Phases of the Sea

Chapter 5

Perci POV

Bella was up to something, I knew it. The past couple months, since her night out with Jessica, she'd been secretive and spending almost all her free time on the reservation. The past few weeks though, she'd been coming home with multiple injuries, and even a concussion before focusing on a map with Jacob. I was tempted to follow them wherever they were going, but Bella had been pulled out of her funk by Jacob, so I could focus on spending time with Charlie, whom she was neglecting, and swimming.

Yesterday though, had been very weird. Bella had gone to the movies with Jacob and one of the annoying kids from school, Mike Newton, and had come back worried out of her mind about Jacob. She had called Billy Black every fifteen minutes or so before going to bed without saying much besides that Jacob had gotten sick at the theatre. I didn't really care to worry about her obsessing over Jacob, though I was sure that he would be thrilled, since his crush on Bella was painfully obvious. I was too busy trying to figure out why I kept having demigod dreams about that grey wolf that I had encountered at the cliffs back in January.

The wolf had been all but starring in my dreams once a week since, and I could always hear Aphrodite giggling when I dreamed of it. I had given her offerings for answers, and had received nothing in return. Since then, I had tried to avoid going to La Push, or at least going alone, for fear of running into the wolf again. I was tempted to IM Artemis or Apollo to ask about it though, since wolves were a shared symbol between the two of them, though I didn't think I'd get many answers out of them.

Finally though, after a few weeks of Bella moping around, falling back into her zombie state slowly, she ended up snapping, and dragged me to La Push before seven in the morning.

"Why are we going to the Black's house so early again?" I demanded tiredly. Bella had barely even paid me any attention since latching onto Jacob, so the fact that she had chosen to drag me with her was surprising, and I was less than pleased to have my sleep interrupted for this.

"To get answers." She said by way of explanation, not giving me anything else.

With a sigh, I followed her out of the truck, and up to the door, not caring if Billy saw me in my blue pajamas. If Bella was going to drag me out of bed to suit her desires, I wasn't getting dressed to do it. I was just fortunate that I remembered to grab Riptide. It would have been just my luck to forget it and get attacked by a monster. I shoved my hands into my pockets as Bella banged on the front door.

"Come in!" Billy's voice called from inside, and Bella opened the door, walking in like she owned the place. I rolled my eyes, but followed her nonetheless.

"Bella, Perci. What are you both doing here so early?" He asked, though I noticed his voice was slightly tense.

"Don't ask me, I'm here because Bella dragged me. I'd prefer to be sleeping right now." I told him, earning a slightly strained chuckle from the older man as he focused on my cousin. I was starting to wonder if she had some mental issues like Nico had suggested back in December when I saw him when I went home for Christmas and the Winter Solstice meeting. Thalia had just said that Bella sounded pathetically codependent on others.

"I need to see him." Was Bella's answer, and I let out a soft groan at her obsessing over Jacob not talking to her. Nico was wrong, she didn't have mental issues. Thalia was the correct one, I swore.

"He's sleeping." Billy told her, only to get shoved aside as Bella barged back into Jacob's bedroom.

"Sorry about that, I don't know what her problem is." I offered, checking the wall where Billy's chair had hit for holes.

"It's fine, Perci. How are you doing? I haven't seen you around much lately." He asked, and I gave a small smile despite being freaking exhausted.

"I'm okay. Sorry I haven't been coming to visit lately, I was just worried about the wolf population. I saw this freaking huge grey one back in January when I was swimming. The thing looked right at me, and I've been kind of nervous about running into it again. Can't escape the fact that it's been dream stalking me though." I said, mumbling the last part, and missing the way Billy tensed in response.