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She gave me a brave smile—the same kind she used to give me when she found me a new school after I got kicked out of the last one.Surprise!
“Like... you and Paul.”
I looked at my stepdad, who hadn’t touched his lasagna. I realized everybody at the table was holding their breath. Maybe they were afraid I would make all the plumbing in the apartment building explode. Which, for the record, I only did thatone time.
“Yes, me and Paul.” My mom took his hand. I wondered if they’d had some awkward conversations about whether it was safe to have a human child after having a demigod. Afterme.
Annabeth was watching me carefully, gauging my reaction. Concerned for me? Concerned for Paul and my mom?
A warm feeling washed over me. I started to grin.
“That isawesome.”
The tension broke, which was a lot better than the pipes breaking. I jumped out of my chair and hugged Paul because he was closer. I think I startled the poor guy. He accidentally dragged one of his shirtsleeves through the lasagna.
Then I rounded the table and hugged my mom. She let out a laugh/sob that was a great sound: total relief, total happiness. There was some crying. I am not going to point fingers at who it was, though. Finally, we got settled back into our places, though I still felt like I was floating a couple of inches off the floor.
“I’m really glad you’re happy,” my mom said.
“OfcourseI’m happy.” I couldn’t seem to stop smiling, which is a problem when you’re hungry and you have a plate of lasagna in front of you. “Hold up.When?”
“The due date is March fifteenth,” she said.
Annabeth’s eyebrows shot up. “The Ides of March?”
“That’s just a best guess.” My mom winked at her. “Percycame much later than expected.”
“I was stubborn,” I said. “So this means I’ll be here when the baby comes. That’s awesome. I’ll have a few months before...”
My smile finally faded. If all went well and I got into school with Annabeth, I would be leaving for California during the summer. That meant I’d miss so much with the new baby. I wanted to hear the kid’s first laugh, see their first steps. I wanted to play peekaboo and teach the little rug rat to make rude noises and eat blue baby food.
“Hey,” my mom said, “you will be here for the delivery. And you can come home from California as often as you want. But you also need to stick to your plans. They are excellent plans!”
“Yeah, of course,” I said.
“Besides,” she said with a mischievous smile, “we’re going to need your bedroom for the baby.”
I was in a fog for the rest of dinner. I was still floating, partly from happiness... partly from a feeling like I’d been cut free from my moorings and was now drifting away. I was thrilled for my mom and Paul. Absolutely. I couldn’t believe they were going to have a kid I could watch grow up. That baby was going to be so lucky.
But also, it made my own departure seem even more real. I would be leaving just as my mom and Paul were starting a new chapter. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that....
Ididremember to compliment Annabeth on her cupcakes. They were really good: buttery and sugary, the icing a little too thick... just the way I like them.
She and I did the dishes together. By the time I walked her down the street to the subway, it was growing dark.
“I’m glad you were okay with the news,” she said. I hadn’t realized until that moment how relieved she was.
“You were thinking about your stepbrothers,” I guessed.
The arrival of those babies had meant the beginning of the end for Annabeth’s relationship with her dad. At least, at the time. She’d run away from home shortly afterward, feeling forgotten and unwanted.
She kissed me. “You’re not in the same place as I was, thank the gods. You’re going to be a great big brother.”
A warm flush of joy washed through me again. “You think?”
“ ’Course. And I can’t wait to see you learn how to change diapers.”
“Hey, I cleaned Geryon’s stables of flesh-eating horses. How bad can baby diapers be?”
