𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇

chapter 25

"Merry Christmas!" my mom yelled at the top of her lungs. And, man, was she loud. She handed the presents she'd bought for the kids to the kids. Percy had two little cousins: Angie, who was 11, and Tomas, who was 6. Sure, they were very immature and annoying, but Percy loved them anyway.

Annabeth was still in her comma, but she should be awake on New Year's Eve at the latest.

;;;

Percy tried enjoying the rest of his Christmas holiday without thinking about Annabeth, but he just couldn't. She wouldn't leave his mind. He kept checking his phone for missed calls, and Instagram notifications; but nothing ever came up. For all he knew, Annabeth was still a blank.

He had called or messaged Piper asking if Annabeth was okay every few hours, and he always got the same response: Yes, she's fine, and yes, she'd still in her coma.

Percy decided to call her again... just in case.

The phone was doing it's buzzing when all of a sudden it switched to Piper's voicemail.

"Hi, this is Piper McLean. If you're Percy Jackson, I TOLD YOU ALREADY; SHE'S FINE, and I'll call you if anything changes. If you're not Percy Jackson, please leave a message after the beep. BEEP."

"Very funny, Pipes," Percy mumbled to himself, hanging up the phone. It was already around 1:30 in the morning and he just couldn't fall asleep. He sighed in his bedroom-for-the-time-being. He honestly couldn't wait to get back to San Francisco.

"Percy?" he heard. A whisper from outside his door. It was probably one of his cousins. "Are you awake, Percy?"

"Yeah, come in," he said. Tomas entered his room, clutching his plushy. "Bad dream?"

Tomas hugged his plushy dinosaur a little harder and sat beside Percy on the bed. The shadows on the white walls seemed to be watching them.

"Yes," Tomas said.

"Well," Percy said, beginning to tickle his young cousin, rewarding him with a few giggles, "tell me about it so that I can make you feel better, and so that you can go back to bed."

"NO!" Tomas replied, playfully.

"Well, then I guess the tickle monster will have to TICKLE YOU!"

Percy began tickling Tomas to the point where he had no choice but to surrender. This was extremely hard since everyone was sleeping and they had to stay quiet. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you about my dream!"

"There we go."

"I dreamt that Mother Nature was mean and wanted to take over the planet. I dreamt that a bunch of kids had to go save the universe, and you were one of them. Then you and your girlfriend - in the dream - fell into hell. Then I woke up. But, Percy, it felt so real. It was really scary. I thought I would never see you again!"

Percy gave his cousin a small, warm smile, and then proceeded to hug him. "Buddy, it's okay; I'm okay. I'm right here, okay? See?"

Tomas nodded.

"Is this why you came to my room? To see if I was still here?"

Tomas nodded again. "Yeah."

"Okay, let's get you back to bed, big guy," Percy said, picking Tomas up, and bringing him back to his room.

Tomas giggled as Percy dropped him in his blue bed.

"Goodnight, Percy," Tomas said, Percy, kissing his forehead.

"Goodnight, Tomas, I love you."

"I love you too. You're the best cousin ever," Tomas exclaimed.

"No, you are."

"No, you are."

Percy smiled. Six-year-olds.

"Goodnight, buddy."

"Goodnight."

Tomorrow, he was going back home, and he was happy about it. But if anything, he was gonna miss his little cousins the most.