Percy Jackson - Beyond the Gods

Night, Camp Half Blood

The night at Poseidon's Cabin is calm and serene, enveloped by a soft glow emanating from its structure and the surrounding nature. The cabin, long and low, has a solid appearance, with outer walls of rustic gray stones, punctuated by fragments of shells and corals that shimmer under the moonlight. The smell of the sea permeates the air, with the freshness of the ocean mixed with a subtle touch of salt.

Inside, the cabin is a welcoming refuge, with walls softly gleaming, reflecting the moonlight that enters through the large windows. The space is furnished with six bunk beds, each adorned with silk sheets that seem to capture the essence of the sea waves in their softness and sheen. The decor is simple but enchanting, a reminder of Poseidon's deep connection with the waters.

Last year, Tyson added personal touches to the cabin, such as bronze hippocampus adorning the ceiling, reflecting the majesty of Poseidon's realm, and plants resting on the windowsills, bringing life and freshness to the space.

And more recently, Poseidon added a gray rock fountain, shaped to resemble the natural formations of the sea. The fountain is decorated with a sculpted fish from which saltwater gushes. At the bottom, several gold coins, drachmas, rest peacefully, serving as a means of communication with Iris, whenever someone wishes to send a message through her divine network. The sound of flowing water creates a sense of tranquility, while the atmosphere seems to reflect the serene strength of the sea god.

Percy was sitting on his bed, a little upset about not being chosen to go on the quest. The reason for his upset was that he couldn't be at his best friend's side when he'd sworn he would be. Knowing Ikki was going through a difficult time, he felt he should go along with him…

He sighed and scratched his head, before walking to the saltwater fountain and rubbing the drachma coin in his hands. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of once again being advised by an adult to do nothing. But he knew his mother deserved an update. He finally took a deep breath and tossed the coin, saying, "O goddess, accept my offering."

The mist shimmered, creating a small rainbow under the bathroom light. When the mist cleared, Percy saw a scene he didn't expect. His mother was sitting in the kitchen with a man, laughing hysterically. There was a stack of books between them. The man looked like an actor, maybe an undercover cop.

Perplexed, Percy watched in silence as his mother and the man continued laughing. He then heard the man say, "Sally, you're a mess. Want more wine?" His mother, trying not to laugh, replied, "Oh, I shouldn't. You can go ahead if you want."

The man got up and went to the bathroom. Percy took the opportunity to talk to his mother. "Mom!" he exclaimed.

She jumped, almost knocking over the books.

"Percy! Oh, dear! Is everything okay?" His mother asked, visibly surprised.

"What are you doing?" Percy demanded, his voice laced with concern.

She blinked, trying to understand Percy's tone. "Homework."

Percy then realized she was trying to hide her discomfort. "Oh, honey, it's just Paul—um, Mr. Bayck. He's in my writing seminar."

"Mr. Blowfish?" Percy asked.

"Bayck," she corrected, smiling. "He'll be back in a minute. Tell me what's wrong."

She always knew when something was wrong. Percy told her everything, including Ikki's return and the discovery about Sophia being dead. And the conversation focused mainly on her.

His mother's eyes watered, but she struggled to stay calm. "Oh, Percy…"

Percy hesitantly said, "Since there isn't much to do, I think I'll come home."

She twirled her pencil between her fingers and sighed, trying to stay strong for Percy. "As much as I want you to come home." A sigh escaped her lips. "As much as I want you safe, I want you to understand one thing. You need to do what you think you should do."

Percy stared at her, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you really believe you need to accompany Ikki on this quest? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."

"Are… are you telling me to go?" Percy asked, incredulous.

"I'm saying that… you're getting too old for me to tell you what to do. I'm saying I'll support you, even if what you decide to do is dangerous. I can't believe I'm saying this."

"I… Mom…" Percy started, but a toilet flushing interrupted the moment.

"I don't have much time," she said, as if hurrying. "Percy, whatever you decide, I love you. And I know you'll do what's best for Ikki."

"How can you be sure?" Percy asked.

"Because he would do the same for you."

And with those words, the connection dissolved, leaving Percy with the image of his mother's friend, Mr. Bayck, smiling at her.

Percy didn't remember falling asleep, but when he woke up, it was in a dream. He found himself in the dark cave, with the weight of the ceiling threatening to collapse on Sophia, his friend's mother who was supposed to be dead. He saw her tired, almost without the strength to scream. Luke appeared in the shadows, saying she was weakening and they needed to hurry. Soon, a new figure emerged: Artemis, chained. She was bleeding, her dress was torn, and her eyes shone with rage.

The conversation intensified, and the man in the shadows revealed his plans, giving orders to Luke. Percy felt his heart clench with the helplessness of the situation.

Finally, Percy woke up with a jolt. Someone was knocking on the door. He grabbed Riptide and got out of bed.

"Hello?" he called.

He crept to the door. He uncapped his sword, opened the door, and found himself face-to-face with a black pegasus.

"Whoa, boss!" the pegasus's voice spoke in his head as he backed away from the sword blade. "Don't wanna be horse kebab!"

The pegasus's black wings opened in alarm, and the wind pushed Percy back a step.

"Blackjack," Percy said, relieved but a little irritated. "It's the middle of the night!"

Blackjack sounded hurt. "Not really, boss. It's five A.M. Why you still asleep?"

"How many times do I have to say? Don't call me boss."

"Whatever you say, boss. You da man. My number one."

Percy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried not to let the pegasus read his thoughts. That was the problem with being Poseidon's son: ever since he'd created horses from sea foam, Percy could understand most equine animals, but they could understand him, too.

