Daughter of the Sea God

Chapter 21

"I'm sorry," he apologized quietly.

"No, don't apologize, you're right... Maybe I did want to die," I muttered. Percy's expression changed once again, this time from apologetic to concerned.

"Do you need to talk to someone about this?" He asked gently, as if he was afraid to break me. I shook my head.

"No, I'm okay. I realize I was wrong now. I've still got a lot left to live for," I assured him. He nodded as the dinner horn sounded.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards the door. I nodded and we stood, leaving the cabin and heading to the dining pavilion, swept along with the other campers.

We sat down at the Poseidon table just in time for Chiron's mini-speech. He gave the usual speech, reminding us not to sit at any other cabin's tables, and a few couples quickly split up, causing me to chuckle softly. I quickly sobered up as he got to everyone's least favorite part of the speech: the deaths. Luckily, there had only been one death today but it was still sad. Everyone was a family here at camp, and when one of us died, all of us were effected.

Finally Chiron reached the end of his speech and introduced Peyton, who jumped up, waving and grinning. I rolled my eyes, muttering under my breath.

"Peyton, you idiot."

"You know the new kid?" Percy inquired as Peyton was pulled back into his seat and Chiron finished his speech. I nodded.

"I was the one who brought him back," I shrugged, focusing on my plate and thinking about two pieces of pizza and root-beer, one of my favorite lazy day meals.

"Okay you need to explain what happened after the Underworld," Percy laughed as we got up and walked to the brazier. I threw in a slice of pizza and Percy scraped in some of his meal (some blue thing? Percy's eating habits were still strange to me) before we both sat back down, digging in. I finished half my pizza before starting my story.

"Well, Nico was with me, which is how we got there, and since I had told Chiron I was going to see my mom, he didn't want me to be a liar so we went to Florida," I paused, seeing Percy shudder, probably at some memory of my home state. "He crashed on the couch as I caught up with my mom and when he was all good we left. But y'know, two big three kids together attracts monsters and we got cornered by a dracaena. Nico got hurt protecting me, and there was some poison on the blade, so he was down for the count. I killed it and managed to get Nico to shadow travel again, but we didn't make it all the way through and ended up in the Underworld again. We ran into Mrs. O'Leary, and she got us out but somehow we ended up in Seattle, in his backyard," I recounted, gesturing to Peyton. "I got him to drive us to the beach and dad showed up, healed Nico, and took us here," I finished, feeling out of breath. Percy stared at me for a moment before laughing.

"Wow, we Poseidon kids have some rotten luck. At least now I know I'm not the only one," he guffawed. I rolled my eyes, eating the last of my pizza.

"Yeah, well, I guess I was a bit lucky to run into him," I nodded in Peyton's direction. "Probably would still be stuck in Seattle with a dead Nico without him."

"Guess I have to like him for saving my little sis," Percy grinned, hugging me to his side.

"Percy~" I whined, pushing him off me. He pouted playfully.

"Aw, you don't love me anymore?" He sniffled.

"No, no, of course I do," I backpedaled, hugging him, causing him to laugh again.

Dinner ended shortly later, Percy and I being some of the last to leave, since we were catching up. Before we knew it, it was time for the campfire, and we headed to the amphitheater. As we sat down, Annabeth slipped away from the rest of her cabin and joined us, snuggling into Percy's side. I felt kind of like a third wheel, but smiled anyways. They were cute. I listened to the other campers sing, and I would've joined, but I still didn't know the words and I didn't want to accidentally use my siren's call thing. My gaze was drawn to a bright gold light, emanating from something other than the campfire. I squinted my eyes to see Peyton through the light.

"A child of Nike!" I heard two female voices chime. I grinned at Chiron triumphantly, 'told ya' written all over my face. He shook his head after meeting my eyes, turning to smile gently at Peyton, and gesturing for two girls, I guess his new siblings, to approach. They looked similar to him, minus the vitiligo and carefree look. They both had his wide shoulders and large eyes but both of them seemed stiff, eyes stern and standing straight. Too proper for my liking. But other than that, they could be triplets. I was pretty sure the two girls were twins, actually. They sat together for the rest of the campfire and left together when it was over, probably to get Peyton situated in his new home.

Percy and Annabeth kissed each other goodnight before he joined me in my walk back to our cabin. We went through our nearly identical nightly routine and rolled into bed. I was asleep before I even finished saying goodnight.