#ramwfics

He made his way into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge. He’d made sure to have an extra large lunch but he had not eaten since practice and he was starving. Percy looked at the clock. 10:32 pm. He figured Beckendorf would be at his apartment, getting back from work himself. Last year he would alternate his time between practice and Beckendorf’s apartment. Most days Grover would join them and they would pass the time bothering Beckendorf about Silena or playing with Mrs. O’Leary. Yet another thing Percy had screwed up when he got himself kicked out. He slammed the fridge door too, this time flinching because he knew he couldn’t afford to break the old thing. It’s not like Beckendorf had stopped inviting him over. He’d even hung out there a few days ago. Percy just couldn’t help but feel guilty whenever he saw him.

In the end, his own boredom and frustration won and he found himself in front of Beckendorf’s door. Mrs. O’Leary must’ve heard him come because Percy could hear her barking through the door. A few seconds later there was Beckendorf staring down at him, still im his mechanic overalls. “Hey! Everything okay?” Percy didn’t miss how his dark eyes scanned his face. There had been a couple of times last year when he’d knocked on his door later at night looking worse for wear.

“Yeah,” he answered casually, “I just got bored. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course.” Beckendorf stepped aside, making sure to hold on to Mrs. O’Leary’s colar. The large Rottweiler had started bounding happily at the sight of Percy, who scratched her ears on his way in. Beckendorf knew Percy too well. “You hungry?” He asked as they shuffled into his living room/kitchen.

Percy tried not to look too embarrassed as he admitted: “I’m starving.”

************

“What?” Percy asked Grover for the second time. He’d been too focused on a scrawny kid flopping around in the pool in front of him to hear what his friend was saying. He’d seen the kid before, not the strongest swimmer but Percy could tell it was more due to lack of confidence than anything else. He’d seen him manage quite well in the shallower parts of the pool. Today it seemed like he’d finally decided to try out the deeper end though. The kid’s parents were nowhere to be seen, and Percy could see the panic starting to creep into his face as he realized the water was too deep to stand in. “I’ll be right back.”

Percy slid into the water. He didn’t want to make a scene since the kid wasn’t actually drowning and he wanted to give him a chance to get out of there by himself. The boy spotted him right away, relief evident in his face. Percy was tall enough to stand in this part of the pool so he made his way slowly towards him. “Hey there.” The kid didn’t make a dash to hold onto him so Percy knew hadn’t gotten too desperate, but the way he was flopping around would tire him out soon enough. “What’s your name?”  

The kid, looking mildly embarrassed, told him it was Trevor. Slowly but surely, Percy got Trevor to paddle to a shallower part of the pool. His parents finally made an appearance not soon after. “Hey ma’am,” Percy called. They were clearly here just to pick him up and they didn’t look too happy about it. The father hadn’t even looked up from his phone. “Is this your kid?” The mother, a woman that appeared to be blonde with unusually dark skin (through his limited color palette Percy assumed it was due to a bad tanning job), looked him up and down but didn’t find it within herself to answer. “I had to help Travis swim away from the deeper end of the pool. He’s not a strong enough swimmer yet for you to leave him on his own like-”

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you complaining about doing your job?” The woman’s tone made Percy’s blood boil but he clenched his fists to keep his temper in check. He didn’t need any complaints going to his supervisor. He tried to apologize but the woman was too busy yanking Trevor out of the water to care. Percy tried to put on a fake smile as he waved goodbye to the kid and sulked back to his chair.

Grover looked distastefully at the spot where the woman had gone. “A plus parenting, huh?”

Percy rolled his eyes in agreement and slumped back into his chair. “What were you saying before?”

“Oh right,” Grover tried to calm his nerves, but he’d never been a good liar and Percy knew him pretty well by now. Grover was hoping to catch Percy in a good mood since he knew he wouldn’t like this next part very much. “Well, you know how you’ve been telling me you’ve been struggling with homework lately?”

That question alone was enough to hit a nerve. “I’m not struggling, Grover. I was just saying that I’m tired and I hate reading.”

“Yeah, well I was talking to Annabeth-” Grover held up a pleading hand before Percy could interrupt him- “She’s really smart, Percy! She could help you out after school!”

“Why did you have to tell her anything? I don’t even know her!”

“I didn’t tell her anything about that!” Grover argued. He knew it was hard for Percy to talk about people about his dyslexia and ADHD; he wouldn’t betray his trust like that. Little did Percy know, however, that Annabeth was in the same boat. “I just told her you needed some help with some subjects because I know she’s really good at all that stuff and she actually volunteered herself to tutor you.” It had taken Grover aback a bit actually. Annabeth was nice and always there to help, but she didn’t take on to new people right away. Grover hadn’t gotten the impression that she disliked Percy, but it usually took her a lot longer to show interest in new people. The only other person he knew she’d gotten along with right away was Thalia. Now that Grover thought about it, Percy and Thalia did have a lot in common, though.

“Tutor me?” Percy was looking thoroughly annoyed, eyes fixed on the water before him.

“She’s not going to charge you or anything,” Grover winced at his own comment. It was hard to manage Percy’s temper around this subject. He hated feeling pitied and wasn’t big on asking for help. “She’s just trying to help and she’s new here. She doesn’t know many people besides me and Thalia.” Percy sighed. “She’s the smartest person I know, Percy. I trust her. You met her. She’s cool.” Grover could tell he was going to give in. He knew Percy was worried about keeping his grades up. His swim coach had let him on the team under the condition that he would get his GPA up enough to get out of probation from the school. Grover was also secretly excited about his two best friends possibly becoming friends themselves.

“Fine,” Percy finally said, bringing his whistle up to his lips at the sight of a group of small girls chasing each other. He gave one firm blow and pointed at the sign that read No Running when they both whipped their heads towards him. “I’ve got some free time on Monday after practice.”

*************

Annabeth tapped her pen impatiently against the table she’d settled in at the library. It didn’t help her temper that today she found out that this same pen, which she’d been using since the beginning of the semester, was bright red. The color of romance, her father had once jokingly told her. And danger, Annabeth now thought. Yeah, that seemed more accurate in her case.

The guy was almost an hour late. She was about to give up when she heard what sounded like a chair being knocked over, a loud hush, and a quick apology. A few seconds later, there was Percy Jackson. His hair was still wet from what she assumed was swim practice and he was holding a battered skateboard under his arm. Annabeth was once again struck by the intense green of his eyes. She thought she’d gotten used to the color after seeing it everywhere for the past couple of weeks, but it still floored her. There was nothing else that was that exact shade of green.

“You’re late.”

He at least managed to look guilty as he pulled a chair out noisily, earning him a death glare from the librarian at the desk. “I know. I’m so sorry. We ended late and the subway broke down or something.”

Annabeth would’ve shrugged that off as a half-assed excuse but every time she’d gotten on the subway that week it had stopped for almost an hour. Percy also had a very sincere way of saying things that kind of put her on edge. She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Did you bring your book?” He pulled a history textbook from his battered backpack. She tried to ignore the fact he’d dogeared the page. “Fall of Constantinople, right?”

“Yeah.” She could tell this whole ordeal embarrassed him a little. It was becoming harder and harder to remember she was annoyed at him. “I just...can’t seem to understand why this city was so important. From what I managed to extract from the other chapter, it seems like this whole empire was already done for.”

“I mean it was certainly in decline, and the Ottoman Turks had taken the Balkans and Anatolia by this point. So that made Constantinople the last city holding up what used to be this seemingly unbreachable empire.” Annabeth saw Percy nodding along and jutting down some notes. There was no other way to call it, it was cute. “Constantinople also represented Mehmed’s rival religion.”

