I yelped as I jumped off the skateboard then winced when it crashed into the wall… again.
"Are you okay, Percy?" Tyson cried as he hurried over.
I huffed, glaring at the skateboard. This was hard.
"I'm fine, just can't get the stupid skateboard to work."
"That is a rude skateboard," Tyson agreed.
"Let's try over there," I said, pointing closer to the river. "Maybe that'll be a better spot."
"The river is closer there," he said as we walked over.
"Yeah, but that's what makes it fun."
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
"Are you okay, Percy?" Tyson asked as he helped me out of the river.
I glowered at the skateboard, how did you turn the stupid thing?
"I'm okay," I grumbled.
"You are dry now," Tyson said helpfully.
I relaxed, "Yeah, at least I'm dry."
Being a son of Poseidon was definitely helpful there.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
After a dozen more crashes into buildings, letting Tyson practice on it (and also crash into things, at least it's not just me), nearly flying over a guardrail, and running into three people, me and Tyson decided to take a break.
At least I learned how to turn it.
We sat in Washington Square Park and relaxed eating icies we bought from the vendor.
"Well at least we didn't fall into anymore rivers," I said.
Tyson nodded, sucking on his icie. "Yes, it was fun."
He peered at me shyly, "Thank you for being my friend."
I grinned, "Of course, thanks for being mine!"
Tyson studied the ground, my legs swinging on the bench.
"I will try and learn to skateboard, like you, so that we can skateboard together."
I laughed, "I'm not a good skateboarder, but that sounds like fun. Maybe we can go to a skate park sometime."
Tyson brightened, "I would like that."
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Mom and I spent a while learning new veiling techniques, it was nice to spend time together.
She helped me tie my hair up and tuck the veils tails up so that they didn't hang. And I showed her this really complicated veiling style that Annabeth showed me. It took two veils and looked like a braid hanging over your shoulder when you were done.
It took a lot of tries to get right but it looked really pretty on mom.
I really liked the veil Drew got me, it was nice and I loved the colors. Silena also got me a veil, it was in the bag of presents Drew gave me. The veil was one I'd seen the other Aphrodite kids wear.
It was white with elegant twisty gold patterns. The more I studied them the more I found hidden in them, hearts and doves and other patterns.
Drew said that it was a cabin tradition and everyone in the cabin had one. She wasn't sure when the tradition started, but it was before Silena.
I loved it, Silena was calling me family by giving it to me and I was going to treasure it.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I bounced beside mom holding the box of cookies we just made.
The family altar sat in the living room, by the entrance to the hallway where there was a spot for the breakfast table. We had to move the couch over a little, to make sure there was room to walk, but the long lower table was set up as a proper altar.
Along the back and curving down the sides like an arch were the statues of the Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hermes, Hades on the left and Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Hestia down the right.
In front of each of them was a small candle, colored based on their associated colors. In the back corners were bundles of silk flowers (the fake kind). In the center was a pretty blue round offering dish. It had gold patterns on the edge.
On the right of the offering dish was a cauldron, black metal with a flame pattern hammered onto the side. Inside of it was the flame for Hestia, since we didn't have a fireplace this was our hearth flame.
In the bottom right corner was the khernips bowl, for making sacred water to cleanse ourselves of miasma (I didn't know about that part, but mom had been doing a lot of research). Miasma was also why people veiled, well a lot of people.
Since I was a magic user, and I wanted to learn healing, I veiled both to protect myself from outside influences (though my necklace from Tethys did that technically) and to keep miasma off so it didn't interfere with healing. Generally girls did it because women were more susceptible to miasma, so the veils helped keep it away.
In the bottom left corner of the altar was the libation bowl and the cup.
Mom and I read through the stuff on libations together, on top of what I learned at camp with Annabeth.
You do libations with wine or other drinks or honey. You poured it out of the cup into the bowl, and then later would pour from the bowl onto the Earth or into a fire (if you could) .
We didn't drink wine often, so the libations that go with wine wouldn't be done as often, but mom said we'd do a milk one in the mornings.
