Chapter 31

Percy POV

We wake to the sound of a knock on the door. Thalia groans, rolling onto my legs.

"Hey!" I screech.

Thalia doesn't seem to take notice of my pain. She just pulls her blanket up over her head and flops over onto her other side.

The three of us had fallen asleep on the couch last night, and it's definitely showing. We all have bags under our eyes and birds' nests for hair. Not to mention, the calamari isn't sitting well.

There's another knock on the door, and Jason hops up off the couch, rushing to straighten his hair with his hands. "One minute!" He calls out.

Slowly, I begin to sit up. I follow suit and begin to fold up the blankets on the couch, trying to make them look as presentable as possible. Jason fluffs up a couple of pillows before straightening, satisfied, and making his way to the door.

I follow behind him with one last glance back at Thalia, who hasn't moved an inch. Of course.

When Jason reaches the door, he runs his hand through his hair one last time before turning the knob, and stepping back to let the door swing open.

As soon as I see who's there, though, I wish he'd close it again.

I had been expecting it to be Zeus or my dad coming to check on us, or even Hera coming to chew us out for leaving the dinner early last night. But it's not. It's not anyone I would've expected to come knocking in a thousand years.

Behind the door stands Athena, standing tall and regal in her usual business attire. Her blond hair––so much like Annabeth's it hurts––curls over her shoulders in delicate waves, and upon seeing me, her expression is startled, and a little bit confused. I'm sure her expression matches my own, but it's a look I'm so not used to seeing on her face that it's a little off-putting.

"I––" Athena starts, swallowing hard. "I came to speak to Thalia. Is she here right now?"

I want to speak––to say something, anything––but I can't. It's like someone has stuffed my throat with cotton. Thankfully, Jason breaks the silence.

"Thalia!" He yells over his shoulder. "Uh...someone's here to see you!"

Thalia doesn't move, however, and Jason quickly apologizes before dipping off to wake her up, leaving me alone with Athena. The moment Jason steps away, Athena fixes me with a gaze. It isn't accusatory or judgemental––just observatory. It doesn't intimidate me the way it once might have. It just makes me sad and confused. Her eyes are the same grey as Annabeth's, and they carry in them the same ever-churning curiosity. I don't know if Athena knows about the breakup, but it's getting hard for me to look at her––painful, even. I quickly look away.

Jason strolls up behind me, Thalia's arm wrapped through his own. She's awake, but it's clear she just got up, her spiky hair reaching out in about a thousand directions. She fixes Athena with a glare. I doubt she means to, but Thalia has never been great at concealing her emotions.

"Wh––" she starts. Thalia has also never been very great at articulation. "What...do you need something?" She asks.

Athena swallows. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She straightens, regaining her composure. "I was just––" She glances once at me before continuing. "I was just wondering if you'd seen Annabeth lately? I know that you two haven't been hanging out as much recently, but I just thought I'd swing by and ask. She isn't in her room, and she hasn't been answering her phone, and I just wanted to come by and see if you'd seen her."

"Is she okay?" I ask, urgently. The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but I can't help it.

Athena nods her head dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure she's fine. She probably just stayed the night with one of her other friends and forgot to charge her phone."

Jason and Thalia exchange side glances, and I can tell that they're both thinking the same thing as me––that as far as we knew, Annabeth didn't have any other friends here. None of us say anything about it, though.

"I'm sorry," Thalia says. "We haven't seen her." I can tell she's trying to mask it, but there's a hint of bitterness in her voice as she says the words––like her concern for Annabeth and Athena is battling for dominance on a teeter totter with the feelings of hurt and betrayal that Annabeth brought about. I can relate to the feeling.

"We'll let you know if we see her, though," Jason adds.

Athena nods her head. "Thank you."

She begins to turn away, but as she does, she shoots one last glance in my direction, and it's like she's trying to gage all she can of me as quickly as she can in that brief moment before she turns back and makes her way down the path.

Jason slides the door shut, and Thalia begins making her way into the kitchen, but I can't help but stand there for a minute, my heart pounding.

Jason lends me a worried glance. "You good?"

I nod and force a smile, turning away from him to follow Thalia into the kitchen.

"That was so weird," Thalia says, pulling a bowl from the cupboard. She proceeds to pour a mountain of fruit loops in, and then drowns them in milk.

"Do you think something's wrong?" I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral. "I can't think of anyone else Annabeth would be staying with." Her name hangs on my lips the same way the sting lingers after you drink something hot.

"Doubt it," Thalia says nonchalantly. She takes a bit of her cereal. "Annabeth is probably just trying to avoid her mom. There's always something going on between those two."

