***So, in honor of "Crown of Ptolemy" being released one week from today (in the HoH paperback), I'm posting this story. It's a follow-up to "Staff of Serapis." I did a follow-up to "Son of Sobek" called Crocodile Problems, so I kind of wanted to do one for Serapis, too.

Basically, this story just picks up exactly where Staff of Serapis leaves off and covers how Annabeth gets back to Camp Half-Blood. And, obviously, there's some Percabeth fluff. Hope you enjoy!***

By the time she left the beach, Annabeth had a plan. Or at least, she had figured out how to get a ride to Camp Half-Blood. Because no way in Hades was she going to walk almost a hundred miles across Long Island, especially when she still had a splitting headache and her stomach was grumbling about its lack of food. If she'd known how this afternoon was going to go, she wouldn't have skipped lunch to work on her chemistry assignment. With a sigh, Annabeth pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number.

Percy answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, it's me. Listen, I'm at Rockaway Beach and I need a ride to camp. You up for a drive?"

"Um, sure. Everything okay?"

Annabeth sighed. "I'm fine, but we may have a problem. Is anyone else with you?"

"Yeah, Jason and Piper are here. We were waiting for you to get back from your interview so we could go to dinner. What took so long? And how did you end up at Rockaway?"

The pounding in her head was getting worse. Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "Long story. But we'll have to raincheck dinner. You guys might want to just hit a McDonald's drive thru on your way out here."

Forty-five minutes later, Annabeth saw a familiar Prius with distinctive pegasus prints on the hood turn into the beach parking lot. The Prius had been a gift to Percy on his seventeenth birthday from Paul and Sally. Paul had opted to get a new car which, he said, he was hoping to keep hoof-print free. Percy had been thrilled with the gift and Annabeth had to admit that there were advantages to having a boyfriend with a car. Like last-minute trips to camp, for example.

Annabeth stood up from the beach, brushed the sand off her jeans, and took off her invisibility hat as she reached the Prius. Percy jumped when she appeared out of thin air.

"Hey, your hat is working again!" His brow furrowed as he took in her appearance. "Whoa. Don't take this the wrong way, but what the heck happened to you?"

Annabeth glanced down at her clothes, which were covered in lime dust, splinters, and flecked with holes from flying debris. "A train accident, followed by a building collapse. Plus a fight with a god and his three-headed scepter."

Her boyfriend gaped at her. "You're kidding, right?"

"I wish." Annabeth slid into the backseat next to Piper, since Jason was in the front passenger seat. "I'll fill you in on the way to camp."

Piper handed her a double cheeseburger from a McDonald's bag. "We brought dinner."

"Thanks," Annabeth said.

"So, what happened?" Jason asked as Percy pulled out of the parking lot.

"Well, Percy, remember your friend Carter? I met his little sister."

Percy almost rear-ended another car. "Wait, what?"

"Hold up," Piper said. "Who's Carter?"

Annabeth ate her cheeseburger as Percy gave Jason and Piper the run-down on his adventure with Carter and the giant crocodile from a few weeks ago. Then, Annabeth told them all about seeing the strange two-headed beast on the subway, running into Sadie, having to defeat Serapis, and about the immortal-wannabe Setne, who was causing havoc for both the Greek and Egyptian gods. When she finished, there was a stunned silence.

"Egyptian gods?" Piper whispered.

"Yep," Annabeth said grimly. She remembered seeing into the Duat, the layers of the world, and shuddered. "And apparently this Setne guy wants to bring down both them and the Greek gods."

Percy merged on I-495; they were about an hour and a half from camp. "So that demolished building and the derailed train, that was you?"

"Techincally, Serapis did that," Annabeth said. "But yeah."

Percy whistled. "That was some grade-A destruction."

"Thanks. I think."

Jason raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I'm sorry, can we back up to the part where Egyptian gods are real, too, and there are magicians running around New York."

"Yeah, I'd like a little more information about that," Piper agreed.

Annabeth shrugged. "That's pretty much the gist of it. The Egyptian gods are as much a part of the fabric of civilization as the Greek gods, so I guess it's not the craziest thing in the world that they're still around, too."

