Aboard Argo II during Mark of Athena

Piper

"Don't mention the strings." Piper shook her head scowling. She'd had a headache all day and kept imagining a voice. It would repeat the same thing over and over again: Don't mention the strings. She wanted to go to Annabeth about it, but everyone seemed a little too stressed out at the moment. Fighting companions to the death in Kansas at the command of ghosts possessing you was a bit difficult to bounce back from. Deciding she needed to preserve her sanity she found Annabeth in the galley anyway.

"Hey," she greeted lightly, grabbing the jelly toast Annabeth had been about to take a bite out of. Annabeth teasingly stuck out her tongue as she started making more toast. "I wanted to ask you about something," she spoke around a mouthful.

"What's up?" she asked as she finished adding double the jelly to the toast she planned to keep.

"So, I'm about 98% sure all the ghosts are gone, but I wanted a second opinion."

"All the strange little warning signs about them are gone, so I'd assume so, yes. Why?"

"Between us?"

"Of course."

"I keep hearing a voice."

"That's...odd. But not unheard of."

"It's always a female voice, and it always says the same thing, but it doesn't sound the same every time."

"Could be your mom."

"Was that a bad joke?" Piper scowled. It was unusual to hear such a lame joke from Annabeth and even more unusual to hear her say something inappropriate about a god or goddess.

"Nope. I've heard my mom on occasion. Percy's dad is the one who got us out of the Lotus hotel on our first quest."

"Oh." Piper decided this made sense, especially considering how her mother's form shifted so easily. She just needed to figure out what she meant by the "strings." "By the way," Piper perked up, ready to get her mind off her headache, "what's your story with Percy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're totally crazy searching for him for like-what?-8 months? Then find him and give him the mother of all bear hugs in front of everyone-"

"Need I remind you how your mother chose to claim you?"

Piper ignored her interruption. "Then, you judo flip him and threaten him to never leave you again. I mean girl! It would seem you've got it bad." Surprisingly, Annabeth smirked at that.

"Yeah, it would seem that way. But it's not. Not really." Piper just raised her eyebrow in question. "I had a crush on him since we were like 12. And I think he liked me too. But, I don't know, that's just not us. We have each other's back, no matter what. I even took a blade for him, not even realizing it saved his life. And he literally traveled across the country on a quest he was not supposed to be a part of and held the sky for me. What I feel for him is really intense, and it is love, but not romantic. I can't picture a future with him different from what we are now. We've kissed before-once when I thought he was going to get himself killed, and a couple times after the Titan War-but it just didn't feel right. We never really defined our relationship then, and we just kind of let that part of it die by silent mutual agreement." Annabeth shrugged, but her face said she was really analyzing everything she said. Piper knew she was being honest, and that she was likely hoping to use Piper's parentage to help analyze the situation.

"It's amazing that you can have that strong of a relationship with someone. I'm happy for you. Even if I think you'd make an adorable couple." They dissolved into giggles as Hazel walked in the door.

"What's so funny?"

"Annabeth's lack of a love life," Piper stated as she looked up. Her jaw fell as she noticed something trailing behind Hazel, tied to her finger.

"'Lack of a love life?' You've got to be kidding. You were the only memory Percy had. And he was clinging to that memory tight."

Annabeth laughed at her incredulousness, while Piper stayed in her own little world. Aphrodite had warned her not to mention the strings; was this the string she meant?