Chapter 1
Tony
It had been 14 years since his daughter disappeared. He knew she was probably dead by now, but he didn't care. He had to keep looking, even if all that 'looking' entailed was Friday continuously searching the world's databases in the background.
She would be 17 now. Almost an adult. If she'd still been around, she'd be partway through her senior year of high school, same as Peter. It hurt to look at Peter, sometimes, knowing that he had a daughter the same age somewhere.
The three years he’d had with his little Annie were the best of his life. She'd been kidnapped while she was out at a park with her nanny, who'd been found dead a few blocks from the park once the search had begun. In the fourteen years since she was taken, his only comfort was that they'd never found Annie's body. She could be alive somewhere. She had to be.
Annabeth
Percy looked over at her from the driver's seat, grinning maniacally. It was the first day of their senior year, and Annabeth was really excited to be able to attend school like normal after the chaos of the last few years. She figured it was probably really weird to be this excited about finishing high school, but she wanted to go to a good college, and if she could make this last year work, she'd be free to go study architecture. Her transcripts for the last few years had all been faked by Chiron, but she knew all the subjects, so she didn't feel too bad about it. She had passed the entrance exam after all, and she’d done so well that she’d gotten a full scholarship. It had been difficult setting it up, but the school had been able to administer the exam with extra time and partially orally to accommodate her dyslexia. And now here she was, at the entrance of Midtown School of Science and Technology, watching all these kids get dropped off in their parents' fancy sports cars. She felt horribly out of place in Percy's Prius with hoof marks still indented in the hood (Paul refused to get it fixed because they were made by a pegasi).
Maybe going to Geode High School with Percy would have been a better idea. Percy, who knew her better then she knew herself most days, seemed to sense her thoughts.
“You're going to do great, wise girl, you're the smartest person I know.”
She smiled at his words. They helped loosen the knot of anxiety in her stomach a little bit, but it remained a constant reminder that she had no idea what she was walking into. Percy had told her about his high school experience, and she’d done a ton of research on the school itself to prepare, but it didn't change the fact that she hadn't had a lot of formal education since the second grade. Would she be able to make friends with the regular humans? It's not like she would have any shared life experiences with them, unless they'd also saved the world in secret.
She smiled tightly at her boyfriend, and they said their goodbyes for the day, wishing each other luck on their first days.
The warm September wind ruffled her hair as she got out of the car. Walking up the steps made her feel like an imposter, but as soon as she stepped inside, she knew this was where she was meant to be. Other teenagers hurried through the hallways with backpacks full of first day of school paperwork and new textbooks, stopping to chat with people they presumably knew from previous years. All she had known for these last few years was war and death. It would be nice to have some sense of normalcy, if only for a little while. Chiron had agreed to let her stay with Percy for their senior year after everything they'd been through, even though it made them a bigger target. He knew they needed each other. Neither of them could sleep through the night without nightmares of their time in Tartarus, and the only thing that helped was each other. It was also why he turned a blind eye to her staying in Percy's cabin while they were at camp. Even Poseidon turned a blind eye. The other campers giggled when they walked out to breakfast together, but Chiron would only nod at them before turning back to whatever he had been doing. Not that she blamed the other campers for staring though. The only other campers that knew the full extent of what happened to the two cabin leaders.
She shook off thoughts of camp and headed towards the office to pick up her schedule. The office lady was very kind and pointed her in the direction of her first class of the day. She thanked the secretary and was officially on her way. Her first class was AP Calculus, and when she got there the teacher told her to sit wherever she liked. She chose a seat in the middle of the class, sitting down next to a standoffish girl who did not introduce herself. The boy sitting in front of her, however, did. He turned around, introducing himself as Peter, and gestured to the girl, calling her Michelle.
Michelle flipped him off, but she had a fond little smirk on her face.
They were definitely dating.
She chatted with the two of them (mostly Peter) until class started. The class went well, as it was mostly just introductions, and the knot of anxiety in her stomach loosened further at how friendly Peter had been. Even Michelle had been nice, once Annabeth had proven she wasn't an idiot. The class flew by, and before she knew it, the bell rang to signal the end of the class
Hopefully, the rest of the day would go just as well as that one had.
“What class do you have next,” Peter asked enthusiastically. “I have AP Biology and MJ has Women and History next. Maybe one of us has another class with you.”
She rifled through her folder for her schedule. “I have Women and History next as well!” Michelle looked at her like she’d just passed a test; Peter beamed.
“Cool! I’ll see you later!” And with that he was off down the hall, meeting with another boy at their lockers and doing a very complex handshake before heading into their classroom together.
