Chapter 15

The conversation with Piper had gone surprisingly well. No one had been near the kitchen, and his mother had seemed well looked after. Percy was having a good day. So as he walked along the path to Annabeth's house, he was in a really good mood. The fact that he was on his way to see Annabeth didn't hurt either.

Reaching the house, Percy ignored the front door, and instead started to sneak around the side towards the back. As he turned the corner he noticed a candle in the kitchen window, and swore a bit under his breath. Annabeth wouldn't try to sneak out until both her father and step-mother had gone to bed, which meant Percy was going to be stuck waiting until they did. Luckily, there was an odd outcropping of the house, which combined with the bush along the side, created the perfect cover. Plus he could usually hear what was being talked about in the kitchen, so at least he had some entertainment while he waited.

Unfortunately, tonight Mr. Chase was just telling some story about his day. Most of it was boring, but Percy couldn't help but smirk a bit when he heard him complaining about how Annabeth was starting to stay longer and longer when she was helping Percy study.

Annabeth had been determined to learn about her father's work, despite the fact that Percy knew reading came as hard to her as it did him. She wanted to prove herself to her father and get his attention. Instead he had just used it to get out of doing his work so he could follow his own pet projects. If he wasn't going to appreciate having Annabeth around, he was more then happy to have her helping him instead.

Percy was probably sitting against the wall for at least twenty minutes before the light finally went out. He gave it a few minutes, before pushing himself up and slipping around the back of the house. It was about five minutes after that when the back door opened and Annabeth stepped out. Seeing Percy she smiled a bit and moved over to him "Sorry, they were up late again."

"I saw, don't worry about it," Percy assured, grinning at her, before moving to hand her the bag he had been holding "This is for you. But only if you promise not to share it with the rest of your family. Not even the twins."

"I promise," Annabeth assured, laughing a bit, which just made Percy grin more. "Besides, the twins don't need anymore sweets and my parents would just question where it had come from."

Nodding, Percy waited as she carefully tucked the bag near the door so she wouldn't have to carry it around, before moving back to join him. Without even thinking about it Percy took her hand, and started to lead her away from the house.


"You've got to be kidding me," Annabeth couldn't help but laugh as she looked up at the barn in front of them "I knew we were heading towards here, but I figured you had something else in mind."

"I told you, we are going on an adventure like when we were kids," Percy grinned as he looked over at her "We used to play in here all the time."

The barn in front of them was old. Really old. Honestly Annabeth had no idea who, if anyone, it actually belonged to, as she had never seen anyone doing any actual work on it or in the fields around it. What really made the barn interesting though, was there were places that were completely destroyed. Annabeth figured there must have been a fire, but it would have had to have been a long time ago. For as long as she could remember the barn had been in this state.

"I suppose you're right," She was still laughing a bit as she answered, looking up at the structure for a moment. Then she turned back to Percy and grinned, pulling his hand a bit as she started forward "Well come on then."

Reaching the barn, they moved around to the side and slipped through a hole in one of the walls. It was a tighter fit than when they were younger, but still easier than trying to move the heavy barn doors. The inside of the barn was dark, but there were enough holes in the ceiling to let in some moonlight, enough to make out shapes of the few objects and fallen rafters scattered about. Annabeth was fairly sure she could make her way to the rickety old stairs even without the help of the moon though. She probably could have done it with her eyes closed given how many times she had been there as a kid.

A flight of stairs, and a ladder that was missing a few rungs later they were in the hayloft and moving towards the area under the biggest hole in the roof. When they were younger they had piled up hay there, some of it left over in the barn, some found other places. Over the years the pile had dwindled, some of it being blown away, some of it stolen by animals, but there was still enough to make a comfy places to lay back.

"You know, this isn't as high as I remember it being," Percy said, laughing as he looked over the edge of the hayloft and back to where they had come from.

"That's because you've been up in the tops of towers now," Annabeth replied, smiling as she looked around. Of course she had seen it all before, but it had been awhile "Even your room is higher than this. When we were kids, this was the highest place we'd ever been."

"I guess you're right," Percy agreed, just looking over the edge for another moment before moving over to the pile of hay to sit down.

Smiling, Annabeth moved over to sit down next to him, raising an eyebrow as she did "So what now? Is this the end of our adventure?"

"Well, now we sit here and talk, like we used to do when we were kids," Percy replied, shrugging a bit "Unless you have a better idea?"

"None at all," Annabeth assured, smiling as she sat down "Though we could have just talked in your room like we usually do and not had to risk any of the sneaking around."

"I was going to visit my mom tonight anyway, so please don't worry," Percy said, smiling fondly as he shook his head "Besides, if we just talk in my room it doesn't count as an adventure."

