Archive of Our Own

“That’s just so typical of you.”

Annabeth Chase would have probably recognised that voice anywhere. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she turned around, one hand on the strap of her bag, the other wrapped around the handle of her hastily packed suitcase.

Standing before her was a tall man with dark hair, a crooked smile and a barely visible scar over his eye, which he’d had since childhood. He wore an expensive-looking suit and gleaming polished shoes. Luke Castellan. “Without a word of farewell you’re leaving town.” He shook his head and took a step closer. “I would have thought that at least I was worth more to you than that.”

It took all her willpower not to turn around and run through security. There were still three people ahead of her. She just had to buy herself enough time to walk through the gate; then Luke wouldn’t be able to follow her if he hadn’t bought a ticket. Although… she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t resort to such measures to catch her again. “It’s an emergency,” she said. “My father is ill.” The lie slipped effortlessly from her lips and she lifted her chin slightly to look Luke in the eye. “You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

“I’d really like to believe that, Annabeth,” he replied.

Any warmth she’d once felt when he said her name had vanished. All that remained was a cold emptiness, which she wasn’t sure she could ever fill again. “And why is that?”

He smiled a little more broadly, his hands loosely buried in the pockets of his suit jacket. “A wedding can’t really take place without a bride, can it? I’m afraid people will notice you’re missing.”

“Weddings can be postponed,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. There were two people ahead of her. “I wouldn’t want to get married without my father anyway.”

Luke blinked slowly before sighing. “What’s this all about, Annabeth? You know you can’t lie to me. If you really want your father at your wedding, then I’ll give up my seat on the board.”

Damn. She probably should have realised he’d see right through her when she came up with such a simple lie. However, her hasty departure hadn’t given her much chance to polish her story. She’d simply hoped she’d be long gone by the time Luke realised she wasn’t at home. She gripped the suitcase handle a little tighter.

“Where’s your ring?”

“What?”

“The ring.” Luke took his hand out of his pocket. Between his fingers gleamed a small, golden ring that, until a few hours ago, had been on Annabeth’s finger. “This ring.”

“I must have forgotten it,” she said, reaching out her hand, but Luke pulled his arm back.

“Forgotten,” he muttered quietly. He shook his head. “You must think I’m an idiot if you believe you can get away with this so easily, Annabeth. My grandfather paid a fortune for this wedding and I won’t let you embarrass him or me.” He stretched out his arm and reached for her suitcase. “Come on.”

“No!” Annabeth pulled herself and her suitcase back, breaking Luke’s grip. Startled, she stumbled a step backwards and the man in front of her in the queue grunted softly. Just him left, then it would be her turn. “I’m sorry, Luke, but the wedding will have to be postponed.”

“I really want to believe you, Annabeth,” he replied. “But Grandfather warned me that something like this would happen. Women who take on too much always get cold feet when it comes down to it. I should have seen it coming when you didn’t even want to choose the dress yourself.” He shook his head again and took a step towards her. “You’re so resistant to a life that would offer you everything you could ever need. You should be grateful. You’re a clever girl; surely you can see that I’m right.”

The man in front of her went through security. Annabeth swallowed hard. Just a few more seconds, then it would be her turn. What could she do to distract Luke? She looked around in panic, but apart from her suitcase and her bag, she had nothing with which to defend herself. There was a single ballpoint pen in her jacket pocket, but she doubted she could do much with it. She could vaguely hear the security guards talking whilst the man in front of her placed his jacket on the conveyor belt.

Luke didn’t want her; not really. He wanted the idea of her. She’d realised that a long time ago, but she’d still held out hope that it would change. He could have realised that she was more than just a pretty girl by his side, a childhood friend he didn’t have to accustom to his quirks. When he’d proposed, she’d just turned eighteen and had done a good job of putting off the wedding until then. Now she was twenty-five, had a fantastic job at one of New York’s biggest architectural firms, and he expected her to give it all up to focus entirely on her duties as a wife, as he had put it. Not only was she to quit her job, she was also supposed to be nothing more than the mother of his children, whilst he made a name for himself in his grandfather’s firm. The Luke she’d grown up with would never have asked such a thing of her, but the man standing before her had long since ceased to be the Luke she’d used to climb trees with. He’d become a caricature of his grandfather; power-hungry, cold, profit-driven. He didn’t really care about family. He did what was asked of him and asked no questions.

“I’ve told you what I think,” Annabeth said in a hard voice. “I don’t care what your grandfather says, or what my mother says, but I’m not going to give up on my dream so you can live yours.”

“Don’t be stupid, Annabeth,” Luke hissed quietly. “What are you ever going to achieve? Do you really think anyone would have hired you as an architect if your mother weren’t Athena Chase? No one will ever build a building designed by you. Without my help, you’d be living in the gutter.”

“Perhaps I’d have fared better there,” she said, unable to banish the pain entirely from her voice. Luke had always spoken out against her dream, but she’d never thought he’d use her mother against her. “Then I’d never have met you.”

Something strange happened to Luke’s face. For a moment, a hard line flashed across his eyes, he pursed his lips, then he straightened his shoulders and his face looked neutral. He smoothed the collar of his shirt. “You’re impossible. You’re coming with me and –”

He couldn’t get any further. The moment the security officer patted Annabeth on the shoulder, someone rammed into the back of Luke’s knees from behind, sending him crashing to the floor. Annabeth didn’t stop to check if he was all right. She hoisted her suitcase and bag onto the luggage carousel and scurried through the metal detector.

“What the –”

“Whoa, sorry, mate,” said a deep voice somewhere behind her. “Didn’t see you, buddy.”

Annabeth grabbed her bag and clutched it to her chest as the security guards lifted her suitcase off the conveyor belt. They waved her through, and Annabeth was about to run to her gate – or lock herself in the nearest toilet – when she quickly glanced back.

Luke had picked himself up and was brushing the dust off his suit. He shot her a venomous look, but he clearly hadn’t bought a ticket. The security guards stopped him.

Over Luke’s shoulder, she caught a glimpse of a tall young man with wild, dark-blond curls and sparkling blue eyes that reminded her a little of the sea under glistening sunbeams. He gave her a barely perceptible wink.

Annabeth wanted to thank her mysterious saviour, but she didn’t want to ruin his diversion either. Before Luke could somehow slip past the security staff, she tightened her grip on her suitcase and disappeared into the crowd of other airport passengers.

***

“Gate 2, final call for the flight from New York to San Francisco. Please have your tickets and boarding passes ready. I repeat…”

Annabeth peered out from behind the pillar where she’d been hiding for the past hour. An empty coffee cup was clenched in her hand, but the drink hadn’t helped to calm her racing mind. She saw Luke at every turn, even though he wasn’t there. As far as she knew, he hadn’t followed her past the security barrier; otherwise, he’d probably have tracked her down in the waiting area. She had hidden herself as best she could amongst the other travellers, had even bought a New York Yankees cap in the souvenir shop and pulled it down over her dark braids and low over her face. Most of the other travellers hadn’t paid her any attention. They were too busy with their own lives than to pay attention to a fleeing woman who was trying, rather clumsily, to lie low. She couldn’t even be angry with them for it. After all, it was New York. Annabeth was probably not the only woman running away from someone. She almost expected to see one of those cheesy scenes where a man follows a woman right up to the gate to finally confess his love. She could well do without that, if only to make the queue move faster.

