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It was quiet. Too quiet.
Oliver Jackson hadn’t stepped foot in his parents house since the funeral. The memories were simply too painful. The house has always been so lively in his youth- his parents laughter, the random visits by his many aunts and uncles. Even the monster attacks.
He loathed to move out, but he had his own life to live, so one tearful afternoon he had kissed his mother, father and younger sister goodbye and had left. He wasn’t sure where to at the time- but he couldn’t live in the shadow of his parents any longer. Annabeth Chase, world famous (in both the mortal and immortal worlds) architect. Percy Jackson, the most powerful demigod who had ever lived.
The monsters never bothered him. He could see them, but their gaze would pass over him without second thought. At first he had been jealous. At first he wished for the same glory his parents had. At first he wished he was as powerful as they had been.
Until he didn’t.
He was fifteen when he attended Uncle Nico’s funeral. Ari had clung to him sobbing the entire time. His parents had such guarded expressions on their faces that he dared not question what had happened. But he heard the whispers.
“Monsters”.
And suddenly Oliver was glad that he lived in a world where monsters only lived under the beds of sleepless children.
Percy Jackson, hero of Olympus had died in his late fifties. A remarkable achievement for a son of one of the Big Three. Even more so seeing he had been at the centre of two major prophecies. But yet he was still mortal, still vulnerable to the pains of life. And death.
He had died as he lived- loyal to his family until the end. The mortals called it a ‘freak accident’, but Ari knew better.
It was ironic the first monster Percy would kill would also be the last. The Minotaur, risen once again from the depths of Tartarus had found an aged Percy and had once again tried his luck at defeating the upstart demigod who had defeated him time and time again. The half-man half-bull brute had charged the small family as Ari and her parents had returned from a night spent out.
Percy had leapt in front of his family- because of course he would. Riptide had appeared from nowhere and had slashed through the monster with a practiced ease. But not before the monster had sent Percy wheeling backwards from sheer momentum. Not before one of his crudely formed axes had buried itself into Percy’s chest.
‘Hit and run’, was what the mortals had called it. Percy had died before the ambulance arrived on scene. A hand held by by his wife, the other by his daughter as he slipped from the world. They had sobbed over him and Percy- brave Percy had the nerve to be the one comforting them as the light faded from his eyes.
Ari could barely watch as he was loaded into the ambulance, the paramedics desperately trying to revive him. But both she and Annabeth had known it was too late.
Thanatos had brushed against them both gently as he carried Percy’s soul down to Hades.
Annabeth shushed the boy next to her impatiently, the dim light of the small room casting strange shadows on the wall. “The drivers will hear us if you don’t shut up” she snapped. She could see the sad form of the starved lion in front of her. A pair of zebras with ribbons in their manes to the side. She knew she had to free them also.
Oliver patted his mother’s hand gently. There were no drivers. Just the quiet motor of the single fan in the dimly lit room. He helped her sit up more comfortably in her bed and handled her a juice box, straw already poked through.
Just like she had done countless times for him.
She seemed lost in a world of her own, caught up in whatever memories fragmented memories washed over her.
She squinted suspiciously at him, seeming to draw away from him uncertainly. “You’re not Percy”, she accused.
Oliver swallowed the hard lump in his throat, tears stinging his eyes.
Some days Annabeth would seem present and aware, and she would hug and kiss her children and call them by name. But she never did seem to be able to remember that Percy was gone. She would always ask for him. Ask if he’d come back from the shops yet. Ask whether he’d be home in time for dinner.
Ari had tried to break the news to her gently each time, but the screams- no. It was easier now to assure her he would be back soon. She would not remember anyway.
Today Annabeth seemed more lively than ever, bustling around the house and frantically searching for… something. She had collected strange bits and pieces- a wheel, a toy pegasus that Ari hadn’t remembered seeing since she was a child, a cup with the printed image of a bird. At first Ari had been unconcerned. Then the raving had started.
“Hurry up! Hurry up! We’re going to be late! Mr D will start the race without us and Clarisse is going to win. There’s no way I’m letting her beat me in chariot racing of all things- not after my mother practically invented the sport!”.
Ari winced. There was no race. No chariot. No Clarisse. Not anymore.
She walked cautiously over to her mother, grasping her gently by the shoulders. “Hey, mom”. Her heart sank as Annabeth’s eyes rose to meet her own and seemed to break. Annabeth collapsed into her daughter, pained cries filling the quiet space. The closest she might ever come to acknowledging the truth.
An hour later Annabeth Chase had already forgotten.
