The Sea's Daughter: The Lightning Thief.

Chapter 9: Lotus Flowers And Long Talks.

Melinda was still seething inside when she arrived in...Las Vegas. She scowled, snorted and looked around herself.

She'd appeared in an alleyway but even she could tell this was Las Vegas, and she realized her apparating skills must still need some work.

"Not exactly, dear," a familiar voice said.

Turning around, Melinda smiled. Standing there in her usual black robes and dress was Hecate.

"What do you mean grams?" Melinda asked.

Hecate's emerald eyes sparkled in an almost mischievous way.

"I'm may have thrown your apparation off target a little bit," Hecate said, placing her thumb and forefinger centimeters apart as she spoke.

Melinda threw her hands up in exasperation, sighing.

"Why? I have to get to L.A, like today! I have to find Percy before one of them..."

Hecate waved her off as she finished for her.

"...poisons themselves accidentally. Do not worry darling. Now as for why I am here and why I interfered."

Melinda nodded, though she was still worried and the nod was mostly done with sarcastic intent. How could she not worry?

She was going to have a long talk with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover about taking potions not labeled in Greek, that they had no idea the properties of.

"Your brother, his protector and Annabeth ended up here a day ago," Hecate said, and Melinda's head snapped up some to stare at the goddess.

"So, why am I here grams?" Melinda asked. "If they were here a day ago..."

Hecate interrupted her with a stern look and she fought back the urge to roll her eyes.

"Don't interrupt, now as I was saying. They wound up here thanks to Ares and fell into the Lotus Eaters trap. They're in there and they haven't come out...probably ate one of those delicious flowers by now." Hecate shook her head with a small amused smile.

Melinda furrowed her brow at her great-grandmother and shook her head.

"Great, by the way. How are you able to be here? I mean the ancient laws don't allow gods to interfere in quests."

Hecate blinked innocently.

"What quest?" she asked. "All I see is a demigod in need of some guidance to finding her brother and friends. Ciao!"

Hecate grinned, waved and disappeared in a blaze of hellfire – show off, she thought to herself.

"What is that, Italian?" Melinda called after her grams.

A moment later Melinda left the alley she'd appeared in and it was only seconds before she was basically pushed towards the front doors of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

"Welcome, here is your lotus cash card, good for everything inside and have a great stay with us!"

Melinda looked at the card he'd thrust into her hand and shrugged. Might as well play along for now.

"Thanks, but I won't be staying long," she said, with a fake smile as she breezed past the doorman and into the hotel.

Once inside her mouth dropped and her eyes widened. She'd never been to a place like this before and she was tempted to just stay with the others, but then she remembered why she had come. During the night, after such a long day.

"No rest for the wicked," she muttered to herself and ran a hand through her hair. "Or however that saying goes."

"Welcome, can I get you anything?"

Melinda looked at the male waiter strangely and shook her head.

"Uh, no thank you," she replied shortly.

Melinda moved further into the hotel casino and was startled when her path was intercepted by two, sort of scantly clad, waitresses.

"Have a lotus flower? They're our signature dish," one said, smiling brightly.

Melinda looked at the pink flowers and shook her head.

"No...I'm good," she said and tried to move past them but they moved with her.

"We insist," the other said and Melinda sighed.

"Will you leave if I do?"

The waitresses nodded and Melinda took one off the tray and lifted it to her mouth. Taking a small bite, the two waitresses smiled and moved on.

Melinda blinked as the lotus flower, even the small amount she'd had, began to take effect. Or at least, try to. It was weaker then if she'd taken more.

"Oh, wow," Melinda said, looking around her and trying to determine why she was here again.

Walking further into the game room of the Hotel, Melinda shook her head which had begun to hurt.

It was as she went to take another bite of the lotus flower that she yelped, bumped into a young girl about twelve or thirteen, and dropped her flower.

"Sorry," the girl said, and Melinda only got a glimpse of a green beanie cap, long black hair and dark brown or black eyes before the girl ran off.

Melinda blinked back what seemed like a fog that had formed over her eyes, and her headache began to go away as she remembered why she was here.

She cursed herself for be stupid enough to eat even a little bit of the flower. Hadn't she heard Hecate mention something about the flowers?

Looking down she saw the reason why she had yelped, dropped her flower and bumped into the girl from earlier.

