Percy
"Get up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.
A moment later, a pillow landed on Percy's head none too gently. He smacked it away. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up."
Percy extracted himself from the covers and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He winced when he saw Annabeth was already dressed and ready for the day.
"We leave in twenty minutes," she said, throwing a change of clothes at him.
Percy grunted. "Okay, jeez, I'm going."
Though he enjoyed making things difficult for Annabeth on occasion, he knew this was serious. He admired her determination to protect others. Heck, if Poseidon had shown up and told Percy that he had siblings who needed his help, he'd have done the same thing as her.
To show Annabeth how serious he was, Percy managed to get himself ready to leave in only ten minutes. They quickly checked out of the motel, hopped in the car, and got back on the road.
It took longer than they anticipated to reach Hayward, mainly due to rough traffic and a surprising amount of car accidents. It was early afternoon by the time they entered Hayward, and once Annabeth found Miles Carver's address, they immediately went to his house.
Annabeth knocked on the door. A middle-aged woman answered, holding a toddler on her hip.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked.
"Are you Mrs. Carver?" Annabeth asked. When the woman nodded, she said, "Is your husband home? And your stepson, Miles? We need to speak with them."
The woman frowned. "Who are you? What do you want with Harold and Miles?"
"It's a long story," Percy said, "and it's kind of hard to explain."
"It's about Miles' mother. Please, we really need to speak to them," Annabeth said.
Mrs. Carver's eyes widened. She glanced behind her, where Percy could just see another child peeking at them. Mrs. Carver sighed and opened the door wider, gesturing for them to come in.
"Miles is still at school, but Harold is here," she said as she led them into the living room. "I'll go get him."
"Thank you," Percy and Annabeth said as they sat on the couch.
Mrs. Carver left them alone, and to occupy his ADHD, Percy kept lacing and unlacing his hand with Annabeth's. She was used to this habit by now and didn't say anything about it. They sat in silence. The child Percy had seen earlier watched them from the doorway, trying and failing to hide her curiosity. When Percy waved at her, she squealed and ran away.
After a minute, Mrs. Carver returned with her husband. Harold was a lanky, balding man with glasses, who looked like he'd rather be in a quiet library than talk to anyone ever.
"My wife says you're here to talk about Miles' mother?" Harold said as he sat down across from Percy and Annabeth. Mrs. Carver sat beside him, still holding her toddler. "Who are you?"
Percy let Annabeth take the lead. "I'm Annabeth and this is Percy." She glanced at Mrs. Carver. "This conversation might be better in private."
Harold took his wife's hand. "My wife is more Miles' mother than that woman ever has been. Whatever you're here to talk about, she stays."
Annabeth looked at Percy, who shrugged. Your mother. Your decision.
Annabeth sighed. "Fine. I don't know what Miles' mother told you when you knew her, but she's not who you thought she was. She's not mortal."
Harold's eyes widened. He turned to his wife and kissed her cheek. "Honey, maybe you should leave. I promise I'll explain everything to you later."
"Harold—"
"I know this doesn't make any sense. I'll tell you everything. I promise. Right now, just let me talk to these two alone."
Mrs. Carver clearly wasn't happy about it, but she did as Harold asked, even closing the door behind her. Finally, they were alone.
"You know?" Percy asked.
Harold nodded. "She had to tell me when she dropped off Miles as a baby. I don't know everything. All I know is that she's Athena, a Greek goddess. That makes Miles a demigod. And his life will always be difficult because of it."
Annabeth sighed. "You're right about it being difficult. That's why we're here. We're demigods too. Athena is my mother also, and someone—something—is going after her children. We're here to protect him and kill it."
Harold's face paled. "Something wants to hurt my son? Who? Why?"
"We're still not sure on the who. Whoever or whatever it is, it has a grudge against Athena. She sent us to protect her children. And we think Miles is next on its list."
Harold's face became even more distraught. "Can you help him? Can you keep him safe?"
"We've survived this long and killed more monsters than we can count," Percy said. "He'll be safe with us. But once we've taken care of whatever's hunting him, it might be time for you to send him to Camp Half-Blood."
