Percy's day has been rough from the start. The flight to New Rome was all but uneventful, he's had an awkward run-in with his ex, an awkward run-in with Nico's ex, he was given the first prophecy he's seen since he was seventeen, and also some bad room service food.

Now he's in a club, the last place on earth he thought he'd ever end up. He should be back at the hotel working through the prophecy, or at least rewriting it onto a real piece of paper. For the time being, it's scribbled onto a Dunkin' Donuts napkin with a highlighter he found in a random desk drawer.

Why would Percy let Leo talk him into driving them to the bachelorette party? Why does Leo want to go to Hazel's bachelorette party? Percy asked the same questions when he got Leo's text, but all he got in reply was a mirror selfie of Leo in a sparkly green fedora and a dress shirt with only about three buttons fastened. Leo Valdez has a wife and a kid and still, he can't grow chest hair.

"Alright! Percy and Leo! Bad boys supreme! In da club!" Leo tugs on his suspenders like he's the mayor of 'da club' and makes a beeline towards the bar.

Percy follows, trying his best not to bump into anyone in the dim yet overwhelming lighting of the club. Why would anyone willingly come to a place like this?

There are so many cons: Percy is surrounded by sweaty drunk people, he can barely see in the strobe lights, and he's already lost Leo in the sea of bodies.

The one and only pro? He did get to drive Leo's massive RAM truck, and he'll get to drive it again on the way back to the hotel when Leo's had too much to drink. Gods, it's a beautiful truck. It has seat coolers and a wireless phone charger, both modifications courtesy of the son of Hephaestus.

"Sorry," Percy says to a woman he accidentally bumps into. She doesn't even notice him. He probably doesn't need to apologize; everyone's bumping into each other. It smells like alcohol and B.O. Percy's head hurts, and although he hasn't been in the club for collectively five minutes, it feels like an eternity.

He thinks about bolting right back out the door, but he can't ditch Leo. Finally, he makes it to the front of the bar line.

"Hey, guy, what can I get for ya?" the bartender asks.

"Oh, um, I'll have a Coke please," Percy says. Maybe some soda will calm his nerves. His shoulders are tensing up.

"You want any rum in that? Vodka?"

"No thanks. I'm driving tonight," says Percy. And he cannot wait to drive that monster of a truck again.

Then, he notices a young woman in a yellow sundress sitting at the corner of the bar. She has a spatha attached to her belt; it reaches the entire way down to her ankles. Percy recognizes Hazel right away and pushes through the crowd to greet her.

"How's the party going?" He has to yell to be heard.

"Well," Hazel says, "I lost my drinking buddy." She gestures towards the dance floor with her head.

Two women are practically grinding on each other. Percy feels his face heating up at the sight of Annabeth and Reyna. They must be super drunk because he never could have even imagined something like this happening ten years ago, and holy Hera, it's a sight for sore eyes.

Annabeth's resting her head on Reyna's shoulder, and they're bobbing up and down to the rhythm of some cheesy pop remix. It's no different than what everyone else is doing, but it makes Percy uncomfortable. Maybe it's because he knows them.

And maybe he's a tiny bit jealous of Reyna. He stuffs that thought back into the caverns of his mind. C'mon, man, he thinks. Keep it in check.

Annabeth spots Percy and Hazel over at the bar and drags Reyna by the forearm.

"Look what the cat dragged in," she shouts. Even drunk, she's beautiful. Her hair is once again pulled back into a bun, held together by... are those chopsticks? Percy doesn't question that decision. He too would like to be able to pull his favorite utensils out from his hair. You just never know when you'll be faced with a surprise bowl of ramen noodles.

Trying not to be creepy, he looks her over, and he's shocked, to say the least. A new tattoo starts just above her knee and disappears under her short dress. He wants to know what it is, and if the trident tattoo she'd gotten while they were dating is still there, but the lighting in the club obscures the image.

