One Last Apple

Mom and Amphitrite headed to prepare lunch, and Rachel, Sadie, Zoë, and I decided to go sit in the entertainment center.

"Are you guys ok?" I asked as we sat down.

"I am fine," Rachel said. "Maybe a little worried about what happens to me at lunch, but otherwise I'm fine."

"I'm merely confused about what happened," Zoë said. "One moment, we entered the Garden, and the next, I have a map in my mind."

"How does that work?" I asked. "All I was told was that you had an extremely accurate map of the Island."

"Yes, in my head," Zoë explained. "I could draw it for you if I wanted to, but I have a mental image of the map of the Island, at least all the parts that we've gone down already."

"That's useful," I said. "Sadie, are you ok?"

"I'm at -34 Charis," Sadie said worriedly. "I just got so worried when you started screaming and you fell to the floor, I didn't realize —"

"Hey, it's ok," I said softly. "We'll make this work, ok?"

"How?" Sadie asked tearfully. "Even if we ignore how weird it is, you know Mommy won't be ok with going with that."

I held Sadie's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Listen, Sadie. The moment any of you are in actual danger, all my morals leave the room, you understand? There's nothing you have to worry about."

Sadie hugged me deeply, and I hugged her back.

After a few moments, Rachel spoke up. "That's sweet and all, but I'm worried about my new Transformation. Perce, this one might be problematic."

I looked at her confusedly as Sadie burrowed herself against my chest. "That was the best option amongst the three you had."

"Wait, you know about the three options?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, I chose which one to give you," I said.

"I thank thee," Zoë said earnestly. "This was the best option from amongst the three."

"Hard agree on that," Rachel said. "But see, the problem is that if I feel romantic about someone, they'll feel romantic about me, and that might be problematic, considering the situation we're in."

I looked at her blankly. "You don't want anyone to love you back?"

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Heavens, Daddy. She fuckin' loves you, and you don't love her back yet."

I looked at Sadie incredulously. "No, she doesn't. She had a crush on me, sure, but there's no way she's in love with me."

I looked up at Rachel, who was exchanging a look with Sadie and Zoë.

"Tell her you don't love me, Rachel," I said.

"He is hopeless," Zoë amusedly told Rachel.

"I'm not hopeless, I'm just telling the truth!" I said indignantly.

Rachel sighed in a mixture of exasperation, amusement, and something else. "Perseus Jackson, I've loved you for a long time, and I still love you. I don't care what you think, or how you think I'd never love you, but you're truly the best person in my life, and I've loved you for most of the time I've known you. I only took the position as Oracle so I couldn't chase you, but Gods, I was so tempted to." Rachel's eyes were teary, but I was just shocked. "And I hated the fact that from the beginning, you were the best man, best friend, best everything ever, but I was never anything more than a footnote in your story, and you'd never love me back."

Quest Completed by Rachel Elizabeth Dare: Confess your love to Perseus!
4 Charis and 200 Drachma Earnt.

"You were never a footnote in my story," I said softly. "I'm sorry I don't feel the same for you."

"It's not your fault," Rachel wiped a tear away. "But you'll start to love me, and that'll be your fault. You'll start loving me as deeply as I love you, and we're just not at the stage where we can be doing that."

I didn't have anything I could say, and Zoë heroically swooped in to save my ass. "We shall deal with that later. Currently, I'm more worried about the Tree."

Rachel jumped onto the topic change. "Yeah, ok. It gives us a Transformation every 10 Charis, but we only receive it if we go to it? So, what's our incentive, like why would we want it?"

"It is as the Fates stated," Zoë said. "More Transformations equate to more Domains, which is appealing."

"That headache was not appealing, even if it disappeared immediately," I grumbled.

"Aww, does Little Percy need a smooch on his boo-boo?" Rachel asked.

I flipped her off. "See if I give you a nice TF next time."

