Chapter 8 - LOST COUSIN - IF FOUND, DO NOT CHASE

It was morning and I woke to the smell of bacon cooking. That is hands down the best way to wake up. I rolled over. Percy was still asleep, drooling worse than the first time I'd seen him. I gave him a little kiss on the nose, which earned me a sleepy mutter, then I got up to see if anyone needed help making breakfast. I found Paul alone in the kitchen and he flashed me a grin as I got to work making toast and eggs for everyone.

"You're getting pretty good at cooking, you know."

I snorted. "Toast and eggs, sure. If Percy says I might have given all the campers food poisoning when I tried to help with the Thanksgiving dinner at Camp Half-Blood, well, he lies."

Paul laughed.

"It was at most half the campers, and the Apollo kids got everyone healed up by the next morning."

That got an even bigger laugh which I had to share.

We had a lovely breakfast and Percy and I tried not to grab each other's hands to assure each other we were still there more than usual. It was hard. I tried not to let on how scared I was to be going off alone. I knew that if Percy got even a hint of how worried I was, he'd come with me. Even if we made him swear on the River Styx to stay, he'd come and not worry about the consequences. He'd proven that way too many times to take the risk. So, after a rather lengthy goodbye until Sally reminded me that I would be late for my train and Percy would be late for school, I finally left. I may have wiped away a few tears once I was in the stairwell and sure they couldn't see me.

I boarded the train and pulled out my laptop. It wasn't nearly as good as Daedalus's laptop, which, according to my mom, some Cyclopses had found in Tartarus and were thoroughly enjoying for their online gaming. But it still had access to the internet. I pulled up a map of Boston so I could start looking over the streets, getting familiar with the city and its landmarks. I also looked into homeless shelters, youth shelters, group homes, foster homes, and every other place that might have seen Magnus over the last two years.

By the time the train pulled up to the stop my dad said to meet him at, I was feeling at least a little more comfortable with this idea. I had barely stepped off the train when I saw my dad, waving to me from a news stand. I grinned and went to meet him.

"Permission to hug?" He asked, a sparkle in his eye.

"Permission granted." I informed him.

"Where should we look?" We asked each other at the same time, then grinned.

"Uh, I booked us a hotel room. So that we have a home base and you can set up your homework and stuff."

I smiled. "See, questing with you is so much nicer than with demigods. We almost never got a hotel room and when we did it was in a mythological trap designed to keep us prisoner the rest of our lives."

He chuckled. My dad had heard all about Percy and I's experience in the Lotus Hotel. He desperately wanted to try it out for himself, and my stepmom and I had made him promise several times never to attempt the hotel.

We got to the hotel and I unpacked my bag of mortal supplies - school stuff and some extra clothes - then went to grab lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant. Hey, when in Boston, right? Then we went to meet my Uncle Randolph. We got out of the Uber in front of the house. It was a large brownstone, with gorgeous brick walls, columns on either side of the door, and ornate detailing above the front door. My dad walked up to the door and knocked twice, hard. Almost instantly, it swung open.

"Frederick!" My uncle said, looking excited, almost…. Hungry? I wasn't sure why but it didn't make me feel good.

He looked at me. "And, it's Annabel, yes?"

"Annabeth." I corrected automatically as I walked past him into the house.

"Yes, yes." He shut the door behind us. The sound of it closing felt…. Final. For some reason, I was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

"Come. To my study." He said, climbing the stairs. I looked at my dad who simply nodded and gestured for me to follow him. I walked into the study and saw…. Woah. It was like the Viking version of my dad. My dad's study was covered in war memorabilia, model planes hanging from the ceiling, maps on the walls. Randolph's was covered in viking ship models, weapons, maps, and all kinds of drawings I couldn't begin to explain. Randolph took a seat behind the desk, drawing my attention to it. It was the only surface in the room not covered by papers, notes, or memorabilia. I knew from looking at my dad's house that that would only be done if my dad…. Didn't want someone to see what he'd been working on. So what was Randolph hiding, then?

"Take a seat, both of you." He instructed us, pointing his cane at two chairs sitting in front of the desk. They were mismatched - probably not meant for this room. I sat in the one nearest me as my dad sat in the other chair.

"Now. You must be wondering why I called you both here." Randolph explained.

"Actually -" I jumped in, "I'm wondering why you didn't call us sooner."

"Excuse me?" He seemed genuinely baffled.

"My dad contacted you in August. It's January. And my dad said Natalie has been dead for two years. Why didn't you contact us sooner? Why not as soon as Natalie died?"

"Right." Randolph said, clearly ignoring my questions. "I called you to ask for your help in locating the boy. I've been searching for him since he ran away two years ago, but I have had no luck in locating him." Randolph set down a photo of Magnus. It was an old photo - Magnus looked maybe ten or eleven. He didn't look happy to be in front of the camera. It was one of those school photos in front of the fake backgrounds - Chiron had one of those green screen backgrounds and he'd always make photos like this to send to our mortal families. Then he'd let us have fun Photoshopping monsters in the backgrounds.

