Seeing in Color

Twenty-Four

What do you want?

To talk.

About?

After all this time, why was she texting me now? It dawned on me, and I dropped my head into my cousin's lap. He ran his fingers through my long hair. Whenever I was lonely or depressed, Magnus would always be there to comfort me.

He was the best cousin I ever had.

And the only cousin I ever had.

You know why. You stole Percy.

Our old conversation from two years past filled my head.

"You stole Percy from me!" Rachel yelled; her face was as red as her hair. "You knew that I liked him, and you kissed him! You made him choose you over me because you're selfish!"

"I didn't steal anybody! Why would you think that about me?" I yelled back, aware of several dozen eyes staring at us as we argued by the campfire. Percy was already at his cabin, overwhelmed by the sudden drama. He already had heard enough yelling in his life to deal with the fight between me and Rachel.

"I thought you were my friend! I thought you were my best friend!" Rachel screamed, balling up her fists and beating the air around her hips. She kicked at the grass in her tantrum. "But you kissed Percy! You kissed the boy I liked!"

"Well, I loved him! I loved him; I didn't like him. He isn't a play toy your daddy bought you for Christmas that you can just throw away when you're bored of it!" I was screaming now. "Do you even know Percy on the inside? Do you know about his family, his friends back home, his fears, his dreams? Do you even know his middle name? What is it?"

"You're just being selfish, Annabeth! Taking Percy when I had dibs!"

"You don't get to call dibs on a person's feelings!" I yelled, furious at her. Now people were walking towards us, ready to break up the fight.

Rachel hollered and thrust forward, trying to claw at my face. I grabbed her arms and threw her away from me. She fell and cried out, enraged now. I heard yelling and running behind us. My friends were rushing to separate us, but soon Rachel was on her feet, back for another attempt to claw my face. Her nails met my face, scraping a line across my left eyebrow, across the bridge of my nose, and to my right cheek.

Whoever invented coffin acrylic nails deserves a hard blow to the soft spot.

I cried out and my hand moved on its own.

I found out later that I slapped her, and my friends Piper and Reyna had to pull us away. Rachel kicked someone in the face and punched another camper in the stomach, nearly bruising her own hand in the process. She was immediately kicked out of camp.

I put my phone on airplane mode and threw my phone across the room. It landed on the carpet and bounced, hitting the wall and startling Magnus.

"Do you want Percy now?" He asked. I sat up and nodded.

He stood and left the room, and a few moments later Percy appeared in the doorway.

He leaned against the doorframe, his hands in his jean pockets. He gave me a smile. "Just forget about all this. So, who cares if people know about us dating? We're happy together, and that's all that matters."

I opened my arms for a hug and he walked over, collapsing in my arms. I fell back on the bed and he rolled over. We stared up at my ceiling and he took my hand.

"No one can change what's between us. Not your dad, not Rachel."

"How did you-" I looked over, surprised. His sea green eyes were dancing with the lights from the window. I stopped talking and curled up against his warm body. He kissed my cheek.

"I think you might be my soulmate..." He whispered.

"What?" I shot up, my eyes widening. "I-I totally forgot about my soulmate tattoo, to be honest. How-how do you know?"

Percy sat up and rolled his shirt sleeve up. His bicep was covered with an elaborate tattoo. I thought it was a typewriter at first, until I realized it wasn't stamping on paper. It was an owl's wing, sprouting from the top of the typewriter like furling paper. Some of the lines of the feathers faded into Shakespeare lines.

Owls were my favorite animal...I owned a typewriter and was writing a book with it...Shakespeare was my favorite author...

"Oh my-" My heart stopped. Percy reached over and slid my shirt sleeve up. He inhaled sharply and met my eyes.

I glanced down at the tattoo.

The cookie had changed. It wasn't really a cookie anymore. The chocolate piece it originally had were replaced with waves, dolphin fins, and a canoe. The edge of the cookie crumbled away into water droplets, making a pool around the water-themed cookie. And was it just my imagination, or was there a trident floating in the dough?

"I knew it. Annabeth, we're soulmates!" Percy smiled, taking my face in his hands. "We found each other!"

I was at a loss for words, but Percy didn't wait long enough for a response. He leaned in and kissed me.

On the lips.

He hadn't kissed me like this since...

Camp...

My heart soared, and I kissed him back. He tasted like cookies, which explained the tattoo. And his lips were salty, as if he had dipped his body in the ocean before coming by today.

Oh, my God.

Percy was my soulmate.

And I was his.

We had found each other...

//AN//

I AM SO SORRY! 

It's been a crazy few months for me.  I wrote a bunch then never published, so here comes a LOT of updates!

xoxo

your favorite writer