Wasted Butterflies

Like a fool

As I sat down with a plate of blue pancakes, next to Jason and across from Lou Ellen, I carefully take the hair out of my pocket and held it out to her under the table. I looked at the next table over as I poked her leg to catch her attention, and as I did, I noticed... A head of long black curls beside Will. Lower to the ground. 

I waited until Lou grabbed the clump of hair, then got up, and walked over there. "... Ofelia?" 

She looked up at me and smiled. "Daddy!" She chirped, little arms around my waist. "I just met papa's new friend. The man came over yesterday, 'member?" She pointed to Will. "Papa's in the bathroom, gotta wait for him. But he's real nice to me!" 

I laughed nervously. "Oh, um, that's nice." I turned to Jason, who was staring, shocked, at her. I looked back at her, obliviously swinging her feet. "But how did you get out of the van?" I asked. 

"Bunny help open the window." She explained, taking a bite of her cereal. 

I opened my mouth to ask how, when Chiron came over. "Well hello, little girl. What's your name?" 

"Ofelia. What's yours, horse man?" 

He chuckled. "My name is Chiron. And judging by the fact that you're able to get in, I assume you're a demigod?" 

She cocked her head to the side. "What's a demigod?" 

He looked up at me. "... I heard her calling you 'daddy'?" 

I hissed through my teeth. "Chiron, she's only four. I haven't gotten around to telling her about everything." 

He sighed. "I understand. Well, she'll need to be properly signed up. Come along, little one." He outstretched a hand. "We'll need to give you a proper introduction." 

My stomach twisted at the sight of him taking her out of my sight, but it was Chiron. Will, however, objected. "Hey, hey, I think I'll be able to explain everything to her just fine. There's no need to take her away. Isn't the orientation film pg-13?" 

I didn't understand why he was so against Chiron taking her off to explain everything to her, but he was having none of it. "Well, obviously, Percy's coming with her. As her father, it'd only be right." 

He looked me up and down, and swallowed, but nodded. "Alright. If you say she'll be ok, then she'll be ok." 

I looked to Jason, who was already out of his seat. "I'll come with her too. Since, y'know... I've been raising her too." 

Chiron's eyes widened, but he didn't react much otherwise. "Alright, then. Now, normally, I don't do this... But would you like to ride on my back, Ofelia?" 

She squealed in delight. "Yay! Horsie ride like a princess!" She nearly jumped out of her seat and struggled to climb up onto Chiron's horseback. Jason and I followed them to the big house. 

- 

By the time everything was explained, breakfast was over. Ofelia was sent to stay in the Hermes cabin until she was claimed, and Jason and I were left to do whatever we wanted, basically. So, we went to cabin 20. 

There, Lou had already gathered the ingredients, making a tea out of the black dahlia petals and rainwater. She had a little glass vial out, and was currently using a spent incense stick to burn some kind of sigil into a bay leaf, and muttering to herself. "Clear eyes, clear eyes..." She kept whispering over and over. Once she was done drawing on the bay leaf, she lit it on fire and held the vial, now upside down, on top of it, letting it burn and crumble into ash, which she let settle at its bottom. Then, she poured persian blue salt on top of that, and the dahlia tea, with a few petals floating in there for good measure before putting a hair from the harvested clump into it, then sealing it with a cork and shaking it up. 

I watched on in awe. "That's... Really cool." I whispered. 

Lou let out a little squeak of surprise. "Percy! You're here already." 

"Um, yeah." 

She turned around. "Um, you may wanna hide." 

"Why?" 

She shrugged. "He doesn't like you two very much, and I've asked him to come around. Hurry!" 

Jason and I scrambled under the bed, and just in time to watch. 

"Ok, what did you want?" Will snapped, letting down the sunny persona he'd been putting on. 

"So, y'know about Nico, right? And the whole... Potion thing?" 

He sighed. "Yeah? You having second thoughts?" He asked. "Doesn't matter. What's done is done." 

"It's not, though. It'll wear off by midnight tonight." 

Will blinked in surprise, stunned for a moment. "You didn't tell me that." He muttered. "Why didn't you tell me it would wear off?" 

"I assumed you wouldn't care. That you could get him to stay with you without potions once he's been convinced to give you another chance. Look... You want him to keep loving you, right? To stay by your side no matter what?" She swirled the vial around. "Then you need to give him this by midnight tonight. Don't bother disguising it, it'll be less potent that way, and he won't question what you give him." 

Will nodded and, like a fool, took the vial in shaking hands.