Percy Jackson

I had to stop Annabeth from jumping overboard and potentially drowning herself.

To her credit, she didn't do it for the same reason I would've tried to have done that if I weren't a son of the sea bastard. But the reason it did happen is the same reason why we can't get along for longer than a week at a time: she's convinced that she's built different.

Spoiler alert: she's not. Which is why I had to stop her from jumping overboard. If Hylla and Tyson hadn't noticed her walk by them, I probably would've had to of gone in the water to get her.

For context, we'd been sailing near some sirens on an island not too far from where we should be stopping to get Grover and the Fleece. When we'd heard the music, Annabeth said that it must be sirens, and so we all started to plug our ears: grabbing wax or actual ear plugs to do so.

Annabeth, on the other hand, asked us to tie her down so she could listen to the song.

After reconfirming that she really wanted to do that about five times, we agreed to tie her down and then plugged our own ears so we couldn't hear it. Annabeth confirmed for us that she was stuck and couldn't get out just by wiggling.

So, after all that, you can imagine my surprise when I saw her walking towards the railing of the boat, passing by Hylla and Tyson- the two of them playing a game of Uno together.

What is she doing?

Running to the daughter of Athena, I managed to grab her arm as I saw her left a leg as if she were going to climb overboard.

Turning around, looking absolutely enchanted, Annabeth seemed confused by the physical contact. She said something, but I wasn't well versed enough in lip reading to decipher the message.

"I can't hear you!" I reminded the slightly older demigod. "what are you doing? The currents are too fast and the water is insanely cold, you can't swim in that for long. Even if you don't drown, you'll get hypothermia! There's no way to crawl back up, and we're miles from the shore."

The music she mouthed very slowly and dramatically for me.

"Wh- Annabeth, it's sirens!" I reminded her. "They historically eat men, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind eating a woman. You've already heard some of the music, plug your ears or go belowdeck."

She protested, backing again near the railing while she spoke too fast for me to understand.

"Annabeth, you can't jump overboard! You'll die if-"

She jumped.

And, being possibly the only person who wouldn't try going to save her (Tyson might also survive, but we haven't tested his ability to breathe underwater), I was forced to jump after her.

Thankfully, we did never hit the water: Hylla was able to grab my ankle as I was able to get a grip on Annabeth's arm.

The daughter of Athena looked up at me as she dangled in the air, ten feet above the water. Her expression was desperate- but not for me and Hylla to save her from falling.

Desperate for us to let go.

As she tried to thrash away, a scene flashed in my head- what I imagined Annabeth was envisioning thanks to the sirens song.

In a park that looked similar to Central Park, Annabeth was having a picnic with her parents (Athena and her Dad, no step-mom in sight), her two little brothers, Luke, and a girl closer to our age than Luke's with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She didn't look familiar, and for half a second I debated if Annabeth had a girlfriend back at home that I would know about before I noticed the knife that was strapped to her thigh.

It wasn't unique, but it was made out of celestial bronze, which meant she was a demigod.

And although we'd never met, something about her seemed familiar. The dark hair and those eyes...

It was Thalia Grace.

This was the family Annabeth wanted to have.

As the ate together and enjoyed each other's company, I was able to see what surrounded them: a city that I was able to recognize only thanks to a few buildings.

Annabeth had redesigned New York- leaving a few landmarks and buildings that she must've enjoyed. The Empire State Building being one of them.

As Hylla and Tyson helped pull us back on board, I immediately found myself collapsing on deck as the adrenaline rush from jumping overboard left my body. I lost Annabeth's vision as well, no longer making contact with her, but I could still imagine it.

Did Annabeth come on this quest for Grover? Or for Thalia?

Does she think the Fleece will bring Thalia back?

Regardless of the answer to that, which I tried not to think too much about since I really don't know a lot about the Golden Fleece, one thing was abundantly clear: our opinions on our parents are very different.

With Clarisse, after what happened between her and her dad, I'm sure that Silena could eventually tell her about what's happening with Luke. If Clarisse ever mentions being upset or irritated with her dad or the gods after this quest, especially.

But Annabeth definitely worships her mom still.

It amazes me, honestly. That after six years and two quests, Annabeth still wants to meet her mom and make her mom proud.

I couldn't wrap my mind around it.

Maybe, when I'm older, I might feel different about my birth father. I'll be less angry.

But I don't ever see myself wanting him to be in my life.

After all, I've never wanted him to be there. He chose to leave and to not show himself in the ways that he could, and for that, he lost his son.

If he cared, I wouldn't have to be here right now.

If my father gave a rat's ass about me, he wouldn't have left us poor and he wouldn't have let me go on a quest with no training, knowing that it was a suicide mission.

If he cared at all, he would've at least wished me a happy birthday.

I'm not even sure he knows when my birthday is.

Does Annabeth realize how little our parents care?

Or does she just think that she could somehow make her mom care?

But, Percy, I can hear somebody asking. Isn't that what you, Silena, and Luke are trying to do? Make your parents care?

And honestly? No. It's not.

Because here's the thing: you can't force somebody to care. We're not asking the gods to care about us because we know that they never have and probably never will.

