Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔹each nights

Stretching out on the beach, Nicki gazed up at the darkening sky.

Shouts and peels of laughter reached Nicki's ears as her friends continued playing in the sea. Habitually, she waved at the sun as it streaked overhead. She knew Apollo couldn't see her, but it brought her comfort.

After hours of playing in the water, her eyes felt heavy. With camp having eased the amount that the campers train —to try to ease them back into it and avoid as much PTSD as possible— Nicki felt more unfit than she had before the Battle of Manhattan. She let her body rest as she kept her eyes trained up at the sky.

Before her eyes, the artists of the sky tidied away their paintbrushes and wiped their canvas clean for the early shift. The delicate colours of the sky were covered by a heavy inky spill. Thick darkness spread across the sky; the blanket of night returning to its rightful position.

Artemis and Apollo flashed identical grins, rushing past toward their respective skies. The moon peeked out between wisps of clouds like an elaborate game of cat and mouse that spanned millennia at a time. Stars lazily blinked their eyes open. The sky slowly brightened into collections of picturesque connect-the-dots featuring mythology's greatest fairy tales.

Reaching her hand up as if she could touch them, Nicki began to trace out the constellations.

"That's Perseus," Nicki muttered, feeling a warmth settle on the towel next to her. "That's his wife, Andromeda."

Percy's eyes followed where Nicki was pointing. "It's kinda romantic. Forever framed in the stars together for billions of people to see your love."

"Who knew you to be such a sap."

"Who knew you to be able to pick out the constellations. I just see a blob of stars."

Nicki shrugged. "I dunno. Asher used to drag me outside in the middle of the night and teach me about the constellations. We both needed the distraction, so I got really into it. He definitely knew more than he should have because every time I had a bad day, he'd start by talking about Perseus."

"I would have loved to meet him."

Nicki laughed sadly. "He would've hated you, but in the best way. You two would've had the world's worst rivalry at camp. He'd definitely have loved to teach you about the stars."

"Maybe, you can teach me?" His voice was quiet, but his eyes were trained on Nicki, not the stars.

"That one is Cassiopeia, the queen of Aethiopia. Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus and mother of Princess Andromeda. Cepheus and Cassiopeia were placed next to each other among the stars, along with Andromeda." Nicki pointed out each constellation as she spoke.

Percy nodded, resting his chin in his hands. "Do you know her story?"

"Of course, I do. She was placed in the sky as punishment after enraging  with the boast that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the  Nereids. She's known as the Seated Queen because she's forced to wheel around the North Pole on her throne, spending half of her time clinging to it so she doesn't fall off." Nicki sighed. "It's one of my favourite constellations, I think it's quite beautiful."

"I think you're quite beautiful," Percy whispered.

Turning to face him, Nicki couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks. Gently, Percy tucked a loose bundle of hair behind her ear. Pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, Nicki smiled. "You are a dork."

Percy shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But I'm your dork."

"You just proved my point!" Nicki laughed, resting her head against Percy's chest. Percy shuffled down on the towel so that Nicki was lying on his chest. She fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but why did you wear a t-shirt today?"