Chapter Three: The Tower Of Acceleration

AN: Hey guys, it's four months later and it's 3:30 AM and instead of going to bed I'm writing this, you'd better be grateful

SOUNDTRACK: Come Into The Water by Mitski

Light strings through a stained glass window as I look at the clearly distraught and incredibly beautiful woman in front of me and question whether she's insane. And if we're dating. Kind of both at the same time.

We're being led through some kind of old castle. There was a sign offering free tours, but it's all in Hungarian, so I nod along and pretend to understand what's happening. But aside from all of that, I can barely comprehend what Annabeth has told me. After she'd told me his name it all started spilling out. Greek gods, and greek monsters; ancient heroes and new ones. A whole new mythology spelled out, one she not just believes in but has interacted with viscerally. One who killed her ex.

My ancestors believed in a whole suite of spirits. I don't, I never have, and I suppose, neither does Annabeth. But what she's asking me to believe in is far crazier. That the greek gods exist? That they not only communicate with the mortal world, but have children with it? It's a lot to stomach. And demonstrating by using a Yankees cap which makes her disappear? Utter insanity.

What does that cap have to do with the greek gods? Are the Yankees some god I haven't heard of? Annabeth tried to explain it to me as a gift from her alleged mother, Athena, but I didn't know she was the goddess of invisibility hats. How she did that hat trick is a completely different and arguably more urgent question. But I don't want to answer that. I want her to stay powerful. Even if it's a delusion.

She took me outside of the coffee shop, to some kind of ancient cobble-stoned alley lined with back-doors and dumpsters. She took out the hat. She told me to focus on her, so I stared at her with equal parts adoration and confusion. She put it on, and like a ripple effect coming from her feet her entire body disappeared, and I was left alone in the alley.

I stared without fully registering for a few moments and then snapped to action like ice being shattered by a pick. I ran to where she had been with as much urgency as I could find. She simply did not exist in the same space. I felt a tap on my shoulder and frantically turned around to see nothing. Then she took off her hat, and like before, rippled back into existence.

I ran to her and seized her and felt her and kissed her until she, laughing, called me off and told me that she was really there. And I wanted to believe her, and I wanted to understand, but the tears flowing down my face made a difference. I'd only known her for a couple of hours. Damned if I'm going to lose her this fast.

That cap is an issue I don't want to touch upon. One I don't really want to see again, ever.

Annabeth is clearly very clever. But god-level clever? Calling yourself the kid of a god is some kind of insane power trip, and it totally doesn't match the vibe I'm getting from Annabeth at all.

But measuring somebody in terms of their vibe isn't really a measure of anything at all. I get nothing but good vibes from her. When she smiles, I want to smile. When she kisses me, I want to stay in that second forever. I get the vibes off of her I want to. I can't help it.

She mentioned that boyfriend. The dead one. She said he died killing giants. Now, according to her, that's literal. He killed literal giants. But, that could just be her way of coping with some kind of drug addiction. Cocaine, heroin, anything. Something hard to get past.

Or it really could've just been…. Giants. And he was a "demi-god" or some shit. And they kissed in a bubble on the bottom of a lake and they fell in love over years and grew up and fought monsters, and then he lost his memory and they went to hell together and then he died by sacrificing himself. He was a hero until the end, she tells me. It's quite a story, regardless of if its true.

I don't know what to believe. She doesn't seem insane. I suppose they never do.

We go together through the tops of the castle, looking out over the firmaments at the old city spread out before us. We huddle together for warmth, jackets drawn tight and noses bright red from the cold air, acting like real girlfriends for once. I like it. She's clearly trying to win me over, but I like the attention. I feel wanted. Beautiful.. I suppose she doesn't know how much I've already fallen into her eyes. I make sure she knows how much it's appreciated with some cold-lipped but warm-feeling kisses.

She's the one to break the silence on what we don't want to talk about.

"So", she says. "Have you decided if I'm insane or not?"

Her voice drips with light-hearted snark and wit, but I sense desperation and emotion that makes me know she doesn't want to lose me. I feel… I feel important.

I crack a half-smile. "Not yet, not yet."

"Look", she says. "I'm not asking you to believe everything. I came here to get away from all of that. I just need you to understand that my past has been relatively traumatic. And whatever fucked-up psychological thing you want to get out of "has literally been to hell and back", I want you to understand that it's about three thousand times worse. I've gone through shit. But I want you to know that I want you, and I want this relationship more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life. My trauma is not me".

I give her a sad, but validating smile. Or my best approximation of one. And I embrace her and say "Annabeth. I barely know you. But you are a gorgeous person with a gorgeous soul. And if you've gone through things I can't comprehend, good or bad, I'll do my best to try. I want this relationship as much as you do."

And I plant a kiss on her lips, not a kiss of lust or even of love. It's a contract kiss, which, yes, sounds incredibly goofy but really just means that I've sealed what I said with a kiss. The most pure form of a signature, I suppose.

Tears well up in her eyes. Happy ones. She smiles. She take my arm. I smile back. And we rejoin the tour.

We're about to start exploring the dungeons when it happens. The ground starts to shake. Just a small earthquake, the guide tells us in broken english when I shoot her a worried look, but Annabeth's eyes look like stone which crumbles in front of me as she looks from me to the tour group to the environment.

Her eyes widen, a tear creases out, she draws a dagger from her waistband, and as she lunges into a fighting stance she PUSHES me through a thick mist that hadn't been there before, and I levitate for a breathless second until I fall through and come face to face with a monster.

AN: Hey, excited for another three months? It was four this time. Might be longer. Might be shorter. If you reviewed, I would be happy.