"Please, like I wouldn't have made the other two work," Rachel said, flipping her hair dramatically.

The lunch bell rang.

"Lunch time, y'all," I said as we stood up.

"Perseus," Zoë asked seriously as we headed to lunch. "Dost thou wisheth to inform the others the truth of the Garden?"

"I don't see why not?" I asked. "I mean, I'd be warning them not to get fucked over by the Island."

"It's Pandora's Box," Sadie said, then she looked at us curiously. "Is Pandora's Box even real for you guys? Regardless, it might seem innocuous, but you're asking for more competition between everyone."

"It also stands to reason that this tree has its opposite," Zoë said. "Should it exist, the 'PTF tree' would be in the undiscovered areas, but we definitely don't want to find it, let alone someone searching for it."

"It's actually a pithos," I told Sadie. "A jar, basically. Prometheus gave it to me, and I gave it to Lady Hestia."

"You respect her," Rachel noticed.

"Of course," I said. "She might be the best god I've ever met."

"High praise," Zoë said. "I agree. Back to our discussion, it is thy choice, Perseus. What say thee?"

"Let's keep it unsaid for now," I eventually decided. "But, I think I'll tell everyone by the end of this Season."

"It is thy choice," Zoë conceded, opening the door to the dining hall.

"Percy," Mom greeted. "Sit down, we're all here."

I sat down, and Annabeth spoke up. "So, did you go to the tree in the end?"

I winced. "It's not pleasant. Just another moment of the Fates making something seem good while fucking you over."

"I would rather be my own judge for that," Annabeth said harshly. "Can you explain what it is? Please?"

"If your king wishes to keep something hidden from you, it's not your place to demand answers," Amphitrite said.

"Was that why you were Poseidon's queen?" Juno asked. "Because you let him keep secrets so you wouldn't be hurt by his truths?"

"No," Amphitrite said. "Because I'm not Perseus' queen, and neither is Annabeth. You're all jumping a few steps here."

"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves with the hostility," I said. "I'll explain it all to everyone after the Challenge."

"So, I'm no longer worthy of your trust?" Annabeth asked.

I winced. "I didn't say that."

"You implied it," Annabeth shot back.

"Sure, let's say he did," Clarisse said. "If he did, shouldn't you think about why he did it, rather than be angry that he did?"

"Oh yeah?" Annabeth asked. "Tell me, why did he do it, if you're so wise and smart?"

"Maybe because you let your pride overcome you?" Clarisse said. "Or because you decided you thought you could choose whether his family lives or not? Either way, you're falling off the deep end, Annie."

I gave Amphitrite a look, and she looked confused, then she focused.

Suddenly, I felt any sense of hostility and anger just seep out of my body, and I was thankful that Amphitrite understood what I asked.

Clarisse and Annabeth calmed down, and they went back to eating calmly.

"That's... Nice," Lucia commented. "How'd that happen?"

If I was able to be hostile, I would've told Lucia it wasn't her business. Unfortunately, my sense of hostile attitude was still basically non-existent.

"Oh, it's Amphitrite's new Transformation that she got from the tree!" I said exuberantly.

"So the tree gives TFs?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Yeah," I admitted.

"Cool," Annabeth said, then she started eating again.

Once we'd all finished our food, Rachel robotically pulled her second apple out, then she started eating it. As soon as she finished eating the apple, I could feel what her new TFs were.

Apollo Paean: One of the healing aspects of the Greek god. Rachel now has a rejuvenating aura. (51.5%)

Lester Papadopoulos: The mortal alias of the Greek God, servant of Meg McCaffrey. Rachel is now compelled to call Perseus "Master." (48.5%)

"Why'd you get two?" I asked. "They said to pick 1 of 3, not 2."

"The Audience couldn't decide which one they liked more, I guess," Rachel said.

"Huh," I said, intrigued, then I stood up. "Well, I'll be going then."

"Perseus, can we have our Date in two hours?" Amphitrite asked.

