“Artemis is a quite cool name too,” Perseus, of a similar age, replied as he dangled his legs over the edge of the cliff. “But yeah, call me Percy.” “Hey! What about mine?” A boy with sandy hair asked as he hung around them, a stupid smile on his face. “Apollo,” Percy started but was cut off by Artemis. “It’s idiotic, like you.” Percy spit his drink out as he burst out laughing while Apollo’s face did a 180 turn as it turned from cheerful to hurt. The three had met while hunting and since then, their friendship had started, but then again, they weren’t sure how long it would last. “Children! Dinner’s ready!” A sweet voice rang through their jokes and everyone stood up. “Whoever reaches last is going to clean the dishes!” Artemis said and sped off. “That cheater!” Apollo exclaimed as he and Percy followed, laughing. However, as always, the loser was predetermined. Apollo stood last as he sulked and sat down. The other two were laughing at him as Leto brought the food to the table. And immediately the future god of the sun lit up. It was his favorite thing! Honey Glazed Prawns along with Roast Lamb! “No, Artemis, it isn’t right to hit your brother in the face if he refuses to pass you the salt.” The girl pouted and the demigod’s heart melted and he relented by saying. “All right, you can punch him once.” Finally, the meal was completed and the dishes were dumped on Apollo’s head to be cleaned as Percy and Artemis went out to enjoy the moonlight, like they always did, sitting on a tree branch, looking at the scenery and admiring nature and its wonders. They would sometimes plan which monster they’d hunt next, or where they’d go, or just how they’d bully Apollo, but this time, it was different. It was a comfortable silence as Artemis looked forward at the stars with the sounds of the nighttime playing around them.
“Perseus,” A girl, who in mortal terms might seem to be around thirteen years old, with auburn hair said. “That’s a great name, to be honest.”
The three thanked the Titaness and dug in, constantly bickering about who should get the bigger piece, mostly the bickering used to be between the siblings only and Percy would have to act as the mediator.
It was beautiful but what made it even more heavenly for Percy was the girl beside her. In the entire two years that he knew her, he never looked at her properly.
But this time, he did and in the light of the moon, she looked ethereal. The way her silver eyes shone, man, they looked like they held the stars. They were precious like jewels, precious, beautiful, and rare.
Artemis noticed him looking and turned around with a confused look on. “What happened? Is there something on my face?”
Percy shook his head and before he could stop himself, he blurt out. “You have really pretty eyes.”
A pause.
And then both of them blushed and shied away.
“I think I’m gonna go to bed early,” Percy said briskly after an awkward silence as he got down. “Good night, Arty.”
He didn’t stick around long enough to hear the same from her side, and neither did he hear the small, ‘He thinks my eyes are pretty?’
Percy woke up with a gasp again. That was a wild dream, but it didn’t feel like one. It felt like an entirely different parallel universe type sh*t with impossible-to-be-real characters, and one of the characters was being played by him.But what in the actual f*ck?
No way did he just hang out with two gods who were the people of the ancient myths.
No way did he have a crush on the moon goddess, especially one who hates men.
And no way did he just call that specific goddess, ‘Arty.’
Did he?
It felt real. The emotions he was feeling still stuck with him, and the last thing he remembered was feeling embarrassed. How?
But those were questions for some other day as he took in his surroundings. He was unfamiliar with them as he looked around and found himself on a hospital bed.
He immediately sat upright but the sudden movement made him groan as he found out that his stomach had been bandaged up and his head hurt like hell.
This startled a poor nurse who was working there. “Mister! You shouldn’t be getting up so soon right now. You’re hurt!”
“What happened? Why am I here?”
“I’ll let the doctor explain,” She said with an expression that showed sympathy and instantly Percy knew something was wrong.
The funeral was organized by his mother’s sister as he stood there, tears in his eyes.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t what they’d talked about.
But then again, this was what he had seen.
When he found out about his parents dying in a car accident due to a lightning strike, he went into a blank state as he vaguely remembered a scene, an overturned car on fire amidst a raging thunderstorm.
He really had the worst feeling of déjà vu that day.
Rain was falling as the ceremony ended and the people invited started leaving. Percy didn’t as he stood there, his clothes getting soaked.
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder as he turned around to see a brown-haired girl with startling blue eyes.
“Are you fine now?” She asked.
“Physically or emotionally?” Percy said, removing the tears from his eyes, but then added. “Though, I don’t think I recognize you.”
“You won’t, you’ve never seen me before, but I took you to the hospital that day. And as for that first question, both.”
“Oh that was you! thank you so, so much! I don’t how I’ll ever be able to repay you!”
“Oh no, no, it’s nothing, sometimes, in big-big cities, small-small things keep happening, senorita,” The girl said as she adjusted her specs.
“Did you just quote Shah Rukh Khan on me? And that too in English?” Percy asked incredulously in a way that no child who was at a funeral, especially one of his parents would have.
“I did, and I’m proud of it, I watched DDLJ yesterday.”
“Wow, a New Yorker who watches Bollywood movies? That’s new.”
“Thanks, my friend told me about them, but enough of that. Do you need any help? Emotional help?” The girl child, fixing her hair in a bun.
“Uh, probably,” Percy said as he scratched the back of his neck. “Why don’t we go outside somewhere?”
“Sure, I know just the right place!” She said as she led the way with Percy following.
“Don’t you think you’re acting way too casually about your parents’ death?” She asked when they reached a coffee shop and then added. “Don’t think I’m being rude, I’m just curious.”
Percy smiled sadly and after ordering, replied with a simple, “Coping mechanisms miss.”
“I’d say you’re getting emotional numbness to be honest,” The girl said as they sat down. “It’s a kind of a trauma response.”
“You never told me your name.”
“Oh, I’m Alaya!” She said as she shook Percy’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Alaya,” Percy said and suddenly, the atmosphere darkened as he leaned forward, his green eyes looking dangerous. “Now tell me the truth.”
The sudden shift of tone was scary as Alaya’s senses tingled. “What…. What do you mean?”
“You were there that day, what happened, exactly?”
“I… I can’t tell you.”
“Why?” Percy’s voice was dangerously low as he gripped the edge of the table.
“Not now, no,” She said as she gulped. “The time is not right now.”
“Are you working under somebody’s orders? Somebody who wanted me alive? Somebody who didn’t want me to know whatever it was that my parents were going to tell me?”
“I…”
“Just give me the name, I promise I won’t do anything to you, you were just doing your job. I’m not going to go after the finger that pulled the trigger. I want the person who gave you the gun.”
“You’re not understanding, Percy, it's not like that. You can’t reach the culprit right now, let alone kill him. And, it was a mistake. It was not directed or anything. The sky was raging and your family got caught in it.”
“You’re not making any sense, you know that?”
Alaya sighed. “Just come with me, it will all be explained. Please.”