“Wait, so he tried to take it again? This Meh...however you say his name? He’d already tried before, right?”

“No, that was his dad.” Annabeth leaned closer to the passage Percy was looking at. He pushed the book towards her so she could get a better look. The font was so tiny that Annabeth almost got dizzy. It would’ve taken her almost an hour to decipher just one paragraph. She pushed the book back towards him, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Thankfully, she had always been good at remembering names and they’d gone over this in her school in San Francisco last year. “Murad was the one who failed to take the city and then his son Mehmed tried again and succeeded. He got this Hungarian artillery expert, Urban I think he was called, to build him a cannon powerful enough to take down the walls of the city.”

“Sorry, could you spell that last name?”

Something about the question made Annabeth falter for a second. Percy appeared to understand most of what they were talking about. It was the names that seemed to stump him. It sounded a little familiar. “Sure.” Annabeth spelled the name out for him and she watched him make some new notes. She thought about how Grover never failed to bring up Percy one way or another when she complained about homework assignments. “Once Mehmed seized the city he used the emperor’s famed cathedral as a mosque. I can’t remember the name though. Is it in your book? I don’t know if they’d want you to know it for class.”

Annabeth observed as Percy scanned the page; she could practically feel the frustration oozing off of him. She was absolutely certain her suspicions were correct when she saw him push the book a bit far away, a trick she herself had tried many times. “Hey Percy,” he grunted in response, still absorbed in the textbook, “are you maybe...dyslexic?”

She felt him tense right away. Grover hadn’t told her for a reason, it was clearly a touchy subject for him. Annabeth was grateful that Grover had also clearly failed to tell Percy about her. “I just think that’s why Grover brought all of this up.” He was now looking at her, a complicated look on his face, like he didn’t know whether or not he should be getting offended. “It’s just that,” it had always been hard for her to talk about it too. It was like a cosmic joke for someone that loved reading so much to be made in a way that made it almost impossible to do so. “I am too, dyslexic I mean. Just looking at that book just now made me want to throw up.” His expression immediately softened. Annabeth noted the way he could easily go from one emotion to another. “That font size is awful.”

“I know right. And it’s and older edition so it doesn’t have an audio version.”

“I think I still have one for my textbook last year. I don’t know if it has everything in this one but-”

“No, yeah. That’d be great! I mean if you don’t mind-”

Annabeth chuckled, definitely cute. “I don’t, Percy.”

He thanked her once again and they finally exchanged numbers. They got through the main events of Constantinople. Annabeth remembered everything pretty well and Percy took notes. She felt light as a feather the whole time. She tried to ignore it. It’d never been this way with anyone she liked in the past. Her crush on Luke had been anything but light. Being with Percy was just nice. She didn’t know about the whole ‘soulmate’ ordeal, she didn’t even know if she liked him that way really, but she definitely wanted to hang out with him again.

An hour later he casually checked his phone and almost jumped off his chair, earning him yet another glare from the librarian. Annabeth tried to mask her snort as a cough. “Sorry,” he said quickly. He turned to Annabeth. “I have to go. Are you free Thursday?” She was pretty sure she would be but she’d have to check. She could tell he was in a hurry though so she told Percy she’d text him. “Thanks again! See you then.”

“Is it Camp Jupiter?”

The woman submerged herself for a moment. Through the water Percy could see her consulting another nereid he’d never seen before. She looked younger, shaken. She finally came back up, nodding. “The boy bore the mark of the Romans, but it doesn’t appear to be the other Camp. He wasn’t alone, though.”

Piper. Jason. A hero has fallen. The boy. “What happened? Who else was there?”

“The others are alive but the boy perished. I’m sorry, my Lord. We can’t sustain ourselves in these waters much longer.”

“Wait!” Percy reached out and caught her wrist before she could fully submerge herself again. “Are you certain? Are you sure?”

Her dark blue eyes softened, looking up at him sadly. “Yes, my Lord. My sisters made sure to at least retrieve the body. There was nothing left to do.” Percy’s hand went slack and she swam away quickly.

Maybe it’s not him. It can’t be him. Not Jason.

“Jackson!” Clarisse’s voice zapped him out of his panic. “You done getting your fill of gossip? We’re gonna be late for dinner!” She walked to where he was kneeling and pulled on his arm. Whatever she was going to say died away when she caught his expression. “What happened?”

“Where’s Nico?” The son of Hades had confirmed his fears when Beckendork died. He’d know. Especially if it was Jason. He’d know.

“What? I dunno probably sucking face with Solace. Why-”

“I need to find him.” He got up and started heading towards the cabins but Clarisse caught his arm. He turned towards her. She was looking at his hands, which Percy just now noticed were shaking. He balled them into fist and shrugged her hand away. “I’m fine,” his friends had seen him and Annabeth struggle to more than a couple panic attacks since coming back from Greece. “Something’s happened. Something...I just need to make sure first.”

Clarisse looked like she wanted to say more and now she was definitely getting worried, but Percy’s sense of urgency was obvious and she let him go. She nodded and called for Travis and Connor, who had observed the whole interaction from a few feet away, to follow her back to the dining pavilion.

Percy’s brain felt sluggish. He tried to recall Nico’s schedule but his panic had turned to dread and his heart was beating so loudly it was impossible to listen to his thoughts. His feet instinctively took him back to Nico’s cabin. His eyes fell on his hunched from right away. His back was to Percy and he was sitting on the ledge of the bed. He walked towards him and almost tripped over his sword and shield. Clearly, he’d rushed into the cabin. “Nico.” He didn’t jump at the sound of his name. He’d heard Percy come in.

“He’s gone, Percy. “ He turned the slightest bit towards Percy so only half his face was visible. But Percy could see the shine of tears in his eyes. “Jason’s dead.”

Percy didn’t feel anything. His mind wa still reeling with dread and panic. What Nico was saying just made no sense. Jason couldn’t be dead. He’d killed a Titan with his hands. They’d just won a war. This didn’t happen now.

He didn’t say any of this to Nico, though. Because, through the noise of his thoughts and furious heartbeat, he’d caught the utter devastation in his voice. He rushed to him, seating beside him so he could see his pale, tear-stained face. With a jolt, Percy remembered how he looked when they’d rescued him from Ephialtes. He wore that same empty look in his eyes. Percy couldn’t bear it. “Nico.”

“I felt him go...I wanted to call his- his spirit but,” his voice finally broke. Percy hugged him, something awful hurting his chest at the sound of sobs racking through the younger boy. Percy knew that Jason had managed to connect with Nico in a way that everyone else had failed in the past. He was his friend, a good friend. Percy clung to that feeling of numbness. He couldn’t allow himself to lose it. Nico got to lose it. Nico deserved it.

Percy held him for what felt like an hour. It could’ve been ten minutes. His brain was still sluggish. Eventually, Nico calmed down enough to wipe his face. Percy knew him well enough now to know he’d want to do something erratic. He couldn’t blame him, but Percy also knew he’d just end up hurting himself more. “You can’t go looking for him, Nico. Not now at least.” Percy expected him to be angry, almost welcomed it. He needed to know he’d be okay before he did anything else. “Just let me figure everything out.”

“It doesn’t make sense for me not to look for him, Percy. How else are we supposed to know what happened? If someone else is hurt?”

He wasn’t alone. A new wave of worry for Piper, Reyna, Dakota, all the romans, stirred in Percy. Tyson! Nico made a lot of sense, but Percy didn’t want to let him.

