A/N: I've got a BEEFY chapter and authors note for y'all today. Truthfully I wrote and rewrote this a couple of times. And then I took two chapters and smashed them together because I'm anxious to move this thing along. I think it turned out better but I also hate it? idk middle chapters are always a struggle for me as a writer.

A note on the dagger from last week's comments: we're running with the whole 'Rick created a continuity error by giving Annabeth her knife in the senior year adventures' thing. I haven't read demigods and magicians so I'm not sure where I fall on the dagger debate there. Regardless, we love a good ol' Uncle Rick continuity error.

Thanks so much for reading and interacting! Y'all are the best.

Annabeth

After my whirlwind of a Monday, the next two weeks were pretty normal. According to Percy, there weren't any significant updates about Cara's prophecy or the curse Phillip was under. Because of this, I hadn't seen any of them or been back to camp. I was able to resume my normal schedule and almost forget everything had happened. Almost.

The biggest difference now was Percy. He'd returned to camp as the resident combat instructor, and I wasn't sure how much I was going to hear from him after that. However, pretty soon after we parted ways, his name appeared on my phone. He'd sent me a message that it had been good to see me, and I caught myself smiling at my phone like a lovesick teenager.

The thing was, I had been that lovesick teenager before. We hadn't had phones back then, but I remembered how much my heart fluttered every time Percy would arrive at camp for the summer in the years before we started dating. I almost always arrived before he did, and every time I saw his mop of black hair coming down the hill, a flock of butterflies threatened to escape my stomach. I knew what it felt like to be lovesick over Percy Jackson.

What I didn't want to admit was that I felt similar butterflies now every time he messaged me.

The conversation had continued since then, and while we mainly talked about Cara, Phillip, and camp, we were talking about other things too. He asked me about work and my day, and I kept the conversation going on my end with similar questions. I felt kind of guilty about this, but I didn't want to stop. I needed to tell Grayson about it. There was nothing wrong with texting with a friend, but I knew the part I felt guilty about was hiding it from my boyfriend (and maybe the butterflies, but I wasn't ready for that level of self reflection yet).

As for Phillip, there wasn't much change. He was doing okay under the watchful eye of the Apollo cabin, and Cara, being a daughter of Hephaestus, had fixated on the "trap" line of her prophecy. She had gotten the idea that she could build a physical trap for Apate and Dolus, and that we just needed to find them after she finished it. Was it going to be that easy for them? Build a trap, find the enemy, and solve the problem and prophecy. Back in my day, solving prophecies required cross-country or even cross-continental quests. At the end of the day, the prophecy was hers so we were all fine with letting her take the lead.

Weirdly, the life-threatening prophecy situation wasn't making me anxious, but the situation between me and Percy was. Putting aside the ex-boyfriend and current boyfriend dynamics, we hadn't really talked about everything that happened two weeks ago. There was one thought gnawing at the back of my brain, about Phillip's curse, Cara's prophecy, our breakup, all of it; but every time I thought about it I got a headache and couldn't quite put the pieces together.

Regardless, I knew I couldn't exist with one foot in the mortal world and one foot in the mythological world for long. Once this situation with Phillip and Cara was resolved, I could go back to my normal life. Today, I was putting all that aside to go wedding dress shopping with my best friend.

We'd stopped at my Brooklyn renovation in the morning, because the dress shop Kennedy picked out was coincidentally only a few blocks away and she didn't mind stopping here before. She was an architect too, and we'd worked together for several years before I left to start my firm. I hadn't been over to the building in a few weeks, so I took the opportunity to check on the progress of my construction team. They were nearly done with the demolition on the first floor, which was great because I was going to be hosting a party in the space pretty soon. Nearly all the original stonework was exposed, giving the building a cozy yet industrial feel. The party was an anniversary party for the firm, and the building was so beautiful that it felt like the perfect venue.

I had my nose in the blueprints that lived on site, and I must have spaced out just long enough for Kennedy to get bored.

"By the way," she said, pulling me out of my architectural trance. When I looked up, I noticed a mischievous look in her eyes that I recognized well. I braced for whatever was coming. "Elliot told me that he saw you out for drinks a few weeks ago."

She left her statement open ended, more like a question left for me to fill in. I had a feeling I knew what she was getting at, but all I said was "We did run into each other, two Mondays ago."

