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Here’s the thing – Annabeth loved her mother. Honestly she did. She was her mother; of course she loved her.
But her mother’s pride is going to get her killed.
“I’ll be back in the morning,” Arachne says with a nasty smile. Annabeth resists a shudder. “And if I find out you and your mother were lying, you’ll both be sorry.”
She smiles evilly at her. Annabeth gives her the steeliest look she can manage. Arachne leaves, and Annabeth hears her lock the door behind her, leaving Annabeth alone in a room full of straw.
“You think you are an accomplished weaver? My daughter can spin straw into gold!” Those were her mother’s words, the day it had been unanimously decided that Arachne was a better weaver than Athena. Athena didn’t take well to losing, but Annabeth honestly didn’t know what she was trying to accomplish, other than the death of them both. Annabeth couldn’t spin straw into gold, and in the morning, when Arachne comes back to see a room still filled with straw, she and her mother will be arrested for fraud.
Annabeth sits down heavily on a pile of straw, trying to hold back tears. Crying wouldn’t get her anywhere, but she can’t help it. She buries her head in her hands, and when she eventually looks up there is another girl in the room.
She shrieks.
“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just didn’t know how to announce my presence. Sorry!”
She is probably eighteen or so, Annabeth’s own age. She has brown hair that is separated into two braids, and her eyes are beautiful, even though Annabeth can’t quite pin down what colour they are.
“Who are you?”
“I am… here to help.”
“But what is your name?”
“Names have power, Annabeth. You don’t need to know mine.”
“You know mine.”
She smiles slightly. “Everyone knows your name. Annabeth Chase, the girl who can spin straw into gold.”
Annabeth scowls. Under normal circumstances she might have been afraid, with this stranger who appeared out of nowhere and refused to tell Annabeth her name. But she has, quite frankly, more important things to worry about.
“So then why are you here? And what am I supposed to call you?”
The girl smiles at her again. It is a very nice smile. Her teeth are very white, and there is no maliciousness in it all.
“Because I know you can’t,” she says. “And you can call me whatever you’d like.”
“No offence, but unless you’re planning on helping me, I’d like you to leave.”
“I am here to help you, Annabeth.”
This barely registers. “And how, exactly, are you planning to do that? It’s impossible. You’d have to be a sorceress.”
Beauty Queen sticks out her hand (hey, Annabeth can’t help that she’s gorgeous, all right?). “Nice to meet you.”
Annabeth is dumbstruck. “You… you’re lying. Sorceresses aren’t real.”
“Then how did I get in?”
Annabeth rushes over to the door, never taking her eyes off the girl, but it remains locked. She is suddenly scared, and Beauty Queen must sense this, because she holds up her hands and speaks reassuringly.
“It’s okay. I’m here to help. Honestly.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like Arachne either. I hate her, in fact. She’s a bully. And I am willing to help anyone who goes up against her.”
“So, what? You’re helping me out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Yes and no. What do you know about magic?”
“Up until now I didn’t even think it was real.”
“Magic isn’t free, even with the best of intentions. It needs… fuel, you could say.”
“What, like money?” This is sounding more and more like a scam every second.
“No. Magic comes from pain. It comes from emotion. So many people try to distance themselves from emotion. They try to prioritize logic. But magic doesn’t exist in logic. The whole idea of it is that logically, magic shouldn’t exist. Arachne herself deals in magic. It’s why she’s so good at weaving.”
“Oh, great.”
“Don’t worry, Annabeth. I can deal with this. But I need something that means a lot to you.”
At this point, Annabeth doesn’t really have any other option but to believe her. She unclasps her bracelet and hands it to the stranger.
“This is from my father. It’s one of the only things he left me when he died.” She is loath to give it away, but compared with her freedom, it’s a worthwhile exchange.
Beauty Queen takes it and closes her fingers over it. She holds it for a moment before nodding.
“This is good. I can use this.”
“So what do I do now?”
The girl smiles. “Have a seat.”
So Annabeth sits, and watches as Beauty Queen gets to work.
“So, Annabeth. How exactly did you get into this mess?”
“I thought you said you knew. You know about Arachne.”
“I know what I heard, which is that Athena Chase had her ass handed to her by Arachne in a weaving contest, and so she told what everyone believes to be a lie – that her daughter can spin straw into gold.”
“Everyone believes it to be a lie because it is a lie.” She sighs. “Arachne is considered to be the best weaver around. My mother is probably the most prideful person in the world, so she challenged her to a fight. A… weave off, so to speak. Arachne – well, you said it. My mother got her ass handed to her. But my mother doesn’t take well to losing. Arachne humiliated her, so my mother, in her desperation, told her that it didn’t matter that she was good at weaving normally, because I could spin straw into gold.”
To Annabeth’s utter disbelief, as she is talking, the girl starts spinning, and where straw goes in, gold comes out. Annabeth watches her closely, trying to pinpoint the exact moment the straw turns to gold, but she can’t. It’s too fast. It goes in straw and comes out and gold, but she doesn’t know how.
Magic, a voice in her head whispers, but that’s ridiculous. Even with everything facing her, with gold right in front of her eyes, she can’t quite believe it.
Beauty Queen notices her staring. “You won’t catch it.”
“Catch what?”
“The moment it changes. It’s hard for you to believe in magic, isn’t it?”
“It goes against everything I believe in.”
“How’s that system of belief working for you?” Her smile is almost a smirk, and Annabeth bites her lip to stop from smiling back.
“I’m relying on something I don’t believe in to save my ass, so. You tell me.”
As the night goes on Annabeth feels herself sinking slowly into sleep, and despite her desire to watch it is getting harder and harder to fight. Beauty Queen smiles softly at her.
“You can sleep, Annabeth. I promise when you wake up this will be taken care of.”
“Hmm,” Annabeth hums. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
She hears soft laughter as she drifts into sleep.
When she wakes up, Arachne is looming over her, a scowl on her face, but, more importantly, and to her utter disbelief, King Neptune is there, as well.
“Unbelievable!” The King says with a grin, while Arachne’s face kind of looks like she had been sucking on a lemon for the past five straight years.
“Impossible, your majesty. She must be tricking us.”
“I can’t see how that would be possible, Arachne.”
“See if she can do it again, highness. To ensure it wasn’t witchcraft.”
“Oh, come now, Arachne. Magic isn’t real.”
“Something dishonest is happening, I believe it. Make her do it again. If she’s lying, we’ll know. We’ll put guards to ensure no one enters or leaves. In the case that she’s telling the truth, you have another room filled with gold.”