We'd just finished setting up the family altar, so we were doing our first offering. I was very excited.
Mom finished lighting the candles (there were so many, but they were small ones) and I hopped forward to lay seven cookies on the offering plate, the tails of my veil swinging as I did.
We made a bunch of different colored cookies this time, red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple and pink.
Mom poured the first libation, and I carefully said the prayer we'd come up with.
"Thank you for our good fortune in these difficult times, and for our new home from which we may honor you," I licked my lips before continuing. "We ask for your blessings, Zeus Agathos Deos, Hera Hyperkhei'ria, so that our home may be guarded and be a place of safety and sanctuary. We ask for your blessings, Hestia Potheinotáti, that our home may be warm with a strong hearth. We ask for your blessings, Demeter Sitô, that our home may have food and our pantries filled. We pray to you, in thanks and in love, that you may accept our offerings and that our home may be yours."
I managed to only stumble over the epithets of the Gods a little, perfect.
Zeus the Good God, of the home, Hera the one who holds her protecting hand over the thing, Hestia the beloved, and Demeter the provider of food.
Mom and I spent forever doing research, but it was interesting. The Gods had so many titles I would never be able to keep them straight.
Mom beamed at me as she laid out a mug of tea in front of Hestia's hearth, then murmured a thank you.
Then we went to have dinner.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I hummed as I picked up the things on the floor in my room. The top drawer had the assorted veils that I bought and was gifted, the makeup kit from Drew and some trinkets I'd been gifted by people in the Aphrodite cabin.
Nail polish, veil pins, some assorted jewelry, and a soft blue scarf from Marinette.
I had a new mirror and de-tangling brush too. Plus some nice perfume and hair oils.
On the left corner of the dresser stood Carl's tank, he was still not that happy with me because of the spa incident, but at least he was talking to me again.
"You missed the hair pins on the desk," Carl called.
I blinked and turned to check my desk. The hair pins were indeed there.
"Thanks," I called as I hurried over to grab them to add to my top drawer. They had seashells on them.
I grabbed the camp photo album that Silena had added to her gifts (it was open on my desk) and put it on the bookshelf next to the other hand made books (I only had a few from the sea and one on doing hair).
I shrugged, checking that everything was picked up. My tutor is coming tomorrow, and I need my room to be perfectly neat. I need to make a good first impression.
"How's it look, Carl?"
"You should put that book on plants on the shelf too, instead of on your desk."
I blinked, noticing it, and scooped it up, slipping it onto the bookshelf as well. It was from Miranda, a comprehensive guide on American Flora. The Demeter cabin apparently found out about my birthday too, and sent stuff along with the Aphrodite cabin.
I got a few plants: succulents, gingko, echinacea, and fairy foxglove, plus some tea.
I studied the room, trying to see if there was anything else out of place.
My medical kit was tucked under my bed, weapons either under my pillow or on my wrist (thank you magic trident). Riptide was in my desk drawer and my sharp hair comb in my dresser.
Okay, everything looked neat.
My glass sea serpent peered up at me from where it was wrapped around the wave statue I got for my birthday in the sea.
"Hey, Ran," I murmured. "You comfy?"
They cooed, the glass shining as they curled tighter.
I laughed and turned to check the other occupant of my room. Hippolyta was arranging the shiny stones in her tank in a nest like situation.
"How's your nest coming, Lyta?"
I got the impression of comfort and safety, a flash of a completed nest shining a thousand different colors.
"Sounds good," I said. "Let me know if I can get you anything to help it."
I blinked at the sudden image of me in the tank.
"Lyta," I laughed. "I can't sit in the tank, it's not like the sea."
Lyta was not pleased with this info.
"I can practice moving water with you in it?" I offered. "So you don't risk drying out."
The grudging agreement made me smile, "Awesome. Finish up your nest first."
I'd need to research how long octopi could stay out of the water safely.
"Percy," Mom called. "Dinner's ready."
"I'll be back in a bit," I promised my friends as I hurried out.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Zoey hummed as she went over the words today. "Okay, so how do you say "stove" in Portuguese?"
