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It was supposed to be a sweet moment of just the two of them, kissing underwater, where nobody else could bother them with their coos and whistles and disgusted faces, like it was full-on PDA and not just two campers pecking each other once in what felt like forever but had to be, perhaps, a day or two around the others.
It was supposed to be a peaceful moment of just the two of them, no more war, no more evil Titans, no more demanding gods. Just them, enjoying each other’s company in a place where nobody else could follow them, at a time when everything was calm and quiet, the war over and done with. No more prophecies looming over their heads and no more threats around every corner – now the monsters only appeared around every two corners, instead. Such a privilege, really.
It was supposed to be a symbolic moment of just the two of them, sharing a kiss underwater like they did on his birthday, when everything finally fell into place, when her world decided to give her something in return, at long last. The difference was only that this time the kiss was a little less awkward and messy and a lot more familiar. It still made her heart beat faster and still made her insides swell, almost making her believe that despite the air bubble around them, she might drown.
So, of course, the world had to ruin this moment.
She didn’t really understand everything that was happening.
One moment she was blissfully unaware of her surroundings, instead allowing herself to be completely engrossed in the feeling of his arms wrapped around her and his lips on hers and his breath tickling her cheek as they both giggled giddily.
The next one, her lungs filled with water as the air bubble burst at his loss of concentration. She remembered trying to cough as the water flooded up her nose, into her mouth. Her eyes shut tightly for a moment as she felt like her lungs might burn if she remained underwater for any longer. The only thing that kept her relatively calm in this situation where she didn’t see, hear or breathe was the feeling of his arms still keeping her close.
She probably should have shoved him away to try and swim upward, toward the surface, but they were underwater – that was his turf. And if he wasn’t concentrating enough to supply her with air and still kept her at the bottom of the lake instead of allowing her to swim toward the surface, then there had to be a reason to it.
Her eyes didn’t work like his. She couldn’t see what was happening and she couldn’t focus on much other than the burning sensation of her lungs yearning for air, to let the water out and the air in. She felt her body draining as she started to lose consciousness and his arms tightened just a little – he must have realized she was going to pass out soon – before the currents seemed to carry them away from their previous spot. Sadly, they were still underwater, but they weren’t in the same spot and a moment later she realized why when she noticed a beam of light lighting the place for a moment.
For some reason, it didn’t strike her as very friendly.
A few more beams were fired around her and she fought unconsciousness madly, clinging to him with every ounce of power she had because if anyone was going to get her out of this, it was him, and prayed she would soon be able to breathe properly again.
And then he tugged her sharply to the side a moment after one of the beams hit her in the head. She didn’t remember pain, but she did remember accidentally opening her mouth again and trying to inhale.
The last thing she remembered was his face, and then nothing.
Annabeth woke up in the infirmary. She blinked slowly as she tried to remember why she was there in the first place. Was she involved in a training accident? Probably. There wasn’t much else that could send her to the infirmary. Unless the kids from the Hermes cabin decided to mess around and she ended up being on the receiving end of one of their pranks. Again.
She moaned as she mentally checked to see whether all of her limbs felt alright. They did. She had a mild headache, though. She hated headaches the most because they prevented her from thinking properly and that was probably the most insulting way for her body to betray her. Still, it wasn’t too bad, she figured, and at least she didn’t seem to be injured in any way. At least, she wasn’t any longer – someone must have healed her, right?
That was weird, actually. The fact that she didn’t remember how she ended up there. She felt like it should be obvious, like there had to be a good reason as to why she was there. She never forgot things that sent her to the infirmary. Maybe it took her a few moments to recall the events that had transpired, but other than that… well… it never lasted this long.
Sitting up on the bed carefully, Annabeth glanced around. It was early morning by the place of the sun in the sky, shining through the open window. And it was warm and a little strange because she was pretty sure it was winter the last time she was awake. Not… summer, which it felt and looked like, for some reason.
Even stranger – her body was… different. Correct her if she was wrong, but usually people didn’t just magically develop overnight. Her hand ghosted over her stomach and her thighs. She felt… taller. Even just sitting in bed, she was pretty sure that her head was further away from her legs than she remembered. The floor was even further away. It felt… odd. Wrong. She wasn’t sure what was going on.
And then she heard voices from outside. Distressed, hushed, almost tired in a way. Weary.
“I told you already, child, I don’t know.” Said the first voice and Annabeth felt herself relax a little at the familiarity of it – Chiron. He sounded exhausted, a little worried, too. “If I got to see what exactly happened, it would have been a little different, but even from just the recounting of the event…” He trailed off.
“She hasn’t woken up in nine days!” Another voice said in exasperation. It was younger – a camper, she figured. Male, probably older than her because it was deeper than the voices of the other kids her age. Has already dropped. “And you can’t even tell me when she will wake up! What am I supposed to do if she doesn’t? What if she just keeps on lying there forever?”
His voice cracked. Well, it was still developing, then. Mostly done, she’d say, though.
“Percy…” Chiron sighed.
The boy – Percy, apparently – let out some kind of feral, strangled sound. “And why aren’t the gods the least bit bothered by this? She’s supposed to rebuild their home and they just shrug and go back to ignoring us the moment she gets attacked?” He demanded.
“They’re not ignoring you. The gods are just incapable of helping her, right now.”
The door to the infirmary opened then and Annabeth blinked at Chiron as he stepped in, his eyes locked on the boy that followed in right after him. Annabeth was right – he was older than her, around sixteen, with black windswept hair that fell into his eyes but didn’t seem to bother him in the least, tanned skin and freckles on the bridge of his nose and cheeks (though not too many), four beads on a leather string around his neck, the familiar orange T-shirt of camp and a pair of sea-green eyes that were locked on her from the moment he stepped into the room.
He froze in his place the moment his eyes trained on hers which prompted Chiron to turn his head to look anxiously in Annabeth’s direction. When he saw her sitting there on the bed, his face split into a huge, relieved grin and he marched closer to her bed.
“Annabeth, dear!” Chiron said and she smiled at him, sending the boy who was still standing by the door a look of curiosity and slight bafflement. She’s never seen this guy before – how come she’s missed someone with four beads (who’s been to camp for four years) without realizing it? “It’s so good to see you awake again.”
She smiled at Chiron uncertainly. “I, uh…”
She glanced at the camper again and he seemed to snap out of his shock. He walked toward her, eyes glinting happily. He looked at her like he knew her. He looked at her like they were close and she was pretty sure – more than ‘pretty sure’, actually – that she’s never seen him before in her life.
“I know you threatened to find a way to ignore me, but I didn’t think you’d take it so literally.” He said in a joking tone and Chiron looked like this was normal and like he expected nothing less of this stranger whose eyes crinkled as he smiled at her.
“I… what…” Annabeth blinked at him in confusion.
The camper – Percy, was it? – let his smile slip a little as he tilted his head to the side, eyeing her like she wasn’t playing along to a familiar game that she should’ve been accustomed to. She had no idea what was happening, though. “Annabeth, are you okay? How are you feeling?”
She looked back at Chiron – which seemed to surprise the centaur, like he expected her to answer this boy rather than turn to him – and widened her eyes a little. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” Percy asked. Again, he was the one speaking instead of Chiron who kept on staring at her like she was a riddle he wanted to solve but wasn’t sure how to go about it. “Annabeth, what – “
Her hand jerked toward her chest on instinct when he reached out to hold it and the boy froze in midair, eyes wide and smile completely gone now. He looked at her with hurt shining clearly in his eyes that reminded her a lot of the sea on a stormy day, when nothing could restrain it and it wanted to lash out and drown every boat, ship and person that dared sail through it.
And the weirdest thing was that Chiron seemed to be taken-aback by her sharp movement, too. He moved his wise, old eyes from her to Percy who took a step back and suddenly looked like someone took a knife and stabbed him in the back. She had no idea why. She had no idea who the heck he even was – all she knew was that she was in the infirmary at camp, her head was hurting and everything felt… different.
