Chapter 11-The Children of Water
Ronny and Lily made sure that the others were still alive. Everyone was breathing. When Lily took Nico's pulse he weakly grabbed her wrist. She looked into his eyes.
"You came back," Nico said. She smiled.
"Of course I did, I'll always come back," Lily said. Nico smiled.
"The border is broken!" Ronny shouted from outside the barrier. Lily looked over her shoulder.
"Awesome!" She yelled, "Ronny, could you go get the Pegasusi?" Ronny nodded and started across the open field where the other Pegasusi were. Speaking of Blackjack came over next to Lily.
You okay Miss? Blackjack asked, That lady was a creepy one.
"Yea," Lily responded, "I am okay, could you watch for trouble? I have a feeling that without that border monsters will be able to sense us." Blackjack nodded.
You got it Little Miss, he said trotting over to the pile of rubble that use to be the border. She turned back to Nico.
"Nico? Are they my siblings?" Lily asked, worry and fear obvious on her face.
"I don't know," Nico said honestly, "I know they are half siblings to each other." Lily frowned.
"Yes they are," said a deep but kind voice behind her. Lily's heart beat sky rocketed. No, it couldn't be. . . She thought. One glance at Nico's stunned face and she knew.
In one movement Lily turned and stood up. She faced a tall man with kind green-blue eyes who had black hair, tanned skin, and a fishing shirt.
"You," Was all Lily could say. Nico turned away trying to give them privacy for this moment.
"Hello my daughter," the man responded. At that moment Max and Jaimie both had glowing tridents above their motionless bodies. Lily swallowed uncomfortably.
"Why are you here?" Lily asked.
"Lil-" he began but Lily cut him off.
"Don't say my name, you haven't been here enough to say my name like you know me."
"Lily Mayflower," He Said with authority, "you may not tell your father what to do!" Lily dropped her head. "I very well will speak my daughter's name to her face!" She closed her eyes feeling tears coming on. He let them die, this man let her family die.
Suddenly strong arms and the familiar smell of the sea wrapped her in a hug. Lily nearly crumbled. As much as she wanted to push away from him because of all of the years he had not been there, she simple couldn't let herself deny the fatherly love she hadn't had in her life. Lily let him hug her, crying into his shirt. Poseidon rubbed her back soothingly.
"Where were you?" She asked between sobs.
"I was always with you," he said.
"You let her die," Lily said, "You let Jonny die-"
"Lily," Poseidon said sadly, "I couldn't cross the fates,"
"Did you love her?" Lily asked.
"Yes, of course I did," he replied softly.
"Do you love me?" She asked.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," Poseidon said.
He held her while she silently thought over it all. They stayed that way for many minutes. Poseidon finally let her go and cleared his throat.
"Lily you have a sister," Poseidon said, "her name is Max, and your brother is Jaimie," he told her looking at his son and daughter on the ground. "Max is a year older then you, Jaimie is two, and Percy is four."
"It's a lot to take in," Lily said.
"Yes I know, but I want you to know something before they wake up. When I first found out Jaimie was coming I knew I had to keep him from the eyes of my siblings. Then I came across Mother Frourá who said she would raise him unseen by my family and safe from monsters. I gave him to her for safety. I did the same with Max. But what I didn't know was that Mother Frourá fed off of their power and any other Demigods power." Poseidon truly looked vengeful, "when I found out I tried to get them back but she threatened to kill them if I crossed into her cabin.
"When I had you," he said lovingly, "I couldn't send you here, so I put a strong must on you as I did with Percy. But as the years went on it got thinner. Then during the first Great War the spell broke because I had to use all of my power. That was when you were attacked and had to go out alone." He stared into her eyes, "I didn't want to leave you unprotected, but I couldn't let Olympus fall. I truly am sorry," Poseidon said.
Lily looked at him and instantly forgave him. She couldn't hold a grudge against her dad for saving the world. Her family were casualties in a war. He had protected her. How could she not forgive him?
"I forgive you," she said, like that a weight lifted from her shoulders. A smile spread across his face. He gave her another hug.
"I wish I could say that things would change and that I could speak to you like this every day, but I can't. As gods we are not able to interact with demigods and be bias towards our children." He said with sadness. Lily nodded remembering percy telling her about that issue for all demigods.
