Disclaimer: The world of Percy Jackson, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of Rick Riordan and his publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.
"'Cause your boyfriend's a bitch
He ain't shit, he can suck on my dick
I ain't with all that shit
Why he do you like this
When you're home all alone
While he out fucking around with them hoes?" I sang at the top of my lungs.
Luke sighed even harder, burying his face in his hands.
"You ain't never cheated on your mans
So why the fuck do he still got your hand?
Girl, you could do so much better
He ain't even got no cheddar, baby
He just tryna cuff you like the Five-O," I continued, smiling brightly.
"Please, stop," Luke begged between breaths.
"You love it," I shot back with a cheeky grin.
"No, I don't."
Feeling merciful, I actually did stop.
Luke was laying on his back on the rickety wooden bridge of the playground, soaking in the false sun of the dream. Climbing the plastic slide, which is definitely not the proper way to get up but whatever, I stood over him and blocked out the sunshine.
"So, how's college?" I began.
He glared up at me for denying him the sun. "Tiring."
I threw up my hands. "Oh come on, you've got to have something going on!"
"I got a job at a cafe," he begrudgingly said.
"There we go!" I flopped down beside his head. "How's that going for you?"
"Pay's shit, but I like making coffee." He sat up a bit with a grunt. "On Sundays, they get me to play the guitar for the cafe."
I nodded. "How's the song you were working on?"
He wrinkled his nose. "Could be better, I've got the chorus down but I can't seem to figure out the third verse."
"You'll get it eventually," I encouraged, patting his shoulder.
He turned to me. "How's therapy?"
It's my turn to scowl.
"Doc Tamira is nice, but she's got me doing this stupid exercise where I write down every reason to live each night and I don't think it's that helpful."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I mean, she's amazing. I told her I couldn't do school work at home because my mind's got a very strict divide between what I can have motivation for and where, and she told me to do my assignments at the college library! Brilliant. But I don't really like these whole anti-suicidal exercises."
He eyed me for a second.
"Ophelia..." he said slowly, "Do the exercises make you uncomfortable?"
"Yeah, kinda?"
"And why do you think it is that they make you uncomfortable?"
"I dunno, they kinda feel fake? Like, every reason on this paper is pretty much a person who might just not like me or make me happy tomorrow and they would all be better without me."
He gave me a look. "I think the reason it's not helping is that it's the nature of your own suicidal thoughts to dismiss anything that is a reason for you to live."
...
"Oh."
He sat up fully. "What's on your list? We can work through some of this together."
I opened my mouth but stopped and narrowed my eyes. "Nuh-uh, you aren't going to trick me into accepting your help. I wanted to hear how you were, how did this get switched onto my problems?"
He sighed.
"Annabeth got this stupid idea to try and crimp and straighten her hair like Lizzie McGuire to impress a boy in her class," he offered instead of continuing our conversation.
I gladly took it with a cackle. "Did it work?"
His long-suffering face was hilarious. "No, she came home angry because he told her that he thought there was something in her eye because she fluttered her eyelashes at him too much. On the other hand, Mrs Chase- Susan- and I get along well since we are the ones always talking to her through her..." He wrinkled his nose. "Boy troubles."
I had to wipe away a tear. "Yeah, she's fine. I've made that mistake once too- oh, the outfit I thought that Harry Styles would see me in and fall in love with me was so stupid! I looked like a Disney Channel star!"
He grinned and the conversation devolved into an argument over our stupid teenager antics.
I think I won- I pointed out to him that he's literally wearing a puka shell necklace with a button-down that looks like a 60's striped wallpaper. He got more offended than a cat dumped in bathwater and insisted that it was fashion. I told him he'd regret that when he looked back at his college pictures in ten years. His pout made me giggle like a maniac.
-
"Hello Ophelia," Thalia greeted. "You're late."
I snapped my eyes open and was greeted with eyes bluer than the sky on a mountaintop.
"You sound like a disgruntled mom," I grumbled, sitting up. "And it's not like you can keep time in here, you have no idea if I'm late or not." In my defence, her shit-eating grin annoyed me.
"It was fun to say," she hummed. "Also, you avoided giving me an answer, why are you late?"
I rolled my eyes. "Luke and I got into a heated discussion about who has done the stupider thing trying to impress others."
"What prompted that?"
"Annabeth was trying to impress a boy but hates him now because she did that awkward middle-schooler thing of batting your eyelashes. It backfired when he asked her if there was something in her eye."
Thalia chortled, "Oh no. How did Luke deal with that?"
"Apparently," I told her, an impish grin spreading, "he slipped her a chocolate bar under her bedroom door where she locked herself in and reassured her that boys are just stupid."
We shared a good laugh over the mental image.
"So how's the top world? Anything important coming up soon?" she asked after we stopped.
I felt the smile slip off my face. I have to tell her.
"Thalia." My mouth was dry as I turned serious. "Someone's going to try and kill you."
She snorted, "Right. Pull the other one. Seriously though, what's up?"
I continued to look at her silently, willing her to realise my non-existent amusement.
The good cheer slipped off her face as she realised that I wasn't joking.
"Ophelia, what do you mean someone's going to try and murder me? I'm a tree! I'm a magical tree! How do you kill a magical tree?" she demanded, grabbing me by my forearms.
I told her everything.
