Yay update day! The holidays were pretty hard here and I'm feeling extra thankful for this community today.
Annabeth
I hadn't had a nightmare in ten years.
Sure, I'd had normal, human nightmares about things like missing deadlines and random intruders, but I hadn't had a demigod nightmare in ten years—until last night.
I was in a large room that looked vaguely familiar. I somehow knew where all the doors and windows were located, but it didn't feel like I'd spent much time here. The walls were plain white plaster, but the old wooden floors looked like they would creak with any movement.
Two people stood on the other side of the room, a man with his back to me and a woman with a long maroon braid and a red dress.
"We're so close, but we're going to have to do something about those two soon if they keep this up," the woman said in an unrecognizable murmur. I got the sense that her voice could be intoxicating if I listened for long enough.
"Yes, and she managed to defeat that annoying empousa girl, so we'll have to step in ourselves," the man said with a familiarity that worked its way up my spine in a chill.
"Well, nothing good comes without hard work, I suppose," the woman agreed. "They'll come to us soon enough, either way. It's fitting that it should end the way it began. It almost seems like the Fates are on our side."
"Or working against us," he said.
"Don't speak such things into existence; we shall be free soon enough."
My alarm screeched from its spot on the bedside table, ripping me out of the scene. I shot out my hand, fumbling around as I tried to turn it off. It felt like my head was going to split open, whether that was from all the crying, the late night, the nightmare, or the curse I now suspected Percy and I were under, I wasn't sure.
I lay there for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the scene from my dream. I recognized elements of it, but not the full picture, which was concerning. Eventually, I pushed the covers down and popped my head out to face the day. I looked at the inside of my forearm, half expecting a snake to have appeared there overnight. There was nothing.
When I rolled over, I was immediately faced with the framed photo of Grayson and me that I kept on my nightstand. I picked it up and set it down on its face so I didn't have to look at it. Behind it, propped up against my lamp, was the photo of me, Percy, and Grover.
When I looked at that photo, I was overcome with grief for a different reason. I had been tricked into giving up my whole life, including everything and everyone that mattered to me.
And yet, somehow, despite the vengeful gods and years of separation, I had fallen asleep curled into his side, clutching his hand last night. Despite the odds always, always, being against us, we had found our way back to each other after ten years of being apart.
Well, I wasn't really sure we had found our way back to each other. I didn't know what we were doing, actually, and he probably didn't either. I had literally just gotten out of a long-term relationship, so that had to be okay for now. I needed to take this one day at a time.
But regardless of any romantic intent, or lack thereof, we had found our way back to each other. He had been my best friend for years before anything happened between us, and he helped me through some of the darkest times I'd experienced to that point. Of course he would manage to find a way back into my life when I was going to need him the most. I should have never doubted him.
There was a knock on my front door, and I scurried out of bed to grab my robe and see who was outside. Glancing through the peephole, Percy stood outside with a brown bag and two takeout coffees.
"Hey," I said, opening the door and clutching my robe a little tighter around my chest as I stepped aside for him to come in.
"Breakfast delivery," he responded with that lopsided smile that was just so him. I took the coffee and he fished two bagels out of the bag, setting them down on my kitchen counter.
It was Saturday, and I had agreed to go back to camp. I was glad I did, because I really didn't want to be alone today. And if I was being honest, telling Percy that I wouldn't have a reason to be at camp was a bold-faced lie. I loved being at camp
again, and it was time I admitted that to myself.
"You didn't have to do that," I said.
"Yeah, well," he said and shrugged as his only response. I was grateful for the bagel, and that he still remembered my order all these years later.
I quickly got changed and we headed off to camp.
/\
This was my third arrival at Camp Half-Blood since Percy and I reconnected, and it was starting to get less and less nerve wracking each time. My muscles weren't clenched within an inch of snapping as we drove through the magical border, and I knew I would see Grover, Chiron, Juniper, and all the other old friends that still existed here. For the first time, I was happy about it.
We did have a reason for being here today, so we set off to find Cara and Phillip right away.
There were organized activities this afternoon, but the campers had some free time in the morning, so we decided to check the Hephaestus cabin first. Second to the Hermes cabin, the Hephaestus cabin was always the center of chaos. If there wasn't a whirl of machine parts or an explosion happening, then you could bet something was wrong.
Percy filled me in on Cara's progress as we walked.
"She's hoping to draw out and capture their spirits with whatever she's building, assuming they're not completely settled in their new forms yet," he was saying. "I don't really understand how it works, but I guess she got one of the dryads to volunteer as a test subject and managed to bind them back to their tree. She's struggling because when she tried it on the dryad, she had a cutting of their tree to use as an anchor and only succeeded because the dryad was willing to touch the machine. Apate and Dolus probably won't willingly touch it, but maybe the talisman will help with the first part."