What Thalia says makes sense, but I can't help the fact that something about it doesn't sit right with me. It just doesn't seem like Annabeth to be irresponsible about keeping her phone charged and to be careless enough to keep her mom worrying, no matter the circumstance. Then again, I obviously don't know Annabeth as well as I thought.

"Do you have work today?" Jason asks me over the counter, changing the subject.

I nod my head, straightening up. "Yeah, I should probably head down there. Meet you guys later?"

Jason and Thals nod, and with that, I'm off––making my way to the door in an attempt to return my life to some semblance of normalcy.

It's a brutally hot day, but it goes by remarkably fast, and I watch the sun travel across the sky in a slow pursuit––waiting for it to dip towards the ocean the same way one waits for fish to take bait. It's a pleasant wait. A voluntary one. One that prefaces something good. And for the first time in days, I feel warmth seep into my skin, reminding me of the touching embrace of light.

As I sit in the colosseum pool lifeguard chair, the warmth of the setting sun makes me miss my mom, and there's part of me that's glad that the summer is coming to an end because it means that I'll be able to see her again. I can't help but feel that she'd understand what I'm going through right now more than anyone.

I love being here at the resort––being by the beach, hanging with my dad, having freedom like I've never had before in my life...but without her, a sadness looms over it all, making me long for the familiarity of home.

When the sun finally sets, marking the end of my shift, I head to the locker room to change before making my way up to the colosseum library to meet Jason and Thals. Thalia's shift gets out a little later than mine, so we decided that we'd meet there before heading out to dinner. We were thinking of going into town to grab some food, and I'm honestly looking forward to it. It's been a while since I went out.

As I round the corner of one of the lobby's many halls, turning into the library, I'm greeted by none other than Jason and Thalia bickering. It's good to see them being normal again. The eerie companionship and compassion was getting a little unsettling.

"Jason. It looks ridiculous," Thalia says shaking her head. "How am I supposed to go into public with you when you're set on looking like that?"

She does have a point, though. Jason has on a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt, covered sleeve to sleeve in flamingoes.

Jason looks hurt. "I like this shirt."

"Then we really need to get your head checked," I joke, strolling up.

Jason just purses his lips. "You guys have no taste."

Thalia shoots me a grin and gives Jason a sarcastic shrug. "You know what, Jase, you're absolutely right." She turns around to grab her things from behind the counter. "Let's get going."

I'm just about to offer to take one of her bags, but when I notice whose it is, I take a step back.

"Why do you have that?" I ask. Thalia glances at Annabeth's bag between her arms like it's a ticking bomb.

"I thought I'd drop it off at her room on the way to dinner," she says. "I'm tired of looking at it."

I swallow. "Okay." Jason shoots her a glare, which looks ridiculous coupled with the flamingos.

"Really Thals? You couldn't have waited till a time when we weren't with Percy?"

She glances at me apologetically. "I'm sorry Percy. I didn't think about it." She sounds genuinely upset, and I shoot her the most forgiving smile I can.

"Don't sweat it," I say. "We'll just drop it off on the way out of the resort."

As soon as we reach the parking lot, we pile into Thalia's car. Usually, I'd get in the back, but this time Jason ended up getting stuck there, Thalia claiming that his shirt would distract her too much while driving if he sat in the front.

Thalia pulls out of her space (narrowly missing the Tesla that happens to be parked behind us), and makes her way out of the lot onto the main road of the resort.

"You know what," Jason says after a couple seconds of silence. "Her phone could be in the bag."

"Whose what? Thalia asks dumbly.

Jason rolls his eyes. "Annabeth's phone. It could be in her bag, and that's why her mom hasn't been able to reach her."

Thalia cocks her head to the side. "Huh. You might be right."

"But you've had her bag for days," I say. "Wouldn't she have noticed it was gone?"

"Oh, I'm sure she has," Thalia says, "but she probably doesn't remember where she left it––might even think it was stolen. Why don't you check her bag Jason––it's on the seat next to you. If her phone really is in the bag, we shouldn't just leave it on her doorstep."

"Isn't that like a violation of her privacy?" I ask as Jason pulls Annabeth's bag up onto his lap behind me.

"If her phone really is in there, I'm sure she'd be more glad than affronted if we look through her bag."

What she says makes sense, and I think that the real reason I'm resisting checking Annabeth's bag for her phone is because I don't want to have any reason to knock on her door––to see her in person. I'm just starting to be able to breathe again, and I'm afraid that would just be too much for me. But if it's possible her phone really has been in her bag this whole time, I know that Thalia is right––it would be wrong not to make sure.