Keeping her eyes trained on Chiron and not the pained, wounded boy, Annabeth urged the centaur to explain everything to her. “It was winter.” She said.
“What?” Chiron asked.
“It was winter before I woke up here. It was snowing. There was a storm outside. I think I heard you mention something about Zeus being upset about something, but you didn’t tell me what was happening. Something about the winter solstice.”
“No…” Percy said slowly, his voice soft but trembling a little, like he was suddenly just as spooked as she was. “No, it was definitely summer. Zeus is probably the opposite of angry right now.” He looked at Chiron. “What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?”
Annabeth glared at him. “Nothing’s wrong with me!” She protested.
The look she received from Percy let her know that he really didn’t believe that.
Chiron hummed. “You said the beam hit her, right?” He asked the boy who nodded slowly. Annabeth had no idea what they were talking about but her hand still came up to rest against her forehead. Her headache was still persisting, like a constant reminder that something was off. “Do you remember where it hit her exactly?”
“Underwater, close to the shore.” Percy answered.
“He meant the body part, idiot.” Annabeth snapped.
He frowned at her for a moment after suppressing a flinch that she only barely noticed. “In the head.” He told Chiron. “Why? You said you don’t know what it was – do you have an idea? Do you think it’s like, I don’t know, some sort of a concussion?” He asked anxiously.
“I don’t think I have a concussion.”
Percy quirked an eyebrow at her. “How would you know?”
She massaged her head a little and bit her tongue to prevent herself from snapping at him. Who even was this guy? Why was he treating her like he knew her? Why was Chiron rolling with it?
“Annabeth, what year is it?” Chiron asked at long last.
Percy’s head snapped around to stare at him so quickly that she was pretty sure it must have hurt him. His eyes were wide and a little fearful, like he wanted to believe Chiron would take back his question and laugh it all off, say there was nothing wrong and everything was just fine. But the centaur just kept on looking at Annabeth expectantly.
She fidgeted uneasily under his intense gaze, suddenly feeling self-conscious. The year? He had to be joking, right? “2005.”
They both stared at her like she was crazy.
Percy’s head shook from side to side slowly. “No… It’s 2008.” He waited for her reaction, like he expected her to tell them she was only kidding but she just furrowed her brows in confusion when Chiron nodded at Percy’s words, clearly agreeing with them. When she didn’t say anything, Percy turned to Chiron, suddenly panicked. “What the hell, Chiron?!”
The centaur heaved a sigh that made him look even older, somehow. “This complicates things…” He said and Percy and Annabeth both agreed on something for the first time, it seemed, because they both glared at him as if to say that was an understatement.
“Wait, really? No memories?”
“From 2005? That’s crazy!”
“So the fight – everything – she doesn’t remember it?”
“Some kind of amnesia?”
“It’s temporary, right? It is, right?”
“You think we can finally beat her at capture the flag and the chariot race?”
“Is this really what you want to focus on right now?!”
“Where’s Percy? Has anyone seen him?”
“Dude’s probably holed up in his cabin – wouldn’t wanna be him right now.”
“I think Annabeth’s case is worse.”
“But she doesn’t even know what she’s missing. Blissfully oblivious, right?”
Annabeth could hear them all as they whispered about her at dinner that day. The rumor about her memory loss spread around camp really quickly so everyone just sort of stared at her everywhere she went. She tried sticking to her own siblings, mainly Malcolm (who freaked her out the first moment because he was so much older than she remembered him to be, though her own reflection nearly gave her a heart attack, too), but the whispers still followed her everywhere.
As it turns out, Annabeth was caught in a sticky situation nine days before while being underwater with Percy (a son of Poseidon, apparently. The moment she was told that, she found herself scooting a little further away from him on her hospital bed which he definitely took notice of but he didn’t comment on it) for some reason or another.
(He refused to tell her and her glares did nothing to break him)
A monster of some kind – a being that Percy couldn’t identify – had attacked them. He’d gotten rid of it eventually, but not before it zapped Annabeth in the head. She’s been unconscious since then and now… now she couldn’t remember the last four years of her life, which pretty much sucked because she felt like she just woke up in a whole new body in her house that felt a little off with the familiar but older faces and all the new campers that looked at her curiously wherever she went.
They let an Apollo kid check on her – Will Solace, she was told, though he was definitely someone that must have joined after the year 2005 – and he just ended up shrugging, telling Chiron and Percy that there was nothing he could fix. They could only wait for her memories to come back. Even her headache stayed despite the small amount of nectar she was given. According to Will, that was a side effect of her amnesia.
Probably.
(“Wait, she’s got amnesia?” Percy asked.
“Looks like it.” Will said, sending him an apologetic shrug. “Some sort of amnesia, at least.”
“A temporary kind,” Percy said immediately. “Right? Tell me it’s temporary.” He sounded like he was almost pleading with the younger boy (younger than Percy, at least), urging him to tell him he was right. Annabeth was sort of hoping for the same thing, this time.
Will’s lips tugged downward and he gave Percy a very helpless look. “I don’t know, man. Probably, I’d say.”
“How long do you think it would take for her memories to come back?” Percy asked, his anxious eyes gliding over to Annabeth who frowned at him, her arms crossed over her chest as she felt her skin crawl from the fact that out of everyone, the one camper with her and Chiron had to be a son of Poseidon.
“If it really is temporary… it could be a couple of days…”
“That’s good!” Percy perked up.
Will shook his head at him. “But it could take longer. I mean, months.”)
After that, Chiron asked Percy if he could show Annabeth around camp (there were lots of changes and for some reason more cabins were being built), but the boy had this pinched, pained look on his face as he gave Chiron some kind of desperate look that seemed to hold a message she didn’t understand but Chiron did. So Percy ended up sprinting out of there like he was running from a monster and a few minutes later Malcolm showed up, offered Annabeth a sad smile and offered to accompany her around.
Mr. D, of course, didn’t really care about anything that was happening. He gave Annabeth a look and then dismissed her like he couldn’t care less about her memory loss. Chiron seemed pretty exasperated by this but he didn’t comment on it and just offered Annabeth a comforting smile before Malcolm pulled her to their table.
As she looked around, she recognized some of the faces. The Stolls, Clarisse, Chris, Katie, Pollux, Jake… There were more, of course, but these ones were the ones Annabeth was closer to in her time (if she could really call Clarisse a person she was close to). She tried spotting others she knew – like Silena or Beckendorf. Pollux’s brother, Castor, wasn’t around, either. Michael Yew, Lee Fletcher… Where were all of them?
Her eyes travelled over to the Hermes table and she let her eyes roam over all of the kids there. It was less populated now, somehow, and there were more tables for kids she’s never seen before (the kids of different, minor gods that now get cabins here, according to Malcolm). The Stoll brothers were, apparently, the head counselors of their cabin, which confused her even more.
“Where’s Luke?” She blurted out.
It felt like the air was sucked out of the area. Heads turned to look at her from every table (although the new faces at the different, new tables looked less distressed at her question). Even Chiron stopped eating in favor of sending her an almost panicked look, like her question caught him off guard and he should have expected it.
“Oh.” Malcolm cringed next to her, looking around like he wanted someone else to answer her. His eyes widened even more when they locked on something and Annabeth followed his gaze to find Percy standing a step away from the Poseidon table, looking like he just got there, though now he was frozen in place, staring at Anabeth along with the others with an unreadable expression on his face.
With a start, Annabeth realized that almost half of the campers were staring at him and not her, like he had a big part in why asking about Luke was so awkward in 2008.
Annabeth looked away from Percy, uninterested in him all that much, and focused back on her half-brother. “Well? Are you just going to sit there with your mouth open or am I also going to hear the story behind why everyone here is so weird about Luke?”
