𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇

chapter 22

this one's kinda short, ngl.

Leo was probably Percy's only option. His computer was broken, and his translators were throwing gibberish at him... Leo had learned Morse when he was a child. He could read it as easily as it was for Percy to talk.

Percy wrote the Morse, dot for dot, and line for line onto iMessage (which took a good 7 minutes, thank you very much) and sent it to Leo.

P: u know what this says?

It then hit him that Leo was already on his vacation with his dad, so he wouldn't answer. So, Percy had basically just wasted seven minutes of his life. If Leo wasn't there to decode the message, then WHAT THE HELL WAS PERCY SUPPOSED TO DO? He couldn't very well ask Annabeth to translate it. She'd obviously written it in Morse so that it wouldn't be easy to decode.

And it's not like he knew anyone else who knew Morse...

Wait. "...I left a note on her desk. Wrote the question in morse code. Ahh... she thought it was so romantic...." Those words. Leo had said them about his new girlfriend. What was her name? Calopia? No, that couldn't be it. Calopy? No, that didn't sound right. Calypso? Calypso. Yeah. That was it.

If Leo asked her out in dots and lines, then that probably meant she could read it too.

Percy opened up Instagram, praying and hoping that she had an account.

@cal_atlas. That must be her. He messaged her: "hey r u Leo's girlfriend?"

"Leo Valdez?" she typed back.

"yeah."

"Yes, I am. You're his friend Percy, right?"

"yup. so listen, i need a favour," Percy asked through his screen.

"What do you need?" she questioned.

"i need u to uncover some morse for me," Percy wrote, hoping she'd accept.

"Sure, send it to me." Thank the gods. Percy thanked whoever was out there for this tiny miracle.

He copy-pasted the Morse he had sent to Leo (for the sake of not spending another 7 minutes of writing dots and lines) and now sent it to Calypso.

"I'll tell you when I decode it, okay?" she asked.

"sure, thx," he responded.

"No problem."

-time-skip-to-when-Calypso-knows-what-it-says-

Percy was writing the note in the gift he'd gotten for Annabeth (architecture book) when his phone went DING!

That must be Calypso! It's been a full hour. What took her so long? Well, as long as he'd get the message, he didn't care how long it took.

"I know what it says," Calypso had written.

"What?" Percy asked, desperately.

The message she sent next was a photo, on it, it said: "Morse code traduction: Hi Percy, I am still in love with you, but I'm scared of what will happen to me if I stay with you. I can't afford to be hurt again. I think not acknowledging you is for the best.-Sincerely, Wise Girl."

Percy sighed. Of course, that's why she'd been ignoring him. She wasn't ready for any of this. At least he knew that she was in love with him!

And if his Wise Girl wasn't ready for it yet, he'd wait till she was. Because he loved her too. And no one could change that.