Annabeth bumped him with her shoulder, a slight smile on her face. "I heard there's a transfer coming up in your future."

"Is there?" Percy sighed. "Thank God. If I have to spend one more battle huddled against the wall—"

"Don't get too excited," she said. "You're dead last in the rankings right now, so you probably haven't been traded anywhere great."

"Anywhere is great if it gets me away from Clarisse," he said. He pulled his desk out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "If you turn out to be wrong and I don't get a new assignment today, what do I get?"

"What do you get?"

"I think it's only fair that I get something for getting my hopes up," Percy said, grinning. "Maybe you could play my fantasy game for me so I can get past the Giant."

"The whole point of that game is to figure it out your own way!"

"What the teachers don't know won't hurt them!" Percy said. Before Annabeth could retort, his desk gave off a soft ding and lit up. Annabeth scooped it up before Percy could get a chance.

"Snake," Annabeth said. "All right. Travis isn't a bad commander. Usually he's too busy making trouble to worry much about strategy, but Snake wins sometimes."

"Against Raven?" Percy said, taking his desk back.

Annabeth snorted. Her hand went to the raven patch on her shoulder. "If they have, it wasn't in my time."

"Maybe in my time, then."

She shoved him lightly. "We'll see, won't we?"

It became immediately obvious that Snake Army was disinterested in their new soldier. Percy cautiously took a bunk near the back, uncertain if he was doing the right thing. The rest of the group was either asleep or zoned out on their desks. As far as Percy could tell, the commander wasn't around.

A tall blond guy hopped out of his bunk. "You the new kid?"

"I guess," Percy said. "You the commander?"

"No," he said with a short laugh. "I'm Luke." Luke, Snake Army. Percy realized he had seen the name high in the rankings on multiple occasions.

Percy shook his hand. "Percy."

"This must be your first army, huh?"

"Might as well be," Percy grumbled. "Clarisse didn't let me play the game."

Luke snorted. "Ah, she's a pill. Oh well. You'll see pretty soon there's not much to be gained from playing, anyway."

Percy looked at him in surprise. "Playing is the whole point of being here. How else are we supposed to train?"

Luke swung himself up onto his bunk, letting his legs hang over the side. "You're one of the ambitious ones, huh?"

"Not really," Percy said, thinking of Annabeth. "It's just—well, we're here to do a job."

"A job."

"To train. To fight after we graduate."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "I'm seventeen. I'm about to graduate."

Percy shook his head, puzzled. "I've heard of you. You do well in the rankings. Why haven't they made you commander yet?"

Luke smiled wryly. "Oh, they've tried. They promoted me and moved me to a commander's cabin."

"What happened?"

"I stayed in my cabin. I didn't command." Luke shrugged. "Listen, Percy, the Olympian Fleet are using us. They don't give a shit about you. They might be trying to win the war, sure, but not for you. Not for me. Not for our families."

"Why then?" Percy asked in a deadpan, feeling his irritation rising.

"Power," Luke said. He balled up his flash suit and tossed it over the end of his bunk. "Money. Ego. It's why anything gets done."

Percy studied him for a moment. "Can't that be true, and can't it also to be the right thing for us to keep fighting the war? It's not like anyone else is doing it."

Luke gave him a crooked smile. "If you're so sure of what's right, you don't need me to tell you."

Percy rolled his eyes and peeled off his uniform, climbing into his bunk before the lights could switch off on him. Tucked under his one sheet, he addressed the ceiling: "Why stay here, then?" Percy said. "If you don't care about the war and you don't care about your career—"

Percy could hear Luke's sleepy grin in his voice. "I don't know. Why not? Biding time, I guess."

Life at Battle School was a little different now that Percy was actually allowed to battle. He found it was one thing to execute a maneuver when it was just him and Annabeth floating around in practice together and another to do it mid-game while being fired at. For the first few matchups he got flashed early on, floating humiliatingly for the rest of the game while his suit kept him immobilized.

He'd wondered whether Annabeth would keep training with him now that he was part of an army that was using him, but she never gave any indication of stopping. In fact, as she rose in the ranks and word got around, more students gathered at the gates to watch them practice.

"We have an audience," Percy mentioned to her on one occasion, tumbling head-over-feet in slow motion. He gestured with his unfrozen arm toward the crowd at the entrance. He recognized a few of their faces and waved semi-awkwardly. Nico, a small kid standing with his arms crossed at the front, turned away as though caught.

