Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Some of our important choices have a time line. If we delay a decision, the opportunity is gone forever. Sometimes our doubts keep us from making a choice that involves change. Thus an opportunity may be missed.”—James E. Faust

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He smiled at her once.

That was her excuse for liking him. Which made no logical sense, but Annabeth was beginning to realize that people were right to say that emotions rarely ever made sense. They were something that couldn’t always be explained, which sucked for her as a daughter of Athena, yet she couldn’t be bothered to really care all that much when it came to him.

It was weird, because she was pretty sure she had a crush on Luke, not some random kid who went to school with her, but… but she had no other way to explain the way her heartrate increased every time they were in close proximation, or the way she always sought him out after giving a correct answer in class, as if hoping to catch him looking at her in appreciation and awe at her show of knowledge.

She hated the way he was making her feel. She hated the way her chest felt lighter after she saw the mesmerizing color of his eyes, or the way her stomach filled with butterflies every single time he brushed past her in the hallway, arm grazing hers without even realizing it. And gods, she hated the way she couldn’t look away from him whenever they shared PE and started exercising.

They never even talked to each other. Not really, at least. Their longest conversation was the one they’d had outside of biology class, after she accidentally overheard that he was looking for a math tutor because he was failing to understand how the Hades to even approach the equations they were being given. Annabeth had offered to help. He’d smiled, looking slightly taken aback, and then said he’d give her a call.

He never called, and Annabeth had heard that he’d found someone else to tutor him. Which was disappointing, sure, but she determinedly looked the other way and didn’t say anything about it. No way was she going to make a fool of herself over this stupid little crush. She was better than this. She was the daughter of a Greek goddess. She was the smartest student in their grade. She was not going to humiliate herself only to have one more brief conversation with a guy who barely even acknowledged her.

Gods, she hated his smiles. She hated the fact that they had the power to gain her attention and hold on tight.

He smiled at her once.

She hated that it made her like him.

The laughter echoing from her homeroom wouldn’t have made Annabeth stop, but this time she also heard her name accompanying it, which gave her pause. She ended up standing right outside the door, frown gracing her face as she gripped the straps of her backpack and strained her ears to try and hear what the voices inside were saying.

“She really is a freak, isn’t she?” Amy said lightly. “I swear I saw her notes once, and they were in a different language. Like, is she trying to make all of us look bad on purpose? Why is she practicing some foreign language in the middle of history class? It’s already difficult to follow as it is.”

“Exactly!” agreed Debby. “And her excuses when she’s late to class could use some work. I mean, she doesn’t even take the bus. We take the bus, and we’re not late, meaning the bus isn’t late.”

“Our teachers don’t know that,” noted Fren. “Besides, she’s so perfect and smart, I don’t think they care that she’s late half the time. She could miss a whole week of school and still get perfect scores on all our tests.”

“Pretty sure she’s cheating.”

“Yeah, it’s not possible to always know all the answers! And it makes all of us look bad in comparison. And have you seen the way she raises her hand to answer, like, every single question? I mean, how big of a know-it-all do you have to be to miss the fact that no one likes you because you keep on showing off?”

Debby snorted. “Who is she even showing off to? She doesn’t have any friends here. The closest people she has at this school are the teachers.”

“Ooh, ooh, but she keeps on glancing at this cute guy in the back,” said Violet excitedly. “You know, the one who called Mr. Forman ignorant after he tried to make him read that paragraph in front of everyone when he has dyslexia.”

“He has dyslexia?” said Amy. “I didn’t know that. I thought he was just kinda dumb. Oh, that makes so much more sense.”

Violet hummed. “I mean, he is kinda dumb. Not the smartest, that’s for sure.”

“That’s what we have perfect Annabeth for,” said Fren. “As if being a show off could ever help you be liked by others. Is she trying to make us look bad or is she just that oblivious to social cues and can’t help herself?”

“God, no wonder she doesn’t have any friends around here,” laughed Debby. “Who would want to associate themselves with that kind of weirdo?”

The other girl joined her.

Annabeth bit her lip and took a hesitant step back. This was stupid. She wasn’t supposed to let their words get to her. She knew she was smart and she knew she wasn’t a weirdo. She had a lot going on in her life, true, but that wasn’t her fault. She didn’t choose to be a demigod, after all. She didn’t choose to have complications in her life. She didn’t choose any of it.

Besides, she’s been through quite a bit. She’s been helping Camp Half-Blood fight against Kronos (and Luke) and his army for a couple of years now, doing her best to prevent the Titan from rising again and destroying the world. Which didn’t work, because Kronos did rise, and he resided in Luke’s body of all places. But she still fought along with her friends.

Did that count for nothing? She was sacrificing so much so that girls like the ones she went to school with could keep on obliviously living on this earth without the reign of terror of Kronos and his accomplices.

Yet here she was, backing away from a few mean girls who were laughing at her behind her back, as if this was the kind of monster Annabeth couldn’t handle. Well, she couldn’t just stab them in the chest with a knife, could she? She had to face them and act like she was okay despite knowing none of them liked her.

No one in her class really liked her. They were right about that. She didn’t have friends. She didn’t have anyone she regularly talked to or met up with. But gods, this so wasn’t fair. She had friends back at camp. She had a family there that cared about her and appreciated her.

So why did she care what some random people in her class thought about her?

Another step back made her collide with something. Annabeth whirled around instantly, hand already going toward her waist, where her knife was carefully hidden from sight. She froze, however, at the sight of Percy Jackson standing there, a frown marring his features as he tore his eyes from the classroom door in order to look at her.

“Sorry, didn’t see you there,” she said.

“You had your back to me,” he noted, and something in his voice sounded tight, “how could you have seen me?”

Right, that was a stupid thing to say.

“Uh…”

He glanced at the door again, his eyes hardening. “You’re not a freak, you know. I think it’s awesome that you’re this smart. They’re just jealous of you.”

Annabeth groaned. “You heard that?”

Walking around her and toward the classroom, he offered her a small smile. “You should punch them in the face—that’ll make them shut up. If you don’t do it, I just might.” He turned his back to her and added over his shoulder, “You coming?”

“Don’t punch them.”

He shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets while nudging the door open with his shoulder. “If you say so, although it would have been so satisfying… Seriously, though—you coming in or what?”

She forced her legs to follow after him into the class. The moment they stepped in, the girls’ laughter drifted away and died down. They offered the two of them wide grins that Annabeth could tell were forced and fake. Percy received more genuine ones, but he didn’t smile back, instead just marching toward his desk in the back before dropping his backpack to the floor and sitting down.

Annabeth was going to head over to her own desk, at the front of the class, but stopped when she noticed Percy’s gestures for her to take the empty seat next to him. A seat that’s always been empty since the kids in their class figured out pretty quickly that Percy couldn’t sit still for longer than five minutes, which drove most of them insane and forced them to sit somewhere else.

Hesitating, Annabeth tried to imagine herself sitting next to someone who’d drive her mad like that. She already had ADHD. Percy would make it that much harder to concentrate on their lessons—both because of his constant fidgeting and the fact that he was… well… him. Annabeth figured it would be a nightmare to try and force her body not to react and focus solely on him if she chose to share a desk with him.

But he wanted her to sit with him, and when he cracked a smile and tipped his head to the side while waiting for her to make up her mind, Annabeth found that she simply couldn’t say no to him. It was just impossible.

So she walked past the three girls who’d laughed at her earlier and were now watching Percy and her like hawks, and took the offered seat next to the boy, her body buzzing from the close proximity and her racing thoughts that kept on wondering whether he was only being nice to her right now because he pitied her or felt sorry for her after hearing what these girls had to say.

She wasn’t sure what to do next. She was sitting next to the boy she liked, whom she doubted even knew her name, and she wasn’t sure what to say. Was she even supposed to speak? He invited her to sit next to him, but he was also currently texting someone on his phone, and Annabeth was too afraid of being accused of nosing in to try and glimpse at the name of the contact.

Were they meant to speak to each other now? Maybe he only wanted her to sit with him so she wouldn’t be alone while with these girls. Or maybe he figured it would make the three shut up to see her with someone for a change instead of sitting by herself like a loser. Either way, Annabeth didn’t know whether to say something or not and it was driving her mad.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to say,” said Percy as he put his phone face-down on the desk and turned to her with a somewhat sheepish smile, “thank you for offering to tutor me.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I just heard you say you needed help…”

“Yeah, I did,” he said, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck, “and I was gonna take you up on that, but then my stepdad offered to help me instead and my mom thought it would be a great way for us to bond or something. I don’t know, it’s weird. He doesn’t even teach math—he teaches English. Plus, we already get along just fine. Anyway, sorry for never really… explaining that.”

Oh.

Annabeth smiled and nodded. “It’s fine. Just thought I’d offer some help. I’m glad you managed to handle it, Percy.” She hesitated for a moment, then timorously added, “I’m honestly not sure I would have been a good tutor. I get pretty impatient when people don’t get the point fast enough.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “You tutored someone before?”

“The summer camp I go to sometimes gets kids that need a little bit of help with certain things we learn. And I’m one of the senior campers, so I usually get asked to help teach the younger kids. And, I mean, I can teach, but sometimes they get a little annoyed with me because I expect too much of them, I think.”

“You go to a summer camp?” he asked, and there was a curious glint in his eye as he tipped his head to the side. “What do you learn there, then?”

“Uh…” Ancient Greek, for example. Annabeth figured that would be a weird thing to say she learned at summer camp, so instead she said, “You know, like… useful stuff we’d need for the rest of the year.”

“Like history and math?”

“Kinda,” she said with a shrug. They did, after all, learn about Ancient Greece and the gods, which counted as history. “It’s a summer camp that really focuses on preparing the kids that come there for the future. Important life skills, you know?”

He wouldn’t know, she knew, but she still smiled as comfortably as she could. She couldn’t tell this random guy the truth, after all. He’d call her insane. Or he’d laugh at her, or dismiss her claims as a joke. After all, what kind of person still believed the Greek gods from Greek Mythology existed? It was something a nut job would try spreading around, not a level-headed high school girl like herself.

If only she weren’t also a demigod who was literally the daughter of one of these ancient gods that weren’t supposed to exist… life would have been so much easier then.

“Cool,” said Percy as he tapped the table absently. “I’ve never been to summer camp. You got any friends there?”

“I’ve met all of my friends there. We’re like a big family.”

She resisted the urge to grin at her own innocent truth. Percy looked like he could tell she was sharing a private joke with him, though he didn’t laugh or grin knowingly, since clearly he wasn’t in on the joke. He didn’t know she was a demigod, just like the other campers. He had no reason to believe she meant her friends were literally her extended family.

“Sounds nice, not gonna lie,” said Percy. “I never really had the best luck with making friends. I never went to the same school two years in a row, so I haven’t really been able to keep in touch with anyone.”

“Do you move around a lot?”

He laughed bitterly. “No way. I’m a New Yorker through and through. I just have the worst luck, so I always end up getting expelled. This is my tenth school in nine years.”

She spluttered. “Tenth?”

“Yeah… I went to my stepdad’s school for, like, a week this year, and then… um… well, they claimed I blew up the music room—which didn’t happen, but nobody wanted to listen to me—so my mom moved me to this one instead.”

Annabeth stared at Percy incredulously. She wasn’t really shocked from the story of Percy moving from school to school, or from his claim that his last school’s music room had been blown up, which he was accused of. All of that was normal for her. She was used to such stories from other demigods who came to camp.

But that was just it—she was used to this kind of track record from other half-bloods. From kids who had ADHD and dyslexia, and couldn’t help but draw monsters toward them, which usually led to people’s minds getting messed up by the Mist so they ended up believing the kids were the ones at fault, not the monsters.

But Percy was human, as far as she was aware. He was her age, right? Any other half-bloods that old would have either gotten to camp already, found by a satyr, or would have been killed by a monster. The chances that he was an undiscovered demigod in the middle of New York who apparently kept on attracting monsters and dangers every year… well, it sounded laughable.