“That’s not fair!” Annabeth interjects, but King Neptune was clearly sold on the idea of another gold filled room. “Fair enough. Once more, Annabeth. But today, you will come and dine with me and my son. Percy will be quite pleased to meet you, I imagine,” he says, with a conspiratorial wink. If the rumours about Prince Percy are true, Annabeth has a funny feeling that he will be about as thrilled as she is about the plan that is clearly beginning to brew in King Neptune’s head.
Annabeth wants to argue again, but she has no wiggle room here. Ignoring Arachne’s slimy grin, all she can do is nod.
“Yes, your majesty.”
She returns home to change, and that is where her mother is waiting for her.
“Annabeth!” She exclaims. “Is it true? Everyone is saying you did it. That King Neptune woke you up this morning to a room filled with gold.”
Annabeth pours herself a cup of coffee and drinks half of it before turning back to her mother. “Yes, it’s true.”
“But how –”
“Don’t worry about it, mother. All that matters is that it happened.”
Her mother hugs her. Annabeth gently pulls away. “I’m sorry, Annabeth, I am, but you know Arachne, and it’s over now, so no harm –”
“It’s not over,” Annabeth says curtly. “King Neptune is making me do it again. Arachne accused me of cheating, so I have to do it again to prove that I’m not.”
“But – but how –”
“Don’t worry about it,” she repeats. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Annabeth –”
“I have to go, mother. King Neptune has invited me for lunch. I will see you tomorrow, assuming I have not been arrested.”
Athena purses her lips. As much as her mother knows she was in the wrong, Annabeth knows she is pushing her patience with her tone.
Before Athena can say anything else, Annabeth excuses herself to her room to get changed, and when she comes back out, her mother is gone.
“Here again, are you?”
Beauty Queen arrives quickly after the door is locked behind Annabeth, who is fuming.
“That wretched woman,” she says. The girl touches her arm lightly, which surprises Annabeth, but she feels comfort spreading through her. She isn’t sure if it’s magic or just the girl, but she is comforted, and she takes a breath to calm down.
“I can help again, Annabeth, but you know what has to happen.”
Annabeth sighs, but she reaches up to unclasp her necklace. “This is a gift I was given by my mother. I’ve had it since I was a child.” She loves it, but right now she’s not entirely fond of her mother. Beauty Queen takes it almost apologetically.
“Thank you,” she says quietly. Annabeth sits down and rubs her arms. She watches the girl spin again, although she still can’t see anything.
“How do you learn magic? Are you born with it?”
“My mother taught me,” she says. “Everyone has magic within them, Annabeth, it’s just a simple matter of learning how to unlock it. Anyone can learn. Even you.”
Annabeth snorts. “There’s probably no one less magical than me. Except maybe my mother.”
Beauty Queen studies her. “There is magic within you, Annabeth. Even if you don’t believe.”
Annabeth shifts uncomfortably. “And why did you help me? How did you find me here?”
“I live here, too. You’re the talk of the town.”
“You live here?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I just… figured I would have noticed you.” Annabeth can’t help but notice pretty girls. It’s one of the reasons her and Percy didn’t really mesh at yesterday’s lunch.
“I tend to keep to myself.”
“But then why did you help me?”
To her surprise, the girl blushes. “You may not have noticed me, but I have noticed you. You don’t deserve this. This is not your fault.”
Annabeth finds herself shaking her head, and she gives voice to something she’s been thinking about for quite some time. “That’s not true. Sure, it was my mother this time, but sooner or later I think I would have found myself here anyway. I am too much like my mother. I am too proud.”
“Everyone has their faults.”
“Even you?”
Another smile. Annabeth doesn’t think she’s ever seen a nicer smile.
She is tired again, but she doesn’t want to sleep. She wants to talk more. She wants to find out more about this strange girl who apparently lives in the same town, who smiles brightly and has magic flowing through her veins.
The thing is, she had assumed this girl wasn’t really human. She had an otherworldly beauty to her that makes it hard to believe she occupies the same space as Annabeth. She feels ethereal.
“What do you do, then? If you live in the same village as me.”
“I work for my father.”
“What does that entail?”
She bites her lip. “Sorry. That’s a little bit too personal.”
“At least you didn’t tell everyone you could turn straw into gold.”
“I wouldn’t be lying.”
Annabeth laughs. “Good point.” She watches the straw turn to gold for a few minutes before finally saying, “Can I ask – why won’t you tell me anything about you?”
“I told you. Names have power.”
“Yes, but what does that mean?”
“The first thing my mother ever taught me was that if there was someone who knew my name, they couldn’t know I had magic, and if someone knew I had magic, they couldn’t know my name. Knowing my name would give you a power over me that I couldn’t fight. You could use my magic, simply by calling me by name.”
“I would never do that.”
“I know,” she says immediately. “I do. But it’s one of the first rules of magic. I’m sorry,” she says, and she sounds like she means it. “I would like to tell you.”
“I understand,” Annabeth tells her. She gets up, and stands next to her as she spins, examining her hands. She smells very good, like strawberries, and she has a beautiful ring on the middle finger of her right hand, decorated with what Annabeth thinks are doves.
“Is the power within you, or do you project it onto the spinning wheel?”
Beauty Queen laughs. “You’re trying to put logic where logic doesn’t belong.”
Annabeth smiles sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand.”
The girl studies Annabeth for a moment before shifting on the seat. “Here. Sit beside me.” It’s a tight fit, and Annabeth is half in her lap, but she finds herself not minding. “Start spinning,” the girl tells her, and Annabeth does. Beauty Queen places her hands over Annabeth’s.
“Keep going,” she says, and Annabeth does, and as she does she feels warmth spreading through her, and eventually, as she watches, the straw that had firmly stayed straw as she was spinning it started coming out gold.
“Wow,” she breathes out. It is easier to see it when she is doing it, easier to see the way it shifts from straw to gold. The girl keeps her hands on hers, and Annabeth is lost momentarily in the smell of her hair.
“Are you – how do you do this? Are you just doing it and pretending it’s me?”
“No,” she says, impossibly close to her ear. “I told you. Everyone has magic within them. I’m just locking into yours.”
“So I’m doing this?” Annabeth asks, wonder in her voice.
“More or less,” Beauty Queen says. Annabeth stares at the gold, but eventually it starts staying straw again.
“What happened?” She asked. The girl sighs.
“Sorry. It takes a lot of effort to access the untapped energy within you. It tires me out.”
“I’m sorry,” Annabeth says, standing up again. “Please don’t let me distract you.”
“You weren’t distracting me, Annabeth,” she says with a smile. Annabeth settles back down on the floor.
“When did you learn magic?” She asks, watching the girl’s hands spin the straw. “If you can tell me, at least.”
