Chapter Text
"What do you want?" I ask quickly, hoping to get the god out of my face, away from my apartment.
"Well, hello to you, too, Annabeth," Apollo greets.
He appears to me in newest favored form, Lester Papadopolous. It's the body of a teenager his father forced him into a few years ago.
I start to close the door, but he puts a hand on the door to block the close.
I let him.
I don't care.
"Are you coming? I'm your chauffer," he offers, giving a mock bow.
"I'm not getting in your vehicular death trap," I answer, thinking of the story an old friend told me about the school bus incident.
"Oh, no, no. It's an actual car. A mom van, actually. I'm picking up a few others on the way, and you're my first stop."
"First stop to where?" I ask.
"New York, of course," he smiles.
I don't.
"I'm not interested," I snap.
"You received an invitation, did you not?" Lester asked, his voice sounding with concern and, there it is, pity.
He pushes the door open, revealing the innards of my dark, New Rome apartment. Lester ignores the piles of dirty dishes, my unfolded clothes and several empty family size bags of chips and their crumbs on the couch.
Instead, he files through the pile of mail growing on my kitchen table.
"Found it," he cheered. He opens the letter and hands me the invitation.
It's from Sally, an invitation to Percy's 20th birthday.
I recognize the picture on the card as one of his senior photos. His smile wide, eyes crinkled. Wearing an orange and black plaid flannel over a dark t-shirt as he sits on the steps of an old building.
I drop the card on the ground before I can smile.
"I'm not going," I tell Lester, and I hold open my apartment door to let him out.
He doesn't move. He crosses his arms and leans against the wall.
"And I'm not leaving this apartment until you decide to come with me," he says. "It'll be nice. A cross country road trip. You'll reunite with your friends. They miss you." He pauses and clicks his tongue dramatically. "Estelle asks about you."
I glance up at him, and he smiles at my glare.
"How would you know that?"
"Who do you think sent me to fetch you?" He holds up his hand in surrender, and walks toward me.
In his Lester form, we're about the same height. He can make himself taller, larger, stronger. Although Lester is modeled after a teenager in the midst of puberty, I still find his form intimidating.
"Let's make a deal," he says. "You come with me, come to the birthday party, and if - and only if - you can honestly say that you want this" - he gestured around my mess of an apartment - "to be your only home, I will never bother you again."
"That sounds like more of a punishment for you than it does a boon for me," I say.
"Which is why it's enticing," he says.
I keep my eyes on the floor as Lester struts out of my apartment.
"The car leaves in the morning, 9 o'clock," he says. "We hope you'll join us."
I shut the door in his face. With an ear against the wood, I make sure his footsteps trail away before I walk back to where I dropped the invitation and scoop it up off the ground.
Sunlight fills the room, an orange glow brought on by the perfectly angled sunset.
"Are you seriously considering not going?" Percy says, leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom.
"Why would I?" I reply. I go to the fridge an open it, hoping to find something to eat despite not shopping in weeks. I settle for a bag of shredded cheese.
"There's probably going to be lots of blue food," he smiles, now on the couch. He pats the cushion next to him for me to sit.
I put the bag back in the fridge and walk over to him, sitting across from him on our green couch.
"Let me see it," he says, scooting closer to me. I show him the invitation.
"Oooh. My mom used the fancy calligraphy font. That's fun." He smiles. "Now, show me the other thing."
I untie the camp necklaces clasped behind my neck. My necklace has twelve beads, representing each year I spent at Camp Half Blood as a child. Percy's necklace, which I have worn in addition to my necklace, has seven. The last five beads of our necklaces match.
I thumb the object that connects my necklace to his - a silver ring with blue and gray diamonds. I take the ring off the necklaces and place it on my left ring finger.
"I still can't believe you found that ring before I got the chance to propose," he laughs.
I leave the ring on my finger and clasp both necklaces back on my neck.
"I can't go back to New York," I tell him, and twist the ring on my finger. "I don't want to talk to anyone. Especially your family. They haven't seen me since -" My voice cracks at the last word.
"You heard what Apollo said. My family misses you."
"This invitation" - I flick the photo - "is just courtesy. They won't want me anywhere near them."
"Annabeth," Percy's light and sarcastic tone is gone. "You have to tell them."
I look over at my fiance and he scoots closer to me, our thighs almost touching.
"Go, and tell them," he whispers. "They deserve to know. You can't keep this secret to yourself forever."
Percy leans over and kisses my forehead, but I don't feel his lips against my skin.
When I open my eyes, my room is dark and Percy is gone.
He's not here, I remind myself.
Holding onto the invitation, I grab a pillow and scream into it.
It's not long until the tears start, and soon after that I fall asleep.
The crying-screaming-sleeping cycle has become a ritual these past three months.
After all, Percy Jackson is dead.