Chapter Text
September started with mist clouding her vision and worries clouding her thoughts.
San Francisco always made Annabeth feel blind. The mist didn’t let her see the monsters, the distance didn’t let her see Camp Half-Blood, and the proximity to her father didn’t let her see situations clearly.
She sat in her room (the last door in the hallway; if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t know there was another child in the house. It was her father and Emily’s way of pretending they lived a perfect life, a life without her) and stared at the blank walls.
This summer had been a lot. The labyrinth, the prophecy, Pan, Percy, Luke, the battle, Luke again, Percy again, and Rachel. The memories spinning in her head like a cyclone hadn't given her a break since she stepped out of camp.
She lay on the bed, wondering if she should call Percy to tell him she had arrived safely. Except that she wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear from her; she wasn’t sure where their relationship stood at the moment.
This summer had been spent pushing the limits of their already shaky friendship. Stolen kisses when no one was watching (they never talked about them, just pretend that nothing had happened), secret movie nights in the Poseidon cabin, loud fights that made hot and angry tears run down her face, and jealousy that made her heart burn (did Connor and Rachel have any idea of their effect on her and Percy’s friendship?) had taken up their summer.
At the end, she decided not to call. What was she even supposed to say?
***
All throughout the rest of the week, she would feel the urge to call Percy.
To tell him about something that saw, about how beautiful the buildings on the street where the post office is are, about the crazy thing Emily said during dinner, anything and everything.
Talking to Percy was so easy, so simple until it wasn’t.
In the end, she never picked up the phone (again).
***
The first day of school was bleak. One of the things Annabeth hated about California was its lack of emotion. Fall, winter, spring, summer—it all looked the same. She missed the leaves turning orange and falling to the ground. She missed the distinct seasons and feelings that were easy to understand. She missed New York and a pair of green eyes in the city.
Over the course of the month, she fell back into a routine: wake up, go to school, fight monsters who wanted her dead, do homework, worry about the future, fight with her dad over how she could be a better daughter, eat dinner in her room, go to sleep, and repeat. It wasn’t the most exciting life, but at least she was alive; a lot of her friends didn’t have the same luck.
School was alright; it was better than last year and the year before. She even had some “friends.” Mckenna and Gracie didn’t understand her, not in any way that actually mattered. She couldn’t tell them about what haunted her in the middle of the night, and maybe it was better that way.
In the middle of September, she invited them to her house. Her dad insisted that she invite her normal, mortal (these two words meant the same to her these days, and it was eating her inside) friends over. In an attempt to stop their fighting, she complied.
Now, Mckenna was sitting on the floor of her bedroom, looking at the pictures on her table.
“Who 's this?” she asked, holding a Polaroid in her hand. Gracie, who got a look at the picture before Annabeth, just said, “He’s cute.”
Mckenna turned the picture to Annabeth. Out of all the Polaroids Silena took that summer, that was probably her favorite one. She and Percy, sitting beside each other on the rocks beside the lake, looked so happy, so normal.
“That’s my friend, Percy.”
“Friend? Just that?” Gracie said suggestively. Believe it or not, Annabeth was probably the person in the world who was most aware of what that photo looked like to anyone who didn’t know the whole story. Who didn’t know that she was a girl in love with a boy who had a countdown to his death on top of his head.
“Yeah, just that.” she said, hoping that would end the conversation.
***
Gold and green haunted her dreams and nightmares. In the end, the only thing she could think about was how, in the end, she couldn’t save everyone.
***
The first call Annabeth received from camp came a few days before the end of the month. When she saw the caller ID, her heart stopped. No one had called her throughout the month, and her mind went directly to the worst possibility.
“Hello,” she said, worried. The voice on the other end of the phone wasn’t who she expected.
“Hello to you too, Ms. California,” Connor responded. Honestly, Annabeth didn’t want to talk to him. Connor was a great person (if you ignored the theft and the ruckus he caused wherever he went), and she had spent a great part of the summer using him to make Percy jealous. He deserved better—someone who wouldn’t use him and then discard him when he wasn’t needed anymore. One thing she was glad had stayed in the summer was the stupid mind games she and Percy barely knew they were playing on each other.
“How are things there?” she wanted to say, at home. The sun was setting against the bay, and for a moment, she let herself enjoy the California sun.
“Good.” As soon as Connor said that, she knew he was lying. His voice always went up an octave when he lied.
“Connor,” Annabeth said, a plea hidden in her tone. (tell me the truth, she wanted to say)
“Morale is kinda low around these parts, if I’m truthful.” He tried his hardest to sound like it was a joke, but she could hear the truth. “I actually want to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Me and Travis, with Silena, who’s also helping, are planning to throw this huge Halloween rager, you know, as a last celebration—”
“Don’t say that,” Annabeth interrupted him. She preferred to live in denial of what was to come in the next months. “And I’ll go, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I always knew you could read my mind, Annabeth Chase,” Connor said. She could feel his intentions from here, the lines of their friendship blurring just the tiniest bit in front of her.
She laughed softly. “I should go. I swear, if the monsters don’t kill me, math homework will.” Recently, these were the only mentions of death she would allow in her life—in the form of jokes and heavily veiled truths.
Connor chuckled. “See you on the 31st. Bye, Annie.” Her bones went cold; the last person who called her that was Luke, before… Well, everything.
“Bye, Stoll.” She turned off the phone and sat there, staring at the night falling through the bay.
Just like that, September ended, she was still blind and still confused, but at least she had something to look forward to.