Harold put his face in his hands, which told Percy he already knew about Camp Half-Blood. "I understand."
"Where is Miles?" Annabeth asked.
Harold looked up, suddenly panicked. "At school. He has swim practice. Oh no, he could already be hurt—or taken—or—"
Annabeth jumped to her feet and put her hand on Harold's shoulder. "We'll go there now and make sure he's safe. Then we'll bring him back here. You can explain everything to him then."
"And then what?" Harold whispered.
"Look, do you want us to work out everything right now, or do you want us to make sure your son is safe?" Percy asked.
Harold gasped and shook his head. "Go. Make sure he's okay!"
Percy and Annabeth hurried out of the house and into the car. Percy drove faster than his mom would likely approve of, but he didn't want to lose another kid. He knew Annabeth wouldn't mind his near-reckless speed—as expected, she didn't say a word. She just calmly strapped her knife and drakon bone sword to her belt and checked her ambrosia stash. Percy checked his pocket—Riptide was still there, as always.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Miles' school right next to the pool. Adrenaline raced through Percy's body as he took in the sight waiting for them.
A Gorgon was attacking Miles, though whether it was Medusa, Stheno, or Euryale, Percy couldn't tell from here. As the Gorgon threw Miles into the pool, two men approached her with tiny knives. And when they were knocked down, Percy knew they had absolutely no idea what they were dealing with.
"Go!" Annabeth shouted.
They were out of the car in seconds and didn't even need to coordinate their plan after fighting alongside each other all these years. Annabeth headed for the gated entrance to the pool, while Percy went straight for the fence and began to climb.
He hopped down on the other side just as Annabeth's dagger went flying by, and he knew she had the Gorgon handled for the moment. Percy dove into the pool without a second thought, scooping up Miles and carrying him to safety.
The Gorgon pointed at Percy and howled. "You! You never tasted my Cheese 'N' Weiners!"
Now Percy knew exactly which Gorgon she was. "Get over it, Stheno. We all know Costco samples are better."
Stheno gasped. "How dare you!"
Annabeth moved behind Stheno. "Now, Percy!"
Percy pushed out his hand as he felt the familiar tug in his gut. A blast of water drove Stheno backward, right into Annabeth's sword. She barely had time to scream before she exploded into golden monster dust.
Annabeth spluttered and coughed. "Can you dry me off?"
"In a minute," Percy said as he knelt next to Miles. He wanted nothing more than to help her and question the two idiots who went up against a Gorgon without Celestial bronze, but Miles was more important right now. "Got your ambrosia?"
Annabeth jogged over. "Here."
Percy reached out his hand and felt for the water in Miles' lungs like he had back in the nymphaeum in Rome with Jason. Percy's heart clenched at the thought—he should've been there to help Jason fight the emperors with Apollo. Then, maybe he would have survived.
Percy shook his head and focused on Miles. He was able to draw the water out of Miles' lungs without difficulty, and the kid immediately woke up and started coughing.
"What—what was that? What happened? Who are you?" Miles asked through gasping breaths.
"I promise we'll explain. But first, eat this. It'll make you feel better," Percy said, and held out a square of ambrosia.
Though Miles was clearly still confused, he took the ambrosia. As soon as he bit into it, color returned to his face and the bleeding from his head wound slowed. He finished the ambrosia without complaint.
"Better?" Percy asked and helped Miles sit up.
"Yeah. Who—who are you?" he asked.
Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, then at the two men they had saved along with Miles. They were both ridiculously tall—Percy was no shorty, but even he felt small looking at them. One was taller than the other, but he hung back behind the shorter one. Percy could already hear all the deductions Annabeth was making about them: Brothers; shorter one is older; early to mid-40s; complete and utter idiots.
Percy could tell from the way they held themselves that they were no strangers to danger and the weirdness of the world. But they were way too old to be demigods out and about on their own. So who were they?
Percy looked at Annabeth again and communicated without words, just by studying her face. Your call.
She frowned. They did try to protect Miles.
Percy raised an eyebrow. Should we tell them?
She sighed. They might know something we don't. They might be allies.
Annabeth stood. "It's a long story. I think we all have a lot to talk about."