/ Sorry for the delay - writer's block sucks. Back and better than ever, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 23 - Our Totally Normal Valentine's Day

"You two promise you'll be okay while we're gone?" Sally asked us for the millionth time.

"Totally.. We'll be fine, Mom." Percy assured her with a hug. "Go have a good weekend away."

"I promise, the apartment will probably still be standing when you get back." I added.

Paul took Sally's hand and led her to the Prius.

"Probably?" Percy asked me quietly as we waved goodbye.

"We're demigods - there are no guarantees." I reminded him.

He grinned at me. "So…. I think we need to go meet up with someone."

I checked the time - Percy was right. We had a double date scheduled with Nico and Will. We were supposed to meet them for an escape room and dinner - Nico had never had tacos prior to coming to Camp and secretly loved them, so Will and I had found a good taco place.

"Hey!" I waved to Will as we crossed the road. Nico was frowning, but Will looked happy.

"What do you have planed for Valentine's Day?" Nico asked, scowling.

"Will didn't tell you?" I asked him. I glanced at Will who grinned at me.

"We'll be starting with a romantic dinner for the four of us, then I thought we could see an opera, maybe a go to the library - oh! We can go to a museum, that never ends badly."

Nico had drooped a little with each word. I glanced at Will who was trying to keep it together. "Seriously? Nico, we're not doing any of that."

"We aren't?" Nico asked suspiciously.

WIll shook his head. "I got us front row tickets to an improv show that encourages audience interaction."

Nico's look of horror was so funny I couldn't help it - I burst out laughing.

Nico stared at me. "So…. not that either?"

"No, Death Boy." Will slung an arm around his shoulders. "We aren't."

"So…. what are we doing?"

"Escape room." Percy announced, shaking his head at Will and I. "You two need to stop torturing him. It's an escape room, Nico."

"Oh." Nico stared at us. "That's not too bad. Now when you say escape room -"

"No, there's no monsters." I assured him. "Well, probably not. Not more than usual."

He nodded, then started to grin. "Ok, yeah. This could be fun."

"Will, want to tell him why we picked this one?" I asked as we sat on the subway.

"Nico, what is the one thing you love more than Mythomagic?" Will asked loudly. Several people glanced at us, making NIco blush.

"Everything." He muttered.

"Pirates." Will declared. "It's a pirate ship themed escape room. You'll love it."

Nico tried to hide it, but I could tell he was actually excited. Percy had been the one to pick it - he thought his knowledge of the ocean might give him an edge.

In the end, the game was tons of fun. We managed to get out just in time, despite the fact that Nico and Percy got distracted by the pirate swords and spent ten minutes pretending to duel and make each other walk the plank.

We went to get tacos, then said our goodbyes. Percy and I went for a moonlit walk in the park.

Percy sighed. "What?" I asked him. "I thought it was a great night."

"It was!" He assured me. "I just wish…. Every night could be like this. Solving fake riddles to get out of fake danger, and awesome meals after. No one gets hurt, we don't lose anyone."

I didn't really know what to say to that. "I know." I agreed quietly. "Me too."

"Do you ever get angry?"

"About what?"

"Missing out on…. Normal stuff."

"Yeah." I admitted. "I do. And it sucks. But everything sucks a little less when I'm with you."

He flashed me a grateful smile.

"And I don't suppose we would've ever met if we were normal." I reminded him. "And…. well, to me, that's worth it all."

He squeezed my hand. "Totally worth it." He agreed.

In the end, we managed not to destroy the apartment - the only close call happened when Thalia stopped by with a group of her hunters. She needed a place to regroup before checking in with Artemis on Olympus, and apparently the Hunters take pillow fighting to a ridiculous level. Still, we managed to get everything back to normal before Percy's parents came home. I just hope they don't look too closely at the couch legs - at least two of them were attached with duct tape.

After that, the weeks took on a rather predictable pattern - I'd go straight to Brooklyn House after school for magic lessons. I was only there for about an hour each time, as the magic still exhausted me. I was getting better, at least at casting the Ha-tep spell from Jaz's notes. I could successfully calm myself down for a full two minutes now. That felt good. The Duat stuff? I was still not having any luck with the locker, but I managed to turn my wand into a ruler, at least for brief moments.

It was late in February and I was getting impatient. Every single person in that room had managed the Duat-locker trick except me. Even Cleo had gotten her pen to go into the locker twice - though she hadn't managed to get either pen back. I wasn't sure I'd ever been at the bottom of a class before. I growled as once more, the lip balm hit the desk.

