In a hidden camp in California a majestic battleship with a golden dragon's head sits quiet in the midnight air. The world is asleep save for two people inside the crows nest of the topmost mast. In such a tranquil place there is no one to witness them save for the twinkling stars above the billowing flag. They do not speak. They do not move. They lie there. His arms around her. Her head on his chest. Together they gaze up at the night sky watching the moon. The very same moon that they watched each and every night for nine months. They lie there. Having missed each other so much and finally, finally, being together once more. They lie there. No need to rush things. No need to think about the future. No need to care about the past. They lite there only in the now. Now is the only thing they believe in. Now is the only certainty. They lie there. His sea-green eyes and her cloudy gray ones simultaneously finding the moon.


I had envisioned a few times what would happen when I finally saw him again. No, that was an understatement. I thought about it every day. My imagination stretched far and wide, I thought that I had anticipated ever single scene that could possibly happen down to the exact detail.

But of course with Percy, expect the unexpected.

High atop in that crows nest nothing could touch us. This moment I was waiting nine months for, in anxiety, worry, anticipation, apprehension, hope and despair. But none of that matters right now. Time, past, future are just words.

Because right now was perfect.

Lying against his chest, his arms around me there was only one word to describe it.

Right.

Because that's what Percy is, my only sure thing in this world. Everything else may explode, everyone else may leave me one day but my one firm handhold in the typhoon that is my life is Percy Jackson.

I breathed in the scent of the idiot I searched far and wide every day for and together we gazed at the night sky silently in awe of the stars. They gazed back at us winking and laughing merrily. Wisdom of the ages captured in that sky. Memories of billions of people before us captured in that sky. I knew right then and there that this instant, when Percy and I felt like one person, would be kept safe up there in the night sky. Even when both of us were long gone.

Together, as though we shared a mind, Percy Jackson and I turned and faced the moon.


Lemons. Her hair smelled like lemons.

The wood we lay on was smooth and sturdy. Mahogany maybe?

Ancient constellations twinkled above us.

Silence was penetrated only by the sound of our breathing.

Damn she was beautiful.

My ADHD was acting up, really acting up. I was aware of everything.

But I wasn't complaining.

I needed to savor every moment I had with Annabeth, it was all that kept me going and hoping. We had nine months, nine freaking months, to make up for and I wanted to remember every detail. ADHD does come in handy sometimes.

But there was also another reason.

Her body lying on mine, just spending time together, alone save for the moon and stars –I don't like to think it but that our time might be running out. I remember all too well what Ares told Frank. 'And one day sometime soon he's going to face a sacrifice he can't make'. Annabeth. Though I pretended I had no idea what he was talking about, I got the message well enough.

I hugged Annabeth even tighter; if my suspicions were right; I needed to prepare for another choice. Save Annabeth or save the world.

Closing my eyes I breathed deeply. No, right now there is no future or past. With only the moon and her subjects the stars to watch us we were too high for problems to reach us. We were now and only now. Anything else meant nothing to us.

That's just how I liked it.

As though I was drawn to it, I turned to face the moon just as Annabeth does. That moon, so mysterious and beautiful, that I owe so much to. Each and every night for a minute I would watch it and it would watch me back. Each and every night I would remember what little I could about Annabeth. Each and every night the moon united us once more.

Nine months of waiting and I am not disappointed.

In a way we were never truly apart. United by will, the moon and the dark night sky.