We bankrupt Neptune

I could see nothing. It was pitch dark in the cave. I walked around flailing my hands swooshing away the air in front of me.

Ughhh I wish I had some light!

Instantly my whole body started to glow. Woah, I can glow! Not bad. I acknowledged my own talent, examining myself for a while.

"Ahem," a deep voice spoke.

I looked up with a jolt. What I saw was... Wait. *telepathically connects to Rick Riordon (God of trolls) 'Is it possible for me to describe this powerful being to my readers without getting them disintegrated?'

No reply. I guess that's a no. Sorry people.

What I saw was a God in his true form (which I'm not going to describe) sitting peacefully in padmasana on a rock or something.

"Are you Varuna?" I asked.

"I am," he said. "The mighty God of ocean, Varuna. I am the guardian deity of the western direction. I am rain. I am Satya (truth), Rt---"

"Yeah I know that. Now, what do you want?" I blurted, rolling my eyes.

He stared at me. He opened his mouth again to speak, "Rta (justice)."

I waited for him. "Okay?" I replied. "Now that you have probably finished your introduction what do you want from me?"

He stared at me again. This time it went on forever. His gaze seemed to be distant. As if he wasn't only looking at me but exploring in my thoughts. "What?" I fumbled.

He calmly got up from his position, transforming into a human figure. He wore professional clothes, like a businessman. His brooding expression terrified me slightly. He lifted his chin up, "What do you offer," He said, "Delilah?"

Offer? I have nothing.

"I don't understand."

"Where is it?" He growled. "Give it back to me!"

I looked at him, terrified. "I don't have anything that belongs to you."

A small snicker escaped his mouth followed by a short laugh. "A century has passed," his smile wavered. "We still have eternity to live. But someone here," he smirked, "doesn't."

He looked behind him, where a cage appeared that wasn't there before. My eyes widened to their fullest. I ran towards it, where Aaron lay. But midway between him and me, I got thrown away by some invisible force. I landed a few meters away. I gaped at my son. He wasn't moving. Why wasn't he moving?!

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" I screamed.

"So you really don't know, huh." He blabbered.

"YOU THINK?" I shouted, scowling.

His smile returned. "Once upon a time, there lived a happy happy God. One fine day, a meeting among the Gods of the sea was held to discuss about the newly born Goddess's control over water. Unfortunately the happy happy God wasn't very good with time. He arrived at the meeting a little late..." He stared at me with grudge in his eyes. "Neptune said it would be great to hand over the happy god's domain to the new Goddess, since he arrived late proving he was not serious about sea politics. His domain was then forcefully taken away from him. And I lived unhappily ever after. Excuse is it, to expand your own territory! Your father, that idiot convinced everyone into it!" His expression was furious.

"So, the Indian ocean belongs to me?" I asked.

"Yes and no."

"But Neptune is not my father."

"I don't care! Give me my territory back at once, or see this kid die."

I gulped. How was I going to do that? Sign a contract? Beg to Neptune? What was I supposed to do?

"I'm sorry. I don't want to take your domain. You can have it back," I confessed.

"I am glad you wish to do so," he said, "but what about your stupid father who wishes the opposite? Can you bring him into agreement before midnight?"

I had no clue. Now what? I breathed, "Okay! I will make him agree."

I imagined Neptune. Actually I just imagined Poseidon with Roman armour and a very serious look. I felt myself lose weight again as I drifted off in thin air.

~

My feet softly landed on a concrete floor. I found myself standing behind a pillar. There were many pillars.

I slowly and steadily studied my surrounding. It was a big room almost a hundred times Percy's apartment's size. The pillars only stood by the sides. The centre area was totally empty. At the far end of the temple, there he was! Just like I imagined.

I considered going up to him and start talking straight away. But that would bring up one big doubt: How did I get into the temple? And then he would call his security who would force me out before I could tell them who I was. Romans are fast to act. But I had to find a way. Ugh I can't think of anything! This is where I usually fail Athena. Whenever it comes to thinking, my brains stop responding, like getting an error box on your computer. I would be clueless not only about the future but also about what I had learnt before.

I felt something on my right shoulder. Through the corner of my eye I saw a hand. I was about to scream when the person swiftly turned me one eighty degrees and put a palm on my mouth. I sighed of relief. It was Hermes. He took his hand away.

"I guess..." I whispered, "Now everyone on Olympus knows."

