Ch15

Being on the AMTRAK was a relief. It was easier on his arm, easier on his legs, and it removed a lot of the tension that had been permeating the group ever since the car had exploded.

It was not easier on Percy's paranoia.

Hiking through the forest had sucked. It was long hours in near silence with ears straining for any sound that might be out of place. Every step was a fight to keep the pain and exhaustion off his face, to dodge the quiet questions tossed his way about his cousins, his uncle, his knowledge, his training. Despite all of that, Percy could relax knowing the chance of Dean finding him was slim to remote. Not that it was likely Dean would find him on the AMTRAK. That would require him knowing Percy's destination and potential routes, which Percy knew he didn't know, but still. No one ever said paranoia was reasonable.

So Percy was trying not to give away his stress while Annabeth tried to doze off and Grover had a near silent mental breakdown.

Percy swallowed down a smile. "Want to talk about it?"

Grover tore his gaze from where he'd been staring at Annabeth. "No, why would I want to talk about the way she just picked someone's pocket like it was nothing!? I should probably keep my mouth shut in case someone overhears and she gets arrested." He broke off and went back to staring at Annabeth with a muttered 'I need to stop making friends with criminals.'

Percy snorted quietly. "It's not such a big deal, Grover. I mean, it's not like I expected it from her but picking pockets is easy stuff."

"You would think so," Grover muttered with a scowl. "You went and returned his wallet after snagging all the cash. Is there a word for reverse pickpocketing? There should be, since apparently people do it."

He grinned, "the word you're looking for is planting." Grover stubbornly wouldn't meet his eyes and Percy sighed. "Grover, not everyone grew up in the best situations. I can't speak for Annabeth and I sure as shit won't presume to know her past but I can say that we're still here. Maybe a little more battered and bent than most twelve year olds, but we got to camp. We're in one piece. And hopefully, we'll stay that way." Assuming this quest isn't the end of us. Assuming I'm not splattered for daring to get between my father and my uncle. Assuming Kronos doesn't–

It fell silent for a second before Grover spoke up again. "I'm a protector. To me, it's more than just a job title, it's who I am. Knowing that you and Annabeth, that my friends have been in situations where you've learnt to pick pockets, hotwire cars–" he broke off and scrubbed his hands over his face, letting out a sigh. "I already failed Thalia," he said quietly, "and with every day I feel like I've failed you more and more."

"Thalia's death wasn't your fault." Percy whirled to stare at Annabeth's voice but she kept her eyes firmly shut, as though she could ignore the conversation if she tried hard enough. "To try and take responsibility for it takes away from her sacrifice."

Grover looked away and the carriage fell into a tense silence.

"I feel like," Percy said slowly, testing the waters, "there's something I'm missing." Neither of them would meet his eyes. He blew out a breath, "look, I don't do emotional conversations when I can help it and I've had way more of them than I'd like in the past few days, and normally I'd prefer to ignore everyone's trauma but this is officially affecting the quest." Percy stared hard at Grover, "I think it's been affecting the quest since Grover tried to shut down confronting Hades."

Grover flinched. Annabeth instinctively shushed Percy and glanced around warily. The carriage fell silent again. Finally she sat up and met Percy's eyes.

"The big three swore not to have any more children."

"Annabeth, no–"

Percy swallowed roughly. "Clearly that didn't work."

Annabeth's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Thalia was a daughter of Zeus."

Oh. Oh shit.

"The Lord of the Dead found out." Annabeth swallowed roughly. "And he was so angry."

"I was meant to bring Thalia to camp." It was Grover's turn to stare determinedly out the window. "Just Thalia. But she refused to leave her friends, and Annabeth was so little and I couldn't just leave her and Luke on the streets. Thalia was their best fighter."

"It went wrong." It wasn't a question and Percy didn't bother to disguise it as one.

"The Lord of the Dead let out the worst monsters he could find." Grover's voice was flat. "They were coming at us from all directions and I was trying to get us to camp without leading us straight into an ambush. I failed."

"No one could have gotten through, Grover. It wasn't possible." Annabeth's voice was firm but Grover didn't even acknowledge her.

"We made it to the top of the hill. Back then there was no barrier. She died buying us time to run." Grover's voice had turned clinical and Annabeth was trying desperately to keep the heartbreak off her face.