She wanted to ask him about it somehow, but how the heck could she go about that? She couldn’t just straight up ask him if his dad—not the stepdad—was a Greek god. For one thing, he might think she was out of her mind, and for another… well, maybe he wasn’t even aware of that. Maybe he didn’t know the truth about his family.

Or he was a completely normal teenager who just happened to have some really bad luck in his life.

Her eyes landed on the cellphone on the table. If he were a demigod, he wouldn’t have been using one, right? Wasn’t that enough evidence against this theory? A monster would come and try to attack him any moment now if he had a phone with him that he used. And Annabeth knew from, uh, earlier observation that Percy used his phone whenever without a care in the world.

But the fact that his father was seemingly out of the picture was suspicious and convenient, wasn’t it? And she was pretty sure he was dyslexic. Haven’t the girls mentioned something about Percy having dyslexia? And it wasn’t hard to share classes with him and see that he obviously had ADHD, too.

Then again, half the world had ADHD. Was it really that strange that he had this specific combination?

Well, yes, it was. But also… it kinda wasn’t.

Before she could somehow test out her new theory, Percy’s phone chimed in and he turned to it, flipping it over and grinning at whatever text he saw. After that, he kept on chatting with whoever it was, leaving Annabeth to eye him curiously with a subtle frown. She needed answers, and she needed to get them as soon as possible.

Annabeth wasn’t really considered a coward. She was always willing to join a fight if she thought it was necessary. She was proud and brave and sometimes a bit too arrogant for her own good. But she was no coward. That has never been an adjective people attached to her name.

But this time she found herself holding back, too wary to go up to Percy and figure out whether or not he was, in fact, related to her mythical world. She really didn’t want him to be. She didn’t want to realize her normal friend was actually a part of this messy life she was trying hard to ignore for the time being despite knowing there was war hurtling her way.

It’s just… he was so normal, and Annabeth didn’t need to talk to him about strategies and weaponry and whether or not they thought they’d have a chance of survival against Kronos and his army. No, Percy and she mainly started talking about school and their previous school experiences, comparing notes and seeing which one had the worse luck.

Hanging out with him was fun and easy. Once Percy started opening up to her and seeing her as a friend and not just a classmate like the rest of them, he became that much more interesting. He was energetic, and funny, and ridiculously reckless. He was loyal and kind and caring. Kids at school sometimes teased him for being very close to his mother, but Annabeth could tell he didn’t mind, instead holding his head up high, like it was something to be proud of.

She was never close to her own mother, her being Athena and all. And she had a complicated relationship with her dad and his wife and kids, but she could still appreciate just special Percy’s bond with his mom was. Plus, he seemed to truly like his stepdad, which was a very lucky bit about his life that Annabeth was almost jealous of.

The more time they spent together, the more Annabeth found herself getting wrapped around this guy. It still made no logical sense, but she also found that everything she learned about him only endeared him to her further. The only thing that truly exasperated her regarding him was just how obtuse he was. Seriously, how dense could one person be when it came to someone else’s feelings toward them?

So she wasn’t exactly in a rush to figure out whether Percy was related to the Greek world. She liked living in this illusion, where everything was going okay, there was no war approaching, and Annabeth could just hang out with her normal, mortal friend without worrying about a monster showing up to kill the both of them.

And then she got her answer, anyway.

They were walking home from school together, talking about the pop quiz their teacher decided to give them just for the sake of it. Percy nervously fidgeted with his pen and claimed he’d messed up all of his answers since he hadn’t been paying enough attention to the last few lessons, at which Annabeth rolled her eyes.

And then a hellhound came running from around the corner, its blood-red eyes locked on Annabeth as it bared its teeth at her and pounced.

She immediately reached toward her knife, going to unsheathe and use it to try and defend herself and fight off this monster, but before she could even bring up the dagger, a bronze blade flashed before her eyes, cutting through the air and smacking the hellhound’s snout with the flat side, which made it jerk to the side. The demonic dog howled as it stumbled off course and whined in pain before turning around to growl menacingly at his attacker.

Annabeth gawked a little as she also turned to look away from the hellhound and over at Percy, who was no longer holding his pen, but rather a celestial bronze sword that glimmered in the afternoon light. His gaze was cool as he looked at the giant dog without a hint of fear.

She was probably supposed to move and help him, but instead she watched reverently as he faced off against the hellhound. He didn’t falter when one claw tore through the skin of his arm, instead immediately slashing forward with his sword to leave a mark across the dog’s side.

All in all, Annabeth was pretty sure the whole thing didn’t last longer than a minute, but by the time the hellhound dissolved into powder, her mind was already reeling too quickly for her to even comprehend her own thoughts. She felt numb, just standing there and staring at Percy as he capped the sword, turning it back into his familiar pen, looking calm and collected, like this was nothing big; just another Tuesday, duh.

“You…” she started saying weakly, but her voice trailed off uncertainly.

Percy looked at her and smiled sheepishly. He used his uninjured hand to press against the scratch on his arm, although it was probably not that bad if he wasn’t reacting badly to it. Besides, other than that, he looked perfectly fine. She would never have guessed he’d just fought and killed a hellhound if she hadn’t been there to see it.

“Wanna go somewhere we can talk?” he suggested, and he sounded much nervous about that than he did while fighting the monster.

Nodding, Annabeth let him lead the way.

They ended up sitting opposite each other in a corner café Annabeth must have passed about a hundred times on her way back from school. They got themselves milkshakes to drink, with Percy sipping on a blueberry one and Annabeth on a vanilla one that made the awkwardness she was feeling reduce just enough to make it less oppressive.

And then the two of them just ended up sitting there, stealing glimpses at each other while trying not to make it obvious they were staring. Annabeth found herself glancing at Percy’s injured hand more than once, her stomach rolling at the sight of the thin line of liquid that dripped from it down his bicep without him noticing.

He must have noticed what she was looking at because his eyes drifted down to check it out and his face paled a little when he noticed the scratch. He took a napkin and dabbed at the shallow wound with it, as if the problem was that he was bleeding and not that he was bleeding ichor.

“Okay,” he said bashfully after scrunching up the used napkin and tossing it to the side of the table, “I can explain.”

Annabeth covered her mouth with her hands and let out a muffled groan. “I swear, Percy, if you’re a god, I’m gonna murder you—”

“Uh, you can’t kill me,” he noted, then flinched when she glared at him. “Not that that’s the point, of course. Plus, somehow I feel like you’d find a way to make it possible, huh?” He chuckled mirthlessly. “Luckily, I’m not a god.”

She gave the golden ichor on the napkin a flat look. “Your blood says otherwise.”

He started tapping his finger on the glass of his milkshake. “Okay, it looks bad, but I’m still not a god. Just… immortal.”

“Just immortal?”

“It’s complicated.”

She gave him an expectant look, her leg bouncing under the table. There was a bitter sort of taste in her mouth as she looked at Percy’s anxious face. A part of her couldn’t help but still look at him like she has been this entire time—like he was her crush; like she liked him a lot and wanted to get closer to him. But another part stared at the boy sitting across from her from behind a barricade meant to shield her from the pain he was about to inflict upon her.

Immortal? She wanted to cry. If he was immortal, they would never go anywhere. He was probably someone she hadn’t heard of before now. He was probably one of the lesser-known entities in Greek mythology that Annabeth must have skipped during her time learning everything she could about this world. And Annabeth already knew it wouldn’t be worth it to get her heart broken just because she decided to like someone who’d probably forget all about her in a couple years.

“Okay,” said Percy when she kept on silently watching him. “All right, so here’s the deal—my dad was punished and turned into a human for a while, and during that time he met my mother and she got pregnant with me. But since he was human at the time, I wasn’t really a demigod, but I wasn’t a regular human, either. I was more, like, something in between. And apparently it was killing me. So my dad turned me immortal, which was his only way of helping or something. But I’m not a god, okay? I don’t have a domain or responsibilities. I don’t have super powerful powers. I can’t make my homework write itself.”

Annabeth blinked at him. “Why was it killing you?” she asked.

He frowned. “Something about… having a completely human body while also containing something godly within it, I think. Dad said I was literally burning from the inside out because of it. My mom begged him to help and he did… this.” He gestured toward the drying ichor on his arm. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you before. Especially after I realized you were a half-blood.”

She bit the inside of her cheek and thoughtfully stirred the straw of her milkshake. It was surreal to think that she was sitting across from someone who would have been just like her in another universe, yet ended up being immortal just because it was the only way to save his life. Honestly, she was a little shocked to hear that one of the gods was kind enough to bother turning a child of his immortal when the gods barely even acknowledged their children most of the time.

But the thing was… the story made sense. Annabeth had overheard several of Chiron’s conversations with Mr. D over the years, and one of them mentioned Zeus punishing Poseidon by sending him to Earth as a mortal for a year. It had happened years ago, around the time Annabeth herself was born. She’d never really paid that little bit of information any mind, but now she couldn’t help but wonder…

She’d met the Olympians, after all. Last winter she’d stood in front of the council, listening to the gods as they bickered and argued and tried to decide what to do regarding Kronos, the Ophisaurus and Thalia. She’d observed them all, taking them in and committing their looks to memory despite knowing they could alter their appearances with a single thought.

Poseidon had been there, too, of course; sitting right by Zeus’s side and looking rather laidback and nonchalant up until they started discussing killing the sea monster. Then he’d intervened, claiming they should let the creature live, protected and out of reach of anyone who might want to harm the gods.

If she wanted to, she could picture the god in her mind—sun-kissed skin, windswept black hair, eyes the color of the sea. He had crinkles around his eyes, which became more prominent when he smiled in victory after convincing the council to leave the Ophisaurus be. When he wasn’t smiling, he had a brooding expression that made her slightly wary, worried he might be plotting something behind everyone’s backs.

Now, looking up at Percy and taking him in, Annabeth couldn’t help but feel stupid for having never realized he looked exactly like the sea god. Seriously, she could have believed he was actually Poseidon himself, simply using a much younger body. But she knew this wasn’t the god. Poseidon had radiated enormous power, just like the rest of the Olympians. Percy… well, if she focused, she could tell he was emitting power, too, but not at the same level as his dad.

His dad…

“You’re a son of Poseidon, aren’t you?” she said.

Percy smiled and rubbed the back of his neck but didn’t say anything. Not that Annabeth needed a verbal response—now that she was looking at him with this idea in mind, she couldn’t unsee the similarities. It was so obvious.

“So how does it work?” she asked after a moment, watching as Percy took another long sip from his drink. “Do you age? Do you control the way you look? How old even are you? I mean, I’m guessing you really are around my age because from what I know, it matches with the time your dad had been turned into a human…”

“I sort of control the way I look, I guess,” he said slowly. “I can’t look older than I actually am, but I can look younger. Like, I can be a baby or a toddler, but I can’t be in my twenties because I’m only fifteen.” He glanced down at his hand and flexed his fingers. “I don’t really change the way I look, though. I just keep on growing. I’m trying not to think about it too much.”

“Why do you go to school?”

“Because… I have to?”

“You hate it, though,” she said. “If you’re immortal, can’t you… I don’t know, skip the whole thing? You could be doing literally anything else right now.”

He turned to look out the window of the café with a faraway look on his face. “I don’t know. My mom and I try not to think about it too much. We try to pretend like everything is normal, and going to school is normal. Besides, I’m going to have eternity to get bored. I might as well do the regular stuff the world has to offer first, right?”

There was something bitter in his voice, like the thought of living forever made him upset rather than ecstatic like so many other people would have been in his shoes. Annabeth imagined immortals bragging about their inability to die. She expected Percy to do the same, but instead he spoke about it like it was a bad thing he was trying not to dwell on.

Maybe her expression made it obvious what was going through her head, because Percy looked at her with a sad smile. “I’m going to live way past my mom. Or any friend I might make. I’m gonna lose the people I care about over and over again, you know? I’m just… I’m not really looking forward to it. Dying might suck for you, but I wish I would have been able to do it. Not, like, right this moment, but in the future, once I’ve been through enough.”

Shaking his head as if to shake out the depressing thoughts, Percy smiled at Annabeth and said, “Your mom is Athena, right?”

