"Come on, Martin! The aquarium closes at four!"

"I'm coming, let me find the passes!" Martin dug into the depths of his backpack as his ten year old brother grew more frantic. He glanced up to the clock on the wall- crap. It's 2:37! This realization made him dig quicker, before suddenly flipping his bag upside down, shaking out all of his week's homework onto the floor. Leaping from the edge of his bed, he knelt down and threw papers aside.. nada. "I thought they were right-…" He himself was beginning to grow upset, where the heck were the passes?!

He leapt to his feet, racing to their desk as Chris sat impatiently on the top bunk. He went through every drawer, bag, and cabinet in their room, even under the bed and between the mattresses.. all coming back empty handed. He let slip a heavy sigh, at this rate, the aquarium would be closed before he even found them…

His eyes slowly lifted to Chris, but as soon as he saw his little brother's brown eyes beginning to tear up, the older brother became invigorated. They will find those passes. He forced a light smile, a determined one at that.

"Help me look through the house, they have to be here somewhere."

Thankfully, that smile was at least a little calming, as Chris returned a worried smile to him before nodding and descending the ladder. They then searched the house, Chris taking up the kitchen while Martin carefully searched the living room. Once more, every drawer, under the couch, behind the tv even, and, as much as he hated to do it… even Mom's purse. And for nothing, they weren't in there either. He carefully put everything back where he found it.
No dice… well. Yes dice, but wrong dice (He'd found some lost dice from an introductory game of DnD a friend had given to him and his brother. He made a note to ask Kyle if he wanted them back).

"I FOUND THEM!" Chris's excited shout sounded from the kitchen before he darted out, laminated red cards in hand. Martin took them quickly, glancing over them to check that they were the right ones-
"Yes!" He couldn't hold his excitement back anymore, he dared a glance at the clock- 2:44! They still had time!
"Let's go! Race ya to the door!" He pocketed the passes, before racing towards the door, Chris hot on his heels. Lucky for the little guy, Martin remembered to leave a note in case Mom got off work early to see them missing. Went to the aquarium!

And then they were off, grabbing their bikes and racing, as siblings do, down the road on that misty day. They tore through puddles, and while Chris's clumsiness got his pants soaked to the knees, Martin knew how to slide right through the puddles, barely a speck on him. He'd always had this close connection with water, as much as Chris mildly envied his older brother's skill in maneuvering mud holes, he couldn't help but silently admit he was impressed that even with puddles as wide as a car, Martin still glided through them.

In fact, he had slipped into 'the zone'. Glancing back after periods of time to be sure his brother was keeping up, Martin was more engrossed in thoughts of what creatures may be out in the aquarium! Belugas, blue tangs, clown fish, maybe even a shark! He hadn't realized he'd been pedaling faster- and only stopped to a coast when Chris really began struggling to keep up.

The closer they got to the aquarium, the more it felt to tug on him, even after they arrived and checked in, he found himself making a beeline towards the closest tank. The water seemed to feel as if pulling him in, though he fought against it and stood straight, oh how he wished he could swim with the creatures. Just by merely watching them, their behaviors, how they interacted with others, he pieced together conversations in his head, relationships and alike. He could almost hear them.

"Let's go look at the sharks!" Chris nudged his older brother, abruptly snapping him from his awe before running off in the direction of the shark tank observation room.

"Chris, wait!" Martin spun on a heel and chased after him, nearly tripping over fallen weighted posts with rope stretched between, not realizing they were supposed to be standing.

As soon as he stepped into the room, he felt a sense of unease. Something wasn't quite right… a trepidation nearly smacked him right in the face as his brother stood a little too close to the glass…

His stomach twisted when he saw the cracks in it.

"Chris…"

His brother looked up just in time for a great white to race by the glass, startling the both of them as it curved to make another circle of the tank, a tiny splintering sound coming from the glass. The shark paused on the opposite side of the tank, eyeing that splintering glass as it ever so slowly began to leak.

Chris backed up next to Martin, whom was watching that shark like a hawk… it was hungry.. and tired of the shredded up garbage- he wouldn't repeat what the shark seemed to be thinking by mouth, especially not in front of Chris.

"We should tell the staf-"

As if on queue, the great white raced full speed ahead towards them, glass finally shattering under the pressure of massive water displacement by an angry white. Martin pulled his brother close, and as much as he willed his legs to run, he was frozen, a fearful hand held out towards the incoming surge of water, glass, and whatever that great white shark had in mind for them…

But none of it ever came? They had braced themselves for a flood and blood, but yet they remained dry… with the great white swaying in the edge of that water wall that had formed a mere two feet from his hand. Chris dared a look from his brother's chest first, staring to the shark for a second before seeming to look above him.

"W.. what's that..?"

Martin's eyes shot up, a glowing blue sphere was hovering over his head, with a dark blue fork-like symbol in the center… a trident? He stared up at this sphere for a moment before it suddenly faded, with just enough time for him to pull Chris- and himself- out of the way of the shark tail fin that had whipped around to smack them.

The shark spun around to make another attack, but slowed to a stop once more, looking past the brothers.

"Akheilos."

The brothers whipped around in terror, dreading the lecture they were about to get- would they loose their aquarium pass for this?!

A short haired woman stood there, in about as casual clothing as they wore, with boot cut jeans, long sleeve shirt and turquoise tipped hair. She.. didn't seem angry? She instead slowly began clapping with a sincere smile on her face.

"Bravo, Son of Poseidon. Fourteen years old and already facing off with the great Akheilos?" She laughed respectfully.

"Anyways, we should be going. The shatter caused quite a ruckus, people will be here any minute."

"W-we can't just leave them like this!" Chris spoke up, which was unusual, as Martin slowly nodded. That wall of water never dropped, stood firm. It knew its boundary and it would not pass it. The woman frowned for a moment, as if thinking, then nodded.
"Fair enough. If you can hold the wall for a little bit longer, I'll go drain the tank a little. Below the glass, at least."

Martin slowly nodded, before realizing he hadn't been paying attention to the water wall. The shark simply stared him down, now hesitant to attack now that the woman was there… was she his trainer?

Stay… He found himself thinking, willing the wall to remain still and standing, though the more he thought, the more it swayed, sunk, or lurched. He quickly learned the trick was to not stress about making it stand, but to simply- go with the flow? He slowly relaxed his mental pressure on the wall, smaller sharks seeming tempted to explore, he kept seeing flicks of tails beyond the lower ledge of the window, but they were intimidated by the great white.. Akheilos?

You are out of your league, Son of Poseidon. You are in my domain. Martin tensed as the deep voice whispered, glancing to Chris, whom stared straight at the beast with no reaction, then back. You are lucky, that is all. I do not feel like fighting a God again.

Akheilos… Martin dug in his memory for the name, it did sound familiar.

The water suddenly began to recoil into the tank, pulling the shark backwards with it.

We will meet again. It will not be pretty, Son of Poseidon.

"Aaaaand, now." the woman was back, just as the shark's head sunk below the ledge of the tank. The two brothers turned to her in a shocked silence.

She smiled. "My name is Tortigua. I am a satyr from Camp Half Blood and- … I have a lot to fill you in on, don't I?"