A Little More Than A Daydream

❂ Chapter Four ❂

"I can't believe this is all real..." Percy trailed off, kicking a stone.

I watched the stone bounce, once, twice, before it came to rest against a piece of driftwood. We were walking along the beach outside camp. Percy had only just woken up around lunchtime, but Will had let us leave so we could have some time alone. Besides, he knew that I could heal either of us if we got into trouble, so Will hadn't been worried. I had brought Percy up to speed on what the camp really was.

"Trust me, it is." I sighed sympathetically.

"At least you and Grover are okay. I can't believe mum is gone..." Percy hugged me suddenly.

"It's okay Percy. But..." I trailed off, not sure I should say anything. I knew too much about the future, and anything I might say might screw it up.

"What?" Percy looked at me curiously.

"Well... If our mother was a mortal, why would she die in a burst of light? The monsters disintegrate, but I'm sure that when mortals and demigods die, they leave a whole body behind. They don't just disappear in a flash of light." I tried to sound nonchalant about it, but Percy understood me immediately.

"You think she didn't die." He stated.

I nodded reluctantly. "I don't know for certain, but I'm pretty sure she didn't die. Besides, the underworld exists, doesn't it....? That means that there must be some-"

"...way to get her back?" Percy finished my sentence questionably.

"I was going to say, 'something after life.'" I corrected him.

"Oh"

"C'mon, we should head back to camp" I told Percy. "We shouldn't think too much about mum at the moment. We're just a pair of twelve-year old's. How would we face up against the underworld, when we don't even know how to fight?" ...even if I know that you can do exactly that... I finished in my head.

"Okay then" Percy dropped the subject, but I could tell that he hadn't entirely dropped the idea of his mother being alive.

I let Annabeth show Percy around the camp, expecting that they would bump into Clarrise and the whole bathroom thing would happen again. I thought about just showing Percy around camp myself, but then I realised that Annabeth needed to see what Percy could do, so that she would want him on her team for capture the flag which would lead him to being claimed.

Annabeth had always been one of my favourite characters in the books, and I had always thought we would get along quite well, until I actually met her. I realized instantly why the daughter of Athena had even become friends with Percy in the first place. He was her ticket into the real world.

I? I was nothing to Annabeth. Only Percy's baby sister.

After Percy had exploded the toilets, which was hilarious to watch, Percy and I were introduced to the Hermes cabin and Luke Castellan.

It had been both interesting and startling to meet Luke Castellan. I knew what Luke's future was like, but it was hard not to like him. He always had a smile on his face and had welcomed us into the Hermes cabin with no problems at all. I never once got the feeling that something was off about him, even though I knew he was working with Kronos.

He was tall, with sandy hair and blue eyes, with a long scar running down his face. I could see why Luke had always been described as handsome in the books. He was clearly good looking. But I was glad he had the scar; he wouldn't have looked real without it.

Percy and I got a shared space on the floor to sleep on. Luke had stolen us some toiletries and sleeping bags, which was rather nice of him.

On Friday, I woke up to find everyone in the room had stopped moving. Percy had sat up and had started to rub the sleep out of his eyes.