Name: Από τη θάλασσα στο φεγγάρι (From the sea to the moon)
Ship - Zoëna - 2017 Reyna Avila, 1603 Zoë Nightshade (noble girl)
Song of Choice - The Greatest by Sia
Day - Tuesday || Scifi/Fantasy
By - Faith (seagurl3/mermaid-hair-and-swords)
(Yeah there is cursing so)
Chapter One
~July 30th, 2017~
"Rey Rey!" A sharp voice sparked in the air and a girl with braided black hair and caramel skin looked up from behind the bar.
"Hey Leo."
The latino boy broke into a smile. "How you doin? Still single?"
The girl pierced her lips. "I know you still are."
Leo winced a little. "Very funny, Reyna."
Reyna stood up and dusted her Starbucks apron off. "Yes, still single."
"Blind date didn't go well?" He leaned over the bar and helped himself to one of the cookie straws.
Reyna sighed. "Jason's a good guy but…"
"He can't match up people worth shit?"
Reyna laughed a little. "That's one way to put it."
"Maybe you should let me try?" Leo offered. Reyna raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? You can't even land yourself a girl, what makes you think you can land me one?"
"You wound me, praetor." Leo raised his hands to his heart. Reyna rolled her eyes.
"If I were really a praetor, you'd be a lame ass driver."
"Wrong mythology."
"Don't care." Reyna moved over to the coffee machine and pressed the button. The grounds starting churning, the machine roaring into life. Leo scowled at the sound, but took the sign that Reyna didn't want to talk anymore about the failed date the night before.
"Extra caramel," He whispered and moved over to the other side of the bar.
"One of these days, you're going to die from sugar highs." Reyna poured ice into the blender and poured the espresso in. "Or caffeine overdose. You do know 400 milligrams in 24 hours is considered an overdose?"
"I would die a happy-" Reyna started the blender, smiling at Leo. The latino deflated a little. "-man."
"What's that? I can't hear you."
"Funny."
Reyna looked around the unusually empty cafe. It was a Friday morning, easily only 8 o'clock, but no one had entered.
"Did I leave the closed sign up again?"
Leo looked around. "No… Oh! Your sister won mayor last night so everyone is probably hung over."
Reyna huffed softly. "Wow, I still can't believe that."
"I can." Leo smirked. Reyna rolled her eyes at the elf and finished making his usual Caramel Ribbon Crunch.
"You'd date my sister."
"Yeah, if she were straight." He took a sip of the sweet caffeinated 'slushie', as their friend Piper liked to call frappuccinos.
"She's dating your sister instead," Reyna teased, immediately thinking of the mechanic girl, Nyssa, who had somehow wooed her stone cold sister.
"Those two are so happy…" He sighed. "How are we even related to them?"
Reyna playfully hit him with a damp cleaning towel. Leo let out a cackle.
"Oh, that reminds me." He dug into his sidebag. Reyna leaned over the bar to get a better view of the item.
Leo laid the object on the fake wood. A pearly white iridescent diary the length of her forearm and three quarters of that for width graced her vision. Reyna's eyebrows knitted themselves together.
"What's this?"
"A diary."
"Well no shit sherlock, I can see that." Reyna pierced her lips. Leo shrugged.
"Percy slapped this on my lap at 5 this morning and told me to give it to you."
"Percy?" Reyna looked taken back. Percy was not one to share or gift items, much less gift them to his ex girlfriend. "Did he say anything as to why?"
Leo shook his head and took a long sip from his drink. "None. He kept muttering weird things under his breath, looking like he was plotting the President's death."
"Wouldn't doubt that," The brunnette sighed. "Is it just a block of pretty wood or…?"
"Naw, this looks antique." Leo dusted the cover a little. "Nothing's written in it though. Percy won't return my texts either."