Randolph put down a map, a large one covering most of Boston. "We must find him, soon. His life is in terrible danger."

I felt suspicion rising in my mind. "Why? Why is his life in danger?"

"Because, he is almost sixteen. That is when he'll become a man."

My dad looked at me, just as confused as I felt. "And this matters because?"

Randolph looked infuriated. "Because! You dare ask th-"

"Randolph." My dad said with a sigh. "Without the dramatics, please."

"Magnus must reclaim his birthright, it is the only thing that can protect him."

I shared another extremely confused look with my dad. "And this birthright is?"

Randolph shook his head at me. "It would take far too long to explain, girl. We must find him. Immediately. Find him, bring him to me. I can protect him."

"Protect him from?" My dad prodded.

Randolph stared out the window, muttering to himself. "Our family has always been special, we've attracted too much attention -"

"Randolph." My dad sighed. "What's going on with Magnus?"

He turned, as if just remembering that we were there. "Yes, his birthday is tomorrow. The point is that he is in danger and we must rescue him."

I bit my lip. I wanted to ask how my uncle could remember his birthday but not anything else about him. Randolph seemed preoccupied with something and I doubted it was with worry over Magnus.

I looked at my dad, who shrugged at me. I leaned forward and took the photo of Magnus from the desk. "Where should we look?" I asked.

The grin Randolph gave me was so unsettling, I wanted to turn tail and run back to New York immediately. But I sat there, trying not to squirm as my dad and Randolph discussed where to look for Magnus. Finally, my dad and I left the brownstone, taking care not to slip as we walked down the stairs.

"Where should we start?" My dad asked me. "You're the expert on finding missing people, right?"

I flashed him a smile. My dad knew all about my search for Percy the year before. Then I decided, "I think we should go to the police. See what they know. Randolph's hiding something, I'm sure of it. Let's see if we can get any more information."

Shockingly, the police were not eager to help us find my cousin who may or may not be the suspect in a two-year-old cold case. After getting more and more infuriated at the mortal police, who had next to no information, my dad and I finally left, feeling fairly dejected. We trudged back to our hotel room, getting burgers on the way.

After we'd eaten in silence, I asked, "Should we put up, like, lost-dog flyers?"

He grinned at me. "Lost Cousin flyers?"

I nodded. "Lost Cousin - Been Missing for Two Years. Only Recently Found Out (Sorry Cuz) - If Found, Please Return to Annabeth Chase."

My dad laughed at that. After some more discussion, though, we realized we didn't have a better plan. So we designed some quick flyers on my laptop, listing a short bit of information, the photo, and then both my dad's and my numbers. I didn't exactly like having my number out there, ready for any mortal to call and throw up a signal to the monsters where I was, but I also wasn't sure I had a better idea.

"We can use the hotel business center to print copies." My dad offered.

"Good idea." I got up to go to the business center, but my dad stopped me.

"Get some rest. I got this part."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. This is part that a middle-aged mortal can handle." He informed me, giving me a kiss on the head. I smiled and pulled my wedge-shaped pillow from my stuff, popping it onto my bed. Then I pulled out the portable Iris-message device and started a call to Percy. He was laying in bed and sneezing for some reason.

"Annabeth! Achoo!" He gave me a tired smile.

"Hey!" I said, feeling better just talking to him. "Are you sick?"

"Head cold - long story. Did you find your cousin?" He asked, looking eager and worried.

I shook my head. "No. We talked to my uncle, Randolph. He…. he's hiding something. I'm not sure what. But he says Magnus is in trouble."

"W-What? Annabeth, the Iris-message -" Something something. "Are you -" Something. "Come back -" Something, something. "Love you -" It cut out. I caught my breath.

"Hey!" My dad opened the door behind me. "Everything ok?"

"Uh…" I looked back at the Iris-message machine. "No. My IM to Percy failed."

He set the laptop down on the bed. "I can call his mom, if you'd like."

I smiled at him, grateful. "Would you? I won't use the phone so we don't attract monsters."

He smiled. "The rest of the flyers are still printing, it'll take a while." He dialed the number. "Hi, is this Sally? Yes, this is Frederick, Annabeth's dad - ah, yes, you know that. Uh, Annabeth said there was an issue, ah, yes, Percy's there. Yes, she's fine, we're both fine. She doesn't want to use the phone due to monsters. No, no sign of Magnus, we'll continue to look in the morning. Yes, yes, very good. Talk to you soon."

He hung up, then looked at me. "Everything is fine in New York, she said. Percy passed a geometry quiz?"

I let out a little breath of relief. "Yeah, that's good."

"Well, should we get to bed?"