Work Text:
Annabeth Chase woke up alone.
Even though she’d expected it, Annabeth reached across the bed. Her palm slid over the empty, cool sheets where Percy normally lay. She scowled and threw herself out of bed.
Percy was taking an unreasonably long time to get over their little fight. People were going to start to talk…and maybe even believe his silly allegations of being abused. It wasn’t true, of course. Percy was just overly sensitive.
Annabeth checked her cell phone on the way to the bathroom. There were the usual missed calls and texts from her dad, begging her to join them on some family event. She scoffed and deleted them all. As if she was going to be a part of that family. They’d made it clear her whole life that they didn’t want her around. It wasn’t her fault that she kept attracting monsters. But there was nothing from Percy. Normally he’d have called her by now. Well, he was probably in the living room sleeping on the couch and waiting for her to forgive him.
The moment she stepped foot in the living room, it was abundantly clear that Percy was not in the apartment. Annabeth stalked past the coffee table and into the kitchen. She made herself a pot of coffee and drummed her nails on the countertop. While she waited for the coffee to brew, Annabeth sent Magnus another text message. She was beginning to think his phone was disconnected because her messages weren’t even being read.
Coffee cup in both hands, Annabeth went out into the living room. She leaned back on the couch and studied the puzzle on the coffee table.
It was a colorful pirate crew aboard a tall ship, expressions showing exaggerated happiness at the vast amount of gold coins piled on the deck. Featured in the center was the blond pirate captain, his sword raised in victory. Percy had a perverse infatuation with thieves that Annabeth didn’t share. With her foot, Annabeth shoved the unfinished puzzle onto the floor.
Knowing that she was going to be the one to finish their competition first sent a thrill of satisfaction through Annabeth. She and Percy were competing to see who could finish a 1,000 piece puzzle first and he was winning. She didn’t know why. Annabeth had claimed the dining table as her workspace because it was the better spot. What she told Percy was that it was because she was a serious puzzler and he was an amature who probably wouldn’t even finish the puzzle.
She hadn’t expected him to get so far ahead of her but Annabeth suspected it was because she had to work twice as hard at college than he did. Percy was somehow passing his classes with flying colors and honors while Annabeth was struggling not to fail. Annabeth suspected he was cheating somehow but she wasn’t yet able to prove it. That was just the kind of thing he would do.
Where was Percy?
Annabeth steadily sipped her coffee as she considered where her stupid boyfriend could be hiding.
They weren’t close to anyone in New Rome.
Jason was dead and Reyna was a Hunter now.
There was Hazel and Frank, who were friends with Percy before Annabeth found him. After she told them Percy’s every little flaw and highlighted how stupid he was and what a bad person that made him, Hazel and Frank had been avoiding Percy as much as possible. Which was great because Annabeth wanted that ugly bitch with her little crush on Percy to stay far away from Annabeth’s boyfriend.
Annabeth’s heart leapt when her phone rang but it was just her dad again. Percy liked Frederick for reasons beyond Annabeth, so maybe he went there. She accepted the call.
“Annabeth?” Dad sounded so stupidly excited.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Is Percy there?”
“No,” Dad said, sounding confused.
“Have you heard from him?”
“No. Is everything al-”
Annabeth hung up. She got dressed for the day and tied her long blonde hair back.
There was a slim chance that Percy went to New York; back to his mortal family and Camp Half-Blood. He always wanted to go back but he couldn’t fly and Annabeth didn’t want to babysit just because Percy was sentimental about his baby sister, Estelle. Annabeth wasn’t a fan of babies and Estelle’s appearance unsettled Annabeth. Babies shouldn’t have gray hair or Percy’s - Poseidon’s - sea green eyes.
Annabeth gathered her laptop and the books she’d need to do her homework, then headed out into the city of New Rome. She walked with her chin up, eyes flicking from person to person as she looked for Percy’s face in the crowds. Sometimes she couldn’t believe she let Percy talk her into moving here. It was nothing like the picture he’d painted for her.
At the library, all of the tables were taken. Annabeth didn’t want to share so she sat on the bench outside and did her homework there. Or, tried to. It was so hard to concentrate and she was pretty sure their professor never covered this stuff. She was the daughter of wisdom and so she would remember if they had gone over it in class. These people were trying to make her fail.
When she got too frustrated, Annabeth set aside her work and called Sally Jackson. She was there for Annabeth last time Percy went missing, answering all of Annabeth’s calls even though Annabeth never really had any news of where Sally’s son was. Sally would never believe that Annabeth was capable of actually hurting Percy, Annabeth was sure of it. So she’d tell Annabeth if Percy had somehow gone back to New York.
Sally’s cell phone rang and rang. Voicemail didn’t even pick up. It was bizarre. Eventually Annabeth hung up and dialed the house phone. The busy tone buzzed in Annabeth’s ear. Weird. Annabeth called the chocolate shop that Sally worked at.
“Hello?” said a male voice.
“Hi, is Sally Jackson there?”
“I’m afraid I can’t give out our employee’s personal information over the phone,” the man said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Annabeth blinked. “But I’m her son’s girlfriend. She’s practically my mother-in-law. Tell me if she’s there.”