She contemplated not allowing him to change the subject, but eventually decided to let him be. He didn’t really have to tell her anything. So what if she had a crush on him? Apparently it wouldn’t last, anyway. Even if they would age side by side, he would forget all about her in a few centuries at most. She’ll be nothing but an echo of someone he used to know back in the day.

“Yeah,” she said, sitting up straight. “I’ve been wondering if you were a demigod, too. I guess I was close enough to the truth, huh?”

He smiled, eyes twinkling in the light that streamed in through the window. “I mean, there aren’t a lot of differences between whatever the heck I am and demigods. That is, if you ignore the part where I can’t die.”

“That’s a pretty big change.”

He chuckled and took another sip from his milkshake. “That’s true. And I don’t attract as many monsters as you guys do. Either they can’t smell me like they can smell you, or they think I’m stronger than I actually am.”

“Or they realize it would be stupid to attack someone they can’t kill,” she noted.

“That, too.”

Annabeth drank a little more from the vanilla milkshake, then said, “Have you ever been to Camp Half-Blood, then?” She hasn’t seen him around, but that didn’t mean he really hasn’t visited the place.

Percy shook his head. “I’ve heard about it, but I wasn’t sure I should go there. I wasn’t sure how people might react. I mean, I’m the child of a god, but I’m not a half-blood. And I don’t need the protection the camp offers. I can just heal myself eventually. Not like my wounds are gonna kill me,” he added with a smirk.

“Heal yourself how?”

“Water,” he said happily. “Being a son of Poseidon has its perks, I guess.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Weird. Water heals you? My friend is a daughter of Zeus but she doesn’t get healed by inhaling air or anything…”

His lips twitched. “I mean, that would have been really unfair if it did,” he said smugly. “Can you imagine just always being able to heal yourself by simply taking in a deep breath?”

“No, yeah, it would have been so much more unfair than, say, touching water and healing.”

“Exactly,” he said brightly, ignoring her wry tone. Slurping his milkshake, Percy said, “Your friend’s name is Thalia, isn’t it? My dad told me about her. He kept on passing me mental notes about that meeting they had last winter solstice. I made him defend the Ophiotaurus. I mean, it’s an innocent creature. It doesn’t deserve to die just because the gods are paranoid.”

Annabeth blinked. “You’re the reason he convinced the others to keep it alive?”

“Yeah. I visit Bessie every once in a while.”

“Bessie?”

“I named him.”

“You named him Bessie?”

Percy’s cheeks turned a little pink as he finished his milkshake. “I didn’t know he was a boy…”

“Oh, gods…” she muttered, unable to keep the smile off her face as she shook her head in exasperation at the boy sitting across from her. “So you’re telling me your dad just casually speaks to you from time to time?”

His smile dimmed a little as he locked eyes with her. “The ancient rules don’t apply to me,” he said cautiously. “I’m not a demigod or mortal. It means my dad doesn’t have to stay out of my life the way he would have had I been a demigod.” He fidgeted with his straw. “I’m sorry.”

She pressed her lips and didn’t say anything. She could see the logic behind it—Poseidon would have no problem keeping in contact with Percy since, well, he wasn’t mortal. He wasn’t going to die or cause much trouble, probably. He wasn’t like demigods. But it was still unfair to hear that a child of a god got to actually have somewhat of a relationship with his godly parent.

Annabeth rarely ever saw her mother, and even when they did meet, they didn’t always talk. Athena had defended her during the council meeting, true, but she hadn’t sought Annabeth out during the party afterward. She’d stayed away, keeping her distance. She’d given Annabeth her hat when she was younger, but even that had happened with no exchange of words.

If she was being honest, she was a little jealous of Percy.

“It’s not your fault,” she mumbled.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “I guess. But I know it’s causing you guys a whole lot of trouble.”

She locked eyes with him. “You know about the war?”

“That my stupid grandpa rose back from Tartarus with the help of the demigods who turned on the gods and decided to help him instead? Yeah, I’ve heard a few things. Where do you think Rachel came from?”

Annabeth’s lips parted in surprise at the mention of the clear-sighted mortal that had helped her navigate through the Labyrinth last summer. She’d run into her by chance and then ended up using her help. Without her, they would have been lost in that maze forever, most likely. Camp would have been completely pulverized by the Titan’s army.

“I met her at my stepdad’s high school,” said Percy with a shrug when Annabeth kept on gawking at him. “She saw the monsters that were lurking around, but she told me she was human. Then I heard people were going down to the Labyrinth and I figured that if Ariadne could navigate that place, maybe Rachel could, too. She said she didn’t mind helping, so we started looking for whoever went on that quest.”

“I did,” said Annabeth faintly. “It was my quest. I was leading it. Rachel helped me.”

Percy grinned. “Oh, cool!” Then he cringed a little and pushed his glass away from him. “Sorry it didn’t prevent Kronos from returning.”

Annabeth shook her head mildly. “I don’t understand, why haven’t you helped us personally? If you can’t die, wouldn’t it be super helpful to have you fight along with us?” She narrowed her eyes a little. “You have a sword, and apparently water powers. What’s stopping you?”

He looked down and his hair fell into his eyes, blocking them from Annabeth’s line of sight.

“Nobody really knows I exist,” he said in a small voice, sounding almost timid and embarrassed. “My dad still sort of broke his oath when he had me. He’s been careful not to slip and let Zeus find out I exist. He said he doesn’t want me to get found out by getting involved. He said Zeus would find a way to punish me for it.”

“But he can’t kill you,” she noted.

His eyes looked stormy all of a sudden. “There are worse things in life than dying. Like, say, eternal torture. Kronos can’t die, either, but he still ended up in Tartarus, cut to little pieces. Prometheus can’t die, but he was punished severely for helping humans against Zeus’s orders, too.” He swallowed uneasily. “I wanna do more. I wish I could. But… I kind of also don’t want to end up having an eagle feast on my intestines.”

Annabeth furled her fingers around her milkshake glass. It was half-full still and cold to the touch. She wanted to resent Percy for making the choice to let them fight and fall in battle just because he was afraid, but then she imagined being in his place—knowing she could assist, but it would most likely end up with her getting tortured until the end of time.

Would she have made the same choice he was making? She wasn’t sure.

“I see your point,” she said eventually, scrunching up her nose at the mental image of Percy taking Prometheus’s place in that horrid penance. “But, um, if you ever change your mind, we would really appreciate all the help we can get, you know. Before even more campers die.”

He looked really uncomfortable at her words, squirming in his seat like he wished he could be anywhere else right now. His finger tapped the table restlessly as he once again turned to stare out the window. The thought of leaving the demigods to fend for themselves seemed to really torment him, she noticed. He was genuinely distraught by that.

“Helping from behind the scenes is good, too,” she said encouragingly, nudging his shin with her foot. “We would have probably lost camp and a whole lot more campers if it weren’t for Rachel.”

He didn’t look like it consoled him all that much, but he still offered her a small smile for her effort. Even if she wanted to be mad at him for leaving them alone in this fight that would certainly also affect him, she found that everything about him was just too genuine, sincere and honest for her to blame him for not caring. She could tell that he did by the gleam in his eye.

Desperately trying to steer the conversation away from this depressing subject, Annabeth said, “Next time we’re doing this, maybe we shouldn’t bring up this Greek drama.”

Her eyes widened when he looked at her with a startled and amused grin, like he was caught off guard but didn’t find anything bad in this surprise.

“Next time?” he said cheerily.

“Next time we’re hanging out,” she said weakly.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Sure that’s what you meant,” he said mockingly.

She met his gaze, refusing to back down. “I did.”

He kicked her leg lightly, grin not faltering in the least. “Of course.”

“You sound skeptical.”

“Nooooo,” he drawled with his fist pressed over his smile. “I believe you. We’re hanging out.”

“We’re friends.”

“Sure.”

Annabeth clenched her fists and glared at him. “Stop sounding cynical. I’m being serious.”

“So am I,” he said and stretched back in his seat, hands folded behind his head. “Can’t you tell? This is my serious face.” He grinned widely.

She brushed her glass of milkshake aside so she wouldn’t accidentally end up knocking it off the table. That was the last thing she needed right now. Not when she was already feeling like someone was reaching into her chest and squeezing her heart until it ached to the point of making her wish she could just shut her eyes and whimper pathetically.

“Percy, even if I did like you,” she said and tried hard to ignore the way his eyes gleamed and twinkled, “we can’t do it. It’d be too much like going out with one of the gods. I won’t be able to stop thinking about how you’ll probably forget all about me at some point in time. I’ll be six feet under and you’ll still be around. I don’t think I could do that.”

Some of the light in his eyes dimmed as he shifted in his seat and turned to look at the table with a much smaller smile gracing his face. He looked so much like a disappointed kid who wasn’t allowed his favorite ice-cream, Annabeth nearly broke and took her words back. But she held strong, because even though this hurt to say, it was the truth.

Maybe her dad didn’t have a problem with seeing Athena for a while despite knowing she was an immortal goddess. Maybe Percy’s mom knew what she was getting into with Poseidon. Either way, Annabeth wasn’t like that. She couldn’t imagine living with the knowledge that someone she deeply cared about would one day move on completely and would probably not even remember her name or her face.

By the look on his face, she figured Percy could see her point.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said with a cheerful tone of voice that sounded off. “I guess I never really thought that far ahead.”

“We can still be friends, though, right?” she said, attempting to make the hope in her voice sound less obvious than it felt, because gods, she didn’t think she’d survive it if Percy decided to completely go back to acting like aloof strangers.

His smile turned a little more genuine as he nodded. “Yeah. Friends.”

A week later they found themselves sitting on Percy’s bed, with Percy whining about how difficult reading Latin was and with Annabeth rolling her eyes at his dramatic sighs and moans as he leaned back against the headboard, an arm coming up to rest over his eyes.

For a moment she stared at him, taking in his features one by one and all together. It was almost laughable, knowing he had no idea just how good he looked. He’d literally snorted in Daniella’s face after she’d told him he was one of the hottest kids in their school, claiming she was delusional. Annabeth had decided not to comment on that, instead biting back her grin.

But seriously, how could he not realize people were being serious when they said he looked good? All he had to do was look in the nearest mirror, right? It wasn’t really surprising he looked that way, knowing he looked just like his father—the Greek god. It meant Percy looked like a Greek god. Annabeth’s met plenty of other demigods and none of them looked quite as much like their godly parents as Percy did. He was simply a carbon copy of Poseidon.

With his eyes still closed and blocked by his hand, Annabeth found her gaze trailing over to his lips. She wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. Would it be special or normal? Would she like it? Would he? Would he remember it if she kissed him? Would he be able to gush about it like a lovestruck teenager in, say, a hundred years? Or would he forget all about her by then?

Gods, she didn’t have any guarantee that they would last for longer than several months. She wasn’t sure she would survive the next few months—with Kronos having come back and all that jazz.

It sent a pang through her chest and she frowned.

Before she could possibly overthink this even more, Annabeth leaned forward and hastily pecked Percy on the lips, pulling away so quickly, she nearly got whiplash from her own movement.

She blinked her eyes, then opened them and found Percy staring at her with a dumbstruck expression on his flushed face. He was frozen to the spot for a moment, simply watching her owlishly. And then he pushed himself away from the headboard until he was sitting properly in front of her, his hands tugging at the sims of his t-shirt.

“You—I thought you said you didn’t want to do this,” he said, licking his lips nervously as he shifted from side to side.

She pursed her lips and frowned. “I know,” she said. “But for all I know, I could die tomorrow—”

“Don’t say that,” he said in alarm.

“It’s the truth.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away defiantly. “You’re not gonna die tomorrow.”

“Since when can you tell the future, Seaweed Brain?” she said with an arched eyebrow.

His hands clenched and his expression turned harder, like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Still, he looked like he was going to personally follow her around all day if it meant making sure she didn’t get killed out of the blue the next day, which made Annabeth’s body feel warm.

“The point is,” she said, taking pity on him, “I don’t want to regret not doing something just because I’m scared of the possibilities that come with it. I just… I don’t want to give up on something because we have no control over it.”

