that summer |percabeth au| ✔︎

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Neptune's Kiss

Nothing shone through the blue-gray morning mist but a crooked silver crown.

Standing on the shore where the ocean lathered the sand, Percy waved his trident, a cardboard wrapping-paper tube spiked at the end with three toilet-paper tubes. He was bare chested and barefoot, wearing only a pair of dark gray sweatpants and that crown.

"Fear me, sea-ling!" he roared, pointing the trident at James.

Dressed in Bermuda shorts and a plastic-coconut bra, the younger Jackson squealed and dove behind the nearest dune.

Neither had seen me, and I sat atop the dune at the edge of Candy's property to spy. Percy was relaxed and happy. Every time James laughed, Percy lit up too.

It was the first I'd seen him shirtless, confirming my suspicions that his shoulder and upper arm were fully tattooed. It was some sort of nautical design: a ship and compass, maybe a map. It was all blacks and grays, no garish colors or cartoonish lines. It seemed like such a part of him, almost like he'd come out that way, marked by his love for the sea.

Before I could finish cataloging it for private, late-night recollection, he was gone, zipping around the dunes in search of his brother.

"Looks like you've got a rescuer, little mermaid," he called to James, pointing his trident my way.

Heat rushed to my face, but I held my head high, rose from the dune, and approached them as though I'd been on my way all along. In truth I'd been en route to the Jacksons' house, excited to catch Percy early. I'd wanted to tell him about Katie's state park marina idea.

"Annabeth!" James stretched out his bare arms, two pale fins. The plastic coconuts of his costume squished together. "Get to the sea stack! If Neptune touches you with his trident, you'll turn into sea-foam!"

He took off running toward the rock formations, waving for me to follow. It was low tide, and the beach was littered with sand toys and smooth rocks, orange and lavender starfish lounging in the haze.

Percy waved the trident threateningly as I passed. "I am Neptune, god of the sea! All shall bow to me!"

James and I huddled behind the largest sea stack, an ancient black column that rose above its neighbors like a giant crooked fang. James held my hand tightly, beaming. I'd seen him a few times since our failed mermaid hunt, but always it was on the boat, where I'd been too busy for mermaid sketches and talks of old legends.

He cupped his free hand around his mouth and shouted over the sound of the waves. "There's only one thing that can stop the evil king of the sea. True love's first kiss."

My throat went dry, but James was all giggles and innocence, thrilled with the new twist in the game, and before I could get myself out of that particular mess, Neptune—our tyrannical tattooed king—ducked out from behind an adjacent sea stack.

James sucked in a breath. "Oh no. He found us."

Percy's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Did I hear something about a kiss?"

James sighed. "You can't kiss her until you're married."

"In that case," Percy said, laying down his trident and kneeling in the wet sand before me, "I do."

"Hold on." James darted out from the rocks, leaving me alone with my soon-to-be-husband. Overhead, the sun was enjoying a momentary cloudless stretch, bathing us in a swath of golden light.

"If I'd known today would be my wedding day," Percy said, looking down at his bare chest, "I would've worn something a little more . . . well, more. Alas, if only you'd called first." His eyes drifted to my hands, lingered on the faintly visible writing he'd left on my palm last night.