Malaina (Percy Jackson Next Generation) [UNDER SEVERE EDITING]

Chapter 12

L U K E ---

Malaina walked in with a load of Aphrodite girls surrounding her, looking very embarrassed. She was wearing a strapless white dress and... makeup. Her red hair had been curled and tied in a messy bun on top of her head with some strands hanging down in front of he face.

One of the Aphrodite girls- I think her name was Emma- came up to me with a big smile on her face. She linked her arm with mine.

"So, what do you think? Did we do a good job?" I could hear Emma speaking in the back of my mind, but I wasn't paying any attention to her, I only had eyes for Malaina. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

Two Aphrodite girls grabbed Malaina's arms and dragged her over to where I was standing, staring like a lunatic.

"What do you think?" Malaina repeats Emma's earlier question, only Malaina didn't look as happy about the whole situation.

"You look... Amazing." Her cheeks turn an even darker shade of red, it almost matches her hair. The other girls smile knowingly at us and go over to their table, sensing their work was done. Mine, however, was definitely not. I can feel a hundred of eyes on us, and decide this isn't the right place to talk to her.

"Do you think we should...?" I gesture behind me to the door.

"Yes." She says immediately. I smile. She smiles. I hold my arm out to her, the way people do in old movies. She laughs but takes my arm anyway.

Together we walk out, with a hundred eyes watching us go.

Malaina and I walk out and go towards the lake. We end up sitting on the end of the peer with our legs hanging over the edge. We sit in silence for a long time, just enjoying each other's company. Then I finally work up the courage to speak.

"You look amazing, by the way." She blushes again.

"You already said that." I know I did. I just needed her to know how much I mean it.

"You do though." She whispers a quick thank you.

Suddenly I have a thought. Yes, I know, dangerous. But I did, so get over it. "How come the Aphrodite kids did this?"

Maliana looked away, suddenly looking angry. "I lost a bet." She said through gritted teeth.

"Well, look on the bright side. At least they didn't make you look like a clown."

She bursts out laughing and I can't help laughing with her.

When we calm down Malaina looks out at the sun setting on the lake. She looks so peaceful, like her parents hadn't been taken from her, like she hadn't just found out her real father was Kronos, like her world hadn't been turned up side down, as if she was a normal girl. Sometimes I wonder what that would have been like. To be normal. To grow up not fearing that the next day might be your last. It really sucked living like that, but I had gotten used to it, now this was my normal. One day it would be Malaina's as well, at least she had a normal life for as long as she did. I would have given my right leg to grow up the way she did.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" Malaina's voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, beautiful..." I watch this sunset every night. I can't really appreciate its beauty anymore.

"Do you want to dance?" I don't know what made me say it, oh wait, yes I do: Aphrodite.

"Dance?" Malaina looks surprised; rightly so. "But there's no music."

"So, we don't need music." The Aphrodite controlled me holds out my hand to her. She looks from it to my face, before finally taking it and we stand up together.

I wrap my arms round her waist and her's land on my shoulders. We sway gently to the sound of water splashing until Malaina breaks the silence.

"I was thinking about my mother today. My real mother. Her name was Christina Francis. She was a sorceress." I look at her in surprise.

"Wouldn't that mean you could do sorcery?" I ask.

"I guess so. I'm too scared to try. What if I hurt someone? What if I can't control it?" We've stopped dancing now. She looks away and I can see tears welling in her eyes. It makes my heart hurt to see her cry. I place two fingers under her chin and tilt it up so she has no choice but to look at me. 

"Everything will be okay." I try to reassure her. "You don't have use your powers. If you have any that is. No one will make you." She looks away from me again. Then she did something I really wasn't expecting. She hugged me.   She seemed so small and fragile like this. Suddenly she pulls away and she stands on her tip toes, her eyes closed. My heart starts to beat faster, and I find myself leaning towards her as well.

Next thing I know I'm splashing around in the lake. I pop my head out of the water and look back to the peer to see Malaina keeling over killing herself laughing. I roll my eyes, but I can't help the little smile forming on my lips.

I swim back up to the edge of the peer. "Ha ha, very funny." I say sarcastically.

"I... I'm sorry... I just..." She bursts out laughing again. "I couldn't help myself."

"At least help me out." I hold out my hand to her. She quickly recovers from her laughing fit and crosses her arms stubbornly.

"No. I've seen enough movies to know what would happen if I took your hand." She's got a point, but that wasn't what I was going to do at all. I control a bit of water and lift it into the air. It slowly moves behind Malaina and over her head. When I'm confident it's in the right place, it drops and Malaina shrieks loudly.

"Now who's the one laughing?" I taunt. She looks at me, anger clear on her face.

"THAT'S IT!" She jumps in after me and we end up splashing each other until the moon sits high in the sky.

When Malaina gets too tired to continue, I swim up to her and wrap my arms around her. Seeing as physics do not allow us to stay above the water, we sink. Malaina instantly starts panicking, but I pull her back to me and create an air bubble around us at the bottom of the lake.

And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.