Percy looked at her again, his features softening as he shook his head a little. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future,” he told her gently. “I don’t know how much I’ll remember. I wish I could promise you that I will never forget this, but… looking at the gods kind of doesn’t give me any hope.”

She took in a deep breath, then looked into his eyes—sea-green, mesmerizing, captivating, enchanting—and smiled.

“As long as you don’t cheat on me while we’re going out, I don’t care.”

“Of course I won’t!” he screeched in a mixture of embarrassment and indignation.

“Besides,” she said, ignoring him, “I won’t forget, so at least one of us will always remember.”

Percy furrowed his brows a little. “Well, technically you can’t be sure what you’ll remember after you die—”

“Percy,” she chided.

A smile tugged at his lips. “Are you sure about this?”

When she leaned in this time, Percy met her halfway.

She wasn’t completely sure about this, but she decided it was certainly worth the risks.

Annabeth stared at the army that was marching over the Williamsburg Bridge, determined to cross to the other side despite the Apollo campers that were shooting from afar, trying to hold them back. The longer she looked, the further down her heart sank.

They couldn’t beat all of them. There were far too few campers compared to the number of enemies they were facing off against. Her optimism from the beginning of the battle faded away as she kept on looking, fingers curling around the hilt of her dagger so tightly, she was losing feeling.

The thing was—they couldn’t just give up. They had to keep on fighting until there was nothing left. They had to do their best. The gods were counting on them, the city was counting on them, the whole freaking world was counting on them, even if people had no idea there was anything to fear. After all, they had no idea Kronos was attempting to overthrow the Olympians and bring a new age of misery upon the human living on this planet.

“Then we’re dead, right?” said Michael Yew from his place beside her.

Annabeth wanted to contradict him, but frankly, she had to agree. They were so dead. They had no way of defeating that many monsters all by themselves. And she was painfully aware of the fact that there were plenty more monsters fighting all over the city, trying to get past other groups of campers and Hunters.

“We have to try,” she told him, trying not to let her voice waver and reveal her hesitance.

Michael browsed through his arrows with a grimace, then lifted his gaze to stare at her. “Hey, on the plus side, at least we’re not sleeping through all of this. Imagine being a regular mortal and waking up to the end of the world without any warning. I’d have been terrified.”

“That’s cheerful,” a voice said behind them. “Awesome pep-talk. I feel better already.”

They whirled around, Michael directing a regular arrow at the person behind him with a look of apprehension and confusion on his face that seemed to only deepen once he laid eyes on the guy.

Annabeth’s shoulders sagged down in relief as she ignored the arrow and threw herself into Percy’s arms, mumbling, “You came, thank the gods,” under her breath.

He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her messy hair. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

“What if Zeus finds out about this?” she said as she pulled away to scan him carefully, making sure he was fine despite knowing it was pointless, with him being immortal and all. “What if he realizes who you are?”

“I’m thinking he’d be too busy fighting Typhon to pay attention to little old me,” he said with a smirk. “Plus, if the gods lose, he won’t be able to do anything to me, anyway, so might as well take that risk.”

“Uh… mind enlightening me?” Michael chimed in as he cautiously lowered his bow, still staring at Percy. “Who’re you?”

Letting go of Annabeth, Percy offered Michael a friendly smile. “Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, nice to meet you. I’m your secret weapon.”

“You are not our secret weapon, Seaweed Brain,” chided Annabeth. “You’re not a weapon.”

“I’m a soldier that can’t die,” he shot back easily. “I’m the ultimate secret weapon.”

Michael shook his head helplessly. “I’m so confused… Poseidon broke the oath, too?”

“Yep.”

“And ended up with an undying demigod? What does it even mean?”

Percy patted him on the shoulder, as if that helped explaining the situation in any way, then turned to look at the approaching army over their shoulders. He frowned and pulled his ballpoint pen out of his pocket before uncapping it and revealing Anaklusmos. Annabeth sent the blade a reverent look, having learned not to doubt it or its wielder ever again.

Michael Yew looked between Percy, Riptide and Annabeth, then sent a look back at the monsters and calmly said, “It was nice meeting you, man.”

Cracking a smile, Percy nodded. “Yeah, likewise.” He turned to Annabeth, looking much more serious. “Help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I’ll distract the monsters. You group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while I keep them focused on me.”

“All right,” she said, suppressing a smile as she pulled him by the front of his shirt to plant a kiss on his lips, “but don’t you dare start thinking you’re the leader, Percy. I just happen to think it’s a good plan.”

His eyes twinkled as he winked at her, then hurried off down the bridge toward the monsters. She watched him with Michael for a moment. The Apollo counselor’s jaw dropped at the sight of Percy tearing through enemy lines like a demon, slashing his sword around with reckless abandon.

“Whoa,” he muttered.

Annabeth grinned, though she couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry every time a hit landed on Percy. He could still feel pain, after all, even if he couldn’t drop dead. He was still human. He was still risking a lot. But she had to trust him for now. She had to believe he could do it. He was correct to say he was their secret—just… not a weapon; never a weapon.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said, dragging Michael away.

Annabeth watched with bated breath as Zeus grumbled to himself under Poseidon’s threatening and unyielding gaze. The sea god looked like he would attack his brother with his trident if he so much as breathed in Percy’s direction with suppressed malice. Even though his son couldn’t die, Annabeth had to appreciate the protectiveness that emitted so clearly from every coiled muscle in his body.

She exchanged a look with Thalia, who stood by Artemis’s side and observed the scene playing before her carefully, her leg securely wrapped in a cast provided by Apollo. Next to Annabeth, Bianca shifted her stance, eyes flitting all around as she seemed to try and hold herself together while being faced with the entire Olympian council.

A couple of steps ahead of her, Percy stood tall in front of the gods, his hands playing with Riptide in pen form, like he longed to just summon his sword and use it to cut through the awkwardness that enveloped the room since the moment the gods laid eyes on him and realized exactly who he was.

As if feeling her eyes on him, he turned his head back and locked eyes with Annabeth for a brief moment, offering her a reassuring smile. As if she was the one the gods were discussing the fate of. As if her eternal life was on the line.

“I must agree with Poseidon,” Hades chimed in, his dark eyes watching Percy in boredom. “Punishing the boy would be wrong unless you also decide to bestow the exact same fate upon your daughter, Zeus.”

Zeus’s eyes briefly landed on Thalia’s defiant face, then he glared at Percy. “He shouldn’t exist,” he grumbled.

“Neither does the girl,” said Hera in distaste, nose scrunched up, “and yet I doubt you will let any of us lay a hand on her, unprompted.”

Thalia’s eye twitched. “Really feeling the love.”

“These heroes have done a great service to Olympus, Father,” said Artemis calmly. “They should be rewarded for their efforts, not admonished, and that includes the boy.”

“He’s the child the prophecy’s been talking about,” said Apollo with a bright grin aimed at Percy. “We should totally thank him for making a good choice and not condemning Olympus and all of us, right?”

“Olympian justice,” his twin agreed.

Annabeth lowered her head to stare down at her feet, pondering the words. She was still reeling from the discovery that it was, in fact, Percy’s sixteenth birthday today, making it kind of obvious he was the child of the Great Prophecy they’d been fearing for so long. Up until that day, Annabeth had been sure the hero would end up being Bianca or maybe Nico. After all, Thalia will never turn sixteen, being a Hunter of Artemis.

But then they beat Kronos with Percy’s choice to trust Luke and let him deliver the final blow that ended the war and, inevitably, killed him. The fact that it all happened at the dawn of Percy’s birthday was like the final confirmation they all needed to know the prophecy had been referring to him this entire time.

Technically, it never claimed the hero would be a demigod. The exact words of the prophecy were: A powerful child of the eldest gods. It was just… the prophecy went on to mention a hero, and they all assumed the hero was said child, and demigods were called heroes, weren’t they? It made sense.

But the hero was Luke—as strange as that was—and the child of the eldest gods was Percy, who wasn’t a demigod, yet was still powerful and the son of Poseidon. He fit the Great Prophecy perfectly.

Looking around at the other gods, Zeus’s face darkened for several moments before he threw his hands up and groaned, “Fine! Instead of incinerating you, we shall reward him.” He gestured impatiently for Poseidon to take the reins. “Get on with it, then.”

Smirking smugly, Poseidon relaxed on his throne before turning to smile down at Percy with pride gleaming clearly in his eyes. Annabeth was only a little jealous, but the sight of her mother’s approving face aimed at her made her smile contentedly to herself. She made her mother proud, as well. They both did a good job. They won this war together.

“A great hero must be rewarded,” said the god. “Son, you will have one gift from the gods.”

“What could he possibly ask for?” Annabeth heard Ares mutter. “He’s already immortal.”

Percy hesitated. He glanced around at the other demigods, then at Annabeth. She could see his uncertainty. After all, his wish up until that moment had been to simply get out of this encounter without receiving some kind of eternal torment. And now he was being given the opportunity to ask for a reward? That was a major upgrade—which he definitely deserved, in her opinion.

Smiling encouragingly, Annabeth nodded at him, trying to convey that he earned this; that he should come up with something good he would be happy with for the rest of his life. His answering smile was still mixed with his bafflement, but he turned back to the gods, nonetheless.

“Any gift?” he asked his father tentatively.

Poseidon arched a brow. “As long as it is within our power.”

“As we don’t already know what the boy is going to wish for,” said Zeus with an eyeroll that was definitely not awe-inspiring. “Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries, but, Perseus Jackson—if you want it—you shall be made a god. You shall serve as your father’s lieutenant for all time.”

Annabeth watched as Percy stared up at the god, his expression not visible to her. But his body language revealed he was not expecting that offer.

“I mean, the boy is already immortal,” noted Demeter. “It won’t be that big of a change.”

“Yes, yes, whatever,” mumbled Mr. D. “Can we just get on with it?”

“I approve,” said Athena with a small smile, her wise eyes glancing at Annabeth for a split second.

Annabeth’s stomach rolled a little at the idea of Percy becoming a god. She knew that it wouldn’t change much about him. He was already going to live way past her, after all. She was his first girlfriend, but after her more will come. But gods couldn’t interact as freely with mortals. He wouldn’t be able to maintain the same level of communication as he did now if he took the offer.

She bit her lip and kept on staring at her dirty shoes. Next to Bianca, Grover leaned forward to send Annabeth a sympathetic look. He could probably feel just how agitated and nervous she was from the direction this conversation was taking. Honestly, sometimes she wished her satyr friend wouldn’t have been as emotionally attuned as he was.

“Um… no,” said Percy.

Everyone gaped at him—gods and mortals alike. When Annabeth lifted her gaze to gawk at her boyfriend, she found Percy’s head turned back so he could look at her, his eyes boring into her intensely. She didn’t need to search much to see that he was thinking along the same lines as she was, and that he didn’t like the implications of becoming a god any more than she did.

“No?” said Zeus incredulously. “You are… turning down our generous gift?”

“I’m honored and everything. Don’t get me wrong,” said Percy, which was probably the smart thing to say in the face of Zeus’s stormy expression. “It’s just… if anything, I would have wished to become mortal, which I already know is impossible since I’d just die all over again like I did when I was born. So… I’m not really looking for more powers and restrictions. I’m content with what I have, thanks.”

Poseidon looked rather proud of that, if a little sad at the mention of how dissatisfied Percy truly was with his state of immortality. Annabeth had to admit it was sad to think that her was stuck this way because it was either that or dying the same way he would have died years ago had it not been for his dad turning him into what he was today.

Pausing for a moment, Percy seemed to gather his courage before saying, “I do want a gift, though. Do you promise to grant my wish?”

Zeus started saying, “Well—”

“Of course,” Poseidon cut in, sending his brother a side-eye glare before smiling at Percy again.

“Promise on the River Styx.”

Mr. D huffed. “What? You don’t trust us?”

“From my experience, it’s the only way to get you to take things more seriously,” said Percy bluntly. “You tend to go back on your word unless you have a reason not to. I’m just covering my bases.”

Zeus grinded his teeth but still said, “Very well! In the name of the council, we swear by the River Styx to grant your reasonable request as long as it is within our power.”

