4
I couldn't believe Annabeth and I were going to San Francisco any more than I believed that she had crudely amputated someone. But I decided to never bring that up. She was scarred, I knew.
And now we were the first to go into a sort of Half Blood Witness Protection Program. And there were a surprising amount of steps to go through to make sure a couple of half bloods could safely disappear for a long period of time.
First was facing my mom.
The elevator up was tense. I felt like hitting my head against the wall. We should be going up to tell my mom that we were getting married, that it was finally real. But no. We were going up to tell her that we were going to disappear, for the gods know how long, and take up some stupid fake identities, led by half bloods we didn't know because that was the only safe way to do it. Annabeth saw the stress in my eyes, in my expression, and reached out to grab my hand. And I broke. I turned to her and wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my face in her hair and just stayed there because it was perfect and I wasn't obliged to do anything there.
Annabeth was perfect. I was still awkward.
We finally got to my mom's floor and headed to her apartment. We both had keys and I didn't hesitate in opening the door.
"Mom! You home?" I called upon entering.
"Percy? Oh Percy! Annabeth!" she yelled, excited, running up the hall to meet us and attacking us in a hug that somehow encompassed us both. My mom's a bit petite, so how she managed that I will never know.
"Let me see the ring, Annabeth, he didn't have it yet when he told me," she said. Annabeth complied and showed her, but began to break the news I couldn't utter.
"Actually, that's kind of… that's not what we're here for…" Annabeth couldn't finish. She stepped back, pulled her hand away and wrapped one arm around my waist, resting the other on my chest.
"Mom… Luke's back."
5 (Annabeth)
I was glad Percy broke the news to his mom, because I couldn't do it. I cringed away. Her expression immediately changed. She looked up straight into our eyes and realized she hadn't even bothered to register the mood of this unprecedented meeting. But she saw immediately in our eyes the same expressions we always wore, the same feelings, as when we were younger and a quest was coming that we weren't excited about. Something that scared us.
For me, that was something I didn't know or understand. And I definitely did not know or understand Luke's mind. He was sick. Mentally. Absolutely delusional. He thought I still loved him.
Sick.
We were sitting at the small table in their kitchen, painted a sunny yellow, with Percy's mom and step-dad. It had been a long time since we'd gotten to come see them. I wished we would do it more often just because, as opposed to because our lives were in danger.
"So basically," Percy said, beginning to finish the story, "we have to go hide in San Fran until Luke… I don't know… dies? Or something."
You would think his mom would be crying. But no. She was so used to all this stuff with half bloods, I guessed it didn't even phase her anymore that Percy's life might be in danger.
Sally was a great mom. I couldn't wait for her to be my mother-in-law.
"Annabeth… Look, mom, I don't want to leave, but we need to go pack and head out—"Go, Percy," his mom cut in. She was so understanding. I wished my dad could have always been that way, but my step-mom got in the way. Just like Percy's first step-dad had.
"Bye mom," Percy said, standing with my hand in his and leaning over the table to kiss his mom on the cheek. He hugged Paul and I hugged them both and we left, back to our apartments.
When we got back, his apartment wasn't empty. The lights were on and we could see the silhouettes of people inside.
"Percy…" I whispered, scared. He drew Riptide from his pocket and went to calmly open the door.
"SURPRISE!!!" yelled Grover, Juniper, Tyson, Rose, and even Thalia. I laughed as Percy put Riptide's cap back on.
"You guys are awesome," I told them, still giggling, hugging Percy who's heart was still pounding from thinking it was Luke.
"Why the sword, Percy?" Grover asked.
"Luke, that's why."
The room fell silent.
"He's back?" Grover questioned, trembling.
"Sadly, yes," I answered. "And I'd like to kill him. Well, no really… chopping his hand off was enough trauma for me…"
"You chopped his hand off?!" Thalia yelled with surprise.
"Well… yeah," I answered sheepishly, laughing and staying close to Percy always.
"Wait, Luke is overshadowing everything. Let us see the ring, Annabeth!" Rose called to me.
I laughed. "Fine, fine, come look," I said holding out my hand. Rose and Juniper bounded over to look, while Grover and Tyson went to talk to Percy and Thalia came over to look at the ring a bit less anxiously than the other girls. I caught bits and pieces of the guys' conversation.
"Dude, what are you gonna do about Luke?" Grover asked.
"Luke bad," Tyson confirmed. Good old Tyson. The guy really had grown on me.
"I don't know, guys. I can't kill him… it's not his fault he turned out this way. I can't kill him. But I have to… I don't know… I have to find a way to get rid of him without killing him. Is that possible?"
"Tartarus…" Grover muttered. I took in a sharp breath. We wouldn't do that to a demigod, right? Kronos hardly counted. Kronos was safe nowhere but Tartarus.
"No way," Percy answered, and I sighed with relief. "I couldn't do that to someone," he finished. Percy, I love you.
"Then what?" Grover prodded.
"I don't know."
We'll figure it out, Percy, I know we will.
For the rest of the night we celebrated cautiously, Luke never completed seeping away from conversation, someone always a bit wary of the door. I was going to sleep in Percy's room tonight-not taking any chances, though sleeping in his room was a bit… well, my mom wouldn't have liked it if my life didn't depend on it.
After explaining everything, everyone agreed they'd fight him with us, Iris-Message whenever they could (carefully, working around Luke) and cover for our disappearance around here.
"You guys are awesome," I told them all towards the end of the night.
"I know I am," Thalia said, always the one to lighten the mood. Eventually they all had to go home and that left Percy and I, our last night in the complex for a while. He walked me up to my apartment to get some sweats to sleep in and we went back down to his room.
While getting ready for bed, I had to ask. "Percy, what are we going to do?"
"I wish I knew, Annabeth. But I can tell you one thing: if he touches you again, it's going to be hard not to kill him."
Somehow, I was okay with that.
