Chapter Text
Percy could feel his palms grow more damp as he rested his hands on Annabeth’s hips.
A few feet away, Grover and Thalia were stood in a similar position. They looked far more relaxed than he could ever be as he slow danced to a song that was being drowned out by the pounding in his ears.
They were dressed for the occasion, at least. Over several layers for warmth, Percy wore a mismatched collection of items he had lying around from a previous school dance, along with a dark blue winter coat that complemented his tie nicely.
Annabeth wore a simple yellow dress under her own coat, her reddish braids partially covered by a black beanie. He thought the new hair color suited her, and the outfit reminded him of how she looked on Circe’s island. The memory felt so far away now, but seeing her like this brought him strange comfort.
“I don’t bite, you know,” Annabeth looked up at him, her big brown eyes scanning his face the way she always does. “You don’t have to be so tense.”
“Uh…right,” he stretched and readjusted his stance before awkwardly placing his left hand back on her hip. With the other, he moved to reach for hers, stopping to wipe the sweat off on the pants his mom ironed before they left the apartment.
Annabeth ducked her head down to smile and he couldn’t help but smile too. He silently wished he could see it, that she would let him in, even for just a moment. She hadn’t smiled at him in so long.
Percy didn’t want to mention it, but he could feel a distance between them. He’d thought they were okay after this past summer, but on the car ride up to Westover, he could feel something had changed again. He saw Annabeth and Thalia only a few times since they started at an all-girls school in Brooklyn. It was a big risk to have two children of the Big Three walking around New York, but those 40 minutes on the 5 train were worth it each time.
They danced in semi-comfortable silence for a few minutes before she broke it. “Your mom’s really nice.” She scanned the gym for any potential threats before landing her gaze back on him.
“She couldn’t wait to meet you,” he watched her brows furrow at the admission, “I swear your name was brought up at least five times a day leading up to tonight.”
She tilted her head to the side, considering, and slowly a smirk spread across her face. “And how many of those were you bringing it up first?”
“What?... I––” A cough. “A few. But in my defense, there’s not much I can talk about without mentioning you. You’re at the center of nearly every memory I’ve had for the past two years.”
He didn’t realize how crazy that sounded until he’d seen her face shift. Her eyes had widened slightly, lips parted and breathless, before clamping shut. He could feel her tense up under his hands for a brief moment. She exhales, and they’re standing so close he could feel it ghost across the base of his neck. It sends a shiver down his spine.
“Percy––”
“Watch out!” yelled a voice from the opposite side of the gym.
Behind Annabeth, Percy could see a basketball sailing at full speed towards her head. Instinctively, he pulled her into him and turned slightly to dodge, but it knocked forcefully into the side of her backpack, a few items landing at their feet.
With the soft thudding of footsteps, a kid not much younger than them showed up to take the ball back. He offered an apology through a sheepish smile before stepping away awkwardly.
Percy quickly released his grip on Annabeth and moved to pick up her things off the floor.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, shoving things into her bag as Percy handed them over, refusing to meet his eyes after what just happened.
He stared at the only thing left on the ground and bent to pick it up. It was a tri-fold brochure. Percy held it up to get a better look; the colored lights danced across the words on the page.
‘Join the Hunters of Artemis today!...Immortality…A boy-free tomorrow.’ The paper was covered in images of women and girls of all ages in silver parkas. Depictions of the maidens fighting monsters, shooting bows, camping out and laughing. It was one hell of an advertisement.
He’d heard of the Hunters of Artemis and his thoughts raced a thousand miles a minute. He stared at the page, waiting for it to make sense in a way that didn’t feel like falling. He laughed once, shaky and breathless, because this couldn’t be right. Annabeth wasn’t one to run away. She’s the one who stayed, an immovable constant.
Except… she’d been quieter lately. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. Human choices… If I can just think six steps ahead, I can save you. This was why she’s been so distant. This was why she’s been looking at him like it might be the last time.
