EPILOGUE

A few days after Annabeth and I made up, Camp Half Blood was electric with excitement. Chiron had informed us last night that the new shipment of camp T-shirts would be in this morning. All the campers were up early eating breakfast in the hopes of being the first to receive their shirts.

Seriously. Those shirts got so ratty. Even I was excited to get my new shirt.

A few hours after breakfast, Argus drove into camp with the strawberry truck.

All the campers swarmed around the truck as he got out and opened the back, revealing dozens and dozens of boxes all taped up.

Annabeth and I approached to help unload boxes.

"Percy… this is so exciting! New shirts!"

"I KNOW. I am so relieved. My shirt stinks. All the time. Even if I wash it."

Annabeth wrinkled her nose and smiled, shaking her head, mumbling, "Seaweed Brain."

I kissed her cheek and climbed in the truck and began handing boxes to the front so Annabeth could take them out.

After about ten minutes, all the boxes were unloaded.

I climbed out of the truck and ripped the tape off of a box.

Greeting my sight was a fresh smelling, soft, new set of… of…

No way.

Instead of the blazing orange…

White.

White.

This was blasphemy.

I took out one of the shirts, unfolded it, and held it up.

There was a collective gasp around the camp. Annabeth put her hands to her mouth.

"Oh no they didn't. Nuh-uh. The shirts… they're… they're white."

I looked at Annabeth with a helpless expression.

"Well, we can't send them back…"

"No. We can't. But… they're all wrong… we can't…"

"Wait! I have an idea."

The camp was murmuring and complaining around us.

I walked over to Annabeth and whispered my idea.

She looked at me, grinning widely.

"Best idea you've ever had, Seaweed Brain."

"Right?"

Annabeth walked closer to everybody and put her hands up.

"Hey! Camp Half Blood! Listen up!"

Slowly but surely everyone quieted down and looked at Annabeth expectantly.

"Because our beloved Camp Half Blood T-shirts are white instead of an awesome orange like they usually are, Percy and I have decided that a tie-dying party is in order. This afternoon after lunch!"

The camp gave a deafening cheer and departed to their activities talking animatedly about the festivities later today.

Annabeth and I walked over to the Big House.

We needed Rachel.

Two hours later, Annabeth, Rachel and I emerged from the Big House with various bottles of different colored dyes and buckets of solution to soak the shirts in. This would be awesome.

We set up a dozen or so stations around the Stadium. All the campers were eating their lunches. We would join them soon.

When we got to the Pavilion, cheering ensued once more. I stood up on my table to make an announcement.

"After lunch… hey. Guys. Quiet down… after lunch, everyone is free to head over to the Stadium to tie-dye their shirts. The boxes of the shirts are arranged according to size outside the entrance of the stadium. There are about 20 stations set up. Make sure you soak your shirt in the bucket of solution first, then put the rubber bands on it. Annabeth printed out some different designs, so go ahead and look at those for ideas. Then just pick your colors, and, well… tie-dye your shirts. There'll be a contest with a few different categories as to who has the best shirts, so BE CREATIVE!"

Everyone clapped and finished eating very quickly. Campers began filing out by the tens.

Annabeth and I sat down and ate our lunches. It was sort of awkward, because we were at our own tables and the only ones left in the Pavilion.

I made a joke of waving to her and shouting at her.

When we finished, we grabbed our shirts and headed over to the beach of the Long Island Sound.

We had set up our own private station there.

We kicked our shoes off and let our toes squidge in the sand.

"What kind of design are you doing?"

"I did some calculations and symmetry… if you fold it like… this… then this… then fold it over this way… twist here…"

Her tongue was sticking out. She was concentrating. Hard.

"…and put the rubber bands here… then it'll make an owl in the middle of the shirt!"

My mouth dropped.

"…You just… figured it out like that?"

"Yeah. What?"

"You're amazing."

Annabeth smiled.

