Chapter Text
A few days after his fifteenth birthday found Percy staring at the phone in his apartment. Ever since returning to the city he thought about Rachel. He knew she wanted answers about what she had been seeing through the Mist her whole life and the life-threatening trip through the Labyrinth may have answered some questions, but probably brought up a lot more. Normally he would blow it off, but since they were going to be going to Goode together, there wasn’t any avoiding her. Better to get it out of the way before she cornered him in English class or something. Plus he knew he had been brooding a bit since his dad’s visit and needed to get out of the apartment. Getting stuck in his own head wouldn’t do any good for anybody. With a deep breath he picked up the phone and dialed the number she wrote on his arm back in June.
“Hi, is Rachel there?”
“Yep, this is her.”
“Oh, hi,” he said awkwardly. “This is Percy. Percy Jackson. The guy from the band room fiasco?”
“Yes Percy, I know who you are,” she said, definite amusement in her voice. “What’s up? Any new life threatening help you need from me?”
The question kind of threw him, though in retrospect he probably should have expected it. Still it hit a nerve. He never meant to get in the trouble that seemed to follow him but follow him everywhere it did. And Rachel would know. Between Hoover Dam, the orientation at Goode, and everything in the Labyrinth... Percy took a deep breath to shake off the flood of memories that came with that train of thought. “Umm, no. I just--” he trailed off. Maybe this was a bad idea.
“Percy?”
“I know you still probably have questions and figured we should get that out of the way before school starts.”
“That sounds great!” she said, genuine excitement in her voice. “Do you want to meet up somewhere?”
In truth Percy hadn’t thought that far ahead. But suddenly an idea came to him.
“When was the last time you went to the Met?”
The next day Percy sat at the water fountain on the right-hand side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, staring into the water. This was where it all started for him. A flare of temper against that nasty girl – what was her name? Nancy. Nancy Bobofit. Ugh, what a horrible name. A flare of temper that gave him away to Mrs. Dodds and led to his first real monster attack.
Gods, he realized with a start, that was only two years ago. Closer to two and a half. And now he was in the middle of a war and probably facing his death in less than a year. Talk about life going from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat.
“Does the fountain hold the meaning of life or something?”
Without meaning to, Percy smiled. He turned to face Rachel, arms crossed with a smirk on her face. “You should know that for someone like me, it probably could.”
“Whatever hero,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m here. Now what?”
A woman in her twenties looked them over with a raised brow before going back to munching on an energy bar and reading a book. Percy got up from the fountain and led Rachel towards the front steps. As usual the area was full of tourists and museum visitors, too busy for anyone to really pay attention to their conversation.
“Well, you said you wanted answers. I’m telling you now that I’m not very good at explaining all of this, but I’ll try. I figure it can’t be worse than the crash course you got in the Labyrinth.”
“And the Met? Seems like a weird place for this.”
Percy looked up at the museum entrance for a moment. He didn’t really know why he suggested this place to meet. “I came here in sixth grade for a field trip and that was the start of me learning who I was. I guess it’s been on my mind lately.”
Rachel gave him a concerned look but shrugged. “Then lead the way.”
He looked back at her then away quickly. “Umm, first things first. You may have noticed that I tend to attract monsters and try not to stay in any place too long. So if they come, I’m sorry. There’s not really anything I can do about it.”
Percy continued to look up at the museum entrance but noticed Rachel giving him a long look. Given that he already dragged her into the Labyrinth of all places these warnings were a bit late but he still felt the need to point out the dangers of hanging around him. This was kinda new territory for him; there was a reason why he never really tried to make mortal friends these days. But if nothing else this was probably a good exercise before telling Paul all about the crazy world he lived in.
“That’s fine,” she said after a moment, “but I want a few rules.”
“Rules?” he asked incredulously.
“Yep. First, no lying. I’ve thought I’ve been going crazy most of my life so I need you to be honest about this stuff. “
Percy actually laughed. “I know that feeling and that’s fair.”
“Second, no sugar coating.” At this he winced. “I’m serious,” she said, poking his shoulder.
“I can try,” he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. Telling the truth wasn’t hard, but he knew he struggled with telling the whole truth. Probably due to a lifetime of getting in trouble and trying to limit the fallout.
“Nope, no sugar coating or whitewashing or whatever. I want the full picture, not just what you think I should know.”