"Hey... hey-hey-hey!" Reyna shouts across the bar. "Can we get two more, uh, whatever it was we had last?" Her words are bleeding together.

Hazel looks at Percy in horror, as if to beg, Please do something!

And then Annabeth starts yelling like a maniac: "I'm not even that drunk! I could fucking drive right now if I wanted to!"

Percy never thought he'd see the day where Annabeth Chase got cut off at a bar, but here they are. And she's pretty peeved about it.

"C'mon!" she shouts. "It's not like I'm an alcoholic!"

The bartender ignores her and Reyna. "Can I get you anything else, honey?" he asks Hazel.

"I'll have another lemonade please," Hazel says.

"And I'll pay her tab." Percy hands his debit card to the bartender.

"Aww, you don't have to do that, Percy!" Hazel pushes her empty glass across the bar. "Besides, I've had at least twelve lemonades. It's adding up."

"I want to. You deserve it," he says. Twelve lemonades though? How is this woman not peeing herself? "Plus, it looks like you've got your hands full," he adds, glancing over at Reyna, who's slumped over the bar.

"I can handle most of them. If I know Piper, she'll be crying in the bathroom over nothing soon, and Rachel didn't come to the club with us... she said something about organic numbers? If you want to go, I can take care of Leo too. It's just these two I'm worried about." Hazel refers to Reyna and Annabeth. "One I could handle but together-"

Reyna begins to giggle uncontrollably.

Percy bites his lip. "I get it. That's a lot of drunk people. I can trade Leo for one of them if you want."

"Are you sure? You haven't even danced yet," Hazel says sarcastically.

"Ohoho... I'm okay on that front," says Percy. He's dying to get out of this club.

Annabeth throws an arm around Percy's shoulder. "I killed a man tonight," she whispers in his ear. That is not something Percy wants to hear from anyone, especially not from his scary ex-girlfriend, who he knows is fully capable of having killed a man tonight.

"I'm a little worried about her," Hazel says, referring to Annabeth.

"She does seem pretty wasted."

Hazel sips from a striped paper straw. Percy appreciates the club's commitment to protecting marine life. "No, I mean, I think she's been dealing with some stuff, and... oh, I probably shouldn't be talking about her like this, even if she'll forget by tomorrow morning," Hazel says flustered.

Percy wants to ask for more information, but he knows he shouldn't pry. Still, if he can get an idea as to why Annabeth broke up with him, he's one step closer to making it up to her.

Shoot, that's selfish. Of course, he's not going to pressure Hazel into spilling Annabeth's secrets. That's shady ex-boyfriend behavior.

"Who's the drunkest?" Percy asks, wondering who he's taking back to the hotel. He secretly hopes it's Annabeth. Maybe she'll talk to him since she's drunk.

Hazel shrugs. "Take your pick. Neither one is getting anything more to drink."

Percy wants to make a responsible decision here, even if it doesn't involve spending a few precious moments with Annabeth. "Hmm...well, it might be easier if-"

Annabeth sticks her tongue in Percy's ear.

Hazel and Reyna shriek, but Hazel's is in horror and Reyna's is egging Annabeth on.

"I changed my mind!" says Hazel. "You take Annabeth! I don't want her!"

There's a record scratching sound over the speakers and the DJ starts talking: "Alright you girls, gays, and theys... where are y'all at?"

"I didn't ask for a free ride... I only asked you to show me a real good time," Lady Gaga sings.

Lots of people cheer in response. In his distraction, Percy almost loses Annabeth.

"Oh no you don't!" he says, reaching for her wrist. He doesn't want to hurt her, but he also can't lose her. What if she gets lost? What if someone tries to take advantage of her?

"Percy..." she says, drawing out the 'y'. "This is my song! I'm, like, legally obligated to dance right now."

For a drunk person, her speech is surprisingly coherent.

She grabs Percy's wrist in turn and starts to tug. "C'mon, dance with me!"