"Try again." Carter said, plucking the lip balm off the desk. "You'll get this." He tossed it back to me.

"Why is it so hard?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my eyes.

Carter knelt beside me, looking concerned. "Annabeth, you're trying to learn magic that wasn't possible for you a year, even six months ago. You'll get this. Let's…. Try a different tactic. You said, when the magic happened before, it was an accident, right? You were relaxing, not thinking about it, and the magic just….. Happened. Let's try that."

"How do I not think about it while I'm trying to do it?" I muttered, but at the same time, I held out the lip balm. I tried not to think about what I was doing and stuck the lip balm into the air, dropping it. It clunked onto the table.

"Ugh."

Sadie came over, offering me a sympathetic smile as Carter returned the lip balm. "It's ok, Annabeth. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It takes me a ton of concentration to reach the Duat, but exploding things? That's fine."

I grinned at her, feeling tired. "Thanks, I guess."

Sadie took my hands in hers. They were soft, warm. "Try to think about something else. Think about….. When you've felt most safe, secure. Picture that. Maybe you're just worrying too much."

I took a deep breath, pulling my hands away. Safe and secure. An image instantly flooded my mind. Percy, holding me after a nightmare. Wrapping his arms around me, making sure that I was completely safe. I took another breath, trying to imagine the smells of his shirt, the sea smell that always seemed to cling to him. I held out the lip balm and dropped it, waiting for the clunk of it hitting the library floor. None came. I opened my eyes to see Carter, Sadie and even Cleo looking at me with pride.

"You did it!" Sadie said, eyes shining.

"T-That's…. I did?" I looked between them for confirmation. "You didn't just, I don't know, catch it before it hit the floor while I had my eyes closed?"

Cleo shook her head, beaming at me. "No - it really vanished. It's in the Duat."

I couldn't help it. I was thrilled. I threw my arms around all three of them for a hug.

"Now." Carter said, pulling away. "We get to try the next lesson - getting it back."

I groaned and leaned against the table. "Can we try it next time? I'm exhausted."

Carter and Sadie assured me that I could stop for the day. Since I was done early, I went straight to Percy's. He was working on some school work and I was too excited by my success at Brooklyn House to want to help. Instead, I had fun torturing him by drawing my fingers down his ears and neck.

"Done." He sat back with a relieved sigh and looked at Paul. "I think I can pass this one."

Paul smiled. "That's all you need to do. Just pass. Just graduate. Just -"

Percy flipped me over his shoulder and into his lap. I laughed and he kissed me.

"You are not helping." Percy observed.

"I don't feel like it." I admitted. "Want to go to the skate park?"

His eyes lit up. I looked at Paul. "Please tell me he's done for the day? I really want a break."

Paul was grinning. "He is. Have fun, but please, wear helmets."

Percy got up and ran to his room to get our stuff. Last year, after we'd started dating, Percy tried to show me how to skate. I wasn't very good at it, but I enjoyed it. My dad got me my own skateboard and helmet last year. Percy and I walked to the skatepark hand in hand.

"It feels so nice out!" Percy exclaimed. It was fairly nice out - for February. It was still cold and we were wearing several layers - since Tartarus, Percy and I had a hard time controlling our body temperatures. Will Solace thought it was because we had been exposed to such extreme heat for so long down there. We weren't sure. But we both got cold easily. When we got to the skatepark Percy and I strapped on our helmets. Percy gave me a look and I assured him -"Go! Have fun! I'll practice on the little hills for a bit."

He grinned and took off. I laughed, but it was so nice to see him so happy. Even after the war, he'd been so stressed with school that every bit of happiness I could give him meant a lot. I dropped my board onto the ground and started practicing the little hills and ridges. I was really bad at turning, so I practiced that for a while. I took my hair out of its normal ponytail - I loved the feeling of the wind blowing through it when I'm skateboarding. We spent a couple hours at the skatepark, just enjoying life and acting like normal teenagers for once. After, we went to get Chinese food and go back to his place.

"This was great. Thanks, Annabeth! It's nice to not have to worry about -" His breath caught. I looked around, but I didn't see any monsters or immediate threat.

"About what?"

"Nothing." Percy wouldn't meet my eyes.

Alarm bells were ringing in my ears. "What is it? Leo? Piper? Jason? Reyna? Did Chiron send a message, because -"

Percy kissed me. "No. Nothing like that. Just school stuff." I could tell he was lying, but I wasn't sure what the problem was. And with communication down I wasn't sure how to find out. So I sighed and let him lead me back to the apartment for a lovely dinner of Chinese food while I tried to decide how the world was ending this time.