"Are you kidding? We knew it from the beginning," Hermes snickered.

I scowled. "What? Did Dionysus tell?"

"Uh no. Actually nobody told him. We like to play such games on him," he smiled.

"Zeus knows too?"

"Let's talk about that later. First, I am here to help you. You know what to do?"

I shook my head.

"As always," he put his hands on his hips.

I shrugged.

He carefully took a look around. "There," he said pointing towards Neptune where he was peacefully snoring on his throne. "You see that little spherical ball he has on his crown? I guess we are gonna borrow it for a while."

"What? You mean, steal it? Father, can't we just talk to him?" I half whispered half yelled.

"My plan is so better than yours," he said completely poker faced.

"But he'll know!" I urged.

"Of course he'll know, so what?"

"We can sit and have a nice long chat."

"Time?"

"Okay, then a nice short chat."

"Aaron."

"Screw this! Let's steal it."

"There you are, daughter of Hermes!" He smiled.

"Count this as the last time I'll be thieving, ever. I still am against it in the long run," I clarified.

"Haha, we'll see."

We dodged past pillars by pillars, until we reached to where Neptune was slouching on his throne.

We ducked behind the throne. "Go!" Hermes mouthed.

I took a breath in. I can do it. I can do it.

"I can't," I pleaded.

"You have to. I can only advice you Delilah. I'm not allowed to help otherwise. This is your call."

I saw confidence in his eyes. He knew I could do it. I had to do it. Alright! I will do it.

I walked in front of the throne. I stepped on the pedestal and tried to reach for his crown. But it was still out of reach for my fourteen year old hands. I put my right foot on the armrest and the other one kept flailing in air as I tried to stretch my left hand as far as possible while using the other for balance. My hand hardly reached the crown. I tried to grab the ball. But before I could do that, I lost balance kicking Neptune in the midriff. I grabbed the crown in time, before I fell to the ground. He woke up with a start.

Schist! I tried to crawl my way to Hermes, before Neptune could spot me. Too late...

"What? Thief!" The sea god yelled. "Give me my crown back!"

With one look from my father I knew what I had to do. I stood up and ran in full speed. Neptune blasted waves of sea water from thin air on me. I managed to palm them away. But they got more violent. I found Hermes catch up with me. He was holding a trident. Wait what?

"Why did you steal the trident?" I yelled.

"He was blasting you with huge waves. So I grabbed it too!"

I noticed the waves were now less violent. "That is very thoughtful of you dad. But this only creates more problems!" I yelled.

"Just run!" He yelled back.

We stormed out of the temple. Uh oh. There were armed guards everywhere. They looked anything but human. It was like they were made out of water. "Now what?!"

"Just keep running!"

We dodged a few of them. Some fired arrows at us. We dodged them too.

"Hold up," I said. I willed the sky to obey me. The weather was sunny yet I wanted it to storm. With all my concentration and might I commanded lightning to blast the guards away. I did not expect much, but the lightning not only blasted the guards to water but also the ceiling of Neptune's temple.

"Wow!" Said Hermes.

"What? They were obstructions."

We ran into a forest. When we thought it was safe to stop we were already way into the jungle. We collapsed at the foot of a pine tree. The sun was already down.

Hermes noticed the crown in my hand.

"You just had to get the little shiny ball, you know," he mentioned.

"It was out of reach!"

Hermes giggled.

"What is it?" I asked out of breath.

"This is the best thievery I have ever done!" He exclaimed, gesturing to the crown and trident.

"It is not funny."

"We are the best team!"

"No we are not," I complained.

Hermes shrugged.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked, pointing at the trident.

"I don't know. You want it?"

"Nah, we'll return it along with the crown later."

I stood up. Anyway, thanks!"

He smiled. "Good luck!"

I got myself teleported back in the cave.

This time there was no one. "Varuna?" No reply.

"I have brought what you had lost."

I tripped on something and the next second I know I wasn't in the cave anymore. I landed hard on a rock surface. Waves were clashing on it. It was the middle of the Indian Ocean. The surrounding was all foggy. The breeze was tough. The huge piece of rock had only a few square meters of horizontal surface area to stand on. (Whoa, my inner Athena is showing).

"Gimme it," someone said. Oh silly me. Of course it is Varuna. I squinted to see where he was, though the fog and the dark wouldn't let me. I found him sitting in padmasana on another rock meters away from mine. (Man! Why is he always in that position?) He had a silver glow surrounding him. The water between us was dark. Too dark.

