Do Daydreams Count too?

The tour was awesome! Now I know where everything is! After the tour, though, everything really picked up. Piper decided all the six (plus Nico and me) should go for a swim in the lake before Percy, Nico, and I go on our quest.

We all went to our cabins to change into our swimwear. I decided to wear a pink bikini. I quickly ran my brush through my long blonde hair and put it into a ponytail. I changed into some purple flipflops and ran out to the lake to meet the others.

Piper and Jason were already there. Piper had on a simple blue bikini and Jason had yellow swim trunks. They were sitting on the pier waiting for everyone; we planed to all jump in together.

I walked up and sat next to Piper.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," she replied. She seemed content on sitting next to Jason, their hands intertwined, and stare at the sunset. It made me think of Andy, my ex-boyfriend, who had dumped me on our date because, and I quote, I was "just too crazy." Well, at least I know now that I'm definitely NOT crazy. Although, I still don't know how he couldn't see those........whatever They were. I made a mental note to ask Piper the answers to both those questions later. This didn't seem like a good time.

Soon, everyone else started arriving at the lake. Percy in blue, Frank in red, Nico in black, Annabeth is gray, Hazel in, well, hazel.

Anyway, we all line upon the pier. Before anyone began counting down, it seemed we all had the same idea: to stand for a few minutes to just watch the water. I felt my eyes close and my mind wander. I thought about the last few days. So much had happened in so little time. I had my first confrontation with monsters, had seen Mount Olympus, met my mother (sort-of), and spoken with Leo, who, may I mention, is supposed to be dead. Let me repeat that: "D-E-A-D". Just as my thoughts began to wander that far, something weird happened. I caught a glimpse of Leo and Calypso sitting with a pizza box between them.

"It's called pizza," Leo said, as if he was talking to a toddler, "Say it with me, P-I-Z-Z-A," he stressed all the sounds and Calypso repeated him. "Now. You eat it like this," he defenestrated how to eat the pizza. Calypso copied his actions and her eyes lit up when she had a taste.

"Wow! That's," she searched for the right word, "AWESOME!"

Just as they both started laughing, Hazel's voice snapped me out of my trance.

"O.K. guys. Are you all ready?" We all nodded and such in agreement. "THREE! TWO! ONE!" she shouted and we all jumped into the lake.

The water was cold and wet on my skin. It felt like I had just been pushed, willingly, may I add, into a huge ice bath. Yeah, it was pretty epic.

When I finally resurfaced, I realized I was the first. I relaxed all the muscles in my body and let myself float. I liked the way it felt, floating, I mean. It's literally the definition of "going with the flow".

I sat up as Nico resurfaced.

I swam over to him.

"What's taking them all so long?" I asked him. It had been almost a minute, and I'm sure they can't ALL hold their breath for that long... Or could they...?

"Percy made a giant air bubble. They're all going to be a while."

"Oh," was all I could say. I'm not a very good at starting conversations with Nico. He doesn't seem very open about his feelings... Or what he's thinking... Or anything for that matter. ANYWAY, I had to try, right? "So what do you think of this quest?"

"I think last time I went on a quest, it was during the war... If that even counts as a quest," he added.

"Why," I asked, not feeling very hopeful about an honest reply about it.

"I was kidnapped by giants. And there was nothing I could do to save myself," he folded his arms, "They shoved me in a jar."

"No way!" he had to be joking. They stuffed him a jar?

"It's true," he kinda sounded annoy I didn't believe him, "Ask anyone of the seven. I had to use pomegranate seeds to stay alive because there was no oxygen."

This time I believed him. How could he make up a story so bizarre?

But before I could reply, Frank popped up above the water.

"Come on, you guys!" And he dived down back under water.

Nico mumbled some foreign language I didn't know. It was probably Greek. And he was probably cursing Frank. He dove underwater.

A few seconds later, after thinking about why Nico had been so open with me, I dove after him to join the others.