Assurances

I ducked under a mandible bigger than a mailbox before driving my sword up. Riptide sliced cleanly through thick carapace. I rolled back to keep from being buried under a rain of dust as the Myrmeke — think ordinary ant but a couple thousand times too big — wailed and started its return trip to Tartarus.

I flicked my sword, cleaning off any residue stuck to it. Looking around, the forest was quiet. I sighed and capped Anaklusmos.

The first thing I did when I was done packing was book it deep into the woods. Camp always kept them stocked with monsters, and I just had to check.

If monsters swarmed to me like the harpies from last night, then taking ten steps over the Camp's magical border could be deadly, let alone traveling all the way to Hawaii. What I found out was good. Monsters weren't acting any differently; they'd fight if they spotted me, but they weren't swarming toward my position, and they didn't care about eating me any more than usual.

"Then why did the harpies react that way?" I mumbled.

I had stopped by the Big House on my way. I told Chiron everything, from the attack in the night to the need for the trip. He agreed. For once I didn't even feel bad about leaving all the organizing to him. Clarisse and Lou Ellen would have to come, at least, and there was no way I was facing this without Annabeth. If any more campers ended up infected, I was scared how big this group would get.

So here I was, deep in the dangerous woods, quarantining.

"I knew I'd find you here."

I spun around before relaxing just as fast. Annabeth stared at me, leaning against a tree in a tight white t-shirt and jeans. Her eyes found the disintegrated monster in front of me.

"Good thinking," she said. "No people, and monsters. Coming here gets two harpies with one stone."

I wasn't even surprised she figured out my plan already. "Technically, it was three harpies and a sword."

"I heard from Chiron." She pushed off the tree, walking over. "Are you alright?"

"Just about." I rubbed my pants absently. "It was close, though."

"I think we're both very glad it didn't come to that," she said dryly.

I'd say she looked beautiful, but you don't stand around pointing out the ocean is blue. Her shirt, which read San Francisco Trivia Night Champions, was a size or two smaller than she usually wore. When she crossed her arms, it rode up above her belly button.

"You're going to track down Rachel," she said.

"Out of the options we have… It seems like the best one," I said.

She nodded. "I agree. And I want in."

Honestly, I was surprised she felt the need to say it.

"Of course you're coming," I said. "I wouldn't want to do this without you."

She scanned the clearing. I wasn't sure what she was looking for, but after a second she seemed to finish.

"Good," she said finally. "And since we have some time before we go…"

Before I caught up with what was happening she'd dropped to her knees.

Her hands found my shorts. She yanked them down— and unlike the night before, this time it really was my girlfriend doing it.

"Not that I'm not fully on board with what I think is happening," I said, "but… Why is it happening."

Annabeth dragged my boxers down to join my shorts. "Do I need a reason to give my boyfriend a blowjob?"

"When you put it that way…"

It was all happening so fast, I was still mostly soft. She took my head in her mouth, popping her lips off of it. After planting her few more kisses, she reached down and pulled her shirt over her head.

There was no bra underneath. Her perky tits were on full display. My cock rose in real time.

Annabeth decided to help it along. As more blood rushed down she lavished kisses all over my shaft. Then she opened her mouth wide and engulfed me, staring up the entire time. I could feel myself expanding in her mouth, filling the gaps and pushing against her throat.

"Gods," I moaned. "That's a new one."

Apparently, Annabeth was only getting started.

The instant I was erect she pulled her head off. I thought she was going to take things slow, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. She slammed all seven inches of me down her throat before I could react.

She kept going. Her head bobbed violently. Her hands found my ass and held on as she pushed herself even faster.

Wet choking noises filled the clearing. I was sweaty and stinky from a long morning of monster fighting. I wouldn't have wanted to even touch myself down there, but Annabeth seemed determined to batter my cock into submission using nothing but her esophagus.

The whole time she didn't break eye contact.

By now tears were streaming from her eyes. They joined the saliva splattering out of her mouth, mixing together and dripping from her chin onto her exposed breast. Her fingers gripped my backside so tightly, the nails dug into my skin.

It hadn't been long at all, but the blowjob was so intense, so brutal and visceral, that I was about to erupt. Annabeth knew it too. Her fingers tensed. She was gagging, but if anything, she moved her head faster.

"Stop!" I yelled, grabbing her shoulders and shoving her off.

For a moment Annabeth was frozen, stunned where she knelt. Her eyeshadow had been ruined by the tears, and at least half the minimalist lipstick she always wore was smeared across my cock.

"But I almost had it!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," I said. "That was… unbelievable."

"Then why—!"

"Something's wrong. You have to tell me what it is."

