I looked at Michael, Bai, and Sara and said, "We'd better do as she says."
"But won't we drown if we do?" Bai asked looking worried and nervous.
"I don't think we will," I said looking at our blue hair. "If Poseidon is our father we won't
drown."
"But what if he isn't?" Sara asked looking scared. "A friend of mine drowned last
year."
"Well then I don't know," I admitted. "I don't think I'm wrong though and it sounds like
we live in Poseidon's palace so we should be safe."
"Are you sure?" Michael asked.
"Well I'm as sure as I can be," I said. I was almost absolutely sure that we'd be safe.
The woman did bring what she called hippocampi and I couldn't find any reason to not
believe her on that. I could see what appeared to be horses in the lake and they
hadn't been there before.
We walked out into the water and I found it strange that I didn't get wet. I could feel
the water but I didn't feel wet which just bolstered my confidence that we wouldn't
drown. I stopped walking and decided to do a little experiment. I concentrated on
making some of the water rise up and form a hand. There was a little pull on the core
of my being and the water reacted as I had wanted it to. Michael looked at it and
asked, "How did you do that?"
"Poseidon is our father now so we have control over water," I said with a smile. I
looked at the woman and said, "Though I think we need to hurry and follow that
woman. She doesn't look happy that I stopped to do my little experiment." The others
nodded their agreement looking braver than a few moments ago probably because
they weren't getting wet themselves and my little experiment.
Once we were on the hippocampi the woman turned the one she was on around and
dived below the surface. Our's followed and we were plunged into the depths of the
lake and through a cave. Sara had cried out when we went under but I held her hand
and that seemed to calm her down. There was no light to see by in the depths of the
lake and the cave but I could see in a sense. I could only guess that I was sensing
where the water stopped when it encountered some type of body. The hippocampi
were going pretty fast and our hair streamed out behind us. "This is weird," Sara said
sounded awed. "I can't see anything but I know where everything is."
"It's like echolocation," I said with a smile. "Instead of sending out sound waves though
we're using the water itself. I don't know how far we can sense objects in the water
though."
The salt content of the water had been increasing over the past few seconds and now
I thought that we had transitioned into the sea. After about an hour we exited the cave
and were riding over the sea floor, or I should say the ocean floor since I got the
sense it was bigger than a sea. After a few more minutes we arrived at a palace that
put every other palace to shame. It was massive made out of what looked like the
finest marble bejeweled with gold and gems. There was a light surrounding the palace
which made it easy to see and the light didn't hurt my eyes. We left the hippocampi in
the care of a mermaid and swam through the palace until we were in a throne room.
Sitting in two thrones made of marble were two beings that must have been at least
thirty feet tall. They had to be Poseidon and Amphitrite. They both wore chitons though
Poseidon only had it fastened over his right shoulder which exposed part of his
chiseled chest and it came down down to his knees. He did have long hair which was
blue and he was holding his trident. Amphitrite had her chiton fastened over both
shoulders and it came down to her ankles like ours. She smiled down at us as the
woman who brought us here kneeled and said, "We have returned my lord."
Poseidon nodded and said, "You are dismissed Hermione." Hermione bowed then
quickly left. Once she was gone Poseidon looked at us and said, "I would imagine you
have some questions. I will answer them as best as I can."
"Are you really our father now?" Michael asked not showing much respect.
"Show a bit more respect," I said glaring at Michael, "this is Poseidon. He could turn
you into anything or vaporize you where you stand if you upset him."
A look of fear came over the other's faces and the took a couple steps back. Poseidon
laughed and said, "You're right Anthea but I'll overlook a lack of respect for now. To
answer your question Nausikaa I am you're father now."
"How can that be... Father," Bai asked showing respect.
"When you drank the water I changed your lineage a bit Dike," Poseidon said with a
smile. "You still have the same mothers but I'm your father now. Which is why you
don't appear Chinese anymore."
"I must be Semele then," Sara said looking down.
"Yes and the youngest," Poseidon said. "Anthea is the oldest followed by Nausikaa
then Dike and lastly you Semele. All four of you are now demigods and being such
you'll have to train to fight."
"Did you bring us from our world Father?" I asked hoping that he did.
"Unfortunately I did not take you from your own world so I can not send you back,"
Poseidon said with a heavy sigh. "I can bring your families from your world to this one
though if that's what you wish."
"Why did you turn us into girls Father?" Michael, or I should say Nausikaa, asked.
"Anthea wanted to be a girl and I wanted you to be the same sex," Poseidon said
shrugging. "I know you can handle the transformation. Now I'm sure you're hungry so
we'll eat now."
Poseidon and Amphitrite stood up and shrank down until they were the size of normal
humans. Amphitrite then spoke for the first time saying, "I hope you girls will like it here
in the palace. I would like for you to stay here of course but you may want to stay in
the world of mortals. It's your choice of course but give living here a chance."
"I think I may like it here," I said as we followed Poseidon and Amphitrite to a dining
hall. "I'm assuming that this palace is at the bottom of a trench where mortals can't
reach it."
"You would be correct," Amphitrite said with a smile. "I'm sure you've already guessed
how we can be at this depth without being crushed."
"We subconsciously push the water back from us eliminating the crushing pressure we
would otherwise feel," I said looking at the mosaics of ancient battles and sea
creatures.
"That's right," Amphitrite said with a smile. "Now sit down and we'll have something to
eat."
We sat down and mermaids brought us platters of seafood. It was cooked and tasted
great. I guessed that as daughters of Poseidon we would naturally prefer seafood over
other food. We engaged in small talk learning things about each other and we learned
a little bit about how the sea is run. After we had finished eating Poseidon said, "I'm
going to give the four of you a choice. You can go to your room and rest and you'll
begin training tomorrow or you can begin training immediately. Which will you choose
to do?"