Disclaimer: Pearl is so mine, but the rest are by RR.
Author's Note: Almost 4000 visits. Cool! Thank you for reading.
25 - Lessons and Questions
I woke up the next day and I was alone. I just had slept with my clothes on and I had a minor headache. Then I sighed in frustration and stood up looking for an aspirin. I was walking by when I heard noises in the "Graveyard" closet. It was weird since no once was here, maybe raccoons? I opened the door carefully to find Pearl sitting on the floor looking at forgotten stash of things. She was holding something and smiling.
"Hello" I said. She yelled startled and looked at me in terror.
"You scared me" said Pearl.
"Good morning, you scared me too in there. What are you doing?" I said. Pearl raised her hand to show me Sasha's pocket watch. I forgot it was there.
"Percy, it's pretty. Can I keep it?" she asked. She was beaming with happiness and for me it was just weird she wanted that watch.
"Are you sure? I think there are prettier things here" I said trying to convince her to let it go.
"I like it. It's pretty but I can't open it" she said turning around the watch in her hands in concentration.
"Sure?" I asked.
"Pretty sure. I'm hungry" said Pearl.
"Ok, keep it but leave it here and let's go to breakfast" I said and Pearl nodded at me.
I held her tiny hand all the way to the pavilion. Annabeth was at our table talking with Juniper and Piper. They were laughing and making weird and loud gestures, probably wedding stuff. Jason was also in the table clearly annoyed and a bit far from them. He saw us and waved at us.
"Hi, Uncle Jason" said Pearl sitting down next to her.
"Hi, Pearl, Percy, thank Gods you are here" said Jason pointing with his eyes at the girls.
"Sure, Grace. Clarisse?" I asked and Pearl just sat down and ate almost swallowed all near her.
"I think she is already on the arena. Why?" said Jason.
"Well, I want her to teach Pearl how to use the spear" I said. I heard Pearl dropped her fork loud.
"Percy. I thought you were going to teach me" said Pearl shocked and annoyed.
"Pearl, I will if you want but I want you to take tips from Clarisse. She is the best with the spear" I said. Pearl pressed her lips and looked away. She was a little mad. Jason met my eyes and turned at Pearl.
"You brother is right. Clarisse is the best. You will have a blast with her. I can go with you if you want" said Jason winking at Pearl and her face lightened up.
"Sure" said Pearl excited. I guess she wanted to ask Jason about Camp Jupiter. Maybe I should take her once over the summer. We ate and chatted. Eventually, the girls realized we were there for some time and Annabeth sat next to me. Juniper left us to do some stuff.
After breakfast, Piper, Jason and Pearl went to the arena leaving Annabeth and me alone.
"What's up?" said Annabeth kissing me.
"A lot things, but none as important as spending time with you" I said making Annabeth gasped.
"What do you want to do?" said Annabeth taking my hand.
"Right now. I want to take you to the beach and kiss you underwater if you get my drift" I said and Annabeth blushed.
"Percy, we would get caught" said Annabeth biting her bottom lip.
"We can do that tonight if you want. We could totally go right now to our cabin. Pearl will be training. You just have to be really really quiet. I don't want campers scarred for life" I said grinning at her.
Annabeth was tomato read and kissed me hard. Some campers did wolf whistles around us and Annabeth let meet go. I was a bit drunk by those kisses and suddenly I saw Clarisse walking to the arena.
"I'll see you in the cabin in five" I said and ran at Clarisse.
"Yo, Clarisse" I said waving at her.
"Yo, Prissy" snickered Clarisse.
"Clarisse, you know I have a new sister. She is only five and I am worried. She has a spear. Could you teach her how to use her?" I said
"Sure, I'll be glad to kick her ass. Ha Ha Ha" said Clarisse walking to the arena. I nodded at her and ran at my cabin. Annabeth and I had some fun even took a shower together.
After our alone activities, we went to the arena to find Jason and Piper training near to Clarisse teaching very young campers including my sister. There were only a couple of them and the oldest was like ten years old. Clarisse was completely different teaching at them. She was nice, super nice. This was a new Clarisse. I could even picture her teaching her own children someday.
