Lassa
I sit on the sandbar, waiting for Jesse to get here. Since I'm alone, I don't dry it off or keep the tide back, but instead let it wash over me.
I've got a red bandana in my hair, a white halter crop and a navy blue boho maxi-skirt on and bare feet. Perfect outfit for 4th of July. I can't help remembering the last time I was here with him, and how good it felt for him to kiss me. Is he going to try to kiss me tonight? Do I want him to? Can I trust him after everything? I'm not sure.
I try to push it out of my mind, just enjoy the waves washing over me and looking at the night sky before the fireworks start.
"The sky is beautiful tonight." Someone says next to me, making me gasp and stumble to my feet, summoning my blades. "Artemis' domain is almost as beautiful as mine. Pity that light pollution takes away so much of it." The man says. He's in leather flip flops, khaki shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with black hair, a beard, and green eyes. He looks tan and weathered, but still handsome. "You can put away your swords, little one. I would never hurt you."
"Poseidon." I breathe. "I-I mean Father." He smiles and I turn my xiphie back into bracelets.
"I imagine you have some mixed feelings seeing me."
"Yes Sir." I admit. He chuckles.
"Sir. Very different from your brother. I believe his first message to me and the rest of the Olympians was Best Wishes attached to the severed head of Medusa." He tells me. A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth.
"That sounds like the Percy I've come to know. I'm from The South, Father. Percy's a Yankee." I tell him. He laughs.
"Very true. I enjoy the American South quite a bit. It's where I met your mother. She was…very special. I miss her."
"Why-Why are you here?"
"I decided it was time. What better occasion than your birthday?"
"How about any of the past eleven birthdays?" I say, the words falling out of my mouth before I can stop them. "I-I'm sorry father. Mama says my mouth sometimes works faster than my mind."
"You have every right to say what you said. I didn't come here to make excuses to you. I just wanted to see the beautiful child Maya Seaver had twelve years ago. You're growing into a very courageous and kind young woman. I don't know if it'll mean anything to you, but I'm proud of you." He says, and a flush of pride goes through me.
"How do you know anything about me?"
"You think I'm not watching you? Zeus forbids too much contact between us and our mortal offspring, it's true. And in the four or five years after Percy was claimed, I had to be extra sure he never discovered you, or he would have tried to have you killed. But Myself and many others try our best to find ways around that. And in one form or another, I've been there the day you were born, the first time you were on a horse, your first surfing competition and other things like that. I also do my best to make sure your stepfather never has an empty day on the Sea." He winks at me.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I ask. He sighs.
"Because I want you to know you've not been abandoned. Nor will you ever be." He tells me. There's a neigh in the sky, and not too far in the distance I see Sunburn flying towards us with Jesse on his back. "I'll take my leave. If you ever want to visit, Just ask Percy and he'll show you to my underwater Palace. He has a room there now, so I'll get one set up for you too. Triton and Amphitrite might not like it at first, but they'll come around. Goodnight, Lassa. Happy Birthday." he says, and walks into the water.
…
As the Last day of summer approaches, I find myself caught between excitement of going home, and sad I'm leaving camp. Chiron made sure I knew I had the option to stay. No one, not even my parents, can force me to leave. But I miss my family. I miss the Georgia coast. I want to go home.
But I'm going to miss a lot of people. Percy, Annabeth, and Jesse most of all. Lacey too. She's a daughter of Aphrodite who accepted Jesus after Percy shared his testimony. She helped me get ready when Jesse asked me to the Fireworks for my birthday. Not going to lie, I was hoping he'd at least talk to me about dating again, but no dice. Since then, He's also stopped holding my hand or putting his arm around me, honestly the only time He's even touched me in weeks was when I was really upset because I got a letter from home telling me my grandmother finally passed away. Went home for a few days for the funeral. Percy came with me.
Last day is finally here, and I pack all my things up, leaving behind my toiletries and a few shirts and changes of clothes in case I ever need to come back in a hurry. Soon as I zip my duffel shut, I carry it to the beach, saying goodbye to friends along the way. I see The Wavecrest a bit off shore, and wait for them to get the smaller boat into the water to come get me. I could swim to them, but they said they wanted to see the camp.
While I'm waiting, Chiron trots up next to me.
"Hello, Lassa." He says politely. I stand up and face him.