Since I didn't take the bait, she continued. "Yeah, he said you were with some guy he didn't recognize. Tall with black hair. Normally, I wouldn't even bring this up, because we're both at client happy hours all the time, but the weird thing is that Grayson told Elliot that he saw you with a similar looking guy the morning after you ditched out on our engagement party."

I started doing mental gymnastics to find a way out of this conversation. The New York City gossip mill had struck again. After the party, I told Kennedy the same story I told Grayson, and she didn't give me too much of a hard time about it.

I considered for a moment whether I should just tell her the truth. She would definitely just keep it between us, and it might even help me find some clarity. However, I decided against it for two reasons. One, it would send her into protective best friend mode, and I didn't want to put that on her today of all days. She had been with me when Percy and I broke up, and like any good friend she now had some mixed feelings about him. The second and more selfish reason was the aforementioned butterflies.

Deciding to lie, I tried to stay as close to the truth as possible. That's always the best course of action when bending the truth.

"Yeah, it was the same guy," I said. "After we reconnected a few weeks ago, we decided to get drinks just to keep the conversation going. He's in the city now and works nearby. He was always a good friend to me in school, and you know I lost touch with a lot of my school friends, so it's just been nice to see someone from that era again."

"Uh-huh," she responded, raising an eyebrow at me. "What's his name?"

I wracked my brain for anyone from camp that could look similar to Percy that Kennedy wouldn't have met. Since we'd lived together for two summers during college, she knew Percy and had met a few of my other Greek and Roman friends as well. I knew she knew, but it was just a matter of how hard she was going to push me.

"Nico," I spat out, name dropping the only other camper with black hair that I could think of quickly.

"Nico," she turned the name over in her mouth, and I was half expecting the commander of the dead to rise from the floor in front of us. I definitely wouldn't be able to talk my way out of that. The last I'd heard he and Will Solace were doing the van life thing out west. "Okay, well I look forward to meeting him eventually, but stop acting so weird about it."

After leaving my building, we stopped for coffee at a shop that was two doors down. It was surprisingly empty for a Saturday morning, and there was only one other person in line. An older man with a short beard and salt and pepper hair was finishing up his order as we walked in.

It was my turn to treat for coffee, so I pulled out my wallet after Kennedy and I ordered, but I was informed by the cashier that the man in front of us had paid for our drinks. I caught his eye and he smiled at me as we approached the pickup counter.

"Thank you for the drinks," Kennedy offered as we all stood at the pickup counter.

"Do we know you?" I asked, wondering if he was an old client for either of us or someone I had met over the years but couldn't place. I didn't recognize him.

"No," he said in a kind, yet matter of fact tone.

"Oh, well thank you again," I said.

"Just something to brighten your day," he responded. We all stood in silence for a moment waiting on our drinks. Kennedy took out her phone, but I examined the man again. I was sure I hadn't met him before, but why did he seem so familiar?

A car horn blared outside of the shop, followed by the sound of two people yelling. I looked over even though the scene was not uncommon for the city.

"There's a lot happening in the world," the man said, pursing his lips as if considering the scene outside. "I often think it would be much easier for all of us if we just stuck to our own truths, and didn't try to overcomplicate our everyday lives. Most trouble starts because people insert themselves in situations where they don't belong."

I pondered this strange thought as his drink arrived at the counter, he picked it up but turned to me as he was walking away.

"It might serve you to remember that," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Remember to focus on your own truths, and don't overcomplicate it. Your life will be much easier if you don't get involved in events that don't concern you, Annabeth," And with that, he walked out the door.

I stood in silence for a moment as all the blood drained out of my face. I definitely hadn't told him my name. My feet began to move before I even made a decision, and I was following him out the door. Kennedy's head snapped up from her phone and I heard her call my name.

"Be right back," I yelled back into the shop as I tumbled through the door and out onto the street. At the end of the block, I saw him rounding the corner. I followed behind as quickly as I could, but when I got to the other side of the block I didn't see him anywhere.

I ran to the end of the second block, looking in windows as I went. No sign of him. This felt important, and possibly dangerous, so I took out my phone to text Kennedy. I was sure she'd be following behind any moment.

Annabeth: Meet you at the dress shop, feeling sick. Need a few minutes.

I thought I saw him at the end of the block again, so I threw my phone into my purse and kept running. It looked like he turned into an alleyway, so I skidded to stop and cautiously turned that corner when I reached it.

I tried all the doors, but they were all locked. I turned around again, frustrated, and decided to make my way back to the street. To my surprise, there was a woman now standing between me and the alley exit. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. She had a familiar face, and was leaning slightly to one side. Where had I seen her before?