She had learnt from her previous mistake and hadn’t immediately joined the other passengers in the queue. Instead, she waited until the queue in front of her gate grew shorter and shorter, glancing around every now and then to make sure she didn’t miss a single dark mop of hair, until she finally emerged from behind the pillar. She tossed the empty cup into the nearest bin before digging out her passport and ticket. She clutched her bag tightly. Her suitcase had probably been stowed away on the plane long ago, though that offered her no comfort. She didn’t like it when she couldn’t see where her belongings were. That was why she didn’t usually fly. If it had been her choice, she would have taken the train, but she couldn’t very well turn down a free ticket just because she liked to keep an eye on her suitcase.

Thalia, her childhood friend, had been urging her long enough to finally do something about Luke and his need for control. It had taken until the day before her wedding, but now Annabeth was finally ready to actually listen to her. Thalia hadn’t told her how she’d managed to find a suitable ticket so quickly, but she probably didn’t even have to pay for it herself. It was sometimes an advantage, after all, when your father was the boss of the bosses of all travel agencies in North America. Annabeth wouldn’t forget that Thalia had actually spoken to him just for her sake.

“Your ticket, please, Miss.” An airline attendant smiled patiently at her as she stopped in front of her.

“Of course.” Annabeth handed it to the woman before looking around once more. She seemed to be the last person boarding the flight. There was no sign of Luke, but she wouldn’t let her guard down until she was in the air. She hadn’t been taught to behave that way.

“Wonderful, please enjoy our flight, Miss Chase.”

“Thank you very much,” replied Annabeth, taking her passport back and stuffing it into her bag as she made her way through the gate. Although she still felt as if she were being watched the whole time, she kept her pace steady and at a reasonable speed. She pulled her cap down a little further, however, and wished she’d brought those overpriced sunglasses as well.

A flight attendant stood at the entrance to the plane and greeted her with a beaming smile, which Annabeth wouldn’t have appreciated even if she hadn’t been fleeing from her fiancé. She held out her hand and, as Annabeth handed her the ticket, she could count every one of her perfect white teeth. With a politely manicured finger, she pointed first to the seat number, then down the aisle. “Right at the end, Miss. It should be the last seat available, so you can’t miss it!” Her smile made her eyes sparkle, which only told Annabeth that this woman was either a fantastic actress or actually liked her job.

With a muttered thank you, she took her ticket back and hurried down the aisle. Other passengers were already seated, still busy stuffing their hand luggage into the overhead bins or telling their children not to run down the aisle. Between teenagers standing around rolling their eyes and elderly people who couldn’t fasten their seatbelts on their own, Annabeth felt almost trapped. She glanced quickly over her shoulder, but Luke hadn’t followed her in the meantime. She hadn’t expected him to, but it was still better to keep checking for herself. As the flight attendant had announced, her seat was at the end of the aisle and was indeed the only one left. She had the aisle seat, which didn’t particularly bother her, but she was sharing the row with a man who had pulled his hood so far over his face that she could barely make out his prominent nose as he hunched over, rummaging through his rucksack.

Annabeth settled carefully into her seat after checking the seat number a second time and slid her bag between her feet. She closed her eyes and waited until the announcement crackled softly overhead and the pilot welcomed them on board. They were instructed to switch off all electronic devices, to stow the tables and fasten their seatbelts. Annabeth followed the instructions. A good half-dozen messages covered her mobile screen, but she didn’t check them. Instead, she switched it off and stuffed it into her bag. Once she’d fastened her seatbelt, she leaned back and closed her eyes again.

It wasn’t long after that before she felt the plane start to move. First a slow rumble that travelled up through her feet, then a steady rocking, until they were moving so fast that she clenched her hand into the armrest. She tried to list in her mind every fact she knew about aeroplanes, but her head was filled with the sight of Luke’s face when she’d left him standing there.

“Scared of flying?” Someone tapped her on the shoulder and Annabeth flinched. “Whoa, sorry.”

She opened her eyes wide and looked to the side at the person sitting next to her. The man still had his hood up, but she was nevertheless greeted by the sight of radiant ocean-blue eyes. His dark eyebrows rose slightly until they disappeared beneath thick, tousled dark-blonde curls.

“Hey, you’re the woman from security.”

Annabeth blinked hard, but then she remembered him. He was the man who’d kicked his suitcase into Luke’s shins. “Oh.”

“I didn’t mean to interfere,” he continued, as she said nothing else, “but my mum would give me an earful if she knew I hadn’t helped someone in need. I hope I didn’t misread the situation, but you didn’t exactly look happy about that bloke talking to you like that. Not that he should have been allowed to talk to you like that in the first place, but you know. I didn’t want anything to happen, so I lost control of my suitcase. The wheels get stuck sometimes.” He winked. “Seems to have worked out.”

As he spoke, she could make out a row of straight, white teeth, as well as a few wafer-thin freckles scattered across his large nose. On top of that, clearly visible laugh lines criss-crossed his cheeks and the corners of his eyes. The blue of his eyes was almost a little too bright. “Right,” she said slowly. “You ran Luke over.”

“Luke? Still on first-name terms, I see. I would have called him an arsehole, but to each their own.” The man held out his hand. “Percy Jackson, by the way.”

“Annabeth,” she replied, keeping her surname to herself. She shook his warm hand. His smile was infectious and she could feel her shoulders slowly relaxing. As she looked past his shoulder, she could see that they were no longer at the airport, but in the air. Blue sky rushed past the window as they flew higher and higher. The pressure in her ears popped for a moment and she swallowed hard to hear properly.

“You don’t like flying, do you?”

“Is it that obvious?” she asked with a faint smile.

“Pretty obvious,” Percy replied, “but don’t worry, neither do I. I’ve learnt that it helps to distract yourself so you don’t panic during take-off. Seems to have worked, hasn’t it? Neither of us cried.” He gave her a crooked grin before pulling the hood back from his dark blond curls. Even sitting down, he was still a good head taller than her, so she had to tilt her head up slightly to look at him. “I learnt that from my mum.”

“She seems very wise,” she said, having never heard of such a tactic before, but making a mental note of it in the back of her mind. “And a good mother, too, if she can get a man to help a stranger who had the situation under control.”

“Sure,” he replied with a shrug. “But you could have taken the bloke down with a judo move and I’d still have helped.”

“Funny,” she said quietly. “I actually used to do judo. I bet I could pin you to the floor in a matter of seconds.”

A grin split his face almost in two. “Whoa. Very direct. Cool. “

Their conversation was interrupted when the flight attendant’s voice came over the loudspeaker, giving them permission to unfasten their seatbelts and move freely in the aisle. About six more hours, and they would land in San Francisco. Annabeth had been looking forward to a quiet flight, a few hours in which she could reflect on her hasty decisions in peace, so as not to freak out any further. Perhaps she could have written to Thalia to discuss everything further. A glance at the man sitting next to her, however, was enough to make her realise that she certainly wouldn’t be having a quiet flight.

