Chapter 8

                                    

                                          


                          
Percy's Point of view
                          
"Silena!" I said, groaning internally, "Draw on the paper, not the wall."
                          
I walked into the kitchen to get the supplies I would need to clean up her drawing. As you may have already guessed Silena had taken a liking to drawing and colouring, and this wasn't the first time I had found one of her drawings in places where they shouldn't be. Despite little incidents like this, I have enjoyed raising Silena.
                          
Whether she was trying or not she often bought a smile to my face, sometimes I would sit down and draw with her even though I'm not the best at it. when I did we would talk and laugh about what we thought each other's drawings were. The moments with her were what I looked forward to every day.
                          
Even though I'm a guy and I'm not really into girly things like she is, I would sometimes sit down and play with her, or watch her movies and cartoons with her if she asks me to. I do it, but secretly if I have to hear the music from frozen one more time I think I might claw out my eardrums.
                          
A/NSorry frozen fans, I kind of thought it would be funny, and I've actually never seen the movie.
                          
Regardless, even though I watch them with her I know what she doesn't. I know that happily ever afters only exist in fairy tales, and things rarely ever turn out the way you want them to. Obviously, I wasn't going to tell her that, not now at least. I would let her enjoy her ignorance while she still could.
                          
I'm happy here with Silena, but the pain caused by Annabeth leaving me still hurts. Despite having SIlena, it still feels like something's missing from my life. I had thought that Annabeth would be the one I would be with for the rest of my life. I thought that we would get married, that she would be the one I would have children with, but it seems that wasn't the way things were meant to be.
                          
I know that everyone that knows where I am are all concerned about me, but there isn't anything they can do about it, and there isn't much I can do either. Whether I like it or not, we will have to leave the future to the fates, and wait and see what happens. As I was wiping Silena's drawing off the wall I heard a knock on the door, after a moment's thought I figured that there were only two people it could be since anyone else would have called up and told me they were here.
                          
that and the fact that only a few people know where I live. A couple of the guys from work know, my boss knows, my dad, and my mom and Paul know, Thalia, Nico, and Grover know. To narrow that down a bit more, my dad and Nico are the only ones with powers that allow them to not have to use the elevator or stairs. So I figured that the person at the door could be either one of them.
                          
Sure enough, when I opened the door my little cousin stood in front of me. The faintest hint of a smile appeared on my face, and I said,
                          
"Hey, Nico."
                          
Instead of replying Nico said,
                          
"Wow Percy you're cleaning, never thought I'd see the day."
                          
I fake laughed and said, "Very funny Nico."
                          
When Nico had mentioned me cleaning I realized I still had the cloth in my hand. We walked further into the apartment, and I put the cloth down, I would finish that after Nico left. Glancing in the direction of where I knew Silena was I said, "I wouldn't be cleaning right now if someone hadn't decided to draw on the wall."
                          
That statement caused Nico to burst out laughing, Silena must have heard his laughter because she stopped playing in her room and wandered out to see what was going on.
                          
When she joined us, Nico didn't seem to be in a hurry to introduce himself to her, so Silena asked me, "Daddy, Who's he?"
                          
I replied, "Silena, This is my cousin Nico."
                          
I knew that Nico wasn't the most social guy around, and Silena seems to be the exact opposite since she could now talk pretty well she had become rather social. I'm a bit more like Nico these days since I talk to people I already know, but I'm not really trying to meet anyone new. Silena and Nico had a short conversation, but Silena wandered over to one of her toys and started playing with it.
                          
Nico and I continued to talk, he told me that he would visit again whenever he could and that he would have come sooner except his dad was keeping him rather busy.
                          
After Nico left I finished wiping Silena's drawing off the wall, I wasn't really that surprised that Nico had visited, the last time we talked he said that he would try to. I knew that Thalia was going to ask Artemis if she could visit too, so I wouldn't be surprised if I see her soon.
                          
The only time I use riptide these days is when I'm facing a monster. I can't really practice since these days I'm either at home or at work. Thank the gods that no monsters have attacked me while I'm at work, I'd rather not lose my job because of them. Thankfully they haven't tried to attack me at home either.
                          
We've been trying to take Selina to some places where she would be around other kids, even if she doesn't play with them yet she should get used to being around other kids her age. After she was around them more though I think that made her think of questions that I had hoped she wouldn't ask for a while yet.
                          
Unfortunately for me, she asked them a couple weeks after Nico visited. I guess spending more time around other kids had made her realize that there was one parental figure missing from her life. Obviously, she had me, her father, and mom, Paul, and my dad as Grandparents, but she had obviously realized that her mother wasn't a part of her life.
                          
One night when I was tucking her into bed she asked me, "Daddy, Why don't I have a mommy?"
                          
Technically she could have tucked herself in, but she liked when I did it. I had to think about how to respond before I said, "Your Mommy couldn't take care of you, so she left you with me."
                          
That wasn't a complete lie, the gods aren't allowed to raise their demigod children due to the ancient laws, so even if a god wanted to they couldn't raise one of their demigod children.
                          
Silena asked, "Why has she never visited us?"
                          
Thinking for a moment again I replied, "She moved away, I haven't heard from her since." That wasn't a complete lie either, her mother had obviously returned to Olympus, and hadn't contacted me since. To avoid further questions that I might not know how to answer right now I said to her, "Silena, I promise I'll tell you more about your mommy when you're older, but right now it's past your bedtime."
                          
I chuckled when she yawned proving my point. Finally, she said, "Okay Daddy, Good night."
                          
I replied, "Good night Silena." Before turning off the light and walking out the door. I watched TV for a while, but I eventually went to bed myself.