Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 57

Sleeping in Tartarus was a terrible idea.

Demigod dreams were always bad but in the bowls of hell, they were a thousand times more vivid.

First Cressida was strapped to a bed again, struggling to get free. Then she was walking in on her mother hanging from the staircase. Then she was running from a Hydra as Gleeson pulled her up Half-Blood Hill. She watched every bad moment in her life play out before the scene went black and the last thing she remembered was seeing the statue of Athena standing on Half-Blood Hill with Reyna at its side before she was finally able to jerk herself awake.

And she woke from one nightmare into another - well, almost. As she cried out and her eyes flew open, Castor was holding her to his chest as he shushed her.

"I got you. I got you, Cress. It was just a dream," he promised before Percy rushed over and she realised that the two boys must've swapped positions at some stage.

"It's ok," Percy said. "It was just a bad dream," he said as he tucked the hair behind her ear, but she was still shaken up by whatever she saw.

"Is it - is it my turn to watch?" she asked, and Percy shook his head as Cressida kept hers resting on Castor's shoulder.

"Nope. We're good. We let you sleep."

"Percy!"

"Hey, Castor made me sleep as well, but the smell woke me up and then I was too excited to sleep. Look."

Bob the Titan sat cross-legged by the altar, happily munching a piece of pizza and Cressida rubbed her eyes as if she thought she was still dreaming. "Is that pepperoni?"

"Burnt offerings," Percy said. "Sacrifices to Hermes from the mortal world, I guess. They appeared in a cloud of smoke. We've got half a hot dog, some grapes, a plate of roast beef, and a package of peanut M&M's."

"M&M's for Bob!" Bob said happily. "Uh, that okay?"

No one protested as Percy brought her the plate of roast beef and the second it hit her tongue she moaned before she wolfed it down. She'd never tasted anything so good. The brisket was still hot, with exactly the same spicy sweet glaze as the barbecue at Camp Half-Blood.

"I know," said Percy, reading her expression. "I think it is from Camp Half-Blood."

She pointed at the M&M's Bob was eating. "Connor Stoll always burned a pack for his dad at dinner the same way Papa always got grape Sour Patch Kids."

She couldn't help but think of when she'd kissed Percy there after the Battle of Manhattan. When they'd finally become official.

Percy put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, this is good. Actual food from home, right?"

"How is camp?" Castor asked as he snacked on the grapes. "Percy tells me that my little sister was named camp leader."

She scoffed. "Haven't exactly been much of a leader lately, but yeah."

"Ok," Castor said as he faced her. "You're not gonna do that. You did your best under the circumstances and once we get you out of here and you kick Gaia's ass back to whatever hellish pit she came from, you're gonna have all the time in the world to change that."

Cressida laughed as she licked some of the glaze off her fingers. "I'm still not used to you swearing in front of me."

Castor let out a loud laugh. "You're almost seventeen, baby sister. You gotta get used to it at some point. By the way, Jackson has a pretty good surprise for you for your birthday."

Cressida whirled on her boyfriend. "You only remembered me like a month ago, if even, and my birthday is literally Armageddon. How could you possibly have time to plan a surprise for my birthday?"