Instead of going into detail he set out to explain to Lily how her siblings had ended up at this mystical cabin. According to the lord of the sea he had entrusted Mother Forurá with the duty of protecting Jaimie from his brothers. He would have done the same with Percy had there not been a prophesy at stake. But after Max was born and Poseidon had given her to Mother Forurá, mother Forurá had turned on them and began feeding off of the power that his children had. When poseidon went to make her stop, she threatened their lives. Poseidon backed off only after promising to take care of them on the River Styx. Poseidon explained that he knocked Lily out of the sky so that she could defeat Mother Forurá and set her siblings free. Lily was okay with that even though she had some unexpected skydiving lessons.
With a final hug and a kiss on her forehead, Poseidon departed telling Lily not to tell her siblings about his visit. When Lily objected Poseidon told her that he wanted to wait for their safe travel home.
When he was gone Lily stood staring at the space that her father had occupied only moments ago. Nico had passed out entirely about halfway through her conversation and Ronny had kept himself occupied with rubbing down the pegasi. She wouldn't be able to move any of them until they awakened. So she sat down on the grass. Her thoughts swirled. If her siblings were both sent away so that Poseidon wouldn't get into trouble with his family then why wasn't she? And if the only reason the same wasn't done with Percy was that he had a huge prophesy then what did that mean for her? Was she not sent away because the monster was feeding off of their power or because she had a prophesy over her head?
A shiver ran through her body. She tried not to think about it. Lily suddenly felt tired Like a Benedrill dose had just kicking in. She sighed. Ronny had given her back silver torrent, Lily opened the compact and tapped the trident. It sprang into a gleaming trident. She laid it across her knees. Then she scanned the area around them making sure they were safe.
As time went on her hands got anxious. They went to her collar bone where just below hung her tear drop trident necklace. She rubbed it between her fingers. Her thoughts turned to Nico. Glancing over at her friend. His dark hair fell into his eyes. Chest rising and falling signaling his breathing. She had been so scared that he was going to be stuck here forever. He was like a brother to her. Nico Di Angelo was as close to her as Percy if not closer. She would do anything for him. The thought of leaving him for good. . .
She shook her head. Setting her eyes forward she planned out in her head what she would tell Chiron when then got back to camp. Ronny wanted to go home, she sorted out, they would need to sort that out. Maybe his mom could come to Long Island and visit him outside the camp.
Lily hoped that this summer would be uneventful. Even though she had just received two new siblings she still wished for normal. The sarcastic part of her brain questioned what the true meaning of normalcy was and how it could possibly apply to a 14 year old demigod with water control.
Lily closed her eyes wishing to be on the beach, with the wind in her hair and waves crashing on her ankles and sand in her toes. Maybe walking with Nico.
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Going back to camp was shocking for everyone. None more then Percy. He was speechless for the first hour of walking around gawking with unbelieving expressions and pointing at his new siblings. He had conversations with passers by without speaking, he would point at his sister or brother, look at the person starstruck and then shake his head. When he finally spoke he looked up and yelled at the sky.
"Dad, next time send a post card to warn me before you send another sister or brother my way, thanks!"
But in the end everyone handled it very well. Max and Jaimie were both welcomed all around unlike Lily on her first week. They both gawked and listened intently to everything they were told, trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible. Annabeth gave them a test on school subjects. She confirmed what they hoped, both of them had been schooled while stuck in the cabin. OFCOURSE leo commented on this saying:
"Oh good, who cares if they had been imprisoned their entire lives, as long as they know their math and English," this got many laughs,
Ronny found his calling in the Hepheastus cabin and after a short call to his mom was ready to pound metal. With guidance Leo assured everyone that Ronny would be a professional bronze smith in no time.
Max and Lily hit it off after Max convinced Piper to cut her hair. Lily almost killed her sister for wanting to get a choppy pixi cut and loose her beautiful long black hair. Max countered asking if Lily wanted to be accidentally mistaken as twins. After laughing about it Lily agreed. When all was done Percy said that Thalia was coming back in the form of a little sister. In reality Max had much of the feisty spirit as Thalia possessed much to Percy's loving distaste.
Jaimie and Percy hit it off as well and they soon were a dangerous team with Leo and the Stoll's. That summer they were the scourge of all the campers. With oranges in the toilets, purple spray-painted pegasi , and lots of miniature pink elephants in the pavilion the boys were a menus but never closer.
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