"Montauk...The beach was special to her.It was the place she had met his dad"
-quote, Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
Sally Jackson hurried along the street, hoping to get to her car before the rain started. Just as she got in the sky opened and let down seemingly tons of water onto New York City. As if it was trying to wipe it clean, she thought, wishing it could. She was right then driving to a cleaner place. Montauk, her secret stretch of beach she had been going to since she was a little girl. Before her parents died in a plane crash. The thought always made her a little sad; like she had fooled herself into thinking that they were still alive. She drove along the wet highway, waiting for the exit that was so small you could barely notice it through the rain, but she knew the way by heart. She turned and drove down the twisting little road, finding her way to a little pastel rental cabin which held so many memories. Her mother, waiting for her to come swim in the waves, her father, making them all hot dogs with too much ketchup, roasting marshmallows, and that warm feeling of family. She sighed and entered the cabin. She took the old broom, pan, and brush and set to cleaning up. She heated up some beans on the little stove, and looked at the sea. It always calmed her, especially after a storm. She thought it looked calm and tired, but in a peaceful way. She got lost in her thoughts and burned the beans. Oh well, she thought, it's not the end of the world. After that, she ate them anyway and went to bed.
The next morning, she put on her bathing suit and went to the beach. She played in the shallows awhile, and then swam out to sea. She was floating on her back when she saw a man, clutching what looked like a piece of a raft. Sally swam out to him, and found him unconscious. She dragged him back to shore and carried him inside into the other bedroom. She got him dry, and left new clothes by his bedside, left from when her dad was there.
When she woke up, he was in the kitchen eating cornflakes. He had cleaned up, and Sally noticed how handsome he was. He had wind-swept black hair and the beginnings of a beard. His skin was tanned from sun and the elements, but not burnt or too dark. His eyes were his most striking feature, a deep blue-green, the color of the ocean.
"I don't thing we've been properly introduced," he said, "I'm Poseidon."
"As in, like, king of the ocean?" She asked, he replied, "My parents liked Greek mythology very much, and also the ocean." She doubted he was telling the truth, but she was curious. "Where do you come from?" was her next question. "I wish I remembered."
Sally felt sorry for him, "Did your boat crash?" "All I remember is waking up in the middle of the ocean, holding on as tight as I could to that piece of wood there," he said, pointing to the said fragment, leaning in the corner. Sally sighed, and got out the first aid kit. She treated his cuts and bruises, and sent him straight to bed.
The next few days passed in his recovery, during which she found out little else about him. A few days later, when, she allowed him out of bed, He went swimming with her. They swam and joked and laughed like they had each known the other for ever, and as they watched the sunset and roasted marshmallows, Sally wondered if she was falling in love.
Days passed, and they grew to like each other. They did the chores, ate, and swam in the late summer sun, loving the water, the sun, and, slowly, each other. One night, he decided to tell her the truth. "Sally, he said, I have something to tell you. You know when you asked who I was?" "Yeah," she said, intrigued. "I really am the sea god, and all the other gods exist too." Sally looked at him like he was crazy, "You're kidding, right?" She asked. "No, I promise, look!" Poseidon countered, and pointed to the window. Sally looked, and couldn't believe her eyes. The waves were lifting, swaying into a living likeness of... her! "I must really be going mad!" She murmured, but He said, "Then how can I be seeing it too?" "Then you're not a shipwrecked sailor?" She asked. "No," he said, "I saw you from Mount Olympus, and fell in love. Will you forgive me for lying?" "Yes, but isn't Mount Olympus in Greece?" "No, it moves with the heart of the West, the center of learning and advancement, in this case, New York." "But-"Shhh," he told her and led her to bed.