the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter fifteen

"oh gods," he groaned, his palm coming up to rest on his face. "and face another incident like the javelin throwing? what if i drop it, and accidentally kill a mortal?"

the dionysus girl laughed so loud, the boy couldn't help the smile that curled on his face as he was the reason behind it. she leaned in, her sweet scent invading his senses wonderfully. he could barely think straight. "they're celestial bronze," she said. it took him a moment to gather his muddled thoughts and understand she was still on the subject of the knives. "'sides, they reappear back in my holsters."

he queasily accepted the handle of a celestial bronze knife from the girl, an uneasy, "shanti..." leaving his lips. he blinked a few times, as if he couldn't believe what he was about to do, and it absolutely delighted ashanti that he was still willing to try.

"come on," she coaxed, trying to relax his nerves. she gave him a playful smile, and a wide-eyed look he couldn't resist. "don't you trust me?" she fluttered her eyes in an over-exaggerated way that made him laugh.

just like before, when he asked ashanti the earlier, he replied with no hesitation, "yes." his shoulders slackened in relaxation, and he looked to her, awaiting her instruction.

"okay, so you're going to hold the knife like this," she demonstrated, holding the knife up so he could see. she moved her hand closer to him, showing him the exact way her grip was around the knife. percy mimicked the movement to the best of his ability. ashanti adjusted him a bit where it was needed, but otherwise, he had it.

"mhmm," ashanti hummed when he asked like this? looking for her approval. she shot him a megawatt smile, so utterly happy he was even participating. "exactly. now to throw it properly, you're going to flick your wrist like this."

ashanti pulled her arm back slowly, focusing her vision on her target. she held steady a moment, eyeballing, and second assessing her shot, before she did a small flick of her wrist. the lethal blade went soaring. it sliced through the air so fast, a whistle was heard. the point of the knife embedded itself deeply into the eye of some mortal on a random billboard.

"see?" ashanti blinked at him, an easy smile on her face as if she hadn't performed some hawkeye-level aim work. she nodded at him encouragingly, as if he could do the very same. percy almost scoffed. but he still thought it was cute the way she believed in him wholeheartedly.

"i totally seen that," percy told her honestly. he gestured behind them as the billboard had flown by miles back in seconds. "i just don't know if i could do that."

"come on, percy," ashanti cheered the boy on encouragingly. "like my old elementary school used to say: believe, achieve, succeed."

"damn," percy laughed in disbelief. "they were pretty corny."

"the corniest."

percy narrowed his eyes in concentration, even going as far as sticking his tongue out. he mimicked the movement ashanti had done before, slowly pulling his arm  back, and eyeing an incoming target. he flicked his wrist, and sent the blade fly, not quite as fast as ashanti's, but still enough to send it propelling into a billboard. the knife momentarily stuck itself into the very corner of a billboard, then plummeted to the depths below.

ashanti cheered happily for him, even though percy himself thought it was pretty pathetic how it fell. "that was great for your first time!" she shouted, practically losing her mind. "mine didn't even hit the target at first, and you hit one at gods' knows how many miles per hour!" her voice came out loud, lifting an octave in excitement.

"really?" percy asked, feeling a bit as if she were just being kind to him. he reluctantly looked away from the distance, and back to the dionysus girl. she nodded so fast she thought her head would break away from her neck. he was reluctant to accept the praise, "but you're so good at it."