I thought back to the prophecy she was given. Usually, it was good practice to not over-analyze a prophecy before the quest was settled. I remembered interpreting a line from my own prophecy to be about Percy dying in the Labyrinth, but it was actually about Luke becoming Kronos. It was going to play out the way it was written either way, but I could have saved myself some serious worry. Regardless of whether it was a good idea or not, my mind drifted to the last two lines:
And from wisdom reclaimed of ten years past
An end to deception will come at last
Was it possible that finding the talisman was my contribution to this whole thing? If it truly would enable her machine to work correctly, it seemed like the prophecy was unfolding as it was supposed to. I don't know why I ever tried to fight it.
There were more cabins than the last time I was here, which reflected back to Zeus' promise to Percy and Jason's promise to Kymopoleia to restore the greatness of the minor gods. By the time I left camp, it was standard practice to build a new cabin if a new camper with that parent showed up.
We passed the Poseidon cabin, the rough gray stone and pieces of seashell and coral lined the walls just as they used to. My cheeks warmed, thinking of all the nights I'd snuck in there with my invisibility cap when Percy had the cabin to himself.
"You don't still sleep in there, do you?" I asked as we passed.
"Gods, no," he laughed. "I sleep in the Big House. Although sometimes when Tyson visits camp we'll sleep in there for old times sake."
I laughed this time, thinking about Percy and his brother having a sleepover in the Poseidon cabin. "How is Tyson?" I asked.
"He's good," Percy responded. "He still spends most of his time in New Rome, but he'll come to visit occasionally during the summer."
We passed the Zeus and Hera cabins, which were supposed to be just honorary cabins, but the Zeus cabin had been used a few times over the years. Next, the Demeter cabin was being maintained by the resident campers who were covered in potting soil and plant clippings.
We slowed when we passed the Athena cabin, and I paused to look in the open door. The beds were arranged in hexagonal stacks, three to a column, around the outside of the large cabin.
"They still have the beds set up like that?" I asked.
"Yeah, it was a good design. Max amount of privacy and max amount of space. I think some of the other cabins stole the idea too," Percy confirmed.
"Do you remember how mad Malcolm was when we moved the beds?" I asked. "I was still head counselor at that point so he couldn't do anything, but I thought he might burst a blood vessel. That was one of the few times we really fought."
"And then Clarisse got involved for some reason and I had to break up a fight between you two before you punched her," he reminisced.
"She always got involved when people were fighting, I was so sick of it. If there was one thing we could count on, it was Clarisse stoking any tensions around camp."
We continued swap memories as we finished the loop around the cabins, coming to a stop at the Hephaestus cabin. The door was open, and there were two campers inside: Cara and Phillip.
Her machine prototype sat off to the side. It was a device somewhere between a computer and a bird cage, with wires weaving in and out and levels protruding from it. Blueprints and design sketches littered the floor. Phillip and Cara stood locked in an embrace in the center of the room.
I wondered if Percy's new teacher instincts were going to take over and they would get in trouble for being alone in the cabin. Instead, he just cleared his throat.
The two jumped at the noise, skittering back from each other and looking at us. Cara looked like she had been crying, but her cheeks burned red, and Phillip looked sick again.
"We were just, uh, looking at blueprints," Phillip stammered.
"Okay," Percy said deadpan, apparently deciding not to give them a hard time about it.
"Hey Annabeth," he said in greeting.
"Hey," I responded. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I've been better," he pulled up his sleeve. The curse mark looked angrier than the last time I saw it. The skin around the tattoo was red and raised, and bright red lines were beginning to crawl up his arm toward his elbow.
"We don't have a lot of time," I muttered to myself and to the group. I wondered briefly if that's why Cara was crying.
"I can't get my machine to work," Cara whimpered, but I could tell she was trying to put on a brave face. "Maybe we should have just been out there looking for them instead of wasting time on this, but building things is all I know how to do."
"I think you're on the right track," I said, remembering the prophecy
"Yeah," Phillip interjected. "Plus, it does work. You bound Maple to her tree for like, a full day. We couldn't figure out how to get her unstuck, Chiron was mad, Maple was crying, it was a whole thing." He said this last part to me for my own benefit.
"Well, we've got something for you that might help," Percy said, gesturing to me as I pulled the talisman out of my bag, handing it to Cara. She studied the pendant and her face lit up.
"Is this what I think it is?" she exclaimed.
We filled them in on the whole story, and they were both as shocked as we were about what had happened.
"So your boyfriend's mom is a demigod? And she helped free Apate and Dolus?" Phillip asked.
"My ex-boyfriend, but yes," it really wasn't worth correcting, but I needed to start saying it out loud so I could get used to it. I noticed Phillip and Cara share a look that they were trying to conceal.
"This is amazing, Annabeth, thank you!" Cara cut in, throwing her arms around me in a hug. "You just saved my quest!" She was immediately back at her machine, and I knew we had lost her for the rest of the morning.
"That's pretty crazy, about your ex-boyfriend and his mom I mean," Phillip said.
"I know," I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. It was crazy. "Once you're older and leave camp, this life never leaves you. Even if you want it to, it will find a way to creep back in. There's no fighting it." I glanced at Percy.
