Sea Green Eyes

The Chalice of the Gods - Part Eight

"He's good, Ralphie, he's with me," she assured him.

"He doesn't have a card. I can't let him up."

Percy's heart was racing. He was getting increasingly more nervous. What were they going to do if Ralphie didn't let him up?

He should've known better than to listen to his anxiety, because Cressida simply leaned forward on the desk as she stared at the guard.

"Ralphie, I'd like to think that we're friends, so I'm going to give you a friendly reminder. That is Percy Jackson, saviour of Olympus and the love of my life. You separate me from him against our wills and we die. We swore on the Styx. So unless you'd like to face the wrath of my father, I'm going to say it one more time. He is with me."

Ralphie met Cressida's eyes in a tense stare-off before he blinked first. "Ok," he said finally. "But if he gets into any trouble, that's not on me."

"Yeah. I'll take responsibility for him. Put him on as my guest. I'm a 4-star platinum member, I'm cleared to have a guest."

"Fine," he said as he tapped a few things on the keyboard, the screen behind the desk where they couldn't see. "You're good to go."

Cressida stood straight and smiled brightly. "Enjoy the book, Ralphie."

She spun on her heel as she strode past Percy and towards the elevator, smirking at her boyfriend. "You coming?"

"Right behind you," he said dreamily.

Percy walked into the lift as Cressida jammed the keycard in and hit the button for the six hundredth floor.

And the second the doors slammed shut, Percy snaked his arm around her waist as he slammed his lips onto hers as a voice sang 'I Got You, Babe,' over the speakers.

"You're incredible, you know that?" he said when they pulled away and she beamed.

"I know. You're not so bad yourself."

"That was really attractive," he breathed.

"Good to know," she returned before she returned his lips to his, the chalice clattered to the floor as he wrapped both hands around her and pushed her back into the elevator wall.

Their kisses grew hot and heavy as the elevator moved.

"We sure do have timing, don't we?" Percy panted between kisses.

"Yeah, we do," she agreed as her nails clawed at his back.

The metal was cold against her back as their kisses grew more heated. At least before the chalice slammed into elevator doors and startled both of them.

"What the hell was that?!" Percy exclaimed.

"I think - I think it's like Iris's staff. It's trying to get back to Ganymede," Cressida guessed.

"Yeah, well it ruined our moment," Percy huffed as he pressed one last kiss to Cressida's lips before stalking over to pick it up.

"It's probably a good thing because -"

"How is that a good thing?" Percy exclaimed.

"Because," she said pointedly as she gestured to the doors with seemingly perfect timing. "We have a long way to run and we're gonna need all our energy. So let's go."

"Why is it so hard to make out with my girlfriend in an elevator?!" Percy whined as Cressida took off and he hefted the bowling ball-like chalice and he broke into a sprint after her.

********************************

Sprinting to Mount Olympus sounded cool and heroic but Percy quickly realised that it wasn't as heroic as it sounded when they reached halfway and Percy was puffing and panting as he held the chalice and looked at the quarter mile they had left to run.