Sometimes I think how close Annabeth must have gotten to finding Magnue somewhere and it hurts because Annie always wanted a family and she does has her friends and Percy and she is part of Percy's family but I think she envies it a bit.
She has an evil stepmom, sibblings that she never got the chance to bond with, a dad that has no idea what to even do with her and Atena... as the musical put "the only gift my mother gave me was a hat ... that madenme invisible." Her first found family dissolved!
And despite the ills of how Magnus will be forever a teen (in a very Thalia situation) it might be the best they get.
In another world Annabeth finds her younger cousin, the kid that looked up to her before she runned away and he is a half-blood like her because the Chase are apparently godly catnip. But he can't join the camp or Rome or even the Egyptian House Annabeth knows only bits about.
Half-bloods die young even with the protections in place. Magnus can't fight, has no place to go and is alive by sheer dumb luck (and his magical homeless friends). They don't know about Valhalla.
Magnus is going to die. And all Annabeth can do is lie to them both that she can protect him.
