Chapter 3

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Percy
August 1, 2012
Today is the second anniversary of the end of the giant war...and Annabeth's death. I wasn't taking it as hard as I thought I would or maybe even should have, it could be because of her parting words or my lack of time to sit and stew in my own sadness.
The last two years have gone by in slow motion. My life has consisted of two activities, working the boat with Polk and hanging out with Polk. Yeah, Im definitely peaking at nineteen.
Polk isn't actually so bad once you know him. He may have given me a hard time when I first started on his boat, not to say that he's let up, but he's done what he said he was gonna do. Broken me out of my shell. At first I thought it was gonna be hell working for the old man, and I still think that, but Polk is good company. After two whole years I don't know much about him and when I ask he just smiles, "I've been fishing since about as far back as anyone can remember." He has that same 'wise old man' thing going for him and I can definitely see why people call him Grandpa P. I even call him Grandpa P every once in a while just to see him react, but I think he secretly likes it.
He may avoid my lines of questioning most of the time with more cryptic one liners, but he doesn't let me get away from his. He knows about my whole life, in a roundabout way, you know since I can't tell him the whole story without the 'Well you know about the greek gods?' talk. He gets the gist and seems to understand more than he knows. That didn't stop him from working me into the ground though, it is hard work. Not necessarily the work, but the hours. The worst part is the food. Polk eats fish almost every night, and I'm not down for that. How am I supposed to eat something I can have a conversation with? The first trip was terrible, Polk didn't know my objection to eating fish and I pretty much lived on a bread and water meal course like a soldier in the brig. Ever since then Polk is sure to bring some other foods out to sea with us. He may be odd in his ways, but I can see that he definitely cares for me as much as I care for him. He really has taken a 'grandpa-like' role in my life, but we're best friends.
Turns out I'm pretty good at fishing too, I may not be using a rod and reel, but there's definitely an art to commercial fishing. It also helps that I know anything and everything about the boat, at all times. Who knew? I frankly expected to be pretty good at fishing, because the 'Poseidon is my father' thing.
We go out for about a month at a time taking two months off the year. When we're on break I mostly stay with Polk but there's been a few times where I take a boat across the water to Kluane national park and camp out for a week or so. It's peaceful and every once in a while it's good to have some alone time away from Polk, who snores so loudly I sometimes check on him cause it sounds like he's gargling water in his sleep. Last Christmas I was able to catch a used CPAP floating around on Ebay. He thought it was hilarious, and I think he secretly uses it when I'm on my trips.
When I'm out in the forest I normally camp at the bottom of this waterfall that has a stagnant pool of water off the side. The main channel spills into the bay. Sometimes sitting out here I start to worry that one day when I'm trekking in the woods to the Canadian border I'll stumble into the Hunt's camp, which would be a death sentence. I worry more about being reunited with Thalia than running across almost any monster I can think of. It may seem irrational, and it is, but if you've had a literal lightning bolt travel through your body then you can understand where I'm coming from. It's not pleasant to say the least.
I haven't gotten to the Canadian border yet, and I might not ever go that far, I usually turn back before I get too close. Usually when I'm on my trips is the only time I see many monsters and I get to let riptide spring to life. It's not really a camping trip as much as it is a hunting expedition. It brings my life just the right amount of excitement. When we're on the boat I see sea serpents and other 'mythological' creatures, but they never attack or even come too close. There have been a couple close calls where I've had to convince a pod of hippocampi to not tell Poseidon where I'm at in exchange for a few fish.
I've always been good fighting with one sword, and decent with a sword and shield but the passed two years I've trained relentlessly dual wielding Anaklusmos and Phronesis, Riptide and Wisdom. I've taken to using Annabeth's drakon bone sword, I hope she'd like the name. I've gotten pretty good, probably better than I am with a single sword.
Right now we are on our way back to town, still a about a hundred and eighty miles off shore. We pulled in our last net of the trip an hour or so ago and started stowing our catch before heading back. It's times like these where I don't have anything to do besides hurry up and wait that I start thinking back on my old life. I do miss my family. I do miss my friends. I even miss all those Olympians, even if they are a little fucked up, but really who isn't? I think of IMing my mother at least a couple of times a day, but always think better of it. I will eventually go back and meet my baby sister and see all my friends and family, but now isn't the time. I feel ashamed that I let Annabeth die because she got worked up about a threat aimed at me. She asked me not to blame myself, and I have forgiven myself...partially. I don't think I'll ever completely forgive myself. I dread the day I return and face everyone who she loved and cared about, knowing I'm the reason they'll never see her again.
When we get back I think I'm going to head to my spot in the woods and let off some steam. It'll be good for me.

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