Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 101

When Percy's seventeenth birthday rolled around, they didn't spend it in New York. They didn't spend it anywhere in the continental US. They were in Hawaii.

They were in Hawaii because the wish that Percy had asked his father to grant in Greece, was to turn them into merpeople for a day so they could swim there - so they didn't have to fly or take a boat or anything like that - that was the power that resided in the red coral charm on her bracelet. They even stopped by Poseidon's underwater palace that was still under construction from the war last summer to properly thank him. Cressida couldn't even believe that her boyfriend had gotten his father to turn her into a mermaid for the day. She could breathe underwater, see with complete clarity and she was so fast. Her tail was indigo like her eyes and such a powerful muscle as it pushed her through the water. And not only did she get to do that flip that dolphins did when they broke the water, but she got to do that hair flip from The Little Mermaid before she kissed her merman of a boyfriend underwater like they did last summer.

They were staying there for a week while they toured the island of Oahu, paid for by Dionysus and the Olympus Express card that he'd given his daughter.

They'd be swimming back a couple days after Percy's birthday but today was actually August 18th and not only did Percy get spoiled because it was his birthday, but it was also because it was their one-year anniversary.

They'd gone for a nice swim in the morning before having breakfast at this little café on the beach. They went hiking up Diamond Head where they took a bunch of cute Polaroid pictures at the top. Then they went for another swim after that before heading back to their hotel room where Cressida gave him one of his two birthday presents. She'd gotten him walkie-talkies that Tyson made so they had unlimited range - they were like phones but because they worked on radio signals and not cellular signals, monsters were less likely to come after them.

And like the child he was, he ran to the other end of their massive hotel room just to make sure they worked.

They ordered dinner in as they watched a movie before Cressida gave him his second birthday present.

The Halloween thing that she had appropriately renamed the Birthday thing.

She'd had the word Jackson printed on the back, and where she got the outfit, he'd never know but yeah he was definitely over his paranoia of cheerleaders.

Best birthday ever!

They were tanned and happy and content when they got back to New York, the things they bought, more specifically the outfit Cressida wore for his birthday, were saved in some waterproof bags they'd gotten in Hawaii and Percy's powers so they could swim back with them.

Sally had been ready and waiting with Percy's blue birthday cake when they walked in.

But then came the dreaded day of Percy's return to school. And he was not happy about how much work Paul had presented him with to catch up on.

He was stuffing a bunch of papers and textbooks into his locker, waiting for the day to be over so he could go home and kiss his girlfriend before he whined to her about all the work he had to do if he wanted to graduate with her at the end of the year.

Going to his locker was a decent substitute to tide him over for a while though. He'd stuck a few polaroids on the door along with a blue sticker of a trident with the words cabin 3 under it. One was a polaroid of Cressida kissing his cheek at the top of Diamond Head. Another was of Percy lifting her up on a white sandy beach as they laughed. Another one was the photo he took of her blowing him a kiss on the beach at camp. And the last one was the one that Annabeth had seen stuffed in Percy's notebook years ago.