“My mother taught me when I was twelve, shortly before she left,” she says. Annabeth bites her lip.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“Don’t be,” Beauty Queen says. “My mother wasn’t meant to stay in one place. The magic that runs through her veins needs to have an outlet, and this town wasn’t big enough for her.”
“Does that mean you’ll be leaving, too? Because of your magic?”
She shakes her head. “I like it here. I love my father. My mother’s magic was always bigger than her, but mine… I guess you could say it fits perfectly. I don’t use it enough to let it get bigger than me.”
“Why don’t you use it often?”
Beauty Queen ducks her head so Annabeth can’t see her face, but she gets the feeling she’s blushing. “I don’t like to risk it, to tell the truth. Word travels quickly, and in a place where most people know my name, it’s too risky to use magic that much.”
“But you’re using it for me,” Annabeth says. The girl nods. “How did you know I didn’t know your name?”
“I just knew,” she says, keeping her voice even, so Annabeth can’t read anything in her tone, and she is still hiding her face.
Annabeth watches her hands again, focusing on the ring on her middle finger. That is the key to who this girl is, Annabeth knows. She has this niggling idea that she’s seen that symbol before, although for the life of her she can’t figure out where.
“I wish I did know your name,” she says finally.
“Even if it meant I couldn’t use my magic to help you?”
“Maybe the stress would cause all that untapped magic to come out,” Annabeth says with a smile. The girl laughs.
“I’m glad I can help you, Annabeth.”
They sit in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before Annabeth has another question. “So, if no one is supposed to know both your name and about your magic, does your father know?”
She shakes her head. “No. My mother never told him, and neither have I. It’s not that I don’t trust my father, it’s just… he is very comfortable in the world he lives in. I’m afraid that if I tell him magic is real he may never recover.”
“So your mother married him without telling him about it?”
“My mother said my first love must always be magic.”
“That sounds kind of lonely.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“How was your lunch with the King and Prince Percy?”
Annabeth looks away. “You heard about that, huh?”
“The whole town did. The girl who can spin gold, dining with royalty. Gossip says if you can pull this off again tonight Prince Percy is going to ask for your hand.”
“More like King Neptune will make him ask for my hand. Percy has about the same amount of interest in marrying me as I do him.”
“That’s probably because of the secret boyfriend.”
Annabeth gapes. “Prince Percy has a secret boyfriend?”
Beauty Queen nods. “Not that you heard it from me.”
“But how do you know?”
“I am… I know his boyfriend. Jason Grace.”
“As in Jason Grace, the bastard son of High King Jupiter? As in that Jason Grace?”
“The one and only.”
“You are friends with High King Jupiter’s bastard son. Wow.”
“In my defence, High King Jupiter has many bastards. You probably know at least five.”
Annabeth laughs. “Wow. No wonder Percy didn’t seem too happy around me yesterday.”
“Is that why you don’t seem as thrilled, either?”
“Why? Because I’m dating Jason Grace?”
The girl smiles. “Because you share the same proclivities as Prince Percy?”
Annabeth swallows. “I would say my proclivities are actually the exact opposite of Prince Percy’s.”
She ducks her head again so Annabeth can’t see her face. “Can I give you some advice?”
“Of course.”
“Befriend him. Prince Percy is a good person, and if you show him you’re on his side it will make whatever happens between you two go more smoothly.”
“You know him,” Annabeth says.
“Not well. Only through Jason, and only briefly. I tend to be the lookout when –” She cuts off, hands stilling before beginning again. “I am getting too personal. Something about you makes me want to tell you everything,” she says, smiling softly at Annabeth. “I shouldn’t have told you about Jason. But if you and Percy are going to be pushed together I think you deserve to know what you’re getting into, and he deserves to know that you will be an ally for him. But just… forget the rest, please. My mother would have my head if she knew all that I was telling you.”
“I’m sorry,” Annabeth says quietly. “I would never use it against you.”
The girl nods, before yawning. It is the first sign of tiredness she has shown, and it reminds Annabeth of how tired she is, as well.
“I’m running behind. You should go to sleep, Annabeth. I imagine it will be a very busy day tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to sleep,” she says. “You’re going to all this trouble for me, the least I can do is keep you company.”
“You have,” she responds. “But I need to speed up or I won’t finish this room. Get some sleep.”
“Will you wake me up before you leave?”
She studies Annabeth. “If you so wish,” she says quietly. Annabeth nods, and at the girl’s assurance, she lies down, using her arm as a pillow, and drifts into sleep.
She is awoken by someone gently shaking her arm, and she opens her eyes to see Beauty Queen kneeling above her, looking rather tired. Annabeth uses this opportunity to study her eyes more, but they seem to shift colour, blue to green to brown to a swirl of all colours at once.
“One room of gold, as requested,” she says. Annabeth sits up, but she is far less interested in the room of gold than she is in the girl across from her.
“Thank you,” she says. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“You don’t have to,” she says. “You already paid for the magic.”
“I didn’t pay for the labour.”
She shrugs this off. “The labour was nothing.”
“Where does your father think you go?”
“He doesn’t know I leave. You know. Magic,” she says, waggling her fingers in Annabeth’s face. “Anyway. I should get going, and you should go back to sleep.”
Annabeth bites her lip, before saying, “You could teach me magic. I’d love to learn.”
Beauty Queen hesitates. “Annabeth… everything my mother ever taught me says I can’t ever see you after this.”
Annabeth looks around at all of the gold. “That seems kind of lonely. No one ever really knowing who you are.”
Beauty Queen shrugs, trying to be nonchalant and failing. “That is the way of magic.”
“Why does it have to be?”
“That’s the way it’s always been.”
“I hate those answers. Tradition isn’t a good reason to do anything.”
The other girl smiles. “That’s a very logical answer.”
“You act like logic and magic can’t mix. But you tell me I have magic within me.”
“And you do. But you will never be able to access it unless you let go of logic just a little.”
“That’s silly.”
Beauty Queen smiles, and Annabeth can’t help but smile back. “I didn’t make the rules.”
“I know,” Annabeth says with a laugh. “I guess I just…” She trails off, unsure how to explain what she means.
But the girl smiles. “I know,” she says sadly. Then she coughs and rubs at her nose, shifting from foot to food and avoiding Annabeth’s eye. “You should get some rest again, Annabeth. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”
Annabeth knows that she’s right, but she knows this is the last time she will likely ever see this girl, and she’s not eager to end that yet. She doesn’t know why she feels such a strong pull towards her. Yes, she’s beautiful, there’s that, but even if it a type of beauty that seems otherworldly, Annabeth has known many beautiful girls, and besides, she’s not quite that shallow, that someone would have this effect on her just because she was beautiful.
