The hot sand of the beach shifted between Val’s toes. She ran along the beach, and Foofy ran with her, jumping up to get the long stick in her hands. Val found herself laughing with joy at the discovery that she could safely have Foofy off-leash without him bolting away immediately.

“Do you want the stick?” By her hand, the stick waggled in front of Foofy’s face.

His big Dobie mouth opened to bite at it, but Val pulled it away before he could chomp down.

Her arm pulled back in preparation for an epic throw. “Go... fetch!”

As crowded as the boardwalk and stretches of beaches had been, this particular section of beach turned out to be secluded from those populated areas. Val and Foofy had climbed over some jagged, hazardous rocks to get here, and it proved to be well worth the effort. Besides, they needed to come in this direction anyway, what with the Old First Pier being located nearby, just behind that rocky cove off to the left.

This part of the beach had no one but Val and Foofy, and if anyone else happened to be nearby, they were likely other people with divine blood arriving for the boat that would take them all to the Summit of Ascension. For this reason, Val used her full strength at liberty to hurl Foofy’s stick as far as she could into the water.

Foofy may not be a retriever type of dog, but he went running as fast as he could across the beach. With a leap, he sailed over a wave and crashed into the water with a grand splash. As he tried to swim towards the stick though, he appeared to struggle in the water.

“Are you not able to swim very well?” Val called to him. For a moment, she pondered if she would have to serve as a lifeguard on-duty for her dog.

Foofy’s head bobbed up and down in the water. His eyes seemed to flash with some fear as he struggled to stay afloat. Rather than continuing to go for the stick, he let the waves help him back to shallow water where he could shake himself off.

Her eyebrows scrunched together, looking on at her poor Foofy. Apparently, not all dogs loved water. Whether it was a Doberman Pinscher thing or specific to this particular Dobie, Val did not know, but he seemed to be afraid of water. Either way, she now felt horrible for tossing his stick so far into the ocean where he could not retrieve it. She took a step to go and get it for him, herself.

“Hey,” a masculine voice called. “By that throw, I take it that you are a demigoddess.”

Val flinched, jumping up a little with surprise as she turned around.

She found herself looking at a young man who appeared to be about her own age. Not that it mattered to her none, but this young man also had a particularly handsome face.

“Uh, hi,” she stammered. “Being in this area, I would assume that you are a demigod yourself?”

He smiled widely. “Yep—”

Before he could say another word, Foofy took a great deal of interest in the new arrival. With deep woofs, he came running and continued to bark right at the young man’s feet.

“Quiet Foofy. No! Bad Foofy.”

At her reprimand along with some help from Keep the Peace, Foofy quieted down but stayed close to Val’s side. He watched the stranger with all intensity.

Upon hearing his name, the young man burst out into a cheerful laugh. “Your dog’s name is Foofy? That’s hilarious. Is he a divine beast?”

That question brought a massive smile to Val’s lips. After all, Foofy looked majestic enough to be a divine beast, the animal equivalent of demigods. Whereas divine blood naturally occurred in some humans and could be passed down from parent to child, divine beasts were more of a rarity since they had to be created, not bred. “No, I only wish that he were one! He’s just a mortal dog.”

“Ah, I see.” The young man seemed less interested in Foofy now, and instead focused on Val. His hand stuck out to her in the offer of a handshake. “My name’s Percival, or Percy for short.”

“I’m Valentine. Everybody calls me Val!” She eagerly shook hands with him.

This actually made for an incredibly exciting introduction. Right now, she was meeting the very first person with divine blood that might actually matter in her immortal life. Also, Percy just so happened to be a moderately cute, young man around her own age. Again, not that it mattered or anything. Had Val ever felt this excited to meet someone new before?

Across the sand, Percy settled himself down with arms raised back over his head. “Well, it’s just the two of us, both waiting here for the Wooden Serpent to return us home.”

“Yeah,” Val said. Following suit, she sat down on the beach as well. “What is the Wooden Serpent?”

“Yeah, I bet you’d want to know.” Percy closed his eyes against the sun, smiling more broadly than before.

“What?” Now Val felt truly and utterly confused.