"Zeus showed up." Annabeth's voice was quiet, for once not caring about attracting the eyes of the gods. "He turned her spirit into a tree and used it to power the barrier."

That was…

"He couldn't have, I dunno, saved her?" Percy knew his tone was loud and incredulous but he didn't care.

"That would have been interfering." Grover's mocking tone hit Percy like a sack of bricks.

"And what would you call–"

"The point is," Annabeth pulled them ruthlessly back on track. "The point is, do not expect the Lord of the Dead to think favourably of you. Don't even expect him to be neutral. He set the worst monsters of the underworld on a fourteen year old girl because of the choices her father made."

Percy swallowed. Then he swallowed again. "Okay." His voice was quiet. "I'll be careful." They both watched him closely for a moment before nodding. They all let the silence settle for a moment before Grover summoned a strained grin out of nowhere and turned tired but mischievous eyes on Annabeth.

"So, are we going to talk about how you know how to pickpocket? I thought Percy here was our resident bad boy, are you trying to compete for the title?"

Annabeth grinned. "Probably the same way he knows how to do it."

Percy gasped and clutched dramatically at his chest. "You also have two cool older cousins who taught you all sorts of illegal things?"

"Actually, mine was an older brother." She slid sly eyes to him, "Luke is a son of Hermes after all."

A startled laugh escaped Percy and he thought of Luke who had relentlessly drilled him in the arena and made sure he made it to every meal on time teaching a very small, very determined Annabeth how to pick pockets. She just grinned brightly at him.

"So now that we've kicked the elephant out of the room," she began, "can you go over why we set an entire building on fire again?"

"Yeah, and why so much salt was involved?" Grover broke in.

Percy huffed a laugh and tried to contain his grin. The emporium had burned quite spectacularly, after all. "Ghosts."

Annabeth leaned forwards, "ghosts?"

His grin widened. "Place was probably haunted as shit, better to be safe than sorry." The look on her face demanded a better explanation and he rolled his eyes. "Look, they're typically caused by violent deaths–"

"Of course," Grover muttered.

"And I'd imagine getting turned into stone by Aunty M would count as pretty violent," Percy spoke over Grover.

Annabeth sat back again. "So the salt is, what? Purifying?"

"Kind of? S–" he automatically cut himself off before pushing through. "Sam always described it as both purifying and severing. Salt is of the earth, of the 'mortal world,'" he rolled his eyes again, "so it disrupts the spirit's connection to this plane. Fire is also purifying and the two seem to work together to force the spirit to move on."

Annabeth nodded slowly and eyed him thoughtfully. "Any particular reason you hide your intelligence or–"

"Okay, new subject," Percy brushed past her question. "Who's trauma are we digging into next?"

A surprised snort escaped Annabeth and soon both her and Percy had dissolved into hysterics while Grover watched on with a scandalised look.

The AMTRAK stopped at St. Luis and they had time to kill before they could catch a connecting train. That, and another wallet to pick, but both him and Annabeth had silently agreed to not let Grover know about that bit.

As soon as Percy caught sight of Annabeth's wistful look he knew they were in for some form of tourism or intellectual activity. Possibly a combination of both. She caught his eyes and flushed a little before steeling herself. Definitely a combination of both.

"The Gateway Arch is here. It's an architectural marvel. I've always wanted to see it." Bingo.

Percy glanced at Grover, who didn't seem concerned. He shrugged. "Okay. We've got time to kill. Let's go check it out."

...

For the first time since he'd met her, Annabeth appeared her age. She chatted a mile a minute about the history of the arch and its significance and anything else relating to it she could think of. She dragged them both towards it, mindful of Percy's arm which had started aching again the minute he started moving, and smiled so much Percy's cheeks ached just watching. In the face of her enthusiasm he'd swallowed down his comment about it looking like the handle of his mom's handbag, sticking out of the ground.

As they got closer, Grover started getting tense.

"What's up, G-man?" Percy paused for a moment, catching Annabeth by the arm so she didn't accidentally yank on his injured one.

Grover hesitated. "It could be nothing. Underground always smells like monsters."

The crushed look on Annabeth's face was there and gone in an instant. She nodded resolutely. "There's no point pushing our luck. We've already got one injured seaweed brain, we don't need anyone else getting hurt."

The look she gave Percy told everyone that she was more concerned with him getting more injured. Grover looked apologetic and almost like he was regretting speaking up.