And so, Annabeth listened with a dropped jaw as Percy told the gods to acknowledge their demigod children. Bianca and Nico stared at him like he was something they couldn’t wrap their heads around, too strange and absurd to really comprehend. Grover looked awed as he took Percy in, his body trembling at the outrage that was written clearly on the faces of the gods as Percy kept on babbling his request.

Thalia actually looked impressed as she bobbed her head up and down along with Percy’s words, as if supporting them fully. Artemis sent her lieutenant a curious look at the sight of that before focusing on Percy again, an unfamiliar gleam in her eyes. Annabeth wasn’t sure what it meant, but she thought the goddess was impressed with Percy, too, despite him being a boy.

By the time Percy was done, most of the gods looked rather outraged, with Poseidon being the exception. The god looked at Percy like an exasperated dad, shaking his head from side to side with a fond side on his face and a twinkle in his eye that made Annabeth believe he was actually proud of his son for his decision.

But, to Annabeth’s relief, none of the gods tried to smite Percy for his bold request—not that it would have killed him, but she believed it wouldn’t have been the most pleasant experience for him to go through. Instead, the gods reluctantly accepted and voted for granting this wish, as absurd as it was, especially coming from someone who wasn’t even an actual demigod.

When Percy turned to stand by Annabeth once more, he looked a little pale, but mostly relieved.

“You’re insane,” she informed him in a whisper.

He grinned. “Well, I figured if I’m going to live in this world in the future, I might as well try to make sure nothing like this happens again. At least not any time soon.” He shrugged and nudged her shoulder with his. “It was a completely egotistical request, if you think about it.”

“Sure it was,” she said fondly.

Clearing her throat, Athena said, “Annabeth Chase, my own daughter.”

Annabeth took in a deep breath, a smile forming on her face at the feeling of Percy kissing her cheek in silent support. She glanced at him gratefully, then stepped forward to kneel in front of the council of the gods, heart pounding. She was almost certain they would be far less gracious now, after having to deal with Percy.

The annoyed look her mother sent Percy at the kiss didn’t help Annabeth feel any better, either.

“You, my daughter, have exceeded all expectations,” said Athena with a smile. “You have used your wits, your strength, and your courage to defend this city, and our seat of power. It has come to our attention that Olympus is… well, trashed. The Titan lord did much damage that will have to be repaired. We could rebuild it by magic, of course, and make it just as it was. But the gods feel that the city could be improved. We will take this as an opportunity. And you, my daughter, will design these improvements.”

Her mind screeched to a halt at the words. “My… my lady?”

“You are an architect, are you not?” said Athena. “You have studied the techniques of Daedalus himself. Who better to redesign Olympus and make it a monument that will last for another eon?”

“You mean… I can design whatever I want?”

“As your heart desires. Make us a city for the ages.”

The other gods chimed in with their own requests for this new city they were envisioning, but Annabeth tuned them out, instead sending a look over her shoulder to see Percy beaming at her, his excitement at the sound of her reward almost palpable as he bounced on his toes.

His smile was much wider than it had been when he’d smiled at her at school, before they got to know each other; before Annabeth found out exactly who he was. The smile that had caught Annabeth’s attention back then was mild, polite and distant. This one was radiant, charming and captivating in its own way.

Her dream has always been to create something permanent. A monument to last a thousand years—maybe even more.

Yet…

He smiled at her once.

He was smiling at her now.

“All right!” called Athena, snapping Annabeth out of her haze. “She gets the point. Rise, my daughter, official architect of Olympus.”

Annabeth gulped uneasily, then pushed down her nerves and met her mother’s calm gaze. “Thank you for the opportunity, Mother. I am truly honored you put your trust in me to rebuild your city. But… there’s something else I would want more.”

Zeus let out a weary breath and ran his hand down his face. “Another one…”

Ares leaned forward on his throne, looking intrigued. Hermes’s head tipped to the side curiously as he watched Annabeth silently. Aphrodite looked like she was holding back an excited squeal, her hands pressed together in front of her chest like she was praying.

“Something… else?” said Athena, taken aback.

Behind Annabeth, Percy whispered, “Wise Girl, what are you doing?”

She offered him a reassuring smile, then turned back to the council. “I want to be able to stay with Percy—immortal, just like him.”

His breath audibly hitched. “Annabeth!” he gasped.

Athena’s face hardened. “Absolutely not,” she stated firmly.

As opposed to her, Poseidon suddenly leaned forward in his seat, eyeing Annabeth with renewed interest. “Now, hold on just a moment. I want to hear what the girl has to say,” he said, then gestured for Annabeth with his hand. “Please, go on.”

“I would have asked for Percy to be mortal if he wanted to, if it were possible,” she said bravely under her mother’s intense glare, “but since that’s not a plausible possibility, I ask to be able to keep him company, so he won’t have to go through this alone and lose everyone he gets close to.”

“Do I get a say in this?” said Percy in a high-pitched voice.

“I forbid it,” said Athena. “I will not let you throw your life and passion away for the sake of keeping Barnacle Beard’s son company. You get the chance to rebuild the eternal city of the gods, Annabeth. This is something you will be remembered for. Staying immortal for such a reason, though, will prove to be very foolish. You will regret it in the end, and I shall save you the heartache and remorse.”

Aphrodite huffed. “Figures you wouldn’t understand a decision based on love, Athena,” she said. “How can you deny such a simple wish out of pure pettiness?”

“This is not pettiness,” argued Athena. “This is solely based on facts. Granting such a wish would lead to a lifetime of regret for my daughter. Besides, what do these children know about love? It’s a fleeting thing. It cannot last eternity. The fact of the matter is that love fades away, given the time, and throwing everything away just to lose it in the end is irrational.”

Stepping forward to stand next to Annabeth and help pull her back to her feet with the goddesses still arguing in the background, Percy grumbled, “We haven’t even told that to each other yet, but now the gods discuss it. Great.”

“Sorry,” whispered Annabeth sheepishly.

He gave her an odd look, then his face melted back into a fond smile. “It’s okay. I appreciate it a lot—more than I can say—but… I mean, your mom’s right, isn’t she? What if you go through with this and it doesn’t last? I mean, we’ve been together for less than a year, Annabeth. And you’re talking about eternity here. I don’t want you to get yourself stuck here.”

Annabeth opened her mouth to argue that it wasn’t fair that Percy was destined to live like that forever by himself. She wanted to tell him that she wouldn’t regret it in the least despite knowing she couldn’t really be sure of it. For all she knew, it might prove to be a very stupid thing to ask for.

But then she looked away at the feeling of someone watching her, and she found Percy’s dad’s eyes boring into her, as if trying to scan her intentions, see if she meant what she was saying. The feeling made her shudder, because despite the god’s eyes looking exactly like Percy’s, the shivers it sent through her body were far less pleasant and made her much more wary.

“How about a compromise, then?” said Poseidon, his voice loud enough to be heard over the argument between Athena and Aphrodite.

Eyes cold, Annabeth’s mom turned to glare at him. “A compromise?”

“Yes, see, you’re not the only person around who can come up with good ideas, niece.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

He inclined his head respectfully, although there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We can grant the girl her wish on the condition that she genuinely wants it. That way, if she ever changes her mind, the terms will be broken and she will become a regular, mortal demigod again. Everyone happy.”

Percy blinked up at his dad. “That… actually sounds okay.”

Athena looked between father and son with furrowed eyebrows. “My daughter still turns her back on doing something she will forever look back at with regret. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, and much more important than giving in to her teenage hormones.”

“They’re right,” said Percy as he turned to look at Annabeth in concern. “This has been your dream, Annabeth. You might never get this chance again. This could be it. I… I don’t really want you to resent me for missing it.”

She shook her head determinedly and grabbed his hand. “I won’t. There’ll be other great opportunities in the future. I’ll get to design something I care about someday, and you’ll be right there to help me.”

“You know I don’t understand anything about architecture, right?”

“I’m aware, Seaweed Brain, yes.”

Before Athena could object again, Poseidon loudly called, “All in favor?”

Leaning a little bit forward on his throne, Ares said, “Just to be clear, we’re not turning her into a goddess, right? Just a worthless immortal?”

“That’s the gist of it, yes,” said Mr. D around a yawn. “Frankly, I don’t care about Annie Bell’s wish. As long as it doesn’t influence me directly again,” he added with a pointed look at Percy.

“I’m so in!” called Apollo enthusiastically as he bounced up and down on his seat. “The number of love song I could write just about this particular story… yes, people will adore this. Hey, D, we can write a play together. People will be enthralled. They will shed tears. Hephaestus could play it on TV.”

Hephaestus glanced up at the mention of his name, frowned a little in confusion, then looked down at Annabeth and Percy. “Uh… yeah, okay.”

“I see no fault in this request,” said Artemis under Athena’s pressing eyes. “As long as the girl gets the choice to back out of it, I see no reason to deny her of this.”

“I thought you objected romantic love,” seethed the wisdom goddess.

Artemis shrugged. “There is nothing wrong with it. I simply believe it would be better for maidens to remain true to themselves. Love is a powerful thing,” she added with a small inclination of her head in Aphrodite’s direction, “as long as it doesn’t turn into a weapon used against the person feeling it. And if that ever happens, I will be there to offer my assistance.”

Percy seemed to wither under the goddess’s calculating and threatening gaze, his foot tapping the ground nervously as he moved a bit to hide behind Annabeth, as if that would be enough to protect him. She held back her laughter and instead nudged him back into the open, ignoring the pout he sent her.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” said Demeter with a shrug. “It’s a simpler wish than the boy’s one.”

“For once, we can agree on something,” said Hades wryly.

Hermes tapped something on his cell phone, then looked at Annabeth for a long moment. She could feel his earlier disdain with her still lingering in his gaze. She knew he would probably never forgive her for turning Luke down, even though she was more than certain it wouldn’t have saved him from this fate.

But then the god surprised her with a small smile. “The two of you did take a big part in defeating Kronos and making sure my boy died a hero rather than a simple stepstone toward destruction. I believe you earned this.”

Zeus looked all around at the gods, his eyes lingering on Athena and Poseidon. He seemed to be contemplating his choice, maybe assessing the situation and trying to figure out which god would be the worse enemy to have. Then he glanced over at Hera, who was keeping her lips sealed and her hand stubbornly held down for the vote.

“I suppose it is a reasonable request,” he muttered, ignoring the look Hera sent him.

“Do you think he agreed to this just to spite her?” Percy whispered, eyes trained on the queen of the gods.

Her lips twitched. “Shut up.”

Aphrodite beamed down at the two of them, looking absolutely thrilled. “Yes! Absolutely yes! This is so adorable, isn’t it? Giving up your dream for the one you love…” she sighed dreamily.

Percy shifted uneasily. “Again with the ‘love’ thing,” he muttered. He gave Annabeth a sideway look. “Are you sure about this? This is your dream. You’re just throwing it away.”

“I’m sure,” she promised.

Maybe there was enough conviction in her voice, because Percy scanned her face for a moment longer, then squeezed her hand tightly and smiled happily despite the bone-chilling glare Athena was aiming straight at him, which would have made him wither and die on the spot had he been mortal, Annabeth was sure.

“Well, I object,” said Athena stubbornly, and it made Annabeth’s chest clench a little. “I know I cannot stop you from making this mistake, Annabeth, but I will not take part in it. But mark my words, my daughter—someday you will look back at this day and wish you had chosen differently.”

Silence enveloped the room for a long moment. Bianca and Nico twitched uneasily, glancing between Percy, Annabeth and the gods, as if waiting for something to happen. Grover bleated nervously but held his ground, which was so different from what he would have done in this situation a few years ago, Annabeth was proud of him.

From next to Artemis’s throne, Thalia met Annabeth’s eyes and mouthed, Are you sure about this?

Tightening her grip on Percy’s hand, Annabeth nodded confidently, which seemed to soothe Thalia, because her shoulders sagged down and she smiled back happily. Actually, she looked a little relieved and glad; perhaps because Annabeth’s choice meant she’d be around even after the others would die, so Thalia wouldn’t lose all of the people she called family.

