Chapter 30: I Get A Surprise Visitor

After spring break, the school year crawled towards its close. I was approaching the end of eighth grade and my last summer before high school. Janet stayed true to her promise to get me the best education possible. On top of the portfolio she'd made me submit to art school, she also insisted that I apply to seven of the best high schools in the area.

My first acceptance letter arrived a week before the start of summer vacation. I'd just gotten home from school and was taking in the mail. Among the assorted flyers and a stack of mail addressed to my dad was a large envelope with my name on it. Curious, I put down the rest of the letters and perched on the edge of the couch to tear it open.

Dear Miss Chase,

We are pleased to welcome you to the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts …

I laboured through the typeset letter, which was accompanied by a welcome pack. The colourful brochures reminded me of the Hunters' publicity materials, which I'd tossed out by now. There was more detailed information about the school curriculum … and its compulsory pre-sessional induction programme.

Which would take place over the summer.

The sky rumbled. Outside, dark clouds were gathering again in the north, threatening another stormy evening. The intermittent squalls had carried on all spring, a constant reminder of the war coming our way.

I ran a finger along the edge of my letter. The room seemed to tilt like I was staring down a precipice.

Two futures stretched out before me, a pair of tunnels in a maze. In one, I walked a straight path to the gates of a grand city I had designed—the product of my intensive education at a prestigious, specialised high school and college. In the other, I was dressed in full Greek battle armour, facing an army of monsters.

My mother was the goddess of war and wisdom. Why couldn't I have both? Why did there have to be a choice?

'This isn't the first difficult choice you'll encounter in your life, Annabeth.'

I jumped, spilling the brochures out of my lap. The fireplace crackled to life. Sitting cross-legged among the flames, her chin resting on her hands, was the eight-year-old goddess Hestia. She regarded me with dancing eyes, a faint smile beneath her rosy cheeks.

'I know,' I said, tucking my hair behind my ear. 'I have to go to camp.'

How could it even feel like a sacrifice? I loved camp. I could never choose anything over it. I'd told Janet as much when she'd suggested I try summer design school. I shouldn't even have applied for Ruth Asawa. It hadn't occurred to me that they'd have a summer programme. Obviously, I should have read the fine print.

But my eyes lingered on the glossy pictures of their state-of-the-art design labs. They had ten times the software St Catherine's or even my extracurricular evening classes provided.

Hestia pointed out the window. 'Look carefully.'

Fog was descending over the neighbourhood. In the swirling mist, I glimpsed the old visions that had once tempted me: my personal utopia, a city built to perfection, every flaw eliminated—by me.

You could do all of that, a little voice whispered. You could be the best architect in the world … if you don't fall in battle.

I saw the army of monsters gathered at the base of Mount Tam: legions of hellhounds, armoured giants, scaly dracaenae … and even more ancient and deadly beasts rising from Tartarus to join them. I saw them marching into camp, trampling over the grounds and razing the cabins to the ground.

It was only ever your temporary home anyway …

I would build it again, greater and more permanent. Perfect, this time.

A loud pop in the fireplace brought me out of my trance. Guilt washed over me when I realised what I had been contemplating. It wasn't the first time this vision had tugged at me. I should have been ready for it. I should have found it easier to resist its pull.

'Not so easy to walk away from,' Hestia commented. 'You've wanted to be an architect for a long time.'

'All my life,' I agreed.

'Why?' Hestia asked, but she didn't seem to be looking for an answer. She reached her hand out from the fire.

I took it. The moment our palms touched, the living room dissolved around me. I was standing behind a door, listening to my dad tell Janet, 'I tried to send her back, but Athena wouldn't take her.'

I was shivering inside a corrugated iron box, clutching a hammer for dear life as I waited for the monsters to find me.

I was clinging to Luke as the skies wept and an ancient pine sprouted from the spot where Thalia lay dying.

I was gripping the side of an empty lifeboat, blinking back tears as I searched for Percy amidst the wreckage of a sunken warship.

I was teetering at the edge of a cliff, watching Luke fall, and fall, and fall …

Hestia jerked me back to the present. My free hand was balled around the acceptance letter, crushing it in my fist. I remembered the moment when my ambition to design great buildings had crystallised—just after I'd taken on my first project, to reconstruct a burnt-down cabin at camp. Seeing my own design come to life, becoming a sturdy, enduring structure … that was when the dream had truly solidified. But it had grown from a spark in the heart of a girl who had only known temporary things. A girl who longed for something permanent in her life.

'Architecture isn't just about building things, you know,' Hestia said. She raised her other hand out of the fire.