“Annabeth, it’s complicated.” Said one of her other siblings in a soft voice, almost apologetic.
She frowned. “Why? Am I also not allowed to ask about Silena? Or Beckendorf?”
Apparently, the answer was yes. They all flinched at the names and looked at each other in distress. Annabeth looked around as everyone either lowered their heads or started looking around as if the camp was suddenly just so interesting to look at. She felt something in her gut – a feeling that told her what had happened, whispering something horrible she didn’t want to believe.
“And Lee and Michael and Castor – “ Annabeth blurted out.
A hand landed on her shoulder and she turned around to see Percy standing there. She felt the urge to shrug him off, but held herself back from doing it. She didn’t know him – but her future self clearly did. She could at least not shake him off completely right now.
“Come on,” He said. “I’ll tell you everything I can.” He promised, his other hand rubbing the beads on his necklace.
Malcolm nudged her a little, nodding in Percy’s direction in encouragement. So Annabeth stood up (she was taller, but he still had a few inches on her) and let Percy lead her away from the others and over to the edge of the lake, away from all of the eyes of the curious campers. A sense of foreboding washed over her at the sight of the water, like she expected that monster that made her forget everything to appear there again.
The surface of the water was calm, though, and Annabeth relaxed a moment later, realizing that she was safe. She could hear owls hooting in the forest nearby and crickets all around, from bushes and trees and the grass. It was such a lovely, calm scene that she could almost forget why she came there in the first place.
Percy stopped a few paces away from the water and then sat down on the ground. He looked tense, Annabeth noticed, his shoulders stiff and his hands fidgeting so much, it kind of looked like he was expecting a fight of some kind to break out. She knew she was supposed to take a seat next to him, but she really didn’t feel like it. Spending time with a son of Poseidon to get some answers? Sure. Spending time with him in a place that she would have associated with couples from camp? No way in hell!
“Why are we here?” She asked.
“Because you’re asking questions about things that are difficult to talk about and the water soothes me.” He replied without looking back at her. Annabeth shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “You know, I’m not gonna bite you if you sit down.” He teased.
She huffed. “I wanna see you try.”
Percy waved his hand dismissively. “Maybe later.” He said casually, like he meant it. Then he finally turned his head around just enough to look up at her. His eyes were the exact same color of the water washing up to the shore softly and she found herself lost in them for a moment before she finally managed to tear her gaze away. “What’s wrong?” He asked, like he knew something was wrong.
“I don’t want anyone to see us sitting here.”
He didn’t reply and when Annabeth turned to look at him again she found his back facing her once more as he stared into the water. “Well, the good news is there are no naiads in the water right now.” He informed her. “The bad news is that the other campers probably know we’re here already.”
“Why would they know that?” She demanded.
“Because we come here pretty often.”
She hesitated a moment longer and then exhaled, annoyed, and sat down a good distance away from Percy. He eyed the space between them with a look she couldn’t decipher and then sighed and leaned back on his hands, looking too tired to be… how old even was he? He seemed to be around sixteen, but that couldn’t be right. The son of the Big Three that reached sixteen and wasn’t dead? The Great Prophecy… it said that he would die. And he was the only Big Three kid around, as far as she could tell.
“How old are you?” She asked.
Percy huffed a laugh and she realized he knew what she was trying to figure out. “Yes, Annabeth, I’m the demigod of the prophecy.” He said tiredly. “I’m sixteen.”
Her lips pursed. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
His lips twitched downward and he lowered his head a little until his face was covered in shadows so she couldn’t see much of his expression. “Yeah, probably…” He muttered.
“Where’s Luke? Where is everybody I know?”
“They’re dead.” Percy said, his hand coming up to fidget with one of his beads.
Annabeth found herself looking down at her own necklace. She had nine beads now – four of them identical to the ones Percy had. One had a trident on it (the year Percy must have gotten to camp, then), one had the Golden Fleece hanging from a pine tree (Malcolm had shown her the fleece earlier. And the dragon protecting it), one had a labyrinth on it and she had no idea what it meant and the last one showed the Empire State Building and was surrounded by names.
Her eyes watered at the sight of all the names – most of which she recognized immediately. Silena, Beckendorf, Michael… There were so many of them and she didn’t need to ask Percy about it to know that they all died that summer. She didn’t know why – she wasn’t sure she wanted to know – but all of these campers… all of these kids that were a part of her weird family… they were gone.
Squinting at the tiny names, Annabeth searched between them, trying to find one specific that would catch her eye but no matter where she looked, his name wasn’t there. He wasn’t the only missing camper that wasn’t on the bead, either. There were more that she couldn’t spot even though she was sure they were dead because they weren’t there right now. Like Castor or Lee.
“Where’s Luke’s name?” Annabeth asked.
Percy didn’t answer.
“Why isn’t his name on the bead like the others?” She asked again. “You promised to tell me everything.”
“I promised to tell you everything I can.” He corrected her softly.
“Fine. I’ll ask someone else – “
“They won’t tell you.” Percy said before she could really get up. “It’s a sore subject, Annabeth. We’re still mourning. It’s been… a hectic summer. Hectic four years, actually.” He ruffled his hair a little. “I guess it’s my fault since every time I set foot at camp, trouble followed me.” He closed his eyes for a moment, looking pained and a little discouraged. “Luke was the first one to go.”
Annabeth’s heart stopped for an agonizing moment. “He… he died four years ago?”
Percy shook his head. “He died this summer.” He corrected. “But… he left camp four years ago.” His eyes focused on her for a moment and he looked uncertain as to whether or not he should say something. Annabeth met his gaze determinedly, refusing to let him hide things from her. Especially if it was about Luke. “He, uh, made a mistake.” Percy cringed at his own words. “He chose wrong and he left everyone at camp behind to try and do something he shouldn’t have.”
“Was it bad enough to make you not add his name to the others?” She demanded. “What exactly did he do?”
He set his jaw. “I’m not getting into that.”
“But – “
“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.” He cut her off. “And you can go ahead and bug the others to try and find out more, but chances are they’re not going to tell you much because nobody likes thinking about it.” He took in a deep breath and Annabeth could see the anger and frustration building up in him as the water in the lake stirred a little, reacting to his mood. Then Percy’s shoulders dropped. “But you’ll be glad to hear that you managed to get to him in the end and convinced him to do the right thing, so… I guess that means he died a hero.”
She wasn’t sure what to think about it. She didn’t have the full story and she didn’t know what exactly Percy was hiding from her, but she remembered the silence of the other campers at the mention of Luke’s name and she knew fully well that nobody else will tell her any more about Luke. If she wanted information, she needed to interrogate Percy, as much as she would have preferred just about anyone else.
Annabeth pulled her knees toward her chest and leaned her chin on top of them as she gazed at the lake that started to calm down – almost… too much. Like it was trying not to move, not to stir, in case it suddenly exploded.
She cast her eyes sideways and found Percy staring down at his hands like he was seeing them stained with blood that wasn’t really there. She wondered what his deal was. She wondered why he was the one to offer her explanations when her own siblings could have gotten over themselves to do it. Why was he being nice toward her? They shouldn’t get along. They should hate each other.
“What were we doing here the day I lost my memories?” She asked.
Percy stiffened a little and then brushed his fingers through his hair and avoided her imploring eyes. “Just… talking.” He said.
“Liar.”
He sent her an annoyed glare. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Sure it does. I’m gonna remember it again at some point, you know. Why not just tell me now and be done with it?”
A snort escaped his lips and he shook his head and let his head fall back until his eyes were reflecting the stars. A sad smile appeared on them for a moment, like they reminded him of something bittersweet that Annabeth wasn’t privy to. Then he closed his eyes and sighed.
“I forgot how impossible you were when you were twelve.”
She bristled at that. “I’m impossible?! You’re impossible! I’m not the one hiding information from someone who suffers from amnesia!” She accused but Percy didn’t seem to mind in the least. “What, did you do something stupid that you just don’t want to repeat? Is that it?”