No, there was definitely something else, some pull that had nothing to do with the strange colours of her eyes or the curve of her smile or how she looked away when she was embarrassed. Things Annabeth shouldn’t have noticed, things she shouldn’t have been focusing on, but she knew them anyway. And she doesn’t believe in love at first sight, or anything, but she’s not an idiot, and she knows when there’s something. Just because it isn’t love doesn’t mean it isn’t… something.
She’s being ridiculous, she knows. There were way more important things to deal with than this totally unattainable crush she had on a sorceress who wouldn’t even tell Annabeth her name.
“Okay,” she says finally. “You’re right. I –” she cuts off, unsure how to properly express herself. “Thank you. It doesn’t feel like enough, but –”
The girl shakes her head. “Don’t worry, Annabeth. I would have never left you here to deal with this alone.”
“Because you hate Arachne.”
She cocks her head. “Yes. That too. Goodbye, Annabeth.”
“Wait,” she says, curious. “How do you leave?”
The girl smiles. “It’s just like I was never here.”
Annabeth blinks, and she is gone.
This time, when King Neptune appears, Prince Percy is with him. He eyes the room of gold with far less greed than his father, and far more apprehension.
Arachne is there, as well, fuming.
“Wow,” Percy mutters. “You weren’t kidding.”
“Your Majesty –”
Neptune holds his hand up to quiet Arachne, who goes silent with a strange expression on her face. It looks like she has very bad gas. Annabeth feels a strange desire to laugh.
“Annabeth! Marvellous!” Neptune claps his hands together, spinning to survey the room. “My dear girl, you are a treasure. An absolute treasure. And more importantly, one King Jupiter does not have,” he adds in an undertone. Annabeth can see Percy rolls his eyes.
“Annabeth,” he says in a loud voice, clapping her on the shoulders. “Return home and do what you need to do, and then return to the palace. We have business to discuss,” he says, with a happy wink. Annabeth feels an unhappy little jolt in the pit of her stomach. She risks a glance over at Percy, who is staring at the wall.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Annabeth says faintly. Truthfully all she wanted to do was go home and sleep, but she’s learned that there is no way to say no to the king.
As she walks past Arachne, the woman grabs her arm tightly. “The King will find out you’re lying, you little wench. And then you’ll be sorry.”
Annabeth extricates her arm from Arachne’s tight grasp, and says something stupid, but she can’t stop herself. “Everyone said you were a better weaver than my mother, Arachne. Nobody said you were a better weaver than me.”
Arachne’s face is worth it.
Her mother is not there when she gets home, which she is grateful for. She has no idea where she could possibly be, but she doesn’t really want to face her, so she doesn’t mind. She knows her mother will demand an explanation, and she won’t be satisfied with “magic.”
She bathes quickly, changes her clothes, procrastinates as long as she possibly could, and then heads back up towards the castle.
She is greeted by a miserable looking man who leads her through rooms without a word. She is brought into a room that looks almost like an office. She hadn’t thought kings had offices. Neptune is sitting in a high backed chair behind a massive desk, and Percy is seated on a chair beside the desk. The man gestures towards a chair that is located in front of the King.
“Thank you, Triton,” the King says. Annabeth barely resists turning to look at the man. Everyone knew Triton – he would have been heir if Percy had not been born. And now he was relegated to door man. Tough break.
“Annabeth,” the King says again, smiling widely at her. “I’m sure you have some idea as to why you are here.”
She glances at Percy. The King sees this and smiles. “Yes, it appears gossip spreads quickly. Annabeth. I have looked into you. You are a smart girl, with a good head on your shoulders. And, yes, I will be honest, that little talent you have certainly helps.” He lets out a laugh, and Annabeth forces herself to smile. “Yes, you would be the perfect bride for my son,” he says, clapping Percy on the back. He gives her a brilliant, royally trained smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “If you would do us the honours, of course.”
Annabeth is smart enough to know there is no option, here. Despite what the king says. This is not an offer – it is a command. She can see it in the King’s eyes. Imagine a kingdom where the Queen could make infinite amounts of gold. They would be truly unstoppable.
Annabeth is terrified. She can’t believe what her mother got her into. One little lie had sparked all of this. All she had wanted to do was survive. Now she was lying to the King, and engaged to his son. She would have to keep lying to him. She couldn’t tell him the truth – even if she were forgiven, his greed likely wouldn’t rest until he found the girl who had helped Annabeth.
She wants to cry. What she does instead is sit up straighter and say, “That would be an absolute honour, King Neptune.”
Athena is home when Annabeth returns. To the casual observer she still looks the same, pristine and well put together, but Annabeth can see the barely visible bags under her eyes and the slight limpness to her hair. The past few days have apparently been very hard on her mother.
Good.
“Annabeth.”
Annabeth sits down at the table heavily. “Congratulations,” she says bitterly. “You’re going to be mother to a queen.”
“I’m – what?”
“I’m engaged, mother. To the prince.”
“You must be joking.”
“Do I look like it?”
“What on earth happened?”
Annabeth laughs without humour. “I spun straw into gold, mother. Just like you said.”
“Yes, but how?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“Magic.”
Her mother makes a disapproving noise. “Really, Annabeth. Please be serious.”
“You wanted an answer, mother, I gave it to you.”
“I wanted a real answer.”
“How do you think I did it, then?”
“I…” Athena looks almost angry. “I don’t know.”
Annabeth turns her hands, palms facing up. “There you go.”
Athena purses her lips. “If you want to hide the secret from me, out of spite –”
Annabeth whirls on her mother. “Are you kidding me? You think I’m not telling you my secret, out of spite? Because I’m angry at you? Trust me, mother, I am furious, but believe me when I say, with absolute certainty, I cannot spin straw into gold. And eventually, the King will find out. I will pay for that.”
Annabeth drops her head into her hands, trying to sniff back the tears that are threatening to spill. She didn’t want to cry in front of her mother.
To her utter surprise, she feels a hand card through her hair gently. She stiffens momentarily, unused to such blatant affection coming from her mother, but eventually the soothing feeling of fingers through her hair causes her to relax.
“I’m sorry, Annabeth.”
“Sorry, can you repeat that?”
The fingers still. “Don’t push it.”
Annabeth lets out a huff of laughter. “What do I do, Mom?”
Athena hums, her fingers beginning to move through her daughter’s hair again. “I’m afraid you don’t have much choice,” she says quietly.
Annabeth wipes the tears from her face. “I don’t want to marry Prince Percy,” she says quietly. She is ashamed at how small her voice sounds, how pitiful she seems, crying in her mother’s arms. Athena was hardly the world’s warmest mother, but Annabeth guesses that her guilt must be getting the best of her, because she continues to comfort Annabeth with calming touches and soothing noises.