Sesha was raised up, her hood flared and she was hissing. Not exactly angry hissing, but more like a mother scolding a child.

Sesha had bitten her to stop her from eating more of that lotus crack flower.

::Sorry Mistress, I had no choice. It was just a dry bite, though.:: Sesha began rambling things out after the first sentence. ::Thank the gods you are here! I can't snap them out of their drugged daze and you told me to protect young hatchling and I figured that meant no biting...::

::Sesh...Sesha!:: Melinda interrupted. ::Thank you for coming with him. Talk to me about whats happened.::

Sesha slithered up to wrap around her chest contently and began speaking of furies, Medusa – who gave serpents a bad name, apparently – Echidna and Chimera.

At which point Melinda had to stop at the casino bar and order a glass of vodka. They didn't even bother to ask for ID, which knowing what she knew about this place didn't surprise her.

::Percy is going to give me gray hairs before I'm twenty.::

::All the best hatchlings do, mistress,:: Sesha said. ::You would have been so proud of him, mistress. He fought them all bravely. Defeated two of the furies, and chopped the abomination known as Medusa's head off and sent it to Olympus. A most amusing turn of events, I thought.::

Melinda had to smile at that and then frowned.

::What of Echidna and Chimera? I had hoped those two would still be in the pit.::

::I had to help, but I could not protect the young hatchling as I would have liked. He never stood a change with so little training. You're defeat of them was after three years and my help. He was hurt but I believe it was mostly a test, seeing as she basically let him go. He jumped from the arch and the water healed him.::

After the explanation, Sesha shivered.

::Promise, Mistress. No baths or heights in the future. I am clearly a land serpent.::

Melinda laughed and stood up.

::How did you end up here?::

::A god, angry one he was. God of war, I believe. He helped after some sort of water park fiasco. We got drawn into this place and have been here since.::

::Alright, lets go hunt down the others.::

When Melinda found Percy he was talking to Annabeth, trying to get her to listen to him.

"We have to go, Annabeth," he snapped. "Spiders, Annabeth. Big hairy, crawly, spiders!"

Melinda smirked as the daughter of Athena nearly jumped a mile in the air.

"Percy is right, we can't stay here any longer," she said and Percy and Annabeth spun around.

Annabeth's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Melinda!" Percy exclaimed, smiling and she was relieved to see relief to see her on his face.

She had worried that he'd still be mad at her.

"How are you here?" Annabeth asked.

"I returned from England as fast as I could only to find you gone on a quest. I might not have jumped the gun on rushing here if I didn't notice something missing from my potions stores."

Percy looked at Annabeth, who looked down, flustered.

"I didn't think you'd mind. They were just some healing potions. Like the ones you supply for the Apollo children," Annabeth said.

Melinda frowned, and shook her head.

"You don't understand, Annabeth. I don't mind the fact you took some potions but you didn't just take ones you could read the labels on and you didn't ask."

"You were gone..."

"That isn't a good enough excuse. You could have asked one of the older campers, like Sam, Luke or Chad from Apollo to help you. Or simply gone to the infirmary where I know there are a few stocked by Chad."

Annabeth blinked and for a minute Melinda was afraid she'd begin to cry.

"I'm sorry, but they were all ones I'd seen before," she said.

"One was in a bottle that was close to the same shade as a pepper up potion, but was labeled in Latin. It was my mistake leaving it out like that but it wasn't wise to not read the labels and just going on sight alone," Melinda said.

Annabeth looked properly scolded now, and couldn't seem to meet Melinda's eyes.

"What was it?" Percy asked, curious.

"A deadly posion," Melinda replied, nonchalantly.

Annabeth gasped, and both she and Percy's eyes nearly shot out of their head they were so wide.

Melinda looked at them then, raising an eyebrow.

"Where is it by the way?" Melinda asked. "Please tell me you haven't used it and that's why Grover isn't here with you."

Annabeth flinched and became a bit flustered again.

"I lost all the potions when the furies attacked and Zeus blew up the bus we were on."

Melinda look at her surprised and then laughed, grinning.

"Thank the gods," Melinda said.

"You're not angry we lost your potions?" Percy asked.

Melinda shook her head.

"You need to understand, I wasn't that angry with you, I was worried more then anything," Melinda said. "Here's rule number one, don't take things from my potions stores without my help, permission or you know exactly what you are taking."