"Fuck," she groaned, digging the heel of her palm into her eyes. "I can't believe this! I'm supposed to be away from all the bullshit prophecy stuff, but now you're telling me that the probability that I'm going to be thrown back into it is high? And my only options to get out of this is to either join the Hunters or die?"
I shook my head for the lack of a better answer. "The other option is to protect your tree until the whole prophecy blows over and then get the Golden Fleece, but that'll require preventing spies from killing your tree. I'm far from Camp, so is Luke, Annabeth, Bianca and Nico- the only ones who would believe me- so how am I going to do that? I can contact camp and ask them to protect your tree better, but I doubt it'll work. They'll think I'm paranoid or something."
"Try," she suggested. "Try. You said that you fucked up Fate when you came here months ago after your quest, right? You should use up that opportunity before you move on to the riskier options. If they think you're paranoid, point out that a war in the heavens was nearly started because everyone wasn't paranoid enough."
I turned the suggestion over in my head as I sat down. It was, admittedly, better than my other ideas.
"Okay," I decided. "Okay. I'll try it."
"That's all I ask." She nodded her satisfaction before joining me in staring down the clear liquid.
There wasn't anything to measure time with, so as usual, I figured some conversation was better than no conversation. "Thalia, I never asked, how long have you been in here?" I gestured to our surroundings.
"I don't know. From what you've told me, I should've been here for ages, but everything's really fuzzy. It's like..." She rubbed her chin in thought. "It's like you're a focus," she explained. "When you come here, I become lucid again. Aware. Like everything's been thrown into focus and my thoughts become less sluggish."
"This place was probably made that way so you don't go insane from isolation," I mused. "No mental stimulation can be harmful to mortals like us. We're simply not made for it."
"Geez, now you've done it." Thalia shuddered at the thought.
"Well, to be honest, I have no idea how I keep coming back here, but I like spending time with you," I told her. "You need to get caught up to modern-day anyways, and sleep is for the weak."
She snorted, but something in her shoulders loosened.
"By the way, have you tried training here? It's not like anyone can find and kill you right now, so you can do whatever without any repercussions. I've been trying to control the liquid here this whole time, but it's barely moving. Like, have you ever thought about generating electricity without clouds?"
She stared at me like I was an alien. "No. What?"
"Let's do it!" I squealed, jumping to my feet. "I've always wondered what I could do if I were a Daughter of Zeus, and this is a perfect opportunity to train you up so you're good to go when you're human again! Up, cousin, up!"
We ended up failing miserably trying to produce anything stronger than a tiny shock to my skin, and only one, but we had fun.
I like spending time with Thalia in her little 'Stranger Things Upside Down.'
-
"Ophelia!" I woke up to Tia Em's call. "Get up! You're late!"
Oh no, I'm going to be late for my lecture! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why did I think a 10 am class was okay? When will I learn? I did this last time 'round too-ARGH!
I tripped over my own shoes and went sprawling on the floor. Damn it.
I can't wait until next week; Christmas will free me from this hell named 'College.'
The door creaked open. The sounds of footsteps approached, and I looked up to see Mãe standing over me.
Her raised eyebrow said it all."What are you doing on the floor?"
"Chilling," I grumbled, stumbling to my feet.
"Mhm, I made tapioca de queijo por o café da manhã, hurry up before I eat it all!" she said, leaving the room to my splutters and protests for her not to. (Cheese tapioca for breakfast).
By the time I'd gotten to the dining room for breakfast, the tapioca had just been served.
"Not funny." I gave Mãe a mock-glare before grabbing my serving and some pink milk.
"It was a little," Medusa agreed with Mãe, a warm smile playing on her lips.
"Oh," Mãe said, putting her coffee down as she remembered something. "Did you remember to ask your cousins over for Natal? I'm making Pão de queijo, you know how much Nico enjoys that."
"Yeah, I asked Bianca in last night's IM, but she said she has to ask her Papá first, you know how he doesn't like me," I replied, passing Tia the bread rolls.
Uncle Hades not liking me is both an understatement and not. Sure, I didn't steal his Helm and was technically polite when visiting the Underworld earlier this year, but I was still friends with his children and boy is Uncle Hades protective of his kids. Nico told me that the earthquake in the San Andreas fault was when his Papá saw them and had a mini heart attack. Apparently, they really should not have been able to simply break free of the Lotus Eaters' spell, but Hades admitted himself that maybe all the activity in the Underworld might have given them a little push. Both of them don't have any memory problems, so I guess Bianca talked him out of that.
"Mm." I drank my milk glass down like a shot. "I'm late, am I walking this morning?"
Tia gave me a Look for my manners. "I'll drive you, I'm already driving Sally to work today."
I nodded, stood, and gave them both a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, lemme just grab my bag-"
Walking out of the dining room, the last thing I heard was Mãe muttering about, "Teenagers."
-
As I hurried across the campus to my Ancient Greek Culture 101 class, I ignored the usual stares of the few students that were up at this hour.
Yes, I'm a child. No, I'm not 10, I'm 13! Yes, I know where I am. No, I don't need you to call my mommy, thank you!
I was nearly at the building when a voice spoke up from a bench.
"You're pretty!"
I whirled around, hand on my Riptide bracelet.
There, sitting on the bench, was a very large 13-year old dressed in ragged clothing who looked more like a homeless kid than a Cyclops. Tyson.
Who also has the mental capacity of a toddler.
Right at the beginning of my gods-damned lecture.
Motherfucker.