Trust. It felt natural to trust Percy Jackson, but she needed more. No matter how natural trusting him felt there was something decidedly off about him. He would cut himself off and reword what he was trying to say. He refused to relay any actual stories about his dad, even though he'd wax on and on about how awesome he was. He was confused when he had come to camp, but not freaking out like most people did when they found out about the gods for the first time. There were a lot of phrases he'd used at first too that she'd brought up in passing during their training after the quest and he kept deflecting and refusing to explain anything. It felt natural to trust Percy Jackson, but it was obvious he didn't trust her.

Sure, he looked guilty when he deflected, but he still did it.

Not this time.

This time, she was going to get her answers.

She didn't have everything planned out, and she hated that, but she couldn't make a good plan without knowing what she was walking into. So her plan, an admittedly shaky one, was to remain invisible and observe his home and his dad. She would snoop around as much as she dared and figure out what it was about Percy Jackson that was wrong.

Her first clue was the magical door.

Apparently he lived in a warehouse. That alone was...concerning, but he took a set of stairs to the roof and she followed discreetly. Every now and then something on the roof would catch her eye-something big- but it was always gone a second later. Eventually he came to a stop. The air in front of him seemed to swirl a bit and she had to really focus… She realized the Mist was screwing with her mind.

Closing her eyes and focusing herself she willed away the affects of the Mist. It wasn't an easy practice, and she knew people who could manipulate the Mist, but she'd been studying neutralizing its affect on her for some time now. It came in handy when she was in San Francisco.

Opening her eyes again she saw him pull something from his pocket and swish it around in front of the door. Yes, there was a door there; she could see it now. It was very large, square, and had no handle or lock. It swung open and he went in. She just barely made it in behind him before it closed again.

She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her. The cedar-beamed ceiling was four stories high, held up by carved stone pillars engraved with...hieroglyphs. An assortment of musical instruments and weapons decorated the walls. Three levels of balconies ringed the room. The giant fireplace was a work of art. There was a terrace through the sliding glass doors and a snakeskin rug that covered the majority of the floor-likely a spoil of war, though she didn't know what it could have been from.

There was a statue in the middle of the room. It was massive and flawlessly made. The body was human, but the head was some type of bird with a long neck. It felt wrong to look at it, so she looked around the room again and realized she was alone.

Where did Percy go?!

.

"So...how was your day?"

"It was...interesting," Percy answered while using his new token as a worry stone.

"What's that?"

"A gift. Payment of a debt."

"Do I want to know? Should I know?"

"Both those answers are probably no, but I think I need to talk it over with you."

"I'm at your command."

"So… Each God has a symbol of pow-"

"ACK!" Khufu screamed. Percy didn't know what to make of his interruption. Usually he could tell what the baboon wanted, but this was entirely indecipherable. "ACK!" He jumped around and sniffed the air.

"Someone's here," Dad said in a low voice. He had this way of saying things in a really heavy manner and making it seem serious but manageable.

"You think the House is going to give us trouble again?"

"No. There's an intruder," he said as he summoned his wand and staff. Percy uncapped Riptide and grabbed his small khopesh that he'd been training to use as an offhand weapon. It was awkward, but it worked.

He and Amos naturally faced opposite sides of the room to watch each other's backs. It felt weird. No matter how many times he saw his dad fight it never seemed natural; he was always more likely to talk his way out of a situation. Which he tried to do now.

"I suggest you show yourself now. If you harm my son I will kill you."

"Harsh."

"Percy."

"Just saying."

No one answered and Percy heard Amos summon a word of power. Sa-mir. He didn't cast it yet, but he was ready the moment the intruder was made known.

Khufu pounced at seemingly nothing. There was a scuffle and a yelp and a flash of familiar blonde hair..

Then several things happened at once.

The intruder threw Khufu onto the floor and drew a celestial bronze knife, Amos cast the word of power he had summoned, and Percy leapt between Amos and the intruder.

Pain. Burning pain erupted all over Percy's skin and he dropped to the floor just barely keeping from crying out. Magic tended to not know what to do with him, but the intensity Amos had used in calling the spell channeled it perfectly. It was over just as quickly as it had started and he heard both Amos and Annabeth scrambling to his side and babbling about how he was 'going to be okay' and 'oh my gods what did you do' and 'why would you do that Percy? I am so sorry I hurt you' and 'don't you touch him!'