Percy and Annabeth nodded.

"Now, where is Grover, we have to leave. Now."

Percy led them to Grover, who they drug away from the game he was playing, and towards the exit.

"Are you going so soon?" the one who greeted her when she'd come in asked.

Melinda looked behind her and groaned at the waiters and waitresses surrounding them. Flicking her right had her cypress wand fell into her hand.

"Listen, we're leaving and anyone who gets in my way won't like the consequences."

The doorman smirked.

"Demigod weapons won't work on mortals and we are mortal," he said.

Melinda smiled, nodding.

"No, but this can," she said, revealing her wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The doorman stiffened instantly, eyes wide and fell over.

"Wow," she heard one of the others whisper and pushed them towards the exit.

"Go, go, run!" Melinda urged and they ran, Melinda bringing up the rear.

She shot off some stupefys and other stunning charms. She didn't feel comfortable killing mortals, especially those under the thrall of the lotus eaters. She wasn't exactly positive how it worked.

She wasn't all that surprised to see most were stuck between backing up away from her and trying to stop them from leaving.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they hit fresh air and the hotel and casino doors shut behind them. Melinda quickly placed her wand back in its holster.

"Okay, kids, new rule," she began as they turned to her. "Don't eat crack flowers or enter strange hotels or resorts."

"There was crack in the flowers?" Annabeth asked in horror.

"I don't know, probably not. Just some herbs with similar acting affects," she placated the blonde.

"Uh, guys," Grover called. "You might want to see this."

Grover was pointing up to a large sign which showed the temperature, time and date.

6:30 A.M.

June 21st, 2006.

It was the day of the Summer Solstice.

"We were in there for three days?" Percy asked. "But it was only like...one day, if that!"

"It's the lair of the lotus eaters," Annabeth said. "Time moves differently inside and outside."

"We have to go," Melinda said, and felt annoyed with herself. Was it just her or was she saying that a lot?

Melinda was relieved when Annabeth got a taxi to stop, she was too tired to Apparate all the way to LA, especially after having been up all day, and the drama she'd just been through.

Not to mention she still had to heal the place where Sesha had bitten into her cafe to stop her from eating more of the lotus flower.

She'd pass out some of the pepper up potions when they got into the cab, she decided, knowing she could use one and the others looked as tired, if not more so then she did.

It was easy to see this quest had taken it out of the three of them.

Once in the cab, Melinda pulled her bag onto her lap and passed one of the vials up to Grover, ignoring the curious look of the taxi driver.

Then she passed one to Percy and Annabeth and took out the last for herself. In her rush to leave she'd only grabbed a hand full.

"This isn't poison, right?" Percy asked, looking at the vial wearily.

Melinda smiled, and chuckled.

"I promise, it isn't," she said. "You notice the label is in Greek, it's just a pepper up potion. It'll help with the exhaustion."

Melinda took her own, and the others followed suit. She then took her pearl from around her neck and dangled it over her cafe and let a drop fall. After that she replaced the pearl back around her neck.

"How did that happen?" Percy asked, having seen her heal her cafe.

Sesha moved some, thankfully Melinda had thought to put a notice-me-not charm on her earlier so the taxi driver wouldn't notice the large, deadly snake in the backseat.

She hissed in a shamed manner and Melinda hissed a soft comfort before answering Percy.

"Sesha had to resort to it when she couldn't get my attention. To stop me from eating more of the flower," Melinda replied.

Then the silence became awkward.

xXx

Percy felt a bit awkward on the long, yet very fast, drive to Los Angeles. He couldn't believe the bad luck he'd had on this quest, yet seeing Melinda show up at the lotus hotel and casino had been great.

He'd felt eased, like he no longer had to do everything alone. Not to say Annabeth and Grover didn't help, but for some reason he knew he had a much better chance of living through this quest with Melinda there.

"Can we talk?" Percy finally worked up the courage to ask.

Melinda looked at him and nodded. She looked around them and he watched as she drew the strange piece of wood, a wand he thought she called it, and flicked it.

"Muffliato," she whispered and he blinked, wondering what that was supposed to do.

"What was that?" he whispered.

Melinda chuckled.

"It's a spell that causes a buzzing sound that muffles a conversation. They won't be able to eavesdrop unintentionally now."