I roll down my window and stick my hand out, trying to take in the feeling of the world around me to distract myself. I let the brush of the salty air pull me away for just a moment, taking me out of the car to someplace different. But I'm pulled back abruptly by the sound of Jason's voice.

"Guys," he says. His tone is hard, a semblance of panic peaking through it's cracks.

"What?" Thalia says, turning right onto a sidestreet. The resort looks deserted, the only thing marking our paths the solitary line of street lamps.

Jason doesn't respond for a moment, and I glance back at him, turning to find his expression has turned white. He holds a crumpled paper in his hand, and his eyes look pale as they scan the page. His adam's apple bobs up and down harshly as he breathes.

I feel panic spark in the pit of my stomach, though I have no idea what it could be for.

"What?" I ask him urgently.

Jason's expression as he tilts his head up at me is terrified. "Percy," he starts, treading cautiously, but I rip the paper out of his hands before he can say anything else, quickly pulling it open in my lap.

Despite being wrinkled, the page is typed out neatly in typewriter font, only a couple of lines scrawled across the page.

Annabeth chase, we know what you've been up to.

Drop it now.

No more snooping. No more sneaking onto property. No more sneaking into meetings.

Don't tell anyone else.

If you do, we will find out, and you will pay the ultimate price.

So will they.

We're not afraid to get our hands dirty.

Taped below the words is one of Annabeth's grey owl earrings. It must be the one I remember her telling me she lost so long ago.

I feel panic boil up in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

"What? What is it, Percy?" Thalia asks, her voice desperately worried.

But I can't answer her. I can't speak.

"Percy," Jason says, "that could be anything. We don't even know what it means. There's no need to get worried."

But he doesn't know.

Jason doesn't know about the confidential files with the forged environmental tests that Annabeth dug up in her mom's office. Jason doesn't know about the meeting that Annabeth and I snuck into, where she impersonated someone with knowledge of the whole situation to investigate the scandal. Jason doesn't know about the pipelines we found in the caves––the ones that run miles and miles out into the ocean to dump waste instead of disposing of it properly.

"Percy––" Jason tries to reason again, but I'm hyperventilating at this point, and the roaring in my ears blocks out my senses.

"No," I choke out. "No, you don't know––"

Don't tell anyone else.

If you do, we will find out, and you will pay the ultimate price.

So will they.

And the reality of the situation hits me like a tidal wave. Annabeth's expression in the moment she called off our relationship comes back to me––how there'd been so much love in her eyes even as she broke up with me.

She broke up with me because she loved me. Not in spite of it.

She had broken up with me to protect me from this threat. She'd chosen to give up me, her friends, her social life, and face this looming threat all alone because she'd felt it was in my best interest.

She did love me. She always did.

My heart aches with the pain of the situation, but that pain is dwarfed by the fear I feel for her––for this girl who in such a short amount of time had come to mean the world to me.

We're not afraid to get our hands dirty.

I feel like I'm going to be sick.

"Oh my gods," I choke out.

"Percy, what is going on!" Thalia shouts. I can tell she's terrified, but I can't even form a coherent thought, let alone a sentence to explain.

"Thalia, drive faster." I spit. She looks at me like I'm crazy. "DRIVE FASTER!" I shout.

She does.

I begin to rock back and forth in my seat, trying to calm myself. She's fine, I tell myself. She received this note, and it freaked her out, so she ran off without telling anyone, but she's fine.

The moment Thalia pulls up in front of Annabeth's room, I launch myself out of the car and to the front door.

"Annabeth!" I shout, pounding on the door.

Jason and Thalia run up behind me, and I'm vaguely aware of him filling her in on the contents of the note, but I can barely hear them over the roaring in my ears.

I can't help but think back to right after Annabeth and I found the pipelines in the caves––how we were going to come clean to our parents and the authorities about the whole situation because it had gone way too far out of control. I'd forgotten about the whole thing ever since the breakup...I hadn't even spared it a thought. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her because of that.

"Annabeth!" I shout again, pounding harder on the door.

"Percy!" Thalia says, placing a hand on my shoulder to calm me. "She's probably just out. I wouldn't read into that letter too much. We don't even know what it means––" I turn on her.

"BUT I DO!" I shout. "Thalia, I––I didn't tell you. I didn't think it was important––"

Jason senses the severity in my tone. "Percy, what are you talking about?" I pause, trying to calm myself, but it's nearly impossible.

"Annabeth and I––" I choke out. "We discovered––we discovered that there are some people at the resort who are involved in some sort of environmental scandal––dumping waste into the ocean. They must've figured out that she knew and sent her that letter."

There's a moment of silence in which they both stare at me.

