Nothing is mine.

Back at camp for a bit of a breath of relief, but don't worry, I just want you all to feel the lull; the rest of the story isn't Percy chilling by the lake eating strawberries chatting to Naiads. Oh no. Oh very much no.

Naiad To Meet You

The rolling blue waves sparkled alongside Mountauk beach, flashing in the sun as they rippled toward the green trees at the shore.

Blackjack drifted down toward the sand, his black feathers trembling in the sea breeze.

'Nearly there,' Percy said, patting him on the neck. 'Then you can go nap in the stables and eat all the apples.'

They thudded down onto the sand, cantering across the high tide line and coming to a halt.

'You're walking the rest of the way, boss,' Blackjack said. 'I need to sleep for a week.'

Percy swung himself off and staggered across the stand on stiff, numb legs. 'Thanks, buddy.' He dragged the lion pelt off Blackjack's back and threw it over his shoulder. 'You go rest. I'll let Chiron know I'm back.'

Blackjack trotted toward the stables, picking his way up the bank, and Percy headed toward the Big House, winding through quiet cabins and the past low flames of the campfire.

'Chiron!' He rapped on the door. 'I'm back.'

Hooves rang along the corridor and the door swept open. 'Percy.' Chiron smiled. 'Welcome back.' His gaze strayed to the lion pelt. 'You ran into trouble?'

'Not really.' He dug the silver arrow head out of his pocket. 'I got a few stragglers, but Thalia and her sisters did all the hard work.'

Chiron's brow furrowed. 'They let you have the Nemean Lion pelt?'

'Oh he was a straggler,' Percy replied. 'I—'

'Old horse, what are you doing?' Dionysius stepped out of the lounge room. 'Oh, it's you, Perry. Are you causing trouble?'

'Just letting Chiron know I'm back.' Percy tucked the arrowhead back into his pocket. 'If he needs me for anything, I'm here.'

'Well, he knows.' Dionysus's deep purple eyes flickered with violet flames as they swept over Percy. 'Quite why you are here is another matter. Only a madman would turn down a chance of immortality, even if the task is impossible.'

'It's not really impossible, though,' Percy said. 'Right?'

A broad grin flashed across Dionysius's face in a glitter of white teeth. 'Only the Hesperides are permitted to touch the tree Ladon guards and the only one of them with the spirit to disobey their father already did so.' Two cans of diet coke appeared in his hand and he waved them at the Nemean Lion pelt. 'So, no, Percy, it is not really impossible, but yes, Percy, it is.'

'It doesn't matter to me,' Percy said. 'I don't want to.'

Dionysius nodded and tossed him a can of diet coke, a strange gleam in his purple eyes. 'And perhaps you were always going to choose not to. Perhaps everyone who ever earns that chance will choose not to from this moment on and that's why there was only ever one Hesperide who would do it. The Fates are funny like that.'

'Choice and fate,' Percy murmured, weighing the can. 'Is this actually coke? I'm still not allowed to drink, you know.'

Dionysius snorted. 'The god of wine is not pretty and nymph-like enough to convince you to drink. Brats these days… Once it would have taken a girl like Calypso to convince you not to.'

Poor Calypso.

'It's raki again, isn't it?' Percy snapped it open and sniffed the strong tang. 'Yeah, that's definitely raki.'

'Go pour it in the fire like you always do,' Dionysus said. 'Those other two brats who stuck around here for me to babysit are over there somewhere.'

'Thanks, Dionysius,' Percy said, pulling his rucksack strap over his shoulder. 'I think.'

Chiron glanced back at Dionysius. 'You take a few days to rest, Percy. There's not loads to do with everyone gone home, but you can always lead a few activities for the campers who are always here if you're not called off to do other things.'

'Right.' Percy nodded. 'Later, then.'

He stared down into the silver can as he drifted back toward the fire. I hope you can forgive me, Calypso. I had to leave. I tried to save you. But… you have to choose well. And you only get to make your own choices. He sighed and poured the raki into the flames, watching it steam and sputter and the tongues of fire flash blue. I don't get to choose for you, do I, Zoë?

'Percy!' Katie squeaked, swiping her blonde hair back over her ear and flushing pink. 'You're back!' She jumped up from the table and bounced across. 'When did you get back?'

