Percy POV
I had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while. I vaguely remember waking up to a girl, not Melody, with curled blond hair like a princess. She was hovering over me, smirking as she scraped some drips of the buttered popcorn tasting pudding stuff off my chin with the spoon. I remember she had asked me something about the Summer Solstice and seemed a bit alarmed but I don't remember exactly what she asked. The only other time I remember waking up there was a blond guy who looked like he could be a surfer was watching over me and Melody, who I could hazily see peripherally, he had blue eyes all over his body. I think that may have been a half conscious hallucination though. When I finally woke up for good there was nothing particularly strange about my environment. I was sitting in a deck chair on the large farmhouse's porch. In the distance there were green hills and I could hear faint clanking. The breeze smelled of strawberries. I did a physical check. I felt...okay. I was sore all over the place and my tongue felt like sandpaper in my dry mouth. I noticed that on the table next to me there was a tall glass filled with what looked akin to apple cider, with a green straw and paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry. My hand was so sore and weak that when I went to pick it up I nearly dropped it right away.
"Careful ya dork. Do you need me to do it for you?" A familiar voice asked. I looked up and low and behold, my sister. She looked a little... stressed, but other than that okay. Next to her was Grover. They were both wearing jeans and an orange T-shirt. Grover looked like he had when finals came around; it was as though he hadn't slept in a week. He was holding a shoe box Wait, maybe it was just after finals and we were still packing up! That would mean it was all just a crazy nightmare and mom wasn't-
"You guys saved my life," Grover said. There went all my hopes. "I saved this for you. Thought you might like it, a-as a trophy." He reverently placed the shoe box on my lap. Inside was a black and white bull's horn, the base jagged where I had broken it off . The tip was splattered with dried blood.
"The Minotaur." I said, confirming it to myself. Even though names had power it was impossible for it to regenerate right away. "Is mom really...?" Both Melody and Grover looked down. With closer inspection I noticed that she had twin clean lines running down her dusty cheeks. Melody never cried. Ever. I looked out across the meadow. It looked like it was a picture, blue sky with fluffy clouds casting shadows on the grassy hills and strawberry fields below. It looked beautiful in the sunlight. The exact opposite of how I felt. It was like there was a hole in my chest, Mom was gone. Nothing should be beautiful with her gone. She was the second person I'd met since running away who cared. My family meant everything to me and now a critical part of it was gone. I couldn't imagine how Melody felt.
"I-I'm so sorry! I am the worst saytr in the world! It was my job to protect all of you and I failed miserably!" He stomped his foot so hard it came off. Well, the shoe did. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole. "Aw Styx!" he said. Thunder rolled across the sky as Melody and I flinched. That was a curse that was NOT allowed in our house. Cursing at all really. Melody came up with silly alternatives. I just replaced it with shoot or something unoriginal like that. Speaking of Melody, she was smugly smirking my direction and when our eyes met she looked at Grover, who was trying to get his foot back in the shoe, and looked back to me raising her eyebrows in a way that clearly said "HA. I called it and you said I was wrong,". I rolled my eyes in response. Her silliness was making me feel a bit better though it still felt like there was a black hole in my chest. Grover was still sniffling. I decided to comfort him.
"Its not your fault." I told him.
"Yeah," Melody added, "You couldn't have known it would come. Besides, you don't exactly look like you could take down something that massive." This coming from the girl who dusted a full grown cyclopes at age 7. Grover looked a bit miffed but still insisted it was his job and he was strong enough to handle it. I went to get up but instantly my vision started swimming and I sat back down. This distracted them both from arguing.
"You were out for two days. Don't strain yourself. Here." Grover handed me the glass. I took a sip through the straw and recoiled at the taste, not because it was bad, but because it was so good and not at all apple juice. It tasted like Melody and Mom's special tapioca pudding. It had the fait taste of cinnamon and nutmeg and everything. My body was filled with energy and a warm feeling swept through me. My grief wasn't gone but it felt like Mom had just smiled at me whenever I showed her a new trick I'd learned or was telling her something I found interesting. I came out of my musings to find I'd drained the glass. I stared at it, sure I had just had the thick and textured pudding and not something with the viscosity of water.
"Heh, that was my reaction too. What did yours taste like?" Melody inquired. I knew it was nectar at this point. I was fine, being part god. Dragons could also consume it and even had a much higher tolerance because dragons used to be so closely linked to the gods and probably ate this stuff all the time before Zeus started hunting us. I'd only had nectar and ambrosia once when Mom and Dad told us what it was and how great but potentially harmful it could be if we ever found ourselves in possession of some.
"You and Mom's special pudding. Yours?"
"Dad's breakfast bread, the good fluffy stuff with raisins, dried cranberries and blueberries." She told me. It made sense, it was her favorite thing to eat. She'd get up at 6 in the morning just to eat half a loaf. We got another bread-maker after this continued. Grover piped up,
"How do you feel?" He asked. I considered the question for a moment before replying,
"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards and do it again."
"Good, thats good." Grover then gently took the glass from my hands and set it on the table. "Come on, Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."
AN: I DESPISE the question mark button on this keyboard. I have to literally slam my finger into it for it to register I've pushed it. Augh. This chapter was difficult. Not to write, not really, but because I'm trying to make sure I got the character's and setting right I had to read, reread,and re-reread to make sure I did it right. Dedication. Ya'll are welcome. Please review! It honestly makes my day to get feedback, positive or constructive. I'd like to know your thought about where you think/hope this story is going and I'll try include some of your ideas. You can also suggest one shots on my other story as well! Have a great day all you lovely fellow crazy people! ~FictionGirl11
P.S. I have a Deviantart account now! The username is the same as here and I will be putting up art for this story every now and then with some other stuff that I'm working on. May even do requests if I have time.
