cymophobia | percy jackson

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"So where's that girl, Percy?" Sally Jackson asked with her hands on the wheel. Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia were on their way to Maine on an emergency mission. Grover had sent them and their friend Ash a distress signal last night.

"Hmm?" Percy said distractedly, having been steadfastly blocking out the past 7 hours of his own embarrassing baby stories.

"The one you're always blabbing about, what's her name again? I thought she'd be here." Thalia and Annabeth exchanged grins, quickly picking up on who she was referring to.

Heat rose to Percy's cheeks. "Not sure who you're talking about, Ma."

"Asphodel?" Annabeth piped up helpfully from the backseat.

Sally snapped her fingers. "I thought it was something unique like that. She's the one that brought me back from the Underworld that one time. Pretty, black hair?"

Percy was now bright red. Thalia and Annabeth snickered from the backseat.

"Yeah, that's her," Thalia said. "Why?"

Ms. Jackson sent a knowing smile at her son, who was determinedly looking out the window and not making eye contact with anybody else in the car.

"Ah, well, Percy here seemed to be missing her a lot this semester. I thought the first thing he'd want to do camp-wise was go see her, but here he is off on a dangerous mission again." She frowned.

Thalia reached up to pat Sally's arm. "Don't worry, Ms. Jackson. We'll be fine. And she's meeting us there."

Sally gasped. "Percy! You didn't think to offer her a ride?"

"I did, Mom!" He said indignantly. "But she thought she'd go first to scout it out."

"She can fly and travel through shadows, you know," Annabeth said. "Moves a lot faster than we can."

"She can fly?" Sally exclaimed. "You didn't tell me that, Percy."

Percy sunk lower in his seat, grumbling about how he was sure he mentioned something about something.

"What did Percy tell you about her?" Thalia inquired, smirking at Percy. He hissed a "shut up", but her and Annabeth paid him no mind.

"Well..."

 ₪₪₪

Percy tried to ignore what the three women were saying, but it was a simple fact that as soon as he glimpsed Ash through the gates of Westover Hall, he wondered if she was cold. She seemed unbothered, flipping one of her Stygian Iron daggers in her hand, but nevertheless he made a note to give her one of the spare jackets his mom insisted he bring. He also made note of the way her black hair was speckled alluringly with snowflakes.

"There she i-is," Thalia sang, and Percy tore his gaze away to glower at her.

Hearing the crunch of tires in snow, Ash's honey eyes flickered up, and the smile that spread across her face immediately wiped the scowl off Percy's. Almost quicker than his eyes could handle, she sank into the shadow of the tree and flickered into existence on the driver's side as Sally stopped. His mom rolled down the window, eyes wide.

"Percy!" were the first words out of Ash's mouth. The boy in question's face reddened at how delighted she sounded.

"Tali, Annabeth," she greeted, bending down to wave at them enthusiastically. "And of course, the lovely Ms. Jackson. It's wonderful to see you again."

Percy swore even his mom blushed at the warm smile Ash sent her.

"Asphodel, right? It's good to see you too, my dear."