'Literally just now, Captain Crunch.' He patted the lion pelt on his shoulder. 'Would you like something to protect you from raspberry thorns? It might require a lot of work to turn it into something fashionable, but you will be well protected against any heavily armed strawberry thieves.'

Katie held out her arms and beamed, her green eyes sparkling. 'Thank you!'

Percy draped it over the shoulder of her dark green t-shirt. 'There you go, I have no idea what you could actually do with it, but it's pretty useless for me.'

A snort came from the far side of the fire. 'You can chop it up into a sunhat, vegetable-psycho,' Clarisse called.

'It might take a very long time to get through that pelt with a pair of scissors.' Percy laughed. 'But good luck.'

'Why?' Katie poked it with her finger, a curious gleam in her green eyes. 'Where did you get it?'

Clarisse stalked around the fire, the smoke swirling across her tight white sports top and dark red shorts. 'I swear, whenever Percy turns up, your head turns to cabbage, strawberry-girl. It's a spoil. It doesn't take genius to work out what monster might leave behind a giant lion pelt, either.'

The tips of Katie's ear turned bright pink. 'Oh.' She ran her fingers through the golden fur. 'You don't want this? It would protect you.'

'I'm already pretty well protected,' Percy said.

'But your heel…?' Katie whispered.

He laughed. 'Not how it works. And it wouldn't matter.'

I'm tied to the mortal world until I abandon what anchors me. He swallowed a soft swell of yearning. Until I disappoint them.

Her lower lip crept out. 'You mean because you can't use it to cover your ankle?'

'It is a bit big to wear on my foot,' Percy said. 'Anyways, I'm going to ditch this bag in my cabin. I've been carrying it about enough already.'

'Can we come?' Clarisse asked, stretching her arms and cracking her knuckles. 'Or are you going to sulk by yourself?'

'I don't sulk,' Percy retorted, striding back toward his cabin. 'Nothing to sulk about.'

'But…' Katie squirmed and nibbled at the end of one lock of blonde hair. 'You know,' she whispered, darting after him. 'Annabeth.'

A raw pang tore through him like a cold winter wave slapping across his face. 'She's in Elysium. There's nothing to regret. Not for her and not for us.' Percy took a quiet deep breath and smoothed the sea back out into soft sparkling waves. 'One day, if I choose well like she did, I'll see her again.' A little grin crept onto his face. 'I'll sneak in and unparallel all her green fields as a surprise.'

Clarisse cackled. 'She'd beat you back to life.'

Percy pushed the door to his cabin open with one foot and tossed his rucksack onto the bed. 'Nice to have that off.' He dug the silver arrowhead out of his pocket and set it down on the small table beside the bed. 'And now, I'm going to sit beside the lake in the sun where I don't have to choose to do literally anything and possibly nap.'

The door swung shut and he swivelled on his heel.

Clarisse glanced at Katie and shrugged. 'I'll come with for a bit. Not loads to do. Was going to hit the cabin gym, but I've got all day. It's nice by the lake.'

Katie bobbed her head. 'I'll come too.'

A small snort escaped Clarisse. 'Like were you going to say no, cucum—'

'No cucumber jokes!' Katie flushed bright pink. 'There is context you don't know!'

Clarisse's eyebrows rose. 'I bet I can guess it given how much you're blushing.'

'Well don't,' Katie growled. 'Or I'll provide you with a real life example of that context.'

'I don't swing that way, Flower-girl.'

A little heat crept to Percy's cheeks. 'Wait…'

'No!' Katie pouted. 'Forget about Clarisse and her cucumbers and let's go to the lake.'

Percy nodded. 'Sounds like a good idea.' He squeezed through the middle of the two of them and wandered around the side of his cabin toward the pier.

'He's never going to eat another vegetable you give him.' Clarisse sniggered. 'Or maybe he will…'

A solid thud and Clarisse's grunt sent a pair of gulls scattering across off the smooth blue water.

'Where were you even keeping that marrow?' Clarisse wheezed. 'And why do you always go for the stomach?'

Katie huffed. 'I can make them grow fast if I want to.'

Percy laughed and dropped down onto the pier's end, dangling his feet in the cool water. 'Captain Crunch is always armed.'

