Hey guys. I'm posting as fast as I can with all the schoolwork and all. Haha. :P Thanks for following and favoriting, Animanga-smile14. Thanks for favoriting FaithfulWishes2001. This is what you've all been waiting for. When the sea flies...
Percy:
I woke up to something prodding into my stomach. I groaned and sat up. A figure loomed over me. As I blinked, it got hair, and a dazzling grin. Angel was standing over me, looking like she was going to bounce out of her skin.
"Come on Percy!" she said, giggling.
"What do you want?" I grumbled sleepily.
"It's time for you to try and fly," she said excitedly.
"Oh alright," I sighed, and rolled out of my bed, careful not to wake up Annabeth.
I figured they were going to drop me over the sea or something, but instead, Angel led me to the strawberry fields.
"What about the harpies?" I whispered to her.
"Oh, haha, no need to worry about that. We fly extremely fast after a good meal.
She patted her stuffed belly. I remember that she had eaten two cheeseburgers, a big wedge of cheese, and a plate of french fries, and two sodas. And she was only 6... Max ate three large tacos, a plate full of fries, an entire large bowl of fruit, finished up with four scoops of ice cream that were absolutely drowning in chocolate syrup. If they ate like this every day for the last three years, I had no clue how they didn't weight five hundred pounds. But somehow, they were all as skinny as rods. I couldn't say much though. I ate a ton as well, now that I had wings. Maybe we required more calories than average humans I guess.
Finally, we found the rest of the flock lounging on the soft grass at the edge of the strawberry fields.
"You ready?" asked Max.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I said.
She cut slits in all of our shirts, and I slipped my giant wings through them. They pulled out their wings as well, and they looked so, well, majestic.
My wings were pure black, but were shinier than Fangs. They glistened slightly in the bright light of the full moon, whereas his were coal black.
"Okay. Let's go," I said.
Max and Fang grabbed me under my armpits and hauled me into the sky. Looking down made me dizzy, but I forced myself to keep staring at the ground. If I was going to fly, I couldn't be scared of heights.
"Why aren't we doing this over the ocean?" I asked them.
"You'll find out," said Max.
Fear clutched at my insides, and my head spun. What if I couldn't fly. What if my wings were too weak? I would be one giant demigod splat on the ground by the Big House, that's what would happen. I started panicking. I didn't want to try this. I wasn't ready.
"Put me down! Put me down!" I cried, as we went higher and higher. We were already a good half mile into the air. They ignored me, and then, suddenly, I was falling, falling, falling through the sky, the air whipping through my hair, my eyes burning.
Suddenly, a weird fluid leaked into my eyes, and my eyes stopped burning. It was as if the wind had stopped blowing in my eyes, but I could still feel it, I was still plummeting to my death.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed, flailing. I heard Max and Fang screaming at me from above me, but I couldn't understand them.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I screeched, and pulled out my wings. They caught the winds, and painfully jerked up. Ow! I came to a halt, and started drifting on the wind. The pain faded away, along with the fear, and I was suddenly whooping and hollering. I gave my wings a flap, and I sped away, towards the ocean. I was now a bird of the ocean. Which meant, wait, I could fly underwater... My wings wouldn't get wet because I couldn't get wet unless I willed myself too. Which meant... The rest of the flock caught up with me, and Gazzy shouted, "Woohoo! You're a natural!"
"Great job," said Max.
"Yeah! This is awesome!" I shouted, as I whisked over the forest. I heard an animal growl below, and I shouted, "Beat it!"
Max laughed, and put on an extra boost of speed to catch up with me. I dove down through the trees, dodging tree branches and cutting around tree trunks. My wings felt so natural. Flying came as natural as controlling water to me. Piece of cake.
Finally, we landed back by the Big House to catch our breath. Out of the silence, I heard someone say,
"Well, I think you have something to tell the other campers..."
"Chiron?" I said, and spun around. The horse-man was standing in the shadows of the front porch, his arms crossed. He didn't look angry, more surprised.
"Now I understand the prophecy..." he said, and allowed a small smile.
"How did you find out?" I asked, panting.
"Grover told me he saw the wings in the empathy link,"
"Oh..." I said. Great. Now Annabeth was going to find out from Chiron. Not the way I had planned to dump the info on her.
"Annabeth?" I said, nervously. Did she already know?
"No Percy, she doesn't know yet. I would advise you and your friends to go your cabin right now and give her time to let it sink in before this morning. I cannot keep this secret from the other campers. It is vital that they understand the prophecy."
