A/N: I picked a terrible week to promise a two chapter drop, work was nonstop and I barely got them both edited in time for holiday travel tomorrow! But these two are sister chapters and should be posted together.

Also, I feel the need to say that I hate Grayson as much as you guys do! I'm ready for this man to be out of here too, he is based on a very real person that ruined my life for a while. If you're ready for our duo to reconcile please just push through this chapter. I'll be posting the second update shortly after this one goes up. Final note, I'm taking one big liberty with the CHB vs. Camp Jupiter lore, and I'm aware it's probably not super accurate but what can you do? Cheers!

Annabeth

Percy was distant the week after our sparring session, and it was killing me. He had sent me one update about Phillip on Wednesday after I'd asked, but he didn't respond to my follow-up text asking about the results of capture the flag. I wanted to send him another message, but I knew I was getting too deep in this, so I decided to try and focus on myself for the week so I could truly sort out my feelings.

I'd been so caught up in my own decision-making that I hadn't considered Percy's agency, and the thought crossed my mind a few times during the week that he might have made a decision of his own. What I'd said to him outside the Big House hadn't been good, and judging by his radio silence, he wasn't interested in talking to me anymore.

I didn't want to consider this possibility, but it forced the self reflection that I'd been avoiding. So as I sat at my desk on Friday I tried my best to keep my mind focused on work and my actual boyfriend. I had decided earlier in the week that I was going to talk to Grayson about everything after our dinner with his parents that evening.

I was going to give us one more shot, and I needed to be fully honest with him for that to happen. I was going to tell him about Percy, even though nothing had happened between us, and I was going to be honest about my unhappiness in our relationship. It was the only way we would be able to move forward. The life I'd built with him was real and here and now, and I wanted to try and see that through. Unfortunately, it was becoming harder and harder to convince myself that's what I wanted.

Grayson picked me up right on time that evening and we headed out to Long Island. I'd known his parents for years, but the relationship had never progressed beyond cordial and I still felt like I had to try and impress them. I wanted to have a good relationship with my boyfriend's parents, much like I had with Sally and Paul, but I always felt a little on edge around them. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't feel like they approved of me, his mom especially. Anytime I brought this up to Grayson, he always gave me some non-answer about his parents liking me just fine. Maybe he meant it, but I couldn't help but feel like he just didn't want to acknowledge my insecurities.

When we arrived, his parents, Rebecca and David, greeted us warmly with two glasses of wine. We went through our usual song and dance of hellos, and Rebecca let us know that dinner was almost ready so we sat down immediately. I plastered on my best "I would be a great daughter-in-law, please love me," smile, and prepared to put on the best performance I could.

"So I heard Elliot and Kennedy are engaged. Elliot is such a sweet boy; I'm so glad he found someone who makes him so happy," Rebecca started the conversation as she brought the food to the table.

"Yes, they're so good together. And the reason that Grayson and I ended up meeting, too. I feel like we owe them a lot," I smiled at my boyfriend, squeezing his knee, and he shot me a quick smile back.

"That's why I helped him pick out the ring. He was really nervous, and I was worried he was just going to pick the first thing he saw and that Kennedy would hate it." I couldn't help but make a face at this, because he hadn't told me he went ring shopping with Elliot. So he was familiar with the concept of picking out a ring?

"You know, we still have your grandmother's engagement ring here, Grayson, if you ever need it. A family heirloom is a great way to relieve some of the pressure in that situation."

I straightened, looking at Grayson to gauge his reaction. This was the first time his mother had ever brought this up when I was around. To my dismay, he cringed slightly at her statement and pushed some food around on his plate.

"Ah, I don't know. I think it would make me nervous to hold on to that. Plus, Madeline might want it."

I had to intentionally keep my jaw from falling at his answer. We'd been dating for six years, and the best answer he could give was that his sister might want the ring instead?

"I have other news, too," he said, not even looking in my direction. His posture straightened and his face lit up with the impending announcement of his promotion. "I'm going to be taking over as finance director at work, an upper level position opened up and I'm being fast tracked for it."

His parents congratulated him, but my ears were ringing. He showed more passion talking about his promotion than he did about the idea of marrying me. There wasn't even a fraction of the enthusiasm there. The most surprising thing was that I wasn't even sad, just angry. The conversation about work went on for a few minutes before his dad asked me what else was new.

"Oh, nothing much," I said, returning to my fake smile. "Work has been going well, and I reconnected with a friend from school recently. I've been helping him with a project for his job." It was a weird thing to bring up at a family dinner, but I just wanted Grayson to show some reaction to me and to gauge his reaction for when I brought this up again later. He hadn't asked me a single thing about all the strange happenings lately.

"That's nice," David responded. "This is a friend from your school in California? What was it called? New Redlands? No, that's not right."

"New Rome University," Rebecca said, invoking the name of my Alma Mater.

"Yes, it's small and private, so don't worry about forgetting the name, David. But yeah, a friend from college. And, we actually went to summer camp together for a long time. A camp near here, coincidentally." This was such a populous area that the statement was safe enough. There were plenty of summer camps on Long Island and in the city.

