Heroes at Hogwarts

nineteen | oldest of friends and conversations

percy

Percy guessed it was the years of questing, but he just couldn't make himself sleep while everyone else was. Especially outside. They were completely vulnerable, laying here in this clearing next to the lake.

He and Will had spent the first half of the night chatting with some naiads in the lake. Now they were both sitting there, completely silent, watching over everyone passed out on the logs. They hadn't even used the tents.

Michael's guitar sat next to him dejectedly. Once everyone else had fallen asleep, Michael had settled himself and drifted off quickly. What bugged Percy about the whole thing was the song that he'd sung. It had been sung at Percy's funeral, the one where he stumbled out of the woods to witness. Annabeth had never been so mad. 

Will suddenly chuckled. "It's crazy, you know, seeing them again." He gestured to Michael and Bianca.

Percy smiled. "But great."

"Of course it's great," Will agreed.

Percy sighed. "And Silena and Beckendorf. And Zoe and Ethan."

Will nodded. "I can't wait for the others to get here."

Percy thought back to his last call with Annabeth. She'd bugged him non-stop about what was going on with them. He'd never kept secrets from her. It felt weird.

He said, "Yeah. I wish we could just tell them, though."

Neville wiggled in his sleep, shifting lower on the log. Soon the clumsy boy would fall off. Percy doubted it would wake him, though. 

Will glanced at Jason, then Frank and Hazel. "They don't agree with that, though."

That confused Percy. Why should they keep this a big secret? So what if everyone back home freaked out. It would calm everyone to know that parts of their family were alive again. And what say did the Romans have, anyway? They didn't know them.

"I know," Percy said.

Will suddenly turned to face Percy. "So what's your deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been reclusive, that's what I mean. All week you've been hiding out, not being as playful as usual."

Percy studied his shoes. When Annabeth called the other night, he figured it was just a call. They hadn't talked alone since he left. Sure, he knew she'd ask about 'our deceased friends' that Will had mentioned, and he knew she'd be doing research, but when she called it wasn't what he was expecting.

She'd gone to visit Magnus again. Along the way she'd picked up a magazine, and in one of the articles there was proof that something was going on between the wizards and demigods. She wouldn't tell him what kind of proof, but did tell him that when she confronted Chiron about it, he gracefully avoided the subject.

"Have you told anyone else?" He'd asked.

"No," she'd told him. "Right now, I don't know who to trust."

That's what worried him the most.

After everything that they'd gone through, Annabeth didn't even mention it to Piper, or Nico, or Leo. Not Rachel. Not Reyna. Not Grover. Only Percy. He usually wasn't the person she came to when she had a question. Usually she'd talk to anyone but Percy when she had a question. But now here they were, and suddenly Percy didn't know who to trust either. If Annabeth was worried, it was usually time to start worrying.

He turned to Will again. "Just homesick."

Will saw through that right away. "In all your quests, you never got homesick. What's really going on?"