Hey guys! I'm really sorry for not updating. Vacations have already started, but I couldn't get my hands on the laptop until today. I'll try my best to update frequently and bring some twists in the story. I'm also thinking about adding an OC in the story. Please tell me what you think about it. Also, please review and bring on new suggestions so that it never gets boring. Have a nice day!
Chapter 11:
Annabeth's POV
I stared at Arika. She had just summoned a 25 feet wave, which had crashed upon us, leaving me soaking wet with two dry children of Poseidon staring at me. I looked down at my book. It was an ancient copy of 'Architecture in Greece', which was completely soaked now. From the corner of my eye, I was Percy looking at the book with a horrified expression. He had the Annabeth-is-mad-and-she-is-going-to-kill-me look. Then I looked at Arika. If I thought then Percy was looking scared, then Arika looked completely petrified.
"An-Annabeth. I'm-I'm so sorry." She stammered out. If I had not been so angry at the moment, I would've felt sorry for her. Percy looked like he wanted to explain, but then shut his mouth. He knew better than to talk me into calming down. Looking at is face, I suddenly remembered something that had happened so long ago, that it almost seemed unreal. When Percy had been new at camp, Clarisse had tried to bully him. He had also drenched me in toilet water in an attempt to save himself. I cracked into a smile, remembering my reaction, which was so similar to this one.
"What is it with Poseidon's children flooding me with water." I said, smiling. Both of them looked relieved. Both Percy and Arika grinned at me. They both looked so similar with those gorgeous sea-green eyes and troublemaker smiles. Percy moved towards me, holding out his hand. "Here, let me dry you up, Wise Girl." he touched my shirt, and all the water rolled off my clothes and went back into the sea. I glanced at Arika to find her gaping at Percy, who just grinned at her. She had a lot to learn.
The next few hours were spent teaching young Arika to control water. Percy taught her all sorts of water bending tricks. They made waves, controlled the ocean and Percy even taught her how to make different shapes out of water. Meanwhile, I sat further away from the beach, reading my book (Which Percy was kind enough to dry it up for me). After what seemed like forever, they decided to take a break and walked up to me. I was indeed very happy that I was dry till the end. As they sat down beside me, I noticed how badly they were sweating. Whether it was from exhaustion or from the heat, I had no idea.
Arika was indeed very happy to learn so many new things in a day. Percy was doing an excellent job mentoring his younger sister, who looked at him like he was a god. "So, Arika," I started, and she looked at me. "Can you read what's written here." I said, handing my architecture book to her. It was written in Ancient Greek, so I expected her to be able to read only a few lines. After all, I had was the only reason Percy could read Greek.
"Η αρχαία ελληνική αρχιτεκτονική διακρίνεται από τα εξαιρετικά τυπικά χαρακτηριστικά της, τόσο της δομής όσο και της διακόσμησης. Αυτό ισχύει ιδιαίτερα στην περίπτωση των ναών όπου κάθε κτήριο φαίνεται να έχει σχεδιαστεί ως γλυπτική οντότητα μέσα στο τοπίο." she read out. Although there were some minor mistakes in pronunciation, but surprisingly, it was much better than what I had expected. Maybe the horrible Greek translation didn't run in the family. It was just Seaweed Brain.
Quite interested in reading Greek, Arika started reading the rest of it loudly. Whenever she made a mistake, or stumbled between lines, I propped her with the right words. We were on our third page when the sound of snoring withdrew our attention from temple decorations in Ancient Sparta. Beside me, Percy was sleeping peacefully, cuddled on the sand, drooling and murmuring in his sleep. He looked so young and vulnerable, that I couldn't resist myself and kissed him on his forehead. He turned and muttered something about blue cupcakes.
Arika and I smiled at each other. I noticed that she was studying Percy with a troubled gaze. When she found that I was looking at her, she blushed and said, "He looks so normal right now. I can't help but feel awed at the thought of him slaying armies of monsters, or saving the world. All this, all of you, seem so great. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do even a part of what you did."
I looked at the young girl. Was that what was troubling her. Of course, she did not understand how difficult it was to actually go through all of that. But she wouldn't understand any of it. "It's better if you don't have to do any of what we did." I said, silently.
"Is it difficult?" she suddenly asked me. "to read for demigods. The Stoll brothers told me that most of them have ADHD and Dyslexia, but is it really difficult?" I smiled at her. "Well, it's not like we cannot read a single word. But it is almost torturous to read entire pages and long, difficult words. Plus, when you're uninterested, words tend to float around the pages and cursive writing especially is murder for demigods." She grinned at me when I said that. "Anyways, why do you ask? Don't you have enough experience with it?" at this, she shook her head. I was slightly taken back. Mostly, 99% demigods had Dyslexia. Even the children of Athena had it. Weird, I thought, and made a mental note of it.
When I looked back at her, I found her fidgeting with her hands, in a sort of anxious way. Like she wanted to tell me something, but was debating whether she could trust me. "What is it, Arika?" I asked her. She looked at me, trying to make her mind to tell me. "You can tell me anything, you know that right? I'm just like your sister." she nodded, then smiled at me.
"Annabeth, when I doused you in the water," she started, then looked at me. I gestured her to go on. "Percy made the wave go back with his powers. Then I looked at him, wondering if he was mad at me, but he smiled and said, 'It's okay'. But the thing is, I saw him, and he did not move his lips at all. Was it some sort of hallucination, or is it normal for demigods to hear their siblings' voices in their head?" she asked me. I thought for a moment. This was like the empathy link that Grover and Percy shared, except here no one was a satyr.
"Has it happened before?" I asked her. She started to shake her head, but then suddenly looked at me. "Yes. When Katie, the daughter of Demeter was threatening Percy, he looked at me, and I mentally asked him what he had done. And then he had actually replied back in my mind." I nodded at her. So in tense situations. Then I looked back at her and said, "Can you try it again? Now? Call out to him. In your head. See if it works."
She nodded, closed her eyes and pressed her fingers at her temples. At first I thought it wasn't going to work, but then slowly Percy started to wake up.
He sat up and yawned. Then he looked up at Arika and said, "Hey sis. Why were you screaming for me to get up?" Arika shot me an excited look before turning back to Percy. "Seaweed Brain. She didn't shout at all. She just talked to you telepathically." I said. He looked at me and blinked, obviously confused. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, for gods' sake, Percy, your sister can communicate with you in your mind." Finally the light bulb on Percy's head went on, and he grinned at his sister.
"Wow. Now we chat with each other, swap awesome ideas, without even letting anyone know. You could just remind me things mentally, so that I don't keep forgetting stuff." I smiled at my Seaweed Brain. He gets a telepathic power with his sister that he could use in so many different and useful ways, and all he thinks about is getting someone to remind him about things he's too lazy to remember. "She's not your personal assistance to keep reminding you stuff, Seaweed Brain." I said.
The three of us laughed at the thought of Percy forgetting his things and poor Arika needing to remind him again and again. But our laughs were drowned by the loud sound of the conch shell, which signified only one thing: the campers from Camp Jupiter were here.
So, what do you think about it? How will the others react on meeting the young Daughter of Poseidon? Tell me what you think it should be be like. All kinds of replies are accepted. You can review or PM me. i will surely post the new chapter real soon. But until then, Bye!