Percy

I knocked on Annabeth's front door, the words from her text message playing over and over again in my head.

I need to talk to you, ASAP. Emergency.

I had no idea if she was even at home, but she wasn't picking up her phone. The kids had been in the middle of campfire, but when I saw her text message, I jumped in the car and just started driving. I'd been trying to keep my distance this week, but even the concept of her being in trouble activated something instinctual in me.

She hadn't even told me about what had happened with Kelli until after it was over. If she needed my help now, it must be bad.

We hadn't talked much this week even though she'd reached out a couple of times. I wasn't in a place where I could respond after what happened last weekend. Having her back at camp for the training session had felt so good that I started to let myself hope a little bit. I didn't even know if it had been a conscious thought, because I really hadn't meant to bring up the future when we were talking back at her car. I knew that would scare her off, but my brain couldn't help itself. Story of my life. But when she looked at me and said she wouldn't have any reason to come around after we solved Cara's prophecy, I knew I needed to pull back for my own sake.

I knocked on the door again, louder this time. If she didn't answer, I would see if any of her windows were unlocked, and then—I don't know—maybe go to her office? The idea that she could possibly be bleeding out on the street somewhere made me feel out of control.

The door swung open, and a pretty brunette girl with bangs stood in the threshold.

"You," she hissed, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Me?" I asked, pointing a finger back at myself. Oh, it was Annabeth's old roommate. What was her name? Katherine, Kendall…?

"Kennedy," I settled on, remembering the girl Annabeth had lived with for a few summers. I guess they stayed close after she moved back to New York for good.

"I knew she was lying to me," Kennedy said with no context, and looked over her shoulder. "Come in, but wait here," she said before walking deeper into the house.

I couldn't see where she went, but she must have been just on the other side of the wall because her voice carried.

"Do you have something you want to tell me?" she asked.

"What? Who's at the door?" I heard Annabeth's voice. She sounded distressed, and I had to fight the urge to run into the room. At least she was alive.

"Percy," she tried to whisper, but failed.

"Percy's here?" I heard Annabeth say a little louder.

"Yes, you little liar!" Kennedy scolded her, but it seemed like it was good natured because she was laughing a little bit. "Elliot saw the two of you together! When he told me about it, he said he thought his name was Peter. I was confused for a second but as soon as he said 'tall guy with black hair', I knew. And you were so cagey about it last weekend."

They were silent for a moment, and I wished I could see what was going on. Then I heard Kennedy ask "do you want to see him?"

There was no answer, but she reappeared around the corner. "This way," she said, gesturing with her head.

Once I rounded the corner, I took in the scene. I was in what was presumably Annabeth's living room. There were Chinese takeout containers scattered on the coffee table, as well as two wine glasses, a half empty bottle of wine, and some scattered tissues. Her favorite movie, Pride & Prejudice, was paused on the TV.

And then there was Annabeth, sitting in the corner of her sectional couch, curled into a ball with a blanket around her. She had a box of tissues next to her and her eyes were rimmed red. She had obviously been crying.

I didn't pause to think, I just ran to her side immediately.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting down on the couch next to her. I almost reached out to touch her, but I had to tuck my hands back down awkwardly by my sides.

"Grayson and I broke up," she whimpered.

Oh.

I couldn't say I was upset to hear that.

She hadn't even told me his name, or that she even had a boyfriend until I brought it up the other day. I figured as much, judging by the photos in her office and the way she acted when I dropped her off here a few weeks ago.

Embarrassingly for me, I'd looked at the photos in her office for a little too long when I broke in to steal her phone. He wasn't the type of guy I thought she would go for. He had such a… punchable looking face.

And to see her sitting here now, crying over him, I wanted to punch him even more.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I've just… been trying to get him to talk about the future for a while. About marriage and commitment and stuff. We finally had a conversation about it, and it turns out we weren't on the same page. I think I'd known that in my gut for a while, though."

Marriage? She wanted to marry that guy?

"I don't think I even really wanted to marry him," she continued, as if reading my mind. "In fact, I know it now. I think I just wanted someone to choose me for once. I thought if I stuck around long enough it would turn into something permanent, you know?"

I wanted to tell her that I would choose her a thousand times over. The idea that she was sitting here crying because some mediocre guy wouldn't prioritize her made my blood boil.

"I'm sorry that happened," I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. I was sorry she was upset, but I wasn't sorry that they had broken up.

"It's okay," she said as she blew her nose with a tissue and tossed it on the coffee table. Kennedy was making herself busy and appeared with a trash bag, gathering up the Chinese food containers and tissues.

"In a weird way I'm kind of relieved. I didn't want to admit it but I've known for a while that we were wrong for each other, and I think I'm just stressed because everything is changing. There's… well, you know," she continued, waving her hand in a small circle as a reference to everything going on at camp and between us, "and a lot of my social circle is Grayson's friends, including Kennedy and her fiancé. I don't want to be alone again. After everything happened with us I promised myself I wasn't going to have to start over."

"Hey," Kennedy said, sitting down on the arm of the couch. "Don't worry about that. It was you and me before these men, and it's going to be you and me after these men. Maybe we should just run away together." This made Annabeth smile, and I was glad she had a friend that would have her back, especially when I wasn't there.

