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-In fact, you're different.
Tyson looked down. He fiddled a pair of sunglasses between his thick hands, as if hesitating to put them on, to hide his difference from the mortals and the other immortals. Condemned to live alone in the woods in the northern United States, with no contact with anyone; he had been saved by his father and, indirectly, his half brother. His brother. He had discovered a fabulous world where it was normal to have divine ancestry, but it was still difficult to be ocularly deficient. But at least he could communicate with some people who, honestly, could barely talk to birds.
-You're damn near killing me, with your naivete. Seriously, "discuss cyclops to cyclops”?! You really believe that? In its own territory, with us, people it sees as appetizers, trying to filch its most precious possession, and that …
Running out of arguments, Annabeth put her head in her hands and tugged on her blonde locks. But what was she doing, trying reason with a cyclops? Sure, she used to try to reason with Percy, but this was a step harder. It was a whole level harder! Worse! It was downright Tartarus!
-Ok, listen to me. Grover is keeping Percy busy during our tête-à-tête. I'm going to try to say this as clearly as possible. I. Do. Not. Like. You.
She hoped he'd finally get it through his thick monster skull. She couldn't keep this up, even for Percy's sake. Percy's big pleading eyes were frankly beautiful. Strangely, his cyclops brother's eye was the same color, the same as their father's.
-In any case, it's only natural: children of Athena don't get along with children of Poseidon. Period.
Tyson raised his head at these words.
-But you get along so well with Percy! And we are brothers!
He put his glasses on his nose, blinking a little because of the change of vision.
-Percy? It's different. It's … different.
She frowned, grabbing a fistful of his vest. Her other hand was clenching, showing her nerves.
It was a good thing her friend was not around; he wouldn't have recognized her. She struggled not to punch the guy in front of her. She would risk being kicked out of camp. She wouldn't do that for anything. She'd come to camp pursued by a cyclops, she was not leaving because of a cyclops. Out of the question!
-Why do you hate me? What have I ever done to you? He sighed.
-You're a cyclops, she replied, as if it were obvious.
-And that's it? Because you were unfortunate enough to cross one of my fellows, you judge me before you know me?
He stared at her, apparently impassive. But inside him was a sea of despair.
He liked Annabeth. She was very pretty, with her hair like the sun and her amber-gray eyes. She was very intelligent, and equally strong. She didn't seem afraid of much (besides spiders, a trait common to all Athena's offspring). She spoke her mind fiercely.
-It's the way things are. We can't just welcome outsiders with open arms. We're demigods. The gods despise us and use us. Monsters want to destroy us, and mortals ignore us. We're alone. It's us against the world!
She had drawn herself up to her full height, and stretched out her arms. But with all her efforts, she couldn't measure up to his size.
-Me, I'm even more alone. I just discovered my brother. But I spent most of my life avoiding humans, because I scare them.
They were throwing around a lot of words, she realized. What did it all signify?
She threw her arms out in front of her, gripping the back of his colorful shirt. Then she noticed the image reflected in his glasses. She cuffed him, which surprised Tyson.
His eye seemed taunting. Unique, mocking, and sovereign, it defied her; what was she going to do now?
I... I... I...
Her vision blurred, bothering her a bit. He only had to see the tracks of her tears on her cheeks to understand what was happening to her, she was crying. She was crying because she was afraid. She was crying because she was ill. She was crying because she had nearly died. And she was crying because she did not understand what was happening. And when you're a child of the goddess of knowledge, that's scary. Very. The unknown into which she was plunged was horrifying.
Her grip loosened as sobs shook her body. She felt more and more vulnerable.
So Tyson did the only thing that made sense to him at the moment; he pressed her to him. In spite of her verbal abuse, indeed her physical abuse, and her attitude; her tears wiped all that away. She was just a lost little girl in him embrace. A girl who, above all, needed support.
-Why? She asked between sobs.
Why was she behaving so badly to Tyson? Why was she comparing Percy and his half-brother? Why didn't she avoid him, repulsed as she was? Really, why?
Abruptly, she changed course: opened her eyes, and kissed him!
Clumsily, Tyson pressed his lips back against the young demigod's. She had finally stopped crying. Shocked, she sought an answer. A thousand thoughts crowded her mind, leaving her disoriented and slightly breathless. What should she do? What should she think? What would her mother think? What would Thalia think of what she was doing? She'd kissed a cyclops! Not just a son of Poseidon – which was already bad enough – but a Cyclops! A damned circle-eyed!
The damned sea-green iris seemed to contain the mysteries and treasures of the seven seas. This damned one-eyed creature held her firmly in his powerful arms, reluctant to release her.
This dirty, one-eyed … who seemed interested in continuing their kiss.
Η τυφλή κουκουβάγια
- I … I think we should go back to the others, Annabeth suggested eventually.
She was out of breath, with ruffled hair and numb limbs. Sitting on Tyson's lap, she hid her face on his neck, as if trying to hide from her actions, as if trying not to see the truth in his face, as if she did not understand what they just shared, as if to ignore the others' reactions: the other demigods, her siblings, her mother. And Percy.
-We could rejoin Percy, Tyson offered, sweetly. Grover has been keeping him busy for a while now. I think that must be getting old.
-Percy?
-Grover.
They exchanged a small smile at the mention of the satyr. He must be running short of ideas for keeping Percy busy.
They rose slowly, and unconsciously joined hands, each still a bit lost in the blissful moment they had shared.
Η τυφλή κουκουβάγια
-Hey, Seaweed Brain! You weren't too much...
Annabeth immediately froze in shock, the end of her sentence lost in the wind.
-Well, Grover sure did find a way to keep him occupied, Tyson remarked quietly. Annabeth? Are you ok?
Seeing the state of his new girlfriend, the cyclops pulled her away from the scene, hoping to snap her out of her shock. He repressed his urge to laugh, though he couldn't stop his smile.
Behind them, the adolescent boys were getting busy. Too busy to notice their friends approach that might have interrupted their activities.
Up against an ash tree, the son of the sea god was unraveling in his friend's hands, under his tender ministrations.
They had been wrapped up in their own world for too long; now they finally took notice of their surroundings again. Not even dinner time could have diverted their attention from their private time together.
The nymphs, on the other hand, were a different story.
-Percy? I feel like we're being watched. Let's get out of here?