“Definitely not.” He answered instantly, which surprised her because she figured he would at least think about it for a moment or two. If it wasn’t something embarrassing, then what was it? She was there, right? Couldn’t he just tell her?
“Did you hit me in the head and give me amnesia? Then you made up this whole attack story to get Chiron to not suspect you and now you’re feeding me false information that benefits you more?”
He looked actually offended at that. “I’ve never heard anything more wrong in my entire life.” He declared, a note of hurt in his voice.
Annabeth rolled her eyes and stood up. “Whatever. I’ll just wait for my memories to come back, then.” And she stomped away.
Annabeth was pretty sure that Percy was avoiding her after that because she only saw him during meals and in passings, but she really didn’t care. It was actually pretty convenient for her since she didn’t really feel like dealing with him. She was just fine with her siblings and old friends by her side.
But they seemed to be pretty worried about this turn of events, for some reason. It really annoyed her, because if she didn’t care, why should they? But apparently it was a big deal – Percy and Annabeth not speaking was strange at camp, according to what she kept on hearing. They were like their unofficial leaders and for Percy to avoid Annabeth… well, it made the other campers uneasy.
She tried not to care as the days went by. Summer was coming to a close, she knew, and the camp will be left with less kids to keep her company. Malcolm had mentioned that Percy was going to go back home for the school year, too, which Annabeth was probably not meant to hear, but she couldn’t help but feel relieved because it meant less tension between the others. With Percy not there, they would have no reason to worry about Annabeth and him not getting along since… he wasn’t even around.
Things got a little weird, though, when Clarisse and she sparred on the last day of summer (surprisingly, Clarisse was almost friendly toward her. Annabeth didn’t ask what had changed and just accepted it). Annabeth mentioned something about the two of them practicing more during the rest of the year and Clarisse actually stopped attacking her in favor of giving her a long look.
“Right… you don’t remember.” She said slowly.
Annabeth lowered her dagger a little. “Remember what?”
“You go back home every year now. You only stay at camp for the summer.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “What?” She asked sharply. “Why would I ever go back there? My family hates me.”
“Prissy got to you.” Clarisse said, her lips twitching as she seemed to bask in the look on Annabeth’s face – a murderous one, mind you. She didn’t need to ask who Clarisse was talking about because it was pretty obvious. She only wondered how he of all people managed to make her go back to her father’s house every year. Was he somehow using some kind of magic on her? Was this possible?
“No way. Forget it.” Annabeth stated firmly, scowling. “I’m not going back there.” She said and lunged forward to attack Clarisse again – the girl didn’t argue with her, but there was an amused glint in her eyes that Annabeth didn’t like in the least.
By the time they decided to stop, Annabeth was sweating profoundly and she was fuming.
How dare he tell her what to do? This was none of his business! Why did he ever think it was okay for him to stick his nose in Annabeth’s personal life? And he made her go back to her father’s house on top of that? How dare he?! And how did he even know about it? Has somebody told him her story? Because there was no way – not way in hell – that she was the one who’d revealed the truth to him. So who was it? And why did he even care? Was it some kind of a joke to him?
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned around to get to her water bottle when her eyes landed on the entrance to the training room. Of all the people that could have stumbled upon the place, of course it was Percy. He looked at Clarisse and her like he’s been staring at them fight for a while and didn’t just get there to try and practice himself.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him immediately, her anger still blazing inside her body. She could see Clarisse making some kind of cutting motion with her hands in Percy’s direction, probably warning him to just turn around and leave as soon as possible, but the boy just stared at her in slight confusion before he locked eyes with Annabeth and flinched like he just received a punch to the gut.
She took pride in that.
“You,” She said venomously.
Percy stared at her, then glanced over his shoulder to check and see there really was no one else behind him that Annabeth could be staring at. His eyes settled back on her and he shrugged a little. “Me.” He agreed. “Why are we talking about me, again?”
She pointed her dagger at him. “I want a duel.” She stated.
“You want to duel me?”
“Yes.”
He stared at her and then glanced at Clarisse. “What’s going on?”
“She hates your guts.” Clarisse said with a shrug, leaning on her spear as she looked from Percy to Annabeth with alerted eyes. “You might want to decline this time – I don’t think Annabeth will let you walk away from here without shedding blood.”
He looked actually hurt by that but then his gaze flitted down to stare at his skin, like he was pondering something very intently. In the end, he stepped into the room and shrugged. “Okay. Let’s duel.” He said.
Annabeth searched him from head to toe. “You don’t have a weapon.”
Clarisse snorted.
Percy’s eyes gleamed playfully for a second as he pulled a ballpoint pen from the pocket of his pants and uncapped it. Annabeth blinked in amazement as it formed into a beautiful weapon. He held it in front of him, showing off the sword. The word Anaklusmos was written on it in Greek and Annabeth thought it sounded a little familiar, though she wasn’t sure why.
At least there was one thing Annabeth was sure about – she wasn’t going to lose this duel. Not that she was planning on it, but Luke was the best swordsman at camp in a long, long time. Anyone else couldn’t possibly be as good as him and considering Annabeth trained with Luke and learned from him for years now, she just knew Percy stood no chance.
“Well, this is gonna be good.” Clarisse murmured and moved aside to stand near the wall and observe the duel. Annabeth heard more voices, too, as campers seemed to notice who were fighting. Apparently, they wanted to see this event. But she kept her eyes locked on Percy who grimaced a little, like he was liking the idea less and less as time went by.
Maybe he knew he was going to lose.
Using all of her anger from before, Annabeth moved forward and started attacking. Percy matched all her moves, though. He parried every slash and stab of her knife like he expected the movements. Like he knew her steps by heart already and now he was just participating in a familiar dance.
It was the strangest Pas de Deux Annabeth has ever seen.
Her brain worked extra hard to try and understand what to do. She couldn’t let him win – he deserved to lose this duel. He really, really did. But she forgot one crucial detail – Percy wasn’t lacking his memories. He knew Annabeth and the way she fought. He’s probably sparred with her more than a few times and she was sure they’ve had at least one big fight at some point that she couldn’t remember right now. So really, it was no wonder he knew what to expect from her.
In a way, this was an uneven fight because one of the opponents knew what to expect and the other came in blind. She certainly felt rather foolish for actually initiating this duel now. Hindsight’s 20/20, huh?
“You’re not as bad as you look.” She said, panting.
Percy’s head cocked slightly to the side as he blocked another attack and slashed at her. She narrowly avoided the blade of his sword. “Ouch.” He said sarcastically.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes when she saw it coming – he was going to use the disarming maneuver Luke’s been practicing and finally pulling off in her time. It was only thanks to her hours of staring and analyzing that she saw it in time and managed to get out of his way before he could pull it off. Percy’s eyes glinted like he was having fun.
“You fight like Luke.” She commented.
It was a compliment.
Apparently it wasn’t one in Percy’s eyes, though, because suddenly he stumbled and Annabeth’s dagger managed to tug on Anaklusmos until the sword slipped out of Percy’s hand – now limp – and clattered to the floor.
The room was silent, although Annabeth wasn’t sure whether the others watching this (she glanced around and discovered about half the campers standing around, watching and gawking) have been silent since her last comment or not. She had a feeling that was the thing that had silenced them rather than her sudden victory.
And Percy just stood there. He stared at Annabeth with this kind of haunted, hollow look in his eyes, like she just betrayed him, somehow. Like she actually stuck her knife in his stomach and twisted the handle to cause him more pain. His face was pale despite the fact that a moment before it was flushed from the exercise. His shoulders were tense, his entire body rigid.
“It was supposed to be a compliment.” Annabeth said, throwing the words out into the silence.
Percy’s expression hardened. “Thanks.” He said coldly.
