𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔 • Percy Jackson.

II-14

           AMANI WATCHED THE HORIZON WITH PERCY. They didn't talk for the first few moments together as they spotted the monsters. A row of green scaled spines slithered through the waves.  Amani counted the amount of seconds in his heart, as a way to calm himself, before he couldn't help it. "Something on your mind?" Amani decides to ask, he hears Percy sigh, but the boy still shakes his head. "Not much just..." He trails of.  "Tyson?" He asks and the silence is enough to know he's right. "I just wish…I could've done something." He hears him murmur. "Maybe he's out there." He tries to give a little hope, but Percy doesn't believe it.

"Yeah out there as gold ash." Amani's lips twitch. "Like Annabeth said, Cyclops can't get burned." He states and Percy doesn't say anything, off in his own world.

"I followed you." He states.

"I know." Percy answers.

"I saw Tyson." He can feel Percy's stare on him now. "I was going to get to him, but the ship exploded." He's picking at his cuticles now. "All I can say is, if I survived, shouldn't Tyson be able to too?" He whispers, hoping to comfort him with his white lie.  Percy seemed to appreciate his comment, giving a small smile to him, he feels his stomach go queazy.

"Do you really not know anything about the prophecy?" He hears Percy ask, he feels his throat go dry. "I don't, don't let Luke's words get to your head." He says with a wry smile yet the prophecy haunts his head and it's times like these he wishes he could go back to how he was before last summer. The times where he barely remembered what he ate, because now his brain can bring forth shit he's never known before and even worse he can blurt it out perfectly.

"I'm sorry." He hears Percy apologize, a wave of confusion fills him. "For what?" He asks, staring at him now. "What Luke said…You're still not claimed, but me, Tyson, Annabeth, we all are. It's just…" Amani laughs, "you don't need to be sorry for that, you dumbass." Because if anything, my father should be. He says silently staring a little above Percy's head. He wonders, what will my sign be? If I ever do get claimed. He thinks.

They sit in a quiet silence, until Amani decides to say something. "I had a dream." He confesses, he doesn't know what to say after that for a while. Percy's stare unnerved him and so he just let it all out. "I told Annabeth earlier when you were unconscious on the boat, but I think I had tea with Apollo." He voiced out his suspicions, "tea? With Apollo? God of the sun Apollo?" Percy asks with disbelief.

"What other Apollo is there?"

"That NASA ones?"

Amani rolled his eyes with a small smile upon his lipsl, "yeah. He mentioned my father, but he doesn't want to tell me." There's a moment of silence. "Do you… hate your father?" There's a hesitation on Amani's part. These questions, it seemed more of an interrogation than a sea side chat. A way to sound him out. To see if Luke had truly gotten to him. Yet he can't help it. The palms of his hands turn white from the force of his grip on the railing. The anger. Do I hate him? He asks himself.

yes.
He breathes out.

Why? The side filled with haze asks, Because if his father never gave birth to him, his mother wouldn't be how she was. The explanation is enough. I kind of wish she would send me a letter, the fog relays. "No." His mouth says, he hears Percy give a quiet sigh of relief and he lowers his head. He feels his heart jump at his sigh of relief, happy that Percy wasn't suspecting him, while simultaneously scared that he was lying straight to him.

"Why should I hate a man I've never met?" He states and he wishes he could follow through with his own words. But he wishes he could shut his mouth.

"So do you… like him?" Percy asks, tentatively, Amani laughs. "Why are you laughing?" Percy asks, confused, "because you're stupid." He says, "you already know that. You and Annabeth say it all the time." Percy says with a roll of his eyes, but Amani's smile never falls. That's what makes you, you, Percy.