Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝕃ies

"You can't just throw paint at a wall, that's not how it works." Nicki rolled her eyes at Ethan. "Plus, I don't want paint all over my floor."

Ethan pointed a finger at Nicki. "I just think you haven't thought about the time-saving opportunities this presents."

"No, I definitely have thought about what throwing paint around a room will do."

Nicki pushed her bedroom door open, dropping her Lowe's bags on the floor. Her eyes scanned around the room, as she took Ethan's bags off of him.

She left the bags beside her desk, out of the way so the duo could organise the room to start painting.

In front of her eyes, the air began to shimmer and contort. Her eyes snapped to her watch. 7:03. She cursed, extremely loudly.

"You alright?" Ethan tried to stick his head around the door to check on her.

Nicki pushed him backwards out of the room. She slammed the door shut as Percy's disembodied face came into focus. She leant back on the door.

"I completely forgot what time it is. Can you tell Luke that uh... I have to call a family friend? Just tell him it's a family friend of my grandfather. He'll understand."

Ethan nodded slowly. He squinted his eye at Nicki. "Yeah, okay but are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"If you knew how old my grandfather is, trust me you'd be surprised he isn't a ghost." Nicki laughed forcefully and twisted the door handle. "Thank you so much for today, Ethan. I'll come find you tomorrow."

Nicki slipped into her room before the boy could reply. She buried her head in her hands.

"Nicki?" Percy's sea-green eyes bored into the girl's soul.

He hadn't changed very much since Nicki had last seen him at Camp. His jet black hair was slightly longer and messier and his grey streak stood pride of place at the side of his fringe.

He was more tanned this time, which Nicki chalked down to it no longer being the middle of winter.

His face was slightly slimmer and more defined. He had lost a thin layer of fat on his face as he grew through puberty.

However, his smile was exactly the same. It was slightly crooked as one side reached up higher than the other. It's soft and gentle, but it glows with a burning intensity. Nicki felt her lips twitch automatically.

She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't force any words out. She coughed awkwardly. "Hi."

Percy ran a hand through his hair. "I'm so glad you're okay, I was so worried. And then Hermes appeared in my kitchen nearly scaring my mom to death and gives me a stack of comic books and a letter. He was also carrying a cat which just added to the weird interaction."

"A cat?"

"Yeah, it was this black cat with green eyes. They had one white paw. It was really odd."

Nicki jaw dropped. Her gaze snapped to her desk. A small animal bed sat on top of it with a note. It read:

I like the name :) Thought you might be missing him.