That was a pretty great bonus for this wish, actually.

Poseidon grinned. “Seeing as we have a majority, we shall grant this wish.”

When he waved his hand at her, Annabeth didn’t feel any big difference. She was still a demigod, still the daughter of Athena, still inhibiting a tired body that’s been through a prolonged battle. But if she focused hard enough, she thought she could feel the sense of calmness under her skin, like the ichor that replaced the blood in her veins was sending her body the message that there was no more rush—no reason to hurry.

Percy looked at her worriedly. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking down at her wrist to see the golden lines under her skin. Smiling at Percy, she added, “Everything feels slower.”

He hesitantly smiled back. “I wouldn’t know,” he admitted.

“There,” said Poseidon. “This will last only as long as you truly love Percy. If your affection ever diminishes and disappears, you will turn mortal again.”

Athena pressed her lips tightly together and didn’t say a word.

“Does that mean you love me?” said Percy teasingly. “I mean, you’re not turning mortal again right now, right?”

She punched his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Percy. We’re not there yet.”

“You became immortal for me but you can’t tell me you love me?”

“That’s right.”

He laughed.

Athena’s parting words were: “I hope I am wrong about this, but you will most likely chide yourself for this foolish act in the future, my daughter, and I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent you from taking such drastic action.”

Poseidon’s parting words were: “I hope I am right about this. I’m sure your mother thinks I like defying her, but this is about Percy. I knew he was miserable and anxious about the future that’s awaiting him, and nothing I said could soothe these worries. But you make him happy. Even if this really is only temporary and won’t last forever, I had to take the opportunity to try and make my son happy.”

Thalia’s parting words were: “If he ever gives you a hard time, send me an IM and I will come and set him straight with a lightning strike or two, Annabeth. But… as long as things go smoothly for you guys, I’m just so happy you won’t die and leave me in the dust. That’s a relief, at least. I wasn’t looking forward to the day you died.”

All in all, Annabeth figured it didn’t go too badly. She felt a little overwhelmed once they were free to go and she was no longer put on the spot. The world-altering events from the last hour suddenly caught up to her and she stumbled a little, blinking quickly to try and clear her mind.

“Whoa, hey, you okay?” said Percy as he caught her before she could crumble to the floor of the elevator that was taking them back to New York.

“Annabeth?” said Grover anxiously from a few paces away.

Bianca’s hand landed on her shoulder. “You look a little pale.”

“Are you regretting it already?” said Percy jokingly as he helped Annabeth lean against the wall, though he looked at her with genuine concern. “Because I was hoping for at least a year before your mom came barging in and accusing me of ruining your life or something like that.”

She let out a weak laugh. “I don’t regret it.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“It’s just… a lot to process all at once,” she admitted sheepishly. “We fought a war. We beat Kronos. Luke is… Luke’s gone. So many others are gone, too. Now I can’t die. It’s a lot. I’m just catching up to all of it.”

“In the elevator?” he said.

“It wasn’t exactly a choice,” she said wryly.

Nico hummed in agreement. “Sleep would be nice right about now.”

Percy looked at him in amusement, then smiled at Annabeth and tucked her hair behind her ear. She probably looked like an absolute mess after everything they’ve been through, but he still looked at her like he could stare at her for hours, as if she was the most beautiful person in existence. It made her flush a little.

“We have time,” he said.

She nodded and closed her eyes. “Can’t argue with that logic.”

“We should get married.”

Annabeth lowered the book she was reading to look at Percy. He was lying on their bed with his arms spread wide and his gaze trained on the ceiling above his head. He’s been quietly staring up at it ever since he got out of the shower and dropped onto the bed bonelessly.

“What’s the rush?” she said, slightly amused.

He flipped over to his belly and turned to look at her. “What’s the delay?” he countered cheekily.

“We already live together,” she noted.

“Exactly!” He leaned his chin on his wrist and quirked an eyebrow. “So what’s the difference, right? Who knows, Hera might actually like us a little better if we got married and took part in something she cares about so much.”

“You mean she’ll hate us less.”

“Hey, she only hates m e because I defended you,” he said. “I might have a chance to get in her good graces.”

She snorted and put her book away so she could lean forward in the desk chair. “And you care about that… why?”

“I don’t. I’m just bringing up a valid point.” His legs started swinging in the air behind him as he grinned at her. “My main point was that I love you, by the way, and since I’m already planning on spending the rest of my life with you, what’s the point of waiting with this. Just to put it out there.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and dragged the chair to the edge of the bed. Staring at his smiling face, she noticed that despite projecting confidence and playfulness, there was something anxious and nervous reflecting in Percy’s eyes. His smile was tenser than it usually was, and the movement of his legs seemed less spirited and more uneasy.

“What’s really going on?” she asked.

He was quiet for a moment, then said, “I want our friends to be there. I want my family and your family to be able to come. I want everyone we care about to still be around when we do get married, and we don’t know how long they have, okay? For all we know, our parents could drop dead at any moment, or there could be another war that would get our friends killed. Estelle or your brothers could have some kind of freak accident. I know we have all the time in the world, but they don’t.”

Grover and Leo had a close call a couple of days earlier, she knew. Annabeth herself had been shaken, true, but she had no idea how affected by it Percy was. Now he looked at her like he half-expected her to mock him for being this paranoid while also standing his ground. He was really afraid someone they cared about might not be able to make it to their wedding.

She knew they would meet other people. The two of them would never be alone, she was sure. But these were their first friends, and their parents won’t live forever—the human ones, that is.

“Okay,” she said.

He blinked at her. “Okay?”

“Let’s get married,” she confirmed. “Not like it hasn’t been the plan, right?”

“W-wait, not if you’re not ready for it,” he backtracked quickly, pushing himself up so he could sit on his knees and look her in the eye. “Gods, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, like, pressure you into this, I swe—”

She shut him up with a kiss. Climbing to the bed and folding her legs so she could sit in front of him, she said, “I’m ready. I was teasing you earlier, okay? We’re ready for this. We’re past university, we have our jobs, we’re doing great, aren’t we? Piper’s been bugging me about this for ages, anyway.”

“People might actually believe she’s an Aphrodite kid or something,” he said in a scandalized tone.

“She’d have killed you if she heard you.”

“Luckily, she’s not here,” he said cheerfully, then brightly said, “So we’re really doing this?”

Annabeth cuddled up against him and sighed contentedly. “One hundred percent, Seaweed Brain.”

“You’d better not write this name on the invitations, Wise Girl.”

“No promises.”

Annabeth bit her lips to keep from giggling giddily to herself as she stared at Percy’s sleeping face in the morning light that was coming from the window of the cabin they were in. Considering they’ve been living together since they were both eighteen, the sight shouldn’t have been anything special, but this time she wasn’t waking up next to her adorable drooling boyfriend, but rather next to her adorable drooling husband.

The word sent a pleasant shiver down her spine and she grinned some more, ignoring the pain in her cheeks. Never in her life has she smiled this much. The wedding was far from perfect—especially because a couple of monsters smelled the demigods gathered together and decided to hop for a quick visit and disturb the ceremony. But it had still been the best night of her life.

Sally had hugged her tightly, crying and laughing at the same time. Their friends had chortled hysterically when Percy had slipped over a glass and knocked over the cake, which ended up splattering all over the people gathered around, including him and Annabeth. It should have probably made her cry in frustration, but instead Percy’d looked at her and declared she was the sweetest person he knew. They’d changed to simpler, comfier clothes for the rest of the night, not really caring all that much.

She was already determined to get the picture of Percy dancing with Estelle developed so they could hang it up. She wanted to open up the presents and find out what their friends and family got them. She wanted to see if breakfast tasted any differently now that she was married.

A part of her wanted to shake Percy awake so he could marvel at this new beginning together, but she decided to let him be.

Annabeth, a voice in her head said.

She blinked and sat up straight, careful not to disturb Percy’s sleep. Her eyes squinted at the empty room around her, then her gaze fell on the window overlooking the sea. As quietly as possible, she crawled out of bed and walked toward the window so she could scan the beach properly.

It took her less than a second to spot the man standing in the surf, back to her and face to the ocean.

Frowning in confusion and concern, Annabeth scribbled on a note that she was heading outside, put it on the dresser next to Percy’s side of the bed, then walked out of the cabin and toward the waterline and the man. God. Trouble, really. That was usually the gist of it.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she said the moment she was close enough. “Can’t we have one day for ourselves? What’s going on now?”

Poseidon turned toward her with his head tilted to the side like he had no idea what she was talking about. It was a little disturbing, since the older Percy got, the more he looked like his dad. She had half a mind to tell the god to change his appearance so she wouldn’t feel this odd about it, but instead she kept her mouth shut.

“Oh, nothing is going on. I came to congratulate you.”

“You could have told me that yesterday,” she said suspiciously. “You did tell me that yesterday. Why say it again?”

“Because I can. Are you already tired of hearing it?” he said, and Annabeth kept her lips sealed. Poseidon grinned. “I thought so. Anyway, I came to give you my gift.”

She stared at him blankly. “You gave us a gift?”

“Technically, I gave you a gift, but I suppose Percy will be happy about it, too,” he said with a shrug, then explained, “A part of my son will always be tied to the sea, it is in his nature. It’s a part, of course, that you cannot share. I’m afraid being immortal won’t stop you from choking to oblivion.”

She knew that already, she’d checked that once after Percy had left to visit his dad’s palace and the Ophiotaurus, unable to bring her with him.

“But,” continued the god, “since you two are now married—and will be for, dare I say, quite some time—I feel like it is time I let you share this world with my son, too. Not everything, of course. Your soul is not related to the oceans, nor will it ever be. But it should be enough.”

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows, stuck between awestruck and flabbergasted. “What do you mean?”

Poseidon reached into his Bermuda pants’ pocket and pulled out a pearl necklace that seemed to glimmer in the sun a little more than it should have. Annabeth glanced between it and the god, then hesitantly grabbed it and held it in front of her. She rarely ever wore jewelry, but she got the feeling this wasn’t some ordinary necklace one might buy in a store.

“Wear this and the sea will recognize you as a welcome guest,” said Poseidon. “Oh, and Amphitrite wanted me to let you know you both are invited to dinner next Wednesday. She said she liked you. Triton might actually behave himself around Percy, too, if you’re there to threaten him. Who knows.”

“Wait—”

Before she could say anything more, the god turned to salt water that dropped to the sea and washed away with the waves. Annabeth gawked at the spot where he’d been a moment before, then glanced down at her new necklace. She frowned a little at it, wondering what exactly its ability was.

“Wise Girl?”

She turned around and found Percy dragging his feet through the sand, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he made his way toward her. His hair was sticking up on one side and his clothes were wrinkled. One side of his face was red from being pressed against the pillow for so long.

She loved him so much.

“Your dad dropped by,” she said.

He blinked at her tiredly. “He did?”

“He gave me a wedding present,” she added and held up the necklace.

Percy stared at it. “He did?” He frowned and seemed to wake up a little more while observing the pearls. “It’s embedded with the sea’s power. I can feel it rolling off the thing. What in Hades is this?”

The ground shook a little at their feet and Percy rolled his eyes. “Sorry, sorry, not invoking your name, gotcha.”

Annabeth held the pearls out to Percy. “Help me put it on. I want to see what it’s gonna do.”

“Uh… are you sure about this? What if it, like, turns you into a dolphin?”

“You’ll still be able to talk to me,” she dismissed easily and turned around.

Percy clumsily tried to close the clasp while mumbling, “I don’t wanna be married to a dolphin…”

“It’s a good thing it isn’t turning me into a dolphin, then,” she said once the necklace was secured around her neck. She squinted at the calm sea that spread before them. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Try walking deeper.”

“Do you want me to drown?”

“I won’t let you drown,” he said with an eyeroll. His fingers interlaced with hers and he smiled at her sweetly. “Come on, I’ll come with you. We’ll check it together and I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“You so wouldn’t have suggested that if I’d gotten turned into a dolphin.”

Percy tugged at her hand. “Can we drop the dolphin thing, please?”