"Fo-gao," I said.
"Fu-gão," Kai corrected.
"Fo-gon?"
"Fu-gão."
"Fo-gou?"
"Fu-gão," Kai insisted, speaking slower so I could hear it more clearly.
"Fu-" I said slowly.
Kai nodded.
"-gao," I finished.
He dropped his head.
Zoey giggled as she watched us.
"Say it softer," Nikola offered with a yawn. "Like, it's not an a, it's a… under-a."
"That's not a thing," Zoey laughed.
"Well you say it," Nikola grumbled.
"Fu-gao!"
"No."
Her face fell.
It was another like thirty tries before we managed to get fogão right. I was mumbling it under my breath for the rest of class while we did our written translations.
Kai was amazing in this class, it was really impressive. And Nikola was effortlessly good, and half asleep most of the class.
Zoey and I shared solidarity in sucking at pronunciation, but Zoey was good at the grammar while I struggled there.
Oh well, at least I was good at word meanings.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I rocked on my heels, tugging at my bracelet as I peered at my tutor.
Euphemia was a black-haired, dark-skinned woman, or well, mer in human form. She looked to be in her twenties but looks could be deceiving with mer who often aged slower or stopped aging physically at certain ages.
She had a tank top on, with arm bands denoting her status as a teacher and master historian.
"Maie em maiv houp opu, Euphemia-fu'oro," I said, twisting my hand clockwise with the three middle fingers up.
She responded by rotating her hand so that the palm faced the ground, the ring and pinky fingers pointed down and the middle and pointer fingers pointed out.
"Y sa'opu ro ika omasa, Perseus-aia," she said firmly. "Shall we begin?"
I nodded, glancing at my mom who watched the greeting.
"You can work in Percy's room if you'd like, Ms. Euphemia," she said. "If that doesn't work I can clean out the office for the tutoring sessions."
Euphemia nodded, "That is appreciated, Sally-nio. We will use Perseus-aiano room for now."
Mom nodded, looking curious at the suffix.
Oh right, I forgot to inform her of suffixes in Halmaheran.
Oops.
I led Euphemia to my room and sat at the desk nervously.
Ran slipped over, curling around my wrist as Euphemia paused at the door.
"Oh, you can come in," I said.
She entered now that she'd been given the proper permission, gazing around curiously. Her gaze lingered on my altars (candles burning low since I lit them when I got home from school) before shifting to Lyta's tank.
"This will do."
She unhooked the pouch at her side and sat in the second chair I brought in for the tutoring lesson.
"As you know, I am Euphemia, and I will be your tutor in all matters of the sea while you are on land."
I nodded, "Thank you for tutoring me."
She hummed, "The ones I spoke to spoke highly of you, even Okeanus. I saw no reason to refuse Poseidon-oreno request."
I flushed, I didn't realize Okeanus thought highly of me. I'd have to thank Him if I saw Him again sometime.
"Now then," Euphemia pulled out a few objects from her bag. "Today we will start with the beginning."
"The beginning?"
She nodded, "The beginning of all, the beginning of the sea, and what led to today's ruler, Poseidon-ore. What do you know of it?"
I chewed my lip, "Well, Khaos was the beginning, and from Khaos came Gaea, Nyx, and the others. Pontus came from Gaea… I don't know much more, I didn't really study the beginning."
She nodded, "Most do not. But we need to know the beginning to understand what came after."
She settled in her seat, holding an aipone and ofivi in her hands.
"In the beginning, there was nothing but Khaos. But then Khaos gathered the Darkness that existed in the Void and shaped it, giving form to Nyx, She who is the Night. Nyx and Khaos worked together to gather the Shadows that existed alongside the Darkness, and They formed Erebus, Shadows that followed all and held all secrets, and held the Underworld."
She sketched out Their names as she spoke and wrote what They ruled beneath the names.
I scrambled for a notebook, and quickly started to take notes in Halmaheran as she spoke.