"Why did you lie to me?"

It came out before Percy could stop it.

Melinda sighed.

"Chiron wouldn't let me. I don't usually follow rules so well but I guess a part of me agreed with him. It was too dangerous and it was dads place to tell you, not mine."

Percy frowned, thinking about his father. He still felt unsure of Poseidon. Did the god actually care or was he really just using him as a pawn?

The voice from the pit seemed to think so.

"But why lie about it? Why not just tell me that instead?"

He could see her eyes lighten to a sad sea green, reminding him eerily of how his mothers eyes would change shades of blue when she was happy or sad or simply overly emotional. Thinking of his mother made his throat close up so he shook that train of thought to listen to Melinda.

"I...I was afraid. I've always been alone growing up. I've never had any responsibilities as an older sister. I was afraid that you wouldn't need or want me as your sister. That you wouldn't believe me, or that..."

She looked away from him and he knew he could see tears in her eyes.

"Everyone I've ever loved has gotten hurt or killed. I was afraid of this, I was afraid that I would get close to you and you'd be sent on a quest and not come back. I wanted to protect you," she said.

Laughed bitterly, Melinda shook her head and turned back to him. He could tell she was blinking back tears.

"I should have acted differently, I know that now. I know you're upset with me, and you have every right to be. I know I would. I hated being lied too, I hated when the adults would try to protect me from things exactly like this."

Percy reached over and took her hand into his and squeezed it in a brotherly manner.

"I'm sorry about how I reacted, I didn't understand. I hardly know you. I've always wanted a older or younger sibling," he said and grinned. "Lets start over. I'm Percy Jackson. I love blue food, the color blue, I'll be thirteen on August 18th, and I'm the son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon."

Melinda laughed softly, smiling.

"Hello, Percy," she said. "I'm Melinda Potter. I don't have a favorite color, but I do like green, gold, silver and crimson. I'm seventeen, but I'll be eighteen on July 31st. I'm a witch, legacy of Hecate and daughter of Lily Evans-Potter and Poseidon."

Percy let go of his sisters hand then, feeling a bit strange about holding it any longer. He was a boy after all, he hadn't held anyone hand since he was eight or nine and his mother had been paranoid about him being out of her sight or crossing the road without holding her hand.

"I have a lot of questions," Percy said.

Melinda raised an eyebrow.

"Like what, little brother?" she said, saying the last bit in an almost teasing manner.

"Like why you had a deadly poison in your stores. Why you have such fast reflexes and reactions to being snuck up on. How long have you been aware you were a demigod? How did you get that scar on your head? Who did you grow up with if your parents were killed? What did you do that doorman at the lotus eaters lair? What exactly is a legacy? Did that make your mother a demigod? Demigods can actually have kids?"

Percy said this all in what seemed to be one breath and Melinda was blinking rapidly by the end of it.

"Did you breath at all during that?" she asked, chortling. "You don't hold anything back do you, Percy?"

Percy smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Umm, I would love to explain this all another time, but this might be the only chance we get," Melinda said.

Percy frowned.

"Because we're going to the Underworld, right?"

She frowned, deeper then him and that haunted look came back into her bright eyes.

"It's not exactly that I worry about. Getting in and out of the Underworld shouldn't be that challenging for me, something I'll explain to you at a later date."

She said the last part before he could question her on why it would be easy.

"It's seeing Hades himself," she continued, biting her lower lip nervously. "Monsters and mortals are one thing, but fighting a god...not even I can do that and say I'll come out alive."

Percy frowned. It seemed so hard to believe. He'd seen her fight before and with her magic...it just seemed so surreal to hear her doubt herself like that.

She was the most powerful person he'd ever met, it was hard for him to accept that she was only human, she couldn't win every fight.

Now he understood the look in her eyes. It was the look of knowing her fate and knowing that one day she'd meet a monster, or even a god or mortal that she couldn't defeat.

It worried him, he hadn't seen many demigods as old as Melinda at camp.

Besides Luke, and a few others he didn't know names for. From what he understood there were few who made it into their twenties. Some didn't even make it to ten from what Chiron and Annabeth had explained during lessons. He had just gained an older sister, he didn't want to loose her so soon.

Melinda smiled over at him then, as if she could see the inner turmoil he was going through.

