I was mad at Bianca. She completely dissed Nico when she became a Hunter. She didn’t seem to think twice about him. I could understand where she was coming from though. Taking care of a younger sibling was no easy feat, but even with that you, you do not give up family. Nico, however, didn’t care, so I tried not to let it bother me too much.
“This is so cool!” Nico practically squealed from the driver seat. He started asking Apollo about everything and I turned to Percy.
‘I’m so annoyed with Bianca,’ I transmitted, and he jumped about a mile.
‘Yeah, I’m pretty mad at Bianca as well, but she gets her choice.’ I leaned onto his arm.
‘I know, but…if I had a little sibling, annoying as they could be, I wouldn’t give up family,’ I transmitted, and I could feel his response piecing together.
‘I know, Butterfly, I know. But it’s up to Bianca.’
‘Hold me,’
‘What?’
‘I’m going to completely break down if you don’t.’ He instantly looped his arms around and I fell asleep in his, just trying to forget everything that happened in the past twelve hours.
Sleep, however, was not as peaceful as I hoped. It raged at me, tearing me apart. All it showed me was glimpses from the vision, and fragments of others. The cliff, a snake, an old man lying dead on the floor, a cup, the locket, a tiara, a destroyed diary, a ring, red and green clashing. Just small pieces of each of them.
I snapped awake when the bus lurched upward, and I cried out something along the lines of, “Nagini!” I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew it had something to do with the snake.
“Ow!” I heard Grover groan beneath Percy, who was beneath me.
“Sorry, but Ally…you are free to fall on top of me any time.”
“Oh,” I said, a smirk festering on my face, and I covered Nico’s ears. “And you are welcome to do the same, my sweet.”
There were several noises of disgust from the Hunters, but I kissed Percy’s cheek and removed my hands from Nico’s ears. I fumbled to my feet.
“Slower!” I snapped, trying to keep my balance so I wouldn’t fall back onto Percy, not that that was a bad thing. I just didn’t want to do that to Grover. I’d happily fall onto Percy.
“Sorry! I’ve got it under control!” Thalia yelped.
“Thalia,” Percy said, slowly, grabbing onto my shoulders, keeping me steady. “Lighten up on the accelerator.”
“I got it, Percy,” She said, through gritted teeth, but she didn’t lighten up.
“Loosen up,”
“I’m loose!” Thalia was not loose.
“We need to veer south for Long Island,” Apollo said. “Hang a left.”
She jerked the wheel, and I fell on top of Percy again.
“Marry me?” Percy asked, “So we can go farther than this?” I hit him.
“The other left.”
I clung onto Percy, fearing for dear life. Which was saying something since it was Percy. “What do you think I’m gonna do?” He murmured, annoyedly. “Do something like this,” He bent me down, effectively bending me down as well which was not a good thing for my balance and I was barely on my feet.
I shrieked, and he laughed. “Don’t do that!” I yelled, hitting him, as he started dying of laughter.
“Face it, you need me.” He said, and I folded my arms.
“No, I don’t.” I denied, shaking my head at him. When the bus lurched, I grabbed onto him. “Hold me!” I shrieked, clinging onto him.
“Ah…” Apollo said, shakily, like he was forcing himself to be calm. “A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over.”
Thalia tilted the wheel, and the bus pitched down. Percy screamed a very high pitched scream into my ear, and I started dying of laughter. I found it hard that we would die. Be injured majorly, yes, but die? No. We may have been hurtling down into the Atlantic Ocean, but Apollo was here and he was a god.
“Take the wheel!” Grover begged Apollo, who had been thrown somewhere to the back of the bus but was climbing over the seats back to the front.
“No worries!” His face didn’t match what he just said. “She just has to learn to- WOAH!”
All the snow was melting. We were too close to the ground with too much heat. I clung onto Percy out of anxiety. I may have thought I wasn’t gonna die, but I still had anxiety.
“Pull up!” Percy shouted.
“There!” Apollo pointed. “Long Island, dead ahead.” I didn’t particularly like his wording. “Let’s slow down, dear. ‘Dead’ is only an expression.”
I clung onto Percy, feeling too panicked to even lift my head from his chest. He whispered in my ear, “Go into my head, you’ll feel relieved, Butterfly. There’s nothing up there.” I giggled subconsciously, going into his mind as he requested.
