You’d made a habit of it. Little comments, said just loud enough. A smirk when Percy tripped over camp rules he didn’t know yet. Laughing when Clarisse shoved him, pretending it wasn’t your idea first. Even after the trident burned over his head and everyone started treating him differently, you didn’t stop. If anything, you leaned into it harder—like claiming him had been a challenge you took personally.

That afternoon, you were relaxed for once. Sitting with your friends, half-siblings, allies, people who liked you—laughing easily, sunlight flashing off armor and bronze. The camp felt normal. Safe. Percy Jackson was nowhere in your thoughts.

And then—Percy screams your name. You turned, brow furrowing in genuine confusion, just in time to see Percy stomping toward you. His face was flushed, eyes bright and furious, chest heaving like he’d finally snapped after holding his breath too long.

The crowd noticed immediately. Conversations died. Heads turned. Percy stopped a few feet away from you and thrust his hand out, fingers splayed, shaking with effort. For a split second—just one—you felt it too. The expectation of something crashing into you. Water surging up from the ground, from the air, from nowhere. Something powerful. Something deserved.

Nothing happened. Not even a ripple. The silence stretched, thin and awful. Percy stared at his hand, then at you, disbelief flickering across his face. He pushed harder, jaw clenched, arm trembling like he could force the world to obey him if he just tried enough. Still nothing. Someone snorted. Then another laugh broke loose—sharp, cruel, uncontrollable. It spread fast, rolling through the crowd like wildfire. Campers doubled over, pointing. Someone mimed getting knocked over by an imaginary wave. Someone else called out, “Nice trick, Seaweed Brain!”

Percy’s hand slowly fell to his side. The anger drained from his face, replaced by something much worse—confusion, humiliation, the dawning realisation that he’d picked the wrong moment, the wrong audience, the wrong kind of courage.

and everyone began to laugh.