“I will try,” he said sincerely, “that’s the most I can promise.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes at him and tapped her foot. After a minute she seemed to accept his answer. “Okay. And finally, no judgment.” Percy’s eyes widened at that. “I’m new to all this and from what I’ve seen so far, it is absolutely bonkers. So, no judging me or my thoughts.”
Personally he thought it was far more likely she would judge him rather than the other way around. “Does that go both ways?”
“Of course! On all three rules,” she said easily. They stared at each other for a few moments before Percy nodded and reached out to shake Rachel’s hand. Once they shook on it, the redhead looked back up at the museum. “So we going in or what?”
Percy led her to the Greek and Roman Art wing, the same place Chiron led him years before. The funeral stele with the sphinx on top was still there. He stopped to look at it for a moment. Now that they were here, he had no idea where to start so he just began to tell her about that field trip to the museum in the sixth grade.
Rachel was a good listener. And unlike others, she seemed to appreciate the insanity of the whole thing. “So there I was, holding a pen again, thinking I was hallucinating from magic mushrooms or something and Grover tells me there has never been a teacher named Mrs. Dodds at Yancy. Like, what the actual Hades man?”
She snickers softly, trying to keep her voice down. “Did you buy it?”
“Fuck no, but everyone kept saying the same thing. I seriously thought I was having a mental breakdown.”
“I know that feeling,” she sighed. “I’m kinda impressed you didn’t have a mental breakdown just from the attack. I see things all the time but don’t actually get attacked. That would be a step too far for me I think.”
“You did well in the band room.”
“Yes, but you were there with me and could see the same thing.”
They started walking around the exhibit as he moved onto the whole debacle with the Minotaur and getting to camp. He wound up telling her about most of his first quest but dodged questions about the Big Three oath. She narrowed her eyes at him but let it go. The questions she asked were blunt but no unkind. Every once and awhile she would stop at a particular piece of art to read the tag. Percy fidgeted with the hem of his t-shirt while he waited, not willing to look like a complete idiot trying and failing to read a small museum description.
“Bronze bust of Neptune,” she said, stopping at one exhibit. “Isn’t that the Roman version of Poseidon? Is that actually what he looks like?”
Percy was glad it was just a bust instead of one of the many naked statues the Met had on display. “Umm, no. We found a Roman room in the Labyrinth and all the gods looked a bit different there. Not sure why. But my dad basically looks like me but older and with a beard. But like a normal beard, not one of those crazy curly beards. And he wears khaki shorts and Hawaiian shirts.”
Rachel gives him a skeptical look but he nods in affirmation. She laughs and they keep walking.
She stops at a large terracotta bowl. “Many wine vessels were decorated with images related to the sea. Here the kindly old sea god Nereus rides an undulating sea horse,” she reads from the placard.
“Kindly my ass,” Percy snorts.
“You’ve met?”
He nods and tells her about having to jump the nastiest Santa Claus you can imagine in San Francisco after he left her at Hoover Dam. Her shoulders shake with quiet laughter and he tells her about Bessie and how cute he is. He leaves out the part about the Manticore and the fight on the Mountain of Despair, as well as the vote on whether to kill Bessie (and him) afterwards. He tries to pick happy stories to tell her as they weave through the museum halls.
By the time they leave a couple hours later Rachel seems far more relaxed although Percy is still a bit on edge. He didn’t break her rules but certainly cherry picked what anecdotes to tell her. But then again, after the Labyrinth maybe it’s just balance.
Sunset is still a few hours away but the temperature at least has cooled down since they entered. They both take a moment to look out at the bustle of Fifth Avenue before Rachel turns and thanks him, a genuine smile on her face.
“What are you doing until school starts?” she asks.
“Probably just hanging around at home, trying to stay out of trouble.”
“Wanna hit up a coffee shop tomorrow? Bring your class schedule and we can compare our upcoming Goode experience.”
Percy laughs. He knows he should say no, there is too much on his plate as there is. He did what he agreed to do which was explain the godly Greek world. But they will be going to school together and despite his nerves, he did enjoy himself today. Maybe it wouldn’t be so horrible to have a mortal friend in the city.
They make arrangements for the next afternoon before parting ways to walk home. Percy smiles up at Apollo’s late summer sun. No, maybe a mortal friend wouldn’t be a horrible thing at all.