Chapter Text
Percy froze with a mouthful of fries, green eyes going comically wide as he finally gave the Iris Message his full attention. “What?” he asked, the word muffled by the absurd amount of potato he’d been inhaling before speaking.
Annabeth spared him the briefest of eye rolls before looking back to the image of Reyna, who was sitting behind her impressive desk with a straight spine and steely expression.
“I need you to check it out,” the Praetor said.
“Why us?” Annabeth asked. The question was loaded, but she kept her tone remarkably even.
“Yeah, why us?” Percy chimed in, having finally finished his fries. “You said the weird shit is happening in California, right? That’s your jurisdiction, we’ve got enough going on here on the East Coast, thanks.”
Egyptian deities right there in New York, whatever the Helheim was happening with Annabeth’s cousin up in Boston… Yeah, their schedules were quite full without having to venture across the country, thanks. Percy munched on a fry vindictively, wondering why nothing could just stay peaceful for longer than a few days.
Reyna’s composure finally broke, and she lifted a hand to rub her temple. “You weren’t my first choice, to be honest, but I’m afraid there’s no one else I can send.”
Percy scoffed. “You have legions - literal legions - of demigods at your disposal, and yet you’re saying you need us-”
“They’ve got Frank and Hazel.”
Percy and Annabeth froze. Percy’s mouth went dry. Underneath the table, Annabeth’s hand found his and squeezed. She kept her gaze locked on Reyna, who was no longer trying to hide her desperation. “What do you mean?”
Reyna sighed. Now that he was properly looking, Percy could see the bags beneath her eyes. “We’ve been noticing some strange occurrences for a while now -”
“What kind of strange occurrences?” Percy cut her off.
She didn’t look too impressed by that. “People disappearing, strange murders, animals acting up, that sort of thing. If you’d been listening the first time instead of trying to inhale an entire side of fries, you’d know that.” Percy scrunched his face up, but didn’t speak. She continued, “But we’ve been a little preoccupied with rebuilding and fortifying relationships…”
“This isn’t your fault, Reyna,” Annabeth said. She glanced over at Percy, who nodded. “Just… tell us what happened to them.”
“So there was a report of a rapid spike in animal attacks, just last week. It was decided that we couldn’t leave it any longer. What if it was a colony of monsters, banding together to strike us when we were weak from the war? We couldn’t risk that. We decided to send a small party to scout it out.” Her voice wavered, and Percy gripped Annabeth’s knee. “Frank volunteered to lead. Hazel of course volunteered to go with him. They set out on Monday, with a daughter of Apollo. Thursday night, she arrived back at the border, bloodied and beaten and screaming about how they’d taken Frank and Hazel had refused to leave him.”
Percy’s jaw clenched. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth. “Where are they?”
“All we know is the name of the town. I’d go myself, but I can’t leave Camp without a Praetor, not again -”
“Reyna,” he said, almost a growl. “Where. Are. They.”
She grabbed a map off the desk and held it up to face them. She pointed to a small town, the name of which Percy couldn’t quite make out. It was circled in bright red marker, with a line marking the path the demigods had taken to it from Camp Jupiter.
Reyna’s voice was like steel when she said, “Beacon Hills.”