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Annabeth pulled her knees closer to her chest as she stared at the dancing fire, glowing a bright orange that was indicative of her fellow campers’ good mood. The spirits were high tonight. As they always were on a special occasion.
She’d had five birthdays here already, today being the sixth, and every one had made her like them a little less. Not that she’d liked them much before either. It had always been a sore topic. A reminder that the worst day of her dad’s life was the beginning of hers.
And then she came to camp. In the infirmary, with her leg elevated, wrapped in bandages, Luke resting against her bed and hiding his teary eyes in the sheets when he thought she wasn’t looking, she didn’t think it was appropriate to tell him that she turned eight while she’d been passed out from the shock and trauma of watching Thalia’s sacrifice.
The next year was the first time they commemorated Thalia’s death anniversary. Her birthday was a week later.
She didn’t say anything, again.
Her tenth birthday, she thought to herself. She’d tell him then. It came and passed and she still knew it was too soon. Luke was so strong for her every other day of the year. Plastering a smile on his face and encouraging her with kind words. Thalia’s death anniversary was the one time of year where he allowed himself to crumble a little, and even then, he made sure to check on her. If she told him that it was her birthday too, she was afraid it might break him.
Luke was gone on her eleventh birthday. He’d been given his quest. Annabeth spent the day sitting against Thalia’s tree.
She finally told him after her twelfth birthday. He promised that they’d do something the next year.
Well, that had been lie.
Annabeth kicked the sand under her foot, swallowing the lump in her throat. Getting over Luke’s departure from camp a few weeks ago had been a slow process, but one she thought she’d been gaining some progress on.
Thalia’s death anniversary the week before and her birthday now had caused a slip in that hill. Grover had helped her through last week, being the only other person who’d actually known Thalia. And, with him being her Protector, he could look after her in a way that no one else knew how (except Luke, which was, of course, a major contributing factor for her debilitating sadness). But, he was needed on some local mission for the Council this time, so she was left to her own spiraling thoughts.
“How about another rendition for the birthday girl, huh?” one of the Apollo kids was gesturing to her in a flourish, guitar in hand.
Annabeth’s attention snapped back to reality, noticing everyone’s eyes on her. She bit the scowl forming on her lips back.
She’d woken up that day with her siblings singing happy birthday to her. The initial confusion wore off when she realized that Luke must’ve told Chiron. Before he’d left.
Camp tradition for birthdays applied to her now as well.
She’d tried to keep a polite smile on her face the whole day. It was getting harder now that it was towards the end of the evening.
Annabeth nodded at the Apollo kid’s eager faces, hoping it wasn’t as curt as it felt.
They led the rest of the campers into the Happy Birthday song again. The Apollo kids’ voices were drowned out by the others.
“Hey.”
Annabeth was pulled out of the dissociative fog she’d gone into listening to her fellow campers singing Happy Birthday, trying not to think about Luke’s betrayal and Thalia’s fate.
Percy’s voice was soft, but clear, as he sat down next to her.
“Oh, hey,” Annabeth tried for yet another smile. It was harder around Percy, but she managed it.
She hadn’t seen him around all day. Which was both a relief and a point for more bitterness that she didn’t need.
“I have something for you,” he bumped her shoulder, reeling her further out of her thoughts.
She raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“You’ll just have to see,” he answered, standing up and holding his hand out for her to take.
The smile that she felt quirk up her lips was more genuine than anything she’d previously shown and she grabbed his hand.
Percy led her away from the rowdiness of the campfire, its glow growing farther away as they headed towards the beach. But, strangely, she felt warmer than she had when she was sitting right next to the fire.
“Where were you all day?” Annabeth asked, aware of their hands still intertwined, but not doing anything to pull away.
“You’ll see,” the smile in his tone was apparent as he relayed his earlier sentiment.
“You incapable of saying anything else?” she teased and he grinned, shrugging his shoulders.