"Erebus then took Nyx as His wife and the two gave birth to Aether and Hemera. Hemera is Day, as Nyx is Night and Aether is Light as Erebus is Shadows. Khaos then brought forth another from the void, shaping Gaea from the Shadow and Darkness, and also from the Light and Day, giving form to Earth. Gaea is Earth as the others are Them."
She drew a small Earth. And I scribbled out little doodles to match the realms.
"Now, at this time Khaos saw that the Shadows held the Underworld, which existed beneath the Earth, and beneath that was an empty space. Khaos gathered the Shadows once more, reaching for Light and Earth as well and gave form to Tartaros, He who acts as the Shield between Earth and Khaos and is the Eternal Prison who guards and watches over those within His realm and rules over those who reject Passivity."
She drew a chart showing the different Deities and Their realms in comparison to each other.
Erebus and Nyx were connected and matched with Tartarus, Gaea was above that, Hemera and Aether were above Her. Khaos surrounded all but was really concentrated beneath Tartarus, Nyx, and Erebus.
I copied it as best as I could.
"The Earth, Gaea, was empty though. Thus She brought forth three children, with no other parent. There was first Uranus, who is the sky. With Him came the clouds and the wind.
I drew a star next to His name, He was important.
"Then came Ourea, the Mountains. They brought new levels to Gaea. There is not one, though They may be portrayed as one by some. There are ten Ourea, the first mountains. Tmolus is the King Oread and the one that is most commonly seen in a form mortals can comprehend."
I nodded as she sketched mountains onto the Earth, making a note of the Ourea and Their ruler Tmolus while she did so.
"Finally, Pontus was formed, He who is the Sea. With Him came the waters of the Earth. He is the most important of the primordials."
I drew a big circle around His name. It was obvious He was the most important, He was the Ocean after all.
No we weren't biased.
"Khaos then saw the Love that Gaea had for Her children, and gathered it together, along with the Shadows that reveal all secrets, and thus Eros was formed, the last of Khaos' children. He is Love and Physical Desire."
She flipped the board and wrote Pontus at the top while I tried not to flush remembering the Eros I met. He's a primordial!?
"Pontus and Gaea were struck by Eros who saw their desires, and together they had five children: Nereus, the old man of the sea, Thaumas, the wonder of the sea, Phorcys, father of sea monsters, Keto, the dangers of the sea, and Eurybia, the mastery of the sea."
I blinked when a chart appeared in front of me showing the family tree.
Oh, thank Pontus, I was scrambling to write it all down.
"Gaea turned from Pontus, who remained in the waters that cradle the Earth, and turned to Uranus."
I nodded, "And they had the Titans."
She smiled, "Yes, but before we cover the Titan's, there is another that must be mentioned."
She wrote down Hemera and Aether.
"These two married, and together they had Thalassa, the Seas. Where Pontus is all the Ocean, Thalassa composed the many Seas."
"Oh, right."
I made a note of that.
"Now then, Thalassa was close with Pontus, the two working together in handling the waters of the world. They were also close with Uranus, who drew the waters up and rained it down once more, both emptying and filling the Ocean."
"They were close… Pontus was upset when Uranus was… defeated, wasn't He?"
She nodded solemnly, "He was. It is a common problem for those of the Sea to cling to those they are loyal to, and Pontus was no different."
I frowned, how could it be a problem to protect those you cared for?
"The Ocean encircles all, and takes all into its waters, and yet Pontus could not save Uranus. Not from Himself, and not from His children."
"Himself?" I asked.
"Uranus was changing, though none could discover why. It started not with the birth of Okeanus, nor His naming ceremony, nor Tethys', but with Hyperion's. With His naming ceremony Uranus began to shift, and only grew worse through time."
I frowned. "What happened?"
"Uranus did not desire more children, but Gaea did. Uranus was unwilling to split from Her, for He loved Her dearly, but He did not love the children. It is written as odd, in the records we hold, as Uranus had been eager for more children, such as what Pontus had. He had loved Okeanus and Tethys and cared for Them as Their father."
I frowned, that was really weird.