I fiddled with the crown in my hands, plucking the ball off. I twisted it open. There were small crystals inside. I ran through the names marked on them. "There," I whispered to myself, holding the crystal named 'Indian Ocean'.

"Hey!" I shouted over the wind. "Where is Aaron?"

"Give me it first," he replied.

"I don't trust you."

"And why should I trust you anyway."

"I promise on River Styx I'll give it to you if you return my son to me."

"Well then, I will give you Aaron if you return me my former territory. I swear it on the River Vaitarna."

"The what?"

"River Vaitarna. It is the Indian equivalent of river Styx, you uncultured yoonaanee!"

"Excuse me?"

Varuna spread his arms, "Yoonaanee means Greek! Literally, why am I teaching Hindi to a hundred year old kid."

"I'm a hundred and TWO! And don't give me that attitude. I am not here to learn Indian anyway."

He gasped. "Shiv Shiv Shiv Shiv Shiv..." He produced a Rudraksha mala from thin air and started chanting stuff. He then did some funny moves. Finally after a good five minutes of chanting and dancing he sighed. He looked at me with stormy eyes, "IT IS HINDI. NOT INDIAN!"

"Oh."

"Now give me that thing, you yoonaanee!"

I imitated his stupid expression before I tossed him the little crystal. The waves grabbed it. Varuna cracked a short laugh. "Thank you!" He exclaimed.

"Give me Aaron now," I said hastily. For some reason my heart started to pace.

"Sure! There he is," he said pointing at the top of a huge cliff I hadn't noticed until now. The cube was gone. Aaron lay there alone on the grass. He still wasn't moving.

"Let's see if you can fight a kirtimukha to save him."

"What?" I yelled. "You promised!"

"Silly Goddess. I did not say 'return him alive'!"

My world started to spin the wrong way. I was terrified. Out of it all, WHY DID I HAVE TO BE SO STUPID!

"A century I have suffered! I won't let you go so easily," He laughed.

"Until then," Varuna continued. "Have fun!" He dived into the water, leaving me alone on the rock, with Aaron and Kirtimukha on the cliff. The colours on my face drained away. "No," I said to the night wind.

Suddenly, the water below me started to glow. Splashing and splooshing, a school of fish monsters came targeting right at me. Styx! I was alone against so many. Besides, what were they? I had never seen them before, nor was my Wikipedia of a brain responding to them. My heart skipped beats. I commanded the water to help me. But it won't! By the Gods, the Indian Ocean was not under my control anymore. I fell to my knees.

The fish started chomping on my rock.

Hephaestus's hand grenades! They eat rocks! Why?! I had to do something real quick before these monstrous rock eaters could swallow me whole.

It began to pour. Through the corner of my eye I saw the air shimmer. Out of nowhere three people showed up in mid-air above the Indian Ocean. Oh lord, I have never been happier to see demigods. High five to the fates! Instantly gravity pulled them down. But the son of Poseidon was fast to react. He manipulated the water to lift them all onto the other rock before the monstrous fishes could get them. Nico fell unconscious on the rock, probably because of shadow travelling around the planet in such little time. Annabeth and Percy were in full battle mode. Without a word Percy charged into the water. The water seemed to obey him well. Not fair!

At this instant, the rain got pointier. It was attacking us with droplets equivalent to spears, making it hard to look up. Varuna was doing it! He wanted to make the job more difficult. He wanted to take revenge. He knew it was pointless to hurt me, since Neptune was his real opponent. But at this moment he was a wreck. Varuna wanted Aaron to die. By which he wanted me to suffer.

Annabeth gasped looking at the cliff. "There is an Ouroboros, with Aaron," she yelled over the wind.

"It is Kirtimukha not Ouroboros," I said.

"Whatever, let's go!"

With that, Annabeth started climbing the huge cliff like a monkey. I only gaped at her. She was fast!

I had to get up there too. But how? Unlike Annabeth I did not have a monkey mode. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I was good at nothing! I looked at the top of the cliff with rage in my eyes. The next moment I remember I saw Aaron lying on the grass, Kirtimukha in front of him.

Whoa! When did I climb the cliff?!

The monster hissed at me. It was a serpent with huge fangs. I mean HUGE. It looked like it was thinking about how to cook Aaron for dinner.

Not today! I thought, as I charged into battle.