Of Shocks and Seashells

Of Wind and Waves

Disclaimer: Brace yourself for this one. If you liked the happy ending of the last chapter, then definitely brace yourself. Also I do not own Percy Jackson, or else this would be canon.

"Are you sure you want to accept immortality, my son?" Poseidon asks me.

"I do, Father," I answer quietly.

He gives a rumbling sigh. "Very well then."

Zeus leans forwards and touches my forehead briefly. A chill runs down my body and supernovas bloom before my eyes.

I'm immortal. And I can be with Thalia Grace forever.

Two months later, Thalia is murdered by Kampê.

I don't have anything to live for anymore.

I can't give up immortality now. Zeus would be furious-I didn't accept his gift, then I changed my mind and begged and begged-because Thalia would be immortal even if she left the Hunters, and I could not let her go. I can't just go back and refuse his gift again. I can't, because Zeus is furious about his favorite daughter being slayed so thoughtlessly.

There have been storms for the last month, countless mortal deaths, lightning flashes across the sky accompanied by the mournful crack of thunder, and rain falls in sheets.

Sometimes, I sit out on the steps in a storm and let the rain fall around me.

It reminds me of her.

It's about a hundred years, give or take, since she died, and I am finally able to start dating again.

The first is Melpomene. Mellie Artino. Daughter of Zeus, tanned skin that flushes pink easily, and straight dark blonde hair coupled with eyes that shine like midnight.

It's funny, really, and I think Zeus is screwing around with me, because Mellie's name is right up there with Thalia's, another of the nine muses.

I think about Mellie's name. Tragedy.

Thalia. Comedy.

They are complete opposites. Thalia is dark, shrouded in the dark wings of a raven. Unreachable. Detached. Mysterious. Mellie is anything but, with her infectious giggles and smile as bright as the sun.

Maybe my life's just a tragicomedy.

The next one is Airlia Galanis.

Dark hair that sweeps over her shoulders and tumbles down her back, and light blue eyes that look almost clear. Crimson lips smirk and hips sway.

Daughter of Zeus.

She's a manipulative bitch and is nothing like Thalia.

Tienette Chris has a strong sense of leadership and can quiet the room with a single glance from her silvery-blue eyes, but she's quiet and prefers raspberry iced tea over coke.

Thalia loved coke, especially in the old-fashioned bottles.

I keep the bottles every time I drink one of those cokes and put it on my windowsill. Whenever the wind blows in the right direction, it pulls gentle, breathy notes from each one that blend into a haunting melody.

It...reminds me of her.

A tall, gangly girl with freckles dusting her cheeks and a fierce personality that intimidates anyone who meets her walks in the snow with me, hands entwined and cheeks and noses flushed with bright red.

I see a raven fly away into the distance.

That's how Thalia looked a thousand Decembers ago.

Lacie is so sweet, with her dark brown hair and wide blue eyes that remind me of a startled doe. She's so sweet and timid she couldn't kill a fly.

Thalia would've squashed it.

I break up with another daughter of Zeus when she mentions she hates cheeseburgers.

Another that has dark hair-but not dark enough.

Her tan skin should be pale, like the flour I flung at Thalia while baking Annabeth's birthday cake.

Blue eyes that don't startle me. Blue eyes that don't rate a ten on the scary scale when they glare.

It all changes when I meet Atliah Laskaris. She has unruly black hair that won't stay flat and pale skin (no freckles). She likes sneakers-especially converse, but doesn't like combat boots, because they hurt her feet. She thinks the color black is okay-but she likes the color green better, and when I ask her about it she smiles and says my eyes are the most beautiful green she's ever seen. She has the attitude, all right, and she fights with anyone who stands in her way.

She has the eyes, which is especially important. Thalia's sky blue, electric blue, stormy blue, shocking blue, beautiful blue eyes.

The don't have the spark that she had, though. They have a spark, but not the spark. Not the one I fell in love with.

I have a nightmare one night-visions of Thalia's mangled body, blood seeping out of her from the scimitars, before it she shrivels to dust and blows away in the wind.

I wake up screaming, my fingers trying desperately to keep her from scattering across the world, from scattering a million miles away from me.

Atliah is there and wraps me up in her protective embrace, murmuring sweet nothings to me, and when I say, "I love you, Thalia," she smiles sadly and starts to cry silently.

Atliah breaks up with me and tells me she knows that there is only person who is right for me, and it's not her.

It's Thalia. It's always her. Always.

I'll never be able to let her go.

A/N So, the last chapter (Of Shocks and Seashells) was meant to be the last one, but I wrote this one because that one wasn't sad enough. I was working on a different Perlia book and I came up with this and just wrote, and what you are looking at is the first draft. Tell me what you think, anyway, and be sure to keep an eye out for another story.