“You could do much worse.”
“That’s not the point.” She doesn’t think her mother knows about her preferences, but she suspects that even if she did, she would never acknowledge it.
“I know. But short of running away, there’s nothing you can do right now. Are you planning on running away?”
Annabeth shakes her head.
“This, unfortunately, is the only option right now. I am sorry that I put you in this position, but now that you are here there are not many other places to go. But truly, Annabeth, you could do far worse than life as a Queen.”
“I don’t want life as a Queen. I want –” She cuts off, because she has a vague idea of what she wants, but it’s too silly and illogical an idea to even admit to herself.
Her mother stands and Annabeth knows that the pity party is over. “Unfortunately life doesn’t always work out the way we want it. The only thing we can do is make the most of what we have.”
“You sound like a fortune cookie. Next you’ll be telling me everything happens for a reason.”
“Maybe it does. You’re the one telling me magic exists.”
Annabeth rolls her eyes. “I’m going for a walk.”
Athena doesn’t say anything else, just watches her go.
Annabeth winds her way through the city. Half of her is lost in thought, but half of her – she is embarrassed to admit – is keeping her eyes peeled for the sigil she had seen on the sorceress’ ring.
She doesn’t know why she is so preoccupied with this girl. It isn’t just because she saved Annabeth, swooping in like Annabeth’s own personal superhero to rescue her. And while normally Annabeth would object to the idea of her being rescued, she’s smart enough to acknowledge that she really, really needed rescuing.
No, there was something there with her, something Annabeth couldn’t quite explain. It was as illogical as the magic that spilled from the girl’s fingers, but she couldn’t quite get her out of her head.
Annabeth was beginning to realize that the world wasn’t quite what she had thought it was.
Normally, whenever she would go on a walk, she was mostly ignored. There were a few people who knew her, who nodded and smiled or stopped to say hello, but people were usually too busy to pay much attention to anyone else. But now, eyes were perpetually turned on her; she could feel the gazes of the villagers as she passed, heard lowered voices as they talked about her, Annabeth Chase, future Queen.
Eventually the whispering gets too much for her. The conversation might not necessarily be bad, but she wasn’t eager to find out. She had never been well loved, but she had been liked enough to get by. Her mother had a bad habit of alienating people by flaunting the fact that she was smarter than anyone, which gained her quite a few enemies, and Annabeth had learned quickly how to use her intelligence without turning the city against her.
But things were different now. She was going to be royalty. Annabeth Chase, who could spin straw into gold, betrothed to the prince.
She heads home.
The next week happens in a blur. Annabeth and her mother are moved to the palace, set up in rooms that are far too extravagant to be necessary. It wasn’t that Annabeth had been very fond of her cottage, but under constant supervision of the palace staff she finds herself missing it. She is given an entire new wardrobe, and although she negotiates for as few frilly dresses as possible, the clothes she does receive are still too stiff.
It doesn’t help that her mother cannot stand that King, and Annabeth is starting to get the feeling that the King shares her sentiments. Athena is smart enough not to allow her feelings to effect her actions, since that could be quite literally deadly, but Annabeth is afraid that it’s only a matter of time before her mother snaps. She isn’t sure why her mother dislikes the King, or why the King dislikes her mother, but dinners had gotten to be so incredibly awkward, with the forced politeness, that her and Percy had taken to having meals by themselves (accompanied, of course, by someone to ensure that her and Percy were being appropriate) so they didn’t have to deal with their parents.
It is during one of these dinners that she finds the courage to bring up what the girl had told her.
“Percy…” As they started getting to know each other more, Percy had told her to call him by his first name only. She liked Percy, but there was still a block between them. He was kind and funny, but she got the feeling that he didn’t think he could be himself around her. She was planning on changing that.
He looks up from his plate and nods at her to show he’s listening.
“I want to tell you something. Something you cannot tell anyone, but especially your father.”
He eyes her. She can tell he’s interested, but suspicious, but eventually he nods.
“I can’t spin straw into gold.”
His expression remains carefully guarded. “So how did you do it?”
She takes a breath. She isn’t sure how he’s going to react to this. “Would you believe me if I told you it was magic?”
To her surprise he nods almost immediately. “You can do magic?”
She counters his question with a question of her own. “You believe in magic?”
“Of course I do. You don’t?”
“I didn’t,” she admits.
“Then how did – if it wasn’t you.”
“Someone came to me. A girl, around our age. I don’t know why she came to help, but she did. She did all of it, both times. My mother said that about me knowing it wasn’t true. I – I don’t know what would have happened if it hadn’t been for that girl.”
Percy nods. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll keep it a secret.”
She clears her throat. “I actually – I told you that because… Well. I know about you and Jason.”
Percy’s face closes off immediately, and his fist clenches around his fork. Annabeth rushes to speak again.
“I won’t – I told you that so you had something on me, as well. I just. I want us to be on even ground.”
“How did you find out?” He asks quietly.
“She told me. The sorceress.”
To her surprise, this causes Percy to relax. “Oh. I thought there might be some kind of rumour. But it was magic.”
“I want us to be friends,” Annabeth continues. “I know you don’t want to marry me, and if I’m completely honest I don’t want to marry you, either. No offence.”
He finally smiles, and her pulse starts to calm down. “None taken.”
“But it looks like we’re stuck like this, so I figured it would be better if we could trust each other, at least.”
He nods. “I agree.”
“I’m on your side. I wanted to let you know.”
He smiles again. It’s a very nice smile. In another life, Annabeth thinks that maybe she could have loved him.
But not this life. And this is the only life that matters to her.
Annabeth is dreading the wedding, but she does work up the courage to ask for one request – an open invitation to the kingdom. The King is quite pleased with this decision, happy to show off his talented find to everyone, but Percy’s smirk and raised eyebrows lets her know that he sees right through her, and knows she is doing this on the off chance that Beauty Queen will show up.
She is not given much of a choice regarding the wedding. There are three dresses that she can choose from, and she goes with the simplest one. Percy asks that the flowers be blue, which she agrees with, mostly because she has no strong opinions on the colour of the flowers to begin with.
Everything is moving far faster than she had expected, and she sort of feels like she has whiplash from so many drastic changes to her life. She is so overwhelmed by everything that she can’t even find it within her to be angry at her mother anymore, despite the fact that she was the one who started all of this. All she can focus on is how fast her life is spiraling out of control. The only saving grace is Percy. They have built up a good relationship, and although it had been too busy for him to find any time to meet up with Jason, he had promised her that she would meet him soon. He seemed intensely grateful that Annabeth had no problem with him keeping up the relationship, even though she hadn’t thought for a minute to ask him to end it.