She just didn’t know yet how she should feel about it.

Her seatmate seemed to see no reason not to chat to her, even though they didn’t know each other. He turned his body to the side so he could look at her better. “So, Annabeth.” The way he pronounced her name sent a shiver down her spine. He had a strong New York accent and, unlike Luke, he didn’t speak to her as if she were a fragile work of art that had to be kept dust-free on the mantelpiece. “Although I enjoy spending every day doing a few good deeds, I am curious as to why I rammed my suitcase into the back of that bloke’s knee.”

She couldn’t just answer him and leave him hanging. She’d probably do that with anyone else sitting next to her on the plane. But Percy… his gaze was open and without a hint of coercion behind it. He’d probably even accept it if she told him not to meddle in her affairs. “He’s my fiancé,” Annabeth said at last. “Was,” she corrected herself. “I suppose without a ring, I’m no longer engaged.”

“You don’t sound particularly disappointed.”

He was right. Although it should have upset her to leave her childhood best friend like that, she felt no shame whatsoever. It was better this way, she knew that. She’d given him chances and he’d let her down every time. Even Annabeth could no longer make excuses for him. “I’m not,” she admitted. “If it’d been up to me, I’d never have been engaged to him. Luke’s grandfather put so much pressure on him that he asked me, but I can’t say whether he would have made the decision out of love.”

“Why did you agree in the first place?”, Percy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Luke isn’t a bad person,” she said quickly. She felt the urge to explain herself, even though she could tell from Percy’s expression that he would accept whatever she told him. The thought made her heart beat a little faster. “He used to be better. Nicer. He always picked the best apples from the tree for me when we were kids, and gave the nasty girls in my class a piece of his mind when he found out they didn’t want me on the volleyball team. He was good. He is good.” She sighed before turning her body towards him as well. Somehow it felt good to talk about it with someone who knew nothing about her and Luke. She’d known Thalia ever since she used to follow Luke around, and Thalia had always known far too much about their relationship. Percy, on the other hand, was a stranger. At best, she’d never see him again after this flight anyway, so she might as well be honest. “He’s just incredibly ambitious and a perfectionist. His grandfather wants him to follow in his footsteps and run his company, whilst also starting the perfect family. A wife who looks after the children at home whilst he earns millions and tries to change the world. I have ambitions of my own,” she said with a sigh. “I have a job I love and I don’t even know if I’m ready for children yet, but Luke didn’t care. If I’d married him, I’d have had to quit my job and spend my days just at home, just like his mother and grandmother had done. I would have been nothing more than a status symbol to him. A tick on his grandfather’s list that he could have crossed off.”

Saying it out loud felt more real than she’d ever imagined. She’d spent the last few months looking for ways to convince Luke that he didn’t have to play by his grandfather’s rules, that he could be like his father, but Luke wouldn’t hear of it. Basically, it was never about what Annabeth wanted, but only about how he could squeeze her into his life. If he had to mould her and smooth out the rough edges so she wouldn’t ask stupid questions, then so be it. It seemed as though he hadn’t known her well enough to realise that he wouldn’t succeed.

“What an idiot,” Percy replied with a shrug. “No offence, but someone who doesn’t appreciate you can’t be a good person. You seem like quite a catch to me, Annabeth.”

She snorted with amusement. “You don’t know me at all.”

“Do I need to?” he asked with a half-smile. “I can see you. That’s enough.”

Annabeth felt terribly flushed and forced herself to hold his gaze. What on earth possessed him to say such things to her? Her heart was beating a little faster and she’d have loved to ask the stewardess if she could swap seats with someone – Percy was clearly giving her heart palpitations and she didn’t want to die from them tens of kilometres up in the air, just as she was trying to escape into her new life. “Are you always this direct with people you don’t know?”

Percy shrugged. “I was brought up properly, what can I say? If I’ve got a compliment, I should say it; that’s what my mum taught me. You can always complain to her.”

“Maybe I will.”

“Good,” he said. “You do realise she’s picking me up at the airport, so you’ve got the perfect opportunity, don’t you?”

“I…” She stared at him, her mouth agape. “You tricked me.”

“Nah.”

She shook her head and couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Are there any other things your mum taught you that I can complain about straight away? I’m good at making lists.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“That sounds like you’re judging me.”

“Not a chance,” Percy replied casually. “My half-brother Tyson loves lists too. He once made one to show me all the things he likes about me. The only negative point was that I eat too much of his breakfast.”

“Oh, a saint, then,” said Annabeth, amused. “Should I take a bow?”

“That’s fine,” he said. “But maybe I’ll ask you to make a list at the end of the flight about what a good seatmate I am. I can sell that to Tyson as a souvenir.”

Annabeth stifled a laugh. “Let me guess, you forgot to buy him a present?”

Percy’s cheeks flushed slightly. “Possibly. But hey, in my defence, I was only in New York for a day, and until a few weeks ago I was still living there. It never occurred to me to take a souvenir from my hometown.”

“What drew you to San Francisco, then? “

“It was more by chance,” he explained. “My stepdad got a job at USF and moved down there with my mum, sister and Tyson, whilst I finished my degree at Stony Brook. I studied marine biology and managed to land a job in San Francisco. Plus, I can finally go surfing again.”

Annabeth couldn’t help herself. At the word ‘surfing’, she inevitably pictured Percy in a skin-tight wetsuit, his hair even more tousled by the water and the waves than it was now, droplets of water and salt crystals on his cheeks and in his eyelashes, and a red patch on his nose where he hadn’t put enough sun cream on. Surfing suited him. More than suited him. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying any of it out loud. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Percy was handsome, yes, and he seemed to be her age, but that was hardly a reason for her to forget her dignity. Less than an hour ago she’d fled from Luke, thereby effectively calling off her wedding. How could she even think of finding another man handsome?

“What brings you to San Francisco?” Percy asked, sounding casual. “I’m assuming you didn’t just book the first flight you could find. You must have some destination in mind.”

For a moment, she wondered whether she should make something up. Percy was still a stranger – a handsome stranger, yes, but a stranger – and he didn’t deserve honesty. But he had helped her. He had stood up for her and helped her and told her his truth. Besides, he’d been sweet to her. It would feel wrong to take advantage of his kindness and lie to him. “I’m not sure yet,” she finally admitted. “My father and stepmother live in San Francisco, but they don’t know I’ve called off the wedding. My friend Thalia got me the ticket, but she doesn’t even live on the West Coast.”

Percy looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “You could… ah, never mind. Forget it. I’m sure your parents wouldn’t mind putting you up, would they?”

She frowned. “I don’t suppose so. What were you going to say?”

His cheeks flushed a little darker – even darker than before – and he fixed his gaze on a point behind her shoulder. “It was a stupid idea, forget it, but my mum has a spare room that’s not being used.”

Now it was Annabeth’s turn to flush. She stared at her hands and pressed her lips together. “That’s really kind of you, but – “

“No, I know, I’m a stranger on a plane, I know. Like I said, it was a stupid idea. Just forget I said anything.”

