Okay so I didn't love the sea, but everything else? Totally the best kind of vacation. After cleaning up the rental cabin we walked along the sand where I let my toes dig in deep to feel the soft yet gritty texture of the beach whilst we ate the rest of mom's free samples from the shop, talking and laughing together until the air started to cool, telling me that it was getting dark. We then all gathered around a fire we'd set up and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs on it, one of my all time favourite things to do and listened as mom told us stories about when she was a kid. I never got tired of hearing them, or about the kind of books she wanted to write. "Come on mom, who needs qualifications to write a book? Just write! I'm sure it'll be amazing." I would always say and mom would laugh and kiss my hair before telling me that she was glad I had such confidence and would ask me to let her borrow some. I was happy and content with stories about mom, but when Percy inevitably asked about dad, I went quiet and didn't engage after that. I hated hearing about him, because I was still convinced very little of it was actually true.
"He was kind, Percy. Tall, handsome and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes. You both do." I had to fight the urge not to scoff and roll my eyes because I knew this would only make Percy angry and irritable. If ever we had a real argument, it was always about our dad. He was still living in fantasy land whereas I had woken up and smelled the coffee long ago. These days I just didn't bother engaging and let Percy think what he wanted, because in some ways, it hurt less to think that dad was just 'lost', and the last thing I wanted to do was really hurt my little brother. Seeing as dad had taken off and abandoned us, I wanted to be the person to take care of mom and Perce, but it was difficult. Impossible, even, because I myself was a lot of work, let alone Percy. I have no idea how mom coped with the two of us together, but this only convinced me further that my mother was a saint. An angel. The best woman on the entire planet, and no one could ever convince me otherwise. "I wish he could see you both, he'd be so proud of you." Yeah right. A blind daughter and a son who constantly got kicked out of school? Unlikely.
"How old were we? I mean…when he left?" Now this did pique my interest, because we had never asked that before, and I don't recall mom ever mentioning it.
"He…he knew about Nerida, of course, we met a few times after your sister was born, but then we only had one summer together before he disappeared. Right here at this beach. This cabin." This was another bone of contention between Percy and I. He was jealous that I had known dad before he'd left, though I had absolutely no memory of him, though when I tried to think back all I could kind of feel was a warm glowing feeling, so I just figured that maybe I remembered sitting near a fire like the one we had now when mom and dad were still together. Percy never believed me, and I didn't care enough to argue with him over it.
"But…he knew me as a baby."
"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born." Again I sensed Percy's agitation. He'd never told mom but he had mentioned to me once or twice whenever we argued about dad that he was certain he remembered a similar feeling that I did. That glowing warmth over us, though I just told him that he was merely copying my vague memory and interpreting it wrong because he was desperate to know who his real father was. That never went down well with him, and I think once he hit me for it and mom had to pull us off each other. Toasting another marshmallow, I counted the seconds in my head whilst slowly rotating it in order to get the optimum tastiness, with a crispy outer skin and soft, mushy inside. Percy didn't say anything for a while before eventually asking what mom was going to do now, if she was going to send us away again. "I don't know, honey. I think…I think we'll have to do something."
"Because you don't want me around?" Percy asked and I paused for a moment, losing count of my marshmallow so quickly pulled it out of the flames when I heard it start to hiss, finding it slightly burnt on one side. Damn it. Never mind.
"Oh, Percy no. I…I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away. Both of you away." This I never quite understood about mom. What did she mean by that? Did she mean for our academic good? Our mental wellbeing? Did she just not want us near Gabe for more than a few weekends or vacations? If that was the case, then why marry him in the first place? It just…baffled me, so much. I couldn't understand it at all, and every time I tried asking mom for the truth she'd just tell me that I didn't need to worry about it and that I needed to trust her. Of course I trusted her, she's my mom, but that wasn't enough to keep me quiet for long. Embroiled in my own thoughts, I didn't hear all of the following conversation, though mom did mention that she thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away so that we'd be safe. Safe from what? It's not like we have rich and powerful relatives that want us dead because of dad or anything, right?
How I wished I could take back those last words. In hindsight, I guess everything made sense when I thought back on it and considered mom's words with a new perspective, but at the time I mostly just thought she was slightly loopy, and that it just ran in the family. I mean, Percy and I had gone through some strange experiences growing up, though he seemed to be affected mostly for some reason. I remember when Percy was in third grade and I was in fifth, he told me that there was someone watching us on the playground, and the teachers even threatened to call the cops on the guy. Percy insisted that the dude had only one eye in the middle of his forehead, and at the time I was more devoted to my little brother and was the only one that believed him when he got upset that no one took him for his word. Percy went through several experiences like that, though mine weren't as unnerving. I think the strangest one that I could remember was when I went on a fieldtrip to a marine park and I had to go home early because I was screaming and crying since there were thousands of little voices speaking in my head and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. For a while, people thought I was literally out of my mind and I had to see a child specialist and everything but I never heard the voices again.