“You’d think the gods would break their radio silence for something like this…”

“Did you try to contact your Dad?” Nico nodded, clearly he hadn’t gotten through to him. “Can you even go to the Underworld right now?”

“Probably not. But I could summon...him.”

Percy shook his head. That would just tangle Nico more and more into whatever was happening. Percy suspected it was probably linked to Apollo and whatever he’d been doing these past months. “You didn’t feel anyone else?” Last time Percy had seen Apollo he’d been with Leo. He was certain Piper wouldn’t have let Jason go on any quests alone, even after whatever had happened between them.

“No.”

Percy pushed his brain to go into overdrive, grasping at any possible course of action. Their silence was interrupted by someone opening the door. Will looked from Percy to Nico, panic turning into worry. “What happened?” He too rushed towards Nico, who took his hand but said nothing.

Percy looked past Will to the other person that had followed him in. Annabeth was asking him a million questions with her eyes. Are you okay? What happened? It was getting harder and harder for Percy to cling to his initial shock. “Jason’s dead.” Annabeth froze in her tracks, he felt Will do the same besides Nico. “We don’t really know what happened yet. But he’s definitely gone. Nico...felt him go.”

Annabeth’s gray eyes grew wide, still asking him, confused. She turned towards Nico, looked back at Percy. Is it true?

Percy needed to do something. He needed a plan, needed to know what to do, how to fix it. You can’t fix this. He got up, avoiding Annabeth’s pleading stare. Will looked at him. “Stay with Nico,” he told him. Don’t let him do anything rash. Will nodded and Percy moved towards the door, taking Annabeth’s hand and guiding her outside.

Percy tried to think of anything he could do. I’ll just go to California myself. “Percy,” Annabeth said somewhere behind him. He hadn’t let go of her hand, he couldn’t let go. I have to find Apollo and Meg. “Percy.” Annabeth’s voice was firmer this time. She stopped and he was forced to stop as well. He only then realized he was standing right in front of the Zeus cabin. Maybe he’d been heading to his own. Either way, he stepped back when he saw the familiar marble door. Annabeth seemed to share his trepidation and guided them to her own cabin instead. It was thankfully empty since everyone was at dinner. She pushed him down onto her bed. “Tell me what happened.”

Percy recounted everything that had happened in the last hour robotically. Annabeth never interrupted him until he was finished. She looked as shocked as he felt but finally managed to say. “Do we know if the rest are okay? Piper?”

“Nico didn’t feel anyone else go. The nereids didn’t say much either, but I’m sure it has something to do with Apollo and Meg’s quest. Leo might’ve been with them.”

Percy heard Annabeth curse beside him. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. It didn’t feel real. Everytime Percy had a nightmare about losing his friends, he was always there. He’d always been there, one way or another. It was the only way it felt real. Besides, Jason was one of the most powerful demigods he’d ever met. It just didn’t make sense.

Percy. Through his sluggish thoughts he made out the sound of his name. He was sure Annabeth hadn’t said a word in a while. This was something different. Percy.

Grover? He hadn’t heard from his best friend in months, hadn’t used their empathy link since before Hera kidnapped him. Grover is that you? A rush of excitement, immediately accompanied by despair overcame him. Percy saw a brief glimpse of Grover’s dirty high tops as he walked through what looked like a forest.

Percy something awful happened. Jason…

I heard something from a nereid here at camp. Where are you?

I’m in California. He’s really gone, Percy. I’m sorry. Hedge and Mellie went with Piper.

What happened? His vision suddenly flashed with images of a weird assembly of people. They had to be the strangest collection of nymphs he’d ever seen. As he looked closer he noticed Meg McCaffrey’s bruised face, Hedge, Mellie, and of course, the one and only Lester Papadopoulos. He couldn’t catch everything he said and his voice got frailer and frailer as he recounted what happened. But Percy got the gist of it. Another Roman Emperor, Caligula, had surfaced. Medea had helped him. They almost didn’t make it out. Jason sacrificed himself.

Afterwards, I went with Meg and Apollo to the burning maze. Medea was there. We wouldn’t have made it out in time but Piper killed her just in time. They got a new prophecy, Perce. Something about Reyna. Caligula’s on his way to Camp Jupiter.

The words ‘Piper killed her’ rang in Percy’s brain. Are you with them? Are you going to Camp Jupiter?

No. I’m heading home, Percy. Piper left for Oklahoma with Leo and the Hedges.

Good, Percy thought. At least Piper wasn’t alone, he would get to see Grover. How are you getting here? The gods have us on radio silence and none of our communications work.

I’ll try out the labyrinth and find local nymphs or satyrs. I have to go now, whatever’s affecting our communications isn’t doing wonders for our empathy link. I’m sorry about Jason.

Just be safe. Keep in touch.

We need to tell Thalia, Percy. Last I heard, the hunters were in Indianapolis. With that, the connection finally gave out.

This morning his biggest worry had been school, college, his SAT results. He was back to being normal for the briefest of moments. Now, one of his friends was dead and the other Camp was about to be attacked. War never seemed to stop. It followed him everywhere he went. “That was Grover in the empathy link,” he told Annabeth. She immediately perked up. He recounted what he’d told him.

“No.” She shook her head in disbelief, letting go of his hand and pacing around the cabin. “I should’ve been there. Piper-”

“She’s got Leo and Hedge and Mellie. She’s walking away from it, Annabeth.” Angry tears had started running down her face. She didn’t even bother wiping them away, imagining what her friend was going through while she was all the way on the other side of the country, with no way of reaching her. “Annabeth, Thalia doesn’t know.”

That got her to stop pacing. The look she gave him mirrored exactly what he felt. No, not her. She doesn’t deserve this. “Grover said she might be in Indianapolis.”

They had both immediately seemed to have come to the agreement to put everything else on hold. Whatever attempts at not getting involved before were out of the question now. There was always going to be something to be done. They’d both always prefer to do it themselves than to have it fall onto someone else’s shoulders.

Annabeth hadn’t stopped crying, but she steeled her expression, nodding. “We need to call a head counselor meeting. Tell Chiron. Burn his shroud.” Like Percy, she was already grasping for a plan.

***********

They didn’t waste any time delivering the news. Everyone in the rec room of the Big House had lost someone before. Half of the counselors had gotten there because their sibling had died. Percy didn’t fail to notice that half of the faces there were different than the ones a year prior. Beckendorf, Silena, Michael, now Jason. It still stunned everyone into silence. The death of a child of the Big Three, a child of Jupiter, changed everything.

“Nico and I,” said Will after a few moments, “we’ll design the shroud.” No one objected.

“What about my sister?” Whispered Drew. It was all too familiar to her. “She can’t be alone right now.”

“She isn’t,” Percy assured her. She nodded, wiping away at her face, oblivious to her makeup. “Grover also told me Caligula was on his way to Camp Jupiter.”

“We can’t even warn them,” said Clarisse bitterly. “Or send back up. It won’t make it in time.”

“Meg and Apollo are on their way. Besides, Caligula is travelling through water, right?” Chiron was about to protest from his place at the other end of the ping-pong table, but Percy held up a pleading hand, the other was once again secured around Annabeth’s. “Tyson is there, Chiron. We can’t leave the Romans alone” Annabeth had insisted on going with him. They’d have to leave right away, tomorrow at the latest. Percy hoped Grover got to Camp before then. They’d have better intel and he just hadn’t seen him in so long. No one liked it, but the only one that looked like she wanted to object was Clarisse. It was just the only way less people got involved. Percy and Annabeth were the most powerful demigods, their leaders. They were the best backup they could send. “Someone’ll have to tell Thalia too.”

