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Silena Beauregard was, and had always been, nearly a witch.
Or, at least, that was Alan had called her, back when she had first been claimed and he was still alive. That was what he called himself and Drew, too, “nearly witches”. It was his own, cutesy way of referring to their shared ability of charmspeak, an ability that none of their other half-siblings had.
Of course, in reality, charmspeak wasn’t really all that cutesy. The ability to make someone do whatever – literally whatever – you wanted was a handy ability to have, but one that also came with a lot of responsibility. After all, as Silena had witnessed multiple times, if you weren’t careful enough, you could make people do something without meaning to. You could make your father buy the expensive toy that he wouldn’t have otherwise bought for you, you could make your boyfriend take off his clothes when he didn’t really want to, and you could make your best friend unwillingly go through with a nasty dare. Hell, theoretically, you could even make somebody kill themselves, if you were powerful enough. And wasn’t that a terrifying thought?
That was why Silena was careful, despite the relatively carefree attitude that she maintained. That was why she had always been careful. Instead of acting like a drill sergeant like Clarisse or a friend like Luke to her half-siblings, as camp counselor, she treated them like the siblings that they were. Instead of asking her dad for petty things she didn’t really need, she did her best to be the perfect daughter and never ask for anything, if she could help it. And instead of going through boys like they were candy, Silena never dated. She never even flirted, for that matter. Because she knew what that could possibly lead to, with her mesmerizing charm and lethal tongue.
And that was also why Silena knew, from the first time that she saw him, that she wanted Alabaster Torrington to be her boyfriend one day.
See, when Alabaster had arrived at camp the summer after Alan had died, he had almost been immediately claimed. It was a little unusual, especially since he was a child of Hecate and would still have to stay in Cabin 11, but well, go figure. That didn’t matter that much.
` What did matter was that Alabaster was cute. He had brown hair that she was just dying to run her fingers through, the perfect set of green eyes, and an adorable smattering of freckles across his face. And thanks to the fact that he was, as a child of Hecate, an actual witch, he was also immune to her charmspeak, which both made him all the more cuter and the perfect type of guy for a girl like her.
So, for the first time in her life, Silena flirted. Mercilessly. She called him Ally, she teased him, and she did everything else in the book that she could to let him know that he liked her. Of course, it was just her luck that Alabaster was one of the most oblivious people she had ever met, but she could work with that. She could just straight-up ask him out, which she did when they all came back to camp the following summer.
Only to be rejected. Hard.
Silena had tried hard not to let it bother her, the way that Alabaster had scrunched up his face and declared that, no, he didn’t want to go out with her, because she was a daughter of Aphrodite and children of Aphrodite were too cowardly to go on quests. It didn’t help matters much, either, that she knew better than that, but every time she wanted to say that to Alabaster’s face, she had a strong urge to do a lot more than just that.
Thankfully, though, she didn’t have to stew on that for long, because Percy Jackson arrived at camp soon after. And with that, Silena got caught up in the whirlwind that was his love life and his quest – but mostly just his love life. She worked hard to get him and Luke, who deserved so much more than the love life he had been dealt, together. And when they finally got together, she was happy for them, even if she couldn’t totally forget what Percy had told her when he had discovered her feelings for Alabaster during their quest.
“Tell you what,” he had said. “Assuming we survive this quest, I’ll help you out with Alabaster like you helped me out with Luke, as thanks for both coming on this quest with me and helping me realize that Luke has feelings for me too.
“That’s what friends do, right?”
...Obviously, though, she must’ve forgotten about his promise just enough, because when the Fourth of July rolled around and Alabaster was awkwardly standing right next to Beckendorf, who had already asked if she wanted to watch the fireworks as friends, Silena was surprised. Actually, no, she wasn’t just surprised, she was completely flabbergasted. And her flabbergasted feeling only increased when, after she asked Alabaster what he had been doing there, Beckendorf said, “He was just wondering about what I was doing, that’s all. I told him that I had asked for you to watch the fireworks with me, as friends.”
Because Ally didn’t like her like that. In fact, he had been extremely adamant about how much he didn’t like her like that when she tried to ask him out two months earlier.
So he didn’t. Like her.
...Right?
But then, Alabaster was leaning in close to her, and with that adorable blush on his face, he said, “I – uhm – I was actually going to ask if you wanted to watch the fireworks with me. As more than...as more than friends.”
And suddenly, Silena’s worldview changed.
Somehow, someway, Alabaster really did like her as more than a friend. That could be the only possible explanation for why he was asking her out now. It was also the only possible explanation for how he had gotten the inspiration to ask her out, too, because Percy had obviously orchestrated this somehow. She just didn’t know how, nor did she care to.
Still, the realization that Alabaster liked her as more than a friend did not wash away the hurt that he had caused her at the beginning of the summer. His words burned, burned to the point where she still partially wanted to do unspeakable things to him.
So, with wide eyes and a trembling voice, she asked, “But I thought...I thought you didn’t like me like that?”
The shameful look Alabaster gave her in response was enough of an answer to her question, she knew. But, that didn’t stop him from looking at her with those witch-green eyes of his and saying, “I – I like you. Believe me, I like you so much that I almost said yes when you asked me out earlier this summer.”
Silena frowned. “But...?”
“But I thought you were just asking me out on a dare,” he admitted. “And I got really, really mad about that, so I said no. I said it a little too hard, too, hoping that it would make you go away, and it did. But I also know that it did a lot more than make you go away, so I’m sorry. I didn’t mean – I didn’t mean to disrespect your brother like that.”
Silena still gazed at him speculatively. “So, you really like me?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve liked me for a while?”
“Yes,” he said with a shy grin, before adding, “Only ever since I first saw you, Silena.”
Silena tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered at that.
“And you want to kiss me?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s stopping you from doing it?”
Alabaster blinked. “Uh, n – nothing, I suppose,” he said. “Nothing at all.”
Then, as if on instinct, he began to lean forwards, and Silena leaned in, too, if only to speed along the entire process. Thus, with faces flushed and eyes wide, their lips connected, and the brief electrical shock of magic that came from Alabaster a moment later made it feel like it was a Disney wish come true.
This was all Silena had wanted, after all, ever since they met.
Her boyfriend, the witch, and herself, who was nearly one.
After what seemed like an eternity, the two of them finally came up for air, only to realize that Beckendorf was gone. So were her siblings, for that matter. But, as Silena wrapped her arm around Alabaster’s and placed another kiss on his cheek for good measure, she found that she didn’t really care. They would survive without her, at least for a little while. Especially if Drew made her move on the son of Hephaestus sometime soon.
Alabaster seemed to have the same idea in mind, too, because as he looked at her, his green eyes were sparkling and there was a shit-eating grin on his face. “So, how about those fireworks?” he asked.
“They sound like fun,” Silena answered with a grin of her own in return. “But, if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t know how much...watching we’ll actually be doing. What do you think?”
“No,” he agreed. “I don’t think we’ll be doing much watching at all.”