“Well, if she’s practically your mother-in-law then you should have a phone number,” said the man. Then he hung up.
Annabeth cursed loudly. She stormed to a fountain in the courtyard and found a rainbow mist. “O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please connect me to Sally Jackson.” Because something told her that it wouldn’t go through if she asked for Percy. The drachma Annabeth tossed into the rainbow fell to the bottom of the fountain. Absolutely nothing happened. Iris was never overly picky about taking messages in New Rome so why was she ignoring Annabeth now? Maybe because Sally was a mortal.
Unhappily, Annabeth climbed into the fountain and retrieved the drachma. Soaked and angry, Annabeth tried to call Percy via Iris Message, but the drachma fell through the rainbow again.
Soaking wet, Annabeth trudged home. She hung her wet clothes in the bathtub and padded naked to the closet for a dry set of clothes. It was very inconvenient not to have Percy here to dry her off. “Now to find out what’s going on with the Iris Messages.”
From a saltwater fountain in their bedroom, Annabeth plucked a golden drachma. She flicked on a rainbow lamp, casting rainbows onto the wall above it. “O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please connect me to Thalia Grace.” It was annoying that the Hunters didn’t have cell phones.
Thalia’s image appeared in Annabeth’s bedroom. The Huntress was as beautiful and powerful as ever. Her black hair was short and spiked like a pinecone, decorated with silver that marked her as Artemis’ lead Huntress. Her face was narrow and fox-like, her bare shoulders had freckles. Thalia’s eyes were a deep pine tree green. The background showed her in a tent.
“Thalia!” Annabeth exclaimed, joy pouring into her veins like fizzy soda pop.
“Hey, Annie,” Thalia said, her expression going soft as it always did when she talked to Annabeth. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon. Are you alright?” They normally chatted once a month on the full moon and that was still a couple weeks away.
“Seaweed Brain is gone.”
There was a brief pause and then Reyna sat up, coming into view. “You killed Percy!?” she gasped, her eyes wide and panicked.
Annabeth curled her lip. Her first impression of Reyna had turned out to be true; she wasn’t someone Annabeth wanted around. Especially not around Percy. “No. He’s run off.”
Thalia put a hand on Reyna’s shoulder. “Reyna, babe, get out of my call,” she said, a playful note in her voice. “I’ll handle this, alright?” Thalia kissed Reyna’s cheek.
Their relationship made Annabeth burn.
Reyna finally left the tent.
When they were alone, Annabeth said, “You need a better girlfriend. Why does she think I’ve killed Percy?”
Thalia was quiet for a long while.
“Thalia Grace!” Annabeth hissed.
“You tripped him so that he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his arm, Annie.”
Great. That got back to the Hunters, which meant everyone everywhere probably thought that Annabeth was a horrible abuser. Annabeth scowled. “It was a joke. Besides, he lived. Percy needs to grow a thicker skin.”
“People don’t do that to their loved ones, sweetheart.” Thalia’s voice had taken on the tone she used when mothering Annabeth.
“You kicked Luke off a cliff and killed him,” Annabeth spat, her words poisonous.
It was like watching Thalia turn to stone, everything about her going cold and hard and still. Lightning flashed in Thalia’s eyes, turning them briefly blue. “Luke was a traitor, not my lover.” Her voice was tight. This was an important detail because if they’d been lovers, then Artemis would kick Thalia out of the Hunters and Thalia would lose her immortality. Not that it mattered; she’d escaped the Great Prophecy by thrusting it squarely onto Percy’s shoulders.
Annabeth scoffed. She rolled her eyes so hard it nearly made her dizzy. “Liar. You thought you were being sneaky but I saw you two holding hands and kissing behind my back. And it was kind of hard to ignore you two using me to play mommy and daddy.” The look of shock on Thalia’s face encouraged Annabeth to keep going. “So it seems my behavior is hereditary.”
Thalia’s face went very white. If Iris decided to tell Artemis about her and Luke, it would be over for Thalia. Thalia’s face then went very red. Lightning flashed in her eyes again and thunder could be heard on her side of the Iris Message. When she spoke, there was none of the warmth from before. “You know what, Annabeth? This right here is why people expect you to kill Percy. Because you’re a shitty person who does shitty things. I pray that you never find him.”
Annabeth was on her feet in an instant, snarling. “Go fuck yourself, Thalia! I hope Artemis disowns you!” she screamed and hit the rainbow lamp as hard as she could. The lamp unplugged from the wall and fell to the floor, where the bulb shattered. Annabeth screamed in fury. She threw herself onto the bed and beat the pillows.
This had to be Reyna’s fault. She was Percy’s friend and she must have been whispering lies into Thalia’s ear.
Annabeth stayed in bed for the rest of the day, only getting up to eat or use the bathroom. She was so furious that she broke their television and ripped all of the framed photos from the walls. The terrible urge to tell someone about this injustice bubbled up within her but there was no one she could call. They were all against her! Every single one of them and it was Percy’s fault! All over a joke!
Annabeth Chase went to sleep alone.