Chapter Text
Boarding a plane still has to be one of the most terrifying things I've ever had to do. Moms offer to drive me cross country looks better and better the closer I get to the terminal. But, Zeus promised us that we could use air travel, and I...can do this.
The armrests might not come out of this unscathed though.
My name is Lilian Alessa Jackson, daughter of Poseidon. My twin brother is Perseus Achilles Jackson, you may have heard of him. We're twins, but not identical. I have long hair and green-hazel eyes. We're 17 years old and have lived in Long Island Sound, NY for our whole lives until now that is.
I'm moving to Washington to live with my uncle, Charlie Swan, and my cousin, Isabella Swan, both of whom I haven't seen since I learned I was a demigod 5 years ago. After everything that's happened between then and now (the Titan war, the Giant war, Gaea, holding up the sky and greying prematurely, etc.) my mom thought it would be good for me to get away for a while, to a place where monsters were on the down-low, supposably. Luckily I have the ability to use the Mist to glamour myself and keep my appearance from appearing abnormal to those around me. Not that having tattoos, scars, or grey hair is a bad thing, just slightly odd when all slapped together on one person.
But coming back to the now, these armrests really aren't doing too well. I swear any and all turbulence has to be Zeus doing. Ah, there we go, the thunder has gotta be that bastard chuckling at my expense, of course.
Once we reached Port Angeles and disembarked from the plane, it took an absurdly long amount of time for me to retrieve my luggage before heading to the waiting area. Once there I only had to wait about 20 minutes before I saw Bella's brown bobbing head in the crowd snailing toward me with a small smile on her face.
"Wow you, ah, look so different from when I last saw you," she said giggling slightly, very obviously perplexed by my appearance. "Well it has been 5 years. We’re almost adults now.” I said chuckling lightly as we started walking to the parking lot. Charlie wasn't that hard to find, you know with the cop car and all. When I saw him his eyes widened slightly before he smiled at me, probably taking in how much I'd changed.
I used to be a scraggly 5 foot tall preteen and now I'm a muscular 17-year-old standing at 5ft 6in who also fights monsters for a living. I hugged him quickly before putting my bags in the trunk, knowing he, like Bella, has a hard time showing his emotions and not making it awkward. I was about to sit in shotgun when I saw Bella already sitting in the front, lightly smirking at me. Well okay than Miss Sassy.
When the car finally pulled up to a vaguely familiar house, I finally noticed a tense, awkward atmosphere has elapsed and hurried out. Grabbing my bags I headed upstairs to the room that looked most familiar, since Charlie said he’s set me up in the guest bedroom Percy and I would frequent when we visited in as kids.
It had dark walls and furniture, a queen-size bed with a navy blue comforter and black pillows atop it under the window. I smiled to myself before unpacking all the boxes and rearranging the everything that Hermes had helped send ahead for me. That guy’s the homie of homies.
When I got to my chest full of demigod items—weapons, ambrosia, nectar, and drachmas amongst other things—I made sure it was locked away in the closet. The stuff I had squared away in my backpack would be sufficient for now. I was almost finished when there was a honk from outside. Two guys were getting out of a rusty red truck, well the younger one was helping, probably his father, into a wheelchair. I headed downstairs along with Bella and Charlie.
"Hey, guys you remember Billy Black, right?" Charlie said to us as we got to the truck.
Wait, that means that’s Jacob? Long hair really threw me.
Jake, Bella, Percy, and I used to have frequent mud wars where we’d chuck mud pies at the opposing team. Haha, good times.
"Yeah I remember" Bella all shy like while I bounced toward Jake’s flowing princess locks and gave them a tug.
“How long you been growing these locks out for princess? Hey, princesses don’t push peo-“ I quickly had to duck the strike aim at my head. We looked at each other and couldn’t contain chuckles at our hilarity. I then stepped forward to shake Billy's hand, who toted his own amused smile.
"I'm glad you two are here, Charlie hasn't stopped talking about you since you said you were coming.”
Clearly he was trying to embarrass Charlie, who mumbled something under his breath that made Billy go chasing after him.
