I'm baaaaack! I know you missed me this much: Yep. That much.
We eat bread with a lukewarm slice of turkey on it. When we fine a stream, we take the advantage to bathe in our underwear. When Percy closes his eyes and the water pours over him, I find myself unable to tear my eyes away. I'm frozen in place.
"You alright?" Percy asks casually, walking toward me.
"I just…I just really want to kiss you."
He laughs. "That's not all that's on your mind."
"Camp rules. No extreme kinds of love. What is on my mind is definitely an extreme kind of love."
Another laugh.
"You can have a kiss, though." And he kisses me. He kisses me for so long, I lose sense of where we are, what we're supposed to be doing. I forget who I am, even. I forget everything except Percy.
"Oh, look! A stream! Cool. Want to take a bath?"
"Maybe. What kind of bath."
"A bath. Stop winking."
Percy and I break apart, breathing heavily. I reach for my weapons, to find they're on the others shore with our clothes.
"Weapons, Percy."
"We're in a river, Wise Girl. I happen to be able to control every kind of water."
We freeze when the voices start up again.
"Dang! We were supposed to stay undetected!"
"Who do you think it is?"
"Percy, Wise Girl? Are you even awake?"
"I was testing you."
"They all say that."
"Who's they?"
I stare at Percy. I can imagine the faces belonging to the voices, one pouty and the other pretending to be angry.
"It's Piper and Jason!"
"Yep."
I raise my voice. "Guys? You might want to come out here! We know you're there!"
A bush shakes, and I can barely detect voices. Percy, being so patient as he is, beckons with his hands. A wave erupts, washes ashore, and when it comes back, it has two demigods in its grasp.
"Fancy meeting you here," Piper says, conversationally.
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh, sightseeing."
"Right. Sightseeing in such way that you couldn't be detected."
"Um, yeah."
"Piper, drop the act. They ought to know," Jason says, helping her up. She sighs, defeated.
"Fine. But Mother is going to be so disappointed."
"Explain."
"Well, Mother was bored. So she cursed you, with some help, and then set up this elaborate game. We're supposed to make it to her castle alive."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Hmm…" I put a finger to my chin for a moment. Absently, I scratch my back, which was itchy.
"I—" Another itch. "Huh." I twist around, trying to see. "Percy, do you think I have poison ivy?" He shrugs, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"Anyway, are we supposed to team up or is like a race? Because—" Another itch! I scratch furiously.
"Um, you okay?" Jason looks a little concerned.
"Yep. Just a little itchy."
"So, I don't know about the race thing. I guess we can team up, it'll increase our chances."
I feel another itch this time, except it's longer and sends chills up my back. With a start, I realize it's a finger.
"I guess we should. I like not dying."
Suddenly, Percy smacks me.
"Ow!"
"There's a bug! I didn't get it."
"Hmm." He goes for a another swing. Not to be beaten, I grab it before he can get me, and twist under it, hopping onto his back. Piper and Jason have respectfully turned around. I squirm up, my legs holding tight around his waist and my arms on his shoulders.
"You hit me."
"Yes," He says, glancing at my legs. I smirk, then run a finger from his collarbone to his earlobe.
"An itch," I whisper in his ear. He swallows. I fight back giggles. "You're silly, Percy. I will always win." My lips are almost touching his ear. He blinks a bunch as my warm breath hits his ear. "An itch," I say with my lips right on his ear.
"Yep. An itch…I'm sorry? Really, I was just testing the…the whole…" He swallows as I play with his hair.
"The whole what?"
"The…the whole Aphrodite thing…" I giggle, and see the sides of his eyebrows shoot up.
"You're toying with me!"
"Sure I am."
Without warning, he falls backwards. The water is very shallow, so I can lay down and the water barely laps the back of my ear. My legs, however, are fully submerged. Percy's flipped himself over, and he's caged me in. His closeness causes my breath to hitch in my throat. He smiles.
"You were toying with me. Lets see, we were…this close?" He leans in further.
"And you did a little…of this?" He runs a light finger from my earlobe to my collarbone.
"Did you? Shall I try again?" He does it again and I shiver. "That's a yes, isn't it?" Then he leans closer. "Was next? This?" He's so close. "And you whispered in my ear…" I can almost feel his lips. Then they're on my ear. "You thought you'd win."
He pulls back slightly, shifts his weight, and starts playing with my hair.
"I can do this all day, Annabeth. Just tell me what you want."
I try to resist, but he's too close. I can smell him, I can sense him.
"What do you want, Annabeth?" He's dropped my hair and leaned in again. "What do you want?"
I try. Really, I do. But… I can't resist.
"This," I breath out, grabbing his head with both hands and pulling him down. His lips meet mine, and I melt.
This chapter has satisfied me. Really has. Very romantic. Oh, and we met Jasper again! But what about the third van…?
Review!