I blinked a few times, and the Mist cleared. Fangs, red eyes, one bronze leg and one donkey leg. I was staring into the face of Kelli the empousa.

"Hello, Annabeth Chase. I'm so glad I finally get to kill you."

/\

I moved my hand subtly over my skirt as I stared at Kelli. Call it intuition or good strategy, but I had a bad feeling when I woke up this morning. In light of this, I had strapped my dagger in its new sheath to my upper thigh. I had my phone, but Kelli wasn't going to wait for me to call for help. I was on my own, but I was prepared.

"How many times are you going to reform?" I snarked at her, and she scoffed. I'd always hated her, ever since she ruined what would have been my first date with Percy when we were 14.

"I'm here just for you," she purred. "Word on the street is you're back with Percy Jackson and his crew of misfit demigods. There's people that want you dead, Annabeth, but when I heard you were back I told everyone I got first dibs."

"So you waited until I was alone, because you knew Percy and I together would send you back to Tartarus for a third time?" Technically it was Bob the Titan that killed Kelli most recently, but Percy and I had taken out the rest of Kelli's empousai cronies while subsisting on only fire water and a dream.

"Oh please, I could take you both down any day of the week." Her eyes displayed a mixture of fury and determination, but I knew my expression mirrored hers. This was a rematch that was years in the making. She lunged toward me, and I had my dagger out of its holster in one fluid motion, while simultaneously bracing myself for her first move. I gripped the knife so tight, I had to remind myself to focus. I knew this was a fight that could mean death, and I really, really did not want to die alone in an alley in Brooklyn.

Without warning, she lunged, almost faster than I could track. I barely managed to raise my arm before she was in front of me, swatting it aside and sending my knife skittering across the pavement. Apparently I had loosened my grip too much. In the same motion, Kelli's hand shot out, claws slashing across my arm. A gasp of pain escaped my lips, and I stumbled in the direction of my knife. Kelli laughed, taunting me.

"I was expecting you to be better than this, Chase," she hissed. "I was hoping you would put up at least a little bit of a fight."

I made a move for my dagger, diving for it and putting my back towards Kelli. She did what I expected and lunged at my exposed back. I twisted at the last moment, and landed with my backside down, hitting the ground with a thump. Kelli came flying at me, but I kicked both my legs into her stomach while grabbing her wrist, flipping her onto the alley floor.

She let out a frustrated wail as my feet hit her stomach and she hit the floor a few seconds later. I grabbed my knife off the ground, but couldn't get a good angle to do much damage to her. We wrestled on the ground for a few moments, both struggling to gain the upper hand.

I saw blood seeping into my clothes from the wound she had given me. She leaned in, hot breath on my neck, trying to connect her fangs with the delicate skin of my collar bone and rip my throat wide open.

With a surge of desperation, kicked Kelli hard in her donkey knee, hearing a sickening crunch as the joint bent the wrong way. Kelli roared in anger and stumbled back, trying to get to her feet on her one good leg while her donkey leg hung limp.

It wasn't pretty, in fact this felt more like a street fight than any of the numerous battles I'd ever been in, but I tackled Kelli to the ground once again, pinning her down with my knees.

"Who wants me dead?" I spat at her as she struggled to escape my grapple. I placed my knife at her throat, knowing I had to make this quick. I probably only had seconds before she would break free.

"I think you already know," she growled, and slashed at my thigh this time, making another cut, but I refused to move my legs. "The best part is the sorrow that Percy Jackson will experience when I kill you will just make them more— powerful—," she thrashed with each word, and I knew I only had mere moments. In another life, I may have tried to hold her for longer to get more answers. In this life, one where I doubted my current abilities, I raised the dagger with both hands and thrust it down into her chest.

Kelli evaporated into a mist of ichor below me, and I slumped forward, exhausted but alive. I clutched my arm as the alley fell silent once more. I had won—but barely.

I knew this was coming, not necessarily with Kelli— that had been an unwelcome surprise, but I knew something was coming. I'd been as ready as I could be, but it still wasn't enough. Sure, I had lived, but I knew in my gut that I wouldn't survive the next attack unless I got stronger. I needed to get my skills back to where they once were before this happened again.

I limped into a nearby drugstore and, unfortunately, lifted a few packets of gauze to wrap my wounds. I would come back and purchase something else later to make up for it. I had blood on my clothes, but they were dark colored and I hoped the Mist would shroud me enough so everyone at the shop wouldn't notice the stains when I returned.

