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Everything ached. Walking back to my cabin barefoot, stones jabbed into my reddened skin. I tripped on a rock and almost cracked my head open on the steps. I shoved the door open, yanked the straps of my armour and let the breastplate hit the floor. All of my clothes had at least eight burn holes in them. I sighed and kicked them under the bed as I stumbled to the shower.
The water helped, sure, but I was still exhausted from Capture The Flag. I enjoy ‘Fight A Dragon And Don’t Die’ as much as the next guy, but I do also appreciate the more simple pleasure of ‘Don’t Do Anything And Also Don’t Die’.
All I could think about was the game. I was used to the traumatic parts by now, but the red team’s jail stuck in my mind. Annabeth and Silena had thrown Beckendorf and me in there after everything in what was admittedly a pretty badass backstab. Before she’d left to go kick our team’s butts, she’d asked me to the fireworks. Actually, it was more of a statement.
I grabbed a random shirt and threw it on. Then I saw myself in the mirror and tore it off. I put on another. It had a small hole in the hem. Digging through my floorboards, I finally found a non-ruined shirt. I hadn’t worn it in ages, I usually didn’t care what I looked like at events. Why did I care? It was just some fireworks.
I remembered something and slid my bedside drawer open. On top of all the dirtied drachmas and empty chocolate wrappers I couldn’t be bothered to walk ten feet to the trash can to throw away, a small plastic box sat unopened on the mess.
Annabeth had bought me a little blue comb years back because she said I ‘needed to look presentable, Seaweed Brain’. I winced as I dragged it across my scalp, my hair somehow forming a perfect Gordian Knot around the teeth. I let go of the handle and it stuck, dangling in front of my face. I promptly put it back in the box along with the concerning number of long black strands it had made great friends with.
I shook my head and ruffled my hair as I stepped out into the cooler air and quickly started down the path. My stomach felt weird. I thought I was probably just hungry. I stared at the ground the whole way, not realising I’d arrived at the dining pavilion until a chubby little satyr blew the conch horn right into my ear. I jumped and almost took his ear off with my sword. He cursed at me and scuttled off into the forest for a few yards before getting clotheslined by a dryad with a grudge.
I managed to get to my table without endangering any more wildlife, dropping onto the marble bench. It stabbed into my tailbone. Grover eventually showed up looking very concerned. Apparently Horace had snitched on me.
“What even happened?”
I shrugged, “I got distracted and he scared me.”
He seemed to understand that. His fingers rapped against the table, releasing a small yet piercing echo into the otherwise chaotic pavilion. “You feeling okay, Perce?”
I took another bite of my olive pizza. “Yeah. Why?”
Grover stared at me weirdly. “You seem a little off.”
“Hell of a day, I guess.” I pointed across to the Hephaestus table, “Beck rode a dragon.” Grover’s eyebrow raised at the laughing blacksmith. I added, “Oh, and he asked Silena to the fireworks.”
Grover smiled faintly. “So Hothead finally got himself a date then?”
I wiped the crust through the sauce on my plate. “Yeah, I was shocked too. Try getting stuck in a jail cell with Lover Boy immediately after the fact.”
Grover leaned forward on his elbows. “A noble sacrifice. Thank you for your service.”
I flicked the flour off my fingers. “Thank you. I take cash, Venmo and non-destroyed shirts.”
Grover laughed. “Sorry man, I’m broke. I went all out planning my date with Juniper tonight. We’re going to the heart lake in the forest to watch the show.”
I nudged his arm lightly. “Damn, Casanova, leave some ladies for the rest of us.”
He shrugged. “Not my fault I’ve got charm.”
When everyone finished eating, I got up from the bench and tossed the bronze plate onto the pile like a really bored discus thrower. I smiled when I remembered that Connor and Travis were on dish duty for the next three weeks after they’d drop-kicked Malcolm Pace down a hill during the game. For some inexplicable reason, Chiron didn’t find Malcolm’s tibia sticking through his leg to be that funny. To their credit, it was a very clean break and Lee Fletcher was able to fix it within the hour.
