Chapter 1: Our Normal Lives Continue
Annabeth
The river never looked more murky and beautiful at the same time.
Polluted to the point of no return, not only would one get sick immediately for jumping in, but the scent from being next to it was… Let's just say it's very different from what Annabeth had gotten used to recently.
But for reasons beyond her grasp, the Hudson was always a place where it eased her mind when she was in the city. Just looking out into the waters would get her emotional and a strange homesick nostalgia tingling through her body.
"So, did you ask him yet?"
On a wooden bench sitting beside her, Piper peeled off a small piece of turkey salad sandwich and plopped it into her mouth. She chewed blissfully, satisfaction rolled through her expression.
"How can I do that?!" She complained, "I mean, it's so embarrassing. Can you?"
"Ha! Sorry, princess, but I don't have a boyfriend like you do."
Ever since her Thanksgiving break, a quiet week had gone by. The holidays honestly zoomed past in the blink of an eye, and now Annabeth found herself back in school.
Absolutely nothing major happened. Everything was back to normal despite what took place with her and Percy that night, or as Annabeth began to refer to it as zero dawn, a cardinal number to symbolize similar events in the future. To some degree, it was scary just how calm her life had been recently.
If zero dawn didn't happen, Annabeth wouldn't begin to imagine her existence was somehow tied to a fate beyond her control, nor would she have thought her life any different than how it normally be. She would just be a regular girl in school, doing things that a regular teenage girl would do in life. Now, it's impossible to not stay alert for dangers she had no knowledge about, only doing her best to keep her guardians close by.
"He's not—"
Her words trailed off. It was a waste of breath to explain the intricate nature of her relationship with Percy, especially when it came to the famous love guru of the entire school.
Besides, she could see right through her so Annabeth hadn't bothered to get confrontation about them being labeled as a couple anymore. Of course, Piper's subtle sneers did tick her off like always.
Throwing a cold glare at her direction, Annabeth sighed and resigned herself to her best friend, "I guess it finally makes sense why you've been this interested in me and Percy being together every chance you get, daughter of Aphrodite."
It was the first time Annabeth used that infamous title for Half-Bloods on her best friend. She wasn't surprised when Piper's beautiful brown eyes narrowed as she returned her glare with a deep frown.
"Be careful not to blurt that out when people are around, princess. I don't wanna get in trouble."
Annabeth responded by sticking her tongue out which earned a hopeless head shake from her best friend before she began to scold her, "Seriously, we don't know who might be listening in, you know?"
Piper looked pretty annoyed and she didn't seem to take her joking attitude all that well. Since Annabeth knew the seriousness of revealing their real identities out loud, a reluctant grumble left her lips, "Okayyyy, I get it."
Both shoulders slump forward, Annabeth sighed in defeat and recalled the morning when a new school semester began after the Thanksgiving holidays.
It was a chilling morning when Piper pulled her aside from her usual walk to class with Percy, dragging her to a dimly lit abandoned hallway so she could confess and tell her everything.
And no, it's not that type of confession….
It turned out her best friend since the beginning of high school had always been an undercover half-blood working for her mother to keep an eye on her.
In other words, Piper knew about her secret lineage of being a demigoddess way before she knew about it herself.
When Annabeth first found out about this, it felt like a stab in the back. Sure, Piper apologized so many times already, but she wasn't really angry at her friend for keeping her role a secret. Rather, she was mad at only one person who made all these decisions unilaterally in the first place.
Annabeth understood though. The risky circumstance of being fully aware of who she was didn't allow Piper a chance to reveal the truth, but now that the secret was out, Piper looked so much happier not being burdened by the weight of it anymore.
Annabeth was glad.
But at times, it's still hard to wrap her head around the fact that the girl known as the school's beauty queen was a daughter of Aphrodite. Though it's a no-brainer now.
"That aside, I feel like you should just ask him out." Piper went back to her usual mood and plop another piece of sandwich into her mouth, "He might be snarky smart-ass sometimes, but he's also a dense moron when it comes to stuff like this, which is why you should just take the initiative and ask him out on that date, you know?"
Annabeth's cheeks flushed as she looked down at her bagel lunch.
"An aquarium date, huh?" Piper cooed dreamily at her, "I admit, it's definitely romantic. Besides, I thought you wanted to do something nice for him, didn't you?"
Once in a while, Annabeth really hated Piper and her ability to analyze things to the very bottom. It finally made sense. There was now a concrete reason behind her renowned status as the one and only relationship counselor. As expected from a daughter of Aphrodite whose sharp intuition skill could deduce a person lying in less than a nano-second.
"I do! It's just… I probably shouldn't. I mean, Percy's probably busy with…"
"And there you go again…" Piper sighed and rolled her eyes. "How can you not realize that Percy wants to spend all his free time with you, princess? If he's actually busy, it's because he's hanging out with you already."
Annabeth kept her gaze downward.
"Honestly, your stupid excuses are getting ridiculous." Piper swore loudly.
Annabeth had no words to defend herself.
"Anyway, the aquarium you were looking at is near Connecticut, isn't it?"
"How did you—?" Annabeth turned suspiciously at her friend, "Y-Yeah... What about it?"
Piper gleamed as her big brown eyes glowed as vibrant as a rainbow, a smug and mischievous smile followed on her lips with the utmost playfulness.
"I bet I can convince Lady Athena to let you two go by yourself." She revealed.
Annabeth did a double-take and almost broke her back on the bench, "Huuuh?"
Piper smirked, "It's the one next to a coastline beach and had a huge facility, isn't it? I know it because I've been there recently too."