There wasn’t nothing as he said, he was just so reassuring that I relaxed into his arms, focusing on his thoughts rather than…life. I didn’t want to leave. Percy was being such an amazing person…sometimes.
We splashed into the canoe lake, and I clung onto Percy, praying that since he was a son of Poseidon, we would both be safe. Also, I was terrified. The bus floated to the top with several overturned canoes.
“Well,” Apollo said with a brave smile. “You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let’s go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?”
ততততত
I loved winter time at Camp Half-Blood. Everything was frosted over, there were less people, and it was always more tame. At least, that’s what it was without Percy Jackson being there. I didn’t mind it nearly as I thought I would. It made everything much less boring, yet it was untraditional.
At dinner, I tried to prevent the Stolls from corrupting Nico. “Nico, mythomagic is a great game! You don’t need to play poker, especially against the Stoll twins. They’ll just take all your money!” I exclaimed, pulling him away.
“But they took my mythomagic cards and the only way to get them back is if I play poker!” Nico pouted, and I looked menacingly at the twins.
“You did what?!” I snapped, and Connor and Travis shared a glance.
“Well I believe we took his mytho-”
“I know that, you diphead! Give him back his cards this instant!”
Travis pulled out all of the cards from his pocket and tossed them to Nico. “Here, kid,” Travis grumbled.
I noticed Percy was looking miserable, so I went over to the Poseidon table. “Why so glum, sugarplum?” I said, taking him in my arms.
“You shouldn’t be here.” He grumbled, and I stroked his hair. “Besides, I think it’d be a bit obvious why I’m a glum sugarplum.”
“Aww, poor baby,” I said, pityingly, and I rested his head in my lap. I kissed his forehead and stroked his hair.
“Wow, maybe I should be depressed more often. I like this treatment.” He said, and I laughed. “Kiss me again, right here.” He tapped his lips, and I giggled.
“What about right here…” I said, trying to kiss his cheek, but he jerked his head so that I kissed his lips instead. “Ugh, you little twit!” I shrieked, while he roared with laughter. I whipped my lips on my sleeve, and he pouted.
“C’mon, I’m not that bad of a kisser!”
“Don’t try to prove it.”
“C’mere,” I made the mistake of glancing over at him. He instantly grabbed my jaw and kissed me for maybe like five seconds. “S-see?” He said, jumbling his words- or word- a bit. I had to admit, it felt like something was slowly blossoming in my chest and spreading all throughout my body. It was like soft, warm magic.
ততততত
I was lying awake in Hermes cabin, just replaying everything that happened in the past forty-eight hours. I danced with Percy, we met Nico and Bianca, we fought Thorn, I had a vision, Annabeth fell, we met the Hunters, Bianca joined them, Thalia almost killed us in the sun van, the Stoll twins tried to teach Nico poker, and Percy and I kissed. Twice.
My space on the floor was closest to the window, so when the window opened, I instantly felt the cold chill. Percy poked his head and looked down at me. “Knew you would be awake.” He whispered, and offered me a hand. I took it, curious at what he was doing.
After he helped me out the window, I asked him, “Where are we going?”
“Just follow me. I think the harpies passed, or at least won’t come around where we’re going.” He said, and he ran off. I didn’t want to lose him, so I ran as fast as I could after him.
He led me to a small little nook in the rock formation around the canoe lake. I sat down next to him, and he smiled as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“What’s up?” I asked, and he sighed.
“I had a nightmare, Al.”
“Demigod or normal?”
He sent me a look. “Demigod.”
“Okay, what about?”
He took a deep sigh, “Annabeth and Luke. Luke tricked Annabeth into taking something off of his hands. She can die, Ally! I can lose one of my best friends because of Luke!” I took him in my arms as he cried.
“It’s alright, Percy. Let it out. You’ll save her.” I soothed him, rubbing my fingers through his hair.
“How do you know we’ll save her?”
“Because she’s your friend, Percy. And I know you. You’ll save her, I know it.”
He lifted his head and kissed my cheek. “Thanks, Butterfly.” He said, shakily.
“It’s alright, Aquaman.”
He pulled me into a tight hug, which I instantly reciprocated. When I pulled away, I shivered not realizing how cold it was. “You’re cold? Here,” He pulled off his jacket, and placed it over my shoulders.
“Thank you,” I said, shyly, and he pulled me into his chest and lied back onto the ground and I giggled a bit.
The warm, magical feeling was back, and I felt something, like wings beating in my chest. I finally realized what it was. A butterfly.