Silence fell between them. Annabeth looked at her hands, at the spot where her engagement ring had sat every day before. The skin was lighter on that finger, a ring-shaped, light-brown band against her dark-brown skin. If she’d never taken the ring off, she’d never have noticed how pale it had become. She didn’t know what to make of Percy’s offer, so she did what seemed easiest: she ignored it.

For the next hour, they didn’t speak a word. Percy was tapping away on his mobile and had straightened up again, whilst Annabeth looked past him out of the window. She loved watching the towers of clouds drift past them and imagining they were buildings made of white marble. Someday she wanted to create a building that evoked exactly that feeling in her, a building that felt as infinite as the sky. She imagined how it would blend seamlessly into the skyline, how people would point at it and know that she had built it. That was what made someone immortal, she thought. If people still remembered her after her death, then she had truly succeeded.

Her gaze kept falling on Percy, but she didn’t know what to say. His offer was sweet, yes, but he was a stranger she’d met an hour ago. She couldn’t imagine he was being serious at all. A spur-of-the-moment thing, perhaps. A jumble of words without a filter. He’d probably just been rambling because he didn’t know any better. She tried to catch his eye, but he seemed content to ignore her for the rest of the flight.

Sighing silently, she looked away and opened her bag. She took out a book she’d packed in a hurry and opened it on her lap. Just as she was running her finger along the page to find where she’d left off, Percy cleared his throat beside her. When she looked up, she saw that he’d fished a Tupperware box out of his rucksack. Inside were biscuits – blue biscuits.

“Fancy one?”

***

It was an incredibly feeble attempt to rekindle his conversation with Annabeth, but Percy would do anything right now to get the woman next to him to speak to him again. It hadn’t been his first idea to get her attention again, but it was the best he had – and the only one that didn’t make him look like a total loser. Whilst Annabeth had been staring out of the window with a cool, pensive expression (though her gaze kept darting back to him as if she were more than just annoyed that he existed in her field of vision), Percy had sought support from Grover, his best friend.

Percy: That girl hates me!! Help!!

Grover: That’s what happens when you only talk about dolphins

Percy: On the contrary, I haven’t mentioned dolphins once, even though I’d love to

Grover: Wow, that’s news to me

Percy: I might have offered her a place to stay with Mum while she sorts her life out

Percy: And now she’s not talking to me anymore

Percy: If it weren’t so dramatic, I’d get down on one knee

Grover: By the gods, don’t tell me

Grover: Percy

Grover: Are you in love???

Percy: Don’t say that evil L-word

Grover: But the evidence tells me otherwise…

Percy: OK, fine, I like her, but that’s not the point??? If I can’t get her to talk to me, I might as well throw myself out of the window

Grover: Good to know your dramatic streak is still there

Grover: Do you have any of Sally’s biscuits left? Offer her some

Grover: You can always talk about food

Percy: You can always talk about food

Grover: Do you have a better idea?

Percy: …

Grover: Just as I thought.

So he’d taken his mum’s biscuits out of his rucksack – the rest of them, at least, the ones he hadn’t already polished off. And thank the gods he hadn’t tucked into them straight away; otherwise, he could probably forget about talking to Annabeth.

She looked sceptically at the biscuits in his hand. “They’re blue.”

“Right, sorry. My mum always makes them like that.”

“But… blue?”

“It’s a long story, but basically she started colouring food blue because my nasty stepdad back then couldn’t stand it. Not my current one. Paul’s cool. I love Paul. Gabe, though… he was a whole different story. Sorry, you probably didn’t want to know that.” He pressed his lips together and tried not to blush. It wasn’t often that Percy found someone interesting – or ‘L-worded’ himself, as Grover had christened it. It had only happened once before, in secondary school, when Rachel Elizabeth Dare had transferred into his class and spilled her coloured water all over his new jeans. He’d actually sworn eternal revenge, but then he’d gone to the prom with her and kissed her under those cheesy mistletoe branches. Rachel now lived in the Rocky Mountains and spent her days painting landscapes , occasionally sending him photos from her travels with her girlfriend Piper. Ever since Rachel had broken up with him—after discovering on a spiritual journey that she wasn’t into boys—he hadn’t really felt close to anyone.

It seemed like a terribly cruel twist of fate that his breath should catch in his throat just at the sight of a runaway bride. If there was one sort of person who wasn’t ready to meet someone new, it was brides who were fleeing from their fiancés. It was just his luck that Percy was about to meet Annabeth. Her bright, large eyes were as brown as a fawn’s, and Percy had lost himself in them a little at first sight, as if they were a labyrinth whose exit kept shifting. Percy wasn’t really one for beauty, but even he couldn’t deny that Annabeth was a beauty. Even Aphrodite would probably pale in comparison to her. Her dark skin was as smooth as ochre, her hair styled into intricate braids that had already caught Percy’s eye whilst they were queuing at security, and her eyes… by the gods, her eyes were probably the most striking feature of her entire appearance. Percy couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen anyone with eyes like that, if he ever had.

Annabeth reached out cautiously until she was holding one of the blue biscuits. She studied it for a moment before taking a hesitant bite. As she chewed, Percy could only stare at her lips. “Oh,” she said. “They’re really good. But I thought they’d…”

“Taste blue too?” Percy finished with a grin, before helping himself as well. “We used to put blueberry flavouring in everything for a while, until we were sick of it. Now it’s just food colouring.”

Nodding, she popped the rest into her mouth. “I see. So it’s more about the visual appeal than the culinary one. I can understand that. I’d probably get fed up with the same old flavour at some point too.”

Percy leaned back in his seat. He folded out the table on the backrest in front of him and set the Tupperware box on it. “Help yourself,” he said. “My mum always makes far too much anyway; I can’t eat it all on my own.”

“Your mother seems to be a very busy woman,” replied Annabeth. “You haven’t told me yet what she’s been up to in San Francisco.”

“Oh. I didn’t know you were interested,” he said, then added before she could change her mind: “She’s an author, so she can actually work anywhere. She writes almost exclusively children’s books, so I don’t know if you’ve heard of her.”

“Hmm, that depends. I can read good children’s books too.”

“Sally Jackson,” he replied. “That’s her name.”

A bright look came into Annabeth’s eyes. “Sally Jackson is your mum? Author of And Then There Were Three of Us?”

Percy grinned. “Yep.” It had been the first book his mum had published. Back then he’d still been at school and she’d just started dating Paul Blofis. You might have thought the story was about her, Percy and Paul, but actually it was more of a story about how she’d adopted Tyson. Taking in a son who wasn’t even hers, but Percy’s biological father’s, had never been on the agenda, but Sally hadn’t let the opportunity pass to give Tyson the best home too. It had been Paul who’d given her the idea to turn the situation into a book, and the rest was history. “I knew you had good taste.”

“Are you joking? I must have read it at least twenty times when it came out. I always wanted to go to one of her book signings, but I never found the time. Wow. You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”

“Why would I? I’d be happy to show you my passport; it’s there in black and white. Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson, always at your service.” He gave a slight bow.

