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We cleaned up our picnic stuff and got ready to go our separate ways.
Carter carefully wrapped the crown of Ptolemy in linen cloth. Sadie gave the Governors Island snow globe a good shake, then stuffed it in her pack.
The girls hugged. I shook Carter’s hand.
With a twinge of pain, I realized how much I was going to miss these kids. I was getting tired of making new friends only to tell them goodbye, especially since some of them never came back.
‘Take care of yourself, Carter,’ I said. ‘No more getting roasted in explosions.’
He smirked. ‘I can’t promise. But call us if you need us, okay? And, uh, thanks.’
‘Hey, it was a team effort.’
‘I guess. But, Percy … it came down to you being a good person. Setne couldn’t get a handle on you. Honestly, if I’d been tempted with godhood the way you were tempted –’
‘You would’ve done the same thing,’ I said.
‘Maybe.’ He smiled, but he didn’t look convinced. ‘Okay, Sadie. Time to fly. The initiates at Brooklyn House are going to be worried.’
‘And Khufu is making jelly fruit salad for dinner,’ she said. ‘Should be delicious. Toodle-oo, demigods!’
The Kanes turned into birds of prey and launched themselves into the sunset.
‘This has been a weird day,’ I told Annabeth.
She slipped her hand into mine. ‘I’m thinking cheeseburgers for dinner at P. J. Clarke’s.’
‘With bacon,’ I said. ‘We’ve earned it.’
‘I love the way you think,’ she said. ‘And I’m glad you’re not a god.’
She kissed me, and I decided that I was glad too. A kiss in the sunset and the promise of a good bacon cheeseburger – with that kind of payoff, who needs immortality?
