Skadoosh! I have nothing to say today. ... I think. :P XD
WAIT. I DO have something to say!
STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. I have uploaded three chapters in one day! This means, if you have just clicked the last chapter on the story, GO BACK TWO MORE TO CHAPTER... um... TO CHAPTER SEVEN.
And if you are aware that I did this, then... PROCEED! :D
...
Water lapped silently at where it rested several yards from the porch of the Big House. Fish darted underneath the surface, gathering algae that had grown between the blades of yellowing grass. The sun reflected off of the water, blinding me a little, but I couldn't look away I was so shocked. When had it melted? It had to be after Danny had come back to the Big House, tea in hand and face smeared in blood.
I was startled out of my thoughts as Danny released his hold on me. I watched as the half-breed I had grown to love over the short twenty four hours I'd known him rushed forth to the front of the water, stopping at the edge, excitement in his gaze as he stared down at it. He kicked off his shoes and socks before sending a silly grin in my direction and walked in. When he was up to his thighs, he put his hands together and dove in, leaving me to stand alone on the dry land he had just escaped.
I watched as he swam further from the hill I stood on, just below the surface of the water that had just been frozen solid not too long ago. I smiled at the happy expression I glimpsed him wearing when he turned his head towards me to look around under the water. A few large fish swam around him, greeting the half-hippocampus with eager shown clearly on their expressions, which was a little weird, since I don't think I had ever seen a fish look eager before that day. They always looked down or monotone, no matter what you did.
After a few minutes, Danny surfaced to take a breath of air, treading water skillfully. He was perfectly dry, save for his hair, which still stood up in spikes up front, droplets of water running down from it and off his dry skin. He searched the shore for me, and when he found at me, he grinned. I couldn't help but to laugh at his expression and changed features. He was ridiculously adorable, with his horse ears that were sticking up on his head in place of his human ones, flicking away the water that ran down from his hair and onto them. His feet and arms had turned into the rippling fins that hippocampus had to help them propel through the water, supporting him and allowing him to tread with what appeared to be effortless ease.
Danny's grin widened at my laugh. He dove back into the water and swam closer to the bank, swimmingly smoothly towards me. When the ground began to slope up underneath him, he followed it, chest skimming the blades of grass. The small fish parted away from him as he swam along the slope, fleeing the half-hippocampus. When he could stand, his limbs turned back into the normal human ones he wore all the time, and he stood. His ears still flicked water aside as he did.
"Come in!" Danny exclaimed wit the happiness he always seemed to have, water lapping gently at his stomach. I shook my head.
"Nu uh." I responded immediately, still shaking my head. "It looks cold."
He rolled his deep blue eyes playfully. "Yeah. And the naiads looked nice."
"Looks can be deceiving." I told him.
"Exactly."
I scowled at him. How dare he use my own words against me! If I had known he was going to be witty about it, I wouldn't have said anything. But I couldn't help but to fall just a tad bit more in love with him, if that was even possible at that point in time. I think I loved him as much as a person could ever possibly love somebody. I loved him more than I loved myself, and that was saying something.
Crossing my arms, I mulled over my options. Danny had snared me into a tough situation. It was either go against my words he had so cleverly turned on me and not swim, or give in to his wants and witty tongue and swim with him.
Letting out a sigh, I nodded. "Fine." I said before walking up to the edge of the water and slipping off a sandal. I dipped my foot into the slow moving waves and was shocked to find that it was, in fact, warm. Kicking off my other sandal, I began to wade in till I was up to my knees.
"See?" Danny asked cheekily, a grin spreading across his face. "It's not cold."
I scowled again and splashed him. "Shut up."
He chuckled and splashed me back. I tried to avoid the drops of water flying through the air in a high arc towards me, but ended up falling over into the shallow water I was standing in with a small splash! and a small yelp. I sat up in the warm waters, spitting out the bit of liquid that had gotten into my mouth. I reached up with my hands and wiped away the water from my eyes till it stopped streaming into them. Once all the water was out of my eyes, I tried to locate Danny again so I could send him my best spiteful scowl, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Danny?" I asked, standing up. I walked further into the water till it reached just below my rib cage. "Danny!"
I was suddenly showered by water from behind, and I wiped around to see Danny standing behind me, grinning. I scowled at his grin. "Not cool." I said. "Not cool one bit."
His grin fell into a small, confused frown. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked me hesitantly.
I considered telling him yes, that he had scared me and that I had thought that he had drowned or something, or one of those big fish that had been swimming around him eagerly earlier had managed to drag him down and decide to be unfriendly. But I reconsidered that. "You made me get wet." I grumbled instead.
That made his grin return. "Well, now that you are, you might as well swim now, right?"
I hesitated and looked at him. His skin was still perfectly dry, while water clung to mine from my quick fall. Nodding, I said "But not unless you turn off that 'stay dry' switch of yours and get wet, too."
"I can't." Danny told me. "It's part of who I am. It's like me telling you to stop being a demigod. I can't just get wet when I want to, just like you can't decide to be a demigod when you want to."
I frowned. That wasn't fair. So I had to get wet, while the water just slid right off of him? Not fair one bit. "Then I'm not swimming."
Danny looked hurt by that. He looked like he was about to say something, but he shook whatever words were developing on his tongue away with a shake of his head. "Okay." He said softly instead. "I understand." He walked past me silently through the water, barely parting it as though he was just a simple gentle breeze bouncing off of the waters, disturbing the surface only a little.
I hesitated for a few moments, trying to decide what to do. I hadn't meant to make Danny sad. I didn't like seeing him sad. It made me sad, too.
"Danny… wait." Danny stopped and turned around to look at me, a questioning look on his face. I smiled softly at him. "I'll swim with you."
A grin slowly spread its way across Danny's face, breaking through the sad looked that had tried to take refugee on his breath-taking features. He came back over to me and grabbed my hands excitedly. "Come on!" He exclaimed. "You can tell me more about the cabins as we swim!"
...
Gah. They're getting shorter and shorter as I get further and further away from the RP... Crap. Needa work on that. XD