The Curse of Oenone (Daughter of Olympus II) - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

Am I Clinically Depressed or Is It Puberty?

Ara goes to the port railing where Percy is staring at the sea with a scowl.

"It's not you," she tells him. "Whoever took them doesn't want you to see."

"But how can they keep me out of the loop like that? I don't like it."

Ara chuckles. "You sound like me."

Percy shakes his head. "Been a while since you sounded like that," He turns and leans his back against the railing. "Annabeth and Jason told me you went ballistic last night."

Ara makes a face. "You know I could've been worse."

"Yeah," Percy laughs, which sounds wrong at the moment, but he can't help it. They have a hard time being serious when they're left alone. "Many things happened yesterday, huh? I heard Reyna wanted to hold a witch trial or something."

Ara turns and leans on the railing the same way he's doing. "That was an option."

Percy looks at her knowingly. "You almost went with her." Ara keeps her eyes ahead and nods. Her brother sighs deeply. "I can't even be mad at you... I get it. It's not easy to step aside, you were brave."

"I have this urge in me," the girl gestures at her stomach. "To protect the whole world at my expense. There must be another way, but..." she shrugs. "Look at me, doing the one thing I didn't want you to do."

Ara meets Percy's eyes, her gaze is worn and unsettling, like a cry for help she's yet to utter.

"It was worth it, in the end," she continues. "I protected you and the others just like you protected me all those years," she sniffs and scratches her nose. "You regret being my brother yet?"

He snorts. "We were on a ship like this one when I placed the offer," Percy leans his head on top of hers. "And you snubbed me."

"You did it out of pity."

"Only a little."

"See, this is why Annabeth would've been a better sister—"

"You take that back—"

"OVER THERE!" Jason calls out suddenly.

Percy and Ara turn and lean over, they spot three pink bubbles erupting from the sea: Frank, Hazel, and Leo.

"Thank Poseidon!" Ara looks at Percy and pats his back. "See? Told you someone had kidnapped them!"

"Don't say it like it's a good thing!" He scowls at her.

Piper jumps overboard out of excitement and wraps her arms around Leo, fussing over him. The trio seems fine, so that's a comfort. They promise to explain everything once they change.

"You should change too," Jason nudges Ara's arm as he lands next to her. "You're covered in weird stains... And you stink of fish."

"My new aesthetic," Ara mutters.

***

"Incredible," Jason hums. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?"

"What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know," Frank's mouth is covered in chocolate. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That, is incredibly disgusting," Hazel states with aversion.

"No, no, he's onto something," Ara grabs a brownie, dipping it into the preserves. "Oh gods, that smells amazing..."

"Pass me the jar," Jason elbows her.