The Awakening

The Foster of Many Floods

Cautiously, I stepped closer so that I could hear the song without him knowing I was there. He had his back to me and was nodding his head a bit.

"I go down to the water, to sit and be still, to sit and be still . . ." I think he was singing something on the lines of that, which made me burst out laughing.

He snapped his head to me from over his shoulder like an owl, so fast that I was afraid he'd get whiplash. But, I wasn't paying much attention to that because I was trying to start breathing again from wheezing so hard. His cheeks had a light pink blush to them, with the tips of his ears turning a bit red as well.

He was a very bad singer. And, he was a son of the sea singing about sitting by the sea while sitting by the sea. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, or anything, but I seriously couldn't contain my laughter.

He reached out and grabbed my arm to pull me down to the grass. I landed in a heap, still laughing, while he held me down with my back on the ground.

"You better not tell anyone about this," he hissed.

"About what?" I asked innocently, after calming down a bit.

"You know what," he retorted, loosening his grip on my forearms that he had pinned to the grass. He let me up and I sat properly next to him, my knees tucked up to my chest with my elbows resting on them.

"What song was that anyways?" I decided not to tease him much, but you could bet that I would use it as blackmail if he was ever out of line.

"Down To The Water by Zach Winters," he answered, staring out at the lake. The sun was finally setting, leaving a reflection of the vibrant colors on the surface. The ripples of the water distorted the image of the fluffy white clouds and soft yellows, chalk oranges, and vibrant reds/purples.

"I've never heard of him, but he might've become more popular after I left the Forbidden Cities," I thought out loud, watching the sunset with him.

"Do you ever get to listen to music?" he questioned, turning his head to look at me.

"I have an old iPod, but it doesn't have any new releases or anything that's come out since I left," I answered truthfully, returning his gaze.

He leaned his head on my shoulder, pressing his cheek to the top of it. "Do you ever get homesick?"

"Of course, but I've grown to like it here in the Lost Cities. My human parents don't remember me anyways, but I miss them and my little sister Amy," I said wistfully, silently wishing Amy could come visit again. "What about you? Do you ever miss your home when you're at camp?"

"Yeah, but I have it easier, I guess. I can visit my mom whenever I have time, you're basically forbidden to see your family," Percy remarked.

"It doesn't matter how often you are able to visit, Perce. You still miss your mom, like I miss my parents and sister. Let's not compare," I stated, noticing how guilty he sounded when he was talking about how he had it easier.

"Alright," Percy declared, lifting his head off my shoulder and standing up with a hand outstretched to me. "No more sad talk. I challenge you to a water fight."

I took his hand, letting him pull me up, and laughed. "I accept."

"I wasn't going to take no for an answer anyways," he affirmed, before leaning down and throwing me over his shoulder.

"Percy!" I yelped as he began walking closer to the water. He waded into the water until only his waist down was submerged.

"Perseus! Let me go!"

"Wow, full name? Seriously? What are you, my mom?" he sarcastically queried before throwing me further into the lake.

I flew backwards, managing to tuck my legs so that I could do a cannon ball of some sort. When I resurfaced, he was laughing like a maniac as I rose stiff, like a statue, and with a scowl on my face. My hair was plastered to my face in different directions and I had to spit out water.

Lifting my arms out of the water, I motioned for two small waves to attack just the sides of his head, creating a mohawk-style of his hair.

He glared at me this time, whilst I cackled maniacally.

"Oh, it's on!" he shouted with finality and started bending the wave to his will at the same time as me.

We started off trying to style each other's hair with the waves in a ridiculous way, and ended up just slapping each other with the waves.

I ended up sending a massive wave his way, which I lost control of. Since I was the one facing the shore, the wave crashed on top of an unsuspecting group of my training friends. The wave almost dragged them out to the lake, but Percy and I managed to stop it from doing so just in time.

Oops.

Once everything was under control, I realized the people the wave had attacked were Fitz and Jason, who had apparently been challenged by Fitz to a sword fight.

"See! I knew you were going to be the Foster of Many Floods!" Keefe exclaimed from a more inland part of the meadow.

I ignored Keefe and raced Percy to the shore where most of our friends had already gathered around Fitz and Jason.

Jason seemed fine, but Fitz's face was turning red and he was breathing heavily. He stormed straight to us when we stepped out of the water. Uh oh.

"Which one of you did this?" he demanded, looking accusingly between Percy and I.

Percy and I exchanged a long look, before calmly turning back to face Fitz and saying almost the same thing at the same time.

"She did it!"

"He did it!"

We turned back to each other, both of us wearing the same betrayed expression and jaw dropped in disbelief.

"What are you talking about? You did it!"

"Well, yeah! But, you were supposed to stop it!" I chided.

"Excuse me?! I'm not the newbie who can't control her own dam wave!"

"Guys, seriously! I think I'd be a great fortune teller!" Keefe interjected.

"Butt out, Keefe!" Percy and I shouted together.

Honestly, I had no idea why I was trying to make Percy take some of the blame. It was really all my fault, but maybe it was a sibling thing? I don't know, I just felt like blaming him.

However, we started laughing a bit after telling Keefe to butt out. Then, the laughter turned hysterical, and actual tears were pouring out of my eyes. Percy held onto my shoulders while I held onto my knees, neither of us being able to contain our laughter.

We finally calmed down a bit and straightened up out of our hunched over positions. The second we made eye contact, a strangled noise escaped my mouth as I tried not to laugh again. That made Percy chortle hysterically uncontrollably, causing me to laugh even more.

We both fell onto the grass on our backs, side by side, still laughing. Our mirth slowly died down, leaving us staring up at the sky together, the sun almost completely out of the sky. The clouds could barely be seen in the sudden darkness.

I turned my head to the side to look at Percy. "You're right, it was my fault."

"I know," he said smugly, still staring up.

Suddenly, a head of blonde hair leaned over the both of us, startling us a bit. "I can even make siblings reconcile!"

Percy pushed Keefe's face away and we all chuckled softly. He helped me up, while getting up himself, and together we faced our friends.

Although, it wasn't just our friends standing there. The whole Collective was there as well, plus most of our parents. They all had amusement on their faces, except for a few that were clearly annoyed.

"Umm, hi," I said awkwardly.