6
Blasting a Rock
The two hours went by quickly, for Percy spent most of it dreaming about his powers. He had been in such a deep trance that he failed to notice his mother was standing before him. Selene found it amusing how stuck in his thoughts Percy was, so she decided to see how long it would take for him to notice her presence.
Ten minutes had passed, and Percy showed no signs of noticing his mother's presence. Not wanting to waste any more time, Selene lightly kicked Percy's foot. Having startled him, Percy let out a small gasp as he bolted upright. To his surprise, his mother was standing there as she giggled to herself.
Rolling his eyes, Percy slowly got up off the ground. "How long have you been here?" Percy asked as he wiped off the soil on his pants.
"About ten minutes," Selene said with a smirk. "Daydreaming about your powers, are we?"
"Maybe," Percy said.
Selene knew full well that's what her son was doing, so she laughed as she rubbed Percy's back. "Let's go and put those dreams to rest, shall we?"
At this, Percy perked right back up. Nodding his head with a smile, he followed his mother over towards a cliff behind her tent where there was a dark oak table fitted with two chairs of the same material, sitting about a meter from the edge of the cliff.
Selene always loved this location as it displayed a perfect view up into the night sky. She pulled out both the chairs before sitting in one. She motioned for Percy to come join her.
Percy was a little hesitant to approach the table, but he did so none the less. He did his best to not look over the edge. He cleared his throat as he locked onto his mother.
Noticing this odd behaviour, Selene asked, "are you alright?"
"Yeah, just afraid of heights a bit," Percy said with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh, well, do not fret. You are safe here with me," Selene reassured him. "We can move though," she added, pointing to a nice shady spot under a tree not far away.
"It is fine," Percy said as he shook his head. Not wanting to waste any more time, he did his best to think about his powers and the depths below.
"Okay, well then let's begin with your necklace," Selene said.
Reaching behind his head, Percy unclasped his necklace and lightly tossed it on the table. "What about it," he asked.
Without saying a word, Selene swiped the necklace off the table and over the cliff.
"Hey!" Percy shouted out just as he watched the necklace disappear over the cliff. Looking up at his mother, Percy was even more confused by the large grin on her face. Just as he was about to ask why she did it and what was so funny, Percy felt something cold wrapped around his neck. It can't be. Slowly running his hand along the front of his neck, Percy was met with the cold metallic feeling of the necklace his mother had just thrown off a cliff.
"How," Percy asked, dumbfounded by the sudden return of his necklace.
"You did not actually think I would just throw a priceless necklace off a cliff. Now, would you?" Selene laughed.
Percy simply shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really think about it, he just acted out in confusion.
"The necklace is enchanted to return to its owner when lost. You will never be without protection. Something that I wish was not needed but will keep you alive in most situations," Selene explained.
"So, it's like Thor's hammer returning to him whenever he needs it. Like in the Avengers?" Percy asked as he looked down and fiddled with his necklace.
"Uh sure," Selene answered. She did not know what this Avengers was, but Percy's example was close enough to what she was trying to imply.
"Now..moving on. Let us get to the reason why you wanted to be here."
"Oh?" Percy said as he dropped his fiddling and put his full attention on his mother. Finally, he internally screamed.
"Your powers," Selene stated. "It really isn't all that complicated or confusing. However, there are some things you will learn on your own, as I cannot truly tell you the extent of your powers. Now, as you know, during our discussions of the Greek world, I explained that I am a goddess of the moon, radiance, and night. What this entails, is that, in a sense, you have a certain control over these fields. "
Percy listened carefully as his mother began to talk. He did not want to miss a single detail. However, when she got to the part about control…Percy just couldn't resist the urge to interject as his excitement got the better of him.
"Can I shoot beams of moonlight? Can I.."
"Wait a minute," Selene laughed, "let me get to that."
"Sorry," Percy blushed as he calmed down.
Clearing her throat, Selene continued, "with the moon, you will have the ability to control moonlight by shaping it and utilizing it in probably anything imaginable. So yes, you can shoot beams of moonlight."
"Yes!" Percy said victoriously.
Selene smiled at her son's excitement and carried on, "you will also feel a bit different when in the presence of the moon. It will be stronger at night and weaker during the day. Due to my control of the darkness, you will have some of your own. How you use it will be up to you. As you explore and experiment with what I am telling you here, you will begin to grasp a better understanding and unlock each one's full potential."
