Reincarnated

Chapter 10

We'd been going to Montauk since Percy and I were babies. Mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met dad. Oh, lord Poseidon.

As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

 We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.

When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told us stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told us about the books she wanted to write someday when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. Which will happen after Gabe goes and she meets up with Paul.

After about her 7th story, we got up the nerve to ask about what was always on Percy's mind whenever we came to Montauk - our father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell the same things she always did but we never got tired of hearing them. 

"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You two have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."Nice description of Poseidon. I wonder if he would like it.

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you guys. He would be so proud." 

 "How old were we?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. So many people asked about the Percy Jackson books in my past life that I basically have them all memorized. "I mean ... when he left?" 

She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer. Right here at this beach. This cabin." A one-night stand. Well, one season not night. A one-season stand.

"But... he knew us as babies." Percy stammered. Well, there was that time when he talked with mom and saw us. Or he might be talking about one time when dad visited us when mom was asleep and had woken us up on accident.

"No, honey. He knew I was expecting babies, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born." 

"Are you going to send us away again?" Percy asked her. "To another boarding school?" 

She pulled a marshmallow from the fire."I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something." 

"Because you don't want us around?" I quickly turned my head so I could look him in the eyes and scold him. "Percy!"

 My mom's eyes welled with tears. 

She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."Her words reminded me of what Chiron had said. What did he know?

"Because we're not normal," I said, actually adding to the conversation. Well, we aren't normal, for humans.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing. But you don't realize how important you two are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."

 "Safe from what?"She met our eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me - all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to us. How does she do that? I looked over and saw that Percy was remembering the same things. The strangled snake, the creepy guy that had been stalking me on the playground who was a monster, and Mrs. Dodds are just a few examples of what happened. 

"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option - the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."