Clarisse thudded onto her butt, leaning on the other wooden pillar. 'I don't even like vegetables.' She flicked seeds and bits of pale cream marrow flesh off her white sports top.

Katie squirmed in between them. 'A marrow is a fruit, stupid.' She waved the broken half under Clarisse's nose. 'Can't you see the seeds?'

'Cucumbers have seeds too.' A broad grin spread across Clarisse's face as pink flooded Katie's cheeks. 'And they're salad.'

'They are fruit and shut up about them.' Katie glowered at Clarisse, clawing her blonde hair back behind her ears and working a hand into the pocket of her jeans, bumping Percy's shoulder with hers.

'What are you doing?' Clarisse asked. 'You better not have another sword-sized vegetable in there you're thinking about sucker-punching me with.'

'Fruit,' Percy said.

'It could be a carrot,' Clarisse retorted. 'Or a parsnip.'

Katie pulled out a small battered folding knife.

'Don't stab Clarisse,' Percy said. 'It just makes her more annoying.'

Clarisse cackled. 'You'll need a bigger knife to threaten me with, Strawberry-girl.'

Katie's lower lip crept out and she unfolded the knife, slicing off a piece of marrow. 'I'm not wasting it.' She held out a piece, her lip trembling. 'Percy?'

Oh. Like with the strawberry.

'Oh God's above.' Clarisse groaned and grabbed the piece of marrow and shoved it into Percy's hand. 'This is painful. Just eat it.'

Percy took a bite. 'Actually not too bad by itself. All I've eaten are cookies and twinkies and sandwiches out of vending machines for the last few days.'

'What?' Katie scrunched up her nose, cutting off another piece of marrow. 'You need to eat fruit and vegetables.'

'I was on a quest,' Percy said. 'I wasn't strolling through the supermarket.'

'Well then you should take me with you, I can get fruit and vegetables anywhere.'

Clarisse snorted. 'He didn't even take me.'

'Maybe because he knows you're scared of pegasi riding?'

'I am not.'

'You are.'

'Am not.'

Percy laughed. 'You are such children.' He smiled out across the lake. 'All the stuff we did and you're just the same.'

'You owe me a fight,' Clarisse said, waving her fist at him. 'War's over now. I'm going to put you on the ground.'

'Are you, Clarisse? Are you?' He grinned. 'Or am I going to break another one of your toys.'

'You better not,' she growled. 'Or I'll break it again over your head.'

Katie munched on a piece of marrow and wrinkled her nose. 'Not properly ripe.' She sighed and tossed it into the trees. 'What a waste.'

Small ripples crossed the lake.

'Oh great.' Katie pouted. 'And now there are naiads coming.'

Clarisse shrugged. 'They won't bite. Not these ones. They're like barbie gang only blue not pink and less annoying.'

'No shoe obsession, either.' Percy watched the naiads swim closer beneath the smooth clear surface. 'They don't normally come over here, though.'

'Yeah, because you used to have Grover with you all the time,' Katie mumbled. 'And he gets all weird around them. Now it's just you, they'll come and be all cute and flirty with you.'

Clarisse sniggered into her hand.

'Shut up!' Katie shoved her off the pier into the lake.

The splash showered water over Percy's legs and the naiads slowed, their heads rising above the surface to watch as Clarisse clawed her way to the surface and clambered up onto the pier, dripping water.

Katie flushed and clapped a hand over Percy's eyes.

'Ow,' Percy said, closing his eyes. 'Why?'

'Because soaked white sports tops go a bit see through,' Clarisse said. 'Like I don't have a bunch of brothers who've seen all of me and more. I don't care, Strawberry-girl.'

Katie huffed. 'Well, I'm sure Percy doesn't want to see your boobs.'

'Don't know. Don't care,' Clarisse said, showering Percy with drops of water. 'But I'm pretty sure he didn't come back from Calypso's island for me, so you can stop panicking, Plant-princess. He's not going to get one glimpse of what's under my top and forget you exist.'

Percy sighed. 'Is it safe to look?'

'No,' Katie growled. 'She's just standing there grinning at me basically half-naked.'

Clarisse cackled. 'I'm going to go do some cardio and dry myself off.' Her footsteps thudded along the pier and back toward camp. 'See you later, Percy.'

Katie's hand dropped.

Percy shot her a flat look.