"Don't worry Percy, we'll think of something," Melinda said. "We can get your mother as well."

Percy blinked, surprised she had remembered and then felt guilty.

"Mel, I have a confession," he began, and she canted her head to the side curiously. "I didn't accept this quest to find the bolt. I did it to get my mother..."

"You did it to get your mother back," Melinda interrupted, nodding. "I thought it had something to do with that. I can understand that, but know dad does care about us."

Percy frowned.

"If he cared so much why isn't he here? Why won't he talk to us or help us! Why didn't he save my mother, or yours!" Percy was nearly screaming by the end of it, his face flushed red.

Melinda looked at him sadly, but not with pity.

"I used to think that too...but over the years I've come to accept the fact that dad is a god. There are laws and I had to remind myself he's running a whole kingdom under the sea. Gods are busy, they could try to make more time for us, but they do care. Dad protected you as best he could when Zeus found out about you, and later me. He didn't make the laws, and he can't change them. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't seem right though," Percy muttered. "I don't want to help him, but I don't want to be used either."

Percy could see Melinda frown as she heard his later words and worried he'd let to much go. Melinda placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he felt guilt come over him.

He hadn't told anyone about the dreams and the voice in the pit, not even Annabeth or Grover.

"Percy, who don't you want to help?" she asked, and he sighed.

"him," he replied, his tone tight and low. "He comes to me in my dreams. He wants me to help him, to give him the bolt. I don't have it though, I don't!"

His eyes were wide as if he were begging her to believe him.

"A voice, like steel wrapping around your heart and freezing your insides?" she asked, and he gulped. "from a pit, black, deep and yawning?"

He stared at her in shock.

"Yes, how – "

"I've had them too," she admitted. "Percy, don't trust him. I don't know exactly who he is, but I have an idea. If I'm right...it's bad. Really bad, and he can't be trusted. He's a deceiver, if anyone is using you it's him. Whatever he promises you, whatever he says ignore it."

Percy was perplexed. He believed Melinda and he trusted her, but...what had the gods ever done for him?

"I know you don't want to be anyone's pawn, I can relate," Melinda told him softly. "But it's better to be the knowing pawn then the unknowing pawn."

Percy blinked at the wisdom of those words and smiled.

"Thanks," he said. "How do you know all this? I mean, you never did answer my questions."

Melinda laughed.

"Persistent little boy, aren't you?" she teased.

"Not little," he nearly whinnied.

"Lets see," Melinda began, thinking. "I began working on a potion to help one of my friends parents. They were tortured into insanity when he was a baby, and I wanted to help. I did a lot work on it over the years, and finally after many attempts and trials and errors and blow ups, literally, I found the answer."

Percy listened with more attention then he'd ever listened to anyone, or anything told to him.

"That potion you saw brewing, the one I told you not to go near?" Melinda asked, and he nodded in recognition. "That's the cure, it'll be done about a week before my friends birthday. The poison was one of those botched attempts at the cure. I kept it because I wanted to study it and see about fusing the poison to my dagger."

"The one that looks like bone?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Yes, it is bone. Well tooth really. Chimera, actually."

Percy's eyes widened.

"Like..."

"The one you fought?" she asked, and he wondered how she knew. "Sesha told me. I'm proud of you, and I'm glad your okay."

Percy grinned, his eyes lighting up at her words. All doubt he had about forgiving Melinda, and how to handle having an older half-sister was gone with that.

"As for my reflexes, I've been fighting for a long time. But, I guess they developed when I was younger."

He blinked, wondering how such reflexes could be developed when she was younger? Had monsters been chasing her that long?

"You asked who I grew up with, well I was raised by my mother's sister. A Muggle, a none magical person," she said, adding the last part at his confused look. "She hated my mother, because she got the looks – in her eyes anyways – and the praise. She was magical, the witch in the family."

"But, I don't understand. If you're a legacy of Hecate, wouldn't you mother have to be a demigod. Wouldn't that mean..."

Melinda shook her head.

"You're not understanding what a legacy is. A legacy is a child directly related to a god or goddess through a parent. It can be a demigod who is their parent but that's not always the case. Hecate was my grandmother, Melantha Blackwell-Evans', mother. My mother was a legacy of Hecate. Hecate's granddaughter, making me her great-granddaughter."