"I... I understand sir," I mumbled.
We tucked in our wings, and trudged back towards the cabins.
"Great..." sighed Fang. "Just great..."
"Fang," Max scolded. "You know that they would have figured out sometime or another."
"Not if we had left!" said Fang. "We don't belong here, and you know it Max."
Max shrugged, and I sighed.
"I just don't know how to do this..." I said.
"Just be honest," suggested Max.
"I know..." I said.
They stayed behind as I walked up to the entryway of Poseidon's Cabin. I heard Annabeth breathing softly, and Tyson's rumbling snores. The cool, salty air calmed me down, and I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
I plodded to Annabeth's side, and tapped her gently on the shoulder. She moaned, and rolled over, blinking.
"What are you doing up this early?..." she muttered, half asleep.
"Annabeth, I have something to tell you," I said, hesitantly.
Annabeth:
I rolled over, and looked up at Percy, still half asleep. It was like four o'clock in the morning. Why was he waking me up?
"What are you doing up this early?..." I asked him sleepily.
"Annabeth, I have something to tell you," he said nervously, his eyes flicking around the room. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
"Does this have something to do with why you've been acting odd ever since we rescued you?"
"Ummm... Yeah I gueeessss..." He said, twitching uncomfortably. This was obviously extremely hard for him.
"Go on Percy, I won't judge," I said soothingly.
"Well..." he mumbled. "Remember how the lab you rescued me from was a recombinant DNA testing facility?" he asked.
"Yeah... What does that have to do with anything?" I said, but as soon as it left my mouth, I realized. Recombinant DNA meant combining two different types of DNA, most often, human and animal. Mortal, god, and beast become one... They... They had done something to Percy!
"Oh gods, Percy, what did they do to you?" I cried.
"Shh, Shh," he whispered and sat down on the bed beside me, stroking my hair.
"Percy please tell me," I pleaded.
"Well..." he started, and then someone cut him off saying, "We have wings."
Max stood in the doorway, with massive tawny wings speckled white, spread out behind her, a scowl on her face, and an angry look in her eyes.
"And, I swear Annabeth, if you make him feel bad about this, I will personally strangle you, and then dig you up and kill you again!" I jumped, startled, my eyes widening and my jaw dropping. I had seen some weird things before, but this topped them all. Mortals with wings?!
"P..p... Percy..." I gasped. I looked at his back. Now I realized why his shirt stuck up slightly funny recently. It wasn't just how the shirt fell. It was because there was something there. Folded wings... The whitecoats had given my boyfriend wings. Good gods of Olympus.
I sat there blubbering like a startled seal, unable to form words. The other mortal kids filed in, each spreading their wings. Angel's wings were much smaller than the others' wings. They were pure white. Nudge's wings were a yellowish tawny color. Gazzy's wings were a very pale cream color, and Iggy's were a very light gray. Fang had the biggest wings, at about seven feet each, and they were coal black. They loomed menacingly over him, casting him in shadows that deepened his scowl and highlighted his sallow eyes. I shivered and looked back at Percy.
He bowed his head, and slowly, wings lifted up from his shoulders, rising silently. They were as black as night, and the feather were silky and sleek. They were at least six feet each.
"Oh, Percy!" He looked up at me, guilt and shame in his eyes. His wings drooped, the tips touching the ground.
"They... They're beautiful..." I said, crying.
He blinked in surprise, and held out his arms. I threw myself into his warm embrace, and he wrapped his wings around us, hiding us in a cocoon of warmth. He pulled me into a kiss, and I let myself melt into him. The fact that he had wings was still sinking in when we finally pulled away, gasping. He had a smile on his face, the first one since we had rescued him from that awful place. My defenses crumbled into dust, and I wept, wept for what they had done to him, cried out my anxiety and worry, sobbed for the many children they had hurt.
The others had gone, sensing that this was a private moment I suppose.
I sat in his lap in the doorway, leaning against his shoulder. His arms were wrapped around me, and we looked at the stars, until the sun rose above Half-Blood hill, and campers started waking up around us. He folded up his wings through slits in his T-shirt, and the conch shell echoed through the valley.
We followed the other campers, various dryads and water nymphs to the mess hall. Percy held my hand all the way there, and I squeezed it reassuringly.
"Don't worry, no-one will care that you have wings now. You're still the same old Percy," I whispered.
He laughed, and asked, "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"You're such a seaweed brain!" I said, giggling. I was so relieved that he was not really changed by that place. Yes, maybe he had two extra appendages attached to him now, but he was still the same Percy I knew and loved.