"Hey," Percy caught their attention. "Going up in the elevator is probably not a good idea," he allowed, "but that doesn't mean we can't go and poke around the base. I'm sure there's signage and stuff for you to read," he nodded at Annabeth. "Plus, if there's a monster it'll be fairly easy to scatter in the crowd and meet back at the station."

The tentatively hopeful look on Annabeth's face was almost heartbreaking, and Percy didn't do other people's emotions. Not well, anyway. He'd reached his quota for the day, hell for the month. He started tugging her and Grover towards the arch. "So, architecture, huh? Why?"

"Why what?" Her tone turned guarded but Percy pushed on.

"It's an unusual hobby for people our age?" He let his tone turn incredulous. "I don't know. I've got nothing against it, I was just wondering what interested you about it." He saw her relax out of the corner of his eye.

"My mother expects all of her children to put their intelligence to good use. Once I came to camp it was expected that I find an intellectual hobby."

You were seven. He was seriously sick and tired of then unrealistic expectations the gods held for their children. Either they needed to learn how to parent or they needed to keep it in their pants since apparently they were useless. Their unreasonable expectations clearly hung around for generations because he was pretty sure Annabeth had never even met her mother.

"So…architecture?" Grover sounded awkward and Percy couldn't suppress his smile. Annabeth flashed them a grin.

"I want to build something permanent. Leave my mark on the world."

"Like the arch." Her enthusiasm was infectious and Percy didn't even like the stupid arch.

"Like the arch," she agreed.

...

They didn't go inside. They didn't even go near the elevator, let alone up it or onto the observation deck. They just let Annabeth poke around outside to her heart's content, let her babble and only asked questions when she seemed inclined to fall silent again. Percy and Grover shared a grin when she wasn't looking.

Maybe there was hope for him too, if stoic, no-nonsense Annabeth could still light up like this. Could still let go of the hardened exterior build to protect herself from the realities of the world.

After a while Annabeth's gaze settled on the murky river running next to the arch. Percy could see the cogs turning in her mind, thoughts coming to life. Thoughts Percy had been ruthlessly suppressing since the moment he realised he could feel the river. The way it hummed almost out of tune, oily, greasy, and polluted. He spoke up before she had the chance to fully formulate her thoughts.

"I'm actually feeling fine. No need to go wading or anything." He ignored the way an ache had settled all the way up to his jaw and how every little movement seemed to send another round of throbbing pain up his arm.

"Percy?" Grover said pleasantly. "You can either go for a swim, or Annabeth can sit on you while I force feed you ambrosia. Your choice."

Percy sized them up. For a solid three seconds he considered it. He could easily outclass Grover when fighting, but Annabeth was a little harder to figure out. It would boil down to which of them were willing to fight dirty and how much damage they were prepared to inflict but…what was he going to do? Attack them and make a break for it? He was running low on friends and family. He didn't want to abandon the ones he did have. Plus, he'd been lying through his teeth when he'd said he was fine, and Annabeth knew it. She knew it and wasn't above exploiting it in a fight if she had to. She wouldn't even have to cause further injury, she'd just have to grab his left arm.

He let out a sigh and started making for the river. "Fine. But if this shitty water gives me an infection I am so blaming you two."

"If that happens," Annabeth followed him with a wicked grin, "then I will be force feeding you ambrosia regardless and we will have learnt something."

Percy bit back the sour retort he had on the tip of his tongue. They were right, he really couldn't afford to be injured on a quest, and they couldn't afford to use all of their ambrosia so soon. Not when they were already chewing through their nectar.

But fuck if the idea of using his…powers didn't make him nauseous. He was fine. He was fine. There was nothing wrong with having a little something…extra. He found no fault in Annabeth or Clarisse, or even Grover, whose 'something extra' was a little more visible. He hadn't started experiencing homicidal, people-eating tendencies or urges since he'd…discovered his heritage. He'd even helped rid the world of monsters since then. Nothing had changed. There'd never been any indication he was anything other than completely human and that hadn't changed even when he knew better.

He was fine.

He could do this.

He stepped into the water. Immediately he fought down the urge to double over and retch. If the river had felt polluted before he set foot in it then it felt downright contaminated now. He could taste it, coating his tongue and invading his nose.

"Percy?" Grover sounded concerned.