It was probably a good sign that she didn’t roll her eyes or stare at him blankly, but laughed. Not a loud laugh, but a soft chuckle, meant just for him, that filled the space between them. The rest of the plane melted away at the sound of it.

“I can’t believe I’ve eaten something Sally Jackson baked. I think I’m feeling a bit dizzy,” Annabeth said quietly.

“Do you want a drink?” Percy asked quickly. His hand darted forward and gripped the armrest of her seat. “Or shall I tell the stewardess? You can lie down too, I can stand, I’ve got no problem with that –”

“Breathing, seaweed-brain,” Annabeth replied with a laugh. “It was just a figure of speech. Don’t worry, I’m a grown-up and can keep my excitement in check.”

Percy’s cheeks flushed and he leaned back again. “Sure, sure, I knew that.” He paused briefly, then: “Seaweed-Brain?”

Annabeth’s skin was already dark enough that he couldn’t tell if she was blushing, but she looked away and cleared her throat softly, which said it all. “It just slipped out. I think it suits someone like you.”

“Seaweed brain,” he repeated, before grinning. “It’s got something, doesn’t it? I’m sure my mum’ll like it too.”

“I’ll give her full permission if she wants to turn you into a character.”

He grinned. “She’d definitely love that, so maybe I shouldn’t tell her after all. Hey, wait a minute.”

“What?”

“You said you wanted an autograph from her, right? I bet my mum wouldn’t mind giving you one at the airport if you’ve got a few minutes to spare.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened. “That – that really isn’t necessary! I wouldn’t want her to waste her time on something like that, besides, I don’t want to impose, and –”

“Nonsense,” Percy interrupted her boldly. “My mum would absolutely love to meet you. If you’re half as charming as you are right now, she might even invite you over for dinner.” Once again, Percy cursed his quick tongue. He just couldn’t help himself; he never thought before he spoke. That had landed him in enough trouble in the past. Not thinking with a woman like Annabeth felt like a death sentence to him. She’d probably think he was trying to chat her up – which, admittedly, he was – and run straight out of the plane as soon as they landed, never to see him again. Percy was completely out of practice when it came to talking to pretty women, and it seemed as though it was now coming back to bite him.

Annabeth did something he hadn’t expected. She leaned slightly to one side in her seat so she could look him in the face, before raising her eyebrows and curling the corners of her mouth into an almost smug smile. “You seem to assume that the way to my heart is through food.”

“Er.”

She laughed. “You’re not entirely wrong there. I could always be tempted by a good meal. But I really don’t want to disturb you and your family.” Then she did something he’d expected even less. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pen – a smart metal one with the logo of a company he didn’t recognise. When she clicked it, he could even hear how expensive it must have been. Annabeth took one of the leaflets from the holder on the seat in front of her, tore off a section where there wasn’t too much writing, and then scribbled a few numbers on it. She underlined it twice before folding the piece of paper. “That’s my number,” she said. “Depending on how you behave during the flight, I might give it to you.” With great deliberation and a smile that never left her face, she slipped the piece of paper, along with the pen, into her jacket pocket.

Then she winked, and Percy had the feeling that the air had suddenly become much thinner.

“Wow, I – um.”

“Lost for words?”

It seemed easier to nod.

Annabeth smiled. “You’ve shown more interest in the last hour than Luke has in the last few months. Don’t worry, you’re well on your way to being allowed to ask me out for a meal.”

“Oh. Um. Great!” He cleared his throat and cursed his pale cheeks, which hadn’t cooled down since she’d arrived. He probably looked as if he’d been messing about with too much make-up. “Luke sounds like an idiot for not being interested in you. While we’re on the subject… I don’t want to overstep the mark, but I couldn’t help overhearing bits of your conversation at the airport.” He avoided her gaze and scratched the back of his head. “You’re an architect?”

“If you believe Luke, I probably only got the job thanks to nepotism,” she replied bitterly. “My mother had already set up her own firm – Athens Untarnished – by the time she was my age, and I started working there a few years ago. I don’t deny that I probably got the job thanks to my mother, but I’m still a good architect. I graduated top of my class, completed my first commission to perfection, and have already carried out half a dozen restorations without ever having a single problem with clients. I know I’m a good architect, but… I don’t know if Luke might not be right,” she added quietly. “No one would tell me to my face if I messed up, precisely because I’m the owner’s daughter.”

“I don’t know much about the architecture business, but I hardly think your clients would lie to you. There’s a lot at stake if a building’s been built badly, isn’t there? It could collapse or something. I don’t know why anyone would lie about that.”

Annabeth blinked slowly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

He turned his head back to her and was relieved to see she didn’t look offended. “If people lied about you doing a good job, you’d just end up losing more money in the end, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that people hate losing money.” He shrugged. “No offence, but Luke sounds like an idiot who’s just jealous of you.”

To his surprise, Annabeth covered her mouth as she laughed. “Jealous? Wow, that’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

Percy shrugged. “But it would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

“It does. Quite a lot, actually.” She sighed. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe not. It doesn’t make any difference to me anymore why he does what he does. I’ve spent long enough trying to find excuses for him that didn’t need to exist. I’m done with him.” Although there was no ring on her finger, she pretended to take one off.

Percy held out his hand and took the invisible ring from her. Then he pretended to open the window and tossed the ring into the air. “And goodbye forever,” he added.

Annabeth laughed again. “When I got up this morning, I didn’t think I’d enjoy the flight at all, but somehow you’re leaving me no choice.”

“It’s my hidden talent.”

She turned her head towards him, her lips curving into a broad smile that made her eyes sparkle. “It’s a really, really good talent, Percy.”

When she said his name, he briefly felt as though he were falling out of the window after the invisible ring. For a moment, he felt weightless. That must be what it was like to have no worries in the world.

For the next hour, they shared stories about New York, how they’d grown up and all the things they’d got up to in the city so far. Percy told her about the small flat he and his mum had lived in before Paul came along, and Annabeth spoke of her mother, the master architect who’d got cold feet after she was born and left her alone with her father. Whilst they talked about all the things they’d do in San Francisco, whenever they had a spare moment, they ate Sally’s blue biscuits. Annabeth told him about an architect’s job she might apply for if she were to stay on the West Coast permanently, whilst Percy performed his best Tyson impression, which made Annabeth laugh so loudly that the flight attendant had to ask them to be quiet several times. The clouds outside the window drifted past them like a white sea, as the plane brought them closer and closer to their destination. Before they knew it, there were only two hours left until they would arrive in San Francisco. The Tupperware box of biscuits was empty (Percy had gentlemanly broken the last one in two and shared it with her), childhood stories had run out for the moment, and calm returned.

Annabeth had tilted her head back and closed her eyes, whilst Percy scrolled aimlessly on his mobile so he wouldn’t look at her face. He didn’t want to be some weird creep who couldn’t leave her alone, but he had to admit it was quite difficult for him ignore Annabeth when he’d never got on so well with anyone so quickly as he had with her. Worried that it was merely the forced proximity that had made her talk to him at all, he gave her the space she deserved. He sent his mum an update on his flight (without mentioning Annabeth) before silently agreeing to stare out of the window and watch the clouds for the rest of the flight.

