Divergent Path

Epilogue

Chapter 28: Epilogue

Trees rustled imperceptibly as a young girl silently darted through the surrounding forestry. She weaved between the thick and thin trunks, slid under the low-hanging branches, and bound over the underbrush with impossible agility and grace, made even more unbelievable with her age; she couldn't have been older than five.

Through the shadowed foliage ahead, darkened by the encompassing night, she spotted just a glimpse of a now-familiar open sea. Her jet black hair billowed further behind her as she quickened her pace even more. The girl burst high through the treeline, finding a lofty perch on a sturdy branch as the ocean air painted her face.

She basked in the glimmering moon's comfort, and her skin radiated a soft silver glow as if the celestial body had wrapped her in its moonlight.

The girl waited for a moment, evening her breath how she was taught to, before her attention shifted. Her gaze traveled past a small cabin that was built only a handful of years ago, back when she was barely even a baby, and it finally settled as it found a couple slow dancing together in the sand. Even with the distance between her and them, her keen eyes traced their expressions as they swayed in the night's cool breeze.

She giggled as she watched the man twirl his partner under their intertwined hands. She caught a fleeting glimpse of the woman's silver eyes as she spun, and she saw the man's crooked smile as he stood transfixed on the one before him. Those features were her favorites.

They're what she loves most about herself, as well.

You've got your mother's sharp eyes, everyone would say, and your father's troublesome smile.

She smiled and nodded along to the melody they were apparently dancing to while she breathed in the homely silence of the forest. Her ears perked up at the obvious contradiction. She closed her eyes and listened intently.

She heard the soft rustle of leaves in the wind behind her, picked up on the quiet shuffle of the small forest's creatures underfoot. Further down, she caught the inhale and exhale of the tides as the ocean breathed against the shore. She even made out the couple below, their quiet conversation and their hushed laughter. But she heard no music.

'What are you dancing to?' she wondered to herself as she slid from the tree and rushed towards the beach.

(Line Break)

"Here she comes," Percy whispered, his eyes unmoving.

Artemis smirked at him.

"You finally have the senses of a hunter. Only took you about eight years since joining my Hunt, but better late than never, I guess," she replied playfully.

Before Percy could retort, his favorite sound rang out across the beach alongside rapid footsteps.

"Why can't I hear the music?" his daughter shouted, rapidly closing the gap between them.

Percy waited until the last moment before he pounced towards her and lifted the screaming ball of black hair off of the ground. He softly fell into the sand with her wrapped against him and started to ferociously tickle her.

His daughter giggled and screamed as she kicked up sand while trying to wriggle away, and it was music to Artemis' ears. Her heart full, she watched the pair amusedly before saving her daughter from choking on her own laughter. The goddess scooped her up from underneath Percy, making sure to flatten his face into the sand as she did so.

Percy lifted his head from the earth, making their daughter laugh again as she saw his face caked in the grainy terrain. She turned her attention to her mother's soothing voice.