"I suppose you've got a point," Annabeth admitted a little reluctantly, rolling her eyes. She was slightly tempted to point out that just sitting in an old barn wasn't much of an adventure either, but that wouldn't do anything but make Percy feel bad. Besides, the whole thing was giving her a feeling of nostalgia. Like maybe things weren't so different after all.

"So, what would you like to talk about then?" Percy asked, grinning as he looked over at her for a moment before moving to lay back in the hay so that he could look up through the hole at the stars.

"Oh, I see, you're going to dump the really hard question on me," Annabeth teased, laying back in the hay as well, thinking for a moment before adding "I actually think I talk to you more now than I did before this whole mess. Anything interesting happen to you since we saw each other a few hours ago?"

She looked over at Percy, expecting a quick laugh and an even quicker answer of no. To her surprise though, he actually seemed to be considering, and there was a decent pause before he spoke. When he did it was as if what he wasn't saying anything important at all "Nothing big. Piper figured it all out this afternoon."

"Piper knows?" Annabeth was sitting up, her attention fully on Percy, who just nodded from where he was lying back in the hay. Grinning at her. "Like, about everything? Your mom and how you grew up? All of it?"

"You can say bastard Annabeth, I've known I was one my whole life. The only difference is now I'm the bastard of a king," Percy said, laughing a bit and finally pushing himself up so he was sitting as well "And yeah, all of it. She guessed most of it, and what she didn't I filled in when she asked."

"How did she figure it out?" Annabeth smirked a bit and added "You were dropping hints, weren't you? You never liked the idea of keeping it from her."

"No actually- I mean I wasn't going to out of my way to hide it, but I wasn't deliberately dropping hints," Percy said, laughing a bit at that "It was just a lot of little things I did that tipped her off, things I didn't even realize I was doing. I think what really did it was that I couldn't bring myself to call the queen my mother."

Slowly Annabeth nodded a bit. Percy loved his mom more than anything, and her him. It was obvious to anyone who saw them together. Annabeth couldn't blame him for not being able to say the queen was his mother. The woman had raised Percy pretty much by herself. His jackass of a step-father had been more trouble than help in pretty much every aspect, including raising Percy.

"How did she take it?" Annabeth asked, biting her lip a bit as she looked over at him. She had to imagine it had gone well given Percy's current attitude, but she was still a little nervous to hear the answer.

"Surprisingly well actually."

Despite having anticipated that Annabeth felt slightly disappointed at the news. She shouldn't have, it was good news. If she had freaked out Percy would have likely been in trouble with his father. Yet there was a small part of her that was disappointed. "She was alright with it? She's not going to call off the wedding?"

"No, she even agreed not to tell her parents until a time when it will be taken well- or at least better," Percy said, nodding a bit. For a moment Annabeth thought that he sounded slightly disappointed as well. She was probably just imagining it. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow "I've got no big secret to reveal or anything else exciting. My life is the same as always."

Her life was boring. There was no getting away from it. She hated it, and wanted nothing more than to get out, but there was nothing to be done. Honestly Percy was the most exciting part of her life. He had been even before the whole prince thing.

"Come on, there's got to be something," Percy insisted.

Annabeth just shook her head, moving to lay down in the hay again as she thought about it "Mathew almost started Bobby on fire, that was pretty entertaining."

"I swear, the fact that those two have even made it to nine is a miracle," Percy said, laughing as he laid back down next to her "But that's your brothers. What about you?"

"Honestly?" Annabeth sighed, shaking her head "Most of my life is just sorting files and flipping through dusty old books. The hour or so I spend with you is the most exciting part of my day. Thanks for that by the way. It's nice to get a break from the library, and to actually spend time with you. Even if we are supposed to still be going through books."

For the last few months she had rarely gotten to see him between his prince duties and her father. God she had missed him, and now they suddenly had more time then she really knew what to do with. It was nice.

Slowly Percy nodded a bit, but Annabeth could tell he was disappointed with her answer. Or maybe he just felt bad, she wasn't sure. Either way, he got a little quieter as he spoke "Remember when we were kids, and we decided that as soon as we were old enough we were going to get out of here? Become explorers, get a ship and sail around, or become bandits, or do anything to just have a little adventure in our lives?"

"Yeah, of course," Annabeth agreed, laughing a bit as she looked over at him, though to her surprise Percy was looking at the stars, face and voice serious.

"Back then finding out one of us was secretly royalty would have just sounded like another great adventure to go on. Hell we probably tossed that idea around too."

"Probably," Annabeth agreed, slipping her hand into his again, and squeezing it a bit "It would have sounded like an incredible adventures. Castles, fighting, parties, travel."

"In the end all it did was ensure that I can never leave," Percy squeezed her hand in return. Finding out he was the king's son had done so much more than that. They both knew it, but neither said it. "I wish we had gone on one of the other adventures instead."

"Me too."