The Ghosts of Millennia

Annabeth Becomes a Chrysanthemum

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia speak to their divine guest. Hermione enjoys vacation with her family.

BEGINNING NOTES

Chapter Rating: General Audiences
Content Warning: Cursing
Word Count: 3677

SPOILERS FOR "THE SWORD OF HADES" FROM "THE DEMIGOD FILES". Use the link below to read it, pages 35-44. Thalia will make no sense here if you don't know the story.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B33MEtG4tzm_VDRJWlB3N0lGalU/preview

Thanks for understanding about last night, guys. I got to work early today, recovered my comupter, and here we are!

And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

____________________HERMIONE____________________

"No fair!" Jeremy cried. "You cheated!"

"No, I took a shortcut down the mountain," Hermione corrected him. "I went on the same mountain as you, and you could've taken that shortcut too."

It wasn't often Hermione got to hang out with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. Uncle Tyler moved to New Jersey when she was a toddler because Aunt Sadie's entire family lived there. She relished in these visits as the best of both worlds: she got to travel and ski, see her distant family, and, since Hogwarts, spend time with her parents too. As much as she loved being a witch, she needed time in the muggle world every now and again. Modern amenities were nice.

"Hermione!" Mum called. She was standing a little further from the mountain with the rest of the adults, waiting for her to come down. Hermione pushed herself forward with her ski poles and slid to where her family was waiting.

"Where's April and Tanisha?" Aunt Sadie asked.

"Further up," Hermione said, "But they should be down pretty soon. Are we done for the day?"

Dad nodded. "The sun's setting, and we saw some clouds while we were waiting. I don't want to get caught on the mountain during a blizzard."

"The weather's been crazy all year," Uncle Tyler said. "It's been snowing and hailing like crazy, and I don't think summer made it past seventy-five degrees."

"Global warming," Aunt Sadie replied. "Hurricanes were up too. We had to buy a generator after the number of times the power shut off. You'd think after the millionth tree fell on the power lines and caught on fire the county would vote to put them underground."

"That's insane," Dad said. "It was the same in Manchester. Flash floods and storms constantly. I worried about this one in Scotland." He bumped Hermione's shoulder with the typical embarrassing Dad grin.

"Dad!" she protested, shrinking away.

April and Tanisha arrived at that very moment. Hermione was grateful for the interruption. Weather usually wasn't a scary topic, but with the Greco-Roman gods revelation one year ago, Hermione had been brushing up on her mythology. Bad weather usually meant that something divine was brewing, and godly intervention didn't end well for the mortals involved. She hoped to the gods it was climate change or some rare meteorological event. Dad always sent her muggle newspapers so she could keep up with what was going on at home. She remembered a few articles attempting to explain the weather, but none were conclusive, and none gave her much relief.