Percy blocked him out and fought through the nausea, taking a few more steps until the water just reached his knees. For whatever reason, his socks and shoes felt perfectly dry but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. His skin was crawling. The entire river felt wrong. Like it was sick. Forget an infection in my arm, this shit is going to make me sick through proximity. He frowned at his injured arm.

"I don't know how well this is going to work, guys."

"Are you letting it?" Annabeth called from the bank, and he didn't turn to acknowledge her. "Maybe you need to submerge it like we did with your chest?"

Percy swallowed back some bile. "I am not submerging an open wound into this river. In fact, no, this isn't working." He turned back to the shore and took in the stubborn expressions on his friends' faces. "Look, you can try to drown me in the next river we find but the pollution in this one is making me sick. Literally. It's taking a lot of effort not to just start retching–"

He cut himself off and turned to look down the river, frowning.

"What?" Annabeth sounded concerned and he could hear Grover sniffing at the air.

"There's a patch of…clean water just over there…" Percy trailed off.

"Okay? Go have a dip over there and heal instead of frowning ominously. I don't see the issue." Annabeth sounded confused and a little frustrated but Percy had already started walking.

"No, like, clean water," he tried to explain as he moved towards it. "Not cleaner, it's like there's this random patch that was never polluted in the first place." The water had reached his waist but he wasn't worried. He knew the river didn't get much deeper anyway.

Let's not unpack that knowledge just yet. Or, y'know, ever.

He could feel the effects of the clean water more and more the closer he got to it. The air seemed fresher and the water didn't feel so oily where it touched his body. He carefully ignored the way his left arm had started tingling.

"Percy?" Grover's voice had that worried tone it got when he'd been trying to get his attention for a while. "I'm not so sure about this. Maybe you should come back to the shore?"

Percy ignored him. Something told him he would be alright. This wasn't a malicious patch of water, and the guardian of the river wasn't going to be in much state to do anything given the condition of the river itself.

How do you know that though–

He reached the patch of clean water. It came to just over his waist and he paused to enjoy the difference between it and the rest of the river. It felt…energising instead of sticky.

He called out to Annabeth and Grover. "It's okay! This is much bet–"

...

He was underwater. Completely submerged. He was underwater and breathing what the fuck–

"Peace, child of Poseidon. I apologise for the surprise but the river was too polluted for me to make it all the way upstream to you."

He cast around wildly for the source of the voice but its owner was nowhere to be seen. His hand automatically went for his pocket to draw Riptide but–

"While your reflexes are admirable, there is no need to defend yourself from me. I am a nereid from your father's court. My naiad cousins are assisting me so I may deliver a message from your father."

Percy bit back the instinctive surge of anger and drew Riptide anyway. "I don't suppose it's an apology for sticking me in this situation, or better yet a promise to not destroy America just because he's having an argument with his brother?" For a brief moment Percy thought he could make out the messenger but she faded from view just as suddenly as she'd started materialising.

"Your anger is understandable, if misplaced. Casting blame on your father will accomplish nothing but more anger and destruction."

You are nothing but a pawn to the Olympians. They don't care about what you want or what you need. If it doesn't directly benefit them then it's irrelevant.

"Whatever." He couldn't stop the bitterness from creeping into his tone. "What's the message?"

"You are to go to the Santa Monica pier."

He wants me to what?

"No." He didn't realise what he was saying until the word had already escaped his mouth. He didn't try to correct himself. It might've been instinctual but he stood by his response. "I am on a time-sensitive quest because he told me to go, trying to fix his problems, and I am operating on assumptions and guesswork to get it done. His brother is trying to kill me every step of the way, and I still don't know where the bolt is. I do not have time to detour to California. No."

The water lost some of its purity.

"You are harsh on your father. You hold him and the rest of the gods to a standard they will not meet and you should not expect them to. You forget, child, that they are divine, not mortal." Some plastic floated past him, and Percy could feel oil start to coat his tongue once more. "My time is running out, Perseus Jackson. I am not made for fresh water and this river is too polluted to inhabit. Your father summons you to the Santa Monica pier. I will await you there."

All at once the pollution rushed back in and Percy shot up out of the water as fast as he could. He breached the surface without a splash, barely displacing the water at all. Annabeth and Grover were in the river, halfway between him and the shore and facing the wrong way. A little thrill of warmth soothed the anger still pulsing through him.

