"Annabeth," he said hesitantly, "In New Rome, demigods can live their whole lives in peace."
Her expression turned guarded. "Reyna explained it to me. But, Percy, you belong at Camp Half-Blood. That other life--"
"I know," Percy said. "But while I was there, I saw so many demigods living without fear: kids going to college, couples getting married and raising families. There's nothing like that at Camp Half-Blood. I kept thinking about you and me...and maybe someday when this war with the giants is over..."
It was hard to tell in the golden light, but he thought Annabeth was blushing. "Oh," she said.
Percy was afraid he'd said too much. Maybe he'd scared her with his big dreams of the future. She was usually the one with the plans. Percy cursed himself silently.
As long as he'd known Annabeth, he still felt like he understood so little about her. Even after they'd been dating several months, their relationship had always felt new and delicate, like a glass sculpture. He was terrified of doing something wrong and breaking it.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I just...I had to think of that to keep going. To give me hope. Forget I mentioned--"
"No!" she said. "No, Percy. Gods, that's so sweet. It's just...we may have burned that bridge. If we can't repair things with the Romans--well, the two sets of demigods have never gotten along. That's why the gods kept us separate. I don't know if we could ever belong there."
Percy didn't want to argue, but he couldn't let go of the hope. It felt important--not just for Annabeth and him, but for all the other demigods. It had to be possible to belong in two different worlds at once. After all, that's what being a demigod was all about--not quite belonging in the mortal world or on Mount Olympus, but trying to make peace with both sides of their nature.