I lived in a cozy house by the sea, not too big, just right—a sanctuary where the ocean met the shore and offered me peace. It was my little heaven. No one visited, so it was just me and the sea.

Just me and the sea..

When Percy was still around, we'd dreamed of a place like this. Back then, we'd imagined a shared life on the coast, with the salt air, the rolling waves, and just the two of us. But now, the house was mine alone, and Percy wasn't here.

A year ago, the gods had offered Percy the chance to become one of them. He had accepted, and since then, we'd been worlds apart. He was a god now; I was still a demigod. Even if he wanted to visit, there was a good chance he wasn't even allowed to set foot on earth.

But my heart was still his. Hoping he might think of me from time to time, I made offerings by the shore, small gestures, every day. And every evening, I sat on the sand or swam in the sea, waiting, just in case he might come.

Tonight, like every night, I made my offerings and sat by the water to watch the sun sink beneath the horizon. I held a delicate gold chain with a tiny trident pendant in my hand, watching as the sunset glinted off the metal.

The only sound was the lull of waves, crashing softly along the shore—until a voice broke through, one I hadn't heard in so long.

"You're supposed to give me things I actually like, you know, not seaweed just because you thought it was funny to call me 'seaweed brain'."

He turned at the sound, and there he was. Percy stood at the water's edge, bare feet in the shallows, his black hair slicked back as he raked a hand through it. He was a little taller now, and his sea-green eyes, warm and familiar, met mine with a soft smile. Droplets of water glistened on his skin in the fading gold light of the sunset, each one catching the last warmth of day.