"What're you going to do?"

"Just regular type. A cool spiral. I know how to do that one. And I don't have to think."

Annabeth laughed.

"What colors?"

"Blue and green."

"Figures."

"You?"

"The owl is going to be red… I just squirt it here…" (she pointed) "…and then I'm going to use blue. Hopefully, some of it will bleed together, and the red owl will be outlined in purple."

"It's going to look awesome. I'll vote for your shirt to win."

"Aw, thanks, Seaweed Brain!"

After we soaked our shirts, we walked over to the different assortment of colors.

I went for the blue right away.

Annabeth went for red.

I shook my bottle a bit and then popped open the cap.

SPLAT.

Some spatters of blue dye flew through the air.

And landed in Annabeth's hair.

She had just been about to start putting the red on her shirt when she looked up with an incredulous expression.

"Please tell me that was sea spray, Percy."

"Um… it was sea spray?"

"You got blue dye in my hair."

"Yes."

Annabeth shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. One hand was on her hip, and she was looking down.

Trying to remain calm.

I stood up and gulped.

Loudly.

Annabeth looked at me with no expression.

Then she bent down, retrieved the red bottle, opened it, pointed at me and squeezed.

A jet of red dye splurged out and hit me right in my chest.

I just watched.

It looked like a cannonball had gone through my chest when she was done.

She set the bottle down calmly and brushed her hands off.

We looked at each other.

It was SO on.

We both darted to the different bottles, opening them and attacking each other with them.

Streams of green, blue, red, yellow, orange, pink, and purple sprayed everywhere. It was a rainbow in the air… Iris would've been very pleased.

The battle continued for about 10 minutes. By the end of it, Annabeth and I were completely soaked in a rainbow flood of colors. And we were laughing uncontrollably. Annabeth walked over to me and hugged me around my waist. I hugged around her back and placed my forehead on her shoulder letting the last of my laughs leave my system. Annabeth dug her face into my chest giggling like a maniac.

"We're… we're a… mess… Percy…"

"I… I know… that was so… fun."

"I guess… even when Eris isn't around… chaos… is… inevitable…"

"But a… good kind of… of chaos… there's no… escaping… escaping it."

"You're… such… a seaweed brain… Seaweed Brain."

I stopped laughing, gulping in air, as did Annabeth. I looked into her eyes, placing my hand under her chin.

Then I whispered to her.

"But that's the reason you love me."

Annabeth closed the distance between us.

Our mouths connected, lovingly caressing each other's lips.

We separated.

Then Annabeth whispered back.

"Only too true."

I lifted her up bridal style. She gave out a shriek and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"PERCY!"

I started walking towards the ocean.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?"

"We need to wash off."

I smiled at her. She kissed my lips and smiled back.

"I suppose so…"

I willed myself to get wet as we entered the ocean together.

Our tie-dye shirts lay forgotten on the sands, piled one on top of the other… surrounded by puddles and specks of different colors.

The sun was starting to go down.

Pinks and purples and yellows and oranges splattered the sky, much like how the colors were on us.

We submerged under the water into the second best underwater kiss ever.

AN

And that is IT my lovies!

Thank you so much for reading this fic, and thank you to those who stuck with me and reviewed.

Like I always say, my readers are my backbone. You are my motivation! I love writing and would keep doing it anyway, but knowing people read my stories makes it all the more worthwhile.

Thank you so much!

With love,

LiLy-saLvatore-cuLLen

P.S.

I will be commencing with my Harry Potter fiction, for anyone who is interested, I Love Him, He Loves Her, starting in mid-December when my break starts. Look forward to more frequent postings since I will have NO schoolwork to worry about!

Hopefully I will be able to get some inspiration for another Percy Jackson fic… ::runs to the bookshelf in search of Greek Mythology book::… What? That was how this one came to be! Just reading myths! :D

But other than that... sadly, I am OUT of ideas.

Lily