Percabeth at Stark Tower

11. Something strange

Annabeth's POV

Clint's figured something out.  I don't know what but the way he was acting is rather suspicious.  And considering he's met Seaweed Brain I guess it's possible he heard something, but that doesn't make sense as he only started acting this way today.  And while Percy might be the worst of us here at keeping secrets he's pretty good and he wasn't even here today.  Maybe Will said something because Nico's good with secrets, or maybe he overheard us, he does have a habit of being in hard to see spots.

Or I'm just overreacting.  I barely know him and everything doesn't revolve around us anymore.  It's probably because I didn't analyze him as well as I thought I did or he's got something going on in his life.  Maybe I'm even making it up, but I doubt that.  I've learned to trust my instincts and he is a spy.  The signs are barely there, but if they had been bigger it would've been a lot more suspicious.  He might not have to hide what he is every day of his life but he was trained.  However, I'm going to talk to everyone tonight.  Maybe we can figure out what happened and then mitigate the damage or even get rid of it.  But somehow I doubt this will all blow over, nothing ever has for us.  We're already demigods but ever since I saw that cute idiot drooling in his sleep it's been a whirlwind of one disaster to another with barely enough time to breath.  And while the Gods might have promised us a peaceful year, Percy is a living reminder of how bad they are at keeping their promises.

But if this is our newest disaster they've forgotten quicker than usual.

"What's wrong?" Percy asks as soon as I've closed the door so no one can hear what we're talking about.

"Are Will and Nico here?" I ask, dodging the question.

"No.  they're out on a date.  But Will promised to bring Nico back by ten."

"How did Nico react?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.  Nico doesn't take well to authority and really hates it when any of us try to act like his parents or older siblings.  After a few encounters most of the seven stopped.  Frank didn't do anything because he's dating Hazel though, and she continued because she is his sister, although she's not being overprotective like the others.  Leo joked around threateningly twice and Piper reminded him about charm speak.  Unfortunately for Nico he can't stop Reyna or Jason, so he's been trying to get them out of camp when he's being all cute with Will.  Despite the lack of romantic attraction to Percy they're still close and Percy hasn't been that bad...in front of Nico at least so we've escaped his wrath.  I'm still glad that he asked me about how to threaten properly because otherwise he would've been in trouble with Nico.

"Will had to restrain him."

"He really does need to rest, overtaxing himself again could have permanent consequences."

"And all of us know but you know him."

"Yeah.  he never will accept that he's just important as the rest of us.  I take it Will said the whole speech about how he's not going to kill himself through exhaustion?"

"Yeah.  But Nico used the old 'it's not different for me' card."

"Well I'm glad he's feeling comfortable then."

"What do you mean?"

"Considering how often they do this it means he feels comfortable."  He still looks confused.  "Honestly Percy, you need to understand emotions better.  I can understand not getting that Nico had a crush on you when he left the first time, and to be honest I'm not sure anyone knew until he told us, he's good at keeping secrets.  But he's been opening up, particularly around Will, Reyna, and to a lesser extent, Jason.  When he falls into those old arguments he's not trying to win, he's enjoying the debate even though he knows how it ends."