Chapter Text
“Hey,” Percy said, his seafoam green eyes flicking over to Annabeth as she read from her history textbook. It was a warm spring afternoon in New York, and Percy had just gotten home after a long school day. Annabeth was propped up on the couch, her blond hair was shot through with light from the window, turning her head into curly waves of gold.
“Hey yourself Seaweed Brain. How was that chem test you had? I heard it was a killer.” Annabeth asked him teasingly.
“Well it probably would’ve gone much worse if my amazingly intelligent girlfriend hadn’t brought me up to speed on combined gas laws.” He replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead.
He plopped his backpack down, took his shoes off, and joined her on the couch.
“Where’s mom?” He asked.
Annabeth finished flipping her page before replying, “She’s working late today with her editor, remember?”
“Um.” She stopped reading for a moment to stare Percy down.
“You remembered that you were bringing her lunch today, right?”
“Um.” He said.
“Percy.” She sighed in exasperation as he quickly started to pull his sneakers back on.
“Just be safe okay? That Filipino place she likes should still be open.” She put down her textbook and walked to the door with Percy. As he turned to leave, Annabeth took his hand and gave him a kiss. “Come back to me in one piece, Seaweed Brain.”
“I always do, Wise Girl.”
Lechon kawali secured, Percy made his way to the nearest subway station. He weaved his way through the crowds of people, careful not to tip the food over in its bag. As he made his way past a grandma, he saw a bright something in an alleyway between two apartments. I’m so late already, but… Wait. Maybe it isn’t a monster? He thought. He looked back to the sidewalk and realized that the grandma was gone. All of the pedestrians were gone. The light flashed again, and he had enough time to register that it was green before it disappeared.
Cursing, Percy sprinted down the street to the alleyway to where he saw the flash of green light. He reached into his pocket as he ran, uncapping riptide. What was that? He thought. I don’t think that was greek fire, and I’ve never met a monster that can repel mortals like that. He quickly scanned his surroundings before entering the alleyway.
Percy wasn’t sure what he was seeing. A large oval of pulsating energy sat at the end of the alley. Its edges were made up of green light, brighter energy rising and falling in it like a lava lamp. Despite the growing sense of wrongness he felt, he decided to approach it. It wasn’t like an iris message, he couldn’t see through it, but maybe he could touch it.
“What the–!” He barely had the time to shout before he was pulled through.
— — —
Jason was having a normal day until a building got dropped on him. He cleaned his safehouse/apartment, finished filing the case report B wanted done four days ago, and went patrolling. The night went pretty well, a few muggings, a robbery… and that’s about it.