After training, Pearl was exhausted and slept in Annabeth arms immediately after hugging her. I approached to Clarisse and said: "Thank you"
Clarisse blushed a bit and punched my shoulder and said almost pleasantly "Your sis is gonna be awesome in a couple of years. It's a shame is you sister. She would be a mighty addition and pride of my cabin"
"Well, she is already my pride" I said and went to Annabeth.
We walked to the cabin and let Pearl sleep a bit before lunch. Annabeth and I used our alone time to talk about minor wedding details and the upcoming visit of Annabeth's family before our wedding. Thankfully, Annabeth is in better terms with her stepmom these days, otherwise it would be a very awkward visit… In two weeks, we were going to be married.
At lunch, Annabeth asked everybody: Jason, Piper, Clarisse and Chris to have a beach picnic. We took a basket and filled with food while Jason went to his cabin for blankets.
We were on the beach talking and laughing at each other. Pearl and Chris played in the water, then she made sand castles with Annabeth. Jason and I talked about the wedding food while Piper read with her head on Jason's lap. We had such much fun.
Out of the blue, some campers came running at us looking for us. Apparently, a girl from Ares cabin got lost in the woods and needed help for the search party. Annabeth told me to stay with Pearl. At first, I was clearly against but yet I didn't want to leave Pearl alone. I knew she would probably sneak into the woods to help us. Pearl got her loyalty and lack of respect for some rules from me. In the end, I accepted to stay and Annabeth kissed me goodbye.
So, here I was on the beach. I was nervous and on the edge, just sick of worry. Annabeth and the rest were strong and trained demigods but the forest was full of monsters and anything could happen. I put those feeling aside and entertained myself and Pearl by teaching her how to move the water.
At first, I was beyond frustrations since she couldn't move the water a little bit. Slowly, she could make the water twirled in a bucket. She was beyond happiness jumping and screaming around the bucket.
"I did it" said Pearl grinning at me. I sat down in front of the bucket.
"Yes, you did. Try again and now faster" I said and she sat down again in front to me. She was frowning in concentration and her hand went to her pocket. Suddenly, her eyes lost color and she looked eerie.
"Little brother" whispered Pearl in a trance while holding her drachma in her hand in front of me.
"What did you say?" I asked in surprise. Nobody called like me that except Sasha. She apparently snapped out of it and stared at me in confusion.
"What happened?" asked Pearl.
"Nothing, you are just tired. You were falling sleep… I think we should go back to the Cabin" I said. I thanked the Gods nobody was around. This was really weird, confusing and unexpected to no measure. What was going on with my sister?
"Sure? I am not tired" said Pearl
"Pretty sure" I said, stood up and grabbed Pearl in my arms. I was walking to the cabin when Juniper and Grover walked into us.
"Yo, Percy, Pearl. I just got here" said Grover and we high-fived.
"Hi, guys. Juniper could take Pearl with you? I need to talk to Grover" I said and gave Pearl into her waiting arms.
"Sure thing. Come on, sweetie. We can go with Aphrodite's cabin to get our hair done" said Juniper and they walked away. I waited them to disappear inside the cabin to talk.
"What's up?" asked Grover.
"Did you tell Pearl about the Sasha's weapon?" I said and he nodded. "What exactly did you tell her?"
"Well. I told her it once belonged to a very powerful daughter of the sea, your big sister and teacher" said Grover looking at me wondering what was going on.
"Did you say her name?" I asked carefully. Grover scratched his head deep in thought.
"Now that I think about it, I didn't. Why?" said Grover after some seconds of thinking.
"Nothing, just wondering… something weird just happened" I said low and deeply almost whispering.
"Percy, what's going on? You are freaking me out!" said Grover.
"I am not sure. Don't say to Annabeth what we talked. I have to go. Keep an eye on Pearl. I will see you at dinner" I said and ran to the cabin. I needed to make an IM.