"I know," Annabeth said absently, focused on her flash pistol. "Maybe they'll go away if we ignore them."

"Or we could use them," Percy said. "Have them join. We could do formations, get some real practice in. Might be worth it."

Annabeth looked over at him skeptically. "We could. Would you be okay with that?"

Percy shrugged. "Why not?"

"I—never mind," she said. "You're right, there's no point to keeping it to just us. Make up your mind," she called in the direction of the gate. "In or out."

Soon they had a small practice army.

Most of Snake Army didn't pay Percy much attention, so he usually found himself hanging around Luke in moments of downtime. He thought he saw Annabeth give them a sideways glance when she saw them sitting together in the mess hall, and Percy didn't get a chance to ask before she'd slipped away to class. He made a mental note to ask her about it in their next training.

"You're in that practice group with her, right?" Luke asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"What, with Annabeth? Yeah." Percy studied Luke. "Do you know her?"

Luke tore a piece off his bread roll. "We go way back."

"Did you fight or something? She hasn't told me—"

"Something." Luke looked sideways at Percy. "She and Thalia and I used to be a bit of a clique."

"Thalia," Percy said. The name was familiar, though he'd only heard it in hushed tones before lights-out in Boar Army.

"She's not around anymore," Luke said.

"How did she die?"

"She didn't."

"Sorry," Percy said. "I heard—"

"She's in a coma." Luke's voice was as brittle as thin iron.

"I'm sorry," Percy said. "You...were close? You and her...and Annabeth?"

"She was a friend," Luke said. "Annabeth looked up to her." Luke's expression was dark but his body language wasn't completely closed off. Percy ventured another question.

"What happened?"

Luke took a moment to answer, tearing pieces off his dinner roll. "I almost got Thalia iced," he said. "Well. I wanted both of us to get iced. I knew Annabeth would take some convincing. She was still so young, still so wrapped up in the way things go here. So desperate to prove herself within this system. But I knew Thalia was as sick of it as I was. I wanted us to go home. Be done being pawns of the Olympian Fleet. Have an actual life."

Percy processed this. "And it didn't work out?"

"Thalia was all talk," Luke said bitterly. "She didn't really want to leave when it came down to it. She didn't actually care about standing up to the Olympians."

"And you didn't leave on your own?"

"I tried," Luke said. "She tried to stop me on my way out. She...we got in a fight. She got hurt. She hasn't woken up since."

Percy's stomach churned. Suddenly he didn't really want to be sitting with Luke anymore. He thought of the way Annabeth had looked at him with Luke and felt a wave of regret.

"So now, like I said, I'm biding my time." Luke took a swig of water. "I'll stay here and play the game a bit longer. But I'm the one playing. They don't play me any more."

After the initial adjustment period, Annabeth's training started paying off pretty quickly. Percy found himself in the top ten with increasing regularity. He transferred to Deer Army, then Dolphin. Annabeth finally broke through to the number-one spot and stayed in the top three nearly every week, and it wasn't going unnoticed. Their extracurricular training sessions had gotten so popular they had to find other times to talk—which they did, to Percy's surprise and pleasure. He hoped he wasn't blushing when she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a classroom to do their classwork together. It was, he thought, nice to have the confirmation that they were really friends. Nice to have someone to mutually enjoy spending time with.

"I bet they make you commander soon," Percy said as they walked from the mess hall to Annabeth's barracks.

Annabeth scowled. "I don't know that they will."

"Why not?" Percy said. "You're ready. You practically lead an army already," he said, nodding in the direction of the battle room they practiced in.

"Maybe," Annabeth said. "I am ready. You're right."

Percy nudged her. "What was that?"

"I said you were right!"

"That's right."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, which made Percy feel warm. "I heard you guys had a rough loss this morning," she said.

"It could have easily been a stalemate if Pollux had just had us move more freely," Percy said, shaking his head.

"Bet you miss Snake Army now."

"Hey now, Pollux doesn't deserve that."

"He's a great guy, but that's not gonna make the Titans less likely to clobber us," Annabeth said. "Remember why we're here?"

"I thought we were here to stick it to the OF?" Percy said.

"That too," Annabeth said. "Or maybe just Athena." They'd reached the door of the Raven Army barracks. Percy gave her a wave and started to walk away, but she caught him by the hand before he could leave. "Wait," she said. "I wanted to ask you something."