"Of course," I said. "See you at the Date Hall."

Two hours later, I went to meet Amphitrite at the entrance to the Date Hall.

Amphitrite was waiting for me in front of the Date Hall, biting her nail nervously.

As soon as she saw me, she smiled and walked up to me. "Perseus, I am so so sorry about the mess that happened at lunch, I didn't know that would happen."

"It's fine," I laughed. "I found it funny after the effects wore off. How does it work anyways?"

"That's the thing," Amphitrite said. "It's like a skill. Currently, I can only do something similar to lunch, with my aura reaching 30 meters beyond me. But I can feel it in my bones that if I practiced the skill, I'd be able to control how it works, and how far it goes."

"Nice!" I said. "Where are we going for our Date?"

"Well, that'll ruin the surprise," Amphitrite said with a smirk, then she went through the door.

I stared in shock for a moment, then I rushed through the door, only to be utterly surprised.

As I observed the underwater city in all its splendor, I heard a **** sound, and I looked behind me.

Amphitrite was yelling in a panic, and she was unable to breath the water.

In a panic, I made an air bubble around her, and she sighed in relief, then she tried swimming, but she didn't know how to swim as a human.

"Carry me!" She said, her voice muffled.

"Really?" I asked, but she couldn't seem to understand me.

I sighed and held her in a princess carry, then she guided me to a restaurant.

I let go of her, then I made all the water leave the building, turning the underwater restaurant into an air filled restaurant, then I dried us up.

"Finally," Amphitrite said. "Not understanding you was getting boring."

"I only spoke once," I said roughly. "Why did you choose Atlantis as our Date?"

"Well, for one, I barely know anything about your side of the planet," Amphitrite said, then she looked sheepish. "I also wanted to test my theory."

I looked at her angrily. "And that theory was worth risking your life?"

"You saved me, didn't you?" Amphitrite asked. "And relax, the Fates wouldn't have let me die either."

I looked away, my jaw set, and Amphitrite understood.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know that's what happened."

"It's not your fault," I said simply. "Like you said, you couldn't have known."

"It still is my mistake, and I do apologize for that," Amphitrite said. "Either way, let's move past my accidental reenactment of my own ****, and talk about what we learned from this."

"What did we learn from this?" I asked.

"First, it seems like we're mortal recreations of ourselves," Amphitrite said. "All of us except for you, at least."

"I don't think that's what it is," I said. "I think it's close, but I think there's more to it. I think it has to do with how the Fates recreated you out of your Threads."

Amphitrite looked thoughtful. "Hmm, something to do with our lives... And our Weaves... Oh! Combining the creation of Prometheus with the Threads of our lives turned us into having demigod-like bodies!"

"That's probably the most plausible explanation we can get to right now," I said. "Except maybe the Ambrosia we've been getting daily is making us stronger than the typical demigod, —"

"— making our Ascension to godhood light work!" Amphitrite finished. "That is educating, hopefully we don't accidentally reveal that because of me again."

"It wasn't your fault," I said simply.

Amphitrite sighed. "Even though it's my date, I sure am making a lot of mistakes, aren't I?"

"What am I supposed to say to that?" I asked.

Amphitrite laughed. "There's nothing you can say, I suppose. I'll only ask for one comfort. Do you blame me in either of these situations?"

"Nah," I shrugged. "It's just one of those situations."

"I'm glad, then," Amphitrite said. "Is there anything you wanted to ask me?"

I thought for a moment. "I did want to know how your new Transformation worked."

"Ah, yes," Amphitrite nodded. "Today, when I thought of using my powers, the hostility within the room felt like a stormy sea. When I activated it, I just turned the waves into a still pond."

"So the visualization of your powers had to do with the sea," I said thoughtfully, then I shrugged. "Annabeth would be able to understand what that meant."

Amphitrite looked hesitant. "Speaking of Annabeth... We need to talk about your mother."