Jason and Piper exchanged glances. "Well, when you put it like that," Jason muttered.

"Honestly, it's not that much more ridiculous than anything else that's happened this year," Piper pointed out. "And at least this Sadie and Carter didn't immediately want to make war on Camp Half-Blood like, well, like someone else I could mention."

"Yeah," Percy said. "Although it sounds like Sadie was a lot more willing to share than her brother. I got almost nothing out of him about Egyptian magic."

"From what Sadie said, it seems like Carter's much more cautious," Annabeth said. "But Sadie was pretty straightforward about everything. I liked her. And we exchanged numbers so we can get in touch in case anything else happens."

"That was smart." Percy hit the gas to pass a semi. "And probably a lot more reliable than the hieroglyph on my hand."

"We thought so," Annabeth replied. She leaned back in her seat. The pounding in her head had faded to a dull throb and her stomach felt much better now that she'd eaten. "Especially since it sounds like this Setne is just getting started."

"He couldn't really turn himself into a god just by using a spell, though, could he?" Piper asked.

Jason looked grim. "I think it's possible. I've been doing research on the gods for this pontifex job and a lot of them, like Dionysus and Hercules, started out as mortals or demigods."

"The Olympians offered to make me a god after the Titan War," Percy reminded them. He caught Annabeth's eye in the rearview mirror. "But I still think I made the right decision by turning them down."

She managed a smile. "Good."

"The Hunters of Artemis are immortal as long as they keep their oath," Piper said slowly, like she was thinking out loud. "And some of them are demigods or mortals. So I guess there's precedent for mortals to become gods, or at least god-like."

Annabeth's stomach did a slow roll, her cheeseburger threatening to make a reappearance. "But in all of those instances, the gods were the ones creating other gods. We're talking about someone using magic to make themselves immortal. How can that be possible?"

Percy's hands clenched on the steering wheel, but he shrugged. "We don't really know what this Egyptian magic can do. I mean, Car—uh, Sadie's big brother had some tricks I'm not even sure Hazel could have pulled off."

Annabeth remembered looking into the layers of the Duat earlier, and the feeling of her world expanding in ways she didn't yet understand. "You're right. We don't know anything about this Book of Thoth. Maybe it really does contain a spell to make someone a god."

Jason whistled. "That's a dangerous book."

Piper bit her lip. "And if it fell into the wrong hands—I mean, even worse than this Setne, well…" Her voice trailed off, but Annabeth knew they were all thinking of the problems this book could potentially cause.

There was quiet for a few miles, all of them lost in their thoughts. Percy was the first to speak, but rather than offer words of encouragement or, better yet, a solution to their problem, he asked, "Are there any fries left?"

Jason snorted, Piper shook her head, and Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Seaweed Brain?"

"What?" Percy said defensively.

"The world as we know it might be about to end, but all you can think about is food?"

"The world is always about to end," Percy pointed out. "And I'm hungry."

Jason grinned and clapped Percy on the shoulder. "Glad you got your priorities straight, bro."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes again as Piper riffled through the McDonald's bag, then passed Percy a half-full container of fries.

"So how was your interview?" Piper asked, crumpling up the empty fast food bag.

"Oh, that," Annabeth sighed. The interview seemed like a hundred years ago; so much had happened in the past few hours since then. "It wasn't great, to be honest. I don't think I'll get the internship."

"No way!" Percy said through a mouthful of fries. He swallowed, then said, "You're an amazing architect. They'd be crazy not to hire you."

"Thanks, that's sweet," Annabeth said, "but I flubbed some of the questions. And I don't think they were that impressed with my portfolio. They said my designs were too classical. Too much Greco-Roman influence." It would have been funny, if she didn't feel so bitter about it.

"If they don't hire you, that's their loss." Piper patted Annabeth's arm. "You'll find something even better."

Annabeth shot her friend a grateful smile. "Maybe. Anyway, how was the movie?"

"Freaking awesome!" Percy said. "I wish you could've come, it was crazy!"

