When We Were 'Us'

Hermes Kids Are Crazy... What Possessed Me to Give Them Caffeine?- Percy POV

"Are you coming back?" McKenna asked as I got ready to leave. 

"Of course I will." I crouched in front of her. "Take care of Mom and Paul for me, okay?"

She nodded, her messy curls bouncing, then lunged forward and threw her arms around my neck.

I laughed and hugged her back. "I'll see you soon, kiddo."

Mom handed me a bag as I stood. "Cookies," She explained when I gave her a slightly confused look. "And other snacks. Share them with your friends."

"Love you, Mom." I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Hopefully I'll be back soon."

"Stay safe, Percy." 

"I will."

I closed the door quietly behind me as I left and took the elevator down to the first floor. There was still some sand, but a lot of it had disappeared.

Some guy was eyeing my car when I left the building, but when he saw me headed his way he scurried off.

The drive home was quiet, no weird vans following me or anything, which I was grateful for. I reached Camp and drove into the woods to park the car in the garage.

Leo was waiting for me, grinning. 

"It went well?" He grinned.

"As far as the car goes." I tossed him the keys as I got out. "Had some snags with demigod scent, but you can't do much about that."

His eyes lit up. "Actually, I probably could. Gimme four hours."

I chuckled. Leo was always happiest when he had something to tinker with, and it was even better when that thing he was tinkering with was a challenge to him.

He darted off towards the forges, and I set out to look for Annabeth.

Once again, no one had seen her. I checked the Hermes Cabin first, thinking she would be with Luke, but he and the Stoll brothers were talking, with Annabeth nowhere in sight.

Twenty minutes later, I still hadn't found her. None of her siblings had seen her, neither had Chiron, nor any other campers I asked.

If I knew where she was, I could IM her, but that wasn't the case. I prayed to Athena and got no answer, which was unsurprising, and I prayed to Hestia on a whim.

The goddess of the hearth came through for me, letting me know that my girlfriend was indeed on Olympus, and currently asleep among a huge pile of books in her mother's library.

I headed back to the Hermes Cabin, digging through the bag that my mom had given me.

"Hey Percy, did you find Annabeth?" Travis asked.

"Yeah, she's with her mom."

"Okay, cool." He grinned, then his eyes fell on the bag in my hands. "Ooh, what's that?"

"Gifts from my mother." I grinned and tossed him a soda can. He cheered and cracked it open, chugging half the can in one go. I passed Connor and Luke one each, then grabbed one for myself.

"So you've been catching up with everyone?" I asked Luke, sitting on one of the unoccupied beds. He nodded and took a small sip of his soda. "Anything interesting?"

"The kids of the minor gods are a lot less resentful of their parents." He shrugged. "And their cabins are kind of cool."

"Yeah, they are. Annabeth designed or helped design most of them."

Luke nodded. "I figured as much... She's really grown up."

"Three years." I shrugged. "It's surprising how much can change in that time."

"Good point... You've changed too, but I didn't know you as well when you were 12."

"Well, I have buffed up." I joked. "Fighting for your life is a great workout."

He chuckled and we dropped into a comfortable silence. 

It briefly occurred to me that the four of us were some of the oldest campers in all of Camp Half-blood. Out of the guys anyway.

Connor and Travis suddenly burst into action, throwing their heads back and chugging the sodas as fast as possible.

"The Hades is wrong with you two?" Luke shouted, but he was laughing and so was I.

The brothers downed their sodas in exactly the same amount of time, then switched cans and crushed them. Travis did it a little faster than Connor and held up his crushed can triumphantly.

"Your hands are bigger." Connor complained.

Travis rolled his eyes and held up his hand to compare.

"They're the same size, guys." Luke put in his opinion as the two of them stared at their hands.

"Nuh uh! His are totally bigger!"

I just leaned back, laughing. Travis and Connor bickered on.

"I've got to go check in with Solace." Luke suddenly spoke, wheeling himself backwards to get out of the aisles of the bunks. 

"Need one of us to go with you?" Travis asked.

He shrugged, then glanced at me. "I wouldn't mind, but I can wheel myself."

I stood. "I'll go. Don't blow anything up you two."

Travis flashed me an overly innocent smile. "Us? Never."

"We should go before we become accomplices." Luke wheeled himself out of the cabin and I followed with a laugh.

"The camp has changed so much..."

"Yeah."

"It looks great."

I smiled. "Tell that to Annabeth. She had a hand in basically everything. The cabins, the added features on the forges, the extra volleyball courts and stuff."

Luke chuckled. "Of course she did."

"You know her." I shrugged. "She always needs something to do. Right now I think she's designing a library for the camp."

He shook his head. "Sounds like her."

"Yeah."