Heroes of Olympus: Thirteen Years Later

Chapter 13

Annabeth's POV
The next day we simply acted like normal mortal tourists, doing normal mortal things... well, mostly.

Percy and the kids went snorkelling without snokels, while Mary and Emilie built a massive sandcastle from a 'blueprint' Lukas sketched. Zoey, Leon, and Storm were playing flying tag again. Bianca was messing with the local plants, causing a coconut to fall on Leo's head.

"Hey! Who-!" Leo looked up, "How'd a coconut just fall on my head?"

Calypso laughed at him.

Frank and Hazel were lounging around on the beach. Piper and Jason kissed behind a tree, hoping to go unnoticed. Will was on first-aid duty. Nico and Reyna sat around and told stories.

I myself was knitting something. Just like Leo fiddles with spare parts when bored, I can craft absent-mindedly.

Suddenly my kids and their dad appeared from the waves. Anais ran at me and willed all the water on her to splash me. I assumed she didn't will herself dry on purpose.

Percy walked over and gave me the most splendid little pearl. Lukas poured out a handful of seashells.

"Hey, Wise Girl." Percy gave me that sarcastic smile, the one that would flood me with memories of our re-meeting at Camp Jupiter 13 years ago. Watching his eyes flicker all different shades of blues and greens, I'd get lost any day. Ugh.

"Since you're all wet, how 'bout a waterfight?" He straight-up splashed me. I retaliated. I knew I didn't stand a chance. I tried anyway.

Both of  us ended up sprawled on the sand, panting heavily. I put my head on Percy's shoulder.

Percy studied the look on my face. I was looking intensely at him. We kissed deeply, enjoying every moment of it. It reminded me of our underwater kiss, when no one else could watch us.

Anais called us and we scrambled apart as quickly as we could. She asked Percy to play with her, which he was more than happy to do.

Lukas was adding to the sandcastle, which became humongous. Before, it had four turrets, a main building, and a courtyard- like area. Now Lukas was adding a wall, a moat around the outside filled with water, and a guard tower. It's basically like a real castle.

Piper and Hazel had jumped in the water and started surfing. Piper taught the seven of us how to surf quite a long time ago, just like she promised us after the war. Anais also knew how to surf, being a daughter of a Poseidon kid. Maybe, when the rest of the kids are older, we might teach them.

Since we were not in the mood for an adventurous day, I decided to read a book. About three-quarters of the book later, I fell asleep on the sand.