

Annabeth said, "How did you ..."

"I'm the daughter of Triton. I can control water."

We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead. You are totally dead."

I looked at her with a bored expression, and said, "I asked you to let me go, and you refused. I warned you, and you didn't listen. I only defended myself."

Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.

"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. She showed me around camp some more, and finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. You can follow some of the other campers to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

"Whatever."

"I didn't mean for you to get sprayed with the water. There's only so much control I have."

She looked at me sceptically and nodded at my apology.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said suddenly.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

She sat down next to me, staring out a the lake, we got talking and I asked,

"Then who's your dad?"

She told me who her dad was and I asked again,

"Who's your mom, then?"

"Cabin six."

"The Athena cabin."

Annabeth straightened. "Goddess of wisdom and battle."

We got talking over monsters, and demi-god scents, "I haven't really faced a lot of monsters before. I've killed a hellhound and the minotaur, but that's only happened in the past few months. The hellhound was easy, it was sniffing around and didn't even notice me. The Minotaur, well...I sure cracked a few ribs."

She frowns at that, "What you've done today, the power you displayed should've been enough to attract a lot of monsters to your scent. You've practiced with your power before, you said it yourself. Triton doesn't have a lot of demi-god children, and despite being a minor god, he is not one to be messed with. He has a lot of power."

She continued, "Normally if you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very few are like that."

"My mom found it weird too. My dad warned her before that my scent would become stronger the older I get. She did marry this asshole at one point to keep my scent hidden, then he died. But honestly, I've had a pretty peaceful life so far, in the sense of no monsters. I've mostly just focused on my studies." And training, that I haven't used much to my advantage.

"I can't believe you've been to university. Are you sure that you're Triton's daughter and not a secret child of Athena?" she asks in a friendly tone, but her eyes says it all. She looks a bit jealous.

"I'm sure," I say with a laugh.

I got to speak to Luke as well, he told me about Annabeth's desire to go on a quest, and there was a prophecy saying that she'll go on one when there's a new camper, not just any camper. A child of the big three. Yay, that's me, but no one can know yet cause my dad lied about me, and Zeus would pulverize me.

Dionysus POV

"There's no way she's Triton's spawn. She has to be Poseidon's, why else would he claim her too?" I say to Chiron, clenching my jaw. We were sitting in the farmhouse, discussing our current problem.

"We must not make too many assumptions. It is possible that she is Triton's daughter, but as you've said too, it's possible that she is Poseidon's," Chiron said.

"Father won't like this. He doesn't like this. I'm telling you that this was Poseidon's plan all along. She is powerful, I can sense it, you can too. There's no way she's Triton's."

"Add to the fact that she looks so much like the original Rhea, their mother. Poseidon is very protective of her," Chiron says.

"I've never met the original," I state, "But you are right Chiron, he is too protective of her. She has to be his."

"You know," Chiron rubs his chin, "Poseidon has never had a daughter before. I know him. If I were you, I'd tread lightly."

"Is that a threat?" I ask annoyed at his statement.

"No Dionysus. It's a warning. I know the sea god. You don't know what he was like before the gods took over, before you were born. He was fierce, dark, and nothing stood in his way. The Poseidon you see today is a shadow of who he was, and I fear if we aren't careful, that that part of him will return and war like no other could break out."

"I've heard some stories here and there of what he was like," I say.

"Then you should heed my warning, those stories are probably true. You said he threatened the council before, protected her from your father's wrath. I would say that we must look out for her, for I fear that if something were to happen to her, then war would break out, and the world won't survive."

We sat there in silence. I'm contemplating on this revelation...and wine. I need some wine.