I DO NOT OWN THE PJO/HoO SERIES! THAT BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN!!!

Chapter 6

The next morning, Celeste wandered about the palace with no destination and a carefree attitude.

"Hey." A voice came from behind her.

She turned and saw Nora. She was smiling faintly. She held a crumpled up piece of paper in her hands.

"I found this in your bags. Not sure if you wanted it or not..." Nora shifted uneasily.

Celeste gave her friend a confused look and took the paper. It was crumpled up, wrinkled, but surprisingly still readable. It must've been some magic since they were underwater and the words should've been blurred.

She recognized the sloppy handwriting immediately. It was written in blue crayon and the date on it was her birthday-her fourth birthday.

Celeste choked back a cry.

It was a birthday card from Percy.

How had she not seen this?

'Der Celeste, im sory bout de spelin. Mom told me how tu spel your nam. I jus wanted tu sa hapi birfda. U r de best sis eva. I lov u. Lov, Percy.

P.S. Mom helped wif mi nam tu.'

Celeste smiled and rolled up the paper. The crayon scribbles murdered her dyslexia, but she could read it nonetheless.

"Thank you." Celeste mumbled.

Nora nodded and placed her hand on Celeste's shoulder. "Come on, let's go exploring. Shall we?"

Celeste smirked, placed the note in her blouse pocket, and swam off after her friend who was already halfway out the door.

•••

Celeste followed Nora through the beautiful groves of coral, smiling and speaking to the fish.

The water was a relieving feeling and swimming made her feel free. However, the feeling of being watched never left her.

Nora stopped in front of her and turned around with a bright smile. "Ok, so, I found this amazing cave with these beautiful crystals! I can't resist shiny stuff, and it's amazing! Wanna come?"

Celeste pondered. "I don't know. My dad doesn't like us venturing off too far."

Nora's smile wavered but it instantly melted back into her normal sharp toothed smile.

"It's close to the surface. There's a certain apartment building you can see into." Nora winked.

Celeste's heart almost stopped. "Percy!?"

"Well, you can't go see him, but you can see him from a distance. Only if you want to of course." Nora said.

Celeste thought about the pain that might inflict in her if she saw her brother again. Would he look any different? What had he been doing for the past year that Celeste hadn't been there to see? And why didn't he remember her?

"So, you want to?" Nora asked.

Celeste blinked. "Uh, yeah. Of course!"

Nora smiled and grabbed Celeste's wrist. She flicked her tail and swam off with Celeste in tow.

You have the ability to kill...to destroy...to rule...

Celeste blinked hard.

No.
This stupid nightmare clone of hers would not haunt her. It was a stupid dream. It meant nothing.

Nothing.

But why did it feel so real? So true? As if she couldn't control herself. Her movement felt distant, her thoughts scattered, what if...

She blinked. What had she just thought?

"Celeste. We're here." Nora exclaimed with glee.

Celeste shook her head in confusion and then smiled up at her friend. The cave truly was beautiful. It sparkled with jewels and crystals of various colors.

A bright glowing blue one caught her eye and she swam towards it. Her fingers wrapped around the crystal and she felt the warm hum of life.

"What are these?" Celeste asked.

Nora rubbed a yellow crystal hanging from the cave ceiling and smiled with ease.

"No one knows. They're said to give energy and hope to the creatures of the sea. The children of Poseidon." Nora explained.

"Children?" Celeste asked incredulously.

"What? You think you're the only child of Poseidon?" Nora said with a laugh. But it died just as soon.

"Technically you and your brother shouldn't be alive. A prophecy. Poseidon broke the rules and had a child. Two in fact. I'm surprised the gods haven't tried to kill you two yet." Nora muttered.

"Unless they don't know about us." Celeste mumbled in shock.

Nora whirled. "Don't be ridiculous! Lord Poseidon would never lie to the court of the gods!"

"Are you sure?" Celeste asked, suddenly not trusting her father.

Nora's brow creased. "Of course. He is a savior. Took me in as an orphaned merchild. I owe him my life and I worship him."

Celeste smiled. "Well, that's you. Now, can we see Percy?"

Nora's mouth twitched into a line. "Yes, of course."

The demon returned in Celeste.

Kill the weak. Kill her.

"No." Celeste ground out loudly.

"No?" Nora asked.

"Nothing. Ignore me, let's go." Celeste said.

Nora frowned and than swam off. Celeste followed and couldn't help but notice as her hand brushed another crystal, it turned dark and the warm him of life instantly turned into the cold darkness of death.

She had killed again.

•••

Poseidon hated meeting with the other gods. The secret of Percy and Celeste constantly gnawed at the back of his thoughts.

He remembered what had happened to Zeus's child, Thalia. He wouldn't let that happen to his children.

Why did he have to be so careless? Sally was beautiful, but he just went on and forgot about the prophecy and put Percy and Celeste at risk.

Celeste was already strangely powerful for her age. And the affair with Night...oh an even worse mistake than Sally.

The goddess child Night had conceived had also gone a secret, but the child had disappeared. It worried the god of the sea everyday, and he had a strange sense it had to do with Celeste.

"Brother, what do you think?" Zeus asked.

Poseidon snapped out of his thoughts. He turned to face The Lord of the sky, also his brother. "Yes, well. It depends. This prophecy, as all of them are, is very vague. I don't think we ever will know who will be the demigod child to either save Olympus or end it. As we all know, there are no living children of either you, me, or Hades. But as we all know, prophecies cannot be changed. It's the set future."

Zeus nodded solemnly. "Yes, I know."

"There may be no living children of you three. Unless someone's lying." Hermes blurted.

Zeus turned red. "You dare out blame on us, Hermes?"

Lightning struck outside.

Hermes sighed. "No. I'm just saying. Maybe it's Hades for all we know. It's not hard to hide a demigod child especially if they don't know they're a demigod."

Zeus blinked and turned to Poseidon. "We should interrogate Hades, make sure he isn't hiding anything."

Poseidon nodded. "Yes, of course."

Celeste, Percy, and Kayla's faces flashed across his mind.

"I'll make Hades talk."

And he left the room with a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He had to do something. And fast.