Of Shocks and Seashells

Of Off Days, Storms, and Mouth-to-Mouth

Disclaimer: No, I do not on Percy Jackson and the Olympians, blue plastic hairbrushes people use to hit Kronos, or anything else that comes with it. Rick Riordan does.

Percy's Point of View

I lie on the sand, lazily smiling and enjoying the warm air. Today, Chiron said the whole camp could just relax and take a day off, so, naturally, everyone went to the lake to swim and have fun. Annabeth lies next to me, smiling, her blond hair tied in a loose ponytail. I think this is good for her, to just lay off all of the training and have a good time.

"Seaweed Brain, this is the life," she sighed happily.

"I know," I sigh back. "I can't believe Chiron let us have the whole day off!"

"It was nice of him..." I say, before falling silent. For a while we are silent, listening to the sound of waves lapping onto the shore and the attempts of Connor and Travis Stoll flirting with some Aphrodite girls. Then Annabeth decides to flick some sand in my face.

"Oh, my gods Annabeth, what the Hades was that for?" I snap, before causing a wave of water to douse her from head to toe. She sputters indignantly, spitting water out of her mouth.

"Can you not take a joke, Kelp Head?" she says back.

"Great. Now I have to swim, since you kicked sand all over me." I sigh before diving into the water. This feels so good...the silkiness running off my skin, my hair slowly fanning out around my eyes, all sounds blocked out from my ears. I instantly feel power surge through my veins. Annabeth follows me in, her blond hair making a cloud around her head, strands of hair drifting into her face, her gray eyes seeming silver in the light. She smiles and a stream of bubbles float out of her mouth. I smile back. Eventually, she returns to the surface, but I decide to stay down a little longer. The water is warm and there aren't a lot of currents. It's...calm.

I push myself off the bottom of the lake to propel myself to the surface. When my head breaks the surface, Connor slaps five drachamas into Travis' hand.

"See, I told you he wasn't dead," Travis gloats while his brother sulks.

"I can breathe underwater, idiots," I mutter under my breath before sitting down next to Annabeth who's snorting with laughter.

"Looks like you finally decided to come up," she smirks.

I roll my eyes. I swear, sometimes Annabeth can be beyond immature. "Hey, where's Thalia? I didn't see her earlier."

Annabeth points at the dock. "She's sitting over there." I walk to the dock, and, sure enough, I see the familiar unruly black hair. As I cross the worn wooden boards, the creak underneath me. Thalia whips around in shock, but calms down after she sees me.

"Oh, it's just you," she says. She's dressed in a plain, cotton black tank top, a ripped pair of jean shorts, and ratty sneakers.

"Is that anyway to greet one of your best friends?" I joke, before plopping down next to her. She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them, staring off into the distance. "Why aren't you swimming?"

"Now that is a stupid question," Thalia replies.

"Should I know the answer?" I ask.

"Gods, Percy, yes!" Thalia snaps, exasperated. "You should know!"

I feel like an idiot. "Umm...d'you maybe want to explain it to me?"

Thalia sighs. "Okay, fine. What happens when you try to go up in an airplane?"