“I’ll go,” said Nico. It was the first time he’d spoken during the whole meeting. “I can move around fast and can get the hunters to Camp Jupiter if I find them in time.”

It was Percy’s turn to protest but Annabeth pulled on his hand. She gave Will a look and he said: “I’ll go with him.”

Percy looked at Nico. Before, he would’ve defied him. I’m not a child! You’re not the boss of me! But he’d grown up so much since then, been through so much. The war chased him as much as it did Percy. He didn’t object, a small agreement passing between him and Nico. Percy trusted him. He knew why he needed to do this. He couldn’t protect him because he knew how to defend himself, could hold his own. “That’s settled then,” he said.

After everyone started shuffling away, Clarisse came up to Percy and Annabeth. “I’ll go with you guys,” her voice sounded strange. “You shouldn’t even be going. I can’t believe Chiron would let you.”

“We didn’t ask him, Clarisse,” Annabeth told her. “We’re not asking you to go either.”

“Just walk away. You’ve earned it, both of you. No one has done more. I get that you want to do something about Jason, but he’s gone. It’s just the way it is. Let someone else...” She was pleading, her brown eyes uncharacteristically tearful. They both knew how much Clarisse didn’t want to go. She finally had a good, stable life. She was only at camp now because her and Chris got some unexpected time off from college in Arizona. They’d just gone through a war, no one deserved to go.

Percy thought back to his first weeks of camp, when Clarisse was ready to zap him with his electrical spear, her anger towards him after defeating her father. Then, that time with her godly brothers, showing her her deepest fears: her friends perishing around her, among them Percy. They’d come a long way, fought wars together. He’d gladly fight another if it meant she got the life she was starting now. “You’re not going with us Clarisse. That’s final.” She immediately bristled at the sound of being given an order from Percy, because she was Clarisse. “You’re going to go back to Arizona with Chris, and you’re going to live your life.” She looked to Annabeth, as if begging her to make him see sense. But her mind was as made up as his. “Go Clarisse. I need you to go.”

Grover finally seemed to have spotted him and called over to him. The boy immediately looked up, almost losing his balance when the rottweiler spotted a squirrel and gave a particularly nasty tug. He smiled wide and waved back before walking towards them.

Annabeth stood completely still as he approached them. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. It had nothing to do with the fact that this Percy guy was kind of cute (of course not!), it was just his eyes. His eyes that she could see were a bright, startling shade of green. Ocean green.

Shit.

“Hi,” he said, sticking out his hand shyly, “I’m Percy.”

Annabeth stared down at the hand. Then back up at his face. She could feel Grover fidgeting beside her. He’d been nervous about the two of them meeting and not liking each other. She’d promised herself that she would at least give Percy a shot, but right now all she wanted to do was bolt. Get it together.

Annabeth took Percy’s hand, averting her gaze from his eyes. “Annabeth.”

“Right,” said Grover, “so now that you’ve finally met I thought we could go grab something to eat.”

Annabeth was racking her brain for the nicest possible way to ditch but just then Percy cried out: “Yes! I’m starving!”

“What about all these dogs?”

Percy shrugged, kneeling down to scratch the rottweiler, who looked quite intimidating now that she was closer, behind the ears. “Mrs. O’Leary is hungry too.”

*********************

Percy had wanted to hate Annabeth. He knew it was pretty unfair and it was just him being jealous of his best friend having another best friend. Still, knowing it didn’t make his feelings go away. But, turns out, that that Annabeth girl was actually pretty cool.

“Cool, but like in a scary way,” he told Grover after she’d left and they’d finished dropping off most of the dogs off. Percy hadn’t forgotten that steely look she gave him when he first offered her his hand. That was another thing as well. She had the most distracting eyes. If he could see color he’d guessed they were probably one of the light colors his mother had described to him, like blue or green, maybe even hazel. To him they just looked that shade between black and white that he sometimes caught, grey he’d been told it was called. He’d never really seen grey look like that though, almost like a storm.

It wasn’t only her eyes that intimidated Percy either. Annabeth Chase was simply the smartest person he’d ever come across. She pointed out buildings as they walked to the hot dog stand, going on and on about their structure. Usually, Percy wouldn’t really care for all of that, but she spoke with so much passion and confidence that he found himself holding on to every word she said. Her eyes just shone with life.

“I get it man,” Grover told him, “she’s like the smartest person I know. It can be pretty overwhelming. But she’s actually pretty nice. If anything, Thalia taught her how to look scary.”

Percy came down from his own confused thoughts for a second to catch that last name. Grover hadn’t mentioned Thalia in a while, not since another one of his camp friends -Luke- died a few years ago. He’d always wanted to ask him more about it, but for some reason it seemed as if Grover blamed himself for whatever it is that happened. Percy didn’t want to push him too far.

Both boys rounded the corner to the last dog owners’ apartment. Mrs. O’Leary was owned by a boy a few years older than them, Charles Beckendorf. Percy met him at the same school he met Grover, one of the many he’d gotten kicked out of over the years. He didn’t live too far from Percy and had even been nice enough to hook him up with the dog walking gig. Percy liked dogs, walking them was definitely one of his favorite jobs, but the real reason that he’d accepted was because he got to spend so much time with Beckendorf’s huge rottweiler. Like him, she seemed big and scary, but was actually pretty docile once you got to know her.

They both stopped a few doors before Beckendor’s apartment when they saw the girl he was talking to. Beckendorf had had the biggest crush on the girl that lived right across the hall from him, Silena Beugarde, ever since Percy met him. He’d never told him, but Percy was sure he could tell what color her eyes were. Now, the tall, dark-haired girl was standing right in front of their friend, who had the goofiest smile Percy had ever seen. He was still wearing his mechanic overalls and had a grease stain on his forehead but she didn’t seem to mind. He was much taller than her. Her delicate features were accentuated by the sharp contrast with his harsher ones, but they still scrunched up in a smile, guided a strand of her behind her ear.

After a couple of minutes she walked away towards where Grover and Percy were standing. Even though she was solid black and white to Percy he still felt a slight blush creep up his cheeks as she waved goodbye to all three of them.

“What was that about?” Percy asked as they finally walked into the apartment.

“What?” Beckendorf hadn’t stopped staring at his door. “Oh, uh, nothing,” he finally said, clearly wanting to change the subject. “How was Mrs. O’Leary today? Didn’t give you too much trouble?”

“You know she never does.”

“So you’re just going to pretend like Silena and you weren’t totally just flirting right now?” Asked Grover.

The older boy’s cheek’s got even darker. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure.”

Whatever was going on Beckendorf was obviously going to keep the younger boys guessing. “What about you guys?” He asked, clearly wanted to divert the attention away from him. “You’re starting school next week right? Both of you?”

It’d been quite a feat getting another school to take Percy in given his track record. Beckendorf had offered to help, but it was already embarrassing enough that he knew he’d gotten expelled yet again. He’d vouched so much for Percy in the past.

“Yeah,” Percy said, “Goode High School for me.”

Beckendorf nodded. “That’s a pretty good school. I’ve heard they have a great swim team.”

Percy didn’t think Beckendorf was being as subtle as he thought he was. He’d joined the swim team at his last school, had even swam varsity. He doubted he’d tried again this year though. It’d been hard enough then to hide the evidence of Smelly Gabe’s drunken tantrums. Goode was one of those rich schools where they asked a lot of questions.

  “Yes,” agreed Reyna. “I rather enjoy watching my sister fight.”

