The secret beach
"Here we are!" Ms Jackson announced, as if the huge sign which said Welcome to Montauk Beach Cabins did not make it obvious. "Troops forward march this way to Cabin Sofia."
"Why name a cabin?" Percy groaned as he struggled with Ms Jackson's second giant picnic hamper ("One is for baked stuff and the other for extras.") and his suitcase.
"I don't know." I panted. It seemed the car park was miles away from the actual ring of cabins. You try carrying a giant hamper full of cookies and muffins in scorching summer heat; it's not easy.
Montauk Beach Cabins advertised their cabins as "the finest". I thought it was an exaggeration when Ms Jackson forced me to read the brochure but now I could see that the cabins really were first class. They were all lined up in a long row each facing the beach and sea on one side. The backyards were all neatly trimmed and each had its own pool and a small patio with colourful deck chairs and a barbecue. The cabins themselves were more like small bungalows; the walls were painted pastel yet strangely bright colours and many had climber roses creeping up the sides. It looked something straight from "Disney's Guide to How the World Should Look".
"Whoa, mom!" Percy exclaimed, "When you said we were going all out this time, you really meant it."
"This time?" I asked puzzled, "Don't you guys usually come here?"
"No," Percy laughed, "Mom was all 'Paul and Annabeth will be with us this time; we should celebrate!' Usually we stay in some run-downy place further down the promenade where 'nice' means an air conditioner which works for more than five minutes without breaking down."
Ms Jackson laughed and said "Oh you remember last time, Percy, when we turned it on and it started smoking?"
We finally reached Cabin Sofia, a largish cabin with pale blue walls and a white picket fence around it. Mr Blofis opened the door and we stepped inside. The main hallway was long with three doors leading off it to other rooms and one right at the end for the bathroom. The only furniture in it was a state-of-the-art white oak table above which hung a frameless mirror.
"Oh, look, they left us a note!" Ms Jackson said and picked up a square of fancy paper, "It says: 'Welcome to Cabin Sofia. We hope you enjoy your stay.' Isn't that nice!"
"Mom, I have feeling they give everyone one of those." Percy said.
He headed off into one the bedrooms and immediately yelled for his mother. There was apparently some problem.
"What is it, Percy?"
"Mom, this room only has one bed and it's pretty small." he complained, "Plus all the stuff is pink."
"Yes, well," Ms Jackson said sounding uncomfortable, "You have book these cabins months in advance and since we booked pretty last minute, we got the last cabin which is meant for three people and I thought you'd be man enough to take the couch…."
If looks could kill, Ms Jackson would have been in her grave by now. But, without saying anything, Percy dragged his suitcase into the living room. I followed and was overcome with shock at the room. There were fancy white leather sofas and a recliner with a huge flat-screen TV which Mr Blofis turned on at once. On the sky blue walls, there were photographs of the beach at different points of the day: sunrise, midday, sunset, rain and another of boats along the pier. I'd never been in a place so swanky and something about it told me I just had to take my shoes off. As soon as I did, my toes sunk into the soft, white carpet.
"Wow!" I said, sinking down next to Percy on the biggest sofa.
"I know," he grinned, "This place is awesome!"
Ms Jackson, however, was not going to let us lounge about all day. It was already one o' clock and she had drawn up a schedule of what we were doing today.
"Right, we have one hour to freshen up; take showers, change clothes, etc. Then we are out of here and heading down to Mario's Ristorante for Italiano. Then we head down to the beach to relax." she said in such a commanding way, we all obeyed her rules.
Within an hour, we were all ready, showered, with our beach bags packed and clothes changed. Percy's hair was still wet from when Ms Jackson had basically dragged him out of the shower. After making sure we were all on time and had packed all the essentials, Ms Jackson paraded us out of the cabin and out onto the sunshine.
Mario's Ristorante was small but tastefully decorated. The Italian waiter took our orders and brought us our food which we downed in double time before making a beeline for the beach. I pushed my sunglasses up my nose and felt Percy's fingers link through my mine. I looked at him and he smiled, his eyes crinkling adorably.
"We are going for a swim." he said quietly.
"Okay." I was way too weak even to say no or play hard to get. Something about him made me want to give in to anything he said because the things he said were wonderful.
Once we had set up (umbrella up, beach mats spread out, iPod playing slow David Guetta tracks – Ms Jackson's choice – and beach bags put down out of sight of thieves) Ms Jackson dozed off while sunbathing and Percy told Mr Blofis we were heading out to the water. I doubt that he even heard, he was so engrossed in some book about a runaway bride (are men supposed to read books like that?).
Percy half dragged me down further and further away form where we had set up.
"Where are we going?" I asked, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.
"You remember I said that we used to stay at the cabins further down the promenade?" he said sounding pretty excited himself. "There's a small sort of cave down there between some of the huge rocks. It leads like a tunnel down to a really cool smaller beach. I don't know if I'll be able to find it – I've only been down there once - but I really want you to see it."