As the silence wrapped around them like a blanket, Percy thought about the L-word. Since Rachel, no one had made his heart flutter, not even Rachel’s girlfriend Piper’s best friend Jason, who had looked like a statue of a Greek god in the right light. Sure, Percy had found him attractive (okay, hot), but that had been all he’d decided about him. No fluttering heart, no sweaty palms, no nervous stutters, and certainly no L-word. When he looked at Annabeth, however, he felt a tingling in his stomach, a strange pull behind his belly, as if the universe itself were trying to tell him something. It felt magnetic, as if Annabeth were the missing piece he’d always been lacking. Percy didn’t believe in fate, but was firmly convinced that everything happened by chance, but even he couldn’t deny this time that it did seem like a very big coincidence that he and Annabeth were taking the same flight to the same city to make the same fresh start. Admittedly, they were on this plane for very different reasons for a fresh start, but there had been too many coincidences by now for Percy to believe that it was just another one that they had seats next to each other, after he’d already bumped into her at the airport. How many coincidences in a row could possibly happen, just so he could spend time with her?

It felt like a test. Ever since Annabeth had written her number on a piece of paper and tucked it into her bag, it had been a test for him. The universe had given him the chance to finally think about the L-word again and had sent Annabeth his way. The rest was up to him. Now he just had to impress her so much in the last hour that he’d actually get her number.

Percy checked his mobile and pretended to be sending a message, whilst, with the screen turned away from Annabeth, he instead looked at himself in the front-facing camera. If he’d known the universe had such plans for him, he would have spent a bit more time on his appearance before heading to the airport. His hair lay messy and uncombed on his head, a red scratch on his lip caught his eye, and his clothes were more comfortable than stylish. He nervously tugged at the folds of his hoodie. In contrast to his outfit, Annabeth looked as though she might step onto the catwalk at any moment. She was beautiful – more than that, perhaps, but Percy didn’t know how to put it into words. Was there a word that ranked even higher than beautiful? If so, then Annabeth was exactly that.

He shoved his mobile back into his pocket and took a deep, quiet breath. His mind was racking his brain for something to say to her, anything, so that the last hour wouldn’t pass them by in silence, but his mind was blank. Any intelligent thoughts he sometimes had had flown out of his head, whilst all he could think about was how much heat her body radiated and how much his palms were sweating because of it. Hoping Annabeth wouldn’t notice, he wiped them on the side of his trousers.

“What kind of animal would you say I am?” Annabeth asked a moment later.

***

The question had taken Percy completely by surprise, as far as Annabeth could tell. He stared at her with those big, blue eyes, utterly overwhelmed that she had spoken to him, and Annabeth had to pull herself together more than once to stop herself from bursting out laughing. He looked cute, she knew that, but the sparkle in his blue eyes was almost too much for her. It was as if the sea were looking at her. She thought it was a bit unfair that a man should have eyes like that.

“E-Excuse me?” he asked. He probably thought he’d misunderstood her.

“What kind of animal would you say I am?” she repeated patiently. To be honest, she hadn’t given much thought to what she wanted to ask him – it had just happened. She only knew that she wanted to talk to him more. Either he’d seen things differently over the last hour, or he’d had to pluck up the courage himself to talk to her again. Whatever it was, Annabeth hadn’t wanted to wait any longer. She wanted to hear his voice.

“Oh. I – um.” He faltered and licked his lips. “I’m not sure.”

“Hmm,” Annabeth said, trying not to stare too intently at the spot where his tongue had just disappeared. “My friend Thalia says I’m an owl, but that’s too clichéd for me, you know?”

“Not really,” he replied, a little breathlessly.

“My mother’s name is Athena,” she explained, because she didn’t know if she’d already mentioned it, or if he’d simply forgotten. “Owls were sort of her animals. The goddess’s, I mean. That’s why I find it so clichéd. So?”

Percy scratched his neck and left his hand there for a few moments before dropping it into his lap. “Hmm.” He looked at her thoughtfully, his eyebrows drawn together, those unfair eyes fixed on her face and a look in them that Annabeth could only describe as irresistible. He looked at her as if he could actually see only her. “Perhaps the kraken? At uni, I spent six months reading about totem animals, and the kraken symbolises ambition and intelligence. I think that suits you. Even if the kraken isn’t nearly as pretty, of course.” His cheeks turned deep red.

“This is the first time in my life that a man has compared me to a kraken and I’m not offended,” she replied slowly.

“I’m not going to apologise for my knowledge of aquatic creatures,” Percy retorted.

Annabeth laughed. “You shouldn’t have to. I like it. Much better than any other answer I’ve ever been given.” Her heart skipped a beat as she glanced at his crumpled face. What had she done to deserve sitting next to a man like this? “I think I’d call you a German Shepherd.”

“A German Shepherd? Wow. How do I get the honour?”, he asked, laughing.

It was an addictive sound. “You give me the vibe that you’d be incredibly loyal to your family and protect them at all costs if you had to. Besides, German Shepherds are cute,” she added boldly.

Percy’s cheeks turned deep red and he pressed his lips together. “My best friend Grover once described my loyalty as my hubris. As if it were a bad thing that I’d do anything for my friends and family.”

“It isn’t bad,” she replied slowly, “but it can end badly if you don’t recognise your limits. I’ve got that problem with my pride.” She shrugged. “I think we all have our weaknesses that actually started out as strengths. It would be boring if everyone were just good and loyal, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t know, I think my loyalty is a good thing,” he replied. “I’d never just leave you behind at an airport, for example, even if they stopped me at security. I would have fought.”

Annabeth’s neck grew uncomfortably warm and she had to turn her head forward to avoid his intense gaze, which made her knees go weak. How could he say something like that to a woman he’d known for less than half a day? He must be some sort of madman – or a gift from the gods. An apology for Luke, so to speak. “I’d say that’s where you differ quite a bit from Luke.”

“I stand by my statement that he’s an idiot. He had you and he messed it up. Well. Maybe I should thank him too, because otherwise I’d never have had the pleasure of your company.”

“I bet that works a treat with all the women you pick up on long-haul flights,” said Annabeth, rolling her eyes.

“Not at all,” he replied, sounding serious.

She turned her head back. “Oh no?”

“No. You’re the first person I’ve had to make an effort not to say anything stupid to, so you don’t think I’m some airport stalker or something. That’s not what I am. A stalker, I mean, though that’s probably something stalkers say when they get caught.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It was a coincidence that I saw you earlier, I swear.”

Annabeth suppressed a smile. “Contrary to my instincts, I believe you, seaweed brain. Most airport stalkers I know don’t share homemade blue biscuits with their victim.”

“I’m glad you know enough about them to be able to make a comparison. “

Laughing, she leaned back. What on earth was this man doing to her? Running away from Luke had been a snap decision, an instinct she’d followed because he wouldn’t give her what she deserved. How could she have known she’d run straight into the arms of someone like Percy Jackson, who looked at her so openly and honestly that she couldn’t help but compare him to all the times Luke had looked right past her. If she told Percy her worries, he would probably listen. Luke had dismissed her with a wave of his hand. How had she ever managed to convince herself for so long that marrying him was a good idea?