    “Yeah I heard she’s deadly. If she’s anything like you, the hunters will have a good fight on their hands.”

     “I’ve seen Thalia in action, the Amazons won‘t be disappointed either.”

 Percy’s smile had a little mischief. “You talk like you already know who’s gonna win.”

   “They hunters will put on a good fight, I expect nothing less from a daughter of Jupiter, but the Amazons are, like you said, deadly.”

   “Zeus,” Percy corrected as he took off into the air, shaking his head with an amused look similar to Jason’s. “She’s a daughter of Zeus.”

 Reyna rolled her eyes. She wasn’t underestimating Thalia. She was just being realistic. Her sister had to fight for her throne and her warriors didn’t have the protection of mortality. Her sister had also been leading the Amazons longer as far as she knew. Plus, and she would never said this aloud from fear of sounding pretentious, she’d taken down Thalia with her hands tied before.

 She kicked off into the air. Below her Greek and Roman campers alike gathered at the entrance of the woods to see the two groups of lethal women burst into action. Reyna hadn’t been allowed to referee due to her relation to Hylla, but had still been granted permission to observe from above,  along with several other skilled Pegasus riders. She’d been surprised to find that Annabeth hadn’t been chosen as the Greek referee, but she’d laughed it off and said that she’d be too biased. Jason had briefly mentioned something about Thalia and her being on the run together when they were younger.

  Chiron looked up at them from the ground. Ready? Dakota nodded and she saw Percy do the same from the corner of her eye. The centaur blew the whistle and they were off. Reyna immediately scanned for Thalia and Hylla, but she figured they were seeking the other out, waiting for the right moment. Meanwhile she observed a young girl make a rather spectacular shot, pinning one of her sister’s warriors to a tree. The campers cheered in the background, Leo had set up a live feed to some screens at the entrance of the woods. Will Solace rushed to the warrior but she simply yanked the arrow, snapped it at her knee and ran after the young girl.

   Reyna looked up at Percy who had flown further to her right. He looked down in concentration, whistle ready at his lips, unable to help himself from smiling every now and again. He kept scanning the woods. Reyna knew that he too was looking for the leaders.

  Finally, after twenty minutes filled with expectation, thunder rumbled followed by the surprised shriek of an Amazon. Reyna urged her pegasus to get closer. She caught a glimpse of celestial bronze knives and smiled as she heard the clink of Hylla’s belt follow. Below her Amazons and Hunters engaged in impressive battle. Celestial bronze hunting knives and arrows against the spears, swords and daggers of the Amazons. The campers were relishing the fighting but Reyna paid no attention. She swept towards the place where she’d heard Thalia’s lightning. She was approaching a clearing. When she saw her sister emerge, knives in hand, she almost growled in anticipation.

She was now almost shoulder to shoulder with Percy, who had dropped any act of referring and was now watching as eagerly as she. “There’s Thalia,” he said, pointing at a dark figure perched atop a tree. She was holding a bow and arrow to her sister’s head. Hylla didn’t even flinch at the threat, her eyes fixed intently on her target. Reyna cursed for not bringing a pair of binoculars, but Percy seemed to be reading her mind and handed her a pair she hadn’t noticed he had around his neck. He was smiling, eyes never once leaving the two girls.

Through the binoculars Reyna got a clearer view of Thalia’s face. She seemed to be weighing out her options. Finally, she smirked and threw her bow aside, making her quiver disappear. She told her sister something that made her grin and pulled out her own hunting knives. Thalia jumped out of the tree and in a split second the daughters of Bellona and Zeus had attacked.

Reyna could admire both styles, Thalia’s clearly Greek but still different from other Greek campers she’d met, and her sister’s an even balance of powerful blows and speed. One such blow was too quick for Thalia, who was almost swept off her feet when Hylla lunged towards her torso, leaving an opening for her sister to kick one of Thalia’s knives away. Thalia retaliated by taking advantage of her free hand and punching the Amazon Queen square in the face. Percy almost laughed beside her but passed it off as a cough when she glared at him.

Below them the fight continued with no acknowledgement of the lack of weapon and bloody nose. Reyna thought it had ended for good when Thalia slid between her sister’s legs, making a nasty gash as she went along, but Hylla simply grabbed her by one of the many chains she wore around her neck and slammed her back on the ground, knife pressed to her throat. The Amazon stood over her just like Reyna had back in Puerto Rico. She recalled the raspiness of Thalia’s voice as she whispered close enough for her lips to feel her breath, but was pulled out of her thoughts when thunder clapped above them, almost hitting her and Percy, and traveled down to where both girls were. Reyna almost swept down to her sister, scared of what a direct lightning strike might do to her but Percy held her back. “C’mon, Reyna,” he told her, “Thalia wouldn’t do that.”

Thankfully, Percy was right. Somehow Thalia had dispersed the full force of the strike, causing the air around her and Hylla to crackle with electricity and her sister’s hair to puff up twice its size. It was enough to get Hylla to loosen her grip and for Thalia to jump back into action. Both girls blurred into a mess of knives and battle cries. Reyna saw another knife fly away, but this time it had been her sister’s. They finally slowed down enough for them to catch a glimpse of their state. Hylla was bleeding for the deep cut Thalia had inflicted on her leg as well as her bloody nose, and Thalia herself had a black eye and a bit of a limp. Reyna focused on their faces and found that they were both smiling. They seemed to be enjoying the show just as much as Reyna and Percy. She caught Thalia’s eyes travelling to her sister’s belt and both girls seemed to come to a sort of silent agreement. They both dropped their remaining knives, her sister unfastening her belt and striking it against the ground menacingly and Thalia pulling out a bracelet that suddenly transformed into a spear. Beside Reyna Percy cursed excitedly in what she guessed was Ancient Greek.

Clearly both girls had been saving the best for last. Each weapon was practically and extension of them. Hylla swung her belt with lighting speed catching one of Thalia’s ankles and tossing her into the air, but the young Lieutenant simply twisted in mid-air and used every last bit of the wider range her spear provided. It was speed and technique like Reyna had rarely ever seen. They seemed to move closer and closer until, “Percy!” called Dakota, “What are you doing?” Percy immediately turned, clearly annoyed by the distraction and looked at where Dakota was pointing. This time he cursed in English, and he didn’t seem as excited as before.

Reyna was trying hard to concentrate, Thalia had the tip of her spear pointed at her sister’s carotid and Hylla had managed to wrap the belt around Thalia’s throat, but just then Percy blew his whistle at them. “Hey!” He called. “You have no idea how much I hate to interrupt, but your girls seem to be having too much fun trying to kill each other!”

Reyna finally tore her gaze from the binoculars and urged her Pegasus to move closer to where Percy had sped off. She was shocked to see the forest decimated. It looked as if a tornado had hit it. Below her trees swayed, trying hard not to fall altogether, and fires seemed to have erupted all over the fields. “Hey!” Percy yelled. “Careful with the nymphs!” When he noticed that neither Amazons nor Hunters reacted to his yells or whistles he directed his voice towards the spectators. “Call the Demeter cabin! Quick!” Dozens of campers ran at his command and then he turned to Reyna. “Get Thalia and Reyna to break them up!”

Reyna nodded as he sped away and swept down to where she’d last seem her sister and Thalia. They were already running towards the commotion. “What happened?” Hylla asked, wiping some blood off her top lip.

“The Amazons and Hunters seemed to have gotten a little carried away. I think they might’ve forgotten the creatures that live inside the forest.”

“What?!” Thalia looked furious, her blue eyes flashed terrifyingly. The look made Reyna’s heart race. Thalia ran towards her Hunters, forgetting about her limp, Hylla followed after her.

