August Book #1 chronicles of a halfblood

Chapter 8

Percy's mind was running marathons. He was exhausted but he couldn't bring himself to sleep. So he did what he always did; snuck out into the ocean for a swim. He had to be extra careful now, the harpies had gotten even more blood hungry after the war. When he got to the sea he could feel it was cold, but it didn't bother him. He swam further out to the sea and just just let the currents drift him. The ocean was quiet today. He didn't see much life other than seaweed and a couple of fish. When he saw the first bit of sunlight he figured he should head back to shore.

When he got there he sat on the beach and stared out to sea, his mind drifted to different thoughts, but they always returned to the girl that 'stole' his wallet. She was different, not like a weird different, but Percy felt drawn to her. It wasn't his teenage hormones (he was still very much in love with annabeth), it was more of a string of fate pulling them together.

"You know water is supposed to make you wet." he heard a voice behind him. He looked around into the trees but couldn't find the source. A laugh interrupted that silence and a girl jumped down from a nearby tree. 'Speak of the devil' Percy thought.

"It's a son of a Poseidon thing" he couldn't help but smile at her comment.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if a son of poseidon was always wet?" She had a smile on her face. Percy had never really thought about that before, but it did make sense.

"I guess it would" He looked back at the sunrise and Penny didn't say anything back. His brain was racing again. He could feel the string attaching them tugging him closer, and he hated her for it. But he couldn't hate her. Something he could control stopped him.

Maybe it was her joking mood, or her ease of being around, but he couldn't not like her. He finally decided he should at least try to talk to her. "Im Percy Jackson" Percy hoped that she wouldn't recognize his name, most younger demi-gods would go slightly insane when they first met him. But if she had any recognition she didn't let on.

"Penny" She smiled a lot, Percy noticed.
"Who's your godly parent?" He didn't mean to pry but he really wanted to know why he felt connected to this girl.
"Don't know, haven't been claimed yet" she said it with ease but Percy knew it bothered her. Those damn gods. Penny must have been over 13, she should've been claimed already. "You're the guy everyone talks about, aren't you?" oh so she does know who i am.
"Well what do they say?" Percy decided not to be a debbie downer and carry on the conversation. Penny smiled like a trouble maker.
"Mostly that smell your feet smell like dead fish, and that you keep minnows in your pockets. But i think they also mentioned that you saved the world once or twice." Wow Percy was not expecting that. Percy grinned, which made Penny chuckle. She laughs a lot too, he thought.
"Well i dont keep minnows in my pockets but I won't deny the dead fish smell." He laughed along with Penny. It was nice to laugh with somebody else other than his usual friends. He loved his crew mates but they all still looked at him like he was gonna break at any moment. Yes Tartarus was bad and he still gets nightmares every once in a while but he was fine. It was the worst when he laughed around them. When they saw him happy they would always comment or give him a look saying 'i'm glad you still can be happy after going through hell'. Most people looked at him that way now. He took out his pen and started to fiddle with it, Penny was drumming her fingers against her leg. "How long have you been here?"
"Um well if you count the day I was unconscious for about 5 days? Wait nope 4 days." Percy wasn't sure what he was expecting but it wasnt that.
"4 days? But you must be at least 15, the gods should've claimed you by now." Percy was pissed again. He was mad at the gods. After all their kids have done for them they still don't keep their promises. He didn't mean to but he could feel his rage start to storm,
"16 actually." Percy didn't think she looked 16. Maybe it was because of her fringe (that looked very good at her) that made her look younger. Or that she was smaller than the average demigod by a couple of inches. "Did anyone ever tell you that you look very scary when you're mad."
That made Percy's anger wash away. Who was this chick and why did he like her so much? She got up and started to walk back to camp. Percy got up and followed. He didn't say anything, just walked side-by-side with her. When the dining pavilion got into view he saw annabeth.
"Word of advice."Penny looked at him with a devilish twinkle in her eye "if someone asks for your wallet, don't give it to them." Penny laughed when she looked up at Percy then ran off to the hermes table, leaving Percy there alone. He walked and sat down at the Poseidon table. He thought of some blue waffles and some blue chocolate milk, normal milk without the chocolate was gross. Annabeth came and sat next to him. It was against the rules but chiron had some leeway with the 7.
"What were you doing with her?" Percy looked up into annabeths eyes, they were stormier than usual. Percy looked at her funny, not really grasping her words.
"Wha?" That almost made Annabeth smile, but not quite. She quickly returned to her icey look.
"Penny. Why were you talking with Penny."
"Um I don't know? We were just both at the beach and started chatting a bit. Why?" Percy was definitely confused, he was always slightly confused. Annabeth stared him down for a couple of more seconds before speaking again.
"There's something different about her. Something I need to figure out."Annabeth took one last glance towards the table Penny was sitting before walking over to the Athena one.
So Annabeth noticed it too then. Penny was going to play a huge role in the future. Good or Bad, they didn't know