/\

This turned out to be the case. I nearly ran to the shop so I wouldn't miss too much, and it turns out the Mist was on my side.

Kennedy stood on a pedestal in the middle of the room, donning a tight white dress. She was surrounded by her other bridesmaids and few family members.

"Annabeth," she stumbled off the pedestal and wobbled over to me, clearly having trouble walking because of the dress. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well," I said, placing a hand on my stomach and chest and making a mock retching movement. I took a subtle step back so I wouldn't get any lingering blood on the white gown. "Did I miss too much?"

"Only this one, and it's a dud," she said, returning to her previous place. I greeted all the women and went to take my seat as Kennedy returned to the back of the store to try on another dress. We made small talk as we waited for her to reappear.

"So, Annabeth, how are you and Grayson? Are you going to be catching the bouquet at the wedding?" Kennedy's mom asked slyly, thinking she was being clever but really she was just making my heart do a painful twist.

"We'll see! We're not in a hurry" I blurted out, probably an octave too high in an attempt to cover up my own hurt. That was almost true, I wasn't in a hurry to get married. But, I craved the commitment so much that it hurt. At this rate, I didn't know if I would ever be in Kennedy's place. If Grayson kept dragging his feet, was I going to feel this sense of longing forever? If I caught the bouquet at the wedding he would probably just make a joke about it.

I'd never really dreamt about a wedding, but I had dreamt about commitment. There was a time when I thought it was going to be me and Percy, and he'd even brought up marriage as a possibility when we were together. But we both knew how that had worked out. I think that was why it bothered me so much that Grayson never wanted to talk about marriage. I just wanted someone to commit to me, for once in my life. I wanted someone to promise me family and mean it. Maybe that was too much to ask, though.

We had talked about it early on, and he understood a lot of my desire to have that stability. I'd told him a sanitized version of what happened with my parents, and with Luke and Percy. He and his sister were adopted, so he always said he wanted the same thing: to build a strong, stable family.

When Kennedy came out in her next dress she was absolutely stunning, as predicted. We ohh'd and aww'd but every dress she showed us made tears prickle in the back of my eyes. This was hitting me harder than I expected, but I would not cry. I would not make this about me and take this away from her. I would deal with my feelings of loneliness and inadequacy later, in the privacy of my own home like a grown adult.

I took my phone out to try and distract myself, and I had a new text from Percy.

Percy: How's dress shopping going?

My chest tightened and I had to put my phone back in my bag. It was all too much. Being in this wedding dress shop and talking to Percy again was making all sorts of painful memories come back. I remembered how I felt the first time he ever brought up marriage when we were 17, and I thought surely not. Surely we were too young to be talking about that. Surely he didn't actually mean it, because no one ever actually meant it when it came to me. But he had shown me over and over again that he really meant it, until he didn't.

But now, armed with the knowledge that something else might have been at play, it hurt even worse, because maybe he had meant it.

For the smallest moment as I looked around and saw how happy Kennedy looked and all the beautiful dresses, I thought about him. For the smallest moment, I thought maybe…

No. I couldn't do this to myself. I needed to come back down to reality.

/\

Later, even though I'd been fighting it all day, I gave in and called Percy.

"Hey," he answered on the first ring, and I could almost see his lopsided smile as clearly as if he was standing in front of me.

"Are you busy?" I asked.

"No, but hold on a second," it sounded like he dropped the phone a bit and maybe covered the receiver with his hand, but I could still hear him and the chaos around him. "Emma, what did I say about not locking your knees?" His voice echoed through the muffled speaker, and I heard the clash of metal against metal, followed by Percy telling her that she looked better.

"What's up?" he asked, voice back to normal volume.

"You'll never guess who I had a run in with today," I teased.

"Who?" he asked, concern and curiosity lacing his voice.

"Our favorite demon cheerleader friend, Kelli."

Percy sighed. "How many times is she going to reform?"

"That's what I said!" I laughed, and I heard him laugh along with me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and my heart did a little gallop.

"I'm fine, I vaporized her," I said proudly, but my arm throbbed as a reminder that she had gotten several good hits on me, and that her fangs had been dangerously close to my neck.

"Nice," he exclaimed. "What happened?"

I told him the story, being honest about the fact that I was nervous and much sloppier than I used to be. I didn't feel confident, and I felt like it showed.