She smirked but let him lead her deeper into the water. It still didn’t feel any different, but she kept walking. Not like she had any other way of discovering what the necklace did. Unless it was just a normal necklace and Poseidon was messing with her, which she didn’t think was the case, but she also wouldn’t put it past the guy. He was Percy’s dad. It wouldn’t exactly be completely unexpected of him.

A twinge of concern made her heart quicken a little at the feeling of the water around her neck. She was grateful for Percy’s presence beside her, though, because she knew he was preventing the waves from hitting her in the face, instead making sure the surface of the sea was as flat as possible. Plus, she knew he would never let anything happen to her. This was his home turf—if he couldn’t protect her here, he couldn’t protect her anywhere.

Closing her eyes, she held her breath and let her head move underwater. For a moment she stayed like that, and then she peeked through her eyes and found that the water didn’t irritate her. She could barely feel it brushing against her eyeballs, which was a nice change of pace. Nothing was blurry anymore. It wasn’t that she could see perfectly or anything, but she wasn’t completely blind.

When she turned her head, she found Percy watching her, now wide awake and anxious to make sure she was all right. The fact that she could see his face in such detail underwater was enough to make her gasp a little.

Panic flooded her when she realized she just opened her mouth at sea. She expected water to fill her up and choke her. She expected to struggle back to the surface in order to gulp in some much needed air and cough up the water. Or maybe for Percy to form a bubble of air around her so she wouldn’t drown.

But… she wasn’t choking. She wasn’t drowning. She was breathing normally—if a little irregularly—while being surrounded by water. She felt the water in her mouth, salty and not as pleasant as fresh water, but it wasn’t flooding her in any way.

Percy tilted his head at her, wonder shining in his eyes as he seemed to realize she was breathing underwater with ease. His eyes glanced down at the necklace she had on and his lips quirked up in a smile that lit up his entire face.

“Holy Poseidon, that’s so cool!” he said.

The sound of his voice coming both through her ears and from within her head startled her more than the fact that she could breathe. She widened her eyes at Percy, staring at him numbly with her mouth agape. She felt like a fish, which was actually kind of fitting the occasion.

All she could think to say was, “We’re invited to dinner next Wednesday.”

Percy blinked at her, slightly taken aback by the fact that she was speaking to him, apparently, but then he beamed at her and pulled her into his arms. It felt strange to embrace underwater like that. She could feel the water and her clothes sticking to her skin, but she was breathing and talking and… and she felt a little lightheaded.

“Good. I have to thank him for this,” said Percy, his lips kissing the top of her head.

Percy’s stepdad died first. Then Annabeth’s parents. Sally’s death was followed by a couple of months of high waves and a raging sea. They spent their time mourning with whoever was left of their families—Bobby and Mathew, in Annabeth’s case, and Estelle in Percy’s.

Their friends didn’t last forever either, of course, nor did their siblings. Thalia was with them through all of it, looking just as heartbroken as they did. Grover was their last remaining friend from the original group. Over the years Percy and Annabeth had made more friends, of course, but the original gang always kept in touch… until they were all gone.

“Grief is a natural part of life,” Chiron told them after Grover’s death.

They were sitting in the Big House, listening to the reed pipes of other satyrs and the cheerful voices of the current campers. Annabeth and Percy both appeared to be no older than fifteen. It was a choice meant to make them blend in with the half-bloods at the camp, but it was also the age they usually went back to for comfort—the age they were when they’d first met each other.

Something about being in her fifteen-year-old body made Annabeth feel more collected, even at a time like this, when her heart was tearing itself apart at the loss of one of her oldest friends. Percy was a huge help, his hand never letting go of hers. He would literally rather have an itchy nose than let go so he could scratch it and be done with the discomfort.

“Are you sure we can’t go down to the Underworld and barter with Hades?” said Percy.

“Quite, yes.”

Her husband pressed his lips together but didn’t push the subject. Probably because he knew, logically, Chiron was telling the truth. There was no use fighting Hades over this. It was a natural part of life—for most people. Too bad they weren’t like most people.

“This sucks,” Percy summed up eloquently.

Annabeth wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, nearly spilling hot tea all over the front of her shirt. She didn’t care.

“Does it ever get better?” she asked Chiron.

The centaur looked at them both sadly. “I’m afraid not,” he said frankly. “But meeting new people, finding a purpose in this life… it makes it easier to bear the burden.”

Percy’s gaze dropped to his lap. “This is it. This is what our life is gonna look like forever—making friends, and then watching from the sidelines as they drop like flies without fail.” His shoulders curled inwardly, as if to make him look smaller. “This is what you signed for, Annabeth. Are you still sure you made the right decision?”

She frowned. “There was no right decision,” she told him sternly, drawing his mesmerizing, broken eyes up to her. “I was given a choice, and I picked one option. Both were good in some ways, but both also entailed pain. All I know is that if I was put in that situation again, I’d do the exact same thing all over again. Nothing could ever make me regret a life with you.”

He searched her face for a moment without saying a word, the two of them ignoring Chiron and more than thankful he wasn’t saying anything to interrupt the moment. And then Percy dropped his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Annabeth pretended not to notice the tears that slipped through and down his cheeks. It was rare for him to cry as it was—she wasn’t going to make him self-conscious and discourage him now.

“Does it make me a bad person that I’m glad you’re going through this with me?” he asked quietly, voice nothing but a weak whisper.

“No,” she stated.

He sighed but didn’t argue.

Unlike the world around it, Camp Half-Blood remained mostly the same, with only the campers changing as time went on. When the evolvement of the world got to be too much for their liking, Annabeth and Percy would just retreat back to camp and spend their time there, having fun with the demigods, satyrs and nature spirits while also helping Chiron, especially now that Mr. D was back on Olympus and away from the camp.

They accepted the role of activity directors one day, shrugging at Chiron and telling him they had nothing better to do, after all. And the demigods, for the most part, liked them anyway, so it wasn’t like it would be torture for them with the two of them being in charge, although Annabeth could tell Percy especially liked messing with everyone he could by altering his age as much as possible just to get different reactions.

Because they made the choice to spend so much time there, they decided to build themselves their cabin. As much as Annabeth didn’t mind sharing the Athena cabin with her young siblings, she kind of didn’t want to do it all the time. She was married. She was happily married. Why live in a different house when she and Percy could get themselves a place to share?

Since Chiron didn’t object to the idea on behalf of the gods—and no offended lightning bolt decided to char them on the spot (which had happened to Percy before, and Annabeth had chided him for angering Zeus again when he knew he could still get horrible wounded by the god)—Annabeth planned out the cabin, then used the help of some eager campers to assemble it.

It was a small, quaint thing. They didn’t need much space, after all. It was just the two of them, and the occasional demigod intruder who wanted to hang out. Percy was content with it, mostly because it was position right on the beach of the Long Island Sound, so he was always close to a source of water, which tended to make him happy.

“I don’t get it, though,” said Melissa as she got cozy on the couch with her legs crossed and her hair falling from her bun and into her eyes. “You guys have been alive for, like, ages—”

“Way to make someone feel old,” mumbled Percy as he idly willed the water in the cup he was holding swirl gently.

Melissa ignored him. “—but you don’t have any kids? Don’t you want to be parents? I mean, you hang around kids all the time, so…”

The water in the cup relaxed as Percy’s control over it ceased. He glanced up at Annabeth, who was sitting on the second couch with his head in her lap, fingers messing with the strands of his hair. At the girl’s words, Annabeth, too, stopped moving and turned to look down at her husband—who happened to look like a twelve-year-old, but whatever.

“It’s… it’s not like we haven’t talked about it,” she said slowly, weighing her words carefully while keeping her eyes on Percy to check his reaction. “We’re just not really sure what to expect from a child of ours, you know? Would they be immortal? Would they die before we can even blink?”

“The idea of watching our kid die is kind of a killjoy,” noted Percy wryly.

“We’re just not ready for this possibility,” said Annabeth.

Melissa looked at the two of them sadly. Annabeth knew the girl couldn’t possibly understand them fully—she was only a fourteen-year-old girl. She had the rest of her life (and afterlife) ahead of her. She couldn’t possibly grasp just what it meant to live past everyone else and lose the people you got attached to over and over again.

They couldn’t fault her for that, though. Nor could they fault any of the other campers who knew their story. They were just kids, and the mind had a hard time grasping the concept of living forever. The laws of physics claimed there was an end to everything, after all, and that included time. It was strange to try and ignore that rule of the universe.

Then again, they believed in ancient gods, so Annabeth didn’t dwell on it too much.

“Oh, sorry,” the girl said awkwardly.

Percy offered her a smile. “It’s cool. At least you’re not as blunt as Thalia had been about it.” He turned to Annabeth with twinkling eyes. “Remember that? She literally cornered us for answers, and then called us idiots for thinking the way we do.”

She snorted. “She wants to be someone’s aunt, can you blame her?”

A sheepish expression appeared on his face as he seemed to realize what she was hinting at. Estelle had gotten married and had children, after all. She’d created herself a family—other than Percy—and he’d been ecstatic, despite the sorrow that came every time a member of the family died. He still kept tabs on all of the people in his family. There was a shelf in their closet that was filled with names and relations of people who were a part of their family, even if these people didn’t even know about them anymore.

To be fair, Annabeth had done the same with Matthew and Bobby.

Of course, apart from their mortal family, they also had the godly side. Annabeth had her brothers and sister in the Athena cabin, and Percy had the occasional demigod brother from Poseidon. His father didn’t seem to be in a rush to have a lot of children, even without the oath restraining him, which Percy had confessed was a relief, even though he also clearly liked his brothers and sisters very much.

With all of that, Annabeth still found herself wanting a child of her own. She wanted this next part. She wanted to start her own family with Percy. It’s just that… the fear of losing her family too quickly was scary. She had no idea how the gods could just have kids left and right without losing it every time one of them died.

It was probably the reason the gods tried to keep their distance from the demigods, she knew. It didn’t make it right. She still thought the gods needed to be more involved in their children’s lives—and Percy had bluntly told it to the gods’ face more than enough times at the risk of bursting into flames on the spot and suffering for all eternity—but she could somewhat understand it.

Percy turned to pick a new conversation with Melissa, steering them away from the sensitive subject, and Annabeth resumed playing with his hair, inwardly praying they would get the chance to make this dream come true without the heartache that might follow it.

With the way their life seemed to go, though, she wasn’t all too optimistic about it.

Neither one of them was sure how it happened exactly, but over time the campers gradually began to look at Percy and Annabeth with less familiarity and more reverence, like they were divine beings and not the couple who’d started a food fight in the middle of the dining pavilion simply because they could.

Maybe it was the stories’ fault—stories of the events that had happened years ago, when Percy and Annabeth were still kids. Stories about their friends and the fights they’d fought side by side. Stories of their adventures and life-threatening situations. Stories that turned into legends, and then made it into history books.

Annabeth was pretty sure people had the right story in mind at first. They passed the tales on, and others then spread it around. At first accurately, and then… less so, as rumors tended to do. Suddenly Annabeth and Percy found themselves surrounded by new generations of demigods who looked at them the way they would look at the gods.

To be fair, the Roman demigods messed it all up first. Not that it was their fault that Percy and Annabeth spent most of their time with the Greeks and not over at New Rome, although they did visit. But still, they were the ones who first seemed to mess up the facts and think Annabeth and Percy weren’t just immortal, but actually two of the minor gods.

“At least they still refer to us as Greek gods, though, right?” Percy had joked after hearing about this.

And then word got around, and the Greek half-bloods seemed to believe this theory, despite personally knowing Percy and Annabeth. They didn’t bother asking the two what the truth was, instead just leaping at the chance to declare they were gods that just really liked spending time at Camp Half-Blood.

Suddenly the stories changed. Word got around that Percy had been born a god, and Annabeth had fallen deeply in love with him and asked to be turned into a goddess to stay at his side; not just immortal, but a goddess.

“This is ridiculous,” said Percy to Poseidon during a brief visit of his to their cabin. “We’re not gods!”

“Sullivan asked me to bless him before leaving on his quest,” said Annabeth with a frown. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him there’s nothing special about a blessing from me. He looked like he was going to faint if he didn’t have some support.”