He should say no, but her grip is so tight. Annabeth's different, and Percy wonders if it's because she's drunk, or if she's just a party girl now, but gods, that look in her eyes is haunting. Back when they were teenagers and she wanted something, her eyes had this intensity in them that said 'Do what I say or I'll kill you'. Now they hold a certain dullness that says, 'I'll be heartbroken if you don't dance with me!', and she may be ten years older, but she's still Annabeth, somewhere underneath this drunk idiot. Percy can't bear the thought of breaking her heart like that, even if it's over something stupid like a dance.

"Fine. One dance, but after that, we're leaving," Percy says.

Annabeth smirks and winks. "I like the sound of that."

"No, no, not like that... Annabeth!"

Annabeth leads him towards the middle of the pack, and he can feel everyone's body heat around him. His arm is quickly coated in someone else's sweat. Percy hates this with every fiber of his being. Did Annabeth come here willingly? he wonders. Or did Piper and the others drag her here?

She laces her arms around his neck and starts swaying to the beat. Percy thinks this is more of a jump-up and-down-and-then-get-tired kind of song, but he needs to choose his battles carefully here.

One dance. That's all.

Percy stands there stiffly and bobs his head to the beat. The couple next to them is making out. He tries to look away, but it's one of those things that's just so disturbing that he can't. They're practically licking each other's faces. Gods, they probably won't even remember what they're doing right now by the time they wake up tomorrow morning.

Annabeth's body is pressed up against his. Her skin is cool compared to the heat of the mosh pit around them, yet her face is flushed. Percy wonders how this is possible. Percy's wondering a lot of things right now just to keep his attention away from how close she is to him.

They'd never done anything like this when they were dating. Percy wonders how many guys have danced with her like this.

Annabeth's back is to Percy and she's grinding into him by the time the song ends. Percy would love to be proud of himself and say that his self-control is just that good, but the truth is, her drunk ass in his crotch isn't remotely turning him on. He just wants to get this woman out of the club, deliver her to Will Solace, and say 'Here ya go! She's your problem now!'

"C'mon, the song's over. Let's go." Percy tries to lead Annabeth out of the club.

"Wait, one more song," she whines.

"No, you're drunk," he says.

She tightens her grip on his wrist and tugs.

Percy doesn't want to manhandle her in the club in front of everyone, but he also doesn't want to risk hurting her, so he picks her up fireman-style and carries her away, only stopping to say goodbye to Hazel and Reyna on the way out. That's normal. Right?

"Oh, good, you found Annabeth," Hazel says.

"And Reyna found some peanuts," Percy notes.

Reyna tries to eat a peanut, but she misses her mouth and drops it on the floor. She chews anyway.

"Do you need me to call you an Uber?" Hazel asks.

"I have the keys to Leo's truck. Better to not have anyone asking questions. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody's paid any attention to this," he says, using his head to gesture to Annabeth, who is anything but limp over his shoulder.

She beats his back with her fists. "Unhand me, you fiend! I've slain the Minotaur!"

"So have I!" Percy taunts back.

"Fuck you!"

Hazel finishes off her lemonade. "Those are some neat boots, Annabeth!" she yells over the music.

"I stole them from... from Will!" Annabeth hiccups.

"Let's get you to the truck," Percy says. "See you all at brunch tomorrow."

Percy carries Annabeth out of the club, earning a strange look from a bouncer. Percy waves awkwardly as if he carries drunk women over his shoulder all the time.

Thankfully the keys to the RAM are on a remote. Has he mentioned how much he loves that truck?

"Here we go," Percy says, lowering her to the ground. She sways a little upon impact like a buoy in a storm.

Annabeth reaches for the passenger side door, but she's too short. Percy doesn't remember her being short. Could he have gotten that much taller?

"Oh no," he says. "You are not sitting in the front and distracting me."

Annabeth crosses her arms and furrows her eyebrows, but Percy's just not afraid of her anymore. She's pretty pathetic.

He opens the backseat door and lifts her up and in. Hazel was right- those are some pretty awesome cowgirl boots.