Annabeth flinched – only a little. Her headache – the one keeping her company since the day she woke up without her memories – intensified for some reason and she felt the urge to just close her eyes and make it go away. Force it to just dissipate.
“What’s your problem?” She demanded, one hand coming up to rest against the side of her head and the other still holding her dagger. “I’m the one who should be upset here! Apparently I’m supposed to leave camp and go back home where I don’t even want to live. And it turns out that’s your fault, too.”
“I gave you advice. You took it.” Percy countered. “Now it’s my fault that you decided to do something that doesn’t make sense to you now? News flash, Annabeth – a lot of things don’t make sense when you don’t remember who you are!”
“I remember who I am!” She glared up at him – damn it, he was a little taller than her! – and her grip on her knife tightened. She could feel the eyes trained on the two of them. Nobody around dared move or escape this fight. “Annabeth Chase. Daughter of Athena, ran away from my house when I was little and got to Camp Half-Blood. And the only reason I’ve made it this far is because Luke helped me and he’s been there for me through everything and you act like he’s murdered somebody! And you – I don’t even know you. I don’t see how I ever become a friend of someone like you!”
Silence.
Emotions flashed across Percy’s face – anger, confusion, guilt, hurt, agony, grief… And then his face turned blank – like a white canvas (if you ever looked at a canvas and waited for it to erupt and kill you). He tore his eyes away from Annabeth like he just couldn’t bear to look at her and stormed out of the room, not even picking up his sword as he left.
The moment Percy was out of sight, the other campers started murmuring between themselves. They eyed Annabeth like they were afraid of approaching her, like she might stab them (metaphorically), too. She went to pick up Percy’s sword but a moment before she reached it, it just vanished and she yelped in surprise and backed away.
“It’s okay.” Someone behind her said and Annabeth turned around to find a redhead girl standing there. She wasn’t familiar to Annabeth in the least. Her hair was messily pulled up and her eyes were green and almost scary as they looked at Annabeth. She was certain that if she weren’t smiling, the girl would have made her look invisible, like she could just read her like an open book. “Riptide does that – it just appears in Percy’s pocket as a pen again.”
“Um… who…?”
The girl smiled. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare.” She said and held out her hand for Annabeth. She hesitantly took it and Rachel looked absolutely delighted. “Wow, this is already much better than our first meeting.” She said brightly.
“Why? What happened when we met for the first time?”
“You were pretty mean to me because you thought I had a thing for Percy.”
“Why would I care?”
Rachel didn’t answer. “This is nice. It’s like… a whole new first impression!” She continued. “Granted, you just chased Percy away and this might not have been the best thing to do and it’s kind of upsetting – “
“Are you two dating?”
A soft smile appeared on the girl’s face. “At some point, I thought…” She trailed off and shook her head. “No. I’m not a half-blood like you – I’m the new Oracle of Delphi. I don’t date.” She said.
Annabeth’s eyes widened a little. “We have a new Oracle?”
“Thanks to Percy – I would never have found out about this world if it weren’t for him. Granted, the introduction could have been nicer than him trying to impale me with his sword.” She said and then her lips tugged further up when Annabeth pulled a face. “You don’t like him – I get it. When we met this summer he told me that you two didn’t get along at first. Something about the rivalry between Athena and Poseidon, right?”
“Yeah. And he’s just so… annoying. And he’s an idiot. And he’s not telling me everything and it drives me crazy.” She pulled at her hair restlessly. “I need to know more about Luke but nobody will tell me anything.” She complained.
Rachel nodded somewhat grimly. “It’s a touchy subject – especially for Percy.” She nudged Annabeth and motioned for her to follow her out of the training room. They walked outside and just started wandering around, not really aiming toward a certain place as Rachel talked. “Look, I don’t know everything because Percy met with me whenever he seemed to want to escape this world, so he’d talk to me about anything but the trouble here.
“But I did learn a lot from comments he’d made here and there and from the campers here since I got to camp and accepted the spirit of Delphi.” She tucked a loose strand of curly hair behind her ear. “Percy got to camp when he was twelve,”
“2005?”
Rachel nodded. “He met you, he met Grover, he met Luke, too. But that was also the summer Luke left and joined the enemy – he turned sides and decided to fight the gods and, by extension, the children here, at camp.”
Annabeth’s mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to process this. “No. No, I can’t believe Luke would ever – “ She slammed her mouth shut and balled her hands into fists. “No, I can believe it. He’s been acting strange since his quest.” She kicked the ground, frustrated. “So… what did he do?”
“He basically started a war and recruited more demigods and monsters and attacked Olympus and camp and… it was a whole thing.” She gestured toward Annabeth’s necklace. “Last year he used the Labyrinth to send monsters into camp. I heard about some that have died then. You and Percy tried to stop him before it got to that – that’s when we met because I helped you. Obviously, it didn’t work, but camp wasn’t overruled by monsters and most of the campers made it out alive, so…” She shrugged.
“This is…” Annabeth’s eyes filled with tears.
“And then last year there was actual war in New York. Percy led you guys – you right by his side. You and the Hunters of Artemis fought an army of demigods and monsters. I saw some of it – it looked… impossible. I’m kind of amazed that you survived this. That’s when Luke died. You said that he killed himself at the last moment, before the being that he was helping could fully form or something – I don’t know, it’s all a big, weird thing. But he ended the war. He died making the right choice.”
This was a lot to try and digest. “But Percy… you said this subject was worse for him. Why? I’d think that’d be the case with me, not Percy of all people. He knew Luke for one summer. That’s not really that much.”
A sad smile graced Rachel’s face. “I heard about it from a few campers. Apparently Luke was the only decent person around here when Percy showed up and was discovered as a son of Poseidon. He was basically Percy’s only friend except for Grover. You and he took some time to work thing out, I suppose. And then before Luke left he tried to murder Percy.”
“He what?!”
“I’m not sure how.” Rachel said quickly, before Annabeth could ask. “But I know some campers remember Percy staying at the infirmary. They said Chiron had to work hard to keep him alive – that he nearly didn’t make it. Shouldn’t have made it, really.” She shrugged. “But, then again, I think Percy just likes doing the impossible. Or perhaps he just doesn’t like doing what people expect him to do.”
“Like… hate my guts?” Annabeth asked weakly, suddenly feeling almost sick to her stomach at the words she’d thrown in his face.
Rachel smiled at her sympathetically. “He might not like your guts very much right now.” She said. “Luke’s been trying to kill, recruit, kill, recruit and kill him over and over again according to… everyone.” She shrugged. “And it probably didn’t help that you had a crush on Luke and kept on speaking about saving him. Percy definitely didn’t like that.”
Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. “What? Why would he care if I like Luke?”
Again, Rachel pretended not to hear her. “You should probably decide whether you’re going back home or not. I know you remember something specific, but… I’m pretty sure things got better with your dad since you were twelve. I mean, you keep on going back, right?”
“I…”
“I’m going to pack my things. I have to get back home soon.” She sent Annabeth a warm smile as she started backing away, toward the Big House, waving her hand as she did so. “Maybe… you should talk to Percy – don’t leave things like that.”
She wasn’t sure what possessed her to do it, but Annabeth decided to listen to Rachel Elizabeth Dare’s advice and she walked over to the Poseidon cabin, feeling a little uncertain as to what the heck she was going to say. Still, she wasn’t going to shy away from a challenge, however unpleasant it might be.
Taking a deep breath, Annabeth knocked on the door and waited. No reply. She knocked again. Still nothing.
With a frown, she pushed the door open and peeked inside. There was nobody there. The place was empty. The bed wasn’t made and there were candy wrappers on the floor. No clothes, though. Nothing really personal. She could smell the ocean in here – a scent she realized followed Percy around – but she could tell that it was more about the magic of the cabin rather than Percy’s presence.