"Guys!" He called out. They both whirled around and Percy was close enough to see their frantic expressions crumple to crushing relief. "I'm okay," he tried to sound reassuring but the look on their faces told him either he'd missed by a mile or they didn't believe him regardless. "C'mon, let's get out of this shitty river and I'll tell you all about it." He didn't comment on the way they both grabbed his hands as soon as he was in range, and they all waded back to shore together.

...

When they stepped out of the river, the water ran off both Annabeth and Grover, leaving them just as dry as he was.

"Neat trick," Grover's voice was quiet, and no one seemed inclined to break the silence further. Eventually Percy raised a pointed eyebrow.

"So…can I have my hands back now?" Annabeth gave his left hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, but Grover stubbornly held on. Percy opened his mouth but Grover cut him off before he could even start.

"I just watched you vanish. Again. You were there and then you weren't and I couldn't find you so you're going to let me hold your hand until my heart stops racing or I'm going to find some handcuffs somewhere and make sure you can never vanish like that again, okay?"

Percy nodded weakly and didn't say anything. It seemed like the safest option.

"So, what happened?" Annabeth asked. "One moment you were there and then there was a splash and then nothing."

Percy hadn't realised he'd been forming fists until Grover gave his hand a comforting squeeze. He gentled his grip and blew out a breath. "My father sent a nereid to pass on a message."

Annabeth inhaled sharply and glared at him when he didn't elaborate. "Well?"

"Well, what? It's irrelevant because I'm ignoring the message and you don't need to stress over the potential ramifications of me ignoring a god, even if said god is my father,"

She huffed irritably. "I'm going to do that regardless so you might as well let me in on the full scope of it so I can help."

He was confused. "You want to help me defy a god?" He glanced between her and Grover. "You've both been pretty clear that while there's no love lost, you do support the Council. Sort of. You abide by their rules, anyway. Unless I've completely misunderstood everything? I figured plausible deniability would be your preferred route here while I blatantly commit…treason is it?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware you were planning on defying the Council."

Percy was bewildered. "No, just my father?"

Grover tightened his grip. "Just his father, he says," he muttered before sighing. "Percy, you're our friend. You probably haven't been at camp long enough and you did have a very rocky introduction but for the most part, Demigods look out for each other–"

"Above all else," Annabeth cut in. "We look out for each other above all else."

His confusion didn't abate. "Yeah, Beckendorf said something like that. 'Demigods first and foremost,' but–"

"But nothing," Annabeth cut in again. "There aren't many things in this world that will look out for us, so somewhere along the line our ancestors decided we would. 'Demigods first and foremost.' It's something that's been passed down since the camp has existed. It's a promise, an oath to have each other's backs against monsters, against mortals, and even against gods. It's not something Chiron teaches, and we do our best to keep the sentiment away from Mr. D. It's passed down from the older campers to the younger ones. 'Demigods first and foremost.' So, what did your father want, and what do you want to do?"

Percy swallowed past a lump in his throat and tried to pretend his hands weren't shaking. "He's summoned me to California. The Santa Monica pier."

"But that's–"

"At least another day, depending on what he wants, yeah." Percy blew out a shaky breath. "We don't have that time to spare, so we're not going." Grover tightened his grip a little but remained silent.

Annabeth was frowning, but nodding. "Okay, is he expecting you?"

"Well I told the nereid that I wasn't going, but she seemed quite happy to ignore me so…I don't know?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond but promptly turned beet red when her stomach rumbled loudly. Grover laughed and gave Percy's hand one more squeeze before letting go. "Right then, we can discuss the details of defying one of the big three later. First things first, we need food."

"And to contact the camp." Annabeth agreed. "Chiron will want to know that we're…that we're okay." That we're still alive, Percy heard what she didn't say.

"Awesome," Percy grinned, looking between the two of them. "We'll call Chiron and then…burgers, anyone?"

"Burgers it is," Grover was grinning brightly, and the dim mood that had been trying to settle vanished completely. "And we'll need to change Percy's bandages soon too, preferably before that nasty water actually does give him an infection."

"Nah," Percy said, aiming for casual and missing by a mile. Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "My little dip had to be good for something. Turns out the level of pollution has an impact. I just needed clean water." He unravelled the bandages to reveal silvery skin where there had once been angry red burns.

He very carefully didn't think about how normal people couldn't heal second degree burns just by standing in a river. Or how his more-than-normal friends couldn't either.