“Wait, are you serious?” Percy asked, sitting upright. “You don’t know the Wooden Serpent, like the ship that takes us to the Summit?”

“Oh,” Val drawled out. Anybody with divine blood who had already been to the Summit would have known the name of the ship. That was a nice one. Val had just given herself away as completely unexposed to the ways of the Summit—a demigoddess who had been raised as a mortal.

“So, you’re one of the lost demigods, more mortal than divine. I guess that makes sense, you having a mortal dog and all.” After making this observation, Percy did not try to initiate conversation with her so much anymore.

By the subtle shifts in his attitude upon learning about Foofy’s mortality and Val’s background, she discerned Percy to be a shallow egomaniac. The revelation of his personality took away any charm that had made her think that he was cute upon first impression. There was no longer any reason for her to sit here with this jerk on the beach.

Rather, Val had the most wonderful dog in the world to give all of her attention to. Leaping to her feet, she called to Foofy to run towards the ocean with her.

Together, they ran and splashed around in the surf where the water was shallow enough for Foofy to always have his paws under him. Val made sure to pull out her phone and snap some pictures of him. As the sun sank lower towards the waves on the horizon, they clambered back onto the beach with both of them soaking wet.

Foofy shook all of the water from his coat, further showering Val with water droplets.

“Ah, Foofy!” she cried, but she could only laugh.

For supper, Val poured kibble into Foofy’s bowl and she ate a protein bar. Afterwards, she shared water with Foofy from a bottle and drank some for herself. Naturally, she offered food and water to Percy, but he declined under the pretense that he had already eaten.

The shore faced west, giving them a perfect view of the sunset. Of this too, Val snapped some photos, especially with Foofy in the shot.

“Do you want some pictures with your dog?” Percy asked. “I could take some for you.”

“Would you do that?” Maybe Val had judged him too harshly, too quickly. “Thanks!”

With some beautiful pictures on her phone, Val settled back down to watch the sunset. While the sun sank lower, she tapped away on her cellphone, much like Percy had been doing this entire time.

Val: Hello Mom! I’m texting to let you know that I’m safe for the night.

Along with that text, she sent her mother a picture of herself and Foofy with the sunset.

Mom: Wow! That is a stunning picture. What a beautiful sunset.

How did you get to the coast already?

The last thing that Val wanted was to worry her mother about how she had hitchhiked and stolen a car to get here, earlier today. Instead, she considered how she would text her tomorrow night.

“Hey Percy, do we get cell service or Wi-Fi at sea?”

“Nope. It’s a real drag.”

“How long is the journey?”

“It’s just three days. That’s one blessing, at least. Tavras has enchanted the ship, so it moves fast. No one could bother with making our phones work, though.” He rolled his eyes around.

“Thanks.” With that information, Val relayed the important points to her mother.

Val: I will be going into a dead zone soon.

Don’t expect to hear from me again for three days at least.

Mom: Thanks for letting me know.

Could we call before you go into this dead zone?

While Val felt cruel for rejecting her mother’s request, she barely had it in her to send these bare bones text messages. The feelings of betrayal still ran too deep with her mother for her to do anything but the absolute minimum.

Val: No.

How about I call when I have service again?

Mom: I would really like that. Thanks Val.

Stay safe these next few days, out there! I will look forward to hearing from you.

I love you. Goodnight.

By obligation, Val responded in kind.

Val: Thanks, I will.

Love you too.

Goodnight.

As frustrated as she still felt, Val really did love her mother despite their differences. Her head fell down to her knees, where she held her phone loosely beneath her legs. To keep herself from calling her at once, Val pushed all thoughts of her mother from her mind.

With her phone tucked away, Val watched the rest of the sunset in peace. Her hand stroked Foofy’s fur as the last colors of the sky turned from orange, to red, to purple. Then, the world descended into darkness. Soon, the ship that they were expecting around nightfall would come to the Old First Pier and whisk them away across the sea.

Character Update

* All entries are based on what Val knows.

Percival (Percy) Title: None Rank: Demigod Attributes: None Abilities Name Class Description

Unknown

n/a

- entirely a mystery