Chapter Two

A week later, Annabeth found herself sitting in the stands at the AHS swim meet. She was sitting in the student section next to a girl named Lindsey, whose boyfriend Cole was also on the swim team; he and Percy were both on the 4 x 100 relay squad. The four of them had hung out a few times, and Annabeth liked both of them pretty well. Sally and Paul were farther down the stands with some of the other parents. Annabeth's backpack was at her feet; Percy only swam four races, but they were scattered throughout the hours-long meet, so she usually brought her homework to work on in between races.

It had been surprising when he said he was going out for swim team. Sally had encouraged him to join some type of extracurricular activity, since it was his last year of high school. "Join a team, honey," his mom had said. "It'll be a good experience." And it had been. Annabeth knew Percy had originally thought about going out for basketball, but while he was a pretty good player, he didn't have the same shot techniques and ball handling skills that some of the other guys did, who had been playing basketball consistently since they were twelve. They'd spent their school years and summers playing basketball, while Percy had been saving the world. He had been disappointed, but tried not to make a big deal of it. Instead, he'd gone out for swimming.

"I know I can do this well," he'd told his mom, Paul, and Annabeth at dinner last fall when he'd decided to try out. "And I can learn about the different strokes and stuff, which will be fun. No, I'm not going to use my powers to cheat," he added, seeing Annabeth opening her mouth. She'd made a face at him and kicked his shin under the table, but he'd just grinned.

He'd been telling the truth, though. While Percy had a natural advantage in the water, he'd been working hard to learn the different swimming strokes and compete on a fair level. And he'd been doing well. He'd placed in several meets. One of the things he'd asked his coach was if he could compete on relay teams when possible. That also helped to even the playing field when he was in the water because the race wasn't just on him. The outcome also depended on the other mortal swimmers on his team.

Tonight's meet was fun. Annabeth cheered with Lindsey as the guys won their relay heat, putting them through to the finals. After the guys finished high fiving each other, Percy turned to the stands and shot her a smile, making Annabeth's heart flutter. It didn't hurt that he looked really good in his jammers (Percy had flat out refused to wear a speedo). However, when he turned to give a quick wave to his mom and Paul, Annabeth frowned. There was another bruise, this one on his back, near his shoulder blade. And, possibly, the fading remains of an additional bruise, on his lower back, curling around his side. Annabeth made a mental note to ask him about them later, then focused back in on the meet.

When the meet finished, Annabeth met Percy in the hallway outside the pool. "Good work out there," she said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Thanks." Percy grinned. When he slung his arm around her shoulders, she caught his slight wince, though he clearly tried to hide it. Before she could ask him about it, though, Lindsey and Cole approached them.

"Nice swim, man," Cole said, giving Percy a fist bump.

"You too," Percy said.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" Lindsey asked.

Annabeth glanced at Percy. "Going to dinner with Percy's parents, but I don't think we have anything planned after that."

"You would know." Percy shot her another grin and gave her a squeeze. Annabeth had to fight down what probably would have been a cheesy grin.

"Well, if you're not doing anything, there's a party tonight at Marco's," Lindsey said.

"Should be a good time," Cole added.

Percy met Annabeth's eyes, asking her a silent question. She gave a small nod, so he said, "Yeah, that sounds good. We'll definitely stop by."

Once Lindsey and Cole said their good-byes and left, the door of the adjacent gym banged open. A handful of guys in AHS wrestling sweats walked out, jostling each other and laughing. One guy, who was a little taller and beefier than the rest, did a quick scan of the hallway, still half-full with people leaving the swim meet. When his eyes fell on Percy, the corner of his mouth turned up in a nasty smirk. Annabeth narrowed her eyes. The guy put his hands around his mouth and called, "Hey, Jackson!"

A few people turned and looked. Luckily the hallway was busy enough, and the chatter of the departing swim crowd was loud enough, that not everyone bothered to pay attention. But with Percy's arm around her shoulders, Annabeth felt him tense before he cut his eyes towards the guy who'd yelled his name. When Percy looked over, the guy put his hands next to his neck, flapping them like gills while he made fish lips.

Annabeth's stomach twisted. She shot Percy a look. "Does he know?"

Percy shook his head. "He's just making fun of me about swim team."

"Asshole." Annabeth sent the guy her own glare. She didn't like the way his eyes lingered on her for a moment before he turned and followed his friends down the hallway in the other direction. "Why does he have a problem with swim team?"

"He's just a dick," Percy said, his tone dismissing the guy and the problem. He managed a smile again. "Come on, let's find Mom and Paul. They said we could get pizza after the meet."

The pizza was great. Later that evening, after Percy had showered and changed, he and Annabeth headed out to the party Lindsey and Cole had told them about. They'd gone to a couple of parties last fall and they'd been fun. It definitely wasn't their weekend routine—Percy still had a bit of an aversion to beer (a leftover from his time spent with his previous awful stepfather, Smelly Gabe), and Annabeth got bored after about an hour. But it also felt nice to be doing something that was normal.

And this party was fun. It was in a townhouse on the Upper East Side and most of the first level had been apparently designated as a party space. Annabeth caught a glimpse of Marco's parents standing at the top of a staircase when she and Percy arrived, but after that, they appeared to be staying away, monitoring the situation from afar. Most of Percy's friends from the swim team were there, so they had a good time hanging out. There were some video game tournaments going on in the two separate living rooms, each with a giant TV, people were playing quarters and card games on the coffee tables, someone had set up a hookah on the dining room table, and there was a beer pong—or seltzer pong or even soda pong, whichever someone preferred—table set up in the kitchen, which was drawing a pretty big crowd. As the night started to get later and the party started to get wilder, Annabeth took Percy's hand, pulling him after her down a short hallway to a shadowy corner partly shielded by a staircase.