I turned back and almost walked straight into Annabeth. I hadn’t seen her at dinner, but I guessed she was just stuck in one of her self-assigned homework problems. Her hair had been pulled back into a loose ponytail, a few escaped curls hanging inches from her eyes. She smiled at me. “Hey.”
My stomach went trippy again. “Hey.”
She lifted a rolled-up checkered blanket. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” I took it from her. My fingers grazed her knuckles as she dropped it into my arms and dragged me away. A few hundred yards down I pulled her hand away from my collar. “I know how to walk, Wise Girl.”
She wheeled around, staring at me as she effortlessly walked backwards. “Then do it faster, Seaweed Brain.”
“Is that a challenge?”
She leaned closer. “Absolutely.”
I grinned, pushing past her. “Race ya!” We bounded down the slope towards the beach and dove onto the sand at exactly the same time.
“I win.”
She shoved me. “In your dreams, Seaweed Brain.”
I held up the blanket, unfurling it and dropping it onto the ground. “Well, I was carrying this so that’s an unfair advantage for you.”
She dropped onto the fabric as I tried to pull it backwards. “My dagger weighs more!”
I collapsed next to her. The blanket bunched uncomfortably under my butt. “I’m heavier than you though. That takes more work done or something.”
She laughed and then realised I wasn’t kidding. “Okay, we’re going to do some physics homework tomorrow.”
I groaned and fell backwards onto the blanket. “Can I just have more than one day in a row that’s enjoyable?”
“We fought a haywire dragon today.”
I threw my arms up. “Yeah, and that was fun.” My heels ground into the edge of the blanket as my soles burned again. A few grains of sand found their way into my socks. “I just wish I wore steel toe caps though.”
She jabbed me, but her lips curled slightly. “…Yeah. It was. Percy-“
An explosion went off above us and we both jumped. The fireworks had started. Three bright green charges fired into the sky, exploding into the world’s largest credits sequence that read:
‘And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for.’
‘Brought to you by Hephaestus cabin (the best one)’
‘Enjoy the show! But not too much, ya hear? It’s a school night.’
A smaller charge came up below the third one, scattering into a bright pink shower: ‘Lookin’ at you, Beckendorf.’
A few hundred pairs of giggles echoed into the cold air. He and Silena had set up camp out of everyone else’s way. I could barely make out his very red face at the top of the hill overlooking the beach. Silena said something and then leaned her head on his shoulder. Beck suddenly seemed a lot less interested in everyone else. I smiled.
The real show finally began. Harley and the guys had spent months preparing, and it showed. Hundreds of intricate pictures and stories painted the air in a million different colours. I saw Eros and Psyche together on Olympus. Odysseus’ ship slowly but surely sailed between the stars until it reached Penelope. A larger shell flew up to a stop before detonating into Perseus and Andromeda. The images shimmered among the stars for a while. They seemed to move as the sparks magically hung in the sky as they fizzled.
I turned to Annabeth. Her face changed colour and her eyes sparkled with every new explosion that lit the stratosphere. She caught me staring. “What?”
“Nothing.” The sound was drowned out by the active warzone above us. I shifted a few inches closer and repeated myself. She immediately took advantage of the newfound closeness to deliver a nasty elbow to the ribs. I clutched my side and fell backwards again. She lay down too. Her curls splayed out under her head like a halo, grazing my skin with every slight movement of her head. I fought every urge to scratch my neck.
The fireworks eventually ended and the whole beach fell into darkness. Craning my head into the blanket, I saw everyone else getting up and going back to camp. Beckendorf and Silena didn’t move, whispering to each other as they gazed at the stars.
Annabeth didn’t seem to be in any rush to leave. We lay there for a while, staring at the empty air and listening to the quiet shifting of the waves on the shore. Her head lolled slowly and she curled into her side, her nose pressed into the crook of my neck.
I called quietly, “Annabeth?”
She didn’t reply. I felt the warmth spread across my right side as the dark got darker and my eyes felt heavier.