Chapter 2: Dreams and School

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Percy Jackson. They belong to Rick Riordan.

I only own Kaia Faridah Jackson.

Kaia means "pure" in Greek and "the sea" in Hawaiian. Faridah is an Arabic name meaning "matchless pearl".

Should've been strikethrough but I can't figure out how to do it on fanfiction . net

I made my mum go through hell after dad left. I screamed and cried at all hours of the night for a week. Hoping he would come back. I understood he left to protect me from his murderous brother who's also THE KING OF OLYMPUS.

Talk about a dangerous enemy. Still, I wanted my dad. Bratty, I know, but I felt safe with him. Safer than I'd ever felt in both lives.

Once I realised he wouldn't be coming back, I fell into depression. What a nastily familiar feeling. Mum was so scared. I barely ate, didn't walk everywhere and babble happily like before. I slept, and dreamed.

I dreamed of a palace beneath the waves. Of my dad sitting on a throne with a merman to his right and a beautiful lady to his left. I only had eyes for my dad.

One day, I dreamt of my father laying inside a huge fan-shaped seashell. There was some kind of mattress inside it with blue sheets, and loads of pillows in varying shades of blue and white.

Dream-dad turns towards me and smiles. "Come here, little pearl."

I swim towards him and hug his neck tightly. "Daddy."

"I'm sorry, my little princess. I didn't realise you were so much like me."

I stare at him, confused. Dad looks sad and guilty. "Like you daddy?" I'm starting to think this might not be just a dream.

He smiles and kisses my forehead, "Gods are born self-aware and so were you."

I shake my head no. That wasn't why. "Me live twice." I don't know why I said that, I fully intended to take this secret to my grave, but this was my dad. The man whose absence sent me into a depression worse than the one that killed me. I have no idea how, or why, but Poseidon has become my world. My anchor. My Sky. No, never. No more Skies. Without him, I was drifting.

"Was your first life a good one?"

What? I stare at him, baffled. He just calmly looks back, waiting for my answer. No yelling about how I stole his daughter's life. No accusations of deception. Just calm acceptance. My dad's the best. "No. Me sad. Hurt. Betrayed." I still have trouble with forming full sentences without mispronouncing anything or stuttering. "Happy now." I hug him tightly to show him that I'm happy now, with him, in this dream that isn't a dream. How many times did I use my Flames to drive people mad as they dreamt? Too many. All for him.

"I'm glad you're happy now, baby girl. Still, you're worrying your mother, she keeps praying for me to do something."

I hate the disappointment in his gaze. "You safe. No you, not safe"

He smiles and hugs me tighter to his chest. I nuzzle into his neck and breathe in his unique scent of sea and storm. It was a heady combination. I can hear his voice rumbling inside his chest when he speaks, "Hypnos gave me permission to visit you every night in your dreams. Sleep now, my little pearl. Your daddy will keep you safe."

§§§

Mum was very relieved when I started talking and went back to running everywhere and playing at the park like normal children. She seemed a bit creeped out by my ability to understand everything she said and speak so well. Turns out, normal 10 months old kids should not be able to do that. Oops. Mafia kids are raised to be creepy. Though maybe not so young.

In my defense, I was the secretary of a crime lord in my past life. His Mist. His guardian. His torturer. Not exactly a situation where one's around babies much.

I try to be as independent as possible to lessen the burden on my mum. Losing the diaper and going to the toilet on my own was the first step. I always put my toys back in their proper place after I finished playing. I don't cry, don't throw tantrums. It's my way of apologising for scaring her.

Sally Jackson is a single mother raising a demigod child with ADHD who monsters would love to kill. Dad says mum's clear sighted, she can see the cyclops and creatures trying to sniff me out as well as I can.

That's not a problem anymore, dad gave me a gold locket with white pearls in the shape of a starfish. The locket contains a picture of him on his throne in Atlantis on one side and the inscription "Forever my beloved Pearl" in Greek. It looks pretty, but it's also useful. A bracelet that could become a whip. Hairpins that turned into daggers. Glasses into a gun. Monsters can't smell my demigod blood as long as I wear it. Needless to say, I never take it off.

Mum still holds me close whenever a monster passes by. Really, as if an untrained human could protect me if they went for the kill. I don't think mum really understands the 'demigod scent attracts monsters thing'. If she did, she'd realise that monsters ignoring us is weird.

§§§

Now that I'm four years old, mum started working as a waitress while I'm at school.

Kindergarten's frustrating. The kids are annoying, the teachers condescending and my dyslexia is a pain in the ass. Luckily, I suffered from it in my past too, so I know how to deal with it. Still horrible.

§§§

I skipped ahead in classes. I'm four years old, and studying with the six years old. Mum didn't want me to skip too many grades. Bummer.

Anyway, I begged my mom to let me do some extracurricular activities. She was weirdly reluctant, I thought it was a money problem at first, which is why I didn't suggest it before, but it turns out that dad leaves 10 000 dollars in her account every year so money is not a problem.

She never uses it.

I don't know what her problem is, dad asked her to marry him before I was born (apparently Hera allows the gods to practice polygamy if their wife agrees, and Amphitrite did), she said no. Dad asked her to come live with him in Atlantis after I was born, so I would be protected, she said no.

Dad gives her money to use for whatever and she pretends it's not there. I'm damn sure anyone else would give an arm and a leg to marry a god-king, or at least they'd be thankful he even cares, but not her. Not Sally Jackson who can do everything by herself.

I like my independence too, but there's being proud and there's being stupid. It's not like dad's asking for anything in exchange for the money. She's weird.

Anyway, I convinced her to sign me up for ballet classes to help with my balance and coordination, aikido for self defence, and art class for the hell of it. I've always sucked at drawing, but I always wanted to be able to sketch properly. I hope the lessons will help.

School starts at 8:45 and ends at 15:30 from Monday to Friday. On Saturday we finish at 14:30. Ballet's on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, aikido on Thursday and Saturday after school, and art class is on Tuesday and Friday evening. Sunday is mother-daughter bonding day.

What a busy schedule. If I'm too busy to think I won't remember. But it's the good kind of busy, not the 'I need to do this, this and that or I'll freeze or starve to death'.