VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- twenty

THE REST OF THE SUMMER WAS SO STRANGE BECAUSE IT WAS SO NORMAL.

the daily activities continued: archery, rock climbing, pegasus riding. they played capture the flag (though they all avoided zeus's fist). they sang at the campfire and raced chariots and played practical jokes on the other cabins. rose spent a lot of time with percy and annabeth.

july passed, with fireworks on the beach on the fourth. august turned so hot the strawberries started baking in the fields. finally, the last day of camp arrived. the standard form letter appeared on rose's bed after breakfast, warning her that the cleaning harpies would devour her if she stayed past noon.

at ten o'clock she and percy stood on the top of half-blood hill, waiting for the camp van that would take them into the city.

half of the things she was bringing home were love's. she would be taking them to love's mortal mom, who lived in chelsea.

rose hoped annabeth would be riding into the city with them, but she only came to see them off. she said she'd arranged to stay at camp a little longer. she would tend to chiron until his leg was fully recovered, and keep studying daedalus's laptop, which had engrossed her for the last few weeks. then she would head back to her father's place in san francisco.

"there's a private school out there that i'll be going to," she said. "i'll probably hate it, but..." she shrugged.

"you call me, okay?" rose said.

"sure," she said half-heartedly. "i'll keep my eyes open for..."

there it was again. luke. she couldn't even say his name without opening up a huge box of hurt and worry and anger.

"annabeth," percy said. "what was the rest of the prophecy?"

she fixed her eyes on the woods in the distance, but she didn't say anything.

"you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze," he remembered. "the dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. we raised a lot of the dead. we saved ethan nakamura, who turned out to be a traitor. we raised the spirit of pan, the lost one."

annabeth shook her head like she wanted him to stop.

"you shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," he pressed on. "that wasn't minos, like i'd thought. it was nico. by choosing to be on our side, he saved us. and the child of athena's final stand— that was daedalus."

"percy—"

"destroy with a hero's final breath. that makes sense now. daedalus died to destroy the labyrinth. but what was the last—"

"and lose a love to worse than death." annabeth had tears in her eyes. "that was the last line, percy. are you happy now?"

rose stood watching them uncomfortably.

"percy, i didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. i—i didn't know if..." annabeth faltered helplessly. "luke and i—for years, it felt like he was the only one who really cared about me. i thought..." before she could continue, a sparkle of light appeared next to them, like someone had opened a gold curtain in the air.

"you have nothing to apologize for, my dear." standing on the hill was a tall woman in a white dress, her dark hair braided over her shoulder.

"hera," annabeth said flatly.

the goddess smiled. "you found the answers, as i knew you would. your quest was a success."

"a success?" annabeth said. "luke is gone. daedalus is dead. pan is dead. how is that—"