Chapter 7: Percy's Coming Back

I walk back into Cabin # 3. I can hear my little girl's snores emanating from the bottom bunk. Quietly pulling up a chair beside her, I just sit and watch her sleep, eyes full of love. Her life hasn't exactly been the easiest one, and I sometimes wish that I had the power to give her a normal life. But out there, where monsters roam, doing ordinary things for a child, like going to school or playing with friends, would be almost impossible.

Still, living here year-round can make one feel cooped up - cabin fever in the extreme. I've felt it, and though she would never admit it, I know Hillary has, too. Chiron was gracious enough to let us stay here, for me to home-school Hillary and teach her lessons about her Greek heritage. It is remarkable that either of us are even allowed to live in Poseidon's cabin, a privilege normally only allowed for his children - as is true for any God's mortal offspring. I couldn't live with her, much less try to raise her, in Cabin # 6, Athena's cabin - an abode crowded with between 12 and 15 of my siblings in the summer months. Although, in the winters, Hillary and I have sometimes moved in there, when it is practically empty due to my brothers and sisters mostly being enrolled in school or college. Malcom Pace, my brother and second-in-command, is pretty much the only person who might stay at Camp during the Christmas Break, and in such times he has given me and Hillary more than enough privacy. He doesn't have a family to look after. None of my demigod siblings do.

Sighing, I gently kiss Hillary's forehead and climb to the top bunk. At one time, it would have been occupied by my Cyclops brother-in-law, Tyson, but he hasn't been back to Camp since before Hillary was born. Flopping down on the mattress, I drift into a deep sleep.


I enter Poseidon's Cabin in a little black dress, ready for my date night with Percy. Stopping just beyond the threshold, I take in the small table for two, adorned with a white cloth and candlelight. In one chair is my boyfriend, looking dashingly handsome in a tuxedo. He gives me a winning smile. "Surprise."

I laugh, and allow him to push my chair in for me. "Wow! You went all out, Seaweed Brain!"

Percy's sea-green eyes twinkle. "Well, it is our anniversary."

"Oh! That reminds me," and I pull him across the table for a long kiss. "Happy Birthday," I whisper when we break apart, passing a wrapped gift to him.

He laughs. "August 18th. It's getting to be a busy day." He unwraps his present, and laughs out loud. "A snorkel? Breathing underwater isn't exactly a problem for me, dear."

I smile. "Well, I figured we can now do it in the Sound together without you showing off."

He raises an eyebrow, amused. "If you think that's showing off, wait'll you see this!" He stands, pulls a remote control from his pocket, and clicks it. Slow music starts to play from seemingly nowhere, and he offers his hand to me. "May I have this dance, Daughter of Athena?"

I eye him with a smirk, coyly accepting his hand. "Since when do you dance?"

"Since Tyson taught me how."

"Tyson - your half-brother who also happens to be a Cyclops - taught you how to dance?" I don't believe him.

"Hey, now, give him some credit! Actually, he's quite light on his feet for such a big guy." Percy takes me in his arms, and we begin to slow dance. The tune I hear around us seems familiar, at least the singer does:

"Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by. / You don't have to ask me, and I need not reply. / Every moment of my life from now until I die / I will think or dream of you and fail to understand / how a perfect love can be confounded out of hand. Is it written in the stars? / Are we paying for some crime? / Is that all that we are good for, just a stretch of mortal time? / Or some god's experiment in which we have no say? / In which we're given paradise, but only for a day?"

I suddenly recognize the voice and eye my boyfriend, amused. "Elton John, right?"

"Can't beat the classics."

"If by classics, you mean 'old-school'." Because, really, I haven't seen The Lion King since I was, like, five.

Percy suddenly twirls me, sweeping me off of my feet. "All right, you know what, just for that, I am going to send you straight to bed, young lady!" Laughing, he actually manages to grandly climb the ladder to the top bunk with me in his arms. We nestle onto the mattress, Percy propping himself on one elbow to gaze at me.

"I thought you'd like that song, you know. It's all about forbidden love. And I was thinking, Poseidon, Athena…. we kind of have that."

I turn to him, smiling. "You know, I actually love it when you get all mushy, Seaweed Brain."

"I'm a sensitive guy."

And suddenly, we're kissing as though we cannot stop. Before I know it, we are tearing off each other's clothes, collapsing into each other's naked, sweaty arms. We begin to make passionate love…..


I smile at the dream. That must have been the night we conceived Hillary. Suddenly, I am yanked into the conscious world by something bouncing on top of me.

"Mommy! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Hillary….." I groan groggily, bummed that she interrupted my dream. "Go back to sleep….."

I feel her little body flop onto my back. "I just can't! The sky's awake! Which means Zeus is awake! So I'm awake! So we have to play!"

"Go play by yourself!" I chuckle at her youthful logic, pushing her to the back of the bunk.

"I can't do that either. Besides, there's someone at the door," my daughter tells me helpfully.

"What?" I throw back the covers and hop to the ground. Opening the door, I am shocked to see Tyson standing on the threshold. One eye and all, he gives me a boyish grin.

"Hello, sister," he greets me. Well, I shouldn't have been surprised that he calls me that; I did marry his brother. "I come with news from my father's kingdom." Then he drops the bomb:

"Percy's coming back."


A/N: So, The Lion King wisecrack was actually incorrect. The song actually comes from Disney's Aida, a stage show which was also written by Elton John.