The Silver Archer 2️⃣ (Percy Jackson)

46. The Best Underwater Kiss You Wish You Had

Adira

The rest of the day was as strange as the beginning. Campers trickled in from New York by car, pegasus, and chariot. The wounded were cared for. The dead were given proper funeral rites at the campfire.

Silena's shroud was hot pink, but embroidered with an electric spear. The Ares and Aphrodite cabins both claimed her as a hero, and lit the shroud together. No one mentioned the word spy.  That secret burned to ashes as the designer perfume smoke drifted into the sky.

My father's shroud was one that I hadn't even realized. It was a family man. A tall father standing behind two children, hands on their shoulders. My siblings and I lit it together. We didn't cry, but it was more of a relief. He was in Elysium now, and he died a hero. No, not just a hero. A true father. He sacrificed himself, breaking the oath he swore on the river Styx to keep, and he did it so he didn't have to hurt me and my siblings ever again. He regretted hurting us, and he could die knowing he was forgiven.

Even Ethan Nakamura was given a shroud—black silk with a logo of swords crossed under a set of
scales. As his shroud went up in flames, I hoped Ethan knew he had made a difference in the end. He'd paid a lot more than an eye, but the minor gods would finally get the respect they deserved.

Dinner at the pavilion was low-key. The only highlight was Juniper the tree nymph, who screamed, "Grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer. They went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk, and I was happy for them, though the scene reminded me of Silena and Beckendorf, which made me sad. I convinced myself they're both in Elysium now.

Mrs. O'Leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps. Nico sat at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D, and nobody seemed to think this was out of place. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Even the Ares kids seemed to think he was pretty cool. Hey, show up with an army of undead warriors to save the day, and suddenly you're everybody's best friend.

I sat by him for a bit, talking about how grown up he was. We laughed a bit, talking about other things, as I pointed to people he should know about camp, and picked on a few.

Slowly, the dinner crowd trickled away. Some went to the campfire for a sing-along. Others went to bed. I rushed off to get Percy something special, and when I found him, he sat at the Poseidon table himself and watched the moonlight on Long Island Sound. I could see Grover and Juniper at the beach, holding hands and talking. And leading to the woods, Brett and Annabeth were both laughing and kissing, holding hands, etc. Brett was twirling her around, and then chased her into the woods. It was peaceful.

"Hey." I slid next to him on the bench. "Happy birthday."

I held a huge misshapen cupcake with blue icing in front of him.

He stared at me. "What?"

"It's August 18th," I said. "Your birthday, dumbass."

He looked stunned.

"Make a wish," I told him.

"Did you bake this yourself?" he asked.

"Tyson helped."

"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," he said. "With extra blue cement."

I laughed. A true genuine laugh, filled with no stress whatsoever.

He thought for a second, then blew out the candle.

We cut it in half and shared, eating with our fingers. Percy sat next to me, and we watched the ocean. Crickets and monsters were making noise in the woods, but otherwise it was quiet. We were right beside each other.

"What did you wish for?" I asked.

"It won't come true—"

"If you tell me. I know," I sighed, waving it off. He laughed.

"You saved the world," I said, taking my head off his.

"We saved the world. I mean, now you're the official protector of Olympus. The Silver Archer."

I scoffed. "What is that even supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Percy laughed. "Well, we'll figure it out soon enough."

"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."

"You don't sound disappointed," he noticed.

I shrugged. "Oh, I don't really care."

"Uh-huh."

I raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my ass."

"You know I'd kick your ass."

I brushed the cake off my hands when Percy began. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable... Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."

"Yeah?" I kept my eyes on the horizon. I focused on my sister, who was running in the water, occasionally turning into a dolphin or something. She was playing with a younger child of Apollo. She was happy, I was happy.

"Then up on Olympus," Percy said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking—"

"Oh, you so wanted to," I scoffed, letting out a chuckle.

"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought—I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking..."

"Anyoneeee... in particular?" I asked, trying to keep my voice soft.

He looked over and realized that I was trying not to smile.

"You're laughing at me," he complained.

"I am not!"

"You are so not making this easy."

Then I laughed for real, and I put my hands around his neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. You should be used to it by now."

"You're right," he mumbled. "I should be."

He kissed me... well, more like we kissed each other. When we both leaned in, we pressed our lips together with so much force I almost lost my balance and fell down. He placed his hands on my waist, pulling me closer to him while I placed a hand on his chest.

I could've stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, "Well, we got the two famous love birds!"

Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders. I recognized all my siblings, even Mariana; who must've returned from the ocean, the Stolls, Katie Gardner, and Cassie.

"Oh, come on!" Percy complained, his hand still pressed on my waist and I kept my hand on his chest. "Is there no privacy?"

"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse said with glee.

"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll shouted.

With a huge cheer, they carried us down the hill, but they kept us close enough to hold hands.

Percy was laughing, and I couldn't help laughing too, even though my face was completely red.

We held hands right up to the moment they dumped us in the water.

Percy made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey—when you're dating the son of Poseidon, you don't have to hurry.

He gripped onto my waist, pulling me closer to him.

And it was the best underwater kiss of all time.