It took us a little while to find a good mist source to make a rainbow to use. "Ready?" Percy asked as he manipulated the water to keep the steady spray going.
I raked my red/brown hair back and let out a deep breath. "Yeah. Let's try it."
I took a deep breath and let out a gust of air. It was strange talking into the mist but I think that it was harder because of who I was calling for. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow. I-I'd like to speak to-to Poseidon, please?"
"One moment, please," a cool female voice replied.
"Hello?" The voice that answered was deep and scruffy and full of power.
"Daddy!" Tyson yelled right in my ear.
The man looking back from the mist was large with dark hair and a scruffy beard. He was once again decked out in full fisherman's garb. "Tyson? Percy? Naida? What's wrong?"
"Hi," I muttered. I didn’t like asking for favors and after totally blowing him off in the cabin the night before I doubted that this was going to go well. "I-I’m sorry that I blew up at you before. The reason I called is because well- I mean- it’s just that... We, uh, well we need your help."
Poseidon nodded solemnly. "What can I do for you?"
I cleared my throat. I seriously hated asking anyone for anything but this was worse because he’d never even been a father to me. "Well, we're kinda stranded. Percy already tried calling for Blackjack but it looks like he’s too far out of range or something. We thought that maybe you could somehow send back the Pegasi."
He frowned. "I'm afraid that you will have to find a way to finish your quest without me. Gods aren't allowed to interfere. Didn't Percy tell you that?"
I glared over at my half-brother. "No, I guess he conveniently left that out."
Percy shrugged sheepishly. "It was worth a try."
"I do have a suggestion. There's a train that leaves in the morning. The Grey Sisters have started a new business."
"The who?" I mumbled stupidly.
"That rules out the Graeae. Dad-"
"Please insert another drachma to continue this conversation," the cool voice interrupted Percy. The mist dissolved and Poseidon was gone.
"Well that was a big waste of time," I complained. "What was the point of that, Percy?"
"For one now we have a way to get to Seattle. Second, Annabeth thought that it might be a good idea for you to talk to Dad."
Annabeth slapped his arm. "Sellout."
"Guys, that family stuff is cool and everything but we need a place to crash. And I'm hungry."
Grover dug through his bag again but I guess that he was out of aluminum cans.
"There's a forest all around us and the trees are thick enough to limit the snow. We brought camping gear so I guess that will just have to do."
We had a fire going and a couple of tents up, one for us girls and one for the boys. The tents were warmed with Greek fire so that we didn’t turn into popsicles while we slept. Annabeth was already in our tent curled up with a book. The boys were doing who knows what. I was outside by the fire warming myself by the flames. For being Poseidon's kid, I was actually quite the pyro. I just stared into the fire letting myself get lost in thought.
"Hey, are you okay?" Nico asked.
I jumped. "Oh, hey, you scared me. Yeah, I'm fine."
"I take it that you weren't expecting that stuff with your dad."
"I wasn't expecting anything from him. I really didn't want to talk to him in the first place but we needed some help. I’m not proud enough that I won’t admit when I need help."
"You’re doing fine, Naida. And you'll get used to the thing with your dad. I didn't want to get to know Hades, either, but I spend half my time with the guy. Things will work out for you, too."
I smiled up at him. Oh wow, he was so cute and totally sweet. Naida, don't do anything stupid.
"Thank you." I leaned up and pecked his cheek. I pulled away and my eyes widened. Yeah, that definitely fell under the category of stupid.

Notes

i love my readers and this chapter is special for tmcar1 and Thalia grace
on a happy note: my ratings went up a little again XD