Hidden Wisdom and Wizards || PJO x HP

Chapter 26: The Café

I am on winter break!! Meaning, I actually have some time to flush out where I want this story to go. And besides, don't y'all think it's about time we get the story rolling into some conflict? 

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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After a much needed food break, Annabeth managed to sneak away from everyone and everything to get her thoughts in order.

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Annabeth sat in a small cafe, dozens of miles from Hogwarts. She needed a breather. She needed out.

She was also a professor, and decided it was best to have Ginny cover for her while she was gone. 

Annabeth was so caught up in everything going haywire it didn't even strike her as odd when Ginny didn't question why Annabeth was leaving, or why she was chosen to cover in the first place. 

Did it strike her as stupid to leave the safety of Hogwarts' borders and randomly walk around the mortal world, with thousands of enemies wishing and preying on her downfall-- or preferably death? Yes. Did she care? No. 

Annabeth missed people watching. Observing strangers from afar. Reading and analyzing what they were going through, or where they were going, or why they were doing what they were doing. 

She watched a young couple order hot chocolates and laugh in the corner of the cafe for 57 minutes, not a care in the world. She saw how the boy looked at the girl with shining eyes, happiness glinting in its purest form. She saw how the girl continued to knock into his side, rolling her eyes, but the whole time grinning from ear to ear. 

She watched a man carrying a little girl-- no older than three or four-- on his shoulders listening to her chant "cake" over and over again. They got a slice of lemon pound cake. 

Annabeth watched two men push a stroller into the cafe, bumping into the side doors, and a stool, and a small table, as one quickly ordered two black coffees, and the other bent down to smooth a fussy baby. 

Annabeth watched all of these people lead their lives with normality. A businesswoman in the corner typing furiously away on her laptop, arguing into the phone. A person laughing over tea with another. Someone staring out the window, drawing on a notepad. Another simply sitting and observing with headphones on. 

She watched and wished she wasn't at the cafe as a way to distract herself from the world of gods and monsters and magic and death. 

Lost away in her thoughts,  Annabeth hardly noticed the woman come up behind her. "The soul always carries our biggest burdens," she said, taking a set from across Annabeth

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the woman clad in a flowing black dress. If she looked hard enough, she could have sworn she saw faces swirling underneath the many layers of fabric. 

"Who are you?"

The woman sighed, "Why must we always ask such trivial questions, Mrs. Jackson- Chase?" Annabeth tried to keep her cool. To be calm, collected. But her eyes widened just enough for the woman to catch her. The woman waved her hand, dismissing anything Annabeth was about to say. "Yes, yes, yes, I know who you are. At this point, I don't think there's anyone or anything who doesn't; wouldn't you agree Annabeth?"

"You're a goddess."

"I am."

"We haven't met before," Annabeth stated, less to the woman and more for herself. She would have remembered meeting her, wouldn't she? 

"Haven't we?"

The goddess' response caught Annabeth off guard. No, she would have remembered meeting her. Annabeth frowned, scanning her brain for any indication, anything to make sense. Instead, her brain went onto a completely different track.

"You're a goddess." The woman stared at Annabeth as if she was the dumbest person in the world, and not the daughter of Athena. However, Annabeth wasn't done yet. "Talking to me. The first contact I have had since the Olympians went awol last year. Why?"

Again, before the goddess could respond, Annabeth continued talking. "You must want something. But how could you have known I'd be here?" She paused, "Unless..."

The goddess smiled. "Unless?" 

Annabeth nearly stopped breathing. "Unless you're not really here. Unless, you could see through me. See my thoughts, feelings..." She looked up at the goddess with a newfound anger in her eyes. "Psyche."