Till Death Do Us Part

The Reunion

Chapter 19- The Reunion

She was up at dawn. Awake, alive. She felt better than she had in years. She was almost free now. In a few hours she would be. As though that childish promise had held her all this time. It had held her for so long, and only because she had let it. Its only power had been the power she had given it.

She didn't even bother with breakfast. She only drank two cups of coffee, and got into the rented car. She could be there in two hours, by ten o'clock. Back at the hotel at noon. She could catch a plane back to San Francisco and be home by the next day. She might even be able to look for Thalia while she's here in the Philippines.

She found herself thinking about her friend as she drove along. No more thoughts for Percy. After today, she could face the world with peace in her heart. Maybe after today things would change too. Or was it that … she didn't even let herself finish the question. Of course, she loved him. That wasn't the point.

She drove through Palawan, to the countryside, barely noticing anything she passed. The landscape was still gray and dark; the new leaves had not yet emerged. It was as though the countryside too had lain buried for two years. It was nine thirty when she arrived at the beach, and she felt a little jolt in her heart when she recognized the place. She followed an old road which wandered along the coast, and then she came to a stop, and got out of the car. She was stiff, but not tired. She was exhilarated, and nervous. She had to do this… had to… she could already see the tree from where she stood. She stood staring at it for a long time, as though it held all the secrets, knew her story too well, as though it had waited for her return. She walked slowly toward it, as though going to meet an old friend. But it was no longer a friend. Like everything and everyone she had once loved, it was a stranger. It was just another marker on Annabeth Chase's grave.

She stopped when she reached it, and then walked the last steps across the sand to the rock. It was still there. It hadn't moved. Nothing had. Only she and Percy had moved, in opposite directions and to different worlds. She stood there for a very long time, as though trying to summon the strength and the courage to do it. And at last she bent down and began to push. The rock moved after few moments, and quickly, with a stick, she dug under it for what she sought. But there was nothing there. She blinked an eye, dropped the rock, breathless, and then with fresh strength, she pushed it again, until this time she could see that they were gone. Someone had already taken the beads! There was a sad note in her heart as she let the rock slip back into place. It was then that she heard his voice.

"You cannot have them. They belong to someone else. To someone I loved. To someone I never forgot." She looked up to see Percy, with tears in his eyes. He had waited half the night for her to come. It had taken a chartered jet to get him there before she arrived. But he would have flown on his own wings if he had to. He held out a hand now, and she saw the beads, still caked with the sand from under the rock. It glowed in his hand their small crystals sparkling in the sunlight. She slowly touched the beads feeling its core as she looked at them, tears filling her eyes too. "I promised never to say good-bye Annabeth. I never did." His eyes never left hers as he stood there.

She just stood there staring at the beads when finally with lump on her throat she said "You never tried to find me."

"They told me you were dead."

"I promised never to see you again if … if they gave me a new face. I promised because I knew you'd find me. And then… you… didn't."

"I would have, Annabeth if I'd known. Do you still remember your promise to me?"

She closed her eyes and spoke solemnly, like a child, and for the first time in a long time, it was the voice of Annabeth Chase, the voice he had loved, not the smooth new one she had learned. "I promise not to forget you and not to forget everything that is here, what it stands for and to never say goodbye. Till death do us part."