The Night's Shadows

Whoooooooooo…. Whoooooo…… The haunting melody of owls streamed into my ears as I sat outside one night. It was summer but the night was strangely cold; my cardigan that I had thrown on when walking outside the cabin was barely keeping me warm.

Along with the melancholy calls of the mysterious owls, I could hear the crashing of waves and the whistling of wind from my perch on the swing I had grown of grape vines. I suppose it hadn't been the best idea, I wasn't that practiced with my powers and I wasn't nearly as good with plants as the Demeter cabin, but it seemed to work for the time being.

I should have been in the cabin, trying to ignore Pollux's snores while trying to fall asleep with my pillow crammed on top of my head. Instead I was freezing outside; watching the inky water from a distance and listening to the night sing its song.

I did the same thing when I was at home in California, usually after I had spent most of the night trying to memorize a script that refused to stay in my head.

The stars twinkled above my head as I closed my eyes to let the darkness take me in. Peace, that's what I was after. As much as I love my job, even I need a break from acting once in a while. And the paparazzi.
"You ok?" A voice suddenly asked from behind me.

I jumped up from my swing and flipped around to see who had spoken to me. It was a boy; about my age with shaggy, charcoal colored hair. He was wearing a bomber jacket and had deep, black eyes that matched his hair.

"Oh, sure!" I said, tugging an ashy-brown strand of hair with my left hand.

The boy just looked at me skeptically. "Most people don't stay up until midnight looking at the ocean."

I sat back down on my swing with a huff. "Most people wouldn't have to; therefore they wouldn't be so used to staying up late that even if they tried to go to sleep they couldn't!" I ranted, rocking the vine swing back and forth with my feet.

I continued pushing the swing back and forth while the boy sat down on the ground across from me. He just waited and watched me as I grumbled to myself about the long hours I put in memorizing scripts and how many headaches I received because my dedication.

After a couple of minutes I stopped talking and looked up at the strange boy. He was watching me intently, but as soon I looked up he lowered his gaze. "So," He said soon after. "You're the actress girl from California. Mr. D is your dad too."

"Yes, I'm the 'actress girl', daughter of 'the wine guy'." I giggled a little bit as he blushed, lowering his head so I couldn't see his face. "You're Nico, right? Percy told me about you."

That caught his attention. "Percy told you about that, huh?" He asked while fiddling with a ring on his finger, a silver skull.

I nodded then touched the little golden bunch of grapes strung around a delicate gold chain on my neck. "Yeah, he told me the other day when he was teaching me how to swim. Isn't it odd that I've lived by an ocean my whole life and yet I've never learn how?"

Nico looked up at me and gave me a sad smile. "It's different, I guess. But a word of advice," He added. "Don't spend too much time alone with Percy, unless you want Annabeth breathing down your neck."

"Huh?"

"Think about it," Nico said. "A super famous, super cute girl hanging around your boyfriend. Would you like it very much?"

I paused to think about it.

"No, I suppose I wouldn't like it." I finally admitted.

Nico nodded then quickly pointed to my necklace. "What's that?" He asked hurriedly, as if he was trying to direct the conversation somewhere else.

"Wait a minute…" I mumbled. "You said I was cute!"

Once again, Nico blushed. Ducking his head, he muttered "Well, yeah. But…"

Suddenly I felt my own face redden. "I'm going to… Um… Go to sleep… Yeah!" I said before stumbling into the cabin.

Flopping onto my bed, I listened as Nico walked away from the cabin.

"Uh." Pollux suddenly moaned as he woke up. "Whas goin' on Nih-hee?" He asked as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

I looked over at him, taking in his sleepy expression and rumpled blonde hair. "Something Pollux. I believe something is going on."

Pollux gave me a wobbly thumbs up. "M'kay. Just don't mentally scar anyone."

And with a final thump he landed back on his cot and began to snore.