"What's up?" Percy asked. His brow furrowed. "Monster?"

"Nope." She hooked her index fingers through the belt loops of his jeans and tugged him closer to her. "But we're trying to be semi-normal this year, right?"

The corner of Percy's mouth quirked up, the beginnings of a smirk. "Semi-normal?"

Annabeth ignored him. "I thought this was what people did at parties. Snuck off to shadowy corners to make out."

Percy's eyes lit up. "Um, yeah. Yeah, that definitely sounds like something we should probably try."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're a dork."

Percy leaned his forearm against the wall next to her head. He was suddenly so close that her pulse instantly picked up. With a hint of a smirk, he said, "You're the one who dragged me to a dark corner, babe. I'm guessing you have a plan?"

Annabeth moistened her lips. He was standing so close it was hard to think. It didn't help that he also smelled really good. And, she hated to admit it, but the way he said "babe" kind of made her knees weak. "My plan was the dark corner. I figured you could improvise from there. That's usually our strategy, right?"

"True." Percy held her eyes for a moment. Then he leaned in and kissed her, soft and sweet. Annabeth slid her arms around him, pulling him closer as the kiss grew in intensity.

Yeah, it was fun to just be normal teens for a while.

When they headed back in to the main party, it was to discover that even more people had arrived. The house was getting more crowded and the party was getting progressively crazier. They wandered around for a bit longer, chatting with Percy's swim team friends, but people were starting to get buzzed and drunk, and Annabeth was starting to get bored and annoyed. As she was talking to Alissa, who was dating Marco, the guy throwing the party, and who was wanting to study design at Pratt Institute next year, Annabeth heard an extra loud laugh. Over the crowd, she caught a glimpse of the jerk from earlier, who'd made fun of Percy in the school hallway. Annabeth knew Percy had spotted him because she felt him tense next to her. A few minutes later, after Alissa had excused herself to go check on Marco, who was hooting and pumping his fists near the beer pong table, Percy leaned closer to Annabeth and asked, "You ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She took his hand. "Let's just find Lindsey and Cole and say bye."

They found their friends involved in a game of euchre in the dining room, at the other end of the table from the hookah. Lindsey seemed to be struggling to follow the game and when she told Annabeth good-bye, her words came out slightly slurred. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at Cole.

"She had a bad partner in beer pong, and they got beat," he said. "But I'm sober. I'll make sure she gets home safely. Which I'd do anyway," he added, "but her dad also has a really incredible collection of antique guns and he's pretty clear on the fact that they're all still fully functioning and that Lindsey needs to be home by curfew."

Annabeth laughed, even as Percy shuddered. "Yeah, I don't even want to think about what Annabeth's mom would do to me."

Annabeth shook her head, squeezing his hand. "You're growing on her."

"If you say so."

They finished saying their good-byes to Cole, Lindsey, and the other swim team members there, then started to weave their way towards the front door.

Suddenly, someone bumped into Percy, sending him stumbling into Annabeth. By the time she'd regained her balance, she realized that this someone had also spilled their drink down Percy's shirt. In the next moment, she realized that it was jerk dude. He was still standing there, grinning cruelly, his empty plastic cup dripping beer. "Oops. My bad, Jackson."

Percy gritted his teeth. She saw his fingers flex, like he wanted to reach for Riptide, but then he shook his head and shoved his way past the guy. Annabeth, however, turned to face the jerk and snapped, "Hey. What is your problem?"

The guy held up his hands, that nasty grin still plastered across his face. His eyes were narrowed, mean. "No problem. Just clumsy." Then he shot a look at his friends standing nearby, and the group chuckled in not a nice way.

Annabeth opened her mouth, but Percy put a hand on her elbow and said, his voice low, "Let it go, Annabeth."

She studied his face for a moment. What she wanted to do was put her fist into jerk guy's face and wipe that stupid nasty smile off it. But she trusted Percy that, for whatever reason, this wasn't a fight he wanted to get into right now. So she gave him a quick nod, then gave jerk guy a cool, appraising look, just long enough for a hint of unease to creep into his face.

"Pathetic," she announced, turning away before she could see his expression and following Percy out of the room.

"What the heck was that?" she asked Percy, once they were back on the street.

Percy shrugged, hands jammed in his pockets. The air was crisp and sharp. It had felt warmer when they left, so he hadn't worn a jacket, just a long-sleeved t-shirt, and Annabeth wondered if he was regretting that now as the wind cut down the street. Especially since the front of his shirt was now soaked with beer. "I'm not getting into a fight at a party. That's not cool."

"You weren't going to get into the fight," Annabeth grumbled, pulling her jacket more tightly around herself as the wind whipped her hair into her face. "I was going to punch him."

The corner of Percy's mouth quirked up. "Yeah, I know. But then I'd have to call your dad and explain why we needed bail money, and it just seemed easier for us both to walk away."

"Ha ha." Annabeth shook her head, but after a moment, she slipped her arm through his, leaning into his side. Percy kept his hands in his pockets, but he turned his head to kiss her temple as they walked down the sidewalk, the beat of the music pouring from the party slowly fading.

Annabeth still had more questions, but the night felt calm again, and she figured she had other opportunities to ask Percy for more details about jerk guy. Right now, it was much more enjoyable to forget about him as they walked down the street, the regular New York night noises enclosing them like a bubble.

Until a low growl cut through the mortal sounds.

Percy stopped walking. "Um, did you hear that?"

Annabeth nodded, reaching into her back pocket for the celestial bronze switchblade she'd picked up the last time she'd been at camp. "I don't know where it's coming from though."

The words had barely left her mouth when a massive dark shape leapt from the alley to their left, tackling them both to the ground.

***Cliffhangers are fun, I can see why Rick uses them so much [evil grin]. Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up next week.***