Another time there was a lovely sounding lady who had stopped me in order to ask me a question, her voice almost purring. I can't exactly remember what she'd asked, but mom had freaked out when she realised I was talking to someone but I had already answered. I was already blind then so I couldn't see much, but I do recall a general imprint of the woman I had been speaking to and I was certain that she had been carrying a cat or something, because I could hear something purring rather loudly. I think I'd answered the question correctly because the lady had patted my head just as mom reached me and snatched me up, carrying me away and ran with me all the way home with Percy screaming in his buggy. I didn't exactly understand what I'd done wrong, but mom had then given me a very stern talk that I was never to speak to strangers and that I couldn't wander away from her when we were outside. That was when she'd given me my lucky bracelet and after that, things didn't really happen to me. Anyway, my point was that we weren't a normal family. Or at least, abnormal things tended to happen to us. Turning my attention back to mom and Percy, I listened as mom tried to explain to us the best she could why she was always sending us away to places, though she never actually revealed anything. "I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could. They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy – the place your father wanted to send you two. And I just…I just can't stand to do it." I'd never heard about that before. Dad had wanted to send us somewhere? Probably to some isolated school where his family would never discover our existence since apparently we were so shameful to him. Rich snob. If he even was rich. I was still in two minds about that.
"Our father wanted us to go to a special school?"
"Not a school, a summer camp." What the…? I looked towards Percy and I had a feeling he looked at me too because I could feel his eyes on me as we just stared at one another blankly, neither of us really believing it. Why would dad want to send us to a summer camp of all places? Was it like military school or something? "I'm sorry guys, but I can't talk about it. I…I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying goodbye to you both for good."
"That's ridiculous mom, why would us going to a summer camp mean saying goodbye forever?" I asked but mom had now reached her limit, and spoke no more of dad or summer camps that evening. Thankfully Percy didn't press her, because from the sound of her voice she was on the verge of tears as it was, so I toasted another marshmallow and held it out to her so that she could eat something sweet and maybe feel better. I'd lost my appetite now, so instead I just sat and fiddled with my bracelet as my pulse quickened with agitation and I continually shifted and moved in my seat. In the end I just couldn't bear to hold still so I got up and walked around a little, making sure to stay near the sound of the crackling flames and the scent of smoke and roasting hot dogs so that I didn't stray too far. Things were fairly subdued after that, all of us going to bed not too long after we doused the fire and wandered inside.
I sat up the longest in bed with mom next to me as we had to share a bed whilst Percy took the other one. The soft sound of mom's breathing continued beside me as she slept deeply, and I hoped at least she was having a pleasant dream. When the storm rolled in I listened to it grow and burst, climbing in strength and might until seemingly all at once the winds were grasping at our cabin and shaking it in frustration, trying to blow through the windows and rip it up from the foundations. Percy was having a nightmare, I could hear him groaning and twitching in his sleep though he woke up after a boom of thunder startled him, and mom also woke a few moments after that. She gasped lightly as the hurricane continued to rage outside however before I could ask if we should maybe consider sleeping under the table or something, a fist pounded against the door. I jolted sharply as mom suddenly leaped across me and rushed to the door, even as I squeaked. "Don't answer it! Only crazy people would be out here in this weather!" But my plea went unanswered and instead, I heard a familiar voice that I initially couldn't place over the sound of the hurricane outside, until then it hit me. Grover? What was Grover doing here? Had he followed us? He said something but then mom was shouting to Percy, demanding to know what had happened that he hadn't yet told her. I stood up worriedly, clutching at my bracelet and now twisting it around my wrist like crazy as I remained on edge.
"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" My confusion amplified, because I was fairly certain that Grover had just spoken Ancient Greek and I had understood that he was cursing as he then yelled that something was right behind him and demanded to know if Percy had told our mother. I cried out, begging someone to tell me what was going on but no one answered, disjointed by our own bewilderment and even fear, because I could sense it from Grover and mom and it started to affect me too. There was a too much noise going on and my head started to ache like crazy as I kept on getting these bright flashes before my eyes from the lightning until they too started to ache so I clamped them shut and pressed my headphones over my ears because they never really left my neck. I just wanted to drown out the world, for everything to go quiet but before I knew it, mom was tugging at my hands and pulling me to my feet.
"Come on Nerida, we have to leave right now. Neri? We don't have time to wait, come on!" Still in my pyjamas, mom threw my raincoat over me as I somehow managed to grapple for my bag that I'd left at the bedside with all my stuff still in it because I was lazy and hadn't actually unpacked yet. I was glad of it, because it meant that everything I needed was in that bag, most importantly my charger and music. Stumbling out into the rain mom pretty much hauled me to the car and put me in the passenger seat, soaked to the bone from the lashes of rain that stung as they hit my skin.
"Percy! What is going on?!"
"I don't know, but mom's freaked out and Grover…Grover is…" Hearing him trail off dumbly, I turned around and glowered at him with all the rage I possessed.
"Grover is what?!" But Percy never answered me as mom and Grover then got into the car too and mom was soon peeling away through the pelting rain, though I frowned and sniffed at the air. "Why do I smell wet animal?" To this Grover gave his weird bleating laugh, and I was only further confused as mom told me to turn around and put my seatbelt on. I had no choice but to do as I was told because honestly if I didn't I was terrified I was going to go through the windshield at the speed she was going. I could feel the car lurching and sliding as it hit puddles of water that were rapidly growing in size owing to the constant stream of rain that pounded against the body of the car. Breathing erratically it was only later I realised I'd left my blanket and pillow behind. Doubting mom would turn back, I stayed silent, figuring I'd just have to do without when we got home, though unbeknownst to me, home was not where we were heading.