When Percy saw Annabeth's dagger pointed at his dad he knew he needed to grin and bear it.

"It's just pain. I'm fine. Just…" he looked towards the pool. Too far. "Can I gave a glass of water?"

"Of course," Amos eyed Annabeth, who was still poised with her knife.

Khufu was the one who brought the water. Instead of drinking it, Percy dipped his fingers in and allowed the water to run up his arm to sooth the burned hieroglyphs.

"That's...new. Neat trick." Percy offered his dad a half-hearted smile then turned on Annabeth.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-" She fiddled with her necklace scowling at some of the burns that hadn't been reached by the water yet. Eventually she looked up at Amos. "So...you're a son of Hectate?"

"No," Percy answered for him. "He's son of it's none of your business and you're not supposed to be here." Her sharp stormy eyes turned on him, softening just a little when another burn caught her eye.

"I don't like not knowing things. It's...my nature…" She shrugged at her own lame defense.

"Yeah, well, I don't like not being trusted and I suppose that's my nature too. You're smart Annabeth, but you need to learn when to leave well enough alone."

"Oh yeah, as if I need to take advice from you, Seaweed Brain. Trust isn't something to be handed out on a whim."

"I am not Luke!"

"Luke?" Percy glanced at Amos and saw he looked a bit sick at the mention of the name. He had been letting them have their row because the danger had obviously passed, but Amos didn't believe in coincidence and Percy had to backpedal a little.

"Yeah, Luke is...a sore subject."

"Luke and Annabeth. Percy you know-"

"Right. Luke is a popular name and Annabeth is a coincidence."

"What is he talking about?"

"Annabeth, do you happen to know a Thalia?" She paled and her mouth dropped open at his question.

"Dad!"

"How- How do you know that name?"

"Percy used to dream about three imaginary friends. I thought it was brought on by the frequent monster attacks, but their names were Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth. I noticed the coincidence of your name last summer, but Percy didn't want to talk about it."

"Well, I don't know a Thalia," Percy cut in, "so it is still a coincidence."

"You dreamt of us?" She had a look that crossed between horror, heartbreak, and awe.

"I mean…" he scratches the back of his head, not entirely sure how to respond. "Wait, back to the point. Why are you here?"

"I don't answer to you Percy Jackson!"

"No, you just follow me home to spy on me because you have trust issues and a deluded sense of self importance!"

"Kids, settle down," Amos said in that heavy calm voice. Percy knew he could persuade people with his magic. It was a neat trick and he never used it on Percy, but something in him felt a little sluggish and he wondered if this was Amos's magic.

Annabeth blinked. "I'm sorry."

Percy tried for a scowl, but it was hard to keep it in place and squinted in confusion. "Luke was the one he was talking to. When I was having dreams at the same time as Aunt Ruby."

Amos placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as Percy tried to scowl again.

"Is your whole family…" Annabeth trailed off. "You're not a halfblood, are you?"

"I'm not. Chiron and I decided that keeping our worlds as separate as possible would be for the best, but you won't rest until you know the tale, so sit."

She sat and listened as Amos explained how Percy had come into his care. Then, Percy explained how he ended up at camp while Amos went to get something-he didn't say what. Eventually, she asked about Amos's magic and he explained the blood of the Pharaohs. Annabeth looked like she was going to throw up.

Finally, when everything seemed to be in the open, Amos gave her a paper-what he'd gotten earlier.

"How did you get this? Who made this?!"

"Percy. When he was seven."

She began to cry and Percy had to look at it. It was the drawing of the girl in the tree. He remembered making that after a particularly bad dream. He didn't ask Annabeth about her reaction. He knew now that she was the little girl, not just a coincidence-his dreams then, like now, were real. Luke Castellan was the guy who traveled with the two girls avoiding death by a hair's breadth. That meant that the fierce girl who taught him to be brave in his dreams was real too.

"What happened to her? I couldn't… She never appeared in my dreams again."

"The tree. Her father transformed her to preserve her life force."

"And now she fuels the protective barrier around camp?"

"Yeah…"

"Hot chocolate?" Amos asked, pulling three mugs from the Duat.

"Really?"

Annabeth laughed despite the tears in her eyes.

Then Percy laughed too.

A while later it was time for her to leave, Amos offered to drive her to the camp border but she declined, saying she needed to process everything.

Percy trusted Annabeth, even if she had trust issues of her own, and he thought maybe it would be good to have someone he could actually be honest with.