I walked up the stairs to Brooklyn House and wondered when I'd get to do it again. Percy, Grover and I were leaving in the morning. If Magnus failed and the world ended, this was goodbye. If he succeeded, I might be able to visit before classes started in the fall, but this would be my last weekly visit. Everything was changing, and it felt so big and crazy. Wonderful, but so sad too. Walt was at the top, lounging against the railing.
"Hey! Were you waiting for me?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah. I just wanted to explain - we talked to Amos and Carter. Since you aren't trying to become a full magician, we won't be putting you through a final test."
I hadn't known that was an option, but I admit I was relieved. I had taken enough tests during finals! The moment I stepped into the main room, I found a giant sign reading "Congrats Annabeth!" and all my Egyptian friends with noise makers creating such a racket I was sure Percy could hear me back at his apartment.
Cleo ran up to me, looking upset. "This is it, right? You're really leaving?"
A lump formed in my throat. "Yeah. This is it."
Cleo threw her arms around me in a tight hug. "I'll miss you so much!"
"Hey, stop hogging our girl." I blinked away tears to see Sadie, looking a little annoyed that she was not the first one to hug me. She pulled me into a tight hug as soon as Cleo stepped away. "One of the best accidents that's ever happened to me was giving you some of my magic."
I grinned and wiped away some tears. I saw Carter and Zia behind her and Carter grinned at me. "Come on, it's not like the world's ending, let's celebrate!"
Since I didn't want to explain that the world might be ending, I did my best to smile and celebrate. Zia insisted on having me practice some of my defense magic in front of the others - I held my circle for three full minutes. Plenty of time in a fight. Sadie insisted I show everyone that I finally had mastered pulling things from the Duat.
"Alright, alright, enough testing the newbie." Carter announced. "We would like to officially pronounce you graduated from Brooklyn House as the newest Greek-Demigod-With-Basic-Egyptian-Magic." Everyone applauded as I grinned. Carter handed me a certificate that read "I Know Stuff and Might Not Kill People on Accident" - signed by all the teachers at Brooklyn House. I laughed and held it up for the others to see. Sadie insisted on taking several photos of me with my certificate.
We spent a while chatting, before Jaz stood up and explained she had a gift.
"It's from all of us, really." She handed me a small accordion folder. I felt a little confused, but I opened it. The pocket tabs read things like "Defense", "Fire", and "Healing". In each pocket was a small stack of parchment - each with a spell written on it.
"For if you get yourself into a pinch and don't know the spell." Zia explained.
"We all added what we are best at." Carter added.
"You might not be able to cast some of those yourself, but we loaded them with enough magic to make sure you can at least cast it." Sadie said, smiling from her place on Walt's lap.
I didn't know what to say - it was such a sweet and practical gift. I loved it. "Thank you." I hugged the folder to my chest. "I hope you know how much I appreciate it. Not just the spells, but the helping me figure out this magic stuff. And, you know, taking care of me when I passed out -" Jaz grinned, "And helping me figure out Greek words for things and everything…. Just, thank you all. So much."
I said my goodbyes to my Egyptian friends and met up with Percy next door. Rachel let us in, but something was wrong. She looked thin, tired, almost a little frail. It hit me who she reminded me of - myself, when I got out of Tartarus. Rachel was in hell.
"What happened?" I asked as soon as the gates shut.
She shrugged. "Python happened. It's like having tiny fires all over your mind. Sometimes, I'm fine for hours. Then all of the sudden, I forget where I am and what's going on."
"Any visions?" Percy asked as she led us to her room.
"Some. Occasionally."
She didn't give us more info and we didn't ask. Her room had paintings in progress, but today they were all covered in canvas. I went to lift up a corner.
"Don't!" Rachel said sharply. I dropped the edge, and the cover fluttered back into place. "Sorry. Just….. Some of these things don't make sense yet. I… I want to figure out some more pieces before I show them."