Percy's eyes were stuck on their hands. "Oh. Yeah?"

"If they make me commander at some point, and I can trade soldiers...I was wondering if you'd want—if it would be okay if I—" She shook her curls in frustration. "Would it be weird if I was your commander?"

Percy looked up at her, grinning. "Is that it?"

"Yeah."

"As far as I'm concerned, you've been my commander since day one," Percy said. "You'd better pick me for your army."

Annabeth beamed.

Practice had started four minutes ago. Percy was late. He half-ran into the entry of the battle room, flash suit slung over his shoulder, and almost collided with Nico.

"Shit," Percy said, catching himself. "Sorry, di Angelo. Thought everyone would be in there by now."

"Lost track of time," Nico said. "I was just, uh—waiting for a good time to go in."

Percy grinned, shrugging his flash suit on over his uniform. "You don't have to be scared of Annabeth. She's not your real commander."

Nico scowled. "I didn't say I was scared."

"Uh huh. We can go in together," Percy said. "She'll forgive us if we make it a good practice."

"Like Wednesday's."

"Yeah." Percy looked at the other boy sheepishly. "Sorry for freezing you."

Nico shook his head. "You shouldn't apologize. You're better than me. I have to improve."

"You will," Percy said. "You're pretty new, right? I hadn't really seen you around."

Nico sighed. "I've been here eight months. I'm barely newer than you."

"You just need practice."

"I need people to stop treating me like a freak."

"Who does that?"

"Basically everyone. Except—" Nico cut himself off.

There were unspoken rules at Battle School. One of them was that you didn't talk about anyone you'd left behind.

"You got family?" Percy asked.

Nico looked away. "I was supposed to come here with my sister," he said. "We lost our parents when we were little, and we've never been apart. But she changed her mind at the last minute and decided to go to university instead." Nico shook his head. "I guess I can't blame her. She finally had a chance to be free of me."

Percy put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she didn't think of it that way."

Nico frowned. "It doesn't matter. She still left me alone."

Percy nodded. "You miss her."

"Well, yeah."

"I miss my mom, too," Percy said. "I left her behind. She's been all I had...forever. I switched schools a lot. I didn't make many friends."

A beat passed. "Okay," Nico said.

"I just mean, it sucks that we're not going to see them until the war's over." Percy found himself working hard to keep his voice from cracking. He swallowed, frustrated. "But that's just one more reason to keep going, isn't it? When the war's over, we can go home. No more battles. They won't need us for anything."

Nico's expression got surlier. Percy decided to drop it.

"Come on," he said. "Annabeth's probably getting impatient." He grabbed the edge of the gate and swung himself into the spinning battle room.

"You should take a day off or two eventually," Percy said, reclining in his chair and stretching. He wasn't sure how Annabeth was still so focused on the screen of her desk. He wasn't the most studious but he'd finished the week's classwork the day before. It wasn't usually very time-consuming—the teachers wanted to make sure their students had plenty of time to play the game room and practice for battles.

"I can't fall in the rankings."

"Annabeth, you're doing great. You can relax for a minute."

She glared at him. "I'm not risking losing the first spot."

"This isn't sustainable," Percy insisted. "You're exhausting yourself."

"I'm completely fine."

"You can't keep missing meals."

"I'm not making a habit of it."

"Three times in the last week. That's a pattern."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, Percy, you can drag me by my elbow to meals if that's what it takes, I won't miss any more. Happy?"

"I know how late you stay up playing on your desk."

"Not that late."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Rachel told me. She says she'll wake up at four and your bunk is still lit up."

"I'm reading and playing the strategy game. It's keeping me sharp."

"Do it during the day, then," he suggested.

"My classes—"

"Annabeth, you don't care about your grades, you care about the rankings."

"Well—maybe."

Percy waited for her to meet his eyes. "You're depriving yourself of sleep." Annabeth shrugged and looked away. "You are," he said. "Why?"

"I don't have anything against sleep."

"You don't have to prove anything, you know," Percy said. "You're obviously one of the most talented people to ever step foot in Battle School. People can say whatever they want about your mom or whatever, but everyone knows you deserve to be here."

Annabeth threw her desk aside, letting it thunk against the plastic tabletop. "Sure," she said. "Maybe I deserve a spot in Battle School. But that's not enough. I need to be the best."