      The scene they arrived at was chaos. Several campers were trying to tear Hunters from Amazons and vice versa but they seemed to be in a frenzy. There were several fires erupting around them and Reyna saw several nymphs running around in a panic. Thalia and Hylla stared dumbfounded, but it was Thalia who spoke first. One of her hunters had already spotted her and the mere sight of her lieutenant seemed to be enough to stop her in her tracks.

        “What is the meaning of this?” She wasn’t shouting, but her voice seemed to boom over the clearing. Slowly more and more hunters noticed their leader and stopped. Amazons did the same when they noticed Hylla’s furious look, a look that made Reyna feel sorry for the Amazons once they were alone with her sister. Thalia’s tactics were different though, she wanted the punishment to be public. Reyna once again remembered that she hadn’t been lieutenant for long, not by immortal hunter’s standards, and understood the need to make a show of the situation. “What exactly do you expect me to tell Lady Artemis when she hears of this? Her own hunters damaging that which she swore to protect?” Reyna caught her features turn into a disgusted snarl as she looked around, “you’ve brought me shame!” We’re guests in this Camp!”

    By then all commotion had ceased completely. No Hunter would spare to look a their lieutenant in the eye. The Amazons has dropped their weapons and stood frozen, waiting to hear what their own queen had to say. Hylla said nothing which was possibly worse. Just then a wave swept over the clearing, quickly putting out any fires. Percy dropped down from his Pegasus soon after. He’d spared Reyna, Hylla and Thalia but hadn’t even tried to cover the other girls, they stood soaked and embarrassed. Some even threw him angry looks he ignored. A petite girl charged out from on of the bushes that had been previously on fire. She looked quite odd to Reyna but she couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t until she yanked the whistle from around Percy’s neck and started blowing it furiously did she notice her skin was green. Reyna figured she must be a nymph. “It’s a draw!” She shrieked furiously. “You all lose! You wicked women! The Council will hear of this! My boyfriend-“

      “Yes. Thank you, Juniper!” Percy quickly stepped in, taking the whistle from her hand. “I agree.”

      “The Council?” Reyna heard her sister ask.

      “Yes!” Answered the nymph, Juniper, testily. It was obvious to her that Hylla was one of the leaders. “And you shall all be punished for this abominable conduct!”

        “Agreed.” The nymph seems a bit taken aback by her sister’s instant agreement. “I will meet with your Council at once. I will also like to apologize to you personally for the action of my warriors. Know that this won’t go unnoticed by me either.”

       Juniper lost her rage fast. “Yes yes, thank you! You are forgiven...m’lady.” Apparently she considers a courtesy was necessary since she bowed and scrunched up her soaked dress in a Victorian fashion. She directed her green eyes at Thalia now and some of her fire seemed to come back. “I expect you’ll do the same, Thalia. And don’t think that because Grover-“

     “I know Juniper. I’m really sorry this should’ve never happened.”

      She gave another firm nod, chin up high, and turned around and disappeared into the forest. Reyna turned to look at Thalia just in time to catch her off guard. For a second she looked tired and embarrassed, then she noticed her and quickly went back to yelling at her hunters. Arrangements to meet with the council tomorrow evening were hastily made.

All Reyna could think about as she walked back was the look she’d seen on Thalia’s face and how much it reminded her of herself.

**********

“It was embarrassing that’s what it was!” Thalia told Jason later that day. They were inside their father’s cabin. “And of course Hylla kept her composure the whole time and I just lost it!”

“You have more to prove than she does. I probably would’ve done the same.” He looked quite uncomfortable inside the mostly empty cabin. Thalia noticed how he kept eyeing the huge statue of Zeus in the middle. She couldn’t blame him, it’d always creeped her out. “Couldn’t we meet in your cabin?”

“This is my cabin.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I can’t bring a guy into Artemis’s cabin, it’s against the rules.” She sighed as she looked around. Jason had left the little corner she’d camped out in untouched. “I got carried away. I don’t know I just wanted to prove something I guess.”

Jason looked confused at her. “You’re freaking Thalia Grace! What is there to prove?”

Thalia immediately thought of her little audience back in the forest. Was she showing off? As soon as the thought entered her mind she found, to her horror, that she was blushing. She quickly turned away, but apparently Jason caught it.

“Okay whoa!” He said. “There’s definitely something you’re not telling me here.”

“Shudup,” she mumbled, absolutely furious at herself. She was an adult for crying out loud! Lady Artemis’s right hand and lieutenant to a small army of deadly hunters! She cleared her throat. “It’s nothing okay.”

But Jason wasn’t about to drop this. He walked around to get a good look at her face. She begrudgingly looked up at him. There was a wickedly mischievous grin forming on his face. “What is up with you, sis?”

She looked back at her hands, afraid she might blush again. This was Jason, she could tell him anything. She was being stupid, right? “I just...remember how I told you about Puerto Rico? Well I might’ve left some details out.”

“Like?”

She sighed, pushing down her ego and ignoring the heat that rose back to her face. “Like maybe your good friend Reyna pretty much kicked my ass with her hands tied. And maybe I noticed her and dumbass Percy watching me and Hylla fighting earlier and wanted to show off okay!”

She looked up at him once again. His face seemed to change from confusion, to understanding, and finally to amusement. “You were showing off for Reyna?”

“What?! No! When you say it like that it sounds weird!”

He laughed. Gods he really annoyed her sometimes. “What then?”

“I just wanted her to see that I wasn’t someone she could just beat every time! She caught me off guard that time! That I deserve the praise-” She cut herself off. Gods she sounded full of herself. “What I mean is-”

“That you wanted to impress her.” Thalia thought he might be making fun of her again but he seemed genuinely determined to understand her. Somehow it made her feel worse.

“Who? Reyna?” Thalia wanted to brush it off, but in all honesty Jason had hit the nail on its head. The realization made Thalia panic. Why would she want to impress her? “Just forget it okay? I gotta go prepare for the stupid meeting tomorrow.”

“I could h-”

“No it’s fine.”

The door slammed shut as Thalia left. Jason stood there, debating whether or not to follow her.

The next morning he still felt guilty about the whole ordeal. He could tell that he’d further embarrassed her sister and that yesterday that was the last thing she needed. Once again he felt like there was so much he didn’t know about his sister, so he went to the person that seemed to know her best.

Annabeth was in the arena, watching closely as two young campers sparred and stepping in every now and again to correct their posture or make a quick note. She nodded  when she saw him but gestured at him to give her a second. Jason stood patiently as a new set of kids sparred. Once they were done Annabeth walked towards him. “Hey! What’s up? I know I haven’t gotten back to you about the temple-”

“Oh no it’s okay. Percy told me you were busy with college applications. I actually wanted to talk to you about something else.”

He walked beside her as she dropped her weapon off at the shed and took a swing of water. “Thalia?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“She stopped by my cabin last night. She seemed weird.”

“She’s pretty upset about yesterday.”

Annabeth shook her head. “No. I mean it sucked and everything but she’s dealt with worse. She seemed almost,” she shrugged, “I don’t know frazzled? Which I didn’t really think possible.”

Jason agreed. “She told me something about Puerto Rico and Reyna disarming her or something.”

Annabeth stopped mid-sip. “She never told me that. She didn’t even mention Reyna.”

Jason found that even more odd. Thalia told Annabeth everything. “Apparently she wanted to show off. Show her she wasn’t easy to beat or something.”

