Percy. Tell me what’s wrong.” She always knew when something was wrong. I told her about Annabeth. The other stuff too, but mostly it boiled down to Annabeth. My mother’s eyes teared up. I could tell she was trying hard to keep it together for my sake. “Oh, Percy…” “Yeah. So they tell me there’s nothing I can do. I guess I’ll be coming home.” She turned her pencil around in her fingers. “Percy, as much as I want you to come home”—she sighed like she was mad at herself—“as much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to.”