"I can't imagine doing all that just to get revenge," Phillip said, and I thought I saw Percy clench his fist a bit. I wondered if he was struggling to come to terms with everything that had happened. This new generation didn't experience the turmoil that the Titan War inflicted on our community, and even though it wasn't perfect, they were coming up in a world with less unclaimed demigods. Their cycle of hurt and neglect wasn't the same, and that was in part because Percy hadn't chosen revenge when given the opportunity. He tried to do everything right and make the world better for others, yet he still suffered. When I thought back to the fallout from that time, I sort of understood why Rebecca did what she did. She was another victim of this world.
"I'm glad that you can't," I responded, and meant it. Phillip was so good natured, I hoped we managed to end as many of the cycles that plagued us as we could, for their sake.
Something sparked on the machine, and Cara cursed as she reconnected some wires.
"We should give her some time to work on that," Percy said. "Phil, I want you to go check in with the Apollo cabin if you haven't already today."
"Yessir," he threw one last glance at Cara before walking out of the cabin.
/\
That afternoon, Percy and I walked down to the beach. We sat next to each other at the foot of the dunes, enjoying the afternoon sunlight on the water. The sea was calm, and I wondered if it was reflecting Percy's mood.
We used to spend so much time down here. It was our favorite relaxation spot when we needed a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle of camp, and it was having the same effect on me now.
"I'm sorry about what I said the other day," I said softly after a few moments, "about not having a reason to come back to camp. I think I said it because I was scared. I don't really know what all this means, but I like being back here. If I'm being honest it feels like coming home."
He smiled at me, and his green eyes caught the light. They were the same color as the sea in front of us. They were the reason I had avoided the water for ten years.
"I know. I don't really know what it all means either, with Dolus and Apate and everything. But I don't want you to feel like you're locked into anything. You're always welcome here with us. And uh, with me," he added quickly. "And I know I asked for your help with this prophecy, but we don't have to make it a regular thing. You can keep your normal life, if you want it."
Did I want it?
"Can I ask you something?" he continued, and I nodded. "Why did you decide to completely walk away after we broke up? I never thought that was something you would do. Back then I figured if we ever broke up we would just try and awkwardly avoid each other forever."
I thought about this for a moment, trying to figure out how to put my emotions into words.
"It hurt too much, and none of it seemed worth it if you weren't with me. The best thing we ever got out of this place were our relationships with each other, the rest was just war and trauma. If even the best element of camp hurt so bad, I didn't know how I was going to continue. When I talked to Grover, Chiron, Rachel, or anyone else here all it did was remind me of what I'd lost. It was easier to hide away, and then it was too late and everyone moved on without me."
He looked out at the sea, considering my answer. I asked if I could ask him a question in return, and he agreed.
"Why did you ask for my help, really?"
He seemed to think about this for a moment before he answered. "Because I didn't move on without you. I was still pretty mad, honestly, even until a few weeks ago, but I wanted to see you. I'd been wanting to see you for a few years now. For closure, maybe, I don't know. Or because I just wanted to talk to you again. I don't know if we got any closure though, with all this Apate and Dolus stuff. It somehow got even more complicated."
"Percy! Annabeth!" Our names rang out in the distance before I had a chance to consider his words. Grover came strolling down the path through the dunes, smiling when he saw us.
"Dinner's in a few minutes," he said, but plopped down on my other side and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Oh, by the way Percy, that demigod that was in your tutoring program made it to camp safely. Chuck brought him in with no issue. A Hephesatus kid, as it turns out. I didn't want to bother Cara so I passed him off to Emma instead."
"Did it look like Cara was making progress?" I asked.
"I couldn't tell," Grover answered. "But she looked really stressed. Think she'll be able to pull it off?" he asked Percy.
"Yeah, they'll figure it out. We faced way worse back in our day, and always found a way."
"We did tackle some pretty big quests back then," Grover mused. "Remember Polyphemus?"
"Yes," I laughed. "You were stuck in that wedding dress for a week. And every quest just got worse from there. Remember trying to navigate the Labyrinth?"
"And fighting, you know, the Lord of Time," Percy said.
"And Gaia," I added.
"And pet-sitting for Hecate," Grover added wistfully and we all laughed.
"That one almost took us out," I agreed.
"But we got through it, and I still pet-sit for her occasionally so we didn't do too bad a job, " Percy said, and Grover added "the power of the Three Musketeers," harkening back to that exact quest.
"The Powerpuff Girls," I continued with a smile.
"Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey," Percy laughed.
"Hey, wait a minute, you know I don't like it when you call me—" Grover started to scold Percy but I cut him off with a deep laugh, lacing my arms through theirs and pulling them off the ground. We were all smiling.
"Come on you two, let's go get some dinner." We set off down the path, arm in arm, and I finally had a moment to consider Percy's words from a few minutes earlier.
When I came back to camp a few weeks ago, I'd been wanting closure too. That was partially why I agreed to go with him when he crashed Kennedy's party. But the more I thought about it, he was right, although not for the reason that he intended.
He was right because this didn't feel like closure. It felt like a beginning.