They walked down towards the docks. The sounds of the calm waves kissing the sand surrounded her. The crickets chirped and an owl hooted in the distance. She thought of her mother for a brief moment but Percy’s hand in hers distracted her enough that the conflicting emotions that usually arouse when Athena entered her mind didn’t surface.
Annabeth caught sight of a canoe bobbing in the water, tied to the dock. “Percy, what…?” She came to a stop, looking at him in confusion.
“Come on,” his voice was gentle as he tugged her hand, “get in.”
Going out onto the lake so close to curfew was definitely not allowed and while Annabeth was no stranger to breaking camp rules, she didn’t feel like getting in trouble on her birthday.
Percy must have sensed her skepticism because he laughed and said, “I asked Chiron if it was okay. Actually, that’s what I spent the entire day doing.”
Annabeth felt her cheeks warm up. An image of Chiron’s stern face as Percy asked to take her out on a moonlit canoe ride popped in her head.
“Well,” Percy continued, “that and talking to the naiads. Don’t want them getting spooked and flipping the boat on us like that scene in The Little Mermaid.”
“The Hans Christian Anderson book?” Annabeth asked, racking her brain for the scene he was talking about.
“Oh, no,” Percy laughed, shaking his head. “The movie.”
Annabeth glanced away, remembering his promise to show her one of those.
“Well,” he squeezed her hand, “since we’re talking about it already, I guess I’ll ruin the other surprise.”
She furrowed her eyebrows.
“I convinced Chiron to let us have a movie night in the Big House after this.”
Annabeth couldn’t contain her incredulous chuckle. “How did you manage all this?”
“I have my talents,” Percy shrugged as he helped her into the canoe.
She glanced around while she got situated as he rowed them out away from the shore, towards the middle of the lake. There were blankets and pillows by the bow and a basket perched on top of them.
Percy stopped rowing when they’d gotten far enough from shore. The moonlight glittered against the still water. A blue cast fell over everything.
It almost reminded her of the Tunnel of Love.
She pushed that thought away and focused solely on the moment at hand.
Percy looked at her so softly that she felt her heart flutter in her ribcage. “Come here,” he gestured her over to sit next to him.
“I’ll fall in,” she shook her head, looking at the water.
“I won’t let you,” he held her hands assuringly, drawing her attention back to him.
Annabeth felt the boat rock as she stood up. She gasped as Percy grabbed her waist and pulled her down next to him in the next second, the canoe coming to a standstill just as quickly as it had moved.
They both broke out into a fit of giggles.
“I guess those Poseidon power come in clutch sometimes,” she said after she’d stopped laughing.
“Oh, yeah,” he nodded solemnly, “useless unless I want to take my friends out on a birthday boat ride.” Percy moved the basket to the other side of the canoe and leaned back, laying his head against the pillows.
Annabeth followed suit. “Damn,” she let her face turn serious, “they would’ve really helped us out on our quest. You should talk to your dad about that.”
“I’ll definitely put in a request to meet with him at his earliest convenience.”
“I’m sure he’ll get back to you in five to seven business days.”
There was a pause in their banter as they both settled into their new positions, shoulders pressed together as they stared up at the stars.
“Great guy, my dad is,” Percy said after a moment. “Putting women in the sky for calling their daughters beautiful. Real standup dude.”
Annabeth found him staring intently at her—small smile lighting up his face—when her head had snapped to look at him.
She’d taken him to star-gaze a couple of weeks before to teach him the constellations. She’d been slowly trying to start the process of letting go of the pain left behind by Luke’s actions. She didn’t expect him to remember them, she’d just wanted to spend some time with him and she had always loved when Thalia would tell her the myths associated with the stars.
Percy grinned at her. “Cassiopeia, right?” He pointed out the jagged line that made up the constellation. “‘Chained to her throne, trapped in the stars forever.’” He echoed the words she’d said to him back when she’d taught him.
Annabeth nodded, dumbfounded. “You remember that?”
