Indigo Eyes

Chapter 34

The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously towards the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering. None did. It was a beautiful summer day with a blue sky and plenty of sunshine. The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

And between Poseidon's warning and Cressida's kiss, Percy could barely function properly. Cressida, however, was regretting telling Annabeth about the kiss. The girl hadn't stopped teasing her no matter how many times she said it was a purely platonic thank you kiss, Annabeth didn't seem to care even though Cressida had given Tyson a kiss as well to thank him for making her charm. Annabeth had told her that from what she'd seen of her and Percy, they'd either end up hating each other or making out - she'd read it in a book apparently.

Cressida hadn't even thought about Percy in a romantic way ever - actually she'd never thought about anyone in a romantic way before. She hadn't known what to say to that so she just denied it and decided to focus on the chariot race and destroying Percy.

"Annabeth," Tyson grinned as he held the reigns, not wanting to hurt people as he pulled up next to the girls. "Pretty Girl!"

"Hi Tyson," Annabeth said as Cressida waved, the reigns wrapped around Annabeth's hands.

"You're dead meat, Fish Face," Cressida smirked.

"I don't think so, Grape Girl. See, Tyson made me some new toys," he boasted but Annabeth and Cressida kept smiling and that made him nervous.

"Well, I'm sure they're good, but see, the things I poached from the Hephaestus and Hermes cabins are probably better."

Okay, yeah, he was definitely starting to regret his whole arrogant act last night even more so when he heard her brothers' cheers.

"Yeah, Cress! Go, Annabeth!" Castor shouted, waving a cabin twelve banner.

"Kick his salty ass, Cress!" Pollux bellowed, waving a flag with his sister's name on it.

"Dude, quit it with the language," Castor said as he stopped waving his flag.

"Dude, quit being a buzz kill."

"Quit being annoying."

"Quit being a fun-sucker."

"Both of you quit it!" snapped their father who was sitting on an ornate wooden chair, carvings of grapevines etched into the wood as he popped a can of diet Coke. He'd surprised everyone by turning up to watch today, his daughter's heart warming at the sight of him in the stands with her brothers. "Unless you are cheering for my Jewel or the downfall of that Johnson boy, put a sock in it."

The two boys stared at each other before they thrust their flags back into the air.

"Knock 'em dead, Cress!" Castor screamed.

"Knock him on his loser ass!" Pollux raged and Castor sighed before continuing on with,

"Shove his stupid sword up his stupid ass!"

And Dionysus simply shook his head as he downed half his can, desperately wishing it was wine.

"Your brothers need to work on their insults," Annabeth remarked as they waited for the starting mark, Cressida's spear gleaming in the sun as she flung her braid over her shoulder.

"Because your siblings know how to throw insults," she said to where the other Athena kids were spouting words that she was sure wasn't any of the six languages she knew how to speak.