"Ok." I agreed, though I was shaken up. Rachel hadn't been so short with me in a long time. "Uh, anything we can help with?"
She looked miserable, but shook her head. "We just need to find a way to destroy these emperors, destroy Python…." She shook her head again, looking almost like she was trying to shake Python out of her ears.
"How does one kill a giant snake?" Percy mused while he rummaged through Rachel's fridge for new snacks.
"A cat." I responded automatically. Percy and Rachel stared at me. "Uh, a cat goddess, Bast, is famous in Egyptian mythology for fighting a giant snake. Maybe we need a giant cat."
Rachel tapped a small paint brush against her leg. "Who's the Greek cat goddess?"
"Hecate and Artemis have both been associated with cats, but we don't really have a cat goddess." I admitted. "Maybe we borrow one from the Egyptians?"
Percy shrugged. "It can't hurt to ask."
"Wait." Rachel held up her hands in a time-out gesture. "You know Egyptian demigods?"
"Egyptian magicians." I corrected. "Not demigods. They use magic, though, and speak to their gods, and they know at least two cat gods. I can ask - maybe they can at least help."
Before Rachel could ask more about Egyptian magicians, she keeled over, then straightened like she'd been electrocuted. Percy ran to grab a pillow as I grabbed her shoulders.
"Rachel? Are you ok?"
Smoke came from her mouth in little wisps, dark gray and sickly yellow, not the emerald green we were used to.
"What's happening?" Percy asked, laying pillows down on all sides of Rachel in case she fell.
"No idea. But the only time I've seen her go into a trance and not have green smoke is when Hera possessed her."
"So she's possessed?"
"Possibly." She was shaking all over. We heard a deep, slow hissing - the kind of hissing that would come from a giant snake.
"Nuh-uh." Percy announced. "Let go of my friend, you slimy monster."
"Sorry about this Rachel." I muttered. I slapped her across the face and the smoke faltered. Rachel collapsed against me, still shaking all over. I lowered her to the ground and Percy helped me make sure she was well padded by pillows.
We sat next to her, watching her breathing. It was shallow, but present. After what seemed like hours, her eyes flicked open.
"Ugh." She coughed, but no smoke came out.
"Rachel?" Percy asked slowly. "You ok?"
"What happened?" She muttered, putting her arms across her face. "I feel sick."
"Uh -" I explained glances with Percy. "We aren't really sure. But maybe…. Python possessed you."
"What?!" Her eyes flicked open and she stared at us. "What happened?"
Percy explained while I went to her fridge and got her a YooHoo. I brought it over and helped her sit up to drink it.
"But no prophecy?" Rachel asked, sounding scared. "I didn't…. I don't know, send you two on a suicide quest to get you out of Nero's way?"
I shook my head. "And we should be out of Nero's way. We're heading to California. If anything happens, call me. We'll be back as soon as we can. But until we know more -" I shrugged. "There's not much we can do here."
"You haven't heard when Apollo will be back, have you? Or, like, that Camp is in danger and we should stay here?" Percy asked worriedly.
Rachel shook her head. "It could be weeks or months. Go to California - we'll get ahold of you somehow if we need you."
"Make sure you've got plenty of blue hairbrushes." I joked.
Rachel gave me a teasing grin and pointed across the room to a box. I got up to see inside - a giant bulk box of blue plastic hairbrushes. I laughed.
"Hey -" She shrugged. "We all have our preferred weapons."
We spent a little more time with Rachel, talking about the past and our hopes for the future. Rachel wanted to go to Paris, as soon as the whole Python thing was handled. She was understandably concerned about going closer to Python while he was awake and had control of Delphi.
We said our goodbyes, after roughly a hundred assurances from Rachel that she would get us the moment they were ready to fight Nero. I brushed the tears from my eyes as she closed the door and looked at Percy.
"Next one's going to be worse, huh?" He asked quietly.
I nodded and we got in an Uber to Camp Half-Blood.
