Luna Lovegood's Other, Crazier Half

The Strawberry Incident

"Luna, how are you with Chariot racing?" Asked Annabeth

Luna considered the question.

"I'd rather not. The Wrinklesprouts might show up."

"Oh okay," but she sounded really disappointed. Luna felt bad and surprisingly guilty. A feeling she knew about but wasn't all that familiar with. Or maybe she was too familiar with it. It was always there, nagging at the back of her mind, attracting the small impish creatures with droopy features and dark scaly skin. She had never come up with a name for them. She only ever saw them out of the corners of her eyes whenever she wasn't looking. Every laugh, every smile, she expected they lurked behind her. She started wearing odd glasses she got from one of her father's newspapers to block out her peripherals and obscure the creatures she did see. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't as if she could talk to someone about it.

"Luna? Luna?" Annabeth asked.

Luna snapped to attention, her glazed over thoughtful look fading slightly. "Yes?"

"I was just asking if you were feeling alright."

"I feel just fine, why?"

"You kind of... never mind," said Annabeth shaking her head. "Will you watch it?"

"I don't think so, I was going to tend to the strawberries. They look a little disturbed. I think a storm might be coming." Luna couldn't have explained even if she had been asked.

"Yes, you do that," said Annabeth, her attention going elsewhere.

Luna shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't something to think too hard about, nor was the little changes in Annabeth's behavior that only Luna noticed, but she hadn't figured out what they were from yet.

"Are you coming to the chariot races Luna?" asked Tyson, just not as eloquently.

Luna shook her head, a smile forming. "The strawberries are disturbed, I intend to find out why."

"Oh okay. Is that why they smell funny?"

Luna's smile sparkled. "Yes, exactly. I wish I had your nose."

Tyson scrunched his nose.

The next day at breakfast, Luna was the only one who didn't eat the strawberries, and she happened to be the only one who didn't have a mysterious stomach ache.

The nymphs were so confused that Luna became something of their new fascination. Luna had several lovely conversations with nymphs about all sorts of creatures, but unfortunately, they couldn't tell her about the creatures she was seeing.

"We've heard of them, but we can't see them," said one shaking her head.

"It's frustrating," said another. "Inexplicable things, that aren't magic, but aren't normal either."

"We need a paradigm," said Luna.

The nymphs looked at her like she had grown a third head. Luna could tell the difference from experience.

"A model to how to think, we need an established way to approach these creatures, find out how they work."

"Hmph," said a nymph in the back. "Sometimes I forget your one of those books children of Athena. Too busy reading to explore the forest, but not you. What kind of creatures have you seen in our forest..."

"Oh well," said Luna...

If someone was well enough to see Luna sitting in the dining pavilion with a bunch of nymphs, they just chalked it up to hallucinations.

The next day most people just thought it was a strange dream, and no one spoke about it ever again.

Except for when Luna wanted to have a good laugh in the forest.

They didn't judge her for her awkward laugh.

Strange for nymphs, but she wasn't about to question it.

She later found out exactly why the strawberries were so upset.

I've said this before, but this chapter is long overdue. August is over so I have more partial freedom, but not really. 9/11 was yesterday, please remember those that lost their lives, and I really hope you learn what happened that day and how it changed the course of history.

Hope you're saner than I am,

Me