"Hi, Chiron." I wave
"I take it that's your parent's boat offshore?"
"It is."
"Then you're not staying year round." He sighs. "A pity. You could use more training."
"I'll keep practicing at home. And I'll be back next summer."
"I look forward to it." He says. "You stirred up quite a bit of trouble this summer."
"Really? I wasn't trying to."
"Did you think the gods would take kindly to you taking away some of the few followers they have left in the mortal world?" He asks. I shrug.
"They only have the power over me God grants them. Otherwise I think I'd be dead by now."
"That's probably true. That doesn't mean others won't seek to harm you, though. Did you know Mars dispatched a squad of soldiers from New Rome to kill Percy for his preaching?" He asks.
"What? When? Is he okay?" I question, suddenly panicked. Chiron chuckles.
"I would not be so casual in informing you had Percy come to any harm. Most in the legion flat out refused, which is impressive considering Rome's dedication to the gods. Frank and Hazel sent a warning ahead, since they couldn't order against Mars. The small band who was willing to come…Percy did his best to not harm them. But it was 5 on 1. He had no choice but to take some of their lives. The others, once defeated, tucked tail and returned to New Rome."
"Oh. Good." I tell him, and see my parents getting on the smaller boat to come to shore. "Is it okay if I show my family around the camp?" I ask. He purses his lips.
"Traditionally, no. Mortals other than the oracle aren't allowed within the boundary. However, they can come to the shore. Anyone you wish to have them meet can come here." He nods to me. "Have a good time home, Lassa. Feel free to come back anytime. Many return on their breaks from school." He tells me and trots off. A few minutes later, my family's raft comes ashore. I get up and run into the water, scooping both of my brothers into a big hug first, then going to my parents.
"I missed Y'all!" I say.
"We missed you too, Sweetheart." My daddy says, holding me tight while my mother strokes my hair.
"Can we see the camp?" River asks.
"Please?" Seaver joins in, both of them looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. I laugh and shake my head, ruffling both of their hair.
"Sorry, boys. I asked. No mortals other than the Oracle allowed in camp."
"Awwww." They both say.
"But I wanted to see the lava climbing wall!" River complains
"And I wanted to see the Pegasi!" Seaver pouts.
"Well, it's probably best you stay away from lava anyways. You can't take ambrosia and nectar to heal you. But I can help out on the Pegasi front." I say and concentrate for a second, reaching out to Skyfall.
Skyfall! Can you come to the beach? My brother wants to meet you.
I wait a minute for her to respond.
Right away, Lady Lass! I hear her say, and look at Seaver.
"Skyfall's coming to the beach."
"Yes!" He pumps his fist in the air, making us laugh. A second later Skyfall gets to the beach and lands next to me, spreading her wings in a show off stance. I roll my eyes and smile at her.
"Woaaaaah." My brothers say.
"Beautiful." My mother whispers.
"Incredible." Daddy breathes.
"Y'all don't want to go for a ride, do you?" I ask my brothers.
"Yes!" They both say, their faces lighting up. Skyfall nickers and bows. I climb on, letting River sit in front of me and Seaver behind me.
"Ready…steady…go!" I say, and Skyfall takes to the skies. My brothers both start screaming, holding onto me as tight as they can.
Okay, Sky, I know with Jesse I told you not to mess with him, but feel free to mess with these two as much as you want.
With Pleasure, Lady Lass! She nickers, then tucks her wings into a spin dive. And then starts flying in upside down lops. And sideways gliding. Then she finally levels out with the clouds, and starts flying slow and level. The boys stop screaming and catch their breaths. Then they start smiling and cheering, catching the edges of the cloud with their fingertips. We land a few minutes later, much to their protests, and I see Mama and Daddy are talking to Percy and Annabeth on the shore. My stomach drops though when I see that Jesse is leaving them, walking up the dunes. He looks upset.
"Alright, boys. Hop off." I say.
"One more time Lassa?" River asks.
"Please?" Seaver begs.
"No. I need to go do something. Off." They sigh and grumble, but do as I tell them. Percy looks over and purses his lips. "Sky, Please take me to the arena." I ask her, having a feeling how the meeting between Jesse and my parents went, and where Jesse will go to blow off steam.
Yes, My Lady. I was just about to tell you Lord Percy suggested the same thing. He says you need to speak with Jesse.