"You know you could always come to camp to train," he suggested. "We have capture the flag in a few days so we're running drills nonstop. I have a whole circuit planned for tomorrow, and I could always use a demonstration partner," he sounded excited but a little nervous, and my breath caught in my throat. Until now, everything we'd been doing was in the name of helping Cara and Phillip, and his suggestion felt… somehow more intimate than that.

"I don't think I can tomorrow, I'm going to a new art installation at the Met with…" I trailed off, not wanting to say Grayson's name out loud.

"Your boyfriend," Percy finished.

"Yeah," I gulped, moving the conversation along as quickly as possible. "I'll keep training here though, taking on Kelli helped me know what I need to work on."

"Right, that's a good plan," he said, and I thought I sensed an edge of disappointment in his voice. Was I imagining that?

"Okay, well, keep me updated about Phillip," I requested, then we said our goodbyes and hung up.

I called Grayson as I continued to walk home.

"Hey," he picked up on the last ring. It was a Saturday afternoon, but I knew he planned to be at the office today.

"Hey," I responded, weaving my way through the crowds of people on the sidewalk. "Do you still want to go to that art installation at the Met tomorrow?"

I heard him groan, and my heart sank. I knew immediately where this was going.

"I totally forgot, I'm so sorry, but I told Michael and Greg that we would play a round of golf tomorrow to discuss transition plans for my promotion."

I frowned into the receiver. "Wasn't that the whole point of you going into the office today?" I asked.

"Yeah, but you know how these things are. Tomorrow is more of a networking outing, I think a few other guys from the office might be joining. I'm really sorry," he apologized, but annoyance was coursing through me like a river. He was right, I did know how these things were. The first few years when I was trying to get my firm off the ground were almost 24/7 work, but I felt like I still made time for my relationship to prosper. My sleep schedule during that time was a different story, though.

"You know what," I said, probably shorter than I intended. "It's fine. The exhibit will be there for a few weeks, we'll go another time. Enjoy your game."

"Are you sure?" he asked, which I thought was laughable because he wasn't going to cancel the game even if I asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure. I'll see you later," and I hung up.

I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk now, probably blocking the flow of foot traffic, but I bashed my fingers into the screen to redial the previous call.

"Did you get attacked by another demon cheerleader in the last two minutes?" Percy joked when he picked up.

"No, but good news, my Sunday just opened up."

Percy

"Okay, awesome. I'll see you tomorrow," I said as I finished up talking to Annabeth. I balanced the phone between my shoulder and ear as I reset the weapons rack.

Grover and Juniper walked up to me as I was putting my phone back in my pocket.

"Who were you talking to?" Grover asked. I knew he already knew who I was talking to, and that he was only asking to give me a hard time about it.

"You're as bad as Chiron," I muttered, setting the last of the celestial bronze spears back on the rack.

"Look, man, all I'm saying is that we've all seen you giggling at your phone a lot over the past two weeks," he chided me.

"I am not giggling at my phone," I said in defense, but I did make a mental note to be sneakier about it. Even the trees have eyes here, literally.

"Leave him alone, Grover. It's a complicated situation," Juniper came to my defense too. I hadn't specifically talked to her about it, but I was sure Grover had filled her in.

"Have you guys figured anything else out?" she asked.

"No…" my words trailed off as I thought about it for a moment. I hadn't brought it back up again, and she hadn't either. I wasn't sure if that was because she didn't want to talk about it, or because she was as lost as I was.

I went back to see my mom again after Annabeth and I parted ways two weeks before. I wanted to ask her about the key that Annabeth had brought up. Mom swore up and down that she didn't remember asking her for her key back, and she also swore that she remembered telling me that she had come by the apartment. I believed her, but I also believed Annabeth.

This knowledge was causing a fair share of late nights right now. I couldn't turn off my brain—more so than usual—and it wasn't because of my ADHD. I had always thought something about our breakup was weird, and the conflicting stories were kicking that worry into high gear. I think she was right about our fatal flaws partially being responsible for our demise, and I was starting to blame myself for that as much as she blamed me. I should have fought harder. I should have been able to see something was wrong, and that it wasn't a betrayal. I should have…

I realized I had spaced, and I responded to Grover and Juniper in the most honest yet diplomatic way I could manage. I wasn't ready to talk about any of this yet.

"We'll figure it out. I'm just glad she's coming around here a bit more. It feels good, you know? To have her back at camp."

A/N: Percabeth centered chapter next week! (And some light angst, but shhh). ALSO I may or may not have a Percabeth one shot out soon. Everyone have a gooood week!