"Eeehh?" She was shocked, "Recently?! Why did you…"
Tried as she might to figure out her best friend, a terrible thought suddenly passed her head. Annabeth gasped at the possibility and covered her mouth, "No Way? You looked through my browser history?!"
"H-Huh?" Piper was shocked by her outburst, "Of course not! I'm talking about Kronos's presence there when I did a reconnaissance around Norwalk. Geez! What kind of things is your brain thinking up?"
Though Annabeth didn't think it was that unreasonable of an assumption. The amount of futuristic technology her Godly mother invented could make spying on things as easy as a push of a button, or as simple as a voice command to Owlfred.
In fact, she already had first-hand experiences with her mother's invasion of privacy, but not that she could do much about it…
"Ahem…" Piper coughed uncomfortably at her accusation, "Anyway, I spend a few days there to assess our defenses of the area. I promise you, it's much safer than here."
"That's why you could just enjoy yourself with Percy." Piper finished with a big smile, "We don't even have to be there to keep you two safe."
This was the first time Annabeth heard of Half-Bloods doing reconnaissance missions, and it terrified her to know what else they had to do daily to keep themselves safe from monsters and Kronos's army.
Norwalk was also such a faraway place from the Chase Mansion that it never crossed her mind. What reasons do they have for defending it?
Anyway, please be safe about it, Piper… Annabeth wished for her best friend genuinely but didn't dare to poke at the topic further. I don't want to lose you…
Having explained her proposal, Piper surprised Annabeth by waving her hand dismissively, "But that all depends if you are actually going to ask Percy, you know?"
Annabeth groaned, "You really want me to ask him, don't you?"
Earning a wide grin, Piper shrugged back and pretended to not be interested one bit, "Well, I just want what's best for you, princess. Besides, this might be the only time where you two could have fun without us watching twenty-four seven."
A soft heartfelt smile replaced her grin as she looked down at her sandwich. Her hopeful gaze traveled into a faraway land, "If anything, I wanted you to make a lot more good memories with Percy before you get more and more involved with our world."
Her sincerity reached Annabeth. It seemed almost like she was speaking from personal experiences.
"It might be your only chance before things happened without your control." Piper told her, "If it were me, I'd take those chances."
For some reason, Annabeth felt like they weren't talking about them anymore.
"Fine. I guess I'll ask him."
Whatever she was reminiscing about, Piper returned to normal and grinned back, "When?"
"Oh come on!" Annabeth whined, "Why does that matter to you?"
"Because I bet you'll weasel out of your way to ask Percy on a date if I am not there to put some encouragement in you, princess." Piper grinned devilishly, "Admit it, you never thought about asking him any time soon, did you?"
Encourage… Yeah, that's putting it nicely.
Like a nimble cat, Piper caught her tongue just before she had a chance to deny it. Though given that her best friend wasn't wrong, Annabeth struggled to say otherwise. Back into a corner, she really wanted to smack her friend on the head at least once.
"I… I…" Her lips froze. Any strength she held falter when she pictured a romantic date with Percy, just the two of them alone in an aquarium and perhaps even spending a night on the beach.
Eeeek! Her head screamed in excitement.
Finally, Annabeth composed herself and answered honestly, "I'll ask him when the time is right."
Her reply couldn't be more disappointing for her best friend. Piper slumped forward hopelessly, "Sigh* I guess you leave me no choice, princess. It's time for me to work my magic."
Magic? Annabeth watched as her best friend locked her fingers and stretch her arms in front of her. It took only a second before a realization hit Annabeth hard. She jumped from the bench and back away immediately.
"Ahhhee… Don't you freaking dare!"
Piper looked at her all confused, "Huh?"
Before Annabeth had a chance to point her finger, they heard heavy footsteps rushing toward them from behind. It happened in such a quick blur Annabeth almost didn't see it.
"Oh My God! I finally found you, Annabeth!" The heavily panting girl had red auburn hair tied up in a loose bun. She was wearing the signature Goode uniform, her winter blazer, blouse, and skirt were all up in a disheveled state after seemingly sprinting for an hour nonstop.
It was Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
"Rachel? What's going on?" Annabeth asked the red-hair girl who was leaning over tiredly with her hands on her knees. She seemed ready to collapse from exhaustion.
As much as she wanted to help her friend, Annabeth was frozen still. It couldn't be helped…
Despite her calm demeanor, Annabeth was freaking out on the inside. The abruptness of Rachel's approach scared both of them so much that Piper turned hostile at the flip of a coin. From behind her blind spot, Piper's battle instinct took over, and in a split second, she was already hiding behind her back, no doubt with weapons drawn at the ready.
Annabeth nervously patted Piper's hands to signal that everything was okay, the tenseness behind her grew placid until everything went quiet. She heard a small click sound.
"Eeeh? Piper, you are here too?"
Piper poked her head around and gave Rachel an all-to-happy grin when moments ago she was ready to kill her. Annabeth sighed.
"Hi, Rachel." She made a wave.
Annabeth slumped forward and ignored her, "So, what's up?"
Rachel blinked in surprise, likely forgetting what was so important that she had to run all this way to find her. Once she remembered, her eyes brighten and her face lit up, but whatever it was that she was going to say, it didn't seem to be good news.
"Right! You have to come with me, Annabeth!"
"Wait, Why? What happened?"
Rachel flashed a real worried look for her, "It's about Percy…"
Annabeth's heart sank down a bottomless pit when she heard his name.
"Hurried! He's been stabbed!"
