"Get up, Ashton!"
I sucked in a breath that wasn't there.
My arms flailed wildly, slapping against my own head, my ears ringing as the world spun. All I could see were fragments. Fire. Metal. Pieces of the plane tearing away and vanishing into the dark below. My body refused to listen, lungs screaming as if they could force air into themselves by sheer panic alone.
"Ashton."
His voice echoed inside my skull, too calm, too clear.
"My name," I choked, water rushing into my mouth as I thrashed harder, "is Aspen!"
Salt burned my throat. I broke the surface for half a second, coughing violently before the ocean swallowed me again. Every inch of me ached. My hands, my legs, everything felt scorched and numb at the same time, nerves screaming as my lungs went into overdrive.
I kicked blindly, fingers scraping against nothing until—
Metal.
I latched onto it without thinking, my grip instinctive and desperate. A twisted section of the plane's frame bobbed violently in the waves, jagged edges digging into my palms. I didn't care. I hauled myself against it, chest heaving as I finally dragged in air that tasted like smoke and salt.
Above me, the sky was chaos. Fire hissed as wreckage hit the water. The ocean rolled violently, dark waves rising and falling like it was breathing.
"You are dramatic," Manny's voice said casually.
I whipped my head around.
He stood balanced on another piece of debris like this was a lazy afternoon, hoodie untouched, hands shoved into his pockets. The ocean surged beneath him, but he didn't sway.
"I just survived a plane crash," I rasped. "I'm allowed to overreact."
"You flailed like you were auditioning for a drowning PSA," he replied. "Relax. You lived. See? Past tense."
I tightened my grip on the metal frame as another wave slammed into it, nearly tearing me free.
"What now?" I demanded. "Because I'm not swimming anywhere with... whatever that is." I gestured vaguely at the dark shapes circling beneath the surface.
Manny's eyes flicked toward the distant shore. A faint glow lit the horizon.
"Camp Half-Blood," he said. "Normally, you'd be torn apart before reaching it. Harpies in the air. Satyrs on patrol. Whole welcoming committee."
My stomach dropped. "Then fix it."
He smiled, slow and knowing.
"You remember Percy Jackson?" Manny said. "Sea of Monsters. High tide. Slipped right in."
The water around us began to shift.
I felt it before I saw it. The ocean pulled back unnaturally, the waves retreating as if inhaling. The surface went eerily smooth, tension coiling beneath it.
"I'll raise the tide only for a bit so that Poseidon doesn't realise what happened" Manny continued lightly. "Make a mess. Maybe a tsunami. You'll avoid most of the guards."
"Maybe?" I shouted.
The ocean answered first.
Water surged upward, a wall forming behind us with terrifying speed. The metal frame ripped from my hands as the current seized me, spinning my body violently. I screamed as I was dragged forward, tossed like debris in the churning water.
The wave crashed toward shore, carrying me with it.
I tumbled, slammed, pulled under and thrown back up again. My body hit sand hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. I rolled helplessly as water rushed past me, finally retreating and leaving me sprawled on the beach.
I lay there gasping, face pressed into wet sand, ears ringing.
Behind me, the ocean settled, deceptively calm.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard shouting. Alarm bells. Chaos.
Manny's shadow fell over me.
"Welcome to camp, demigod." he said before disintegrating into the night.
I dug my fingers into the sand, coughing saltwater and pain, one thought burning brighter than everything else.
I pushed myself upright.
Pain bloomed everywhere at once.
When I looked down, my breath caught. My skin was ruined. Charred patches crawled across my arms and torso, blackened and raw, broken up by streaks of angry red where the fire hadn't finished its work. It looked wrong, like my body had been stitched together out of injuries that didn't belong to the same person.
I didn't have time to process it.
Shouting echoed somewhere inland. Panic. Movement.
Satyrs.
I forced my legs to work, teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. Every step sent a sharp, nauseating wave of pain through me, but I dragged myself forward anyway, stumbling across the sand, leaving dark footprints behind. I couldn't let them see me like this. I couldn't let anyone ask questions yet.
I ran.
Branches whipped past my face as I broke into the treeline, lungs burning, vision blurring. I didn't stop.
Then Manny's voice slid into my head, calm as ever as I kept slapping into the branches.
"Now," he said, "pay attention."
I slowed just enough to keep from collapsing.
"You are a mystery," Manny continued. "And Camp Half-Blood loves mysteries. They'll want to know which god helped you survive."
My stomach twisted.
"Poseidon," he said. "Say it like you're guessing. Don't sound sure. Confusion sells it."
I leaned against a tree, breath shaking.
"Remember," Manny went on, "you are a mortal pretending to be an unclaimed demigod. If you play it right, they'll stick you in Hermes. That's where your son is."
Hermes. Unclaimed.
My chest tightened.
"Tell them about the plane crash," Manny added. "Let them connect the dots themselves. People are much more convincing when they think they're clever."
My hands trembled at my sides.
"I'll help you fake it," he said. "The powers. A push here, a trick there. Only for a few seconds at a time, and never twice in the same way."
I swallowed hard.
"Don't get greedy," Manny warned. "Olympus will be alarmed that a mortal dared to breach the walls of the camp."
The forest creaked around me, alive with unfamiliar sounds. I straightened, pain screaming in protest.
Manny finished, "Look. The less noise you make. The better. Make sure you don't get dragged into the plot."
I took a shaky breath and stepped deeper into the woods, toward the camp.
Small cabins lined up in a U as I came up from behind. I got closer and closer but until a sword was raised to my neck.
"You know, most people use the front door. Or, you know, a boat that doesn't involve a ten-story wave. So, let's try this again. Who are you, and what god did you piss off to end up here?"
I saw his sea green eyes. Percy Jackson.
Looks like the plot came to me.