Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 54

If they ever survived this, Cressida would never complain about any date he ever took her on again because this was probably the least romantic walk they'd ever taken in their lives. Not that she complained about their dates. She loved them. I mean, he took her to Paris for crying out loud, but that was only after they'd climbed through a sewer to fight a giant and then gotten doused in sewer water and a bunch of other awful stuff...but that was still nothing compared to this.

They followed the River Phlegethon, stumbling over the glassy black terrain, jumping crevices, and hiding behind rocks whenever the vampire girls slowed in front of them. It was tricky to stay far enough back to avoid getting spotted but close enough to keep Kelli and her comrades in view through the dark hazy air.

The heat of the river made the already unbearable acid air even hotter. Every breath was like inhaling sulphur-scented fibreglass. When they needed a drink, the best they could do was sip some refreshing liquid fire.

Definitely a good time.

Cressida was also regretting wearing shorts but then again, she didn't know she was going to fall into Tartarus so she couldn't exactly plan for it. Her hair tie was still holding for now but lots of her braid had fallen out and she hadn't had the chance to redo it yet. But asides from the ripped hem of Percy's t-shirt that she wore, her clothes were still in good condition, and most of her cuts and scrapes had healed. And despite being beat up, exhausted and covered in soot and starving, she still looked like a million bucks to Percy.

So what if they were in Tartarus? So what if they stood a slim chance of surviving? He was so glad that they were together, he had the ridiculous urge to smile. And he actually did at the thought of what Cressida would say about his timing.

Man, he loved her.

And it was that love that was helping him fight how scared he was, and he was pretty freaking terrified, though he'd never tell Cressida that because she'd either do two things. She'd either comfort him which he didn't think was fair on her or it would add to her own fear and her abandonment issues and she'd be convinced that he'd bolt, at least emotionally, the way he did when he thought he was going to die in the last Prophecy even though he would never ever even think of leaving her, especially in Tartarus, but he knew the intrusive thoughts her fatal flaw made her think and the last thing he wanted to do was add to it.

Though, he imagined that he'd be adding to her anger if he said that he wanted to - he took that back. He didn't think she'd be angry if he said it. Or maybe she would be after they saw the bubbles swelling from the ground before they burst and disgorged a monster like larva from an egg and their hunger died like Arachne did. Honestly, he couldn't tell with how emotionally strung out the two of them were after this whole Tartarus thing, but hey, he doubted it could get any worse, so he might as well just say what he wanted to even if it got him smacked.

"Wine Vine, when we get out of here, do you think there's a chance that we could do that trauma healing thing where we replace bad memories with good ones, and I could see you in a cheerleading uniform? Because I'm fairly certain that I have a very deep-seated fear of cheerleaders right now."

His timing was perfect as usual, but it was comments like that, the when of it all that kept her going. Because even if they didn't completely believe that they could do it, they were working their way up to it, they were trying to convince themselves.

She bit her bottom lip.

"I'm not making any promises," she whispered. "But if we live till Halloween, there may be a rising possibility of you seeing me in a short skirt with your high school's name plastered across my chest."

He almost died on the spot.

"Are - are you serious?"

"If we live through this, I might even make sure your name is printed on the back."