Falling Through Portals

Out and About

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Percy cursed. He had been so surprised at the touch that the emotion had triggered his power and the ocean responded. With a flick of his wrists he used the water to pull him over to where the guy had landed. Percy didn't stop cursing all the way there. He had no idea how high the guy had gone but he prayed that it wasn't fatal.

Soon he was at the guy's side and Percy looped an arm around the guy's chest and pulled them both to shore. Percy was gasping with effort as he tried to carry the guy onto the beach. He was so heavy. Percy only managed a few feet before dropping him. He quickly checked for a pulse, it was there. after a quick decision Percy decided not to use mouth to mouth first of all because he was not certified and only saw movies of people doing it and secondly because he really didn't want to go there. Percy kneeled next to the guy and held his hand out over the guy's weirdly hairy chest. He was not very good at detailed and fine tasks where his control of water was concerned. If someone needed a huge tidal wave then Percy could do that, ask him to bring water out of someone's lungs ... that was a whole different ball game.

His hair and pants were stuck to his skin because he had decided to let the water touch him.

Percy focused. He had to do this. He pictured lungs full of water and then imagined the water going through many fine tubes and up his esophagus. He pictured the water in his mouth. Percy felt a tug in his abdomen and the guy's mouth dropped open and water had filled it. Percy turned the guy's head to the side and the water spilled out onto the sand.

But he didn't start breathing.

"Come on," Percy prompted, he didn't know what else to do. Fear had filled him, he couldn't be the reason he died.

Then suddenly the guy sucked in a huge breath and his eyes flew open. Percy let go of a breath that he didn't know that he had been holding and leaned back on his hunches. The guy sat up right and coughed dryly.

"You okay?" Percy asked. The guy looked over at Percy and blinked.

"Did you just . . .?" the guy began.

"Yes," Percy said, "Please keep it on the down low, sorry about that by the way." The guy was gaping at him.

"You made me fly like twenty meters into the air!" the guy yelled. Percy was thrown off by him talking about meters. Was the metric system in place already? Time was weird.

"You scared me," Percy said. The man blinked.

"I scared you?"

"Yeah," Percy said, "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I was relaxing in the water."

"That's what you were doing? I thought you were drowning!"

"Yea, I get that a lot," Percy couldn't count how many times campers and tried to save him thinking that he was some helpless camper drowning, only to get close and find out it was Percy.

"Oh," was all the guy said. "What's your name then?"

"Percy, you?"

"Kristoff," the guy said. Percy nodded, so this was Anna's boyfriend. Percy stood and offered Kristoff a hand which he took and they stood. "Nice tattoo," Kristoff remarked. Percy glanced at his arm, he thought of Camp Jupiter and when he had been named Praetor. A nostalgic smile played on his face remembering how put out Octavian had been on that day. "What does it mean?"

"Oh, well this is a trident, obviously, and this tally mark is for my first year of service. Then the SPQR means 'For the Senate and People of Rome,'" Percy told him. It was a good reminder to himself. A pang in his stomach twitched as he wished for home.