“Cheater,” Hip grumbled. “Just because you can’t hear me doesn’t mean you won, you know!”
I smiled and closed my eyes. My mind wandered, thinking about the guys and everything that was going on. I still didn’t know how to feel about all of this. It almost seemed too good to be true that these amazing guys actually wanted to be with me…as a group. It was weird, to be honest. I wondered if their acceptance of this was all an act. I know Percy said that it was normal for their kind, but would there come a point where they would want me to choose? Could I choose?
My selfish side told me not to choose at all, and the side that was trained to run told me that I needed to get as far away from all of them as I could. They were too close now and my heart told me I couldn’t leave, but I also couldn’t pull them into something they wouldn’t want. I would need to try to get each of them alone and talk to them individually.
Pushing my romance clusterfuck aside, there was also the issue with my new lack of humanity, my dad and Cal, and then Clint being here. My head hurt thinking about all of it. There was so much going on, I honestly didn’t know how to feel at any given moment.
I opened my unobscured eye and looked over at Theseus. At least for now, while they were trying out this weird plan, I had a distraction. Like Jason said, one thing at a time.
Awhile later, Theseus slowed to a stop. Opening my eyes, I was surprised to find us at the library and not Ajax’s house.
I looked over at Theseus and back to Jason, who were both hopping out of the car and rushing to my door. There was a cute fumble with who would get to open my door before I rolled my eyes and opened it myself.
I frowned when Jason kissed me on the cheek and got into the seat that I had vacated but not before handing me my turtle. “You guys aren’t coming with?”
Theseus, who was next to me, answered. “Sorry, Atalanta. We have some major Valentine's planning to do and can’t have you knowing what we’re up to.”
Hip rolled down his window and poked his head out. “Yeah. If we have you tagging along, you’ll figure out our plans and ruin all of the fun.”
I scrunched my nose. “So you’re having Percy babysit me?”
“Of course not. You’re going to be babysitting him.” He turned me towards the library’s doors and patted my ass to encourage me forward. “I warn you. He’s temperamental before he gets his bottle and nap.”
I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door of the library. I turned to wave at the boys as they drove away and noticed the colorful wall of the community center. Ajax had painted a lot more onto the mural while I was out. Now there was this section with a large raven sitting on top of a pedestal, wearing a broken crown. The raven stared up at another bird. I couldn’t really tell what kind of bird it was, but it was black like the raven and much smaller. The smaller bird sat on top of an open book, staring down at the words on the page. As I looked towards the back of the building, a forest sprouted up and he had painted small creatures among the green leaves.
The color popped against the gray and white of the snow around us. The raven and small bird were my favorite, though. He made them so lifelike, and the way the raven stared up at the smaller bird…there was something about it.
“Ms. North. Are you going to continue to admire his work or do you want to come out of the cold?”
I turned to see Percy poking his head out of the library’s doors. Theseus was right, he did look grumpier than usual. There were shadows under his eyes and his expression looked like it had been set to a frown for quite a while. His usual neatly contained hair was out of its ponytail and sticking up on one side as if he had just woken up.
I smiled. Well, the guys had been able to cheer me up some. It was my turn to try and infect Percy with the happy bug.
“Good morning to you too,” I said as I walked passed him into the library.
As per usual for a Saturday, there were several students from the nearby college studying at the various tables throughout the library. There was an older woman who waited at the counter for Percy, and he walked past me to help her. I saw that my favorite chair near the counter was open and quickly took it. Settling in, I watched Percy as he spoke with the old woman and then walked away to find a book, I assumed.
While he was gone, I studied the other people. There was a group who sat at one of the tables together. One of them was a woman who looked to be around my age. She was pretty, with long blond locks that curled down to her mid back. I watched as she smiled and flirted with the guy next to her, her fingers twirling her long hair.
Slowly, I reached up and ran my hands through my hair. I hadn’t had much time to linger on it, but my once coarse, short, tresses were much softer and had begun to reach past my shoulder. I stared at the dark strands. It was nice to finally have hair that was more like Cal’s, easily managed, but it wasn’t mine and would take some time getting used to.
As I stared at my hair, I realized that my hands were shifted. Panicked, I shoved one hand into my hoodie pocket and made sure that the other was neatly hidden underneath the stuffed turtle.
Moments later, Percy came back. I looked up at him with a smile. Some of the hair I had been studying had fallen in front of my eyes so I tried blowing it out of my face and failed.
Percy gave me one of those millimeter smiles and gently tucked the stray locks behind my ears. “It’s gotten quite long.”
“Yeah, I was just looking at it. How come it's growing so fast? Hair does not grow that quickly in two weeks.”
“Our kind produce more keratin than humans. Therefore our hair is softer and grows much faster. Especially our women." Percy looked down at the stuffed animal I was still holding. “And who is that?”
“This is Salt. He is a brave turtle rogue and friend to the Mer." I held him up for Percy to inspect. "Despite his looks, he's an intelligent creature who solves problems with his brain rather than his strength. He saved a whole flock of krill once, you know.”
"That is quite the backstory. Hello, Salt. That’s a rather unfortunate name you’ve got there.” Percy shook the turtle’s fin.
I don't know how he was doing that while keeping a straight face. I couldn't stop from laughing.
“His names Salt because if anyone complains about it being a stupid name, I can say, ‘well you don't have to be so salty about it!’”
Percy cocked a brow at me. “You’ve been spending too much time with Theseus.”
I fell into another fit of giggles at that.
Percy let go of Salt's fin and held out the same hand for me to take. Nervously, I revealed the clawed hand from my hoodie and placed it in his palm. Without hesitation, Percy helped me stand and wrapped his large hand around mine so that it was curled into a fist and hidden. With long strides, he pulled me towards his office.
I had never been inside the room before. When I first entered it was so dark, but Percy didn't move to turn on any lights. When my eyes adjusted, I could see that there was a lamp sitting atop a desk which seemed to be the only light source at the moment. Slowly, I studied the room as my eyes revealed more to me.
"Percy. You’re a bit of a hoarder, aren't you?”
“I am not a hoarder.”
"No, you're right. I would call you closer to being a slob.”
He growled. "I get enough of that from Jason. I do not need it from you as well.”
"But look at this!" I maneuvered towards where the lamp sat. "There is a desk here, right? Because all I see is paper.”
I pointed to one of the many piles of books and then to the shelves of the empty book case. "And I'm pretty sure those books have perfectly fine homes right there, yet you leave them laying here as if you’re creating a fort.”