She explained it in the simplest way she could.

"So, demigods can have children."

Melinda snorted.

"We're human Percy, of course we can have children." She shrugged. "If we live that long."

He grimaced at how simply she said it, as if it were nothing more than a weather report.

"But that's beside the point. The point is my aunt and uncle craved a normal life. Beyond normal really, so far beyond normal it was almost abnormal. I didn't fit into that picture perfect family. For a long time it was those reflexes that kept me alive."

Melinda seemed sort of lost in memories as she spoke.

"They helped me run from my cousin and his gang, or try and get away when my uncle would snap and take his anger out on me. Or when Aunt Petunia decided frying pans were good for hitting me over the head with."

Percy frowned, his eyes hard as he imagine a younger Melinda living in such an environment. Gabe was bad, but he'd never been that bad.

Besides the odd slap over the head or on the back growing up he'd never abused him. At least not physically, he wasn't so sure about emotionally.

"I was eight, I think, when I first met Poseidon," she said. "I didn't know who he was then, I just thought he was a stranger. He gave me my pearl. It wasn't until I was eleven I found out I was a demigod, and that Poseidon was my father and Hecate my great-grandmother."

She looked at him with a small smile.

"Monster began to take notice after that year. Then there was the return of Voldemort starting in my first year at Hogwarts, when I was eleven. He tried to return each year after that, trying to regain a body. He finally did in my fourth year, when I was fourteen. That when the second war really began..."

"Second war?" Percy asked, surprised and kind of confused.

"It's not exactly a nice story. Voldemort was determined to come back to power, and complete his goal. He wanted to change the world, I guess would be the best way to say it. He believed that Muggle-Borns, witches or wizards born of Muggles, didn't deserve their gifts. That Half-Bloods (a term for a witch or wizard with muggle ties) were below a Pureblood but still worthy as long as they forsook their muggle heritage. That Purebloods should be supreme, and that Muggles were too dangerous to live."

"That's crazy," Percy said, eyes wide.

Melinda nodded.

"It is, or was. In the war I was the one everyone turned too to defeat him. After it was know he'd returned in my fifth year, the same year my godfather died."

Melinda pushed some hair behind her ears and bit her lip. She seemed to be thinking on what she would say next and if she wanted to say more.

"Sirius, my godfather, he was in Azkaban – the wizard prison – for twelve years. He escaped for me, and I was able to clear his name. He became an innocent man my third year and he adopted me, made me his heiress. I am legally, Melinda Potter-Black, but I only sign papers with that name," she said, wrinkling her nose up a bit.

He smiled, chuckling a little at this revelation.

"He was killed by his cousin, Bellatrix LeStrange," she said, and Percy couldn't help but think it was a strange name. "I...lost it. I won't hold anything back from you Percy. You asked to know things about me, and it wouldn't be right to tell you about the war and not tell you everything."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"People die in wars, Percy," Melinda said.

"Sometimes it's good people, innocents and sometimes it's the bad guys. But sometimes we forget that we're all humans, we both bleed the same color. We eat, breathe and live on the same planet. Taking a life, a human life isn't something to be proud of her think lightly of. Cedric Diggory was the first innocent blood spilled by Voldemort in the beginning of the second war, and Bellatrix LeStrange was the first of the enemies blood to be spilt by my hand."

Percy stared at his sister with wide eyes, his jaw dropped.

"So, you've killed people?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, daughters, sons..." she looked at him with haunted eyes. "The last one to die by my hand was Voldemort himself, if you could even call him human anymore."

"And the doorman at the hotel?" Percy whispered, remembering how the man stiffened and fell over.

"Just a full body-bind spell. It'll ware off in a day, give or take," she said, shrugging.

Percy nodded and looked over at her, and smiled.

"I don't care that you've killed people, from what you said they were all bad people. I know that probably doesn't make it right, but you didn't have much of a choice. You said it yourself. People die in wars," he said, and Melinda smiled back at him, and he could see the relief in her eyes.

"I think I'm done learning about your today, Lin. I don't think I can handle anymore surprises or information."

Melinda chuckled, ruffling his hair and pulling him into a side hug.

"Thank you, Percy," she muttered into his hair.

"For what?" he asked, accepting the hug.

Melinda had a way of making everything seem alright. She made him feel safe.

"For accepting me."