004. Darkness, Swallow Me Whole

                                    

                                          
  The slow evenings by the fireside slipped away with the falling leaves, giving way to Aella-Mae's least favorite season: winter.
  Winter was bitter, selfish, and so short the days passed with the blink of an eye. She'd get woken up by an unpleasant pail of ice-cold water (otherwise, her bed would be the only place she'd go all day) and have to go take a shower. In theory, the shower would warm her up. The reality wasn't as pretty: Aella-Mae usually left shivering in her towel, blue in the face and frozen to the point where her bones were so brittle she was afraid they'd snap at any moment.
  And yet, she was the only one who fared so badly! In the eye of all the other legionnaires, winter in California was just a shade cooler than the rest of the seasons.
  For such reasons, she just about kissed Percy Jackson when he proposed that he, Frank, Hazel, and herself take a weeklong trip to Manhattan to see Camp Half-Blood. As a sort of Christmas trip back home.
  Freezing to death just a few miles off the beach was straight-up mortifying, but doing so in New York City had a certain ring to it: everything is better in the Big Apple, or so she was told. Whatever the case, Aella-Mae had her bags packed by noon and one foot already out the door.

✸

  "Fisher boy!" Aella-Mae continued to bang on the door, never missing a beat, "Perseus fucking Jackson, if you don't open this door by the time I'm done shouting, I swear—"
  Ironically, the door decided to fly open right then and Aella-Mae toppled over, knocking a pretty blue vase off Percy's shelf. She dove to the floor, somehow catching it before it broke into a million pieces. 
  Percy leant against his bedpost, a wide smirk on his face. "My middle name isn't 'fucking,' thank you very much."
  "What is it, then?" Aella-Mae placed the vase in a vague approximation of where it previously was. "Stupid? Fish brain? Kelp boy?"
  "You're losing your touch, my dearest Maesie," Percy teased.
  Aella-Mae opened her mouth to unleash a string of profanities that would have likely made Mr. D tremble with how vulgar they were, but a hand over her mouth quickly cut her off. Alas, such fickle measures were not enough to silence her. She licked Percy's hand, causing him to stumble backwards in surprise.
  "What the actual—"
  She grabbed his suitcase and began to wheel it out of the door, skipping as she walked so said suitcase bumped hazardously down the stairs. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
  Percy sighed, before taking his duffle bag and tracing her footsteps.
  Aella-Mae loaded their luggage into the back of the trunk and bowed dramatically, gesturing to the car. "I call shotgun!"
  "Well duh, did you expect me to drive in the passenger seat?"
  She hugged her knees to her chest, before deciding that was going to be a considerably cramped position to stay in for an extended period of time. Instead, Aella-Mae propped her feet onto the dashboard, giving Percy a wide grin that seemed to big for her face.
  Percy lifted one hand off of the wheel, pinching his nose. "When was the last time you showered?"
  Unbothered, she replied, "you should talk, kelp boy. You smell like fish." Aella-Mae wrinkled her nose, unzipping her backpack and pulling out a bag of chips. She ripped open the packet and inhaled the smell of good ol' processed oils and fats.