My letter fluttered from my fingers as I took her hand, completing the circle between us. The other half of what Hestia had to show me swam before my eyes.

I watched my dad fly into battle above Mount Tam, shouting, 'Get away from my daughter!'

Luke handed me a dagger and a promise: 'We're your family now.'

Percy wrapped me in his arms and an underwater bubble while I mourned the loss of my perfect, Siren-created world.

The letter Alpha fell from the Orobas's mouth, curled around the letters Pi and Lambda …

Hestia released me. 'Architecture is more than just temples and monuments. No architect can create something truly great without understanding what lies at the heart.'

I picked up the crumpled letter and smoothed it out. 'You think architectural school won't help me learn that?'

Hestia laughed. 'I'm sure it would. But there's always more than one way to design a structure.'

She waved her hands towards the window. The fog dissipated, withdrawing its temptations. There was only the tiniest, lingering hiss: You could do everything so much better, Annabeth … do you really want to die defending a lost cause?

'Power and grandeur are seductive,' Hestia said. 'You could be a fine architect in the mortal world. It might even be a straightforward path. The other road … well, it is twisted and full of potholes and blind corners. I don't know. The Fates are still knitting it into existence. But remember what I showed you, Annabeth. You've already built more than just monuments.'

Actions that go out into the world can't be taken back, Hephaestus had said. Ruth Asawa had an incredibly selective programme. If I declined them now, I wouldn't get another chance. Hestia was handing me a challenge. To take the uncertain path instead of one someone else had already laid down, and mould it into something even greater.

Something that would be mine.

It was then that I remembered: before my mother had come along, Hestia had been the goddess of architecture.

No architect can create something truly great without understanding what lies at the heart.

It was easy to tear something down and build a soul-less replica in its place. But the things that truly lasted, they carried with them the hopes, the hurts, the stories of humanity. If I wasn't ready to defend all of that, I would never be the architect I dreamed of being, even if I graduated from a dozen Ivy League programmes.

Hestia smiled, seeing my jaw tighten in acceptance of her challenge.

The doorbell rang, sounding a thousand miles away.

'You'd better answer that,' Hestia said lightly. Her hearth flickered. I guessed she would be gone by the time I came back.

I went to the front door. When I opened it, my school letter fell from my fingers once again. I stared at the person across the threshold, wondering if I'd stepped into another of Hestia's visions.

It didn't seem possible that he was here—tall and scarred, a streak of grey running through his sandy hair, the same look of wild-eyed desperation he'd had when I'd last seen him on Mount Tam.

But of course, I had always believed he was alive. I'd told Percy we would meet again. I just hadn't expected it to happen like this. Not here, at my own front door.

Later, I would remember this as a turning point, a crossroads, the moment when the Titan war had landed on my doorstep. But right now, my mind was blank. My stomach was a churn of emotions I couldn't even begin to identify.

The sky rumbled again. My heart pounded. My mouth, drier than the deserts of Arizona, struggled to find words.

Standing in front of me … was Luke.

THE END

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A/N: I'M SORRY! I know I've said before that I like to have stories within a series self-contained, but … I ended up taking a leaf out of RR's book after all with this one, because this story arc has closed and it's time to move into the next one. On the bright side, I promise you won't be waiting a year on the next DoW 'book'. I outlined both of these together (and actually came back to edit NoH after I had done a first draft of the BotL instalment). I am madly editing it at the moment so that I can get on with it, and so I'll have next week 'off' but return on Percy's birthday (August 18) to kick off that story.

A note on Annabeth's 'school'—Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts is in fact a prestigious art school with an architecture + design track. I thought I might as well pick the best. It's not like Annabeth's going there anyway …

Thank you once again to all my lovely readers who had followed this story, especially those of you who have stuck with me from DoW up! I'm kind of amazed that I've already written three books of Annabeth. Two years ago, I put DoW up here not knowing if anyone would care about a re-telling of canon. The love you guys have showered on this series warms my heart and helps keep my passion for writing Annabeth alive. I know this fic has really expanded outward from canon like crazy, and I am so grateful that you've come along for the ride anyway. The next 'book' is going to be called The Impossible Maze (I don't need to explain this title, do I?) And we all know what canon events are coming in that one … *coughTheKisscough* I promise I will do my very best.

Your comments, feedback, critique, or even just greetings are so very appreciated. I have enjoyed immensely the questions and commentary and such insightful points you guys raise. I've probably said this before, but for me, posting fic is like starting a conversation. So once more: thank you, thank you, thank you for not leaving me hanging!