Chapter Text
Nights in Long island have never been quiet, and tonight was no different. It was the usual humming of summer breeze and soft harmony of camp fire, with the loud whispers of campers and the nature spirits. But Percy heard the unusual singing of the sea way before its music could cross the camp border, he felt it before the mythics did, he saw it before anyone else could.
He knew whatever has washed upon the shore has come for him. Like a soft chant behind his ears that rhymed his own heart, it was calling him beyond the borders of Thalia's tree. It was divine, it was magnetic, it was irresistible. It took all his strength to keep himself grounded, to stop himself from blindly following the siren call.
“Are you okay?” asked grover, pulling percy out of his misery. The camp fire was slowly dying and the chant in his ear was louder than before. He had to move.
“I’m good,” he replied. He wasn’t. Every fiber of him wanted to run head first into the sea. He felt unease crawl up in his chest, he wanted to break free. The pull was too much to bear, too much to sit still. He stood up abruptly but forced himself to sit back.
“Dude, what happened?” Grover bleated.
“There is something at the shore” Percy answered, surprised by his own words, louder than he wished for. Every camper turned their attention to him.
“What is it now sea twerp?” Clarisse called in annoyance but there was alertness in her tone. He didn’t miss the way others subconsciously reached for their weapon as if they expected an attack any moment. The cautiousness was natural for a demigod especially for the ones who fought a war this summer. Percy himself had been restless and jumpy since his 16th birthday.
“I don’t know” he admitted truthfully, “but i need to see”, he stood up again, unable to stop himself. The call was blaring, demanding for an answer, so Percy sprinted towards the sea. It was stupid and reckless but he couldn’t stop. His feet won’t listen to him, his heart thundered inside him but not because of the run rather for the anticipation. He couldn’t hear the muffled voices of Grover and his friends behind him, they were probably yelling at him to stop but the enchanted sound of the call was louder than his friend’s.
He crossed thalia’s tree and stumbled down the halfblood hill. He should’ve stopped and walked back inside the safety net of the camp, instead he kept running. The force was stronger than his mortal will. He couldn’t control his body, as if he was possessed, drugged by the power of this enchantment. Nothing about him felt human anymore, the ichor in him was desperate to submerge in whatever that was waiting for him.
When he reached the shore, he noticed the waves were uncharacteristically calm. The sea didn’t address his presence and neither warned him about any possible threat. His feet dragged him towards the beach rocks where waves splashed fiercely for his attention, contrary to the rest of the shore. That's when he noticed a soft glow flickering behind one of the rocks, the chanting behind his ear took the shape of a thread that pulled him at once, the pen in his pocket quivered alarmingly as he walked around the boulder and was greeted by the sight of an unconscious girl laying on the sand.
Drenched to the bones, her brown skin glimmered under moonlight. The silvery white silk clenched her body, her long braids tangled around her like protective vines. She took a deep breath and Percy moved, instantly kneeling next to her. His breath got caught in his throat when he saw a streak of grey in her hair, hauntingly mirroring the one of his own. He noticed a broken silver circlet around her temple.
A hunter, Percy wondered, but she wasn’t armed with a bow and arrows and no hunter wore greek khiton.
Maybe a minor goddess.
With a cautious hand, he gently tucked the hair away from her face and for the second time his breath caught in his throat.
“Beautiful”, rolled out of his tongue.
That word felt too small to describe the ethereal beauty of her face, it was like the moon had molten itself on her skin and the stars had dusted themselves on her cheeks, the night had blessed her dark lashes and the lotus had given its colour to her lips. Percy had never understood the breathtaking beauty until now, and as someone who had met the literal goddess of beauty he could confidently say that she was no match to the girl in front of him. Not that i would risk saying it out loud.
She stirred upon his touch and her eyes shot open, and once again, Percy's breath gave up. His heart thumped in a foreign rhythm. He saw the night settled in her deer eyes. He saw great wisdom in those dark irises with a hint of silver rims that screamed ‘i’m no mortal’. She blinked fast in an attempt to fight the haze. The glow around her faded at once. She looked at him skeptically, her brows scrunched up in confusion and something more, her eyes wide in fear.
Percy realized he must have made her uncomfortable, he was about to assure her safety when he noticed that she wasn’t looking at him anymore, rather past him. The next moment a blaring white light cascaded around them. Antlers carrying a glowing silver ball that looked like a little moon appeared above them. The goddess cursed in ancient Greek before her eyes landed back on Percy. She mumbled something under her breath and the only word he caught was poseidon.
“ποιος εισαι” who are you, he asked in a voice that didn’t feel his own.
“Ανναμπέθ”, she breathed out. Annabeth.
“She’s been claimed by Artemis” chiron’s voice cut through his ears the old centaur stood a few steps away from them, his face unreadable. Next to him Grover nervously picked his horns followed by Clarisse, Stolls and other campers asserting their presence with loud whispers.
“This is impossible, it has to be some sort of mistake” Clarisse questioned.
Percy rolled his eyes, its gods after all, he wanted to say but stopped when he felt the girl trying to brace her weight on her elbows, in an attempt to stand up. He rushed to help her and grabbed her arm. A strong jolt of lightning nerved down his body, her skin was cold in the most inhuman way but burned his hand like he was a divine sacrifice. Her demeanor shifted straightaway.
A big mistake. Percy realized late.
It all happened at once, he didn’t notice the dagger she had pulled from her thighs until it pierced through his ribs, straight into his heart. He took a painful breath as his head fell between the curve of her delicate neck. His lips ghosted above her collarbone. Her breath hitched, sending tingles on his exposed skin. She gently pushed him off and his back landed on the soft sand with a dagger sticking out of his chest.
Nights in Long island have never been quiet and tonight was no different. But it wasn’t the usual humming of summer breeze or soft harmony of camp fire. It was the night the fates wove a new trajectory for the son of Poseidon. It was the night Percy gave his heart to the daughter of the moon.
The worried screaming of his friends was muffled by the same chanting behind his ears as he fell into oblivion. The last thing he saw was the bewitching wise eyes and their rapturing gaze before darkness swallowed him whole, all remained was one name on the tip of his tongue,
Annabeth.