"I know that. I know it was for the best, it's just scary to think about starting over again, and that I wasted six years on something that was never going to work. I think I'm honestly more upset that I didn't see it sooner. I'm supposed to be smarter than this." She wiped away a tear as she spoke, and every part of me wanted to reach out and wipe it away for her.

We sat in silence for a moment, because I was worried that if I opened my mouth words would fall out that she wasn't ready to hear. Then she said the last thing I was expecting to hear.

"Did you date much after we broke up?" she asked quietly, but then her eyes went wide. "Wait, are you dating someone now?"

She looked at me, slightly panicked, and I found it funny that the idea had just occurred to her. I wondered if she was feeling the same way I felt when I saw those photos in her office. I didn't want to read too much into her question, but I decided to be honest with my answer. It would probably be the closest thing to a confession either of us were comfortable with tonight.

"I'm not dating anyone," I said with a small laugh, and I noticed her shoulders relax slightly. "And a little bit. I dated some, but nothing that ever stuck. None of them were… none of them were you."

I heard her suck in a small breath and then she closed her eyes, another tear escaping from the corner of her eye. I didn't regret my words, but this time I did reach up to wipe the tear away with my thumb. She let me.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked.

She sat bolt upright, like she'd just experienced a shock of electricity. "Oh, gods, I completely forgot. Kenny!" She called for her friend who had made her way back into the kitchen. When Kennedy reappeared, Annabeth asked if she could give us some time alone to talk.

I could tell Kennedy was skeptical of the request, but instead of being irritated I was once again glad that Annabeth had a good friend that was so protective of her. Kennedy didn't trust me, and she was probably worried about leaving her best friend with the guy that had broken her heart a long time ago.

"Okay…" Kennedy eventually agreed. "I'm going to run out and get you some groceries so you have a full fridge. I'll be back in an hour." She gave me a look that clearly said "don't do anything stupid," and left.

Annabeth grabbed her bag and pulled out a necklace. It was a glass pendant attached to a gold chain, with the mark of a snake etched delicately on the upper part of the pendant.

"What is this?" I asked as she handed it to me. The pendant looked like it was shattering from the inside.

"You're not going to believe everything that happened tonight," she started, recounting her night from dinner at her ex-boyfriend's place to storming out. She told me the whole thing, about her his mom being a demigod, and helping to free Apate and Dolus out of spite.

I didn't think the story could get any crazier until she got to the bombshell: this had all happened ten years ago.

Right as she said it, it clicked into place. I could tell by the look on her face she had figured it out too.

The letter. My mom not remembering. The missed phone calls. Everyone's memories being hazy. It all made sense. We were entangled with the spirits of deceit.

"Rebecca said that the stronger the demigods they ensnare, the more powerful they become, and that they're probably close to releasing themselves from the tether now, based on the status of this pendant," Annabeth said quietly.

"Do you think that we…" I trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.

"It makes sense," she said. "The timing lines up, and think about everything that happened to both of us. Neither of us had actually wanted to break up, but we were both affected by the Mist. Your mom was too. Maybe even Grover and Rachel. It was all a big trick, their first trick, and we paid for it."

My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, and I was fighting off a splitting headache. In fact, every time I thought about my breakup with Annabeth for the past ten years, I got a headache.

I curled my fist around the talisman, nearly crushing the delicate pendant myself. They would pay for this. If I could walk out onto the street right now and fight them, I would. How dare they tear apart my relationship, what was the best thing in my life, just to gain power for themselves. I didn't know why I was surprised by it, though. This was what the gods did. They played games with the rest of us for their own personal gain, and Annabeth and I were just the latest in a never ending string of victims. It had been going on since the beginning of time, and no matter how hard I or anyone else tried, they would continue to put themselves and their own interests first.

"Percy…" Annabeth said, sounding sadder than I'd heard her in a long time. "What are we going to do?"

I didn't have an answer for her. I didn't know what this meant for either of us.

"We'll figure it out," I said, wanting to be strong for her but not knowing what to say. I didn't want to get this wrong again, because I had already failed her once so spectacularly. "For now, I need to get this back to camp. Cara's been having trouble with her machine, and this might help."

"I'll go with you," she said in what seemed like a reversal of our conversation the other day. "But can we go tomorrow? It's so late right now."

I glanced at the clock on her wall. It was nearly midnight, and she definitely needed some rest.

"Yeah, that's fine. Phillip was good when I left camp this evening, and you've had a long night."

She smiled at me, and it felt like all the air left the room. She was stunning, tear streaked face and all. All these years later, and she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I didn't care what we had to do, or what this final showdown with Apate and Dolus was going to look like; I wasn't losing her again.

What she did next surprised me. She put her head on my shoulder and grabbed my hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. I wondered if she had found some peace in the knowledge that we had been torn apart from each other, not separated by choice.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain," she murmured, letting out a big yawn. I thought about my next move for a second but then decided to take the risk anyway. I kissed the top of her head.

She let out a sigh and relaxed further into my shoulder. I unpaused the movie, and shortly after she was asleep, our hands still intertwined.

A/N: Hope you all liked it! More updates to come obviously. Have a great holiday and take care of yourselves.