"Why?"

Annabeth laughed like it hurt. "What's more humiliating? Everyone thinking my mom got me in, or the fact that in reality, she campaigned against me being recruited?"

Percy's stomach dropped. "She did?"

Annabeth tugged on the sleeve of her uniform. She wouldn't meet Percy's eyes. "She abstained from weighing in on every one of my siblings because of the conflict of interest. I was the only one she said no for." She smiled bitterly. "I think I only got in because of Ares. He thought it was funny, how pissed it made her. She said I couldn't be trusted. I'm too impulsive and prideful. I make her ashamed."

"She was probably just trying to look out for you or something," Percy tried. "I'm sure she's not ashamed of you."

"She told me she was ashamed," Annabeth said sharply.

Percy winced. "Oh." His chest tightened. "I'm sorry."

"I don't need her approval." Annabeth looked up at him, and he saw her eyes were red. "I'm going to get it, though."

Percy was walking to class, preoccupied with replaying a particularly rough battle in his mind, when Athena pulled him aside and cornered him in the hallway. "I've noticed your performance has been slipping recently."

Percy frowned. "What do you mean? I'm doing fine."

"We didn't bring you to Battle School to be fine," she said, fixing him in her steely gray gaze. "Our hopes are in you."

"I'm in the top five."

"Inconsistently."

"I don't understand why you're coming after me."

"Is there an issue? A distraction?"

"A distraction? What would be distracting me?"

Athena pursed her lips.

Percy's stomach flipped. "Annabeth isn't a distraction. She's the only reason I'm as good as I am."

"I don't know that you can prove that," Athena said. "In any case, she's been slipping as well."

"She's exhausted. She's working too hard and she's still at the top of the rankings every week. Try giving her what she needs instead of harassing me for dropping all the way down to number five," Percy said hotly. "You should be putting your hopes in her."

"Several of my colleagues are," Athena said. "For my part, I disapprove of putting hopes in any one student. We'll need all of you."

"I'm training as hard as I can," Percy said. "I've never done anything but try here. I care about"—my mom—"protecting Earth."

Athena stepped toward the door, severe and unyielding enough that she might not have been listening, though Percy knew she had been. She glanced back over her shoulder. "We can't afford anything less than the best from you."

Percy tried to brush off Athena's confrontation but couldn't seem to go back to feeling normal. The corner of his brain itched while he tried to pay attention in class. He threw away most of his food, unable to swallow without waves of nausea. Annabeth tried flagging him down from her table, but his stomach did another painful backflip. He made an apologetic gesture and left the cafeteria in a hurry, feeling guilty.

With most of the dinner period ahead of him, he found himself alone in the Dolphin Army barracks. He laid back on his bunk and stared at his desk, unable to process anything on the screen.

The fantasy game, his homework, tomorrow's battle against Deer Army. Whatever Athena had been trying to accomplish, she'd done the opposite. Suddenly he couldn't remember why he'd found a point in any of it.

"Hey." It was the last voice Percy wanted to hear. He quickly sat up, on guard. Luke leaned against the doorway in his Snake Army uniform.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Percy said. "You're not Dolphin."

"No one'll care," Luke said. "I just came by to see how you were doing. You seemed antsy at dinner."

"I'm fine." Percy heard the shortness in his voice and realized he needed to get out. He slid off his bunk. "I'm going to shower."

Luke put his arm out in a would-be casual move, leaning across the exit. "You're sick of being played, Percy."

"Get out of my way," Percy said.

"You're fighting for your mom, right? Do you honestly think you're going back to regular high school when they're done pitting us against the Titans? We're always going to be a resource, a commodity. They'll find another use for us."

"Shut up," Percy muttered.

"If they don't, someone else will," Luke said. "The world will fracture over it, every country trying to net the most child genius soldiers to intimidate their enemies with."

"Move out of the way, Luke, or I'll make you."

Luke smiled, pulling his arm out of the way to hold his palms up. "You'd just be shooting the messenger," he said.

Percy pushed past him, hurrying to the bathrooms, trying to pretend he couldn't hear Luke's half-amused call—"You know I'm right!"

Annabeth's arms were crossed on the table, and she laid her cheek against them like a pillow after Percy ducked into the empty classroom. "Hey."

"Hey," Percy said. "I'm sorry I've been...weird."