Reyna's mind turned. Percy was one of those… off the time guys. He suddenly appeared out of the blue during Reyna's freshman year in highschool, barely 4 years ago. The dude obviously was speaking English as a second language, his accent…. Unidentifiable. Green eyes like nothing Reyna had ever seen, black tousled hair that seemed to move with the ocean, and deep bronze skin, just like Reyna's. She fell hard for him, but Thalia, her other ex (who was also the sister of another ex, Jason), did too. Reyna and Percy dated for one year, but then Thalia ran shirtless across the football field during the sophomore year homecoming game and Percy politely dumped her for the blond superwoman.
She didn't mind. She'd rather her ex leave for her other ex than for someone like Leo. No offense to the elf, but she'd never hear the end of it.
"That is strange. Did you call the police?"
"I told myself if Thals didn't have visual confirmation of her boyfriend by sundown, I'll take it on myself to find the hot guy."
Reyna rolled her eyes at Leo's comment. "Whatever. Are you going to haunt me all day?"
"Are you going to hook me up with coffee all day?"
"Are you going to pay for that?"
Leo blinked, then frowned. "Yes."
Reyna held her hand out expectantly. Leo fished out a 20 and put it in her palm. "One double smoked bacon with no cheese."
The girl with the braids smiled. "Order up."
When Reyna got home, she had no idea what she was going to do with the diary.
She was never one to recount her day, usually because her ADHD didn't let her access her memories in whole bits.
On the other hand, Percy giving gifts was one thing he never did. She wasn't going to be disrespectful to the man, ex or not.
Sighing, she sat down at her desk beside her bed and opened up to a random page.
Dear Reyna,
You might be wondering why I gave you an empty book. Long story short, it was not some dead weight. It's a connection to my past, a gift from my father to me. I want you to have it, it might do you some good in your life.
Don't worry, I'm okay. My mother got in touch with me, so I'll be off the grid for a while. If you could tell everybody that, I'd be happy.
P.S. when it writes back, don't be scared.
~ Perseus
Reyna scowled. "Leo, you fucking liar."
She picked up a pen and weighed it in her hand. What did Percy mean by 'writes back'? Was this some Tom Riddle voodoo? She didn't want to be stuck in some chamber, let alone communicate with a magical terrorist.
She took a deep breath, and the ink met paper.
Dear Random Diary From My Ex,
I don't know why Percy gifted this to me. Maybe he thought it would be aesthetically pleasing to my eyes, or some hint to leave Starbucks, but you never deny a gift from a man like him.
As weird as it might sound, I'll introduce myself to you. My name is Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, though my last name is dreadfully long, so I stick to Reyna Avila or just Reyna. I am 18 years old and currently leaving in an apartment small enough to be some rich person's walk in closet. At least for now. I'm going to college once the summer ends, and majoring in political science (of all things). Average height, abnormally reddish-brown eyes, native Portugal skin type, yada yada.
Now that introductions are done, I guess I'll just leave this entry as finished. Nothing more needs to be said, since nothing explosive or entertaining happens in my day to day life.
Goodnight Diary,
Reyna Avila.
Reyna yawned, then closed the book. She had a long day that day, working from 6 am to 6 pm then being dragged by Jason to yet another failed blind dated. It was easily 11 at night when she crawled into bed.
She fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.
But when she woke up, her day was much different.
An eerie purple glow was emitting from her desk, disrupting her oddly satisfying dream of shooting pumpkins with miniature gold swords on a bowstring. Reyna looked at the time - 3:45.
"What the fuck," she grumbled, getting up to investigate.
Her diary, which she could have sworn was pearly white, was glowing like bioluminescence. Only it was purple, not blue.
Scowling, she opened up to a random page and sat down in her desk chair.
Dear Reyna Avila,
Whoever this 'Starbucks' is, thou must leave him immediately. You are obviously unhappy with him.
And this Percy needs to send more gifts, it is ungentleman of him not to.
It strikes me as odd that thee shall be going to a college. According to my brother, a college is for education, and thou sounds like a girl to me.
