Disclaimer: I don't own either Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Kane Chronicles.

Sorry for the delay. It would not upload. Enjoy!

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Library Friends

The first time Annabeth Chase met Carter Kane was, naturally for the both of them, in the library. She had gotten permission to come to New York City for the weekend, and so, armed with a library card – and three rather large knives forged of celestial bronze – an eleven-year-old Annabeth strode towards the delectable fruit that was knowledge.

Knowledge was something she craved with a bone-deep hunger. She wanted to know about everything, but her favorite thing to study was architecture. She was that day because she had heard that Julius Kane, renowned archaeologist and Egyptologist, was giving a presentations on the many works of architecture he had seen over the course his career.

She was sitting near the front, waiting for the presentation to begin when a well dressed kid about her age with skin like coffee and hair like molasses took a seat next to her. "Hey," he said, his voice speaking in the blurred accented way that children raised by diplomats or travellers get, "It's nice to see someone my age that is into these things. I'm Carter, what is your name?"

She looked him up and down. He didn't seem like a monster, though did get a bit of an odd feeling from him. "I'm Annabeth, Annabeth Chase. I'm coming here because I like architecture, and I want to be a famous one when I grow up."

"Yeah? That's cool. I don't know what I want to be, but I want to be as good a man as my father."

"Ah," she said, not quite sure what to say to that as she did not have the best relationship with her father, and didn't know her mother whatsoever other than the cool hat she had gotten. She then thought of the only topic he might be able to relate to, and said, "I came here after getting permission from my camp councilor."

"You go to camp? What is it like?"

"You now, the usual. Canoeing, Capture the Flag, Archery, Horseback Riding, stuff like that."

"That sounds fun. I wish I could go to camp." His voice sounded so wistful to Annabeth as he spoke. It reminded her that even people who weren't demigods didn't always have it easy. "After mom died and my grandparents took my little sister Sadie away, it's just been me and Dad travelling around. It would be nice to be able to stay in one place long enough to make friends."

An uncomfortable silence went over the two at that as the room began to fill. They managed to get onto a different topic – the architecture of certain Egyptian ruins – when Julius Kane himself entered. She stopped speaking at his entrance (he was pretty cute for an old guy) and when he approached them, she blushed fiercely. He crouched down in front of the two of them, and said, "Hello young lady. It's nice to see my son interacting with someone of his own age for a change. I trust he's being respectful to you, right?"

She nodded while Carter blushed, groaning out an annoyed "Dad!" and said, "Yes. I was just telling him how I came here for the lecture about the architecture, and how I wanted to be one when I grow up. He was telling me about some of the places he's been with you, though I didn't know he was your son. He's pretty cool."

Unnoticed by her, Carter's blush deepened. He had never been called cool by a girl, before. He was used to being ignored by most girls, or called dorky by stupid sister. It was a nice feeling, being cool for once.

"I appreciate it anyway. By Osiris, I swear that for all the travelling we do, he doesn't get out enough to interact with other kids. Anyway, we're about to start." Annabeth found the man invoking a god interesting, even if it wasn't one of her gods.

The lecture was given and Mr. Kane took her and his son out for lunch – after she picked up several books, of course – so his son could hang out with someone his own age before dropping her off at the YMCA where Chiron was going to pick her up. They both went their separate ways; neither knowing that destiny had interesting things in store for them in the future. They kept in touch over the years by mail. Annabeth telling of camp, or her struggles learning with her ADHD and dyslexia, while Carter told her of the strange places he'd been, or about the odd things that happened to him sometimes, like the time he was caught in a riot and his father had held him protectively. Somehow, they were completely ignored while it raged on.

This sparse contact gave them a solid friendship that would stand until they would meet later in their lives, already having stood against forces far greater than themselves, and emerging victorious. It was nice for the two of them, having friends – no matter how distant – when those around you couldn't always connect. Also, later on, Annabeth found it somewhat satisfying that Percy would sometimes get jealous over the mystery man she was always writing to {or hanging out with, once he moved permanently to New York), and Carter found it nice that he had someone who was not his sister to go to for dating advise when he wanted to romance Zia.