Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 19

That night, though, Cressida couldn't sleep. And it wasn't just because she might see her father tomorrow.

She was dressed in a black camisole and orange camp half-blood sweat shorts when she ripped the covers off her body and padded across the hall to push open a door.

Percy was already awake as she slipped inside and closed the door.

"Cress?" he said groggily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Everything ok? Are we there yet?"

"No," she answered. "We're not there yet. And, uh, I just couldn't sleep," she said, and Percy just stretched out his arm, beckoning her forward.

"Come here."

He lifted the blankets as she crawled into his bed, Percy's cabin smelling like a sea breeze just like his one back home. Annabeth and Cressida had made it this perfect mix of his cabin and his bedroom in Manhattan. It had felt like home the second he stepped inside. Cressida had even put some framed photos on his dresser. One of him and his mom and Paul. And one of Cressida sticking her tongue out at the camera as Percy kissed her cheek.

He moved that photo to his bedside table.

He held her close as he covered her with the blanket, her face nuzzling into his neck.

"I will warn you," Percy said, still sleepy. "If Coach catches us, I'm blaming you."

She gave a small laugh. "Again, you have no sense of adventure."

"Do you want to go back to your cabin?"

"As if you of all people would actually kick me out of your bed."

"Good point," he said as he hugged her closer if it was even possible. "Talk to me," he instructed, figuring it would distract her from whatever was preventing her from sleeping.

"About what?"

He thought for a second. "Your tattoo. When did that happen?"

He felt her chest deflate as she took a deep breath. "I was staying at your mom's house when Pollux showed up. It was his twentieth birthday. For as long as I can remember, he and Castor had a deal. When they both turned twenty, they wanted to get tattoos, why twenty, I don't know, but they weren't allowed to tell anyone what they were getting. They were going to find out what it was once they were done."

She had to pause for a moment, as Percy rubbed her back.

"Castor, clearly isn't here anymore, but Polly still wanted to do it. I'm sixteen. I could get a tattoo with parental consent. And even if your mother didn't pretend that I was her daughter I would've made the tattoo artist do it either way. Both she and Paul were with us when we got them done. And we both ended up getting the same thing."

Percy traced the cursive script that was inked on the back of her shoulder.

"Pollux has his over his heart. The other half of him. But, one of the last things my brother said to me before he died...was that he had my back. So, I figured, why not make it literal?"

Percy kissed her hair as it all finally made sense.

"Sleep," he told her. "Sleep, because I promise you, I swear it on the Styx, that I'm still going to be here when you wake up in the morning."

Her fingers gripped his skin tighter since he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Unless Coach catches us and kills me for even thinking about putting my hands on you."

She smacked his back. "Not funny."

"I'm sorry," he said but there was amusement in his voice. "Go to sleep, Grape Girl. I'm not going anywhere."