'Sorry,' she mumbled, the tips of her ears turning pink. 'I just didn't want—'

'Me to see her sort of topless?' He grappled with the cold little waves swirling in the pit of his stomach.

'Yeah…' Katie's lip shook and she wiped the folding knife clean on her jeans, jamming it into her pocket. 'I should find a bin for that marrow and I need to water the cabin garden…'

'Do you still have the moonflowers?' Percy asked.

She bobbed her head and scrambled to her feet. 'They're really beautiful now. You can come by and see them whenever you want. Just knock and I'll let you in, Percy.'

'Thanks, Cheerio-leader.'

'Cheerio-leader.' Katie flashed him a bright smile. 'I have never been a cheerleader girl. That's Drew and her sisters.'

'I did warn you the nicknames get worse.'

She giggled. 'You did.'

One of the naiads drifted closer, her long cerulean hair trailing through the lake.

'Oh great,' Katie mumbled, her face falling. 'An audience.'

'You can go water your flowers if you want,' Percy said. 'They can't drown me. I am undrownable.'

'They don't want to drown you.' She shot the nearest naiad a fierce glare. 'Don't listen to them.'

Percy laughed. 'They haven't said a word yet.'

Katie stuck her lower lip out and waved him goodbye, bouncing back along the pier and round his cabin out of sight.

'My lord,' the nearest naiad murmured, lifting herself up to lean on the pier's edge. Water streamed from her long cerulean hair over her bare shoulders into the dress of deep green leaves and weed. 'We can feel you here with us, so strong beneath all that blue…'

'Well now I feel like a liar.' Percy swung his feet in the water. 'Hi, naiads. You can just called me Percy, the my lord thing is really embarrassing and completely inaccurate.' He wiggled his toes in the water. 'I met a cute naiad called Hilaron and her little sister, Glykera, this week. They were very nice.'

The dark-haired nymph with deep brown eyes swam over to float at the pier's side near Percy's feet, followed by a second with deep turquoise bangs.

Two little nymphs with pale blue eyes hovered at the back, whispering to one another and shooting shy looks through their short light turquoise curls.

The cerulean-haired naiad leaning on the pier smiled. 'I am Metea, Percy.'

'Theora.' Her sister shot him a coy smile through her deep turquoise bangs.

'Hilaron and Glykera told all their sisters about you,' the dark-haired one whispered. 'Hilaron boasted about how it felt to be held captive by you for a moment, but I already knew the feel of your touch.'

'You're the creek,' Percy said, wincing. 'Sorry.'

'It's okay,' she whispered, her dark brown eyes dropping to the lake surface. 'It was exciting. To be so still as I drift toward my sister and then to be suddenly snatched up by you in all your fury. I felt so strong.'

'Her name is Permelia.' Theora laughed. 'She likes the shade and the slow peace of the dark, but you stirred her all up.'

Permelia flushed and vanished below the water.

Percy glanced at Metea's long cerulean hair and gown of dark leaves and weed. 'You're the lake.'

'I am.' She smiled, her clear blue eyes full of humour. 'All the foolish little godlings come to pester me, drawn by the beauty of my waters.'

'Or me,' Theora said. 'Or they trouble our little twin sisters Agnete and Agnetha.'

'I'll stop them if I see them.' Percy watched the two small naiads whispering out in the lake. 'I don't know your sisters, they must be little streams like Glykera.'

'They are only small, just flowing from the woods down to me,' Metea said.

'And I am the river,' Theora said. 'Come swim with us. It's so nice to float along, wrapped up in the feel of all your endless waves.'

Permelia's head poked up through the ripples on the lake. 'Swim with us,' she whispered. 'Or drift with me through the shade.'

'Well, I'm not really doing anything else.' Percy stepped off the pier onto the lake surface.

A little shiver swept through Metea as he sank down into the cool water, floating between the naiads. The sun soaked into him as Percy closed his eyes and listened to the soft sound of the birds and the distant crash of the waves on the shore.

This is nice. He smiled and spread his arms out in the lake. Nothing to worry about out here.

AN: Follow the linktree to find more of my stuff, Discord and an extra chapter (and reliable update notifications since FFN has tanked those), or find out how to support me and read all my rough draft chapters and my original works!

linktr . ee / mjbradley