Percy was never one for friends, but if these past few years had taught him anything, it was Annabeth’s heart. He couldn’t even begin to understand the brilliance that was her mind, but her heart, the care she has for others, was something he understood with certainty. The hurt he feels now doesn’t stem from the fact that she might leave. It was that she’d already started preparing for a life without him in it just to keep him safe.
The stuffy gym was closing in fast and he needed to get out of there. He heard Annabeth gasp, but he was already stumbling through the crowd of middle schoolers, the paper crumpling in his white-knuckled fist. She continued to shout for him, but he didn’t look back.
He eventually reached the exit door at the back of the building and used all his body weight to push through. Any and all warmth he’d felt previously was replaced by a biting chill as the cold wind scratched against his face. His feet sank deeper into the snow as he trudged farther and farther into the mess of forest behind the school, but he didn't care. He could see a clearing ahead where the ground dropped off into a cliff, but he stopped short, crouching under a large tree.
He stared out at the blanket of snow. The moonlight glittered off the sheets of white. The cold distracted from the ache in his chest, but not by much.
He thought about Annabeth in a silver parka like those girls on the brochure. He thought about her going on adventures and fighting monsters, without him by her side every step of the way. He knew the hunters had a strict no-males policy so what did that mean for him? For them?
Besides Grover and his mother, Annabeth was probably the most important person in his life up to this point, and she didn’t even bother to fill him in on such a monumental decision.
It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of footsteps crunching into the snow behind him.
“I meant to tell you,” her voice was small from where she stood behind him.
He couldn’t help the scoff that escaped his lips, “Oh, yeah? When?”
Still crouched, he hugged his legs to his chest; the pressure contained the ache of betrayal from ripping through him.
“That’s not fair. There was never a right opening. I couldn’t just drop it on you.”
“How long have you been considering it?” He stood from his crouched position, but he still couldn’t face her.
There was a pause before she let out a deep sigh, “A few weeks.”
Percy whipped around, “Weeks? I saw you two weeks ago!”
There were no lights back here, but the moon was weirdly bright tonight. Now that he was looking at her— really looking at her, without all the colors and cheesy strobe lights, he could see how tired she was. Her snow jacket was now zipped up, practically swallowing her whole.
“To finalize the mission plans with Chiron,” she sounded resigned, but she had the nerve to roll her eyes. “I was not going to bring it up right there, Percy.”
He ran a stressed hand through his curls, leaving a few sticking up in odd directions. “Tell them you’re not interested. I don’t…I don’t know— tell their recruitment office to kick rocks.”
“I doubt Lady Artemis would appreciate that,” she said, eyebrows raised in amusement. “And besides, I contacted them…” Her voice tapered off at the end, wincing.
“You, what?” he shouted.
Suddenly, Percy felt like he was eight years old again. Like he was floating, weightless, as the person who anchored him to the world tried desperately to get rid of him.
“Technically, I initiated the process, but the hunters reached out first,” she seemed to shrink into herself. “I asked Chiron for the brochure. He keeps an old stack of them in his office, then Artemis herself sent me an Iris message two days later.”
“What?” He was like a broken record at this point, but the world was tilting on its axis. A pit formed in his chest. He wanted to hurl whatever was left in his stomach onto the pristine snow between them.
There was a silent plea in her eyes, begging him to understand. “We just talked. I didn’t make any promises, but I’m set to meet them soon.”
All he could do was stare. I’m set to meet them soon. He suddenly felt too big for his body. He wanted to scream and stomp his foot like a petulant child. His emotions made it difficult to concentrate.
“You can’t just run off! You can’t leave me to deal with all of this alone. Annabeth…please,” his voice was breaking. He felt desperate, and he shook with it. “I don’t think I can do any of this without you.”
He stepped forward. She stepped back, her head shaking with eyes as wide as saucers. “You don’t get it. I think I’m a detriment to you, Percy.”
“That’s not true,” Another step. “I wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for you.”
He could see a shine in her eyes, and the tip of her nose was red from the cold. “This summer…” she sighs. “This summer on Circe’s island, you said it yourself. If you had to choose between saving me or saving Olympus. You said… You said that you’d burn it all down.”