Jason nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it was a really good one. Like, there was this one car chase—"

"And then when they blew up that building," Percy jumped in.

"Oh, and that stunt with the plane—"

"Gods, yeah, I forgot. That was the best."

The boys went on, discussing the most action-packed scenes in the movie. Annabeth glanced at Piper, who was very prudently saying nothing.

"How was it, really?" Annabeth asked quietly.

"A total guy movie," Piper whispered. "I mean, there were some cool action scenes, but I got bored. The guys loved it, though. Besides," she continued, with a wry smile, "relationships are about sacrifice, right? And this was an easy one."

Annabeth glanced at Percy. He was still talking about the airplane stunt, his sea green eyes lit up with excitement. "Yeah, true. But next time, we'll choose the movie. Deal?"

"Deal."

When they got to camp, Percy dropped Piper and Jason off at the foot of Half-Blood Hill.

"I'm just going to park the car, then I'll meet you guys at the Big House," he said.

"I'll ride with you," Annabeth said, climbing up into the front seat.

"We'll get the other head counselors for a meeting," Jason said.

"Don't take too long, you guys," Piper said with a wink before turning to follow Jason up the hill.

Percy and Annabeth were quiet for the short drive to the hidden parking lot where some of the older demigods left their cars while they were at camp. Annabeth's head still hurt and the soreness from flying out of a train and having a bunch of building materials dropped on her was just beginning to set in. Percy pulled in to a spot next to Will Solace's El Camino, which Will had painted bright gold in honor of his dad, Apollo. It was equal parts ridiculous and awesome.

After he turned off the car, Percy looked at Annabeth. "Hey, I'm sorry about your interview. But maybe it went better than you think it did."

"Yeah, maybe." Annabeth leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. "There's nothing I can do about it now. Besides, we have bigger problems."

"What else is new?"

Annabeth snorted, then opened her eyes to meet Percy's. He was studying her with concern.

"You doing okay?"

She shrugged. "Long day. And fighting Serapis was hard. Just being near him made me nauseous, like he was just so wrong my body couldn't even handle it."

Percy looked sympathetic. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

"Yeah. Here we go again," Annabeth said drily.

Percy gave a short, humorless laugh as he opened his car door. "Yippee."

Before Annabeth had managed to gather the energy to get out of the car, Percy had come around and opened her door for her. "Thanks," she said, giving him a small smile as she got out.

Percy smiled. "My mom always says it's good manners to open the door for your date."

"We're not actually on a date," Annabeth pointed out.

"You're always my date," Percy replied.

Annabeth's heart fluttered. She looked up at Percy's sea green eyes, which were kinder and gentler than Serapis's, and had none of the cruel light she had seen in the god's eyes. She put her hands around his neck, pulled him close, and kissed him. She pressed closer to him and Percy tightened his arms around her waist. Annabeth gently traced the lines of his jaw with her thumbs. She didn't break the kiss until her lungs demanded oxygen.

"Whoa," Percy said. "What was that for?"

Fear suddenly washed over Annabeth as she remembered the horrible feeling of stabbing the dog that represented the future in Serapis's staff. "College and New Rome and—and everything else we've talked about, you still want all that, right?"

"Of course," Percy said without hesitation. "Don't—don't you?"

"Absolutely." Relief replaced the fear and Annabeth buried her face in Percy's chest, taking comfort in his familiar sea-salt scent. "I was just afraid, when I took away Serapis's future, I hoped I wasn't destroying mine, too."

Percy kissed the top of her head. "Nobody's taking away our future," he promised.

Annabeth smiled against his shirt, then pulled back to look at him. "I hated stabbing that dog, though. It didn't seem like a monster, not really."

"Yeah," Percy said, "sometimes we have to do stuff that just really sucks."

She met his eyes and the memory of leaving Bob, Damasen, and Small Bob at the Doors of Death flashed between them. Annabeth felt the familiar mix of guilt and grief rising in her chest.

Percy leaned down to kiss her again, so gently it made her knees weak. "Come on," he said. "Time to make some plans."

Hand in hand, they hiked back towards Half-Blood Hill and whatever the future brought them.