I saw Rebecca purse her lips, but the conversation moved on. Grayson didn't ask any follow up questions or seem to care.

Eventually, after dinner, Grayson and his dad went to have a celebratory drink from his whiskey cellar regarding the promotion. This left me and Rebecca at the table, sipping from our wine glasses in semi-uncomfortable silence. I was so lost in thought about the ring convention that I nearly jumped when Rebecca finally spoke.

"Annabeth, I have to ask you something, and you're either going to know what I'm talking about or you won't and we'll move on."

"Um, sure, what is it?" I asked, not knowing what she could possibly have to ask me about.

"Again, this might not mean anything to you, but I have to ask. You're a demigod, aren't you?"

I choked on my wine and struggled to bring any air in for a few moments as I wheezed. Red wine sloshed from the glass onto my sweater as I tried to regain my bearings. I looked at her, my eyes wide.

"What?" I asked.

"Ah, so you are." She said simply, a grim expression on her face. "I hadn't been sure until tonight, but I always felt like there was something different about you. When you first brought up New Rome University all those years ago I started to wonder, but I didn't know enough about the Romans to make an informed judgment. We weren't supposed to know about them back in my day. But the camp you brought up, you were talking about Camp Half-Blood, weren't you?"

The room was spinning, and I was genuinely worried I was going to pass out. My blood ran cold. I set my wine glass down with shaking hands and looked her directly in the eyes.

"How do you know about Camp Half-Blood," I asked out of fear, curiosity, and a renewed desire to protect the camp.

"Because I was a camper," she stated.

"You're a demigod?" I asked, my mind continuing to spiral out. Breathe, Annabeth. In and out. How had I never picked up on this before?

"Well, I haven't called myself that in many, many years, but yes. I was unclaimed, but I suspect my mother was Hecate or a different minor goddess of magic."

I tried to make sense of the information that was being presented to me, but my mind was moving too fast. "Is David..? Oh, gods, Grayson. Does he know?"

"No, David is mortal and neither of them know. That's why we adopted, because I didn't want the bloodline to go any further. I was never significant enough to attract a lot of monsters, so Grayson and Madeline had a completely normal childhood. Do you know who your parent is?"

"A-Athena," I stammered.

"What an honor to be claimed by the wisdom goddess. I used to dream about being claimed by one of the most powerful gods, but I was relegated to the Hermes cabin for my entire time at camp. There was never any indication that my mother cared at all."

"Rebecca, why are you telling me this?"

"I just want you to know the truth, since today was the first day I was sure about you. Plus, I was curious. I could always sense there was something different about you. Do you want more wine?"

I pushed my glass across the table to her and she filled it up. The way she was talking about this like it wasn't a big deal was making it even harder to handle. She was acting like this was a totally normal conversation between her and her son's girlfriend. I was fighting through a sudden headache, but something she said a few moments before gave me an idea.

"Why do you think your mother was Hecate?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I was always good with magic. I was terrible with a bow, combat, healing, anything that all the other campers were able to claim, but I was excellent with magic. Spells, curses, potions, you name it."

"Curses?" I asked, and she nodded.

I took my phone out of my and quickly pulled up the email Cara had sent me a few weeks ago.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked, sliding my phone across the table.

Rebecca looked at the photo of the curse mark that currently decorated Phillip's arm. Immediately, she said yes.

"Apate," she said. "I know that symbol well."

"How?" I nearly whispered, my voice suddenly hoarse.

She looked like she was considering something for a moment, and then asked me to wait as she got up from the table and left the room.

My hand immediately went to my dagger, making sure it was strapped to my thigh under my dress. Having to fight my way out of my boyfriend's parents house was not something I was anticipating for this evening.

Grayson's mom was a demigod, and he didn't know. The notion flooded my system with anxiety all over again, and I had to fight to stay upright as the room continued to spin. Should I tell him? Would he even believe me? He'd lived such a normal life up until this point, and I was trying hard to build a normal life for us too. His mother had chosen not to tell him, and part of me thought I should honor her wishes.

Rebecca returned, carrying something small in her hand. She placed the item in front of me, and returned to her seat on the other side of the table.

I picked it up. It was a necklace with a solid glass pendant. The glass looked like it was cracking from the inside, and fastened to the top to keep it attached to the chain was a golden bail with a small snake symbol engraved on it.

At first I nearly dropped the necklace, but then my hand clutched around the chain tightly, inching it slightly toward my chest. "What is this?" I asked.

"Apate's talisman," she stated, as if this was a normal, everyday conversation. "It anchors her and her brother to this plane."

"Why do you have it?" I asked carefully, my left hand drifting to my dagger.

"You remember that our family home was destroyed nearly fifteen years ago, right? What I never mentioned was that it wasn't a freak natural disaster, it was that monster Typhon that the gods unleashed."

I was silent as she continued her story, trying desperately to assess this situation. Typhon had done a lot of damage during his rampage, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that they were caught in the crosshairs.

