¹ON THIS SPRING DAY. p. jackson

Interlude

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ interlude

━━━━━ VIOLET DIDN'T IMAGINE herself returning to New York City for Christmas—well, not for Christmas per se, but for Percy's winter break.

               But she wasn't going for him, either. When he had offered she stop by after his last exam so they could get coffee at a nearby café, Violet told Percy no. She lied and said she had to help teach master archery ( she's never taught master archery, and there was a reason why; she and someone from Cabin Seven—probably Michael Yew—would get into a fight and arrows would be fired with the intent of damage ).

               Violet wanted to meet up with Percy, but ... it hurt. The lies hurt, the fear hurt, just seeing him hurt. She was scared she would get that knot in her chest—the same knot in her chest that unraveled when she saw Lee Flecther die—and so she didn't want to look at Percy. Just in case. Just in case that knot tightened in her chest if she looked at Percy. But Violet knew what was coming this August and so she wanted to look at him just to see if that knot would appear. She didn't want to forget his face, either.

               She knew most of it was her fault—the lies she had crafted to keep everything secret. She knew Percy had a point—they had bore Atlas's burden together, you would think that created a very honest friendship between them. But ... Violet struggled with wanting friendship with Percy. It wasn't that she disliked him—no, she liked him too much. It was worse than the crush on Connor Stoll she used to have, and maybe that was because of everything she and Percy had been through: they went on a quest to save Annabeth and Artemis, they searched Talos's remains for Bianca, and they explored the Labyrinth together—they've nearly died together too many times to count. It wasn't a schoolgirl crush anymore, and that scared Violet.

               You would think she would be certain that Percy liked her back—by the gods, he kissed her before he thought he was going to die!—but they've never talked about it. Again—fear, on Violet's part. She was scared he would say he didn't mean it, that it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, or whatever else Percy could come up with that would break Violet's heart into a million little pieces. That was all compounded by the fact he spent two weeks on an isolated island with a girl who was cursed to fall in love with whoever landed on her island—and whoever landed on her island was cursed to fall in love with her, but for whatever reason, that person could never stay.

               Violet pitied Calypso, but Violet also disliked Calypso. Calypso represented all of her fears—fears that Percy found someone better like Calypso, or that Percy decided that Violet would never be good enough for a hero like him, or that she made so many mistakes—made so many lies—that Percy would want nothing to do with her. It made her wonder why any of the people she cared about would want anything to do with her; they knew—AJ, Annabeth, Percy—and they knew she was lying, and that she was still lying. Percy said it himself—Violet, you've lied to us this whole summer. Why would I believe you know? As much as it stung, Percy was right.

               It hurt. As much of the blame fell on Violet, it still hurt. And she resorted back to what she always did—avoiding, and running away.

               Which is why Violet was shocked she made it back to New York City at all. Not only did Percy live in the city, so did Dahlia, Violet's mother.

               Dahlia lied, but so did Violet. But Dahlia lied first, and Violet was following her mother's lead. Did that make Dahlia worse because she lied first, or did it make Violet worse because she didn't end the lying? Or were they both horrible to each other?