The Neptune Revenge

CHAPTER 9

I am proud to present to you...

CHAPTER 9!!!!

I can't tell you how proud of myself I am for finishing most of this chapter in one day without any preconceived ideas! I finished rereading both books in four days so now I can get back to writing. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have such amazing supportive followers :)))

(Side note: before, I said he was turning 16 but I forgot he said he was 14 in the books so he's actually turning 15, sorry for the inaccuracy, I just went back and edited that bit)

(Another side note, I FINISHED TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY AHHHH lol sorry just wanted to tell you chapter 10 is already up too ok yay I love you here's my story now)

:Really? He's fifteen?: Ree raises an eyebrow after I relay my father's information. :He still acts like he's trés.:

:How did we forget his birthday?: Sunny frowns, exchanging a glance with the rest of Kuron's kids. :We've known him, like, forever. He's one of our best friends. Do we even know each other's birthdays?:

Rad shrugs. :Hey Och, your birthday is... April fifth, right?:

:It's October seventeenth...: Ocho replies slowly and raises a thick eyebrow, giving him a "did-you-really-just-say-that?" look. Rad widens his eyes and laughs, then turns to wink at Ree, who proceeds to roll her eyes and whisper a rude name in Spanish that we've all come to recognize before elbowing him lightly in the ribs. I wonder if he purposely got Ocho's birthday wrong just so he could show off in front of Ree.

:Remember guys, shield your minds tight. It's gotta be a surprise, and you all know how Dai likes to
know everyone's thoughts at any moment of the day,: I say hesitantly. I really don't want him finding out about our surprise.

:Always do,: Shadow replies, in only a semi-threatening way.

It takes my friends and I every bit of five hours to plan and up the party. We decided that, instead of having the party in the underwater valley my father recommended, we would have it in a small coral reef just off the coast a little to the west of where we are now.

The reef is filled with brightly colored everything. Pink anemones wave in ocean currents. Red and white shrimp nibble on small green plants poking out of the sand. A small black and white spotted stingray peaks out of the sand, then buries itself again. A large gray eel slithers in between some tall coral, and Sokya takes much enjoyment in chasing it off. We all laugh as she chases it around tall anemones, dodging tall barrels of coral and swimming under rocky overhangs.

Fish in a rainbow of colors and an assortment of patterns dart in every every direction. A few curious ones, including a bright orange little clownfish, come up to us and swim circles around us. One even swims through Bria's hair, which is out of its normal braid and floats loosely around her like a halo, just like Shadow's. I got Ree to redo my braids when we took a twenty minute break from decorating two hours in to the planning session. We had the dolphins to clear some seaweed and coral remains from a already mostly empty patch in the middle of the reef.

We figured we'd do the party mostly like we did mine. The others have gifts for him, but I don't yet. I'm trying not to overthink it, because Dai is very simpleminded when it comes to gifts and doesn't ask for really anything at all. But I want to blow him away with my gift. I want him to feel the way I felt when he towed me through the kelp forest on my birthday and kissed me for the first time.