Great, I think to myself. Skyfall flaps her wings and takes off, landing me in the middle of the arena. We beat Jesse here by a few minutes, so I let Skyfall go back to the stables and I just sit against a back wall, waiting for him to get here. It doesn't take long. When he comes in, I see his face is white with rage. He doesn't even see me at first, just goes and pulls out his sword, tearing up a dummy. I brace myself and take a deep breath and stand up.
"Hey." I say shyly. He doesn't hear me. "Hey! Jesse!" I say a little louder. He startles and turns towards me with his sword up, then sees me and his face, sword, and posture falls. I clear my throat. "Hey. You want to tell me what that poor dummy did to you?" I try for a smile. He clenches his jaw and sheaths his sword.
"You know what hurts, Lassa?" He asks. I take a deep breath.
"Look, Jesse,"
"What hurts is getting close to someone for months. Being close friends. Starting to like them, but knowing you can't do anything about that until at least the end of summer when you can meet her parents. Waiting for that day." He says, making my heart rate speed up. So that's why he never mentioned anything to me. It wasn't that he didn't like me. He was just waiting. "Then the day finally comes where you can meet her parents and ask for her dad's blessing. Not right this second but for down the road, although hopefully not too far down. And then realizing that this girl never even mentioned me to her parents. They had no idea who I was, that I even existed." He says, then grips his sword hilt and pulls it out, spinning and slicing off the dummy's head. "I've seen you write maybe a hundred letters home over the summer. You've told them about everything from Pegasi to training to Percy to the handful of friends you've made like Lacey and Jake and Allie and Dylan, but you never told them about me. Why?"
"I'm sorry! But it's not because you're not important to me, I swear!"
"Then why not?"
"Because I like you, Jesse! And I'm really private about things like that. I was scared if I started writing about you, they'd see it pretty clearly. It's not because I don't care or even that I'm embarrassed, I'm just private about it. I was also scared that if they knew about you and my feelings for you before I was ready to tell them, they'd tell me to keep my distance. I didn't want to risk that."
"Why would they tell you to keep your distance?"
"Because they're pretty chill about the things I have to do as a demigod, like fighting and training and going to a three month camp. But with normal mortal stuff? Not so much. They're pretty protective and uptight. Back home, I wasn't even allowed to hang out with a boy unless I was in a group. And if they told me to take a step back, I'd either have to listen or disobey. And I didn't want to be forced into a choice like that." I tell him. He takes a deep breath.
"I wish I had known that. And if they had told you something like that, I'd be willing to hang out with you in groups. Asked Lacey to come more often, she loves Pegasi flying. But this makes it a lot harder now."
"Harder how so?"
"I can't talk to you parents the way I wanted to if I'm a random boy they've never heard of."
"I-I didn't know you wanted to talk to them at all?"
"You didn't?" He raises an eyebrow at me.
"You haven't exactly mentioned it."
"Percy asked me not to."
"What? Why-"
"Because I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend weeks ago. But this time, I wanted to do it the right way. Since I couldn't talk to your dad, I talked to Percy. He said he didn't have the grounds to give me what I wanted, but he did tell me I could hang out with you, even alone. Build a relationship. And when your parents came to get you, I could talk to them then. He told me I just couldn't do anything physical with you or talk to you about a relationship, because those are the two things that really separate friendship from dating. And I respected those boundaries. He also made me realize I had some growing up to do before I was ready to seriously date you or anyone else, so I wanted to start focusing on that, too. Now, I guess it doesn't matter."
"It matters." I say and go take his hand, then start walking back towards the beach.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to introduce you to my family. You're right, I should have told them about you before." I stop and turn to face him, lacing our fingers together and stand on my toes for a second to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm sorry, Jesse. Can you forgive me?" He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh, squeezing my hand.
"Know what I'm thinking about right now, Lassa?" He asks.
"No. What?"
"I'm thinking about the night I kissed you. That wasn't a part of Erica's scheme. I did it because you looked beautiful and I wanted to. Just like now."
"Really?" He opens his eyes and gives me a small smile.
"Yeah. But I'll have to wait for that."
"Is that a yes?" I ask. He sighs.
"Yes, I forgive you. But you're going to need to give me some time to cool off. You go hang out with your family, I'll see you and meet them before you leave."
"Okay. That sounds good. Just don't take too long." I tell him, and walk out of the Arena back to my parents.