Annabeth was an amazing lover— the best I could've ever asked for. But we'd been together for so long, and been together so many times, I knew when something wasn't like her. There were other signs, too. The missing bra. The too-small shirt. The way she hadn't been sure she was coming, like I'd leave her behind while heading to face down a deadly curse.

"I'm not smart like you," I said. "I can't figure everything out just with my brain. So when there's a problem, I need someone to tell me what it is, or I can't fix it."

Annabeth gaped at me. Which looked kind of hot since she was still on her knees, but this wasn't the time for that.

"You are smart," she said finally.

"Really? That's the part you cared about from all that?"

"It's just, you've already slept with Clarisse and Lou Ellen. It's only been two days, and you've been with two beautiful girls. You don't have a choice, but… How many will it be by the time we fix this? What if it's ten, or twenty, or even more? What if—"

She cut off suddenly, looking at the dirt, but I had a crazy idea of what she'd been about to say.

"You're worried I'll get bored of you," I said.

"It's only logical," she mumbled. "After something like that… Who'd want to go back to just me?"

Her voice sounded small. It was so unlike the girl I knew, the one whose fatal flaw was knowing too well how amazing she was.

I didn't answer— not with words. There was only one way to respond to that.

I pulled Annabeth gently to her feet. She wouldn't meet my eyes, which was fine. I didn't need eye contact for this.

In one smooth motion I lifted her off the ground. She struggled slightly, not used to being carried, but that didn't bother me. I placed her with her back against the broad trunk of a towering pine tree. Kneeling in front of her, I undid her jeans and carefully brought them down off her ankles. Her panties followed a second later. She didn't fight it, lifting her feet when needed.

"Percy, what are you— Eep!"

She yelped as I hooked my arms under her thighs and rose to my full height.

By the end she was suspended six feet off the ground, her back against the smooth bark. Her calves rand down my back, while her thighs pressed around my ears like headphones. I got to work.

Her pussy was right in my face, and my tongue took the open invitation. I ran it over her skin. Blond muff tickled my nose, but I didn't pay it any mind. My tongue peeled back the folds, teasing her.

Annabeth moaned. I must've been doing something right, because her legs tightened their grip on my head.

I did my job fast and relentlessly, and the work was only getting wetter. I couldn't tell if the dampness was coming from my tongue, or Annabeth's arousal— Probably a combination of both.

Her fingers dragged chasms through my wild hair. She was moaning now. I felt her buck against my mouth, hips grinding unconsciously.

My tongue was on a mission. It forced its way around, searching. When it found her clit, I didn't focus on anything else. My tongue moved like a brush, painting the sides. I attacked it relentlessly, pushing and scraping.

Annabeth's hands tightened around fistfuls of my hair. She came, juices flooding into my mouth. I didn't give her a single second. I pulled her away from the tree and let her slide down my body until our hips were connected.

She was draped over me, completely suspended off the ground. I guided her onto my dick, holding her up with two hands on her ass. Without any time to catch her breath from the orgasm, I pushed my way inside her.

"I don't care how many women I sleep with." Annabeth was gasping. She flung her hands around my back, face pressed into my nape while I moved her body manually. "It could be every woman in the world. Any goddess on Olympus. It wouldn't change anything." I kept going, burying myself in her depths. "You want to know why?"

She pulled away from my neck, staring into my eyes as I bounced her up and down. "Why?" she asked.

"Because, I love you—!"

Before I could finish her lips were on mine, smothering the words. She started moving her hips with my motions, and together we crashed to the ground, landing in the grass.

She ended up on top, undulating her body in just the right way to convince me I'd reached Elysium. Our lips were glued together. We didn't need air, we just needed each other. When we reached our climax, it was at the exact same time.

If I was dirty before, I was filthy now. Sweaty, laying in the dirt, Annabeth relaxed against my chest, tucking her head up under my chin.

"That was amazing," she said. "Let's never do it again. I think I have a splinter in my ass."

I might've drifted off into a relaxed, peaceful sleep right there if someone didn't start clapping.

Annabeth and I scrambled up, reaching for our weapons before realizing they were with our clothes, half a clearing away. Luckily, it wasn't monsters. It was the next worst thing.

"Look at the lovebirds!" Clarisse said. She had a packed bag slung over her shoulder, while Lou Ellen peered out from behind her back. "I love you," she mimicked. "Now come here, my love, and let us frolic!"

"I hate you," I said as Annabeth embarrassedly gathered our clothes.

Clarisse didn't look bothered.

"C'mon," she said. "Chiron's got the car ready. If you two are done fucking, that makes it time to go."