Part of her is jealous of Percy. He gets to keep the person he loves.
Annabeth doesn’t even have that to begin with. She has no one to lose. No one to give up.
She doesn’t sleep well that night.
The day before, the King comes to visit her. She’s not sure what he wants – maybe just to talk, to wish her luck.
She should have known better. Annabeth is smarter than this, and she should never have underestimated the King’s greed. But she had wanted, so badly, to believe that it was over.
But what would be better, the King had said, then unveiling the Prince’s new bride and showing exactly what she could do? A wedding and a room full of gold. And what can she do but smile and agree?
The doors are locked but there are no guards placed this time. She wishes more than anything that she could talk to Percy, or even her mother, but the King ushers her into the room of straw with greed in his eyes. He smiles at her, but she is not comforted.
“I will see you in the morning,” he says. Annabeth tries not to cry. She sits down on a pile of straw and waits.
“Annabeth,” a soft voice says. Despite the fact that she is on the verge of tears, her heart leaps into her throat. “It’s okay.”
“No,” she says. Beauty Queen sits beside her and links their fingers together. “It’s not. Because I have nothing left. I have nothing to give you. Nothing to fuel the magic.” She had known that even if the King had made her do this again, she would be screwed. She had given away the only two things that held any meaning to her. She had nothing left to give.
Nothing left to give and everything to lose.
“That’s not exactly true,” the girl says slowly. Annabeth lifts her head, wiping the tears that had fallen with the hand that wasn’t being held by the sorceress.
“What do you mean?”
The girl swallows and removes her hand from Annabeth’s. She looks nervous.
“There is something else that is strong enough to fuel magic. But it’s –”
“What is it?” Annabeth asks eagerly. The sorceress doesn’t meet Annabeth’s eye.
“A kiss,” she says quietly. Annabeth can’t seem to find words. “A kiss is the strongest type of magic there is. It holds potential. Futures. The only thing more powerful than the past is the future.”
“That – that would work?”
“Yes. But… I don’t know what the implications would be. I have no idea what could happen, or what it might mean. It’s risky, Annabeth. It’s playing around with futures.”
“I don’t have another choice.”
“I don’t know what could happen.”
“Maybe not. But I know what will happen if I don’t.”
The girl breathes out heavily, shaking her knee. She is clearly nervous; she probably has never done magic like this.
Despite this – despite everything – Annabeth doesn’t feel as nervous as she should. She has full faith in the sorceress’ magic, which means that this is going to work out. She is going to give one more room of gold, and then she will be Queen, and she won’t have to anymore.
There is also, of course, a part of her that isn’t exactly upset at the fact that she is going to have to kiss Beauty Queen. Mostly because there is a part of her that has wanted to since the day they met. And she knows that her future holds only Percy, that someone as beautiful and talented and magical as the girl sitting beside her would never be interested in Annabeth, a girl whose head was filled with numbers and logic, who had no room for magic inside of her, but if she’s being given a chance, at something, she’s going to take it.
“Annabeth,” she says quietly. “Are you sure you want this?”
Yes. Annabeth wants this more than anything. But she knows that’s not what the girl means. “I want to get out of here.”
The girl sighs, and when she turns towards Annabeth and cups her face, her hands are shaking. Annabeth reaches up and wraps her fingers around the sorceress’ wrists, to try and calm her down.
“It’s okay.”
Annabeth smiles, and she smiles shakily back. When she leans in, Annabeth goes to meet her half way.
The spark she feels when their lips meet is possibly imaginary, but it might also be magic. Annabeth feels magic coursing through her veins, feels it surging through her as they kiss. Annabeth lets her hands trace down the girl’s arms, moves them to her shoulders, digs her fingers in. She almost feels like she’s glowing; she feels stronger than she ever has. The girl threads her fingers in Annabeth’s hair, opens her mouth tentatively, and Annabeth responds, sliding a hand down to rest on the girl’s waist. She wishes now, more than ever, that she knew her name, something to whisper, but there is nothing to call her, so she puts her lips to better use.
When breathing becomes more important than kissing, they are forced to pull away, but they do not go far. Annabeth rests her forehead against the sorceress’ and listens to the ragged sounds of her breathing. When she opens her eyes, the girl is looking back.
“Will that work?” Annabeth asks. The girl smiles, and Annabeth leans forward again, unable to stop herself.
“Yes,” Beauty Queen says when they pull away. She tucks a stray strand of hair behind Annabeth’s ear, kisses her cheek, and then stands to make her way to the spinning wheel. Annabeth watches her go from her hay stack, mind fuzzy. Her lips are tingling.
She watches the girl spin for a few minutes, trying to focus her mind again, and eventually the haze of magic around her starts to fade, and her head is clear again.
She gets up, and the girl moves up on the seat so Annabeth can sit, as well. They sit back to back as she spins, and Annabeth can hear her shallow breathes, can feel the warmth of her through her back, can smell her hair.
“Tell me about you. Tell me anything you can tell me without giving too much away.”
“I love peanut butter. I hate public speaking. My mother was obsessed with beauty but sometimes I forget to brush my hair in the morning. My mother was the most beautiful woman in this city, maybe the world, and sometimes when people see me I think they’re surprised that the most beautiful woman ever gave birth to me. I love my father more than anything and it really hurts that if I ever told him the truth he would be afraid of me. I’m torn because part of me wishes you didn’t know about my magic because I could meet you properly but then I know something horrible would happen to you. Part of me hates my mother for leaving me. Part of me is relieved because I feel like she would be ashamed of me. Also I eat ketchup by itself.”
Annabeth laughs. “What a way to end that.”
“What about you?”
“You seem to know everything about me.”
“No. Only some things.”
“Like what?”
“I know you can’t spin straw into gold.”
Annabeth laughs and leans back against the girl. “Anything else?”
“I know that you’re one of the smartest people in this entire kingdom.”
“I’m not –”
“I know that despite everything, you still love your mother.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Even after everything that happened, she still meant enough to you that your love for her was able to fuel my magic.”
Annabeth is quiet.
“I know you don’t want to be Queen. I know you’d be an amazing Queen regardless. I know you’re a good kisser,” she says, sounding suddenly bashful. Annabeth smiles.
“I know you’re lonely,” she says quietly. Annabeth contemplates this.
“Lucky guess?”
The girl is quiet. She has stopped spinning. “You’re still letting Percy see Jason.”
“Why would I stop him from being with the person he loves?”
“And what will you do?”
Annabeth laughs bitterly. “I can spin straw into gold. What can’t I do?”