Oliver groaned as his phone started buzzing again. It was 2am in the morning- who on earth would calling? He reached over and saw ‘PRIVATE NUMBER’ light up on his screen. His interested piqued, he answered it all the while trying to clear the grogginess from his voice.
“Uh- Oliver Jackson speaking, how can I help you?”.
“Mr Jackson? This is Officer Hannah Barnes from the NYPD. I’m sorry to have woken you at such an ungodly hour, but we’ve found an older lady wandering around the streets- screaming something about the sky? I’m sorry, she seems very confused and scared. She wanted us to call a Mr Percy Jackson but the number she has saved for him is disconnected and you seemed the next closest-“.
Oliver bolted up in alarm. He had locked all the doors, he was sure of it. How did his mother manage to leave the house? Why? “She’s my mother”, he explained quickly, “I’m on my way”, he hung up the phone, already shoving his keys into his pocket as he sprinted out the door.
When he arrived at the station, he could hear his mother’s screams. “You don’t understand!”, she was crying, “I have to hold it up or the world will collapse! I have to wait for Percy”.
He burst in the door and his heart broke at the sight. Annabeth was dressed only in her nightgown and slippers. She held a manhole cover above her head, although was clearly having issues keeping it steady. He would have to wonder later where she’d gotten the cover, let alone how she’d been managing to hold it for quiet so long.
As she saw him, she gave a shriek of delight and all but dropped the cover on the two officers who had been hovering beside her. Despite now sharing the load of the circle of metal, both officers grunted in surprise at the weight of it. Annabeth threw her arms around him, kissing his cheek. “I knew you’d come, Percy! I told them you would”.
They had managed to settled Annabeth in a quiet room, wrapping a thick blanket around her shaking frame and pressed a warm mug of tea in her hands. An officer had stayed to watch her, lest she try and run off again.
“Mr Jackson?”, the female officer- Hannah, who had spoken on the phone with was sitting opposite him now. “I’m sorry to have to keep you, but we’ve just got to go over a few things first. I would like to assure you that your mother will not be charged with anything tonight, but obviously it’s a serious incident- she could have very easily hurt herself”.
Oliver nodded in agreement. “My sister and I are living with her right now, trying to keep an eye on her. I could have sworn I locked all the doors before I went to sleep. She’s-“, he gulped, “She’s just confused”.
Hannah nodded sympathetically. “And Mr Percy Jackson? We tried to reach him several times tonight at Ms Chase’s request but we were unable to get through. Does he live with you also?”.
Oliver felt himself stiffen uncomfortably. The tears were back in his eyes. “My father died seven years ago”, he managed, barely above a whisper.
On the short walk back to his car, Annabeth seemed in better spirits, already seeming to have forgotten what had just occurred. Absentmindedly she dug around in her sleeve and seemed to produce a few small rods of metal from thin air. She offered them to him, and as he peered closer at the small weights of metal now nestled in his hand, he stared at his mother with the faintest feeling of hope.
A lockpicking wrench and pick, obviously crudely made by her own two hands. Just like she had shown him to make when he was a child.
Maybe Annabeth was still present, somewhere in there.
Ari didn’t want to hate her mother, but in a way she did. She hated that she wasn’t there anymore. That she had become just a shell of who she was.
Both she and Oliver had paused both their lives to attend to her, to comfort her, to watch her. It wasn’t so much a chore as it were a labour of love. But it hurt them both so much to see their proud and fierce mother reduced to a shadow.
They had decided a little trip was in order. So they had packed their bags and crammed into Oliver’s small car and were on their way to their small holiday home in Montauk. It had once been a motel, but when the business had died and the cabin fallen away to almost nothing, Percy had jumped at the chance to buy it. Ari remembered spending much of her childhood summers there, splashing along the beach, and swimming in its cool waters.
“Where are we going?”, Annabeth had said for what felt like the thousandth time. Each time she asked they had taken it in turns to explain. She never seemed to be able to remember long. Ari took a deep breath,
“Look”, she said, pointing to the beach which had suddenly appeared on the horizon in front of them. “We’re going to dad’s cabin on the beach. See mom?”, she watched her mother carefully now. Mentions of Percy could send her into waves of grief or panic just as often as they could bring a smile to her face.
But Annabeth remained calm and smiled widely. She hurriedly opened her window, seeming to relish at the smell of the salty ocean breeze. “Oh yes of course! Silly me”.
Later that night they sat around a campfire on the beach, toasting blue marshmallows. Annabeth had insisted they were blue and Ari had to scramble to find the blue dye. Thankfully there seemed to be hoards of small blue bottles in the pantry.
Annabeth seemed more content than she had in days. More clear minded. She hadn’t gotten their names wrong once or failed to remember who they were. She hadn’t asked for Percy either, which was yet another relief.