"With the naming ceremony of Hyperion, Uranus began to shift. He was less and less kind to His children, less Himself. He began to torment Them, as each one was born. He sent storms down when They did the slightest thing to displease Him, hounding Them when They stood on Gaea's land until They hid within Her."
I listened wide eyed, watching as she sketched out the images.
"Gaea sought to improve things. He had once been excited for children, She hoped that more children may aid in this, bring Him back to Himself. She slept with Him once more, entreating Eros to aid Them in having children."
I didn't think it worked, I vaguely remembered that myth. The Kyklopes did not help at all.
"They had three children next, the elder Kyklopes. They were named Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. But they were ugly, and not lovely as the Titan's were. Uranus, who was already hateful of His lovely children, was disgusted by these and took hold of them, banishing them to Tartarus, He who holds all prisoners."
"That's terrible," I whispered.
She gave a grim smile, "From there Gaea desperately attempted just one last time. Eros once again aided Her but warned Her that the results may not be better. Uranus held a Shadow over His heart and He could no longer Love as He had. Gaea attempted anyway and gave birth to three more children, the Hekatoncheries. They were named Cottus, Briareos, and Gyges."
I blinked, how did you spell Hekatoncheries? He-ka-to-care-ees?
"Uranus was equally disgusted by these children, if not more so. They held fifty heads and one-hundred arms, making them grotesque and a shame to Uranus. He once again grabbed hold of Her children and banished them to Tartarus."
I swallowed, that wasn't good.
"Gaea considered this the last straw and She ceased attempting to gain Uranus' love once more. Now She plotted revenge."
"That's when She got Kronos to help Her?"
"The Story as Okeanus spoke it is that She came to Them one day, one of the rare days They were on land as Uranus worked elsewhere. She ordered Them to aid Her, to free Her children and destroy Her husband. Okeanus remembered a time before though, when Uranus was a father and He cared for Them. Okeanus was also aware that should They fail, Uranus' wrath would be unmatched. Kronos stepped forward though, when Their mother's wrath was threatened upon Them and defended His brothers."
I blinked, "The camp calls Him evil."
"Many would believe that, and yet… the full story is not yet revealed."
"So what happened? I mean, after Kronos sent Okeanus aware to protect Him and took the scythe."
She eyed me curiously, "That is what happened next. Okeanus does not know the specifics, not beyond what He has been told. But what we do know is that the other brothers: Hyperion, Koios, Krios, and Iapetus held Uranus down and Kronos castrated Him. He then chopped Uranus into small pieces and scattered those pieces in the Sea."
I swallowed, "Right, and then Aphrodite was born from the sea foam mixing with His pieces where He was tossed to the Ocean."
"Indeed, Aphrodite is a child of the Sea and the Sky, considered Thalassa's child as much as Uranus'."
She drew another chart showing the family relationship.
"Then from Gaea and Uranus' blood came more children. There were the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, and the Meliads, the Nymphs of the Ash Trees. Some will also say the Gigantes came from this, yet we are aware that they came from Tartarus and Gaea. After this time, all was well. Gaea rested, recovering from Her time before and allowing Her children to rule. The Titan's freed the Kyklopes and Hekatoncheries."
"But then Kronos ate His kids," I said. "And weren't they locked back up?"
"He did lock them up once more, and even ate His children, but not before the land prospered. Kronos took Rhea as His wife, They loved each other dearly. Indeed, Kronos was said to be delighted by His upcoming children as He ensured the land was healthy and the people happy."
"Then why did He eat His kids?"
"No one knows. He doted on Hestia when She was born, delighted by His first child, His daughter. But then, once more, on the day of Her naming ceremony that was held seven days after Her birth as is tradition, He changed."
I frowned, "But why?"
"We don't know, we only know that He suddenly took His child and devoured Her whole."
That didn't make any sense? Something had to have happened.
"And of course, the story after is well known."
"Yeah… why was this our first lesson?"
"To know what comes after you must know the beginning. The beginning leads all things, and nothing would have happened without it."
I nodded reluctantly and wondered what it all meant.