Looking around, Annabeth explored the place before she reached the inevitable conclusion – Percy has already left. She didn’t even know where he lived or when he picked up his bag and walked away, but she had the feeling he would have stayed until the very last moment had she not yelled at him after sparring with him out of rage.
Contemplating her next move, Annabeth tapped her foot on the ground before she set her jaw, left the Poseidon cabin and made her way toward the Big House to see Chiron.
She climbed up the fire escape like she was going to break into the apartment rather than just knock on the door like a normal person. She wasn’t sure Percy would let her in now – not after what she’d said – and she figured… well, at least nobody else would see her if he wasn’t alone at the house.
Her invisibility cap covered her hair and made it so that nobody paid any mind to the fact that someone was climbing the fire escape of a random building in New York (which was great because she didn’t feel like being accused of theft or murder or something). It was probably not the best idea, to sneak in on Percy after everything, but she kind of… well… she wasn’t sure what else to do.
At every floor she stopped and glanced through the windows into the rooms inside. Nothing particularly interesting was revealed, of course, and she wasn’t really sure how she would identify Percy’s room out of all the other rooms in the building, but she still tried. She didn’t really have anything to lose – she already felt pretty much extremely pathetic, climbing the fire escape just to see him and apologize.
And then she reached the floor where there was a beautiful flower she didn’t know the name of. Her first thought was that there was no way this would be Percy’s room because why would he have a flower outside his window? It just felt weird. But then she went to move on in her search only for her body to stop in its tracks. Something inside her told her to stay.
This is right, her mind whispered to her. You’re here, you’re here, you’re here.
So she crept toward the window and peeked inside. It was a messy bedroom with a poster or two on the walls and textbooks resting on a shelf above a desk. There was a skateboard leaning against a wall, though it looked like there was a layer of dust on it, meaning it hasn’t been used in a while.
There was a picture on the desk and Annabeth saw a bride and groom standing there, both of them beaming, almost glowing. The woman had a kind face and soft smile. The groom had his hand wrapped around her waist, a bright, almost surprised grin on his face, like he couldn’t believe he actually got the girl.
Between them stood a perfectly still Percy in a suit – beaming at the camera like it was a happy day for him, too. It felt a little strange to see him just standing there, unmoving. At camp, Percy’s ADHD made him constantly move from one thing to the next. In the picture, he was just… there. Present and happy.
Her eyes travelled to a picture that stood right next to that one and her breath caught in her throat. It was Percy again – wearing the same suit – but this time lacking his mother and stepfather (it had to be his parents, after all, right?). Instead of the married couple, Percy was accompanied by two other people.
Percy’s hand was thrown over Grover’s shoulder. The satyr was obviously wearing fake shoes for the occasion and he was beaming at the camera like he could feel the same glowing happiness Percy was feeling. And on Percy’s other side, his arm snaked around her waist, stood Annabeth (it was still weird to see herself as an older version of herself). She was wearing a dress (which was weird because she never bothered wearing dresses) and, to her delight, a pair of Converse shoes that probably didn’t fit the scene.
Instead of looking at the camera, Annabeth’s eyes were locked on Percy as she fixed his tie with a fond and exasperated look, like she’s done it a million times before but she didn’t really mind. And Percy’s eyes were on her, shining brightly and looking like the sea when it’s calm and comfortable to sail on. His cheeks were flushed and his smile a little goofy but she could almost feel something just from watching this picture.
And he had it on his desk.
Percy had invited her to his mom’s wedding.
Annabeth startled a little when the door of the room opened at once and she bent down in a panic before she remembered that she was still invisible. Which actually just made her feel like a stalker as she stood outside the window, watching silently as Percy – in the flesh – stepped inside. He dumped his bag on the floor next to the desk, took off his shoes without even looking at what he was doing (he left them in the middle of the room, which was reckless but Annabeth didn’t really expect much else from him) and then flopped face-down onto his bed.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” A woman’s voice asked and a moment later the woman from the photo – his mom – appeared in the doorway, looking at Percy in concern.
Percy turned his face a little until he could look at his mom with one eye – the other one squashed against his pillow – and offered a smile that looked more like a grimace. “M’okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Just tired.”
His mom tipped her head to the side. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Several emotions crossed his face. “Which part? The war? The fact that I somehow ended up declining the offer to become immortal?” Annabeth choked a little at that one. “It’s been an eventful summer.”
“I’m proud of you, you know.”
Percy shifted a little on the bed until his face was buried in his pillow. “I didn’t even finish it.” He said, voice muffled by the pillow. “Luke ended the war. He’s the one who dealt the final blow.” He kept on talking and Annabeth could almost hear his eyeroll. “Or as Rachel so delicately put it – I wasn’t the hero, he was.”
His mother sighed and entered the room. She sat on the edge of his bed and let her fingers run through Percy’s hair. He didn’t move, but he didn’t push her away, either. “He’s made a lot of bad choices and then redeemed himself in the end. That’s a very difficult thing to do. But, Percy – trying to make the right choices all along even though it’s hard and the easier choices look much more enticing… that’s one of the hardest thing a person can do. And I’m so proud of you for that.”
He shook his head from side to side as if to shake away those words, like he didn’t want them to enter his mind and settle there. “I don’t get it…” He mumbled into his pillow. “I don’t get it – he’s gone. He’s gone. Why am I still so threatened by him?”
“What happened, honey?”
Turning to rest on his side, Percy glanced at his mother and then quickly averted his eyes as his cheeks blossomed with color. Annabeth felt her own face burning a little as she realized she was actually eavesdropping on this conversation that was very clearly not meant for her ears, but she still just sat there and waited and took it all in, her headache pounding, like it wanted to let her know that she should stay.
(And if she chose to try and leave, she would just be so disoriented, they’ll probably catch her even though she is invisible and Percy will stare at her like she was crazy because she probably was)
“Annabeth compared me to Luke.”
They both cringed – Annabeth and Percy’s mom – and Percy’s eyes kept on wandering around the room, never stopping for longer than a second, like he was afraid of just staring at something and allowing his thoughts to catch up with him.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that.” His mom said, brushing a strand of gray (gray?) hair away from his face. “You know that.”
He covered his eyes with his hands and groaned as he rolled to his back. “This is so stupid. Everyone around camp used to do it. Especially the year after he’d left – “
“After he’d tried to kill you?”
“Yeah, that too.” He took his hands off his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. “I hated it then, too, but it didn’t bug me as much. But it’s… it’s different when Annabeth says it.” He glanced at his mom hesitantly. “You know?”
She smiled softly. “I know.” Her head turned for a moment to look at the pictures on Percy’s desk. Then she looked back at her son. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that.” She repeated.
Percy nodded, eyes looking glazed-over. “I know. That’s the worst part – I can’t even be mad at her because it’s not her fault. She just doesn’t remember.”
“Doesn’t remember?”
“It’s a long story, but she doesn’t remember the last four years. It’s like we’re meeting each other for the first time all over again, only she hated me when we met. We had to go on a life-threatening quest to work together and then we still needed to share a cookie to really become friends.” He bit his lip. “And now she doesn’t remember any of it.”
“Will she remember everything again?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know.” And his voice sounded suspiciously watery and small. “I don’t know. Nobody knows and I don’t know what to do because she really can’t stand me and it’s killing me – it’s literally killing me.”
His mom gave him a look. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic. I’m serious.” He pouted at her and Annabeth stifled a pained giggle. She couldn’t help but find the expression on his face sort of funny, but the guilt from what she’d said made her feel pretty much awful. “When Nico… when we went to the Styx,” His mom’s eyebrows furrowed as she frowned a little but let him continue. “The spirit of Achilles or something talked to me and he told me I’m going to have to focus on something to anchor me to the mortal world or something.”