Percy, on the other hand, hadn’t once made her feel as though she was taking up too much space in the last few hours. Quite the opposite. He had even offered her some of his space, metaphorically speaking, of course, but also physically, when she thought back to his offer of the guest room. The Annabeth of three hours ago had brushed it aside and thought it a daft idea. The Annabeth of now realised that it was probably the most honest thing he’d said to her the entire flight. Annabeth was probably a bit mad herself, if she was even considering accepting his offer after all.

What did they teach children before sending them out into the world alone? Don’t go off with strangers. Don’t trust anyone you don’t know. How had Annabeth managed to get this far in life, only to now throw the first rules of her survival out the window, just because a man with beautiful eyes was looking at her? Oh, but they really were beautiful eyes, and Annabeth hadn’t looked into the eyes of anyone who had truly seen her for so long. To Luke, she had been nothing more than a trophy for years, perhaps more of an obligation than a desire for marriage, a prize he could present to his grandfather to be praised by him. But Percy? It had only been a few hours, sure, and perhaps he had dark sides that he was good at hiding, but he hadn’t done anything yet that even came close to the darkness Luke had exuded. He’d been good to her. He’d given her biscuits, for goodness’ sake! That alone should be enough for her to know he was a good man.

A faint crackling sound rose above their heads and when Annabeth glanced at her watch, she realised with a start that they would be arriving in San Francisco in a few minutes. The flight attendant’s voice, instructing them over the loudspeakers to fold up their tables and fasten their seatbelts again, only confirmed this. Judging by Percy’s expression, he was just as taken aback by the time. He sat up straight again and pulled the belt tight across his hips. “Usually, the only time I get caught off guard by time is when I’ve been in the pool too long,” he replied quietly. “I think this is the first time I’ve spoken to someone and not wanted to go looking for the nearest exit after ten minutes.”

Although she should have been upset that her time with Percy would soon be over, she couldn’t help but laugh. “There weren’t many escape routes for you, either.”

“Even if there had been a dozen escape routes, I’d still be sitting here talking to you.”

“Careful, or I’ll start thinking you’re paying me a compliment.”

“I’m usually very sparing with those.” He smiled at her from the side, and Annabeth went a little crazy as his dimples dug deep into his cheeks. Normally, a man’s looks didn’t matter much to her if his personality made up the bulk of their life together, but this time fate seemed to have been kind to her by sending her a man who not only looked good, but also made her laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much.

“Then I feel even more honoured.”

Ten minutes later, their long-haul flight landed; the sky had by now turned a golden red, and they finally came to a halt at San Francisco Airport. Passengers from all the other rows stood up as soon as they were allowed to, opened the overhead bins and wanted to get off the plane as quickly as possible. Annabeth, on the other hand, wished they would take off again and circle the airfield a few more times. She didn’t want to have to say goodbye to Percy. He had made these last few hours a special experience she could hardly have dreamed of, and she wasn’t ready to let it go. She was glad to have left Luke behind, but was she really ready start a new life? She would never forget these last few hours, but she didn’t want them to live on only in her memory either. But how did she say that to someone she’d met six hours ago? How did she tell someone who’d shared a flight with her that she was afraid of never seeing him again?

She remained silent and watched as the passengers in front of her stepped out of the plane one by one, until eventually it was no longer possible to stay in her seat. Annabeth slowly unbuckled her seatbelt, then picked up her bag and stood up. She stood uncertainly in the aisle and watched as Percy took a sports bag from the overhead bin, before slinging his rucksack over his shoulders. His gaze met hers and he gave her a crooked smile.

If this was to be the end of things between them, then she wanted it to end like this, at least. Then she wanted to remember him with a smile.

Annabeth followed the empty aisle to the aircraft exit, where the flight attendant stood with a broad smile. “I hope you had a pleasant flight,” she said with a slight nod of her head.

“More than that, thank you,” Percy replied from behind her.

You have no idea what you’ve done, thought Annabeth, before nodding to her as well and then stepping outside. The remaining passengers streamed into the airport and made their way towards the baggage reclaim. Annabeth didn’t know if Percy would be waiting for his luggage too, but she didn’t turn around to ask. She followed the other passengers with determined steps.

“You’re in a bit of a hurry all of a sudden,” said Percy, who caught up with her at a light jog. “One might almost think you wanted to get away from me as quickly as possible.” He said it with a clear hint of humour in his voice, but Annabeth could still see the worry in the crease between his eyebrows.

She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want to live in a hope that might never be more than that either. “Listen, the flight was –”

“Before you say anything,” he interrupted her in a firm voice, “let me say something. Please.” He tilted his head down slightly, causing a few of his thick curls to fall onto his forehead and cover the worry lines that had formed there.

Annabeth gave a brief nod. They stopped by a thick pillar so they wouldn’t be in the way of others.

“I know it’s crazy, but those were probably the best six hours I’ve ever spent,” he said, so that only she could hear him. “It doesn’t make sense, obviously, but I feel as though this wasn’t just a chance encounter. I don’t know if you see it that way too, but I don’t intend to just let it slip by. I meant every minute I spent with you completely seriously, and I can understand if it’s too strange for you to start a relationship with a stranger on a plane, and maybe it is, but I just want you to know that I don’t see it that way. I’ve never felt so comfortable with someone I don’t know, and I don’t want it to end like this. I – I mean, what I said. I don’t want to just forget you as a nice memory at some point, Annabeth. That means more to me.” He faltered and his voice lost some of the edge that had been in it. “You mean more to me.”

A flight reflex began to take hold of Annabeth, but for the first time in her life, she fought it. She had always run away when things got tough. She had left her family in San Francisco, had let Luke rescue her from every party, had avoided confrontations at university or at work, and had even hidden from arguments with Luke until they had been forgotten. If she hadn’t always just run away, she might never have ended up in this situation, as a reluctant bride in a marriage that could only have crushed her. She had run again when it had become too hard, but this time she’d run straight into the arms of someone who didn’t want to let her go. Perhaps all along she’d just been looking for someone to hold her tight.

“It is strange,” she said. “So incredibly strange. I mean, who on earth has ever heard of such a thing? Two strangers on a plane getting on like childhood friends.” A lump formed in her throat. “I kept thinking you were just being nice to me. That you were someone who’d been brought up well, who wanted to make a lonely woman laugh a few times before our paths parted again, but maybe I just told myself that because I didn’t want to believe that someone like you actually existed.”

“Someone like me?”

“Someone who simply sees me and expects nothing more.”

“Annabeth,” said Percy in a gentle voice. He took a hesitant step towards her and, when she made no move to push him away, he raised a hand and ran his thumb over her cheek. “I’ve seen you from the very first moment.”