Ari had been making light conversation with Oliver, when they both fell into a hushed silence as they realised their mother had been crying softly as she stared into the fire. Her blue marshmallow had melted off her stick and was turning into a blackened puddle of goo on the embers.
“I shouldn’t have left him alone”, Annabeth whispered softly. Ari wasn’t too sure what she had meant. As if sensing her confusion, Annabeth clarified, “At Mount St Helen’s. I should have gone with him. If I did he’d be here now, not-“, she bit back that last remark. A faint memory stirred in Ari. She had heard this story before.
“He did come back, mom”, Oliver had put in gently. “He chose to come back to you”.
Annabeth sighed softly. She seemed to have understood, if only briefly. Percy had come back then. He would not come back now.
Both adults seemed to have woken up simultaneously. A particularly strong salty breeze had rippled through the cabin, although Oliver had been careful to shut and lock all the doors and windows the night before.
It was early- he could see faint streaks of pink and orange across the sky through the open door. The open door! He bolted upward, yelling for his sister as he sprinted outside, not bothering to find his shoes in his haste.
But he came to an abrupt halt a few paces outside of the cabin. Ari had almost sent him sprawling as she ran straight into the back of him.
“Dad?”, he asked in confusion. The stranger before him did indeed share a striking similarity to his father. Tanned skin, jet black hair, green eyes. But as the shock of the sudden apparition resided, Oliver realised that this man was a stranger. He cursed himself bitterly for his mistake.
“Poseidon”, Ari breathed as she straightened herself beside her brother.
The stranger- Poseidon, nodded. “Percy’s children. I have not seen you both since you were small, although I have kept a close eye on each of you where I can”. Oliver bit back a scathing remark.
“You could have saved him”, he opted for instead. Hurt and anger still apparent. Ari placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Oliver never had the chance to say goodbye properly.
Poseidon shook his head, looking equally as saddened. “I wish I could have, but the gods cannot interfere with the lives of mortals- our children or otherwise. It was simply his time”. Regret seemed to have flickered across his face, “We offered to make him a god once again. He did us a service we cannot repay, but once again he refused it. He wished only to live out his death in Elysium, with Annabeth”.
Annabeth! Oliver started wildly around looking for his mother, suddenly remembering why they had rushed out in such a panic in the first place, but Poseidon raised a hand to stop him.
“She is safe. She wandered into my waters some hours ago. Looking for Percy I imagine”, the grief on the gods voice was apparent. “I have kept her safe there, look”. He gestured to the beach, where a floating bubble of air breached the surface. It floated gently towards them and burst into sea salt as it reached them. Poseidon had disappeared with it.
Annabeth stood before them now, clearly unbothered by the rather strange means at which she had returned to them. She seemed to be blushing- “Not a word, Travis” she directed at Oliver. She was clearly lost in a memory of far better times.
They were sure they heard her mumbling something about “best underwater kiss of all time”, as she walked back into the cabin.
Ari and Oliver held onto their mother’s hands as she drifted away.
They could both see Thanatos waiting quietly in the corner of the room.
A mixture of pain and relief. She could go now and be free from the prison her mind had constructed. She could spend eternity with Percy in Elysium. They both deserved it more than anything.
They could feel her grip loosen ever so slightly, see her relax back into the pillow. “Your father and I are so proud of you both”, she said softly. “Of all our achievements, you were our greatest”. The gods seemed to have gifted her a final moment of clarity now. If only just to say goodbye.
“I love you both”.
Thanatos brushed past the adults and held an outstretched hand to Annabeth. She grasped his hand with surprising strength for her frail form.
Ari and Oliver held each other tightly as their mother’s soul was carried away.
Annabeth laughed with delight as she bumped into old friends- Rachel, Nico, Malcolm, Piper. So many familiar faces. So many reunions. She hugged each one tightly and felt tears slipping down her face in joy. She had waited so long to see so many of her old friends. Now she had eternity to enjoy with them all.
She made her way into a familiar low-ceilinged wooden cabin. Even in Elysium she could still smell the salty breeze that had clung to it.
A familiar shape lay under a heap of blankets and strewn clothes on the sole bed. Annabeth’s smile widened impossibly.
Percy.
Wind-blown messy black hair framed his youthful features. She could hear a soft snoring and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Drool puddled at the side of his mouth.
As if sensing her presence, the boy suddenly shot up and was on his feet in an instant. He whooped in excitement and picked Annabeth up by the waist, twirling her around before finally capturing her lips with his own.
“You drool when you sleep, Seaweed Brain”.
End.