“Seemed important to—“ he stopped, glancing at her quickly. “Well, it felt like something I should know.”
“A lot of ancient sea travelers used the constellations to navigate international trips. So it’s good to know them, especially for you.”
“You always have something new to teach me?”
“Gotta try and fill that brain with something other than seaweed.”
“You’re real bold for someone on a boat with the son of Poseidon.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. “And what are you going to do—“
She was cut off by the canoe tipping violently, almost careening over the side. Annabeth grabbed the edge of the boat with one hand and Percy’s shirt with the other. It stilled after a moment and she swatted at Percy. “You jerk!” But, she was laughing.
“I warned you,” he chuckled. He pulled his arms away from her and settled back into his previous position while she readjusted as well.
“I’m going to kill you one day. Say it’s an accident while training.”
“As if you could even get a scratch on me.”
“Watch it, kelp head. It is still my birthday.”
“Of course,” he nodded seriously. “You are the best knife fighter this camp has ever seen, wise girl.”
“That’s better,” Annabeth grinned, looking back up at the sky. “What else do you remember?” she asked after a moment, recalling why he’d brought her out here in the first place.
“Oh, yeah,” he realized, and she watched as a blush crept up on his face. “Well, that’s Hercules,” Percy traced the constellation out.
He continued with its history and the Greek myth attached to it, then moved on to the others. Annabeth listened to him repeating her words and felt the butterflies in her stomach.
She knew she could come off as a little intense but she couldn’t help it. When something caught her interest, she had to learn everything she could about it and it needed to be shared. Everyone had to know how cool it was.
Annabeth had gotten used to people ignoring her rambling. It’s why she never asked follow-up questions anymore.
But, Percy was different. He never tried to get out of her rants, even when she could tell he wasn’t entirely interested. Sometimes, he even seemed intrigued by the things she said, asking her to elaborate more.
That was actually the reason she felt confident enough to knock on his door and drag him out at midnight to look at the stars with her. She’d been sure he wouldn’t be bothered, since he’d taken an interest before. And he hadn’t disappointed her.
“Oh,” Percy said suddenly, sitting up, “I have something for you.”
Annabeth sat up as well. “You took me on a boat ride to star-gaze. What could be better than that?”
“I don’t know about better,” Percy shrugged, “but, I still want you to have it.” He pulled the basket out from behind him and placed it between the two of them.
Annabeth lifted the lid and pulled out a book from the basket. Trying to spell out the words in the dark was hard, especially with her dyslexia, but she could make out the cover image: a group of men, pirates, looking out into the distance as one of them hoisted a black flag with a crossbones and skull stitched into it.
Annabeth looked up at Percy, who was watching her reaction intently.
“It’s Treasure Island,” there was excitement in his voice. “It’s this crazy pirate story about this kid who’s trying to save his mom’s livelihood and there’s action and adventure and betrayal!”
She wondered if this is what she sounded like when she was interested in something. It made it harder to understand how someone could brush her off. Percy’s eyes looked like stars with how bright they were and she didn’t think he’d smiled so big since she’d met him and she wanted to listen to him talk forever about this old book that she’d already read.
“I hated all the other books but my mom used to read this one to me when I was little. We used to make the ship out of couch cushions and we’d play out our favorite scenes.” His eyes were faraway and nostalgic.
Annabeth found herself smiling for maybe the hundredth time tonight, previous negative emotions almost completely forgotten. “Thank you. I love it, Percy.” She didn’t want to go back yet. “Can you read me some of it?”
Percy’s eyes widened, surprise evident in them, but maybe he realized what she was trying to do because he quickly nodded, taking the book from her. “Be warned, though. I have this whole book memorized so we might be here a while.”
Annabeth laughed, settling back as he opened the book. “I’m holding you to that.”
Percy smiled softly as he started reading, and as she sat under the stars she taught him, gentle waves rocking against the side of their boat, listening to his voice retell his favorite story, Annabeth knew this is what she wanted every birthday to be like.