Chapter Text
It all started when Annabeth decided to see if there was anything in the creepy attic of the Big House that could help with the war efforts. Percy… wasn’t a fan. The skeleton always seemed to look straight into his soul with its empty eye sockets and he really didn’t want to inflict that on himself voluntarily. Of course, leaving Annabeth on her own to scour the place led to him now seeing the scariest dam piece of wood he’d ever seen.
Pause. Yes, Percy knew that a piece of wood was not supposed to be scary. But look… this was a weird carving in the shape of a person with ancient scribbles on it that Annabeth “thought” she had figured out but couldn’t be sure.
“I think it’s staring at me,” he said, looking at where she had placed it on top of a rock behind the stables where they were hiding.
“You think everything is staring at you, Seaweed Brain.” She leaned closer and pointed at some of the inscriptions. “Okay I think it’s something about summoning a mortal hero at the height of their power. Come on! This could be it! What if it brings us Odysseus, or Theseus, or oh gods what about Atalanta!”
Percy hoped that Annabeth could feel his extreme amount of doubt through the air. “Wise Girl, I dunno. I don’t think we can trust it. What does it even need, a blood sacrifice or something?”
“Nothing so crude,” she raised an eyebrow at him before locking her eyes back on the figure. “I think we need to burn it. Wait here.” And then she dashed off, hair flying behind her, leaving Percy alone with the creepy wooden doll.
“Oh of course, we’ll just burn it, sure.” He muttered to himself, crossing his arms and staring down at it like it would come to life and attack him. He winced, if he kept thinking like that, it was guaranteed to do so. Just stop thinking Percy. Be calm.
He lasted two seconds before beginning to pace. Back and forth, back and forth, eyes locked onto the doll for any sign of movement.
“Hey Perce, whatcha doing?” A voice came from behind him.
He didn’t turn around, eyes still locked on the doll. “Making sure it doesn’t come to life and kill us.”
“Yeah?” Two pairs of footsteps approached him, and he could see in his peripheral vision that Beckendorf and Silena were now staring down at the doll too.
“What is it?” Silena asked, Beckendorf nodding at the question.
“Creepy doll from the attic. Annabeth thinks it could help us with the war effort.”
“Huh…” Silena’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “What’s it supposed to do?”
“Summon a hero!” Annabeth yelled, appearing suddenly next to them, out of breath, with a bag holding a bunch of wood and a lighter in her hand. She started rapidly assembling a campfire while the group began protesting.
“Look,” she said, “we’re in a bind, and I think I’ve translated this correctly.”
Percy threw his hands in the air. “That is not comforting! What if you summon a monster or something?!”
“It clearly says hero!” She responded, voice rising.
Beckendorf opened his mouth to intervene, but Annabeth cut him off.
“Percy, do you trust me?” She said, bright gray eyes piercing straight into his.
Aw man, he was gonna regret this. His shoulders slumped, the fight taken out of him. “Yeah Wise Girl, I trust you.”
Her face seemed to flush slightly but she quickly turned away, flicking the lighter on and touching it to the tinder. Within minutes, a roaring fire was in front of the group, and Annabeth held the wood figure in her hands.
“Alright,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Bring us our hero.”
The moment it touched the flame, the figure seemed to flicker out of existence and a blinding light consumed the area. The four demigods covered their eyes, well used to doing so quickly in order to avoid being accidentally killed by the gods and their true forms.
A moment passed, the light no longer searing through their hands and eyelids. All at once, they opened their eyes.
Huh.
In front of them where the fire had been was a man lying face down on the ground wearing an FDNY uniform with a trident in his hand. He was missing the main firefighter jacket and there was a gash down one of his arms, leaking slightly shimmering blood like he had just been in a fight. His other arm had what looked like a brand on it with the word “SPQR” and a trident under it. The actual trident that he was holding was a work of beauty. Beckendorf instinctively looked way too curious at its construction and the see through portions of the external design that showed there was water contained inside of it.
“Cool trident?” Percy said, not really knowing what else to say.
Annabeth muttered “trident” to herself and lunged forward to roll the man over from where he was lying completely still. Beckendorf rushed forward to help her, and Percy felt his eyes widen as the man’s face was revealed.
“Percy…” Silena gasped from next to him.
Annabeth had frozen where she was crouched next to the man, staring at the now visible and prominent gray stripe of hair.
“Hey guys, um.” Beckendorf trailed off, pointing at the man’s palm that was now visible, the trident having slipped out of his hand. On it was a very familiar scar, almost like one from a pit scorpion. Percy grabbed his own hand instinctively, tracing the scar with his thumb.
Before he could say anything, a muffled groan came from the man, and his eyes flickered open hazily.
Everyone stepped back as sea green eyes were revealed. The man propped himself up with one hand and looked around for a moment, eyes going wide as he spotted Percy and Annabeth, a flash of hurt flying through them as they landed on Silena and Beckendorf.
“Well… this is a new one.” He said, and promptly passed out.