Heroes of Olympus: The Aftermath of War

PERCY

*Rick Riordan owns all of the characters*

PERCY WAS STARTING TO WONDER if fighting monsters aboard the Argo II and on the Battle of Manhattan wasn't so bad at all; then there was homework...and quizzes...and exams...and--- honestly, he couldn't take it anymore.

Sure, he would have enjoyed every moment of his class periods with Annabeth, but he was struggling so hard that he wished they were back at Camp Half Blood...or Camp Jupiter, for that matter.

Well, he knew it was weird, since it was a clear fact that he was the one who had asked Annabeth for all of this: a normal life, which meant two normal teenagers in their Senior Year together.

Happy. Safe.

He didn't want to tempt the Fates by using that word. Especially since his homeroom and Chemistry teacher, Ms. Caldimorf, seemed more like an empousa than a real professor (sort of). He would hate using Riptide/Anaklusmos in front of his new friends. And, even if he did swear on the River Styx, Ms. Caldimorf was just another mortal he despised.

Months ago, he had been one of the seven who succeeded in fighting those toe-faced (though really creepy) giants and defeating bloodthirsty goddess Gaea once and for all. Well, the Gaea part was mostly Jason, Piper, and Leo. He had been busy with Octavian's so-called monstrous "allies" at the time. Though he did help, in his own way, with Annabeth and the others by his side.

But hey, he even got his dad to join him knock off drama queens Ephialtes and Otis. That was kinda fun, but it was not exactly the way Percy defined spending some "quality time" with Sea Dad Poseidon.

Worse, his nosebleed had almost started another season of World War Earth. Blood was blood, anyway. He just didn't imagine the Blood of Olympus coming from a stupid nosebleed. That was kinda gross. Percy realized feeding his nosebleed blood to the Earth Mother herself. Ha, that was funny...at least now. Back then, he wouldn't have had the courage to muster a smirk or a simple grin.

"Okay, so what's Napoleon's last name?"

He shrugged, suddenly remembering that Annabeth was in front of him. She was being skeptical, her eyebrows raised and her hands holding the manual they got from school. Her eyes were grey and full of stormy thoughts as usual, and she had her blonde hair in a ponytail "To keep it from distracting me," she explained to him days ago.

Great, first monsters, now he had a history lesson. Life could change in a matter of days and weeks and months.

"Bore-apart?" he answered boredly, his mind not really in the topic.

"No...no, Percy," she sighed, pointing a small portion at the very center of page 2. "It's Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte."

"Oh..yeah. Yeah, all right. Okay," he replied quietly.

An ADHD demigod learning about the French Revolution? Well, it didn't turn out good. Annabeth was trying just as hard as Percy to study and blend in with normal people, without the usual 'I-am-going-to-die-today' stuff. Being ADHD and all, you couldn't focus. The only difference was that she was Athena's daughter. She was smart even if she didn't mean to be. So far, Percy's favorite subjects were Recess and Physical Education. He loved those.

They had tensed about dangerous, life-threatening quests before, but now they were worrying about something as light as a quiz. Huh. That took a sudden turn of events. Well, Percy could not be ungrateful. After spending days in Tartarus and going through the Doors of Death, possibly failing your test wasn't so bad.

Whoosh.

The small library's window opened, and a flying paper airplane settled itself in Annabeth's lap. Thankfully, they were the only ones present at the time. The Mist could only do so much to their mortal friends. Percy suddenly remembered Hazel Levesque's tale about Coach Hedge sending one similar to his wife, Mellie. They have a satyr kid now, which made him grin at the thought.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" the Hedge inside Percy's head replied enthusiastically.

"Party Ponies..." Annabeth murmured, her eyes widening in surprise.

"What? They want to go to Senior Year too?" Percy joked, which earned him a playful punch or two.

"No, Seaweed Brain." she replied, showing a sideways smile. "It's from Piper and Jason---"

"About time!" he inserted, grinning. "I thought my bro Jason forgot me already!"

"Ha-ha," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I thought he called you Aqua Man...or was it Water Boy?"

"Hey!" Percy protested. "I am not Aqua Man, nor Water Boy!"

"Joking," she laughed. "Well, you've got to read this."

"Dear Percy and Annabeth,

In case you were wondering, this is Piper. Things have been tough lately. I've been accompanying Jason back and forth between the two camps, and he's just so tired. The Romans even call him pontifex now, but I think he doesn't care. Anyway, I hope Kymopoleia and the other gods become peaceful now that they have temples of their own. Hazel is doing well as a centurion. Frank helps Reyna as much as he can these days, now that he's also praetor. The Sibylline books are still being reconstructed with the help of Ella and Rachel Dare, since Delphi isn't active nowadays.

Well, we're having a break for now, and guess what? Hazel and Frank were given permission to come with us in New York! Reyna said it was fine...something about returning a favor.

Meet us tomorrow in Central Park, exactly 3 in the afternoon. Something tells me your schedules only last until 12 NN. (I spoke to your teacher, Ms. Caldimorf. She said it was fine. You know how I am with people.) (wink,wink)

P.S.

Jason wanted to give a quick thumbs-up to his bro Percy (whatever that is).

-Piper."

"Did she just charmspeak our homeroom teacher?!" Percy exclaimed, clearly overwhelmed. "Awesome!"

"We could get in serious trouble," Annabeth said, worried.

"Ah, even Gaea was no match for Piper Mclean! Caldimorf would be fine." he said, happy to know that they were skipping the test they had by 2 PM. "Good bye, Napoleon Bore-apart! In your face French Revolution!"

"Bonaparte!" she corrected, yawning.

"Someone's sleepy," Percy murmured, smiling at her. "Let me walk you to the 'crossroads', Wise Girl. You need a nap."

"Whatever, Seaweed Brain." she replied, moving towards the door as Percy shut it behind her.

The corridor was long and narrow. The large, rectangular windows reflected the afternoon light of the Big Apple. There were no curtains, and dust filled the floor as thick as a regular pad. It made Percy sneeze, and Annabeth shrug, since spiders also hung from the walls and the ceiling, making their webs. What more could dust and dirt offer?

He could only accompany her up to the stairway, since boys were not allowed on the Girls' Dormitories, vice versa. He and Annabeth liked calling it 'crossroads', mainly because of the reason that a comfortable purple carpet led to the left stairway, while a bright, orange one led to the right, where the Boys' Dormitories were located. Together, they formed some sort of V, like the person had to choose one path or another.

"Sleep tight," he said, kissing Annabeth's forehead.

"You too," she replied, yawning once more.

Poseidon's trident, she was tired.

Percy watched as Annabeth disappeared, when he finally decided to look at the view from outside. New York was always noisy at anytime of day, cars honking, people commuting, and huge, large screens appearing from almost every building or so. Products and latest shoe designs, casino promos and prizes, and blinking lights clicked when advertisements changed.

"ALL DA LADIES LUV LEO" one said.

Percy's eyes widened as every screen he could see copied the exact message and a metal dragon appeared before him with two people at its back. The boy was grinning and waving his hands at him, and the girl looked vaguely familiar.

"Leo?!" Percy screamed from behind the window.