"Come on, there's an old shipwreck not too far away. We can go explore that." Dad walked down to the waves, not noticing I had stopped walking. "Or we could-" He looked over and froze when he saw I wasn't there.

I sat down on the sand, taking off my shoes and socks. I buried my feet into the sun-warmed sand.

"We still need to have you back by curfew, so we need to go now." Dad looked at me.

My eyes were locked on the rolling waves and I didn't move. Dad walked back to me and crouched down.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm just not in the mood to go do stuff. I know you probably want to go, but I'm not going to be much fun."

"You might have more fun than you think."

"I really want to sit here."

I thought that maybe he'd be satisfied with that, but I should have known better than to not give a god what he wants. He picked me up, slung me over his shoulder, and walked towards the water.

"Dad! Let me go!" I flailed around, trying to make him lose his grip.

"You act like I'm trying to kill you."

The water was up to his waist and I pulled my arms close to my body as he continued into the ocean. At one point I held the plank position, but it ultimately didn't matter. Cool water surrounded me momentarily before I created a small air pocket, forcing the water to stay an inch away from my skin.

"Dad," I said, voice wavering. "Please let me go."

"Percy, you know I'm not-"

"Dad! Let me go! Please!" More of my panic seeped into my voice, causing him to loose his grip on me.

I rushed back to the surface, moving clear of the waves as they tried to wrap around my ankles.

I sank to the sand beside my shoes. Shit. This is bad. So fucking bad. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to stop any tears before they started to flow.

It would be one thing with anyone else, still bad but...this? Most of the words Arion taught me doesn't even cover this.

I stared at the water, waiting for Dad to walk out angry and demanding that I tell him what that was about.

The sun hung above the water and it was almost time for lights out. Still no sign of Dad. I didn't move.

My arms itched and my fingers twitched reaching for Riptide. I fought the feeling. I tried to let the sound of the water calm me down.

It would have worked out fine before: the roaring waves would have drowned out the mess of convulated thoughts and emptiness torrenting through my mind. I'm sitting here longing for that, while each hiss of the receding water spiked my anxiety.

Finally, Dad walked up the beach. His eyes trained on me and I did my best to relax, only to scuttle backwards as a large wave nearly crashed on me.

"Are you...scared of the water?" Dad looked concerned, his eyebrows drawn together and his mouth set in a frown.

"You know how much of a laughingstock I would be if I was scared of water?"

"That doesn't answer my question."

I stood up. "Why would I be scared of water? I can control it." I walked towards my cabin. I closed the door and didn't bother to lock it. I grabbed clothes and went into the bathroom to change.

I gathered my dirty clothes and shoved them against the bottom of the door. I unwrapped the bandages from around my leg before uncapping Riptide.

Blood dripped onto the floor. A small, content smile appeared on my face as the emptiness and panic lifted. I felt relaxed. At least, until there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"You in there, Percy?"

My eyes widened. "Yeah. Getting changed."

"Do you need me to grab you anything?"

"Dad, I'm like the only person in this cabin. I keep everything I need in here," I said, hastily wrapping the bandages back around my leg. I pulled my pant leg down, moved the blood into the toilet, and flushed the toilet.

I grabbed my clothes off of the floor before opening the door. Ignoring Dad, who was sitting on the spare bottom bunk, I tossed them into the hamper.

Before I could climb into bed, Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. "You okay, Percy?"

"Dad, if you were Mom I would tell you stuff about this but I doubt you want to know that." I rolled my eyes, keeping up with my lie.

The only thing I'll have to worry about for a week is if I'll actually start, but I'm wearing my fuzzy pants so it shouldn't be noticeable even if my uterus decides to kill itself for bringing dishonor.

He chuckled and kissed my head. "Just checking. Goodnight Percy."

I knew, at that moment, I was screwed. Well, not at that moment. More like at two am when I was having a panic attack.

I had my hand clamped over my mouth, trying to muffle my sobs. My chest hurt, though if it was the pain in my heart or from my lungs working triple time I don't know.

A weathered hand rested on my forehead before smoothing my hair. "It's okay. Just breathe."

What was meant to be a soothing gesture had the opposite effect and my breathing grew faster. With my already decreased oxygen intake from hyperventilating cut further from my hand in front of my mouth, I ended up blacking out.

I...

Should probably be studying.

I'm gonna go do that and then I might work on some other stories or play a game.

See yah