Sometimes, as in Blackjack's case, they kind of chose him.

Blackjack had been a prisoner aboard Luke's ship last summer until Percy caused a little distraction that allowed Blackjack to escape. Percy had really had very little to do with it, honestly, but Blackjack gave him full credit for saving him.

"Blackjack," Percy said with a sigh. "You were supposed to stay in the stables."

"Nah, the stables. You see Chiron staying in the stables?"

"Well… no."

"Exactly. Listen, we got another sea friend who needs your help."

"Again?"

"Yeah. Told the hippocampus I'd come get you."

Percy groaned. Whenever he was near the beach, the hippocampus asked him to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems. Beached whales, dolphins caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails—they called him to go underwater and help.

"All right," Percy said. "I'm coming."

"You da best, boss."

"Don't call me boss!"

Blackjack whinnied softly. It must've been a laugh.

Percy glanced back at his comfortable bed. His bronze shield was still hanging on the wall, dented and unusable. He sighed and went outside.

Blackjack gave Percy a lift down to the beach, and he admitted it was cool. Being on a winged horse, skimming the waves at sixty miles an hour with the wind in your hair and the sea spray in your face—it's better than waterskiing any day.

"Here," Blackjack slowed and circled. "Straight down."

"Thanks." Percy slid off his back and plunged into the icy sea.

He was getting more comfortable doing stunts like this the last few years. He could move any way he wanted underwater, just by willing the currents to shift around him and propel him forward. He could breathe underwater just fine, and his clothes never got wet unless he wanted them to.

He shot down into the darkness.

Fifteen, thirty, forty-five feet. The pressure wasn't uncomfortable. Percy had never really tried to push it—to see if there was a limit to how deep he could go. He knew most regular humans couldn't go past two hundred feet without being crushed. He should've been blind, too, this deep in the water at night, but he could see the heat of life forms and the cold of the currents. It was hard to describe. It wasn't like regular vision, but he could tell where everything was.

As he got closer to the seabed, he saw three hippocampus circling a capsized boat. The hippocampus were beautiful to watch. Their fish tails shimmered rainbow colors, glowing phosphorescent. Their manes were white, and they galloped through the water like nervous horses in a thunderstorm. Something was bothering them.

Percy got closer and saw the problem. A dark shape—some kind of animal—was trapped half under the boat and tangled in a fishing net, the kind used by big trawlers.

He hated those things. They were bad enough when they drowned porpoises and dolphins, but every once in a while they snagged mythological animals. When the nets got tangled, some lazy fishermen just cut them loose and left the animals to die.

Apparently, this creature had gotten snagged in the net of the sunken fishing boat and was now desperate to break free. The wreckage of the hull, resting against a rock, was rocking back and forth, threatening to collapse on top of the animal.

The hippocampus were swimming frantically, wanting to help, but not knowing how. One of them was trying to chew through the net, but hippocampus teeth aren't meant for cutting rope.

"Free it, lord!" one hippocampus said, and the others joined in, begging the same.

Percy swam closer and got a good look at the tangled creature. At first he thought it was a young hippocampus, but then he heard a strange sound, something that didn't belong in the underwater environment.

"Mooooooo!"

He got closer and saw it was a cow. But not a regular cow… its back half was a black-and-brown serpentine tail with fins, like a giant eel.

"Whoa, little guy," Percy said. "Where'd you come from?"

The creature looked at him sadly.

"Moooo!"

But Percy couldn't understand its thoughts. He only spoke horse.

"We do not know what it is, lord," one of the hippocampus said. "Many strange things are stirring."

"Yeah," Percy murmured. "I've heard that, too."

He uncapped Riptide and it grew to full size in his hands, its bronze blade gleaming in the dark.

The cow-serpent freaked out, thrashing against the net, its eyes full of terror.

"Whoa!" Percy said. "I'm not going to hurt you! Just let me cut the net."

But the cow-serpent went ballistic, tangling itself even more. The boat started to tilt, shifting the seabed and threatening to topple over on it. The hippocampus whinnied in panic, which didn't help.

"Okay, okay!" Percy said. He sheathed his sword and started talking calmly, trying to soothe everybody. "No sword. See? No sword. Calm thoughts. Seaweed. Mama cow. Vegetarianism."

He doubted the cow-serpent understood, but it responded to the tone of his voice. The hippocampus stopped swirling around him.

"Yeah," Percy said. "I'm thinking."

But how do you free a cow-serpent when it freaked out at the sight of a blade?

"All right," he said. "I need you guys to push the boat."

It wasn't easy, but with the hippocampus's help, they managed to turn the wreckage over. Then Percy started working on the net, untangling it bit by bit. It took forever.

"It's all right, Bessie," he said. He didn't know why he'd started calling it that.

Finally the net came free and the cow-serpent shot away through the water, doing a happy flip.

The hippocampus whinnied with delight.

"Thank you, lord!"

"Moooo!" The cow-serpent nuzzled Percy's face, looking at him with its big brown eyes.

"Yeah," he said. "All good. Nice cow. Well… stay out of trouble."

Which made him realize: how long had he been underwater? An hour, at least.

He needed to get back to the cabin before Argus or the harpies found out he was breaking curfew.

He shot to the surface and as soon as he broke the waves Blackjack appeared and lifted him into the air, carrying him back toward the shore.

"Success, boss?"

"Yeah. Rescued a baby… or something. Took forever. Almost got trampled."

"Great deeds are always dangerous. Saved my poor mane, didn't you?"

Percy sighed and returned to his cabin, still pondering whether or not he would go on the mission with his best friend.