Annabeth held her breath, eyes wide. She stared at Percy, her mind racing. He’s been to the River Styx? Her mind took her back to that moment before he accepted the offer to spar with her, when Clarisse warned him that Annabeth was after his blood and Percy just looked down at himself, as if thinking he couldn’t actually get harmed by her knife as long as she didn’t find his Achilles heel. She was kind of at awe at the fact that he’d survived that.
“Well, I entered the river and it was…” He trailed off a little at the concerned look his mom was giving him. Annabeth could practically see the way he decided to change tactics. “Well, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience.” He said and his mom sent him a flat look but didn’t interrupt. “And I nearly didn’t make it, I could feel it. Like I was trying to find something to focus on but nothing was strong enough to pull me out of there and then I had this, like, sort of… vision?”
His cheeks were so bright Annabeth thought she could actually fry an egg on them if she tried. He was looking away from his mom again as the woman grinned down at him, clearly finding this extremely amusing.
“Aw, you dreamed about Annabeth?”
Annabeth froze.
Percy gave his mother a horrified look. “That’s definitely not the same! Don’t say it like that!” He protested to the sound of his mother’s peals of laughter. Annabeth could only stare at Percy’s burning face, her own cheeks probably as red as that dot in the middle of the Japanese flag. “But-also-basically-yes.” He added in one breath.
His mom bit her lip – probably to prevent herself from laughing even more at her son. “So what’s the problem? It helped you out, right? Why does it matter now?”
His blush reduced. “Because now the person that basically keeps me alive also very much hates me.” He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes and sighed. “And she keeps on bringing Luke up. And I thought I was over being all weird about the guy – like… jealous and stuff – “ He pressed his hands a little more against his eyes and Annabeth blinked a few times, heart and head pounding in synchronization. “but, like, it’s different when she talks about him like that again.”
Nodding, his mom looked distressed for a moment, like she could allow herself to show just how worried she was now that Percy wasn’t looking at her. Then she pulled herself back together. “Sounds complicated.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I think I’m going to go make a new batch of blue chocolate chips cookies.” She said softly and ran her fingers through his hair again. Percy leaned into the touch like he’s been missing it. “It won’t fix your problems, but it might make you feel better.”
He peeked at her from behind his hands and offered her a small, grateful smile. “I think I’d like that a lot.”
She ruffled his hair and got up from his bed. For a moment her gaze turned to the window and Annabeth froze, afraid she just got caught, but then the woman turned back to Percy. “I think you should water that, dear. Don’t want the flowers to die, do you?”
Percy nodded and sat up on the bed as his mom walked out of his room, closing the door behind her. He exhaled slowly before his eyes focused on the picture of Grover, Annabeth and him. For a brief moment he just stared at it, as if trying to relive that moment over and over again, and then he tore his gaze away, got up, walked toward the door and predictably stumbled over his own two shoes.
He yelped as he fell forward. He managed to regain his balance before he really reached the ground, but his elbow still grazed the side of his desk and Percy hissed a little and tried to look at the scratch by awkwardly twisting his arm this way and that. Annabeth squinted her eyes at his elbow and was surprised to see nothing there, until –
“Oh, right…” Percy blinked a few times, as if to expel an idea, and dropped his hand by his side. “Achilles curse…”
Right, he couldn’t scratch himself like that.
“Where is it?”
Percy jumped up in alarm and turned to face the window, eyes wide and hand already pulling out his sword from his pocket. He didn’t uncap it, though, which was good because Annabeth didn’t feel like standing on the sharp end of a sword right now. A closed pen was much better. She took off her cap and saw the surprise and embarrassment on Percy’s face as he lowered his pen hesitantly, eyes trained on Annabeth like she was a vision (like the one he’d seen at the Styx) rather than the real thing. Like she might just turn to smoke and disappear.
Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Percy stared at her. Then he shook himself out of it and cocked his head to the side. “You really do have a habit of staring into my room from the fire escape.” He said.
She didn’t remember anything like that, but it didn’t really surprise her. “Why did I do it the last time?”
He scrunched up his nose, trying to remember. “You were trying to catch me alone… You had dreams about Camp Half-Blood being in danger. You stared at me while I was asleep and then followed me to school.” His lips tugged up in a small, hesitant smile. “You know, all stalker-like.”
“Yeah, it feels like it, too.” She said and, probably for the first time since her memories got erased, she smiled back at him. Percy looked both stunned and delighted at this.
“How long have you been out there?” He asked.
She smiled sheepishly and Percy groaned, his cheeks reddening again but not like they did before.
“Right. Of course.” He dropped onto his bed again, but this time ended up in a sitting position and gestured for Annabeth to come inside. She did so, but only after a moment’s hesitation.
(He offered her a seat – on the bed, on the chair next to his desk – but Annabeth felt too awkward to try and even start to feel comfortable in his bedroom, so she remained standing)
“Anyway… ignoring the part about you constantly stalking me…” He looked at her as she looked around the room curiously even though it didn’t look much different from the inside. Did smell more like a teenage boy’s room, though (not the most pleasant smell, might she add). “What did you ask me? Earlier?”
She turned to look at him and then suddenly felt self-conscious. What if she was overstepping? She wasn’t sure how close they were in the future – the present? She had an idea – an inkling – but she wasn’t sure she should just ask Percy or anyone about it. And this… this was personal. But, then again, apparently she was his connection to the mortal world, so maybe she wasn’t overstepping anything.
“You said you went to the River Styx.” She said. Percy hummed as she started tugging at her cap restlessly. “Did you ever…” She licked her lips, uncertain.
Percy stared at her for a moment and then his lips tugged up in a small smile. Not mocking or teasing, but reassuring and comforting. Encouraging, maybe. “Did I ever…?”
“…show me? Where you chose it to be?”
“Yeah. After you took a knife that was meant for me without even knowing about it. You saved my life and until I told you, you thought you just did something really dumb.” He said and his voice was soft and fond and it made Annabeth’s heart hammer against her ribs so fiercely, she was worried they might break. “You’re the only one who knows.” Then he thought about it for a moment. “Were. You were.”
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened again. Slammed it shut. How was she supposed to ask this after everything she’d told him earlier, after the duel? What would he think of her then?
(Why did she care what he would think of her?)
But this felt important. She couldn’t explain it. She wasn’t sure why she felt like she had to know where this spot was. She only knew that it was going to be on her mind until she found out and now she had to know. She couldn’t leave without at least asking him. And if he said no… well, she hoped her memories will come back soon, at least.
There was an amused look on Percy’s face as he watched her and she wondered what kind of expression was on her face as she pondered what to do next. How to go about it without coming off too strongly. She needed to be subtle, right? But it was, admittedly, a pretty blunt and direct question.
“You want to know where it is.” He said like it was the simplest thing in the world.
She flushed a little. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “We’ve been friends for four years. I kinda want to believe I know you well enough to guess what you’re thinking about.” He said. She scrunched up her nose at that and Percy laughed. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“You’re never going to know if you don’t ask – you did last time.”
She frowned. “You’re not gonna tell me.”
“Why not?”
“Why would you show the most vulnerable spot on your body to someone who compared you to the person who’d tried to kill you? Multiple times?” She shrugged. At his surprised look, she shuffled her feet a little. “Rachel talked to me.” She hoped he would know who she was talking about.
By the shocked expression on his face, he did. “You talked to Rachel?” He blinked once. “This is so weird.”
“Yeah, I heard I don’t really like her very much.”
“You didn’t. Until she became the Oracle – a shame really because your insults were really creative. It was fun to listen to when we weren’t in life-threatening situations and I wasn’t also the target of your anger and stress.” He said it all with a smile, like he found those moments nice and sweet instead of annoying or frustrating.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him. “She said I didn’t like her because she had a crush on you.”
Percy cringed. “Yup.” He said, looking a little uncomfortable now. “That’s what you told me, too.”
She stared into his eyes – sea-green, like the sea on a random day, looking calm but hiding storms and monsters that could sink you in a moment of weakness. Or it could just be peaceful and safe.