Annabeth still didn’t look convinced. “I mean sure that sounds more like her. She had this whole ego battle with Percy years ago, but she got over it. She grew out of it y’know? Did she say that?”

“Those were her words, but in all honesty I think she was trying to impress her.”

Annabeth got that look in her eye, the one that told Jason her thoughts were moving faster than he could comprehend. “I bet it’s nothing,” she said abruptly, “just stress or something. I don’t know.”

It seemed to Jason that in fact it wasn’t nothing and that Annabeth did know, but before he could question her further she mumbled something about needing a shower and rushed off.

**************

Reyna knew it was foolish of her to stay an extra day at Camp Half-Blood. There was too much work to be done and it wasn’t fair for her to leave Frank to do all of it. But she’d stayed anyways. Frank had told her it was fine in the Iris Message she’d sent, she was still getting used to it but Percy was nice enough to set it up for her. He’d understood she didn’t often get to see Hylla and since her stayed had been extended due to yesterday’s fiasco he figured it made sense. In all honesty Reyna hadn’t even thought about her sister. She felt guilty, but all she’d been able to think about since yesterday was Thalia Grace, and how utterly deadly she looked using that spear.

It was just her luck that in that moment, Thalia Grace herself was walking back to her cabin, tired and annoying after getting an earful from an ancient satyr and sheepish looks from Grover during the Council meeting. Reyna was so engrossed in her mental picture of Thalia in battle that she didn’t notice Thalia walking towards her. The daughter of Zeus, in turn, was so busy grumbling and she didn’t notice Reyna, which resulted in both girls running into each other and ending in an almost identical situation as the one months prior. This time, however, Thalia had ended on top. She cursed but stopped mid-sentence once she noticed who’d she’d actually run into. “Reyna! Gods, I’m sorry! I didn’t even see you!”

“Don’t be! I walked right into you-”

“I should’ve looked up or something.”

Had anyone been around, they would’ve been able to comment on how strangely high both their voices had gotten, and how intensely they looked at each other when they both abruptly stopped their rambling. After a couple of seconds Thalia was the one to notice and almost jumped back when Reyna’s shaky breath touched her lips. She got up an offered her hand to Reyna, who in turn accepted, unable to keep a blush from creeping to her cheeks. Both girls stood awkwardly facing each other, neither one used to feeling this nervous. Reyna tried to ease the tension a bit. “So...how was the Council meeting?”

A small flicker of annoyance passed through Thalia’s face. Reyna preferred it over the deer-caught-in-headlights expression she’d worn before. “Awful,” she said, “your sister knows how to handle official business much better than me.”

“Surprisingly diplomatic for someone so aggressive, right?”

Thalia chuckled. “Where you waiting for her?”

Reyna once again failed to hide a blush. In all honesty, she hadn’t been waiting for her sister. She’s subconsciously walked to this clearing, a small part of her expecting her to run into someone, maybe not quite so literally. “Yeah-yes,”she lied, “Did you see where she went?”

“I think she went back to the Amazons. I don’t really know where they’re staying.”

“Hylla likes it that way. She didn’t even tell me.” Reyna felt guilty at not even trying to look. Surely, Hylla expected her to and was probably wondering why she hadn’t already been to see her.

Beside Reyna, Thalia was building up the courage to ask Reyna something. She hadn’t really figured out what she was going to ask but she’d jump that hurdle when she got there. Reyna’s thoughts, however, had stayed on her sister and she’d made up her mind to finally go see her. “I should get going,” she told Thalia, whose mouth was half-way open. She quickly hurried away, leaving Thalia feeling confused and once again embarrassed. Reyna was almost gone when she stopped and faced Thalia once again. “By the way,” she started, a bit of a smile hiding in the corner of her smile, “nice fighting yesterday, quite impressive.”

************

Thalia’s head buzzes with Reyna’s words all day. As punishment, her hunters and her got assigned to wash the dishes at camp and she’s so distracted she almost plunges her hand into the lava without any gloves. Cara stops her just in time and gives her a weird look. Thalia is reminded of a very similar look given to her by Annabeth earlier. We need to talk. Annabeth sure hadn’t gotten any less bossy. Thalia figured Jason must’ve told her something. Not that there was anything to tell.

That night Thalia entered cabin six to find Annabeth analyzing some blueprints. “What are you working on now?”

“Remodelations, temples, same old.” She waved it away but Thalia still felt a surge of pride. She remembered seven-year-old Annabeth going on and on about all the things she wanted to build. Back then Thalia would nod along but knew deep down that they’d be lucky to get past the week, a future where she became an architect didn’t really seem possible. Yet there she was. “Talked to Jason,” Annabeth said, still looking at the blueprints, “he seems to be under the impression that he upset you.”

“Why would he think that?”

Annabeth fixed her with a look, a look that Thalia herself had taught her, that said cut the bullshit. “What’s going on with you?”

Thalia was tempted to say nothing and keep ignoring the weird ball of nerves in her stomach lately, but this was Annabeth. “I-I don’t know. It’s weird and stupid.” Annabeth rolled the blueprint up and finally looked up at her. Thalia was thankful the cabin was empty and suspected Annabeth had planned it ahead. “I feel stupid.”

“For wanting to impress Reyna?”

A small pang of annoyance hit Thalia but she pushed it down. Annabeth didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, Okay? What the hell is wrong with me?”

“So it’s not an ego thing?”

“What? No!”

Annabeth looked more interested than before. “Good.”

“I mean I wasn’t super pleased with what happened in Puerto Rico but it might have more to do with the fact that I lost Phoebe.”

Annabeth nodded. “She was one hell of a huntress.”

Thalia thought that Phoebe was more than just one hell of a huntress. She’d been her best friend among the hunters and had backed her up since day one. But she knew Annabeth understood. They’d shared loss before. “I don’t know what got into me to be honest. I mean Hylla is a bit intimidating with how she handles all the command stuff but if anything I’m glad she’s there to set an example for me to follow.”

Annabeth chuckled. “Wow, look at Thalia all grown up and mature.”

“Shut up.” She couldn’t even keep the smile from her face. She really missed Annabeth. “I actually ran into her today. Reyna, I mean.”

“And?”

“And I mean literally ran into her. Knocked her down and everything. As if yesterday wasn’t bad enough!”

Annabeth laughed. “So,” she got closer to Thalia and nudged her in the ribs, “did you ask her out or what?”

Thalia almost jumped straight into the air. Her heart raced. “Wh-”

“C’mon, Thalia. I saw how you looked at her. It’s okay.”

“Of course it isn’t!” Thalia has started whispering. “I made a vow Annabeth and-”

“And what?” Her grey eyes seemed to be challenging Thalia, but she’d seen them before a fight, this wasn’t it. “You’ve given so much Thalia. You deserve this, whatever it is. We don’t owe anything to the gods.” Thalia couldn’t help but be reminded of Luke. Annabeth saw it in her eyes. “He would’ve wanted you to keep trying, to allow yourself-”

“Stop.” It wasn’t only the vow she’d made to Lady Artemis. It was the fact that she’d made a much stronger vow, to herself. She’d promised herself never again the moment she’d pushed Luke off that cliff.

Both girls looked at each other but said nothing. They didn’t have to. Annabeth’s face told Thalia don’t give up and Thalia’s argued right back I already have.

***********

Reyna was only half-surprised to find Jason in the fighting arena. Back in Camp Jupiter they always ended up training at the same times, even before they were praetors. That’s how they’d become friends. No one really spoke to Jason, he was a son of Jupiter from a disgraced cohort, but Reyna had seen him fight before and welcomed the idea of a good training partner. He looked up at her and smiled. “Just like old times.”