"And after Typhon destroyed our home, I really thought there would be some sort of help from the gods. We were left with nothing, all as a result of their actions. But then I remembered, that had been my whole childhood. I was always wondering if the gods or my parent would make themselves known to me, but they never did, and I was always left with nothing."

Wonderful—another bitter, unclaimed demigod, I thought, thinking briefly of Luke and his misguided effort to destroy the world.

"Some time later, Apate came to me in a dream, asking me to help her wreak havoc on the gods. She wanted to free herself and her brother, and needed someone to perform a spell that would bind them to this world. They were cast into Tartarus after the war with the titans because of her brother's association with Prometheus. I ignored her, at first, but then it dawned on me that she was the only god to ever reach out to me. Not even my own mother. Because of this, I assisted her as a way to get back at the gods, and helped bind her to this plane."

My hand was on my knife now, exposing my leg as I gripped the hilt. "And?" I asked.

"And, that's about it. I assume that they have been trying to gather their powers so they won't need the talisman anymore, that's probably why she cursed whoever that is in the photo. The stronger the god or demigod that they can inflict mischief on, the closer they get to being able to free themselves."

I flipped the button on my dagger sheath, and it made a small clicking noise. Rebecca noticed and looked under the table.

"Is that a fighting dagger? Oh, Annabeth, please. I'm not going to hurt you. And you can have the talisman. I was willing to help Apate free herself to make life harder for the gods, sure, but I don't have any stake in this. I don't care what happens from here."

I relaxed my hand a bit, but didn't take it off my knife. I had one final question.

"The Titan War was over fifteen years ago, why help Apate and Dolus now? Are you still bitter about Typhon destroying your home?"

"Oh, no, I haven't seen or communicated with Apate in a long time. I suspect they're close to freeing themselves, and then maybe she'll make herself known to me. I honestly hope not, but this was ten years ago."

Ten years ago.

The stronger the god or demigod they can inflict mischief on, the closer they get to freeing themselves.

Oh, gods.

This time I really was going to be sick. I quickly excused myself from the table, ran out the back door, and threw up over the porch railing. My head felt like it was going to split open.

After retching for a few minutes, I pulled out my phone to text Percy.

Annabeth: I need to talk to you, ASAP. Emergency.

I heard the door slide open behind me, and I whipped around, expecting to find Rebecca coming outside to drop more earth shattering news on me. Instead, Grayson was standing behind me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "My mom said you ran out here looking like you were going to be sick. Did you drink too much?"

A wave of irritation pulsed through me. Did I drink too much? I never drank more than I could handle, and he knew that.

"I'm fine," I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Just not feeling well. Why don't you go back inside?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you seemed a little irritated earlier when we were talking about my grandmother's engagement ring."

Had I not just been pushed to the brink psychologically by his mother, I might have handled his statement a little better. Instead, I let my irritation take over for a split second and I Iost control.

"Of course I was irritated, Grayson," I snapped at him. "I've been sitting here waiting, and I can't even get you to commit to a date on the weekend. Do you even want to marry me?" I asked.

He was silent, his face wearing a mask of soft pity. That was my answer.

"Oh, my…" I let out an expletive that would have the whole neighborhood peeking through their blinds. "You've got to be kidding me! Six years, Grayson, we've been dating for six years!" As the words came out of my mouth, I realized what I had done.

I had been so desperate for any sort of permanency after Percy left that I stayed in this relationship out of obligation. If we dated for long enough, we would eventually take that next step, marriage, commitment, whatever you wanted to call it. It would have been everything I'd dreamed of since I was a little girl, but with a man I didn't love. I sank into a porch chair, or else I risked my knees collapsing out from under me. Oh gods, what had I done.

"Look, I'm sorry," he sat down next to me. "I like what we're doing now, but no, I don't want to move in together or get married. I think we can continue to date and have a good time, but what's the rush on marriage?"

I let out a soft laugh before looking him in the eyes. "You're right," and I saw his face light up for a brief moment, perhaps thinking he had convinced me. "It's not about marriage. It never has been for me. It's about whether you're someone I could build something permanent with, and I see now that you're definitely not."

He looked hurt, as if he wasn't expecting this conversation to go this way. "I mean, I don't want to break up," he started to say before I cut him off.

"But I do," I said simply.

"Annabeth, you can't be serious. Come on, let's go inside. You're clearly not feeling well, and it's been a tough night. I'll drive us home."

"I'll take the train," I mumbled, returning inside to grab my purse, tears starting to fall from the stress of the evening.

I heard him call my name as I walked inside, but my resolve didn't waver. This was the right thing to do. I needed to choose myself.

Later, as the train crawled back to the city, I leaned my head against the cool window and cried. I had been crying far too often on my commute from Long Island to the city recently. In true New York fashion, no one bothered me and I was grateful for that.

I pulled my phone out. I had two missed calls from Percy, but I navigated to my contacts and hit the first name on my favorites list.

"Hey," I croaked into the receiver. "Can you come over? Grayson and I broke up."