"Not before I ram you in the ankles." Charlie quickly flourished his fists, dancing away. They’ve gotta be best friends cause this is awesome entertainment.
"Are they always like this?" Bella asked Jake.
"It's getting worse with old age" he chuckled with a sigh.
The conversation slowly turned to static as I surveyed the surrounding area of my new home. ADHD driven instinct coupled with learned skills quickly catalogued where the best exits were, where monsters could easily jump out and try to one up me, along with any houses that may have children who were not allowed to become collateral damage. The snapping brought me back.
"Hey Lil'ily, are you in there?" Jake smirked.
"Yes, Jakie" I said before quickly hugging him, continuing to act as much like my old self as I could remember being. Secretly, I was glad Bella and Charlie weren't big huggers.
"How have you been?" I asked after releasing him.
"Good, good," he said distractedly even as his eyes were laser focused to my left.
"So what do you think?" Charlie slapped the red hunk of junk.
"What?"
"Your homecoming present," Charlie said, sounding very proud of himself. Yes, go Charlie with that confidence.
"This?"
"Yep. Just bought it off of Billy here."
"I totally rebuilt the engine" Jacob added in, and Bella seemed…too over excited in my opinion but hey, as long as it drives I guess.
While Jacob showed Bella the ropes I asked Charlie if he was okay with me going for a jog.
"Yeah of course," he said, gruffly before pulling me aside real quick, coughing awkwardly.
"Your mom lectured me over the phone about your level of responsibility and decision making” oh this didn’t sound good.
“Uh, she said that you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself and I trust her judgment. So, ah, don’t feel the need to ask my permission all the time for going out and, well, whatever it is you teenagers do these days. I think I can trust you enough to tell me if I need to know where you’re at, yeah?”
Holy Dad’s underpants, that was candid. I thought as a cop he'd want to keep tabs but Charlie seems full of surprises for all. I quickly nodded, thanking him before segueing myself upstairs. Changing into a pair of leggings, sports bra, and hoodie with running shoes, I also threw my hair into a ponytail before slipping Hurricane, securely in my pocket.
Walking out of the house and I turned around the back towards the woods. I was able to make it through a good 15 minutes of running without causality, mapping out the forest as I went along. Not even the nymphs were bothering me, which I figured was one of their pastimes as soon as they realized I know the great Grover. Of course, now is when I hear a growl behind me.
I spun around and saw an ugly ass hellhound. At least Mrs. O'Leary can be adorable. It leaned back on its hind legs ready to leap and I took out Hurricane and uncapped it just as it pounced on me, making the blade go straight through its stomach as I kneeled on the ground, taking the brunt of the impact as it burst into dust around me. Getting up, I decided I should probably head back when, what do you know, there are three more hellhounds.
"I just wanted to take a nice, energy expelling, jog," I said wistfully before charging with a yell. I ran at the first one and as it jumped to tackle me, I slid under it and stabbed it in the stomach.
One down, two to go.
I spun around and deflected hellhound number two's claws as hellhound number three lunged at me. I hit the deck, so it went over me and hit hellhound number two, causing them to entangle. While they were on the ground dazed and confused, I slashed both their heads off.
"But noooooo. Instead, I just get dusty."
After a quick scan of the area to make sure nothing else was lurking about, I headed back towards the house and a shower. Evaporating the condensation from the mirror, I watched as my own image shimmered, the layers of Mist work not quite solidified. My control over the Mist needed more practice and it looks like this is going to be my baseline for a while. After changing into a loose t-shirt and sweats I went downstairs to help Bella in the kitchen.
We both agreed that grocery shopping was on the to-do list.
After we ate I left Bella and Charlie to spend some father-daughter time watching tv. In my room, I finished unpacking and found a box with a note on it that I didn’t remember packing. Evidently, Hermes was going all in for the best friend in existence award. The box was filled with tons of glamours textbooks that I was most likely to need until I graduated. Greek, and more importantly legible, letters hid underneath the English glamour.
I started thumbing through some of the books, unaware of the time passing and uncaring. Tomorrow was another first day at a new school and hopefully, maybe, it could be the last. I drifted off into a fitful sleep on the edge of the bed, books sprawled around me, no longer enough to keep me awake.