Instead, were reminding them that when they don't care, and when they decide to treat us like disposable pawns in their games, we won't think of them as our parents. And with that bond gone, they then become a system that we must up-end.

For the gods that only have one or two kids, I don't doubt that they have the ability to care for their kids. And I hope that what we eventually do allows them to once again show that love to their kids.

But for most of the gods, it's going to be a rude awakening. One that's centuries years overdue.

•••

"Hey," Annabeth said, earning my attention a while after we'd sailed past the sirens. "sorry about the scene earlier- we probably should've de-armed me. Thanks for jumping after me."

I shrugged.

"It was that or let you get hypothermia and drown," I reminded the daughter of Athena as she sat down next to me in the crows nest. I'd been up here for the last hour or so, just hoping to see the island my best friend was stuck on. "And no matter how much or what we argue about, I'm not just going to leave you to die. I have to admit, that's not what I pictured Thalia looking like, though."

Annabeth did a second take at the mention of the daughter of Zeus.

"You... You saw my vision?"

I nodded.

"I didn't hear any conversation or anything, just saw the scene. The city looked cool."

She smiled, but seemed reluctant to do so.

"Thanks?" Annabeth responded. "I uh... Yeah, sorry. I didn't realize you saw it, too. It's stupid, really, but it's just... My family, you know? In some alternate reality, that would've been my life and I just... Keep thinking of ways that I could make it happen. That's the hubris, I guess. Pride. Whatever you want to call it. Thinking I could have all of that, even though Thalia isn't even... Alive anymore."

"Your step mom wasn't there." I noted.

This was met with an eye roll.

"Yeah, because my step mom and I get along famously," she retorted. "We can't stand each other, she hated that I went back home this year. You never wanted your parents back together?"

"My par..." But in my brain, my parents are my mom and my dad- no gods in that picture (well Gabe is a demigod, but still). And they are still together. In couple therapy, actually, and trying to have a kid. "oh, like my mom and my bio dad? No, never. But I also always thought of Gabe as my dad, not my stepdad, so... Different situations."

"Oh." She she responded flatly. "I guess that makes sense- you didn't know who he was until last year. I just know that a lot of demigods want that at least at some point in their life. That was Thalia, though, you recognized her. I'm sure that if she somehow came back to life she'd look a little different-older, obviously. She was two years younger than Luke, so she'd be 17 now. We're... We're older than her now."

I raised an eyebrow.

"We are?"

Annabeth nodded, looking in the distance.

"She was 12 when she died." She told me. "That's why Grover made those comments about you being in sixth grade and being 12 when you got to camp- if you remember any of that, I'm sure you heard him say it to himself before then, too. She was 12, Luke was 13, turning 14 soon. I was 7. Now I'm 13, almost 14, Luke is 20, and she's still 12."

There was a pause.

"Unless the Golden Fleece somehow resurrects her," Annabeth finished. "but I'm not letting myself think about that seriously. It's a fun idea, but... It's not very realistic. She was my big sister, and now I'll forever be bigger than she ever was. It's... Unfair."

"Most things are," I agreed with her last statement. "It's okay to miss her, though. To hope that some miracle could happen. We're literally the children of gods, miracles aren't unrealistic."

"Just uncommon," she said, taking another breath before fully calming down. "Like I said, it's an insane dream, but... It's a dream. Some of it is real, and some may never be. Who knows, maybe one day Luke and my dad will meet each other. I don't know if my parents would get back together- even though my dad is obviously still in love with her, but we could still have a meal together, right? Maybe when I'm getting ready to leave camp and move on to college or something."

"If we live that long," I commented, which earned a side eye from Annabeth. "What!? I'm just saying- we're demigods. Things happen. You probably shouldn't be as concerned as I should be, but like... You're also on this quest."

Debating, Annabeth conceded my point before reminding me that the prophecy doesn't mean that I'm going to die in two years.

Just that I could.

As convincing as she tried to be, it was fairly obvious that she thought that I was going to die, though.

"Who else knows?" I asked the daughter of Athena. "About the prophecy?"

"Generally speaking? Most kids know there's a prophecy involving a kid of the Big Three," she answered, standing back up. "who's actually read it? Me, Luke, and Grover. Maybe Clarisse, but I don't think so. It's hard to tell how much people have overheard over the years because we're not supposed to talk about it, but... Yeah. The three of us. Why?"

"Okay, so..." But the answer really only raised more questions. "I was just wondering. I assumed Luke knew, but Grover... Hm. He read all of it?"

She nodded her head.

Which raised the question: why would he create a mental link with me if he knows when I'm supposed to die?

"Speaking of which," Annabeth said, pointing in the direction we'd been sailing all day. "we're here. Come on, let's go reunite you with your boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes.

"One day I'll find out you have a crush," I insisted, standing up myself to get down from the crows nest. "And when I do? You're never going to hear the end of it."

She responded with a shit eating grin.

"I know." She said. "But until then, you and Grover aren't going to know a moment's peace between me, Clarisse, and Silena."

"Or," I suggested. "You could stay out of it."

"We could," Annabeth agreed. "But we won't. Come on, let's go kick some cyclopes ass."