She wanted to lean into his touch, into the warmth of his skin and the unexpected intimacy it brought, but she had no idea how to do so, so she simply closed her eyes for a moment. “You wanted to,” she cleared her throat softly and opened her eyes again to meet his piercing blue gaze, which had never left her the whole time. “You wanted to invite me to dinner, didn’t you?” She reached into her jacket pocket with her free hand until she found the piece of paper. Her number. It had been years since she’d given a man her number, and her fingers trembled uncertainly as she held it out. It might be the worst decision of her life, but then again, it might also be the best she’d ever made. She pressed it towards him.

Percy’s breath seemed to catch in his throat for a moment. He took his hand off her cheek before reaching for the piece of paper. He held it between two fingers, whilst Annabeth held the other end. It felt somehow even more intimate. “That’s what I wanted.”

“There’s your chance.” She let go and turned to look for her suitcase.

She could hear his breathing behind her, but otherwise it was quiet around them; only the sounds of the airport broke the intimacy that had crept between them.

“It doesn’t work like this,” he said at last.

“What –” Annabeth turned round just in time to see Percy walk over to the nearest bin and drop the note inside. Ice-cold wires tightened around her throat. Had he really just done that? Had she misread everything?

He walked back towards her with determined steps. He threw his sports bag to the ground and undid the strap of his rucksack, until it too fell to the ground beside him. Percy looked at her for a few intense moments before tensing his shoulders. “You only live once, don’t you?” he asked, before leaning forward, cupping her face in his hands with surprising gentleness and pressing his lips against hers.

Annabeth would probably have collapsed from the shock if he hadn’t been holding her. His lips were soft and tasted of the leftover biscuits they’d shared, and they moved hungrily and relentlessly over her mouth. At first she was too surprised to do anything – to think anything – but after a moment she raised her hand, placed it on his shoulder and kissed him back. Hesitantly, at first, but then she plucked up her courage, because why not? Here she stood, a New York Yankees cap on her braids, a stranger’s warm fingers on her skin and the taste of biscuits and honey and salty air on her tongue. Annabeth had never been kissed like this before.

Percy held her as if she were a precious marble statue that had survived for centuries, his thumbs stroking her skin and leaving scorched marks, and his lips were so incredibly soft, so incredibly warm, that Annabeth didn’t know which of them was running hotter.

She closed her eyes and let his kiss transport her to another time, a time when she didn’t know Luke, when she and Percy were already intimate. Because that’s what this kiss felt like. Not like a first time, not like a surprise and a gentle gift, but as if she’d done it hundreds of times before. Kissing Percy was like a supernova, and like breathing, and like existence. She parted her lips when she felt his tongue against her lower lip; she stifled a moan that was stuck in her throat as his teeth brushed against her lips. It was just a foretaste of something Annabeth could have had.

After a few eternal moments, Percy slowly pulled away from her, though he still pressed his face against hers. His warm breath brushed her skin and it felt as though, for a tiny moment, time had simply… stood still. The hubbub around them grew loud again, footsteps and people calling out, children screaming and dogs barking, announcements over the intercom, and the rolling of suitcases across marble. Percy’s eyes were closed and his forehead rested against hers. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against her mouth. “But I couldn’t just let you go like that.”

“Just like that,” she repeated slowly.

“It would have felt wrong to take your number, only to leave you here. I couldn’t have forgiven myself if it had ended like that.”

“Hmm,” she hummed against his lips. “I suppose your sea-brain has gone a bit haywire.”

He laughed softly.

“But,” she continued, and she could hear him hold his breath, “I wouldn’t have wanted it to end like that either.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“No,” she admitted. “Those six hours… they almost felt like a lifetime, didn’t they?”

“You’ve taken the words right out of my mouth, Annabeth.” He spoke her name as if it were a prayer.

Annabeth felt her knees go weak. She finally opened her eyes and pulled back until she could look at him. She had never been kissed like that before, nor had any man ever cared so much about her. Percy could have taken her number and left. Perhaps he would have texted her and perhaps they would have tried to arrange a meeting, which might have fallen through because they were both starting new lives. It would have fizzled out and the stranger from the plane would have slowly but surely slipped to the bottom of her messages until he was nothing more than a fond memory. But this? This was more than a simple meeting of two strangers. It was a tectonic shift in the plates of their lives. The universe had put them on that plane at the same time, and Percy had answered her call. That kiss was the promise Annabeth had needed.

Percy took a hand from her face, letting it slide down her arm until he reached her hand. He intertwined their fingers. They fit together perfectly, as if made for each other. Sparks flew through Annabeth’s blood. “If my family weren’t waiting for me, I’d invite you out for a meal right here and now. Or for a dance. Or to save the world. I don’t care. I’ll do anything. I just want…” He left the rest unsaid.

“Me too,” she admitted, because she could guess what he was going to say. She could still taste him. He had kissed the last remnants of New York from her lips and given her a fresh start in her new life. She had nothing left tying her to the other side of the country. But here. Here stood Percy, his fingers in hers, a man of six hours who had burst into her life like a wrecking ball. How could she ever have let him go?

She couldn’t. She couldn’t. Her fingers stiffened in his hand and she pulled him closer to her. “You can’t go.”

“I can’t?” he asked softly.

“No. It would be wrong.”

“It would be, wouldn’t it? Leaving you behind now. Probably the biggest mistake of my life.”

“What are we going to do about it?”

“I could think of a few solutions,” he muttered, before increasing the pressure of his other hand on her face. Annabeth let herself fall backwards until her back hit the pillar. “But my family is really waiting for me. They’re probably thinking the flight has crashed right now.”

“Would it be that bad?” she asked.

“They’d look for me. They’d find me here.”

For a moment, Annabeth imagined what that would be like. The family of a man she’d known for six hours and six lifetimes, a mother she’d heard so much about, and a stepfather and two siblings, all with the same smile and the same warmth and perhaps even the same eyes. They’d see Percy and Annabeth and perhaps they’d understand why he hadn’t looked for them, or perhaps they’d interrupt them. Annabeth sighed softly. She closed her eyes. “We probably can’t drag this out to the end.”

“Nobody said anything about an end,” said Percy, his fingers squeezing her hand. “Even at the risk of sounding like a crazy stalker, you’re not getting away from me that easily. Not now that I know what it’s like to kiss you, Annabeth.”

“Good,” she replied, pleased with his answer. “Because I remember you wanted to introduce me to your mother.”

Percy laughed and his breath tasted like home on her tongue. “I can’t believe my rash offer is actually coming in handy after all.”

Annabeth stood on her tiptoes for a moment, stole a kiss from his lips that set her whole body ablaze, before pushing him away with her hand on his shoulder. “Come on, seaweed brain. If you play your cards right, I might write my number down for you a second time.”

“We’ll see,” he promised as he bent down to pick up his bag and rucksack. “I won’t rest until I have you all to myself again.”

She squeezed his hand one last time, then let go. “You haven’t managed to scare me off after six hours. I reckon there’s a good chance you won’t have to wait long.” She winked at him over her shoulder.

Funny, she thought as she walked towards the baggage reclaim. Until now, she’d thought flights could only ruin lives. In films, someone would board a plane and then simply disappear. But now? She hadn’t disappeared, nor had she crashed and gone missing. She’d been found.

Somewhere among the golden clouds, someone had seen her and found her. And she had no intention of letting him go.