Just Add Water

drowning

Hello! Hope y'all are having a lovely weekend. This one's short, but it's all I got for now hahah so fingers crossed I can post some more!

If there's one thing Annabeth Chase never figured out—nine wise years of age and stubborn as a mule, as Luke loved to remind her—was Perseus Jackson.

It was not at all because of their ongoing rivalry that burst forth ever since she came to camp. No, no, no, she always insisted; it was more than that.

For one, he had long, ebony hair that reached his middle back, like some kind of hippie third-grader (though she'll admit: the only truly weird thing about this was the fact that she recalled quite well a day when he had short hair and the next day he suddenly had to pull it back into a messy ponytail. She wasn't obsessed with him or anything—just really observant.)

For another, he was the bane of her existence, though their dislike for one another had morphed from outright hatred to something like...disregard, or indifference. Yes, that was it. (Unless they were on opposite sides of a competition, in which case it was on, and then Luke had to restrain her.)

And last but definitely not least, he was deathly afraid of water—yet Annabeth knew for a fact that he sneaked off to the beach at night, specifically, every Full Moon. It had been strange the first time she caught him (that time when they begrudgingly shared an oreo), but it was even stranger after witnessing him do it more than once (she liked the beach at night because the waves were calming and it was the only place where she could ever be alone for once, okay?). Usually, he'd leave dinner early—again, not obsessed, just observant—obviously to do whatever he did by the beach, and by the time it got dark, Annabeth hidden in her usual spot by the sand dunes, he'd come running from the direction of the surf with a dopey smile on his face.

She didn't get him. And if there was one thing Annabeth hated more than anything else in the world, it was not getting something.

Why would he be at the beach if he hates water?

Her mind would skip to that one time she'd thrown him into the creek during Capture the Flag. The expression he'd made...as if he'd just witnessed a monster rampage the entire camp. Or that one time Camila Tonatiuh accidentally spilled water all over his lap at lunch and his eyes instantly got really wide and he'd choked out a, "Bathroom," excuse before he dashed out of the dining hall like his life depended on it. Grover told her he'd had an allergic reaction, but Annabeth knew better.

So again...why the beach? There was definitely something fishy going on with Perseus Jackson, and after almost three years of the complete torture of just not knowing, she would have the matter settled today, once and for all.

Today was like any other Full Moon. He stood from the Hermes table, excused himself, and got up to leave. Annabeth turned to Sophie, her older sister and Camp Counselor for the Athena Cabin. She was eating her green beans when Annabeth cleared her throat.

"Um," Annabeth said, as Sophie raised an eyebrow at her. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare. "I'm tired today. You know how it was yesterday—we sang too long at the campfire and I don't think I got enough sleep, so... I think I'm gonna go to sleep now? If that's okay."

It took a bit more convincing for them to leave her alone; Sophie was overprotective sometimes and had offered to accompany Annabeth, but she somehow managed to slip away from her grasp. She hurried along down a short cut, knowing full well that Percy could easily beat her to the beach, which meant she wouldn't get to see where he went all the time. The beach was dark when she arrived, the waves rough and violent, at full tide, with the full moon peeking out of the horizon like the yellow eye of a cat, hunting in the shadow of the night.