The Lost Trident: Percy Jackson

we found the lake

We woke the next morning grabbed our stuff and left the hotel at 9am, we ended up walking to the botanical gardens as there were a lot of trees and it would be easier to shadow travel without anyone noticing so once we got there we found an area that no one was going near and dissolved into the shadows, before we left I did catch a glimpse of someone watching us and it looked like the red headed man that had followed me down the alley. We came out just on the outskirts of Dufftown so we walked into town and decided to go to the clock tower as it would make it easier to map out were we needed to go from there. We found a bench, sat down and spread the map over it to figure out where we needed to go next. The map had changed from the last time id looked at it, it had a small circle around a fairly large lake that hadn't been on the map last time,

"hey this wasn't there last time we looked at the map, was it?" I asked Travis and Nico, they both shook their heads and looked as confused as I was.

"maybe that's where we need to go?" Nico suggested.

"it's to the west of us and it would take us a while to get there if we walked, do you have enough strength to shadow travel us there Nico?" Travis asked to which Nico shook his head.

"so, we walk" I said. we packed up our map and began our walk.

We arrived there at 11 pm after our journey. Much longer than it should have but we got lost a number of times and ran into lot of monsters. We found the lake which was a lot bigger in person than on the map. There was a rundown castle next to it that looked pretty cool. I made a mental note to check it out if we had time. we decided we would have a break before we started searching for the trident since we were all exhausted. So, we placed our bags at the edge of the lake and I told Nico and Travis to come with me to the water. As soon as I stepped into the water I felt refreshed I could also tell straight away just from looking at it that it was fresh water. Travis and Nico stepped in the water which was pleasantly cold for me but for them it must have been freezing because they jumped out straightaway.

"hey give me your hands" I said, they both gave me their hands and began to heal them. it was lot easier to do this than drinking nectar or eating ambrosia. We then spent a bit of time regaining our energy whilst discussing what we were going to do.

In the end, we decided to walk towards the castle since that was where I felt drawn to and then I would dive in and swim down to see if I could find the trident. We began walking around the lake which for the most part was next to an enormous forest, we eventually got to an area of open land that was at the fore front of the castle, for a second I thought I saw lights on within it. We climbed down towards the lakes edge and prepared for ourselves.

"what's the time?" I asked Travis,

"12am" Travis replied

"ok so I'm going to jump in swim down have a quick look around see if I can see the trident or find any of those Selkies things my dad was talking about and maybe try to reason with them I believe they have it. If I can't find it I'll come back up and bring Travis down" I said. they both nodded in agreement and so I dove into the water. it was relatively dark but my eyes adjusted quickly and I swam deeper and deeper into the lake I figured I was around the middle of the lake by the time I really started swimming down. As I got deeper I could feel the power building up inside me. I managed to find it quite quickly but as I was about to swim over and retrieve it I felt a pull on my leg, I turned around and saw what I could only assume to be a Selkie. It started cursing at me and it wasn't till I said 'that's not very nice' that they realised I was a son of Poseidon.

"you can understand me?" it asked

"well duh I can speak to virtually every underwater creature" I replied

"but what are you doing here? You're not one from the castle, your American." I said to me

"first, I'm here to collect my dad's trident, second no I'm not from the castle why would I be its old and broken and yes, I am American, I'm also Poseidon's son. So, I suggest you let go of me." I told it.

"if you are a son of Poseidon you will not be able to take it out of the water only a thieve can take it." It informed me. Well that's just great. I released myself from the Selkies grip and swam back to the surface of the lake and toward Travis and Nico, it was only then that I realised the castle wasn't broken down and old. It was on fire and I could see so many different colors of light being thrown all over the place. I made it back to Travis and Nico and immediately asked them if the noticed the castle was on fire,

"we didn't really know what happened you were down there for more than hour when it all started, we also saw three kids run into the boat shed over there." Nico said, I was about to reply when a the weather turned cold and a shrill voice could be heard as if amplified over the whole castle area.

"Harry Potter, you have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour." The voice said,

"wasn't that the name of the boy you said that red haired man told you about?" Nico asked us, Travis and I nodded at the same time. a few second later we could hear people moving towards us, the three of us instinctively dropped to the ground.

"what is it Harry?" a girls voice said

"I thought I saw someone" a voice that must have belonged to harry replied. They ran back to the castle without another look at us.

"ok this place is officially weird" I whispered in fear that someone would find us.

"Travis the Selkies said a thieve needed to be the one that took the trident. I can make you your own bubble of air around your head or something so you can breathe whilst we are down there and then you can grab the trident" I told Travis, he nodded and together we both swam down to collect the trident. I ended up distracting the Selkies whilst Travis swam around the back and grabbed the trident once I was sure he had grabbed it I made sure he got back to Nico quickly because I had a feeling the Selkies would not be happy it was gone.

"look all I want is the trident surely I can get it back it belongs to my father." I said to the Selkies

"NO! it can only be taken by a thieve even we cannot give it back to you and it does not look like you are in the company of a thieve therefore you cannot get it" one of them replied.

"well next time you might want to make sure you I don't have friends, especially one that is a thief." I said as I began to slowly back away, the Selkies looked confused and it was only after one of them turned around and saw the trident was gone that they realised I had tricked them.

"I'll take this as my cue to leave" was the final thing I said before willing the water to push me to the surface as fast as possible. I came flying out of the water and almost hit Nico but I was able to slow my landing just in time. I had barely gotten out of the water when Nico told us,

"the light from the castle stopped flashing almost as soon as you got in the water. it's been silent ever since. This isn't a good place to be right now, there's so much death. It's everywhere" Nico told us. I stood for a few seconds thinking about our options, it was about an hour till dawn and I personally didn't have that much energy. None of us had really slept that long either, I felt that going to the castle may have been our safest option, they might have been able to help us. But I was torn between needing a place to rest and the fact that my father had told us not to enter the castle.

"let's check it out" I decided and began walking up towards what I assumed was the entrance.