The girl resumes her spinning.
“What would happen? If someone knew your name and your magic?”
It takes a while for the girl to answer. “Names are dangerous. If someone knew my name and my magic, they could control me. It’s terrifying, living my life, knowing that any of the people around me, if they ever found out, they would have complete control over me and my magic. They could bid me to do anything. And I would have to obey.”
“Why? Why do names have such power?”
“That’s old magic, Annabeth. Some of the oldest magic there is.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
Annabeth feels her move as she resumes her spinning. “No.”
This is relieving.
“But,” the girl continues. “I was taking a risk coming here.”
“Why?”
“Annabeth –”
Annabeth can hear the tentativeness in her voice. “You don’t have to tell me,” she says hurriedly.
“But I want to. That’s the problem.” There is a kind of bitter humour in her voice, and Annabeth feels her move as her hands still and she turns. Annabeth turns, too, and it is very uncomfortable, both of them on this tiny seat, and they are impossibly close together. The sorceress leans her forehead against Annabeth’s. “This was risky because you – you know me. You don’t know that you do, but I am much closer than you think.”
“I wish I had something to call you.”
Since there is no real answer to this, the other girl doesn’t respond to this. “Can I kiss you again?” She asks instead.
“Do you need more magic?”
She laughs. “Something like that.”
Annabeth kisses her again. Her lips are so impossibly soft, and her hair feels like silk when Annabeth runs her fingers through it.
“Come to my wedding,” she says when they pull away. The girl laughs again. Annabeth finds that the more she hears it, the more she wants to. It is infectious and beautiful in a way she didn’t know laughs could be.
She is so far gone.
“That’s not usually what you say after kissing someone.”
“I told the King to invite the whole kingdom.”
“Annabeth –”
“I want you there.”
“Why?”
“I feel… better, around you. Safer.” Happier.
The girl chews her lip. “I don’t want to watch you marry someone else,” she says, very quietly.
Annabeth can’t help but kiss her again. “I don’t want to,” she whispers against her lips. She gives voice to a thought she had had for a while, now. “If… If Percy and Jason keep seeing each other, couldn’t we –”
“Annabeth,” she says quietly.
“I know,” she says, before the sorceress can say anything else. “It’s dangerous.”
They sit with foreheads together for another moment before the girl sighs. “I need to get back to work. This straw won’t spin itself.”
Annabeth takes a seat on the floor to give the sorceress more room, and eventually, despite her best efforts, she feels herself falling asleep. She lets her head droop onto the sorceress’ thigh, who stops spinning momentarily to pat Annabeth soothingly on her head.
“I don’t want to fall asleep,” Annabeth says tiredly. “Will I ever see you again after this?”
“I’ll be here if you ever need another room of gold.” Her voice is falsely light. Her fingers thread through Annabeth’s hair.
“Maybe I’ll just ask the King to keep making me do it,” she says. The girl laughs.
“I will wake you up before I leave,” she says again, and with that promise, Annabeth lets herself fall asleep.
“Annabeth.”
She wakes up to see the sorceress sitting beside her. Annabeth sits up on her elbows. There is gold all around her, but she keeps her eyes on the girl the entire time.
“Thank you,” she says. It feels empty. Not enough for everything that has happened, that she has done for Annabeth. The magic and the gold and the kissing.
“You will be a good Queen, Annabeth,” she says softly. Annabeth sits up further to press her lips softly to the girl’s again.
She isn’t sure how to end this, with another thank you, with a goodbye. So she just kisses her again. The girl kisses her back, and Annabeth feels that magic again, coursing through her veins.
“Goodbye, Annabeth,” she says softly, and just like always she is gone as if she had never been there, the only proof that she was there at all the room full of gold and the tingling in Annabeth’s lips.
When Annabeth wakes, she is expecting to see King Neptune above her. What she sees is Percy, by himself. He is staring at Annabeth with a strange expression on his face.
Annabeth stands. “What is it?”
“My father has called off the wedding.”
Her jaw drops. “I – what?”
“My father has called off the wedding. I don’t know why. He just said – he said the future King should be in charge of his own future, and he wasn’t going to force me into anything anymore. He said – I don’t know. It was strange, Annabeth.” He looks around at the gold. “Did she help you again?”
Annabeth nods.
“Was there anything – it just doesn’t make sense for my father to do this. Did she – did something happen that would have… changed him?”
“No, she –” but Annabeth cuts off. She remembers something, suddenly.
I don’t know what the implications would be. I have no idea what could happen, or what it might mean. It’s risky, Annabeth. It’s playing around with futures.
“Percy,” she says. “What do you know about magic?”
“Not much.”
“It needs – it needs fuel. Something to power it. It comes from emotion. I needed to give the girl something that meant something to me to power her magic. The first two times I gave her objects that my parents had given me. But this time I had nothing left. So I had to do something else to fuel the magic.”
Percy is looking at her suspiciously.
“It was nothing bad, don’t worry. I didn’t offer her your father’s sanity, or anything.” Percy smiles a little. “I just – I kissed her. The things I gave her held the power of the past and the emotions that come with it, but a kiss held something else. Potential. The infinite possibility of the future. But she said that it was far riskier than the other things. You can’t change the past, but the future… she didn’t know what would happen, what could happen, playing around with futures.”
Percy seems to finally catch on. “So the future changed. The power you gave her, the magic she used, it changed the future?”
“Either that or your father just decided he didn’t want a daughter-in-law who could turn straw into gold.”
Percy laughs.
“I didn’t know that would happen, Percy. I just… I didn’t have another choice.”
“I know. I’m not blaming you or her or accusing you of something sinister, or anything. I just wanted to know. It didn’t make sense.”
“Magic doesn’t make sense.”
Percy suddenly raises an eyebrow at her. “It seems you had a fun night, at least.”
She blushes. “Shut up.”
“I’m up all night worrying about my upcoming wedding and the future of the kingdom and here you are, making out with a witch all night.”
“We didn’t make out all night! She was a little busy, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed the room of gold around you.”
Percy laughs and pulls her to him in a hug. “You would have been a good Queen, Annabeth.”
“You’ll be a good King,” she says, wrapping her arms around him to hug him back.
“Your mother has already returned to your old home. I have never seen anyone so eager to leave.”
Annabeth can’t help but grin. Percy kisses her softly on the cheek. “I hope you find your witch, Annabeth.”
“Maybe now you can be with Jason.”
“That might be a little much. Whatever your magic did to my father, I doubt it was enough to convince him to let me marry the male bastard child of his biggest rival.”