(Unreadable, Annabeth decided. His eyes were supposed to be the windows to his soul and she felt like she was getting lost in them, unable to reach his soul)
“Show me.” She said.
Percy smiled and stood up again. He grabbed Annabeth’s wrist gently, his eyes searching hers, as if looking for permission, make sure she wasn’t going to slap him for any of it. His other hand tugged his orange shirt up and he turned a little around before pressing her fingers gently to a small part of his back.
It felt… almost electric.
Percy inhaled sharply, his eyes closing at once as a shudder went down his spine and Annabeth thought how strange it was (how wonderful it was) that he was showing her such a secret. He was basically putting his life in her hands. One wrong move and she could end him. It was more trust than she knew what to do with and she pulled her hand away, feeling almost like if she didn’t take a step back, she might actually kill him.
But the moment her fingers left his skin, her headache exploded and she whimpered and collapsed to the ground. She felt Percy’s discarded shoes as her knees pressed against them and her hands clutched at her head desperately. She thought she could feel Percy’s hands on her shoulders as he crouched down in front of her, his voice seemingly coming through a long tunnel, asking her what was wrong in a tone that grew more and more urgent.
Her mind felt like it was bursting with images and colors and emotions and feelings and sounds.
She was in the back of a truck, sharing an Oreo cookie with a twelve-year-old Percy (Grover sleeping soundly in the background), promising to be on his side in a war that might break loose, because they were friends.
She was crying, bawling, her eyes out, hugging a thirteen-year-old Percy like he was the only anchor in her life in a bubble of air under the sea, the fresh image of her parents together, sitting happily with a happy, carefree and good Luke with the background of a newly-designed New York in the background burning in her mind as she tried to tell Percy everything but she was crying and he had wax in his ears, blocking all the sounds around him, including her own voice.
She was gagged and tied and watching helplessly as Thalia fought Luke, Artemis and Zoe fought Atlas and a fourteen-year-old Percy was slowly being crushed by the weight of the sky which he’d taken from Artemis just to give them all a chance after making this long trip to get to Annabeth and bring her back home.
She was angry and confused and still somewhat grieving but also relieved as Percy appeared in the crowd of mourning campers that all thought he’d died after basically exploding a volcano and nearly freeing a monster even the gods feared. And she wanted to hug him and she wanted to punch him and she wanted to just cry and hold on forever because this boy was going to be the death of her at this rate.
She was panicked and a little hysterical as she stood on the Olympus, surrounded by the Olympians (twelve gods!) and with her friends around her, her eyes trained on a fifteen – no, sixteen-year-old Percy as he stood before the council that offered him immortality and he glanced back at her, looking stunned and she wanted to shake him until he uttered out the answer she needed him to give them, but she couldn’t move and couldn’t breathe and –
(He said no, anyway. And she knew why. She knew exactly why)
She was underwater, struggling to breathe now that the bubble of air was gone but she clung to a sixteen-year-old Percy because she knew he was the best shot she had if she wanted to survive this. And she did (she very much did because they just started dating and the war was finally over and they were grieving, but they were also celebrating). And she trusted him more than anyone else to keep her safe there, even though something was attacking them and she couldn’t see or hear or breathe…
“…eth! Annabeth!! Annabeth, snap out of it!”
Annabeth blinked her eyes a few times until she managed to focus on the very concerned boy that was sitting in front of her, hands on her shoulders. He was squeezing them tightly – not enough to hurt her, but enough to let her know he was really about to lose it. His eyes were wide and stormy and scared and she never really wanted to see this expression on his face again. Ever.
“I’m okay.” She said and it came out a little airily, but she couldn’t care less because she finally remembered this room and she remembered why camp had so many more cabins being built and she remembered the deaths and the war and the burning shrouds. She remembered the knowing smiles and underwater kisses and the laughter that replaced those moments of moody, awkward and slightly angry silence.
“Are you sure?” Percy asked. “You just sort of… blacked out there. Like, you didn’t faint or anything, but you just stared at me and I got the feeling you weren’t really seeing me and you didn’t respond and – what? Why are you smiling?”
She chuckled fondly. “You’re cute when you’re worried about me,” She mumbled and Percy leaned back, looking very much confused and taken aback. “Your eyebrows get all scrunched together.”
“Y-you said that to me before.” He said, voice a little uncertain, confused. He looked at her like he was trying to understand what was happening and how to react to it.
“Yeah. And then you showed me where your Achilles heel was,”
His eyes widened. “Annabeth – “
“And you said I just saved your life (again),”
Percy’s astonishment was slowly fading away as he allowed his lips to tug up into a smile that made Annabeth’s erratic heart go even crazier and gods, her ribs were probably broken at this point, already. “What else is new?” Percy joked.
“And then you confessed your undying love to me.” Annabeth finished.
“I don’t remember that part.”
“Maybe that part happened a little later – same thing, really. This whole moment was basically a declaration of love without us actually saying it outright, Seaweed Brain.” She said with a grin to match Percy’s.
He chuckled a little breathlessly, not taking his eyes off her for a moment, as if afraid she would lose her memories again if he did. “You got your memories back.” He said in awe and relief. “You did, right?”
Annabeth didn’t say anything – instead she just leaned forward and kissed him for the first time in what felt like forever. And she passed those days without even missing it. She wondered how Percy even survived those weeks without her. Was it like a withdrawal from drugs? She bet it was. He did look a little sickly.
But he still smelled like the ocean and his hands wrapped around her felt the same as they did before and he still tasted like coke because that was basically all he ever drank at camp if he could help it (blue one, if he could, of course) (she could almost taste the blue, as well). Her hand climbed up to run through his hair and she didn’t need to look to find his strands of gray hair that matched her own.
They had to break the kiss when they both just couldn’t control their wide smiles anymore. She leaned her head against his – forehead to forehead – and stared into his eyes which were happy – truly happy – for the first time since that moment she’d woken up without her memories.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered.
He scrunched up his eyebrows together like he did before and she nearly started laughing (or maybe crying, sobbing, bawling) right then and there. “For what?”
“For everything I said.”
Percy smiled. “You didn’t remember – it’s okay. You really don’t need to apologize for that.” He promised.
She pursed her lips. “But it really got to you,”
“Man, you really just sat out there and listened to everything, huh?” He asked, face flushing a little but smile still intact. He shook his head at her. “It’s okay. I promise you, it’s okay. Or… it will be, at some point.” He shrugged. “I’m not really in a hurry or anything.”
Annabeth could tell that he meant it. He wasn’t blaming her for any of this. His eyes were twinkling happily and his smile was bright and warm and she decided she could bug him about it another time, another day. When she didn’t know that she had to get back home to see her dad. When she didn’t feel very self-conscious about the fact that at least Sally was in the house and maybe she could hear them in Percy’s room, with the door closed.
This conversation could wait because right now she could tell that Percy just wanted to be content with the fact that her memories were back. And she kind of wanted to bask in it, too.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to make out underwater again.” She warned him jokingly.
“Guess we’ll have to stick to the boring, dry surface.” Percy sighed mockingly and rested his head against her shoulder. He exhaled slowly, like he was letting the weight of the world slip off his shoulders (and trust her, she knew what that felt like. Percy did, too). “I’m okay with it.”
“We should call Chiron – tell him everything’s alright again.” She said softly when Percy just pressed his face to the crook of her neck, his breath tickling her a little.
He whimpered. “They can wait, all of them. They’ve had you all this time. I was the only one you really didn’t want to see. Let me have this.”
So she did.
(He ended up just falling asleep with his head on her shoulder that was getting soaked with his drool and her body supporting his weight. Sally entered the room with the promised fresh cookies a few minutes later, stared at them for a few seconds that made Annabeth want to bolt out of there and hide forever, and then smiled warmly at Annabeth, left her the plate of cookies and told her she could come to her if she needed anything else.
It was really nice)