Furthermore, your surname is quite beautiful. Mine is Zoë Nightshade, but do not call me Zoe. My name is required with the umlaut. Much smaller than your surname, yes, but equally uncommon. It is very much Portugal-native, unlike my own.
Since you have decided to describe yourself, so shall I. My mother is native to Greece, and I inherited her skin hue. I have blue eyes, much of that to a sky before a storm, and as of 'height', I have no clue as to what thee meant by 'average'.
I live with my father, since I am unwedded, and are around 17 years of age. My father is a local nobleman of a small land in England, though I do not indulge in the ways of the wealthy.
It is very nice to meet thee, Reyna Avila.
With curiosity,
Zoë Nightshade.
Reyna reread the passage. Then rereread it.
That can't be right. There was no way someone could have replied back.
P.S. when it writes back, don't be scared.
"Percy… how did you…"
Reyna picked up her pen, then fell face first on the soft paper and passed out.
When she woke up again, Jason was standing over her, confused. The blond kept trying to say something, but Reyna couldn't hear him. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then pointed to her ears.
Jason pierced his lips and stopped talking. Slowly, his hands formed the letter R, then waved it side to side.
Reyna nodded slowly, still confused.
What are you doing sleeping on a book?
Her eyes flickered down to her diary. The page was empty, the cover back to it's pearly white finish.
Had she dreamt of last night?
She shrugged. Dunno, I was tired and I woke up in the middle of the night when Percy rolled into my room via window, she half lied. Told me he was going out of town for a while.
And he didn't tell me first? Jason's frown deepened dramatically.
Said it was an emergency and he didn't have time.
Jason went to sign something, but stopped. Gingerly, he plucked Reyna's hearing aids off her charger and handed them to her. She fitted them back in her ears.
"Sorry Jay, Percy seemed really preoccupied."
"Did he tell you why?"
She shook her head. "No, sorry."
He sighed, then sat on her bed. "Well Thalia's in the kitchen. Says she needs to talk to you about something."
Reyna frowned. Thalia wanted to talk to her? Did Jason convince Thalia to set up a blind date for her?
"Did she say why?"
He bit his lip. "No, but she seemed very… Disturbed, I guess is the word I'd use. Disturbed."
Reyna glanced at the book, then closed it. The pearly white cover shimmered in the light of the rising sun, silver letters she never noticed etched on the front:
From the Sea to the Moon
She picked it up, then left Jason on the bed as she went to go find the dyed hair ex.
Thalia took one look at Reyna's hands before dragging her out of the apartment and down to the public balcony.
"Listen, Thalia, about Percy-"
"That book." She stated, her black lined blue eyes flickered to meet Reyna's tired ones. "Where did you get it?"
Reyna looked at the book. "Leo gave it to me, said Percy dropped it in his lap yesterday."
Thalia blinked. "Valdez failed to mention that."
"Thalia, Percy-"
"Did it write back yet?"
That question took Reyna back a little. In normal situations, she would have laughed if someone asked that. But Thalia seemed strangely curious.
"... I guess it did?" Reyna told her what she thought had been a dream. She looked at the diary for a minute, then smiled.
"Percy's one for mystery, that's for sure." She said. "Did he tell you why he left?"
"Said he got in contact with his mother."
She nodded. "No wonder he's not answer his calls… Well, I'll go uncall the police, you have fun with your diary."
She started inside.
"Wait!"
Thalia turned back around. Reyna held up the diary. "Why is it writing back?"
Her ex thought for a moment, before smiling. "Because you have something that needs to be in your life living at the other end, at the wrong side of time."
And with that, Thalia left Reyna alone on the tattered old balcony.
She looked down at the book, then opened up at the creased page. The girl, Zoe? No, she said the umlaut was important - Zoë. She really had written back, the dark purple ink neatly written on the white sheet of paper.
She fished a pen out of her hair, which she had probably shoved in there lazily last night, and started writing.
Dear Zoë Nightshade.