Chapter 9 - How Many of My Cousins Will Die?

The next morning we got dressed and grabbed some bagels from the hotel buffet. We headed out in the early morning, determined to try to find Magnus. We walked outside into the cold. I pulled my scarf tight against my neck. After Tartarus, I'd found I was more susceptible to extreme temperatures. I had on thick socks under my snow boots and a parka on top of that.

We stopped a pair of joggers. "Hi, excuse me. This is my cousin, Magnus -" I held out the flier. "Have you seen him? He went missing two years ago."

"Sorry, sweetie." One of them said, as the other jogged in place and shook their head. "Haven't seen him."

"Ok. Thank you."

Interactions like that went on for quite a while as we walked to the Boston Commons. Everyone gave us sympathetic looks, or apologies, but no one had seen Magnus. No one offered to help look, or offered any helpful info on who to ask.

I glanced around, trying to get my bearings in a new city. I looked at my dad. "Why are we going this way?"

"Randolph said he'd look at the youth shelter on the South Side, we're heading to one across the park. I thought this would be a good place to ask people too."

I nodded. It sounded like a fair plan. But as I asked more and more people who all reported never having seen Magnus, I got sad. Then, because that wasn't helpful, I got angry at Randolph. That isn't helpful either, but it seemed to warm me up a bit inside. We walked through the Public Gardens section of the Commons, looking for more people to talk to.

"Unbelievable. I want to strangle him." I decided.

Dad sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. "Well, we should probably avoid killing him. He is your uncle."

"But two years?" I insisted. "Dad, how could he not tell us for two years?"

"I can't explain Randolph's actions. I never could, Annabeth." He sounded sad. I wondered what else in their past he hadn't told me.

The wind whipped through my hair, and I pulled my scarf higher on my neck, and my hat lower on my head.

"Natalie was a great lady. I…. I should've apologized long ago, made things right. But my pride -"

"I hate pride." I muttered.

We shared a smile. "But I'll do my best to honor her, to find Magnus." Dad said. He got a text and looked at the phone. He grunted. "Randolph is at the city shelter in the south end. He says no luck. We should try the youth shelter across the park."

"How do we even know Magnus is alive?" I asked, miserable. I couldn't help it. "Missing for two years? He could be frozen in a ditch somewhere."

"Randolph is sure that Magnus is alive." My dad reminded me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "He's somewhere in Boston. If his life is truly in danger, then we must find him."

"Danger from what?"

"If I asked you that, how often would you have an answer?" My dad asked, grinning at me. He had a fair point. Many times, I had no idea what I was in danger from - I just knew I was. We walked across the park, stopping each person we found to ask about Magnus. No luck. The faces and comments started to blur together into one very clear image - Magnus hadn't been seen or heard from by anyone. I was starting to get discouraged. I had memories of my time last year, looking for Percy. No one had heard from him in months and I had started to… well, I guess 'Go Crazy' is the closest I can think of to describe it. Maybe get desperate? Something like that. I just….. I hate losing people. Even though I hadn't seen Magnus in so long, well, I didn't want to lose anyone else - especially not family..

My dad and I walked into the youth shelter.

"Hi!" Said a rather bubbly looking front desk lady. "Is everything ok?"

"We're looking for my cousin, Magnus." I explained, holding out a flier. "He's been missing for two years, since his mom died."

"Oh dear. I haven't seen him, sweetie. Two years?"

I nodded, not looking at her. She came around the counter to give me a hug. "Are you sure he's in Boston? Perhaps you can't find him because he moved. Lots of kids find new cities, places they won't be caught if there are cops and warrants out for them."

"We think, well, my brother seems to think he's still in Boston." My dad explained. "If we can't find him, we'll expand the search, but we need somewhere to start."

"Yes, yes. Definitely."

I held up the stack of flyers for her to see. "Would you mind if I hung some of these up? Maybe the other kids here have seen him."

She gave me a sad smile. "Yes, go right ahead. Through that door on your right is the girl's main room. There's a bulletin board you can place one on. If you give me one, I'll put it in the boy's main room."

I handed her a couple flyers, grateful that someone was at least willing to try to help.

I walked into the girl's main room. There was only one other girl up, she had a shock of green hair that was dark at the roots, like it'd been a while since she dyed it, and she was wearing pink flannel pajama bottoms with a hole worn into the cloth above her right knee. She glared at me from where she was sitting, sipping something in a mug. She was clearly not ready to be awake today - a feeling I knew and understood well.

"You new?" She asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm looking for my cousin, Magnus." I handed her a flier. "You haven't seen him, have you?"

She grunted and shrugged. I took that as a no, but left the flier on the table for her. Maybe she could think about it more as she woke up.

I walked over to the bulletin board and hung the flier, taking a step back to look at Magnus's face staring back at me from the wall. I wondered how different he looked now - would I even recognize him? It had been so long since we were little kids, playing tag in the park and coloring pictures as the adults talked.

"He's lucky." A voice spoke behind me, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned, looking back at the girl sitting at the table. She stared at me and I realized one of her eyes was a lighter color than the other.

"Excuse me?" I asked her, wondering if she meant it was lucky that Magnus was missing.

"To have someone care enough to look." She explained. She glanced at the floor. This was a painful subject, and one I knew well.

"I know how you feel." I said after a long moment.

She snorted. "Doubt it."

"I ran away when I was seven." I told her. She looked stunned.

"It'll get better. Promise." I flashed her what I hoped was a comforting smile.

She gave me a small smile in return. "I hope so. Good luck, finding your cousin."

"Thanks. Good luck to you too." She nodded, going back to her drink as I walked back to the entrance to find my dad. We kept looking, stopping every homeless person we saw to ask about Magnus. Most of them shrugged or grunted or took a flier. Some would insist that they knew him but couldn't describe him at all.

My dad looked at me, worry lines tracing his face. "Annabeth, maybe we should stop for coffee."

"No, we need to find him." I insisted. My teeth were chattering and I was shaking.

My dad wrapped an arm around me and gave me a sad smile. "No pride talking - you need to warm up, ok?"

I relented and we walked to a nearby Starbucks to grab some drinks. I found a table and tried to come up with a plan while my dad waited in line for our drinks. Perhaps we could try schools? Though, surely, if Magnus were enrolled in a school the police would've found him. Maybe hotels, in case Magnus had enough money to occasionally stay at a hotel? That was an idea. I didn't know if it would work or not, but it was worth a shot. I barely noticed my dad handing me my coffee as his phone rang.

"Randolph! Did you find -" He went silent. He started blinking a lot, then looked at me, a pained expression on his face. "Yes." He said, quietly. "Yes, we'll be right there."

I swallowed, seeing the truth in my dad's face before he said it. "He's dead, isn't he?" I've had enough experience with someone breaking that news to me to know the look. My dad nodded, wrapping me in his arms.