The Gift of the Lethe

Ascending From the Depths

It doesn't take long after pulling the crystal from the brine pool for Percy's father to appear, his attention immediately narrowing in on the crystal. He glances at Percy.

"This is the stasis crystal without a doubt. Where was it?"

Percy points at the brine pool. "It was pretty deep in there. Only the very top was emerging from the brine and even then, I only saw it because I got lucky."

Poseidon scowls. "I underestimated the cleverness of the Labryinth. It hid her right on the edge of my senses, where I wouldn't think to look."

Percy frowns. As much as he appreciates the transparency, his father is never this open. Never. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I may have to present a strong front to the rest of my family, but the sea can be gentle just as much as it can be dangerous. I don't need to show only one side here, with you." Poseidon's gaze drifts back to the crystal lying in the mud and a small smile appears. "Shall we get her out of her once and for all?"

Percy grins. "Yes!"

"I can lift her, but I won't be able to keep an eye on the stability of the crystal while moving her. Stasis crystals aren't meant to be transported like this, even when they are used the proper way. And with her having been inside it for this long, I don't trust the crystal right now."

All Percy can do is nod. "I can do that."

Poseidon lifts his hands, pulling the crystal up from the seabed in a whirl of water. It wobbles for a heartbeat before stabilizing, rising higher and higher from the seabed.

~~~

The process of carrying the stasis crystal from the abyss is painstaking. Percy doesn't know how long, exactly, they've been carrying it, but it's been several hours at the least, even with his father speeding up the process. If Percy was doing this with his powers alone, he doesn't think he'd be able to make it anywhere near this far. Sure, he may be strong, but his powers aren't bottomless. He looks up towards the surface.

Light glimmers high above but he can see it, so they must be into the epipelagic zone. That leaves them what, no more than two hundred meters from the surface? So they've risen at least four thousand meters, probably closer to five. So not much longer, at least. A heartbeat later he notices a shift in their path from straight up to an angle. In the distance, Percy can sense the seafloor slope up, growing shallower.

They must be moving back towards the shore. He frowns. They aren't near a shoreline. They are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, too far north to be anywhere near the Hawaiian Island chain. So where are they going? It doesn't take long for him to find out as they approach a seamount, a sprawl of limestone gracing the top of it to form a city and a palace. Percy would have thought this was his father's palace, but he's been there. That's in the Atlantic, and it's not in the sunlit zone.

"Where are we going?"

"Triton's palace. It's the closest. If we must, we can move Nadia after she's out of the crystal, but not before."

"Will Triton be okay with this?"

"He doesn't get a choice. This is too urgent of a matter to relocate. If he isn't comfortable, then we will limit the time Nadia stays here. But she must be woken and it has been long enough since she has been in this world."

If Percy's internal clock is any good at judging time, then it takes them perhaps five more minutes to reach the palace. Once inside, Poseidon carries Nadia's stasis crystal down a winding path through the corridors, finally coming to a stop in a room that quickly clears at a glance from him. It's an infirmary, the healers that were bustling about a few heartbeats before now gone.

Poseidon lowers the stasis crystal to one of the cots and swims forward to rest his hand against it. With a slight push against its surface and a flicker of power that ripples through the room, two things happen. First, the crystal begins to glow. Second, the music that had been guiding Percy for the past week and a half stops entirely, leaving him in silence.

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How do you think Triton will react to them hijacking his palace infirmary? What will Nadia be like when she wakes? Tell me your thoughts!

Also, do you want me to do a character chapter like in my other books?

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out