I didn't even care that he was probably going to pull my arm right off because all I could think is: he wants to take me somewhere special! I told myself not to be silly and to keep my head out of the clouds but another part of me told myself to relax and let go of my up-tightness (just because I won't admit I'm uptight, doesn't mean I'm not aware of it).
I noticed that the beach was getting dirtier and the buildings were getting shabbier. Soon we came to a part of the beach which was slightly dark because of a giant billboard advertising sneakers blocking almost all the sunlight.
"There it is!" Percy cried.
Between two giant rocks was a tiny crack, big enough for a skinny ten-year-old boy to squeeze through. "Percy, are you sure that we'll fit through that crack? I mean it's pretty small." I said.
"Yeah. Remember two summers ago when Quintus had us playing tag with scorpions and we found the opening to the Labyrinth and you said it was too small but we fit through?" he answered and continued walking towards the crack.
He stared at it and then stuck his shoulder through the crack; it fit easily. After a bit of shoving, he managed to wriggle through. I copied, going in facing sideways to try and fit better. The rough surface grazed against my wrists and knuckles and I had to breathe in to finally squeeze through.
I emerged on the other side on a sort of wide ledge, a foot or so above the ground. Percy was waiting on the sand below. I had to catch my breath, the view was so beautiful. The sand was much whiter and there wasn't a person or bits of trash in sight. The sea was rough, though, so I didn't see how we could swim. After taking it all in, I jumped off the ledge.
"Pretty place, huh?" Percy asked, grinning at my expression.
"I'll say!" I said, "But we won't be able to go swimming, you know. The sea is rough and it could get dangerous."
"Annabeth, you're with the son of the god of the sea." he said, "There's no way we're drowning."
He took my hand again and started leading me towards the water, ignoring my complaints about how cold it would and the fact we weren't in swimsuits. I stepped into the water, almost pulling away at the cold. But suddenly, the water was warm and the surface started to bubble. I looked at Percy but he was concentrating on whatever he was doing to the water. Suddenly the water around us shot up but our clothes remained strangely dry. The jets of water formed an arc over out heads until we were completely surrounded; it was like being in one of those giant human-hamster balls.
"Wow," I said, "Another magic bubble." The bubble started to sink slowly into the water.
"You know it doesn't get more romantic than this. Not for me, anyway." Percy joked, and I had to laugh.
We leant against one of the sides of the bubble and it travelled deeper into the sea. I couldn't speak, not even to tell Percy how amazing this was. He squeezed my hand as if to say he understood.
There were all kind of fish around us of all different colours. They were so close; I felt I could touch them. A happy looking dolphin came right up to the bubble, nudging it slightly as it was a new toy, and we were jolted around inside.
"Turbulence." Percy muttered.
We must have been down there for ages, because when we came up, the sky was dimming. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and the little light started to flash. I picked up and saw there was a message from Ms Jackson.
Where are you? I'm getting worried.
Before I knew what was happening, the bubble popped and my feet were on dry sand once again. Suddenly Percy snatched my phone from my hand and started to reply.
"Percy, give me back my phone!" I yelled.
"Relax," he said and snapped the phone shut, "I told her not to worry if we don't go back tonight."
"Why would we not go back tonight?" I asked, trying to control the fluttering feeling in my stomach.
"Because if we went back, we wouldn't have any time together." he answered and I could see his blush in the dimming light. "Mom would try to feed you her special blue foods till you wanted to hurl and Paul would just ask you questions about school because he doesn't realise that you want there to be a difference between class and dinner."
"So Percy Jackson wants to be alone…" I grinned, leaning forwards.
"Yes he does, so he can do this…"
Our lips met. His lips were soft and I felt as if I could melt right into his arms. I could've stayed that way all night, because I loved the bubbly feeling which started at my toes and fluttered in the pit of my stomach. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. All I could think was He's mine! Percy's my boyfriend! I could feel his breath on my face and his arms around my waist. All too soon, he pulled away.
"Sorry," he said, "I just had to breathe."
I laughed and shook my head, "That is so romantic."
We walked further away form the water and climbed back onto the ledge so when the tide turned, we would be spared. We lay on the cool stone surface, his arm around mine, and stared up at the sky. The stars twinkled like little diamonds in the blue-black sky.
"There's the dog star…" he whispered, pointing to a constellation, "And that's Hercules. And there's Zoë's star."
We stayed like that for a while, pointing out different constellations and making up our own: the Strawberry, the Blob, the Squashed Frog….Till my eyes finally drifted closed and I felt my head rest against Percy's shoulder. After a while, I heard him breathing heavily and knew he was asleep too.
So far so great. I snuggled closer as the wind grew chillier and the sea started churning like crazy. I heard a distant rumble coming from somewhere deep inside the earth. If I was mortal, I'd think it was just thunder but being a demigod, I knew something was wrong. But at the time, I was too blessed put to worry. If only I had known what was lying in store for me just the next day.
