CHAPTER 8:
"Stars." Percy said, pointing his finger up at the night sky, his mouth slightly open, his green eyes gazing into infinity, like a little child who had seen the stars for the first time.
"Beautiful, aren't they? "
"Yeah." I replied unenthusiastically. We were lying on the dry grass on Half-blood Hill, my head on Percy's shoulder. I followed Percy's gaze up at the sky and realized that he was right. Gods, it was really beautiful. A zillion stars blazing in the dark void of the night sky.
"You know, when I was 9 or 10 years old, mom and I, were at the Montauk beach, roasting marshmallows during the night. And I remembered looking up at the stars, and I asked her, what exactly the stars were. And she was silent for a moment, with a far fetched look in her eyes , and then she smiled at me, and she began to tell me this story.
"Eons ago, before the era of the Olympians, the stars were the treasure of the sky god, Ouranos. At that time, night did not have the twinkling stars, we now see. The night sky, then, was just like a pitch black screen with only the moon as a source of light. On the other hand, the sky during day, was as bright as ever, because of the mighty light from the sun. The goddess of night, Nyx, was jealous of the fact, that day was brighter and more beautiful than her. So she went upto Ouranos and complained about her problem. How her sky was less awesome than day's. See, night and day, both were the two phases of the sky, that is, of Ouranos himself. So he was bound to help Nyx. He took out all his treasures, and spread them all across the night sky, giving it the beauty that we now see.
" Whenever, a good deed is done by anyone, a star is added into the sky, to remind us, that the real treasure is in helping others." He finished.
"A really touching story. Although I don't know why I have never heard it before." I said.
Percy laughed and said,"I don't know about the story being 'touching', but yeah. I think my mom had just made that story up herself that day. After all she's studying to be a novelist."
Okay, so now I admit that I was a little frustrated. These were our last few hours together before I start missing Percy for a month, and this Seaweed Brain was talking about stars and their stories.
But when he finished speaking his next few words, I forgot how to speak.
"My mom also told me, that whenever you look up at the stars, at the treasures of the sky, and the first person that goes through your heart, the first person that comes to your mind, the one whom you remember and miss dearly, that very person is the real treasure you have earned in your life and you should never let her go. And whenever I look up at them, Annabeth Chase, I always think about you."