Talking about Jason reminds Annabeth of what the girl had told her. She knew Percy and Jason, Annabeth remembers, was lookout when they met up. She could easily ask Percy, find out who she was.
But she remembers her promise. I would never use it against you. She wants more than anything to ask Percy about her, but she would be breaking her trust. And Annabeth wants to prove that the girl can trust her.
So that when she finds her again, she believes her.
She doesn’t know what happened, what the magic had done. All she knows is a future has opened up to her, and she was going to do all she could to find it.
Whatever the magic had done, it had affected more than just the King. Once Annabeth returns home she expects to be surrounded by nonstop gossip, and yet it seems most of the townsfolk has almost forgotten about her brief stint as Queen-to-be. As if that future had just disappeared, replaced with this one instead.
Annabeth has no idea how to go about finding the sorceress. The girl had said that they were closer than Annabeth thought, but that still wasn’t much of a hint. She kept her eye out for that symbol she had seen on her ring, but she searches in vain. She even tries asking her mother if she knew it, but her mother was so suspicious that eventually Annabeth just said it was nothing and never asked again.
Annabeth goes weeks without getting any closer. She is too afraid to ask her neighbours, because every time they talk they look at Annabeth funny, as if they are aware that there is something wrong, but they can’t quite reach it. It’s like they can’t quite focus on her, like they only see her out of their peripherals or else they can’t see her at all.
Things don’t turn around until Percy’s birthday.
Although most of the kingdom still seems to exist under some kind of haze of forgotten futures, those who had been directly involved remember, so both Annabeth and her mother are personally invited to Percy’s birthday celebration.
Percy meets her personally and hugs her warmly. Then he gestures to a corner of the room, where a tall, attractive blond man is watching them. “I told you I’d introduce you one day,” he says. “My father doesn’t know about – well, but he knows we’re friends, at least, and he seems okay with it.” Annabeth smiles and kisses him on the cheek.
The birthday celebration is large, because Percy is a prince. There is a large stage at one end of the room and people everywhere, and Percy unfortunately doesn’t get to spend much time with her, as he has to go make the rounds of the room. Annabeth heads over to introduce herself to Jason.
“You must be Annabeth,” he says, as she approaches. She smiles at him.
“Hi, Jason. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
Jason has the same kind of look about him that the other villagers have, as if he can’t quite see her, but he fights through it, and she knows that Percy has told him everything.
They talk for a little bit. Annabeth so badly wants to ask about the girl, about who she was, how he knew her, where she could find her, but she bites her tongue. The girl had done so much for her, the least she could do in return is keep the promises she made.
Eventually a hush falls over the crowd and Percy groans quietly as his father claps his hands.
“I was hoping he wouldn’t do this,” he says.
“What is it?” Jason asks.
“Piper’s dad,” Percy says. “He has an acting troupe. My dad likes to hire him for events. He’s a good actor, but it’s so unnecessary to have him perform here. Fucking hell.” He shakes his head. “I have to go sit with my father. Enjoy the show,” he says sarcastically.
Annabeth is about to ask who Piper is when the curtains on the stage opens, and she forgets her question.
She had heard of Tristan McLean’s acting troupe, but as Annabeth had never had any interest in it, she had never paid much attention. But she knows, now, as the curtains open, why she had recognized the symbol on the girl’s ring.
It was the symbol Tristan McLean used, the sign used for his acting troupe.
She grips Jason’s arm. They are near the back of the room, so Tristan McLean is far from her, but she can just make him out; him and the girl have the same features, the same hair colour.
“Whose dad did you say that was?”
“My friend Piper,” he says, looking at her strangely.
“Is she here?”
“No, she never comes to these –”
“Where does she live?”
“What?”
She turns to look at Jason. “Piper. Where does she live?”
When she gets to the house, she waits outside for a few minutes, heart in her throat. She was terrified. She didn’t know if she was doing the right thing. Maybe Piper didn’t actually want to see her again. Maybe she just said those things, kissed Annabeth, because she knew there was no chance they would see each other again. Maybe she will be scared, that Annabeth knows her name.
Maybe it’s not her. Maybe Annabeth is wrong, and she will never find her.
She raises her hand to knock.
It takes a few moments, but finally the door swings open, and there she is.
It seems to take a little bit before who it is in front of her registers, but when it does her eyes widen and she takes a step back. He mouth opens, but she just stares at Annabeth in wonder.
“Piper McLean,” Annabeth says. “Your name is Piper McLean.”
Piper swallows, but she nods. She seems at a loss for words.
“So I can control your magic now, right?”
Her eyes are wide, and when she nods, she looks almost scared.
“Good,” Annabeth says, taking a step forward. Piper takes a step back. “Piper McLean,” she says, and she makes her voice as commanding as possibly, a trait she got from her mother. “Through the power of your name, I order that you use your magic to ensure that you are never bound to me through anything other than your own free will.”
Piper continues to stare. Then, to Annabeth’s delight, she smiles. “That was a very mean trick.”
“Did you really think I was going to use this against you?”
“No,” Piper says. “That’s why I was so confused. How did you find out?”
“Your father performed today at Percy’s birthday. I recognized the symbol on your ring.”
Piper shakes her head. “I guess I didn’t do a very good job of hiding my identity.”
Annabeth takes another step forward, and this time Piper stays in place. “The magic changed the future.”
“I know,” she says. “I didn’t know it would happen that way.”
“I’m glad it did,” Annabeth says. Piper looks at the ring on her finger. Annabeth has a funny feeling that she left it on intentionally.
“So am I,” she finally says. “You’ll never be Queen, though.”
“I don’t want to be Queen.”
“What do you want? A room full of gold?” She is smirking at Annabeth in a way that is far too attractive to be allowed. Annabeth wants to kiss that smirk off of her face. So she does.
“You,” is Annabeth’s simple answer. “Also to never see straw ever again in my life.”
“That was almost romantic,” Piper says against Annabeth’s lips. “Romantic but realistic. Like you.”
Magic doesn’t exist in logic, Piper had told her the first time they met. You’re trying to put logic where logic doesn’t belong. And yet here, with her hands cupping Piper’s face, Annabeth feels more at home than she ever has, a larger sense of belonging than ever. Her lips tingle once again as they kiss, and she feels that warmth spread through her, and the more she feels it the more she attributes it to Piper and less to the magic she has flowing through her. Piper buries her hand in Annabeth’s hair again.
She isn’t sure if this will keep creating magic, creating futures. Honestly Annabeth doesn’t care much, as long as the futures it creates all involve her being here.
“Piper McLean,” she whispers. The name rolls off her tongue easily, and she says it over and over in her head, finally a name to go along with the girl who saved her.
Piper smiles against her lips and kisses her more.