"Mm." Annabeth propped her chin up. "'S'okay. Anything wrong?"

Percy started to say No, I've just been tired, but the words died in his mouth. She looked awful. Her skin was pallid and the rings under her eyes were striking—had she looked so exhausted a couple days ago?

Percy looked at her and felt his heart tear. He could accept being a pawn himself, maybe, if it meant protecting his mom. If it meant he could get back to her one day. But the toll it took on Annabeth—

It wasn't fair. She didn't deserve it.

"You deserve to rest, Annabeth," he said softly.

She unfolded one of her arms and gently laid a hand on his forearm. "I'll sleep tonight," she said.

Percy nodded, unable to speak. Annabeth's eyes drifted closed. He could only tell she was awake from her thumb gently stroking his wrist.

"You're off your game, Jackson," Pollux said.

"I've only fallen to seventh place," Percy said.

"You used to be fourth or better every week."

"I'll do better tomorrow."

"Look, Percy," said Pollux. "I like you, but if you slip out of the top ten I'm going to have to trade you. Dolphin can't afford to keep you if you're not going to perform."

"I won't slip out of the top ten," Percy said. "Jeez, Pollux."

"So I'll see you in number five tomorrow?"

"Number three."

"Great." Pollux clapped him on the back and moved on.

Percy flopped back onto his bunk. The truth was he had no idea how to stop slipping. He was still among the best, there wasn't any doubt of that, but every week it was getting harder to accomplish things he used to be able to do easily.

Annabeth was still cemented in the number-one spot, even as she ran herself ragged doing it. She still had what she was fighting for at stake—the recognition she wanted. But Percy felt farther away from his mom and normalcy with every passing moment.

There were still ten minutes till lights-out. Percy picked up his desk, thinking he would play a little of the fantasy game. The screen was lit with a notification for a letter.

Percy sat bolt upright. He hadn't received a letter in the year and a half he'd been at Battle School. The teachers blocked all communication from Earth, especially from students' families. But the blinking envelope icon unmistakably read New Letter From: Sally Jackson.

Heart racing, Percy opened it.

Percy,

My wonderful son.

They agreed to let one letter through. I've written to you so many times, even though I knew they wouldn't let me send them. I've been worried you'll think I've forgotten you or something. I could never. I miss you so much, my little hero.

You've been training for a long time now, and you have so much ahead of you still. You must be tired. It's okay to be tired, Percy. I hope you're eating blue now and then. Don't do anything too reckless, but trust your good heart and instincts.

I love you. I'm so proud of you.

Mom

Percy read the letter again and found the screen blurred through his tears. The tenderness, the blue food reference. There was no way the teachers could have written this. But—he heard Luke's voice in his head, and his stomach churned—it couldn't have gotten to him unless it was part of the teachers' game.

Manipulation. Another attempt to get what they wanted out of him—a stronger performance, some higher stats. And they'd use her for it.

Not even his mom was sacred. There was no depth to which they wouldn't stoop.

The lights snapped off overhead.

Right now she missed him and she was alive and safe—thankfully—but still beyond that she was gone. He would never be able to return to her, fully. She would never be his again and he would never be hers. He belonged to the Olympian Fleet now, and everything he had been and had before Battle School was dead.

The next day Dolphin Army whispered about how Percy Jackson had spent the night weeping in his bunk. Percy didn't care.

After Dolphin Army's morning battle, Percy had no time to recharge. He went straight to the library, cramming before his calculus test at noon. After (he was pretty sure) flunking it, he got in a quick workout in the rec room and headed back to his barracks.

"Hey, Percy," Connor said drowsily when Percy came in. Percy nodded at him absently, already taking his sweaty flash suit off. He was sore and exhausted and couldn't wait to stand under the hot water of the showers. He had no energy for talking.

"Your desk has been chirping," Connor said, rolling back over under his blanket. "Might want to check it."

For a second Percy felt a thrill of hope for another letter, but then he remembered and the feeling dulled. He pulled the desk out and looked at the display. It took him a few blinks to focus long enough to read it.

"I'm being reassigned," he said.

"Oh," Connor said. "Go figure. Deer? Cow?"

"Owl," Percy said.

"There's never been any Owl." Connor sat up. "Let me see that."

"It says Owl Army," Percy said. "Commander Annabeth Chase."

He left his things.