Why was the beginning important? Obviously it was really weird that both Uranus and Kronos went crazy during naming ceremonies, but Uranus did it during the third one and Kronos the first. Did it matter that it was Hyperion and Hestia?
Both their names started with H's but did they share much beyond that?
I mean… I supposed they shared light and fire but otherwise…
I frowned, I didn't understand why that happened.
"Do you have any questions?" Euphemia asked.
I considered for a moment.
"What happened to Pontus?"
She smiled, "He slipped away, falling into a deep sleep. None are certain of why, but He is asleep and likely will be until something wakes Him."
"Why don't the land myths speak of it like this? I've read some of Metani being a good king before His kids but…"
"You must always remember, Perseus-aia, history is written by the victors. It matters little what good you do in life, if you end it with evil. History obliterates every picture it paints, and it paints you in all your mistakes. Kronos was once a good king, but few remember that in light of what He did. Look to your myths and learn, not everything is as it seems."
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I yelped as the dodgeball almost hit me in the side.
Apparently the first week was a fluke, because our teacher just assigned us dodgeball and told us to make teams.
The teams did not go well.
I winced as Kai tripped right in front of the dodgeball flying at him and got nailed in the face.
Ouch.
I groaned as I was promptly slammed in the stomach by a dodgeball. I picked myself up from the ground with a wince.
This game was not fun.
It didn't help that I was still distracted by my lesson with Euphemia.
Next time we'd be going over Okeanus and Tethys and Their history, plus how the two of Them divorced because Their love caused tsunamis and stuff. It sounded really interesting, though I knew a little from my reading.
But our first lesson… I still wasn't sure what to think about it.
It reminded me of what I saw, what Metani showed me in that dream… where Lara-
My foot caught on the gym floor as I walked to the wall for the people that were out and I stumbled.
I wanted to learn more, but I wasn't sure how. Maybe Euphemia would teach me more about it? But did she know it all… She must've had a very smart teacher.
"Hey, Jackson. Have you figured out how to walk without falling on your face yet? Or do you need some help?"
I ignored them and sunk down against the wall. I didn't have the energy to deal with them today.
I winced when Acantha not only tripped over her own feet, but also knocked down two classmates and punched another in the face with her flailing. Tyson moved to help her up.
"The only one worse than you in here," muttered one of the boys. "Is her."
I sighed as she got hit in the back of the head with a dodgeball. That was gonna hurt.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
I grinned when the shell flicked high, arcing slowly as it slipped back down.
"Nice one," Samoa cheered.
I grinned, "Thanks."
We were playing shell toss while we waited for Masina and Rosa to arrive. Elei was at camp and couldn't come.
"So, how have your studies on healing been going?" Lagi asked.
I hid a wince at that, I hadn't even opened the books, they were intimidating.
"I've been distracted adjusting back to land school," I offered. "But I'll be starting on them next week."
"Oh, that's good, I've spoken to my teacher and they said that when you finish those books you can join in on a lesson. He also recommended finding ones like them for humans and land animals, since they're different."
I nodded solemnly while making a note to check out the books at some point in the next week… probably.
Why did healing require so much anatomy and memorization?
"How is human school?" Fetu asked, thankfully changing the subject.
"It's nice, I've got some fun classmates."
"What subjects do you learn?" Samoa asked curiously.
"We have seven classes, PE- er… physical education. Then Algebra two-"
"What's Algebra two?" Lagi questioned as he flicked his shell, sending it arcing into Samoa's hair.
"Hey!"
"It's a name for a type of math. And then we have History, um, World History this year, we're talking about Rome right now."
"Rome was boring and rude," Fetu muttered. "I heard Mevu talking to Metu about it one time."
"They didn't like the sea very much," I agreed. "But at least it's better than English, we're on 'Language Arts' and it's a lot of writing and reading."
"The English language is dumb," Lagi said firmly.
"We're speaking it right now?" I said in amusement.
Fetu laughed, "Well yes, but that's just cause it's the local language. We were raised to learn it along with Halmaheran and Portuguese. Halmaheran makes so much more sense, so does Portuguese."
