SALT AND THE SEA, percy jackson¹

one, salt air

( 001. ) ─── salt air
— 𐬿 •. 𖤐

Sometimes Ivy likes to imagine herself when she's older. The kind of person she would be, or at least like to be. What her life would look like. Who would be in her life. Who wouldn't be. What she would be doing. What her job would be like, if she had one. Whether or not she'd be dating anyone.

     She's twelve at the moment, turning thirteen in october. Right now, she's spending her summers at Camp Half-Blood, a camp for children of greek gods. Her dad is a professor at a college in New Haven, Connecticut. She has eight half siblings at camp, and two best friends who count as a ninth and tenth. She has a not so present mother, but with how much time Ivy spends trying to please her it feels like she's always around.

But she turns her focus to her familiar Roswell, a ghost of a molissian hound. He's chasing the butterflies that reside in the colorful blossoms, his barks echoing across the meadow. She breathes out, trying to forget about her mother. Everything was better when she didn't think of her mom and her harshness, expectations, and lack of care for Ivy. The only thing she got from her mom was Roswell, but that was meant more for Ivy's dad rather than her.

     Ever since her claiming, Ivy's been trying to do her best to make her mom proud. To be worthy of being her daughter. But with the lack of communication its hard for Ivy to know if she did something right. She only knows the expectations and harshness from her siblings. They say their mom just wants them to succed and be the best person they can be, but every camper hears that phrase from a cabin counselor when they first arrive.

     Dark clouds lazily roll over the hills, bringing a slight chill with them. These are Ivy's favorite kind of days, and she's supposed to be enjoying it. But of course her mother had to ruin it in some way. Her hands tug at the grass around her, ripping then from the ground and bringing them towards her outstretched legs. She pathetically tosses them away from her and huffs when they fell back onto her legs instead of the ground.

Ivy brushed them away and sighed, pushing the stray tendrils of her hair from her loose ponytail away from her face. "Hey." a voice called from behind her. She turned around and smiled, her previous thoughts long forgotten. "Hey Kals." she grinned. "We've been looking for you. We thougt you might have been in the woods but Silena said she saw you come this way." Kali offered her hand to the younger girl who used it to pull herself to her feet. "We?" she questioned as Kali was the only one present.

"Kaiden was helping me look. I think he went to the climbing wall, but i'm not sure." she shrugged. Ivy nodded in response and whistled for Roswell to come. The trio set off back towards camp, attempting to decipher where Kaiden was currently at.

As they approached the cabins, they caught a glimpse of Kaiden walking towards the arts and crafts building. "Kai!" Ivy ran off towards him, Kali following behind. Kaiden let out a small yelp as the brunette jumped onto his back without warning, nearly making the two fall to the ground.

"you scared the shit out of me!" he cried, dropping her from his back. "you should have been paying attention. what if i was a monster or something." Ivy rested her hands on her hips. "First off the monsters cant come into camp and those in the woods don't come near the cabins. And second, you are a monster." he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up in the air, making Ivy let out a loud screech and begin to flail.

Kaiden set her back on the ground and ran, Ivy quickly following after him yelling curses in ancient greek. "Those idiots." Kali sighed with a small smile, scratching Roswell behind the ears and whistling for him to follow her as she slowly walked after the two