A few hours after Annabeth and I had said goodbye to Mom and Stella, we were walking back to our apartment. The sun had long since began to set, and the harsh wind had picked up to the point that it ripped off Annabeth's hat, sending us down the sidewalk to catch it.
After a speedy chase—I blame Zeus—I caught the culprit. A moderate sized gray toboggan, and I slipped it over her head with a slight smirk.
"My hero." Annabeth breathed, leaning up to plant a kiss on my lips.
"We need to start hitting the gym if a run is going to wind us." I mused.
"Mm. Maybe after Christmas."
"Definitely after Christmas." I agreed.
"Your mom sure loves to spoil us."
"Of course." I smiled. "After all, who thought we'd survive into our 20s?"
She laughed quietly. "Nobody."
"Let's head back home. It's getting late."
"And love songs don't sing themselves."
I scoffed, and she smirked smugly. "Someday we'll stand up to that producer and sing something with action."
"Maybe someday." She said wistfully. "For now, we need to listen to him. He pays the bills."
"The wondrous life of a singer, I suppose."
She had slipped her hand through mine, and we looked around. We had stopped in the middle of Times Square. Annabeth's confused expression mirrored my own. How had we travelled across town so fast?
"Let's take a cab." I suggested. "It's getting too cold to continue to walk."
Annabeth nodded her agreement. "My fingers are starting to go numb through my gloves."
I slipped two fingers into my mouth, and with my best New York whistle, the loud sound pierced through my lips. Annabeth visibly jumped, but quickly settled back down. Within a few minutes, a cab parked in front of us on the road.
Annabeth and I hopped into the cab. The driver turned to look at us with a hungry expression. "Where to?"
"Brooklyn." I replied in a calm voice.
The driver licked his one tooth in his mouth. "Gonna cost ya. Traffic's heavy."
"We'll include a $20 tip upon arrival." Annabeth replied smoothly to the driver.
The driver turned around, starting up the engine. He flicked off the 'available' light with a small clack, and began to drive.
I leaned back into the seat, trying to get comfy. Annabeth had pulled out a book about architecture—gods knew where she had been hiding that—and had began to read. I noticed off handedly that it was written in Greek. I yawned, leaning onto her shoulder. The height difference between us made the position uncomfortable for me, but I was too proud to move.
"Tired?" She asked softly.
"Yeah." I yawned, pouting my lip out, my impression of a baby seal down tight.
She stifled a laugh. "You're too much sometimes."
"Yeah. But you love me." A sly smile had crept its way onto my lips.
"Dunno why." She said, kissing the tip of my nose lightly.
"Mm." I nuzzled closer to her neck, breathing in her sweet perfume. Gods. I thought to myself. She's wearing that perfume that drives me wild.
Before I knew it, I had been sleeping soundly on her shoulder. I hadn't been sleeping long enough for a nightmare-or perhaps I was just lucky not to receive one—but Annabeth was shaking my shoulder.
"Wazz goin on?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.
"We're here." Annabeth said.
I yawned loudly, reaching into my pocket for my wallet. I fumbled around with the bills until Annabeth pulled the correct change from the wallet for me. She handed it to the driver, and together we got out of the cab. I stretched, my bones loudly popping.
"You're too tall for cabs." Annabeth noticed. "Wonder when that happened."
"Dunno, but we haven't ridden in one for what, three years I think?"
"Something like that. Ever since we hired a new driver we don't have to worry about it."
We started up the path to our house. The house itself was brown in color. There wasn't any difference from this house and every other house on the street, except the fact that it had a bright red door, while the rest of the houses doors were brown
I slipped my hand into my pocket to grab the keys. For a few seconds, I fiddled with the door until it clanged open. Annabeth flicked on the light as I shut and locked the door behind me.
The hallway was narrow, painted a blindingly white color. The kitchen was further on towards the back of the house with an open style living room. I shrugged off my jacket and hung it onto the peg in the closet. I turned around to turn on the TV—maybe catch the news or something—when I noticed him sitting on the couch.
I immediately tensed, but quickly relaxed when it was only Nico di Angelo sitting on my couch.
"Gods, Nico. Do you ever knock?" I asked him.
Annabeth turned and looked at me from the staircase. "Nico's here?"
"Yeah," I replied. "He's on the couch."
Nico looked at the watch on his wrist. "I've been waiting an hour."
