Inception ♚ Percy Jackson & The Olympians [1]

⟬Chapter Three⟭

The Silence Rings Loud

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"I'm sorry!" Likely the most aggressive sorry known to humankind. Percy crossed his arms over his chest, scowling as best as a hurt four-year-old could. "No." Andromeda's mouth fell open before her eyes narrowed, storm-blue eyes almost glowing as she whipped around to the woman standing at the door. "He said no!" Sally arched an eyebrow at the fuming girl. "Why are we yelling?" She questioned softly, tilting her head at Andy. "Are you angry that you hurt Percy?" 

A venomous glare as the air around them developed a chill. "I didn't mean to hurt him." Sally hummed in acknowledgement, "Okay, but Percy can't see that if you're angry and yelling." Andy blinked, her posture slumping a moment later as her scrunched face softened. She looked back over at the boy with tear streaks on his face, frowning slowly as the anger faded away and her skin cooled. "I. . . I didn't mean to. I'm really sorry, Percy." The boy regarded her with critical, glistening eyes before he sniffled, letting his arms fall to his side. "'S okay."  

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Andromeda exhaled quietly as she sat poolside, her legs crossed beneath her on the concrete. The sky was dark, the night air warm as the yard's lights reflected off the pool's surface. Gus lay beside her, his fur soaked from his earlier gallivanting in the pool. The ball he'd methodically fetched for nearly two hours straight lay floating aimlessly in the still water, the dog too tired to get it after what had to be his hundredth dive in. Compared to him, Andy was as dry as she could be, the damp spots on her shirt from the moments Gus came trotting over, draping his head over her shoulder to drop the ball in her lap. 

The feel of the water from him dripping down her shirt made her skin crawl as unpleasant memories resurfaced but it was better than how she felt letting her feet drift touch the still water. Five years later, fear still prickled her skin every time she was even near a body of water though Andy had long since understood, to an extent, that she wasn't in danger anymore. She certainly couldn't be from a monster in her backyard pool. In fact, Andy used to be half-convinced it was just a bad nightmare until she checked the bottom of her right foot where the scratches were.

"Hey, Percy, why don't you go get Andy? Tell her to come join us." The boy peered up from the treacherous moat he'd built around a drooping sand castle, pouting. "What for?" He grumbled, digging some rocks along the moat—a wall, Sally guessed. Rick appeared beside Percy, treading carefully near the boy and his precarious structure. "Because it's time for lunch, imp. Go get Thing 2." Sea-green eyes narrowed at the man before Percy exhaled dramatically, heaving himself to his feet as if it was the most tasking thing he'd ever been asked to do.

He trudged through the sand down the beach onto where the waves and sand met, the latter sinking softly beneath his feet. Just a little ahead of him was Andy, the girl perched on a rock three times her size that, as the waves crashed up softly against it, they barely crested high enough to hit her calves. Her curly, black hair was tied up in a high bun, the two under strict order to keep it saltwater and sand-free but that hadn't happened. Even from where he stood, Percy could see grains of sand. 

"It's lunchtime, Mom said to—what's that?" He was close enough to see she was occupied with an object in her hands—a giant shell of some kind. Andy flashed him a grin as she presented it proudly, "A conch shell!" She turned it over to show the large, off-white shell and the expense of rough, weathered ridges. "It just washed up on shore and I thought it was a hermit crab but when I checked, there wasn't one inside." Percy scrunched his face in slight disgust at the mention of the crab but reached for the shell nonetheless. "Ew. Does it make a sound? Like in the movies?"