Letters are my new thing now.

January 1

Dear Percy,

I love beginnings. If I had my way, every day would be January 1.

And what better way to celebrate this New Year's Day than to begin writing a letter to one of my closest friends.

I found something today. Something special. The thing is, it's been right in front of me ever since I've been born, but today is the first time I really saw it. It's a field. A plain old vacant field. No house in view except a little white stucco bungalow off to the right. It's a mile out of town, a one-minute bike ride from my house. It's on a hill. It used to be a pick-your-own-strawberries patch (haha, like Camp Half-Blood) but now it grows only weeds and rocks.

I've biked past this field hundreds of times, but for some reason today I stopped. I looked at it. I parked my bike and walked to it. The winter weeds were scraggly and matted down, like my hair in the morning. The frozen ground was clody and rock-hard. The sky was gray. I walked to the center and just stood there.

And stood.

How can I explain it? Alone, on the top of that hill, in the middle of that "empty" field (Ha! Write this down, Percy- Nothing is empty), I felt as if Olympus radiated from me, as if I were standing on the X that marked the center of the cosmos.

Translation: It was a pretty strange feeling. But I liked it. I like that field.

January 3

I just realized I never sent my list of New Year's Resolutions to you.

1. Find a decent bookstore. (The local Barnes and Noble closed because no one reads books anymore, which is completely ridiculous. Ridonkulous ((Is that how you spell it?)). There are some run-of-the-mill bookshops in the mall and in the airports but they're not big and comfy like Barnes and Noble. Moreover, they don't sell gift cards).

2. Start making some more of Daedalus's inventions (I haven't started anything since last summer, due to... certain events. Har har).

3. Beat Clarisse at chess (She's surprisingly good. I'm starting to wonder if my siblings are teaching her or if she's just naturally good and no one noticed. Well, Ares doesn't really approve of "sissy games" like chess, anyway).

4. K.I.T. with mom (If possible).

5. K.I.T. with you (Always possible).

January 10

Oh, Percy. I'm sad. I'm crying. I used to cry a lot when I was little. If I stepped on a bug I'd burst into tears. Funny thing- I was so busy crying for everything else I never cried for myself. Now I cry for me.

For you.

For us.

And now I'm smiling through my tears. Remember the first time I saw you? At Camp Half-Blood? (Well, actually, the first time I saw you was when I was feeding you ambrosia when you were sleeping, but that doesn't count). You were playing pinochle with Chiron and Mr. D. I was just kind of wandering around. Your eyes- that's what stopped me in my tracks. They boggled. I think it wasn't just the sight of me- blond hair, tan skin, gray eyes, blah blah blah- it was something else too. Then Chiron called me to go do something and I saw it- it was surprise. You looked like a deer caught in the headlights. You recognized me from the infirmary, didn't you? I breezed on by, but I felt your eyes on me the whole time, Percy. Oh, yes! Every second. When I was walking to Cabin Eleven I thought: Maybe someday I'll date that deer in the headlights. It was just a passing thought and I dismissed it quickly. I never dated you, Percy, not really. You, of all people. It's my biggest regret... now, see, I'm sad again.

Reviews are love! XX.