Percy clenches his jaw. He should take it back, tell her that it was all a lie. Something said in the heat of the moment, but he knew deep down that he was telling the truth. He would burn it all down in a heartbeat.
“Well, surely it’d be easier to stop that from happening if we stick together,” he knew he was being stubborn, but he couldn’t help it. The world still felt like it was crumbling under his feet.
“I don’t think you’re hearing me. You didn’t say that you’d watch it all burn. You said that you would burn it all down yourself,” her bottom lip wobbled slightly. “What am I supposed to do with that, Percy? Do you realize how insane that sounds? Me over the Gods? Over the fate of the world? I can’t handle that.”
“Then don’t make me choose,” He could feel his hands shaking and he knew the cold had nothing to do with it. “Don’t go. Don’t join the hunters.”
“I’ll be safe with them. I’ll still be here for you, but from a distance.”
Percy could feel the lump rising in his throat. There was already too much distance between them. He didn’t want more.
“How do you know that?” He takes a chance and steps forward once more. “What if you join and I never see you again?”
She leans away, but she doesn’t move back. “You don’t need me. You’re doing perfectly fine navigating our world on your own.”
“Are you kidding? I’d be dead by now if it weren’t for you.”
It’s clear on her face that the thought spooks her, but she swallows it. He could see the spark of determination return to her eyes. “You’ll still have Grover and Thalia—”
“Annabeth, stop—”
She presses on. “You have Tyson. Chiron.”
“They’re not you.”
“There are other people who can help yo—”
“Boon.”
The word comes out measured as he stares down at her. They’re nearly toe-to-toe now. Their heavy breaths mix in the space between them. Her brows are pinched together and the despair in her eyes almost compels him to raise his hand and smooth it out, but he won’t.
Percy can’t believe they’re here again.
“What?” Her hands are balled into fists.
“You heard me,” He softens his voice. He could tell she was getting angry.
“That’s not how it works,” she says through gritted teeth.
He could still feel the conversation slipping away—feel her slipping away from him. The panic continued to grip at his chest. His heart threatened to crack through his ribcage.
“Please,” he sighed, rubbing the frustration from his eyes. He’d always hated the way tears would form wherever he was frustrated or angry. “I think you’d be making a big mistake. Annabeth, I need you here.”
“Percy, I’m terrified!” she wails. “We can go back and forth about this all night, but we don’t have time for that! We still have a mission to complete. I will not stand here with you and argue about a decision I’m not one-hundred percent sure of myself. I'm scared!”
He’d never heard her sound like this before and it unnerved him to see Annabeth so shaken. His immovable constant, teetering on the edge of cracking wide open.
She hiccuped before continuing, “I just got Thalia back. Either one of you could be the child of the Great Prophecy and I’m scared for what that means for the role I’ll play in all of this. I refuse to be a pawn in either of your downfalls. I just want to feel in control before that choice is taken from me.”
“Six steps ahead, I know,” he sighs. “But, Annabeth…this can’t be the only option.”
She scowled. “You got any better ideas, Seaweed Brain?”
Percy’s mouth opened, but no sounds came out. He felt the fight drain from him, resignation settling into his bones because her fears made sense.
They stood there staring at each other, and for the first time, they couldn't unscramble the frustrating mess of thoughts from the other’s head. For the first time, they stood on two different sides of a battlefield.
“Percy! Annabeth!” It sounded like Grover’s voice. The rustling grew louder, multiple pairs of footsteps joining the chorus of noise.
They both drew their weapons. The unmistakable shink! of sharp metal rang through the air. They turned in the direction of the school, and through the bushes sprang Dr. Thorn and the di Angelo siblings. The back of their necks were gripped in each of the monster’s hands as he barreled past them and into the clearing near the cliff. Grover and Thalia weren’t far behind, quickly breaking through the forest.
But Percy was already on the move, Annabeth running right alongside him before splitting off to the left. He could hear Grover begin to play a frantic jig on his reed pipes. Long weeds sprang up from the snow and slithered their way up the man’s legs.