“With the minor adjustment of this being an arena in a Greek camp.”

He laughed. “Right.”

The silence that followed was awkward, but Jason seemed determined to pretend like nothing had changed, at least for a little while. He drew his sword and Reyna followed almost on instinct. Before they both knew it they were sparring. Reyna was surprised to find some of the Greek style had seeped into Jason’s technique, but she hadn’t lagged on her trying all these months. Overall it felt good to fight with Jason again. She found herself letting go for the first time in almost a year. She’d missed him, missed this.

Afterwards they both sat, trying to catch their breath and taking turns drinking out of Jason’s canteen. It was almost painful how easy it was to go back to this routine because, at the end of the day, everything had changed. Reyna had to go back to Camp Jupiter and she’d only see Jason every now and then. He had new friends, new responsibilities.

“I missed this, “ he finally said.

“So did I,” she agreed.

He sighed and looked at his hands. She could tell he was nervous. He always bit down on that scar on his lip. “I just wanted to say I was sorry.” She looked away so he rushed to make himself clearer. “What I mean is that I just showed up after nine months like nothing had happened and treated you like a stranger.”

“I know you were still struggling with you memory, Jason.”

Reyna hated talking about things like this. Jason knew it, but he’d already stayed silent on the matter for too long. “No, Reyna. I was scared of going back, scared of how much I changed. But, all those months, they don’t erase the fact that you’re my friend. That you fought beside me and had my back for years.”

Reyna braced herself to look at him. It seemed foolish now that she’d been nervous about talking to him. It was Jason after all. And maybe he had glasses now, and he fought more like Greek and he had a girlfriend and friends she didn’t know, but he was still Jason. “I still have your back Jason. Always.”

“You too, Rey.” Gods she’d missed him. She didn’t have to be put-together for him. Seeing him come back to Camp Jupiter, their home, and treat it like it didn’t matter as much as it does had shattered her, and the worst part was that she’d had to keep her poker face on throughout the whole thing. The fact that he acknowledged it, acknowledged her, was like having a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he told her again, “and I get if you don’t want to go back to how we were-”

“Of course I want to, Jason!” She cursed herself for raising her voice and felt her face go red with shame as she felt the sting of tears but kept going. If she stopped she would never say what she’d been fearing since she realized he was actually alive. “I just thought that it wasn’t a possibility anymore. You’re finally who we dreamed of being! Who I always saw you pushing down all those years! And I don’t know if I fit into your life now-”

“Reyna,” true to his Roman upbringing it was Jason who felt the shame of the sting of tears now, “you will always fit into my life. You’re my family.”

They let the silence settle in between them after that. It wasn’t uncomfortable. They were both mildly aware of the other wiping a few tears away here and there, but the awkward tension that had been following since Jason came back to Camp Jupiter was mostly gone. It wasn’t exactly like before, Reyna doubted it ever would be, but maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

After a while Jason asked: “How much longer are you staying? Just until Hylla leaves?”

Reyna had actually come back from talking to her sister when she decided to head to the arena to squeeze in some training. “She’s leaving tonight, actually. She promised the Council to check on some endangered nymphs so they’re heading out.”

“Hylla must share your bargaining skills, because the Hunters have to wash the dishes all week.”

Reyna chuckled along but a small spark on interest flourished in her chest. “So, Th-your sister is staying all week?”

“Seems like it, yeah.” Jason eyed Reyna suspiciously from the corner of his eye. Reyna pretended to ignore it. “She actually mentioned you yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah she noticed you and Percy watching her and Hylla fight.”

“Oh well,” Reyna stalled by taking another swing of water, “they’re both very impressive fighters. I mainly just flew over there to see what was holding up, Percy.” Jason smiled to himself and laughed when Reyna punched his shoulder. “C’mon,” she said as a means to divert the conversation, “let’s go get some food.”

***********

Annabeth had physically forced Thalia to go to the campfire the following night. She’d even had to bring in Percy as reinforcement, for which Thalia had almost accomplished her long-running goal of killing someone with one glare. “C’mon, Grace!” She flinched as the sound of her mother’s last name. “It’s not going to kill you! Jason’ll be there! You could get in some quality sibling bonding time!”

She rolled her eyes and complained the whole walk there, but she finally agreed to go. She had been meaning to talk to Jason again anyways. Thalia had been too busy washing dishes the previous day. When she got there, however, she was surprised to see him seating not only with Piper, but with Reyna as well. “There’s Jason,” Percy stupidly pointed out. He had a dubious grin on. Thalia quickly looked to Annabeth, but of course she’d understood that their conversation, like most of the conversations they had, was very much private. Percy still knew something though. Thalia was once again reminded to never underestimate Percy. He’d been up there watching her and Hylla fight with Reyna during capture the flag after all. This led her to wonder how Reyna had reacted to her. She was already regretting coming to the campfire.

She was formulating a plan on how to run away without Annabeth noticing when Jason saw her. He smiled and beckoned for her to join him where he was sitting. It was just her luck that the only available seat was beside Reyna. They were packed in so snuggly that Thalia’s arm was pressed right besides Reyna. They were both wearing sleeveless shirts, so their bare skin was touching. Thalia felt as her whole arm were on fire. Piper was telling them something about her sister, Lacie, and this strange girl she’d seen at her school, but Thalia could barely concentrate. It was like waging a small war with herself and she kept losing. A small strand of Reyna’s hair had fallen loose from her braid as well, and every time Reyna leaned forward it tickled Thalia’s chin. She rushed up to rub the feeling away and accidentally caught Reyna’s eyes. And, once again, she lost the small war, but this time she didn’t fight back. You’ve given so much, she remembered Annabeth telling her.

Maybe I deserve to try.

Reyna’s eyes were strong and vulnerable all at the same time. When she finally looked away Thalia found that she kept searching for them. She was probably doing a crappy job at keeping up with the conversation, and for a second she felt guilty about not making a bigger effort to listen to her brother. Then she remembered how Jason had moved towards Piper when he’d seen her, opening a space for her to seat beside Reyna. So she sat half-listening to Jason and Piper talk and sing along to cheesy songs. Her other half slowly melted into Reyna’s side. Their hands ended up touching and Thalia felt her heart in her throat as neither one pulled away. Finally, she felt a familiar huff of breath hit the side of her face. “Let’s get out of here,” Reyna said. Thalia grabbed her hand and pulled them into the forest. She knew that if she looked back she’d lose her nerve so she kept going until she found a clearing with enough moonlight. She was forced to look back when she felt Reyna’s hand finally pull away.

Reyna was looking up at the moon, but quickly looked back down at her. Her eyes only stayed momentarily on hers, then they moved down until they rested on her lips. Thalia was out of breath due to the combined factors of almost running to the clearing and of her heart suddenly choosing to beat erratically. She felt like bolting when Reyna moved closer towards her, but found that her body didn’t respond. All she could do was keep her eyes trained on Reyna, and she finally allowed herself to think: gods she’s beautiful. Reyna wasn’t wearing her purple cape, or armor. Thalia realized she’d never seen her without a combination of both. She looked more real with a simple pair of jeans and a purple shirt. She looked achingly human. Thalia’s hand moved of its own accord to cup her face. She could feel Reyna’s equally fast heartbeat, could tell she was just as nervous. But they both seemed resolved to stay.

Reyna felt more like herself than she had in years. She was scared, terrified actually, but she wasn’t thinking about anything in particular when she looked at Thalia. She caught sight of her lips, felt her hand -rough with callouses from years of wielding a weapon- on her face, and let go.