“Let's go, I don't want to be late on the first day,” Michelle said, and promptly started off in the opposite direction from where the boys went. She caught up quickly, and they made it just before the bell rang. The next few hours were a blur. After Women and History she had a coding class with Peter, Michelle, and handshake guy, whose name she later discovered was Ned. She was enjoying learning there and she was glad she’d made friends so quickly.
Lunchtime, however, was not quite as pleasant. It was noisy, chaotic, and crowded. She sat with her new friends at a table all by themselves because apparently they didn't have any other friends, just each other. None of them seemed sad about this though, they were perfectly content with each other and now her. They all tensed up when a preppy kid with an awful haircut came over. He sat facing her, one leg on each side of the bench.
“You must be new, I'm Flash. You don't want to hang out with these losers, pretty girl, Penis over there can't even pay to be here. He's on a scholarship.” He spoke like he wasn't used to being turned down, and had never wanted for something in his life. Typical rich kid. The only rich person she knew that wasn't an asshole was Piper, and she didn't count.
“Flash, was it? First thing, I have a boyfriend, so back off. Second, I am also here on a full scholarship, so I really don't care. Why did you think I would like you if you came over here and insulted the people who have been nothing but kind to me since I got here? Don't talk to me again.” She put a little of her battle commander venom into her voice, and he looked appropriately terrified, fleeing the table.
Her new friends looked at her in shock.
“You can call me MJ.”
She smiled at them. Maybe this year will be interesting after all.
The weeks flew by, of going to school, doing homework, hanging out with Percy and her new friends (though they still hadn't been introduced to each other), and watching Estelle. It wasn't all fun times though. Monsters attacked occasionally. Both of them still woke up screaming from nightmares of their time in the pit or any of their other quests. They were working through it though, both with each other and with a therapist. She used to be a legionnaire in Camp Jupiter, and had moved to New York a few years ago. They could talk to her about anything demigod or human. Sure, it was a conflict of interest that they both went to the same therapist, but she was the only one in New York that they could talk about demigod trauma with without being sent to a hospital. Besides, it's not like they needed a therapist about their relationship, it was more for everything else. She helped them through a lot, but they still had a long way to go before they would be ok.
She relished in the normalcy of it. Her life had been Gods and Monsters for the last ten years, it was nice to be a normal family with Percy, Sally, Paul, and Estelle. MJ had even convinced her to join their Academic Decathlon team.
***
She woke up with a start, crying out after a particularly bad nightmare. Percy was already there to console her, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her back and forth. Tears leaked from her eyes and he pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Do you want to talk about it,” he asked softly. She wasn't sure just yet, so she stayed silent, tears streaming down her face. Eventually the sobs subsided, and she told him what she remembered from it.
“We were back in Tartarus, but instead of the Acheron, we landed in the Lethe. You didn't forget yourself though, because you could keep the water off of you without thinking about it. I fell in and couldn't remember you. You were devastated. I felt lost and wrong and I was scared. So, so, scared.”
“We got out Annabeth, and we got out together. And though I would go through it again in a heartbeat if it meant you were safe, we’ll never be there again. It’ll be alright. It'll be alright.”
They eventually fell back asleep, but the nightmare had rattled them both and they slept light for the rest of the night, waking periodically throughout.
School the next day grated on her senses. She was on high alert and running on only a few hours of sleep. MJ and Ned seemed worried, and Peter looked the same as she did. The three of them had secrets about something, but she wasn't going to pry into it. They'd tell her when they were ready. It's not like she didn't have secrets of her own to keep.
Decathlon after school was dragging on forever when Mr. Harrington said he had one last announcement before they could leave.
“Since we did so well at nationals last year, Stark Industries has reached out and offered us a tour of the tower. We leave Friday morning at 8:00, so make sure you're on time. We’ll be there the whole day, and they will provide lunch, so nobody needs to bring anything, not even backpacks.”
This announcement set off whispers of delight among the whole team. Stark industries was the tech leader of the world, and it was rumored around camp that Tony Stark was a legacy of Hephaestus, though no one knew if there was any truth behind that, Chiron never commented one way or another. It would be interesting to see how advanced regular mortals could get their technology, even if her and Leo could probably build whatever they have but better in a few hours. Also, a day off of classes is always fun, even for genius students like them.
Percy was waiting at the curb for her, Estelle already in her carseat in the back. They chatted on the way back to the apartment, telling each other about their days and classes. When they got there, Sally and Paul were in the kitchen cooking dinner so they set Estelle loose in the house and retreated into their room to get some homework done.
Yeah, she could get used to being normal like this.
She should have known it would all fall apart.