He roared in frustration. His face twisted and changed until the rest of his frame began to do the same. His wrinkled face stayed intact, but where his mortal body used to be was now the body of a lion. His shiny, leathery tail whipped at the ground beside him. The weeds began to snap. Bianca stood terrified as Nico practically bounced on the heels of his feet, an amazed smile brightening his face.
If Percy weren’t about to risk his life for them, he’d probably laugh at the brutal contrast in their expressions.
“Thorn!” he shouted.
The monster stepped in front of the di Angelos and faced Percy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Annabeth disappear under her Yankees cap. Now he just needed to keep Thorn distracted long enough for her to move the kids out of range.
“Hello, Perseus Jackson,” Dr. Thorn smiled. His sharp, yellow teeth were stark against the white snow. “Perfect. The General will appreciate the whole set.”
He could barely even think ‘The General?’ before the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Percy anticipated the whip of Thorn’s tail. The spikes sailed through the air. Percy swiped at them with riptide as he ran, cutting them down one by one. Then, as he was less than five feet from his target, he remembered his shield. He hit his watch, and thick celestial bronze plates spiraled out into a circle as stabilizing straps wrapped around his wrist next to the original leather.
Percy lunged for the manticore’s side, but the hit didn’t seem to do much damage. Before he could strike again, he heard a loud thwack and a groan. Grover lay unmoving near a tree. He must’ve moved in closer in hopes of the music working better. Once Percy could see the rise and fall of his chest, he turned back to Thorn, who was busy dodging blows from Thalia’s spear.
Thorn grimaced every time Aegis was faced to him, which gave Thalia opportunities to jab at the more vulnerable parts of his hide. Lightning crackled above as she swerved each swipe of the lion claws. Spikes were still flying in different directions every few seconds, but Thalia seemed to be keeping him occupied.
Percy tiptoed forward, hoping to attack from the back, but before he could, Thorn swung his tail, taking him and Thalia out in one movement. They landed in a heap on the other end of the clearing from where he’d last seen Grover.
In his daze, he could see a few silhouettes near the still unmoving lump of satyr on the ground. Then one of them faded into nothing.
“Give up now, little heroes,” Dr. Thorn laughed, “Surrender yourselves, and you may even live.”
He walked forward. He bared his teeth into something Percy could only assume was a smile. Riptide lay a foot or two away from him. Percy tried to reach for it, only for Thorn to swipe it away.
“Ah, ah, ah,” he sang. Slowly, the manticore’s amusement turned into a glare. “The General wouldn’t be happy if I killed you now, but he didn’t say anything about turning you in unscathed.”
His head was pounding. Thalia groaned beside him, but the leathery tail raised overhead, and Percy pushed Thalia away from him before bracing for impact.
“No!” Annabeth launched herself onto Thorn’s back. He stood up on his hind legs and staggered back in surprise as she sank her dagger down to the hilt into the monster’s neck.
Suddenly, dozens of arrows whizzed through the air into the underbelly of the beast. Thorn roared, loud and furious.
Percy turned his head in the direction of where the arrows had come from. At the edge of the clearing was a human barricade of girls in silver parkas standing at the ready, their bows loaded with another round of arrows.
Dr. Thorn continued to flail around, trying to shake Annabeth off his back. Through the scuffle, they inched closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Percy could see the way Annabeth’s face was twisted in pain as she struggled to keep her grip. He blindly scrambled for riptide in the snow. He needed to get to her.
Thalia stirred, groaning as she sat up. The sound of bow strings being pulled taut makes Percy snap his head toward the row of hunters on his left, and finally, he feels the familiar hilt of his weapon.
“Fire!” ordered one of the hunters.
“No!” Percy scrambled to his feet. “Annabeth!”
Silver arrows whistled as they flew across the clearing, each one sinking into the monster. Before he could run to her, two pairs of arms grasped him from each side.
“Annabeth!” His voice cracked as he lashed against their grip. His lungs burned. “Let me go. Let me go— please, I need to get to her! I need to help.”
Then he heard it. A scream.