I stared at him wide eyed, "You speak Portuguese? Please help I'm taking it in school."
He brightened, "Oh it's easy, eu ia ser feliz te ajudar."
I blinked, and slowly ran that through my head, "Uh… eu is I… feliz is happy… te is you…"
"I would be happy to help you," Fetu said with a fond smile.
"Oh! Thanks!"
"Anytime, minha pérola."
"Minha is my?"
"It means my pearl," Lagi said with a sly smile.
"Oh, that's fun! I could give you a nickname in Greek!"
Samoa nearly fell over giggling while Lagi groaned.
Fetu's lips twitched, "I would be honored."
I studied him, his nickname was super sweet so I needed a good one too…
I tried to think, but was distracted by the sparkles of his tails. They always looked like shining stars, shining in the dark of the ocean…
Oh!
"Asteri mou," I said proudly. "It fits you perfectly."
Fetu blushed, his light blue skin darkening.
Lagi burst into giggles, "Oh yes, it's perfect, I love it."
Samoa was beaming, "That's so cute! 'My star', that's the sweetest. I wish I had someone giving me nicknames like that."
I blinked at them, "Did you want a nickname?"
Lagi shot her a look, and she shook her head.
"No, Persi, but that's very sweet of you."
I shrugged. They were all so strange sometimes, but they were great friends.
"You guys are already having fun," a voice said.
"They don't love us anymore," Rosa said dramatically, draping xer hand over her head.
Masina laughed, their eyes gleaming.
"You guys made it!" I said happily.
"What's got Fetu all blue?" Masina asked curiously.
Lagi grinned, "Percy called him asteri mou."
"You guys are adorable," Rosa said with a laugh.
"We're good friends!" I said cheerfully.
Samoa giggled.
"Well, good friends," Masina said cheerfully. "Shall we head off to the tahuhu pye?"
"Yeah!" I grinned as I swam over. "I can't wait to see the magic displays!"
"Let's get going then, we don't want to be late."
"We were waiting for you," Samoa pointed out softly, slipping up next to me.
"And now we're waiting for Fetu to cool off," Rosa drawled as xey grabbed my hand.
"Hush you," Fetu grumbled.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
"Is that an altar?" Zoey asked, staring at the family altar from where she stood in the living room.
I faltered in gathering the cookies, "Uh… yeah…"
Zoey turned to me with wide eyes while Tyson stood awkwardly behind us.
"Are you pagan?"
I bit my lip, "I am."
She was practically vibrating, "What Pantheon do you worship? Or do you worship multiple? OMS is your mom pagan? Do you have any specific Gods you worship? Are you also a witch? Do you give offerings to Them?"
I blinked, "Oh uh, I worship the Greek Gods-"
"Me too!" She cheered. "That's amazing, I've never met another Hellenic Pagan! I worship Apollo primarily, and Hypnos cause insomnia hits hard sometimes and He helps a lot. What about you?"
I rocked on my heels, grinning a little, "I worship Triton and Artemis and Selene the most, and Dionysus. Plus of course, Hestia."
"Oh, Dionysus is cool! I've been thinking about reaching out to Him too. I've never heard of worshipping Triton, is He nice?"
I beamed, "Triton is the best! I talk with him all the time."
"That's amazing, stars I'm so excited right now."
I was bouncing, I knew, sorta, that mortals still worshipped the Gods. But it was another thing to meet one.
"Yeah! It's really cool."
"Oh," she turned to Tyson, suddenly nervous. "Sorry, I know you're probably not pagan-"
I bit back a laugh, should I tell her he was a Kyklopes?
"I know the Gods," Tyson said with a nod. "They are strong."
She brightened, "Wait, you're a pagan too? There's two others at school? That's so cool! Imagine if Kai and Nikola were pagans too."
I laughed, what were the chances they believed in the Gods too? Many mortals didn't anymore.
"Anyways, we should probably start studying," I held up the cookies. "We can chat while we study?"
She beamed, "That sounds brilliant!"