Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 32

"I'm alright," she said as she forced herself to sit up, the world still a little dizzy as Jason placed a hand on her back.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked as she wiped her nose on the back of her hand, the blood smearing across her skin.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok." She turned to Jason. "Thanks for the save."

He grinned. "Yeah, well I owed you one for when you kissed me."

"You did what?!" Percy exclaimed, not quite believing what he just heard and not knowing how to process it.

To be quite honest, Cressida had forgotten about that. It was so long ago, and she'd been so concerned with getting Percy back that she'd forgotten to tell him.

"You kissed my girlfriend?! Hang on - you kissed Jason?!"

"Hey," she said as Jason backed off and she tried to meet his gaze, her vision still fuzzy. "If by kissed him, you mean gave him CPR to save his life while we fought the king of the giants and freed Hera? Then yes, I kissed Jason. And I didn't tell you about it because I forgot, because in case you forgot, I have someone better to kiss."

Percy was still a little stunned as he tried to digest the news. He knew that she'd never lie to him, especially about this and that it had been necessary to save Jason's life, he just didn't like the idea of Cressida's lips being on someone else's. Especially after everything he went through to get her to kiss him and only him - that was a miracle in itself because she could quite literally have anyone she wanted. Like Jason.

"Are we done with this?" Cressida asked tiredly as she rested her head on Percy's shoulder and he held it there out of habit. "My head hurts."

"I swear, man," Jason said. "I meant it as a joke. She didn't actually kiss me, and it really was to save my life."

Percy didn't get a chance to answer as Piper yelled, "I can see Annabeth!"

Cressida forced herself up but quickly stumbled as Percy caught her.

"She'll never make it through all of the Romans," Hazel's voice said.

"We need a distraction."

"Hey Aquaman," Cressida asked, still in his arms. "Think you can summon one of your hurricanes to save our best friend?"

"I can help," Jason offered and Percy looked between them as he considered it and eventually nodded.

Piper took over holding Cressida as the boys drew their swords and crossed them and the air began to smell like a storm as they summoned the sky and sea to do their bidding. Water and wind churned together. Waves heaved against the ramparts and lightning flashed. Giant eagles were knocked out of the sky. Wreckage of the flying chariot burned in the water, and Coach Hedge swung a mounted crossbow, taking pot-shots at the Roman birds as they flew overhead.

And for the next ten minutes, it was ok. But as usual, things started to go wrong.

Despite working together, the boys were growing weaker by the second and Annabeth wasn't at the ship yet. Turns out when Piper had spotted her, she was still battling her way towards the map.

But they weren't leaving without her. They had to buy her time.

So Cressida placed her hands on the arms of both boys. "Strength."

And she could feel herself getting weaker as she gave the boys one last surge of strength.

But when Cressida finally collapsed, she felt the ship beginning to move away from the dock and she didn't know if Annabeth was on board or not.