Percy grimaced. “Yeah, that poor kid is lucky he’s got Valerie by his side. At least she’s been on a quest before. I hope they’re doing okay. We haven’t heard from them yet.”

Poseidon, leaning on the wall next to the window overlooking the water outside, turned to look at them with an arched eyebrow. “You mean to tell me you’ve been feeling nothing different since this whole thing had started?”

Frowning a little, Annabeth glanced at Percy and found him already looking at her apprehensively.

So… maybe something has changed.

Annabeth wasn’t sure how to explain it. As time went on, she found herself looking around at people and seeing a sort of… aura around them. A halo that was unique to each and every individual. Well, almost. Sometimes two people shared the same aura. Usually people who were ultimately very close to each other, no matter what kind of relationship they had.

No one else could see these auras, except for Percy. The moment she’d told him about it, his reaction had been a relieved sigh. Apparently he’d been fearing he was officially going insane and seeing things, but if Annabeth was sharing this strange illusion with him, maybe it wasn’t all that bad, after all.

Poseidon smiled at their telling silence. “Beliefs can have a very strong effect on our reality. It is, after all, what keeps us around. Without people believing in us, we will cease to exist. Now that more people around the world believe in us again, it’s an even more powerful thing. Belief gives us strength, but it also shapes us.

“Now… if enough people believe the two of you are one thing, it can change things. The fact that people now see you as gods is not something that should be taken lightly. It’s a new belief. The kind of belief that had resulted in the creation of more gods—Greek and Roman.”

“You’re telling us that since people believe we’re not human but gods,” said Percy slowly, “we’re actually turning into gods?”

His dad nodded curtly. “That’s about right.”

“That’s… crazy.”

“We don’t even have a say in this?” said Annabeth with a frown.

“I suppose you can try and change people’s minds, but from experience, it is hard to change the perceptive of mortals. Especially when they truly believe something to be true. They will more likely just take one look at you and tremble in fear or bow down in case you might smite them.”

Percy scrunched up his nose. “That’s not really on our agenda,” he commented.

“Well, if you’re saying that we’re gods,” said Annabeth, “does it mean we have powers like gods have? Because I haven’t noticed a lot of changes. It’s mostly this one thing Percy and I can see, and we’re not sure what it is. But we can’t, like, teleport or be in two places at once.”

Stretching his fingers, Percy nodded and said, “I don’t feel godly.”

Poseidon looked at the two of them like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh at them or shake his head in exasperation. As old as they were, he was much older, after all. For a moment Annabeth half-expected him to dismiss their questions and leave, telling them to ask Athena for a better explanation.

But he couldn’t do that, and he was aware of that. Annabeth’s mother hasn’t really been in contact with her if she didn’t have to. Not since she’d made that decision to turn immortal and stay with Percy instead of rebuilding Olympus. So coming to her for answers would be… awkward, to say the least, even if Percy still encouraged her to mend their bond a little from time to time.

“I don’t know exactly what your powers entail. Each god’s power is unique, after all. It relates to what people believe you represent in the world; what you stand for. And the more basic abilities… well, they might take some time to muster, but you just need to practice. I’m sure you can do it. You just never had any reason to try these powers out. You’ll adapt to it as time goes on, I’m sure.”

Annabeth and Percy shared an incredulous look.

“What do people think the two of you stand for?” asked Poseidon curiously.

“Uh… soulmates, apparently,” said Percy with another look down at his fingertips. “They think we can see people’s choice and, I don’t know, match them perfectly or something. I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s a bunch of nonsense.”

“Hmm… I thought seeing souls was my brother’s thing,” said Poseidon thoughtfully. “Besides, isn’t Aphrodite the goddess of love already?”

“Love, not soulmates,” said Annabeth. “There’s a difference. Love is more general. Soulmates… they’re actual souls who recognize each other and long to be together, in any form. It doesn’t have to be romantic, nor does it have to be platonic. Each pair of souls fit differently together, after all.”

Percy thoughtlessly added, “They either know each other from a past life, or they met in the Underworld before choosing rebirth. Either way, some souls just connect. They click together, and then they search for one another until they either perish or actually find each other.”

“They don’t always stay together, since life is difficult and people can be really stubborn,” Annabeth elaborated. “But it doesn’t make it any less real, does it? Even if the people don’t understand it, the souls will always remember. They can’t forget. It’s something even the River Lethe can’t obliviate.”

They both fell silent, then furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

Poseidon smirked at them. “Understanding your domain is also a big part of being gods, as you may well know,” he told them mirthfully. “As illogical as it might be, I’m sure you already know everything you need to know to fill this part well.”

“I feel like life as an immortal human would be easier than this,” grumbled Percy.

His father patted him on the back. “You’re not wrong,” he said honestly.

“Thanks,” Percy muttered.

“So you’re saying the auras we both can see around people… they’re souls?” said Annabeth.

The sea god shrugged. “How should I know? I don’t see souls. I see jellyfish and octopuses. This is your domain. What do you think it is?”

“A nightmare,” suggested Percy.

Annabeth squinted her eyes at the aura she could see around Poseidon. The god had his own kind of aura, and she could feel it in her gut that it had nothing to do with him being a god. This really was like his soul. Something that said so much about him while also not looking like much. She felt like if she stared at it hard enough, she’d be able to see the deepest, most vulnerable part of him.

Tearing her eyes away from the sight, she turned to look back at her husband, who was looking at her with a soft smile that hadn’t been there a moment earlier. She didn’t need to ask what he was seeing—he was probably paying extra attention to her own aura right now, checking to see what it was and what it could tell him.

“This kind of feels like an invasion of privacy,” he noted without taking his eyes off her.

She flicked his cheek, which earned her a mischievous grin from him.

Poseidon looked between the two of them, then down at himself, as if searching for the aura he apparently couldn’t see. “Well, as long as you don’t come over and tell Amphitrite we’re not soulmates, I don’t care how invasive it is.”

“Who says you aren’t?” said Percy innocently.

His dad didn’t bother giving an answer, instead dissolving into a salty breeze that got carried out through the open window.

“Okay, I have to learn how to do this,” declared Percy.

They decided to go back to school together a while later. It was Annabeth’s idea. Percy had argued against it for about five seconds, then gave up. Annabeth was glad, although she was ready to present him with a bunch of reasons as to why they should do it—mostly to see how much education has changed, but also just to pass the time.

Not to say that Annabeth didn’t have her reservations regarding the ordeal. While she liked the idea of perhaps learning new things or seeing them from a new perspective, she and Percy also had kids now.

They had kids. She was still ecstatic about that, no matter how difficult it was to raise two literal gods at the same time. Despite the two of them growing up much faster than normal babies would have, they were still a handful. And the fact that one of them was the personification of impulsiveness was not helping.

She blamed Percy for that one.

Not that she didn’t love the twins, of course. Impulsiveness wasn’t a bad thing. The fact that her son was impulsive wasn’t as tough a pill to swallow as it would have been had she not been familiar with Percy’s remarkably impetuous side. Yes, this was definitely his fault. The fact that her son rarely ever thought before jumping headfirst into a situation—especially when it was to help someone—was all on Percy.

Their daughter was… easier to handle—not to say that Annabeth loved her any more, of course. But it was just that much simpler to look after a goddess whose domain was faith. Not too easy, mind you, because it didn’t take Percy and her long to realize she was insanely naïve and way too trusting for her own good. Seriously, they were going to have to keep a close eye on her to make sure none of the gods laid their eyes on her.

Still, the kids were both capable enough of surviving a few hours a day without Percy and Annabeth watching over them. She hoped. She wouldn’t exactly be surprised to find strangers in their cabin, talking to the two gods while contemplating whether it would be cool to jump off Olympus to see what happens. Mainly because it had happened before.

Oh, yeah, and the fact that people were hitting on her husband once they reached high school wasn’t the best, either. Annabeth never doubted Percy would turn everyone down, of course. The thought never even crossed her mind. But it was still unpleasant to watch as people flirted with him. Wasn’t it bad enough that some of the gods still did it?

“Hey, the only reason no one is throwing themselves at you right now is because people think I’m scary or something,” Percy told her once.

“You can be scary when you’re angry.”

“Sure,” he drawled out skeptically.

Annabeth just let it go, knowing from experience he would most likely never see that frightening side of his personality he mostly tried utilizing while confronting the gods about something he cared about. There was simply no use arguing over this.

Mostly, the experience of going back to school was refreshing. Pretending to be little children was interesting. They got a few odd looks for certain things they said or did, but all in all Annabeth figured they were doing a convincing job. After all, no one ever really called them out or anything. And acting like teenagers later on was much easier, since they were used to it from spending so much time around the demigods at camp.

When they went to elementary school, Annabeth found herself fighting back the urge to grin and chuckle every time Percy reached over and pulled her hair gently. She scowled at him instead, along with the friends she made, but it was impossible to really be upset with him when she knew they both had to restrain themselves from showing affection toward each other at such a young age. It would look bizarre if a couple of eight-year-olds stared at each other lovingly.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” she told him once during recess, the two of them sitting on the floor outside, with Annabeth building a complicated tower out of Lego pieces and Percy swaying back and forth in place, watching her agitatedly. “All of our teachers are already rooting for us to end up together.”

“They have nothing better to do than gossip about the nonexistent love life of two little kids?” he said as he picked up a blue brick and held it out for her before she could even ask for it. “It’s kind of creepy if you think about it. I mean, the two of us are married, so I guess it’s fine, but they don’t know that.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Then start acting your age and stop being too obvious about this thing.”

He retaliated by knocking over her building without a second thought. Again—having an impulsive kid was totally his fault.

“Percy Jackson!” she screeched loudly.

For a second he looked like he was about to burst into laughter, but instead he pushed himself to his feet and quickly ran away, Annabeth glaring after him fondly.

The lessons were vastly different, of course. Some things were better, some things not so much. Percy still whined about having to read so much with dyslexia, but he did also have to concede that their teachers did seem to care more about this difficulty the two of them shared than his past teachers—at least, according to memory.

The subject that was the most different was, of course, history. Annabeth and Percy have lived through most of what their teachers talked about. Even though they hadn’t taken part in every single historic event, they’d still been around, so they heard quite a bit. It made their lessons interesting, because it meant they snickered every once in a while at a few wrong details, suppressing the urge to correct their teachers.

And then they got to learn about Greek mythology—something that was now much more accepted in the world. Mostly because the gods were being more reckless and careless while interacting with humans, so rumors spread and people started thinking: Wait, maybe these all-powerful beings are actually real. So not everyone believed it, but it was a vastly different situation than it had been when the two of them were kids.

“This is awkward,” whispered Percy.

Annabeth couldn’t help but nod at that, her eyes trained on their teacher, who animatedly told the class about, well, the two of them. Percy and Annabeth—the new soulmate gods that already made it to the history books, somehow. Seriously, that was insane.

“We’re learning so much, though,” she said teasingly. “Did you know you were the god of loyalty and fidelity?”

He snorted. “Said the goddess of the devotion.”

“It was funny to find out about it for the first time, though,” she said, trying to suppress her chuckles. “Your face was priceless, Seaweed Brain.”

He crossed his arms with a pout. “How was I supposed to know they assigned us each personal domains on top of the soulmate thing? I thought that was it. We were both just soulmate gods. Why do we need anything else other than that?”

“Jackson, Chase, quiet in the back, please,” their teacher called sternly, eyeing them both disapprovingly.

They pulled their heads apart and smiled at her innocently until she went on with her lesson. Annabeth listened to her stories with interest, stifling her laughter at the inaccuracies regarding her life with Percy—although the part where they were one of the only relationships in Greek mythology that remained faithful to this day was true, of course, and she was determined to keep it that way.

Glancing sideways at him, she found Percy tapping riptide—in the form of the pen—against his open textbook, not bothering taking any actual notes. At the feeling of her eyes on him, though, he turned to look at her again, light shining in his eyes.

He smiled at her.

She felt like she was falling in love with him all over again.

---

“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.”—Phil McGraw