"Sorry," I shrugged.
"What brings you by, Neeks?" Annabeth walked over to stand beside me in the living room.
"Don't call me Neeks." Nico said, his feet up on the end table like the couch was a recliner. "Did you notice you were being followed today?"
"You've been watching us?" She asked him.
"Of course." The young adult replied. "How else would I know if you guys were safe? It's not as if you visit camp at all."
"Do you know who was following us?" I raised an eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact," Nico huffed, getting to his feet. I noticed he had a manila envelope in his hand. "I do."
He handed me the file, and together Annabeth and I read it over. The top of the paper read S.H.I.E.L.D, and it showed photographs of the two people that had been following us. The names of the two agents were Maria Hill and Phil Coulson.
"I don't understand," Annabeth said. "How would they know about us? We haven't used either of our powers since we left."
Nico shrugged, stifling a yawn. "Chiron has 'hinted' that you two should come back to camp."
"We can't just flee when some mortals catch an interest in us." She shook her head.
"I agree." I said, setting down the folder. "What harm can these humans do?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D is actually pretty powerful." He said, then mumbled, "I might have given you two away."
"What?!" I took him by the shoulder, forcing him to look at me. "What happened? Tell me everything."
Nico sighed. "It's a long story. We may want to sit down."
"I'll get you some coffee then. Annie, you want any?" I looked at the two half-bloods.
"I'm fine," She said, taking a seat opposite where Nico had been seated before.
"You remember how I like mine?" He asked.
"More creamer then coffee." I scoffed.
"Sounds right." He laughed, taking the seat beside Annabeth.
"What have you been up to lately, Nico?" She asked him, while I went to the kitchen to make the coffees. The two chatted as I made the cups. The coffee machine hummed, brewing the pot quickly. I poured the creamer into the coffee, wrinkling my nose at how sweet it smelled. I wasn't sure how Nico could stand to drink it. I picked up the two mugs—I take my coffee black—and walked out to the living room.
Handing Nico his mug, I sat in the loveseat. "Start from the beginning."
Nico sighed. "Three days ago, Will and I were in Times Square, enjoying our honeymoon. We had just got back from our vacation, and we were going to stop by camp before heading back to our house. It's a gorgeous day, just a little chilly.
"So we're walking along the street and we're ambushed by a Dracanae. Without even thinking, I had pulled my sword out and killed it. What I didn't know at the time was that there was someone watching me: Nick Fury. He happened to be eating at a diner with Tony Stark. Why they were there, I have no idea."
He took a sip of his coffee, thinking about how to phrase the next part of his story. "Will freaks out. 'What if the mortals saw us?' 'What if the gods saw us?', That sort of thing. I laughed, told him he was stupid, then we walked down an alley and shadow-travelled to camp. The next day as Will and I were walking home, we're ambushed by all these people in black suits. They grabbed us, and we tried to escape, but they were shooting us with these dart things. Will called them tranquilizers.
"Then I wake up, and I'm strapped to a chair. Nick introduced himself to me, that's how I knew who he was. That guy's really cocky and annoying. Anyway, so he's questioning me, and I can hear someone else questioning Will. I wasn't about to give up Camp Half-Blood, so I did the only rational thing: I escaped."
"So if you and Will escaped, how do we come into this?" I asked him, almost not wanting the answer.
"They found a picture in my wallet." Nico sighed. "The one from your wedding: You two, me, Will, and Clint Barton."
"You carry that picture around?" Annabeth asked him, shocked.
"Of course." Nico replied. "Besides the guys following you, have you noticed anything weird?"
"No." I said.
"Yes." Annabeth said at the same time as I did. "Tony's card."
"You met Tony Stark?" Nico asked.
"We got shwarma for lunch." I smiled.
"Let me see the card." He reached his hands out, and I pulled the card from my pocket and handed it to him. After a moment of silence, he said; "Do you know this is in—"
"Ancient Greek." Annabeth finished.
"That's just weird." Nico shook his head.
"Do you think that Tony knows that Clint is a son of Apollo?" I asked him, completely serious. "If he knows that about Clint, then it would explain the card."
"Maybe it's aesthetic." He said hopefully.
"Honestly? At this point I'm not sure. Maybe we should just head back to camp, Wise Girl."
She sighed. "Maybe you're right. I hate running, but until we know exactly what we're up against it might be the smartest thing to do."