My Sweet Temptation--A Percy Jackson Love Story

Chapter 10~~The Race

We heard a cough behind us and found Chiron tapping his front hoof as he gave us a strange look. A few campers had gathered behind him and were giggling and pointing.

"What the Hades are you two doing?" Chiron inquired, his voice quivering as he tried to hide a smile.

Percy and I looked at each other and stiffled a laugh. I caught Zach and Melanie's angry glare and my smile faded. I felt all my energy drain. I did it again. I failed not to let my emotions get the best of me.

"Sorry, Chiron. We just had a little accident." I quickly stood up and wiped myself with a nearby towel.

I felt Percy giving me a confused look because of my sudden change of mood but I didn't dare look him in the eye. I was very ashamed at myself that I acknowledged an enemy's attempts of getting my attention. 

"You two need to hurry up," Chiron sighed at the two demigods before him. "The race is going to begin less than an hour."

"Okay," Percy nodded and Chiron left along with the other campers. I saw Zach and Melanie narrow their eyes before reluctantly leaving with everyone else. As I watched their retreating figures Melanie leaned in to Zach and whispered something. Zach immediately tensed up and I saw his fists ball up. I felt another another wave of humiliation.

After taking a shower, I returned by the Armory and found Percy clean. I didn't know how he was able to do that, since I used the bathroom. I was gonna ask when I remembered what happened earlier.

I am such a disgrace, I thought as I silently knelt across him and wiped the chariot from any more remaining oil residue. He didn't need to say anything about my sudden change of attitude. His emotions spoke for him. Confusion continued to flow from him. I must've showed a little more about myself than I expected. I just couldn't understand why I wasn't able to control myself from--

"Okay I can't take this anymore." Percy broke the unbearable silence and threw down the towel he was holding. I acted like I didn't notice anything and continued wiping the now spotless chariot.

"Amber, look at me." His sweet and caring voice made me look up into is green eyes. Wasn't he just mad at me earlier? I bit my lip and stood up, still caught in his eyes.

"What's going on?" He asked softly. "You've been having mood swings."

The fact that he actually still cared despite how I treated him gave butterflies to my stomach. I felt something in me that wanted to yell out what I really felt, but the ring in my finger reminded me of my purpose at this camp.

"It's none of your business," I said cooly and tried to create an ice wall between us, but the ice only grew two inches off the ground. Looks like my powers are relative to my emotions.

His expression suddenly hardened and the water jug nearby exploded and water poured out. The moment the water was 2 feet away from me, it turned into hard, cold ice.

I stared at his now cold expression and anger boil in me. This is all my fault. Had I not been so moody he wouldn't have acted this way. 

We had a staring competition that would've lasted forever if Chiron hadn't blew his whistle. I broke our gaze and walked away as ice formed behind me. I moved the heavy chariot towards the Arena and heard Percy shuffle to the other side to give me a hand. After a while Blackjack, Percy's pergasus, arrived and I strapped him in front of the chariot. Percy climbed the chariot car and I followed suit, careful not to make contact in the small space.

"You drive, and I'll do offense and defense." I simply said and he silently followed, which suprised me. I was gonna point his sudden submission out when Chiron blew his whistle and the chariot lurched forward. I clutched the edge of the car and gritted my teeth. If I were a mortal I probably would've been blown in the wind with the way Percy handled this thing.

I took a deep breath and concentrated on the race. We were in the lead, but the other chariots were catching up fast, especially the Hephaestus kids. I raised a palm and the earth in front of them swiftly rose, like a small mountain but big enough to block them. I heard a crash and numerous phrases of curse words and smirked.

Next was the Athena kids where Annabeth and a boy whom I learned was named Malcolm was advancing fast. I twirled my hand, generating fire in front of them. It started as a small flame that grew and threatened to burn them to ashes. Annabeth gasped and I heard a sharp screech of wheels as Malcolm made a quick turn and ended up crashing in a pile of bushes.

I decided to get rid of the opponents quickly so with another twirl of my hand, a tornado formed behind us. My hair swirled in the air and I felt my eyes water at the dust as I watched it suck the other chariots like a vaccum. More screams and crashes followed and I looked around for remaining survivors to finish off. Only Zach and Melanie remained along with Clarisse and an Ares' kid that were advancing.

Melanie gave me a warning look about showing off too much of my powers and I saw Zach mouth me something. I nodded and gently pulled the ropes Percy was using to drive the chariot. The Ares chariot drove past us and Percy glared at me, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Trust me!" Was all I said and was suprised when I felt Percy do as I said. I balled the fist where my ring was and raised my palm behind me. I pushed off as if from an invicible wall and we zoomed forward.

"Whoa!" Percy exclaimed and clutched the edge of the car with one hand. I saw him gaze at me with a gaping expression but I tried to ignore him. Clarisse and her chariot was nearing the finish line, and I needed to do something. I closed my eyes and concentrated. There was a loud explosion and I opened my eyes to see Clarisse and her chariot at the side of the track. Her chariot was burned to crisp. She sat up, covered in soot, and shot a death glare at Zach and my eyes widened. I forgot about his power and the restrictions I was supposed to follow. Only he should be able to make lightning appear out of nowhere! But before I could think about an excuse to tell Zach, Percy and I passed the finish line and there was a loud cheering from the campers. The chariot screeched into a halt and Percy turned to me with a grin plastered on his cute face. We both jumped off the chariot and suddenly my vision blurred and I immediately felt exhausted. 

"Amber? Are you okay?" Percy's voice seemed so far away as I felt his hands on my shoulders. It was as if I was drowning in ice cold water and all I could hear were muffled voices. I involuntary smiled contentedly at his touch and felt my knees buckle.

"Amber!" Percy exclaimed and felt my body fall into his arms. My half open lids saw Zach and Melanie rushing towards us, yelling something. I hardly payed attention to them as someone lifted me and carried me off the ground. I saw a blurred image of Percy with worry on his face before I lost consciousness.