His gaze snapped to Annabeth, an arrow buried deep in her bicep. Percy watched in panicked horror as her face drained of color, her grip slipping. And before anyone could react, the manticore, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and into the darkness.
“No! No, no, no, no—” The sounds tearing out of him were primal. He couldn’t draw a full breath.
His chest hitched, the cold air coming in as sharp, useless gasps as he clawed against the arms pinning him in place. Someone’s grip bit into his shoulder; another locked around a bicep, hauling him back from the edge as his shoes dragged against the snow.
“Let go,” he choked, the words tearing at his throat. Percy tried surging forward again, desperate and unthinking, toward the empty space where Annabeth had been only seconds before.
The cliff stared back at him, nothing but darkness and the roar of the wind rushing to meet it. His weight sagged into their hold as his strength bled out of him all at once. Their hands guided him down, his legs folding beneath him like they’d forgotten their purpose. The world narrowed to the sound of his own ragged breathing, then to the pressure of hands still keeping him upright.
Slowly, the blur sharpened. Faces came into focus. One familiar and the other—
His chest tightened painfully as understanding crashed over him. Annabeth was gone, and Thalia had been the one to keep him here. Something in him broke.
Percy didn’t remember slumping forward or the way the sky tilted and slipped away. Only the sudden, merciful dark as the world went silent.
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Dear Annabeth,
Honestly, I don’t know how to start this letter.
Dear Annabeth,
Grover’s worried about me. Sometimes I wish we didn’t have the empathy link because having him in my head probably doesn’t do much to ease his anxiety. He suggested that I write letters to you. I don’t have an address to send them to, obviously, but he thinks it’ll help. I think he might be right.
He’s doing okay. Just a little banged up, but he’s okay. The di Angelos are safe too. Bianca decided to join the hunters and I almost strangled Nico after he made a few stupid comments about you (Don’t worry. I was too drained to actually do anything about it).
Dear Annabeth,
I talked to a few of the hunters and they hate me. The feeling is mutual. I don’t think you’d like them either. Lady Artemis is cool, but her lieutenant Zoë is a real pain in my
Dear Annabeth,
It’s been 12 hours since you were taken, and I don’t know what to do. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is the look on your face and the arrow sticking out of your arm.
Dear Annabeth,
I’m sorry.
Dear Annabeth,
It’s been 38 hours since you were taken. I keep counting because if I don’t, it feels like time has stopped altogether.
I don’t know where you are, but I dreamt about you. I know now that Luke was behind all of it and that you’re with him right now. I’m sorry for not getting to you on time. I’m also sorry for making our last conversation an argument. I keep replaying it, trying to find the moment where I could’ve said something different. Something better. I should’ve dropped it until after the mission, at least.
Maybe you’d still be here if I had. Maybe we could’ve finished our dance.
Thalia says you’ve wanted to tell me every day since Artemis contacted you, and maybe that’s true. Honestly, I probably would’ve tried to talk you out of it every day. It would’ve given me an excuse to hop the 5 train more often. Maybe I would’ve messed it up even worse than I already have. I don’t know. I just know she held me back at the cliff because you made her promise to keep me safe, no matter what happened to you. I didn’t realize her promise applied to circumstances outside of you joining the hunt.
I’m still angry at her for that, by the way. I don’t know when I won’t be. We got into a big fight once we got back to camp (Her fault. She started it). We don’t need to get into details but Chiron placed us on dishwashing duty after the dryads complained. I think the lightning and excessive flooding might’ve gotten us banned from all capture the flag games in the future. I really hope not.
I keep thinking that if I’d gotten to you faster, if I’d just broken free, none of this would’ve happened. Everyone keeps telling me that’s not how it works, but I don’t believe them.
I should’ve said I was sorry.
I haven’t slept much because when I do, I dream about the cliff and wake up reaching for nothing. I’m waiting for Chiron to declare a quest, and once he does, I’ll be the first to volunteer. In the meantime, I’ll keep writing to you in the hopes that you’ll get to read these. Or I'll just tell you all this in person when I get you back.
— Percy