"Oh my gods," Jason says. Thalia grips my hand as I try to get my breathing under control, but her own expression is a whirlwind of emotions. After a moment, she takes a deep breath.

"We don't know for sure that anything happened to her. Let's just go inside and take a look around, alright?"

I nod my head slowly, my heart rate calming slightly.

Jason looks around and points to the right. "That window is cracked. We can get in that way."

Thalia nods her head. "Good idea."

Jason leads the way through the foliage, and Thals and I follow close behind. He slides the window wide, and the three of us step through into Annabeth's living room. The whole space is completely dark, and there's not a light on in sight.

Even when we were dating, I'd only been in Annabeth's room a couple of times because we hadn't wanted anyone to get the wrong idea, but the familiarity of the place still sends aches to my stomach.

Thalia flips on the light, and the three of us begin searching the room. We look through drawers, under cushions, in the medicine cabinet, in her closet, but nothing seems to be askew. We even go as far as to check under the carpet and behind the curtains––nothing.

We're standing by the side of Annabeth's bed in a semicircle when I put my head in my hands, defeated.

"Percy, she probably just got freaked out by the letter and went to stay with someone else," Thalia suggests.

I turn on her.

"With whom, Thalia? Who could she possibly be staying with?" My voice is vile, and I hate it, but it's like someone has unleashed a dam, and millions of gallons of frustration and guilt are finally pouring out. "Not her mom," I spit. "We know that. And it sure as hell isn't her friends. No we all turned on her––it was probably one of the hardest moments in her life and we didn't even try to see things from her perspective. She broke up with me to protect me."

Tears have started to well up in Thalia's eyes, and she frantically wipes them away. I know it's not fair of me to be saying these things, but it's like I can't control it.

"Maybe she's staying with her dad," Jason tries to reason. I laugh cruelly.

"Right," I retort. "Her dad. Who wasn't there for her when he needed her most, who never cared enough about her to see things from her point of view––" my voice breaks. "I'm just as bad as him."

Tears have started running down my face now, and I don't even try to wipe them away. I lean back against the wall next to Annabeth's bed and slide to the floor, trying to control my breathing again.

Jason comes and sits by me, placing a hand on my shoulder comfortingly while Thalia remains by the window, looking out of it as tears run down her face as well.

We remain like that for several moments, our silence connecting us and bridging the rifts that had just been created. Thalia comes to sit by me and takes my hand.

"I'm sorry," I tell her. She just shakes her head that it's okay and leans on my shoulder.

"We have to tell her mom about the note," Jason says after a moment.

Thalia nods her head. "Yeah. Yeah we do––" her voice breaks off.

At first, I think that Thalia has begun crying again, but as soon as she sits up, I see a gleam in her eye that wasn't there a moment before.

"What?" I ask. "What is it?"

Slowly, she lifts her hand, pointing to the headboard of the bed. "Do you see that?"

Since I'm sitting so close to the bedpost, I see what she's referring to almost immediately. Tucked being Annabeth's bed is a large suitcase, which wouldn't be strange in and of itself, except this suitcase has been sealed shut with a lock. I quickly stand up to check it out.

Together, Thalia and I pull the suitcase from behind the bed and place it on the ground in front of us.

"We need to get this open," I say.

Thalia gives me a look. "No shit."

The lock is one of those five letter code ones, and Thalia and I begin doing every combination we can think of to get it open. We try her last name, a couple of her favorite authors, and even some monuments and architects she likes. Then we try spelling all of them backwards because it's exactly the kind of thing Annabeth would do, but we come up with nothing.

Our initial panic is gone now, replaced by a complete and utter drive. We're both dead set on getting this suitcase open, even if we're here all night.

Thalia and I are just about to begin trying our next list of possible passcodes, however, when Jason reaches over and takes the suitcase from us.

"Hey!" Thalia protests. Jason ignores her. He begins to twist the letters on the lock.

"Jason, I appreciate it, man, but you really don't know her as well as we do––" I begin to say, when all of a sudden, the lock clicks, and Jason pulls it off, a knowing smile on his face.

Thalia turns on him. "What was it?"

Slowly, Jason looks at me, smiling sadly. "Your name."

A whole new wave of sadness pools over me, and I have to put in a good amount of effort to keep myself from tearing up again. That was just a nail in the coffin.

Thalia, Jason, and I lift the suitcase up onto the bed and circle around it, bracing ourselves for what we might find inside.

I look up at my cousins, these two amazing people who have been here for me through thick and thin, and I couldn't be more grateful to have them. Both of their sets of beautiful blue eyes meet mine, and I take a breath.

We open the suitcase.