As Selene came to the end of her talk, Percy's mind became occupied with everything she had stated. The possibilities of what he could do were endless, and he wanted to try out these abilities as soon as he could.
Noticing that her son had begun to be lost in his thoughts, Selene reached across the table and tapped Percy's hand. Percy felt a little embarrassed as he came back to reality, for he let himself be lost in thought once more.
"The rest will come to you naturally," Selene smiled, as she rubbed the top of Percy's hand. "Now let us go and join your father," she added as she got up out of her chair.
Percy nodded his head and carefully followed suit, as he felt kind of dizzy upon getting up out of his chair. A symptom of his fear, no less. Stumbling towards his mother, he wandered off with her into the tent.
Percy spent the rest of the day playing board games with his parents. He quite enjoyed playing The Game of Life and Monopoly, but he could not wait to try out his powers. Having asked his mother if it was going to be okay, Selene did say yes, but to be careful, for it was quite dangerous to mess with the moon. Especially since the more Percy knew, the stronger his connection to his mother's domain would be. She also reminded him to not stay up too late, for it was not particularly safe at night.
As the night fell and both his parents went to their bedroom, Percy wandered outside. Finding a nice view of the moon, Percy did his best to stand directly in front of it. This was not that hard of a task, for the moon seemed to slightly shift its position whenever Percy turned.
"Wicked," Percy smiled as he moved from side to side, the moon continuing to shift its position. Wanting to see if it would stay in his view, Percy turned around. To his disappointment, the moon stayed behind him. It seemed to only follow Percy if this did not drastically change its location. Turning back around, Percy looked directly up at the moon as he pondered on what he should try first.
"Lasers," Percy said with a devilish grin. Looking over at a giant rock, Percy pointed over at it with a finger gun. "Time to be destroyed," he said, trying to make his voice deeper.
"Bam!"
Nothing happened.
"I said Bam!"
Again, the rock still stood there.
"What the hell," Percy complained as he let out a frustrated huff.
He did not know why nothing had happened. Maybe his mother had lied to him? In fact, Percy did not feel any different standing in front of the moon like his mother had stated. He felt like rushing in and asking his mother, complaining how his lasers did not work, but he knew that would not end well. He shuddered at the thought of walking in on his father and mother "hugging". Not wanting to go inside until something happened, Percy kept at it with the rock and his finger gun. He was confident that something would happen. After twenty more minutes of trying, something did happen. His finger began to cramp.
"Ugh," Percy groaned as he cracked and massaged his pointer finger. "Why won't you work," he complained while continuing to massage his finger.
Knowing it was not best to continue, Percy sat down on the grass. He did not want to go inside just yet, for he was not tired. Sighing as he laid on his back, Percy pondered the idea that maybe he couldn't control his mother's domain just like she said. Sighing, Percy took off his necklace and activated his sword. To his surprise, the sword seemed to have a faint glow to it. Percy hadn't seen this before; then again, he never examined it this closely during the night. Standing up, Percy swung the sword around. The light emanating from the blade created a small, faint circle of light. It was like a weaker version of a glow stick.
Falling back into his previous façade of a destroyer, Percy faced his nemesis, the rock. Pointing his sword towards it, Percy said, "your end is near. Prepare to die!" Pretending like his sword was a gun, Percy made firing sounds as he "blasted" at the rock. The light from the blade created this cool splashing effect that Percy enjoyed even more than the spinning.
On his final blast, something happened that Percy did not expect. A bit of the light from his sword shot off towards the rock, taking off a small chunk. Not expecting this, Percy recoiled in shock.
Astonished at what had just occurred, Percy looked at his blade and back to the rock. A rush of excitement filled his body. I did it!
Wanting to see if he could do it again, Percy pointed his sword over at the rock and blasted at it once more.
Nothing happened.
Trying it again and again, Percy failed to replicate what he did moments ago. Frustrated and now feeling a bit tired, Percy decided to call it a night. Putting his sword away, Percy pocketed the small piece of rock he had blasted away to show his mother tomorrow. As he walked back inside the tent, he was determined to blast that rock to smithereens.
Sorry for the wait (know I say this a lot). Hope you enjoyed!
