"Oh, no," I said. "Your story is so amazing? You go first."
That made her laugh. "Fine. I'll go first." We sat down on the rock as she started. "When we were little, I told you I was going to run away, right?" I nodded. "I went through with it a few weeks later…"
She explained meeting up with her friends Luke and Thalia, and later Grover, on their way to some camp in New York, arriving at camp, finding her parentage, and everything up through the second Giant war and meeting Egyptian magicians. None of it surprised me, the same way nothing weird had surprised me on my quest.
I waited until she finished before I said anything. "So you're a daughter of Athena, and Olympus is above the Empire state building?" She nodded and I shrugged. "Sure why not." She looked a bit surprised I just accepted it like that, but I decided she'd understand why when I finished my story.
"It seems I owe you lunch," I told her, "because your story tops mine, though only because you've had several years to build it up. Mine will match yours in a few years."
She raised an eyebrow. "It will? Let's hear it."
I grinned. "Let's start out with my state of being."
"Your—state of being?"
I nodded. "My state of being," I repeated. "I'm dead."
She looked at me like I'd just told her she was dead too. "No, you're not. You're right here."
"I died on that bridge. That body was real. I gave my life to protect all the innocent people on that bridge."
She crossed her arms, looking at me skeptically. "Then how are you here with me right now?"
"Have you ever heard of Valhalla?" Her eyes widened and I nodded again. "Your Greek gods are not the only ones around. I am a demigod too. I'm the son of Frey and I just spent the last nine days preventing Ragnarok." She was well read. I didn't have to explain near as many words as I told the story as I thought I would. I explained the wolves killing my mom, being homeless for two years, Blitz and Hearth adopting me, and facing Surt on the bridge. I shared Sam the Valkyrie taking me to Valhalla, and everything else we'd done from running from the other Valkyries to binding Fenris. She took it all calmly, so calmly, in fact I had to double check she hadn't fallen asleep a few times.
When I finished, she roused herself from the relaxed position she'd been listening from and asked a single question. "So what now?"
"I don't know. I'll be going back to Valhalla to stay. I can't be seen here too often, and especially not by my uncle. We'll just have to keep in touch. Dad said I'd need your help. I don't know what that would entail, but I think I trust him more than the other gods."
She nodded slowly, thinking. "So I guess this is goodbye for now?"
"Yeah, I guess it is." I held out my hand to her. "To cousins?"
We shook on it again and I left to find my way back home.
Right before I got out of earshot, I could have sworn I hear Annabeth say, "You can come out now." I glanced back to see her facing the cliff, nobody in sight. I must have imagined it. I hurried back home, and even managed not to miss the entire feast.
Hope you enjoyed it! Yes, this was Magnus' pov. I also put a small hint in there towards my main story. Did you catch it? :)
Don't forget to review!